Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-04-19
From the american Journal Of Science.
ILLUMINATING SILVER.

from INC .1WeTtCur JUuTHoL ~ 'NseHCe.
ILLUMINATING SILVER.
Chymist. a:e too well acquainted with
the tremendous energy Of this preparation,
t" make any comment Of its powers neces-
sory. Unhappily however, it is now made
. subject Of amusement il is prepared tor
sale 10y those who know nothing of it, ex-
cept as a nostrum, and it is bought by o.
theirs who have moi even this degree Of
kncw:edge. 1t is true it is put up IN small
quantities. in the little toys called torpe'
does, and, if exploded one by one. they
will ordinarily do no harm, but as they fall
into The hands OF children, we can never be
secure that they will be discreetly used.
A very severe accident, from the unex.
pected explosion Of this substance, occur.
red some years since inthe laboratory Of
Yale college (see Bruce's journal, vol. l,
p. 1867 And, Notwithstanding that this
occurrence was well known in New Haven,
the same accident, only under a severer
form, has again occurred in that town.
A man who had bought the secret DINA
king Illuminating silver, had prepared as
much as resulted from The solution OF ore
ounce and half. Apparently, in great
measure, unaware of the nature of the pre-
paration, he had placed it, unmixed with
any thing, in an earthern plate, which stood
on a table; his wife and children being a.
round, he sat down to distribute the pow
der upon several papers which he had pre-
pared for the purpose. Sand and shot are
mixed with the powder in the papers for
the purpose Of giving momentum, and of
producing attrition when the torpedoe is
thrown, in order to ensure its explosion
Probably also the sand, looking not very
unlike the powder, may be intended to
screen it from view, and thus TO preserve
the secret, should the papers be opened
The UNHAPPY man no sooner touched the
Eliminating silver with knife. than it ex-
ploded with its usual violence the table
was spill! in two; blood issued coPiously
from every part ofhis face, mot from wounds:
for it does not appear that the fragments bit
him, but, according tn the opinion OF com.
petent Judge, the blood was actually forced
through the pores Of the skin by the power
Of the explosion, which very nearly de-
stroyed his eyes. He suffered immensely,
but at the end Of eight months. sees par.
italy with one eye, but the other is nearly,
if not quite destroyed.
Should not the tampering with such dan
gelous substances by ignorant people be
prevented by Jaw?
In a late lecture in the laboratory Of Yale
college some Eliminating silver, on the point
of a knife, was in the act Of being put upon
a copper plate connected with one pole OF
aga!vanick battery in active operation, the
other pole was not touched by the expert
menter; but it seems that the influence
which was communicated through the floor
of the room was sufficient instantly to ex-
plode the powder, as soon as the knife
touched the copper plate the knife blade
was broken in two, and one halfof II thrown
to distance among the audience.
Recently also, we are informed. in one OF
the foreign journals, that man in England,
who accidentally trod on a quantity OF to-