Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1877-11-20

ONE OF PROFESSOR COOKIES MYSTERIES f
BLAMED.

ONE OF PROFESSOR COOKIES MYSTERIES EX-
BLAMED.
We give below an explanative, as furnished
by the Richmond Enquirer, of the 'water and
wine' trick of Prof. Cooke, which SO much
astonished some of our citizens when he exhi-
bited here recently his wonderful powers of
slight of hand.
One of the neatest and most striking of the
experiments performed by Professor Cooke in
the course of his entertainments was his So
called changing of water intoWin and the wine
back to water again. This was one OF the feats
which, as it did not come within the province
of SpiritualiSm, he did not feel called upon to
explain. 1t was his custom, however, to pro-
pose to his audiences to explain the mystery
to all who would come up after the entertain
ment and pay him So ach and sign pledge
not to reveal the secret. AS our own Informal
ton is derived from another source we are not
liable to hat restriction ard, therefore, give
our readers gratis the mode Of performing what
is after all nothing but a very pretty parior ex-
pertinent in chemistry. The feat is capable of
a good many variations, and with little dex-
terity and manipulation, such as a Snowman
employs, to lend it an air of mystery, very as
tonishing results are obtained.
To perform the experiment merely in an il
Illustrative way IN one glass put single drop
of the sulphocyanide of potassium. AS this
substance is colorless the glass will beappar-
emily empty. In second glass we have weak
solution of the sesquichloride of iron, which is
also colorless. The contents of the second glass,
which has all the appearance of wal er poured in
to the first glass containing the invisible drop
of sulphocyanide of potassium, will cause the
whole to turn of d rich and sparkling wine color
And now to change the wine back to water, or
in other words to discharge the wine color, we
have a third glass containing strong solution
of oxalic acid or hyposulphite Of soda. Pour
this upon the "wine" and the mixture resumes
at once the colorless transparency of water. In
place of the sesquichloride of iron the medici-
nal murated tipctnre Of iron may be used with
similar results.
In Professor Cookies mode of performing the
experiment, he comes before the audience with
a pitcher of real water, which is tested by the
committee. In his other hand he holds an ap-
parently empty glass, which really contains
few drops of the sesquichloride of iron In pour
ing the water from the pitcher into the glass the
tending to demonstrate to the audience that
the water is pure. He then hands around to the
committee glasses, some of which contain the
sulphocyanide of Potassium, and some con-
tanning nothing. In this manner, when he
pours the water FROM tha pitcher into the for
mer glasses the .'wine' is produced; in the lat
ter there is no change at all. He tells the COM
mtteemen to choose ihaudibly whether they
will take wine or water but he cannot, of course,
divine their choice, and makessfrequent mis-
takes, which the committee do not care to
speak of. This see4ns to be an eypedifnt to
| lend interest and form to the experiment..
| 1t is possible that we have not stated exactly
| the materials used by Professor Cooke, but
those we give will at least produce the same
results.