Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-12-19
BOYS WHO WANT TO KNOW.
Youthful Chemists Who Sometimes
Get Their Fingers Burned I'm Ex.

xOutnful chemists Vine sometimes
Get Their Fingers Burned I'm Ex.
perimenting.
"You have no idea Of the number Of boys
who buy chemicals" said clerk in charge
OF the retail department Of large chemists
supply store "When / came here first
used to wonder whence they got their ideas
about chemistry. Just imagine boy Of IL
years coming in and asking for a quarter of
pound Of chlorate Of potash and 10 cents
worth of black oxide Of manganese. That's
what boy bought just before you came in.
asked him what he intended doing with the
chemicals, and he replied, "Make Oxygen
gas"
"Why do the boys dabble in chemistryF'
the reporter asked.
"They hear about it at school, where IN
many instances, weekly lectures ON physics
are given. 1t is surprising how much the lit
tie fellows really know, and with what judg.
ment they spend their money. They manu-.
facture their own apparatus and display con-
siderable ingenuity in doing it. The boy who
was here just now will make his oxygen just
as well as If he owned most expensive re-
tort. He will buy clay pipe with large
bowel; then he will get cork and fit it to the
bowel. To the end of the pipe stem he will
attach piece of small rubber tubing. Then
he will fill up the bowl of the pipe with q
mixture of his manganese and potash and
push the cork in tight. A wide-mouthed
pickle bottle will serve him for bell
glass. He will fill the bottle with
water and invert it in a basin Of wa
ter. Then he will put the bowl Of
the pipe in the fame of an alcohol lamp and
the free end of the rubber tube in the mouth
Of the bottle. The heat frees the oxygen gas
from the chemicals, and it finds its way
through the stem of the pipe and tubing into
the bottle, which is soon filled. Then the boy
can experiment with it with hot charcoal, or
piece of lighted candle, or whatever else
strikes his fancy"
what chemicals do they usually buys"
mostly the cheaper kinds. They like to
manufacture for themselves and consequent
" buy good deal of acid. Nitric and sui
phuric acid seem to please them most. They
prefer to make their own hydro-chloric acid,
which they manufacture from sulphuric acid
and salt. They buy good deal of sulphate
OF copper, which they use in making galvan-
ic batteries. They also use considerable al
cohol Occasionally they buy a blow pipe
for charcoal analysis. One little fellow
who comes in here made still out of glass
tubing. It had water jacket, and was
complete in every way. 1t answers as well
as one costing $25 or $780,
''Do they not sometimes burn themselves
with the acids, or get injured by explo,
sions"
Frequently. Only the other day the bot
tie in which one of them was making hydro
chloric acid burst. The boys hands and
face burned. It was nothing serious, how
ever. The saddest part of the affair was
that the youthful experimenter was soundly
whipped by his mother for spelling the car
pet, from which the acid took all the color"
Red Tape ON Brooklyn Bridge.
New York Tribune.
The floor of the Brooklyn bridge Is re-
paired with superior wariness and caution.
II q plank two-and -a-half inches wide and
ten feet in length is to be replaced a platoon
Of police forms Gordon about it with the
carpenter in the center. The plank is taken
up with precipitate haste, and two of the
most stalwart members of the squad are
stationed to guard the abyss, one at each end.
The reckless pedestrian approaching within
twenty feet of the chasm is warned by an
impressive motion Of the policeman's club
that he is risking his life to no purpose
When the new plank is substituted for the
old one the Gordon is reformed at another
point, the guards are deployed at suitable
distances, and the public is again protected
The arrangements are perfect SO far as the
pedestrians are concerned. There is no
chance Of their being precipitated through
that gap of two and half inches to the river
below. But the carpenter in his passionate
haste for completing the repairs before the
police can be tempted to desert their posts
ought to be protected against the possibility
Of indiscretion. II third stalwart police
man were detailed to stand guard over the
carpenter and caution him Ito go slow" and
even to catch his heels in the event of pre-
mature disappearance, the precautions would
be wholly adequate. As it is, there is slight
risk Of accident to the carpenter.