The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-12-07
CURIOUS FIRE PASTE.
A Chemists Odd Discovery of New
 and Valuable Compound.

dIlu NdluttplS COlllpuulu.
 There is fire that never dies, and it is here, and in this world, too.
 This strange fire is of the consist ency of paste and is harmless while in quite state. The friction caused by rubbing it against, a hard surface will, will extinguish the flames, which will burn with blue light and an intense heat until the compound is completely destroyed by combustion. Water has no effect on it; it can be made into ball and thrown anywhere, and it will with slow but fierce combustion which makes 1t unlike any known fire spark to ignite them, and powder pro- duces an explosion, not a regular fire. To ignite this compound there is just the slightest friction of rubbing it against some ordinary substance. There is no explosion or rapid spread ing of flames, but strange, pasty sub- stance composed of living fire, which cannot be stamped out or killed in any known way
 John Floyd, the discoverer, has been for several years delving in all sorts of chemicals, as his numerous inventions required constant study. One day he wished to make a certain substance with which to experiment, and for that purpose placed in liquid some waste substances which he thought would when dissolved, produce the wished for-compound. But he found the ma- terial he wanted before the liquid was dissolved, so he left the jar containing the solution on the shelf for several weeks, thinking no more about it. Finally he thought of using the jar and, when lifting it. down from the shelf, some of the liquid split on the floor. MT. Floyd thought nothing about the matter till he noticed a sensation of heat about his foot, and, onlooking down, found that the soft paste which l had fallen out of the bottle had become mass of coft, f1ickering flames emit ting an intense heat, he put his foot on | the spot, stamping it out, as he thought and turned to his work.
 When he turned around again he saw | that instead of going out the fire paste i was steadily burning that his rubbing | it had only smeared it over the floor, and it was eating into the wood every i mmoment. He then threw several buck cts of water on the stuff, but the water had no effect other than to be convert | ed into puffs of steam, and the fire | burned steadily on, cutting its way through the soft pine flooring. As the experiments were being conducted in the back of drug store, which was filled with dangerous chemicals, he knew that something must be done to put stop to it's ravages or the whole place would be blown to atoms. l After many fruitles attempts to put l it out he procured a hatchet, and it was only by cutting out the entire square of the wood on which the paste rested that he succeeded in stopping
 the fire which burned at least for an hour.
 Afraid of the uses to which this dis
 covery might be put, MT. Floyd has never made the secrets of the ingre- dients public, but he says that the cost l! of making it Is so small that it can l easily be used instead of the cheapest |
 he will not let the formula become known, for incendiaries would take ad- vantage of it, and no place would be
 safe from burning. Those who use oil or dynamite or powder can be easily i traced, as some preparation is neces- sary, but with this liquid fire criminal who knew it's composition could burn his way noiselessly through any door, or set any home on fire by throwing
 against it ball of the composition.
 The cost of making this liquid fire is so small that it can be easily used in
 stead of coal in heating furnace. But
 the most valuable properties are those l which it possesses which are absolute | ly foreign to those of fire as known to
 us All forms of heat, except that of
 electricity, must be generated in some kind of furnace and be conStntly SUD- l piled with fuel, but this fire is both flame and fuel itself. About a cupful can be set on fire and it will burn with 1 steady glow for an hour.
 This wonderful fire can be utilized
 in the kitchen, and stoves can be dis pensed with altogether as entirely use less. In order to fry anything it is only necessary to hang the pan from a wire
 and smear over the bottom with a spoonful of the liquid. In an instant there will be a hot fire, which will burn for over an hour. So that the cook of
 the future can take her fire out into the country; it can be used in cooking in
 camping; there will be no coal bills,
 but the work of heating furnaces, of burning fires in grates, or running
 motors can be done by a harmless little spoonful of paste, which can be
 taken around in the vest pocket.
 Of it's practical uses there are no end, for the subject is yet in its infancy, the inventor, thinking but of the harm that
 might come, having stopped his ex- periments. He, however. says he in-
 tends to resume them and find out more
 about this explosionless, noiseless, un-
 quenchable paste, which is fire pure | and simple.-Cincinnati Enquirer.