An excellent portable gas-making apparatus is made by H. L. Müller, 22 Mary Ann Street, Birmingham. See also p. 998.
_Matches._--An American writer, speaking of the defacement of paint by the inadvertent or heedless scratching of matches, says that he has observed that when one mark has been made others follow rapidly. To effectually prevent this, rub the spot with flannel saturated with any liquid vaseline. “After that, people may try to strike their matches there as much as they like, they will neither get a light nor injure the paint,” and, most singular, the petroleum causes the existing mark to soon disappear, at least when it occurs on dark paint. Matches should always be kept in metallic boxes, and out of the way of children and mice.
Countless accidents, as every one knows, arise from the use of matches. To obtain light without employing them, and so without the danger of setting things on fire, an ingenious contrivance is now used by the watchmen of Paris in all magazines where explosive or inflammable materials are kept. Any one may easily make trial of it. Take an oblong vial of the whitest and clearest glass, and put into it a piece of phosphorus about the size of a pea. Pour some olive oil heated to the boiling point upon the phosphorus; fill the vial about one-third full, and then cork it tightly. To use this novel light, remove the cork, allow the air to enter the vial, and then re-cork it. The empty space in the vial will become luminous, and the light obtained will be equal to that of a lamp. When the light grows dim, its power can be increased by taking out the cork and allowing a fresh supply of air to enter the vial. In winter it is sometimes necessary to heat the vial between the hands in order to increase the fluidity of the oil. The apparatus thus made may be used for six months. (_Chicago Times._)
_Electric Lighting._--This must not be undertaken without due knowledge or the assistance of skilled workmen. The subject is altogether too large for discussion here with any chance of making it clear and simple. The reader should refer to the works of Hospitalier and others who have made it a study. Allusion may here be made, however, to an essentially domestic system recently introduced by Hospitalier. His object is to provide 10 volt and 1½ ampère lamps operating 3 or 4 hours daily. The result aimed at is that the pile shall daily furnish a quantity of electric energy equal to that expended, and keep the accumulators continually charged. The accumulators form a reservoir, and compensate for the differences between the daily production (which is sensibly continuous) and the irregular production according to needs. This demands a continuous pile of slow discharge, in which the products consumed can be easily renewed, while repairs and supervision are minimised. The choice is a potash bichromate battery.