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A lesson in chemistry by Charles B. Cory. I took the powder as

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agreed, and sat down to read
the evening paper before retiring, with the

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result that I did not retire at
all. I became interested in an article

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on new explosives with which the government
has been lately experimenting, and had nearly

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finished it when I heard a voice
say to me, interesting subject, isn't

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it. I turned and saw seated
on my lounge a peculiar looking man.

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His clothes seemed to be all run
in together. You could make out the

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outlines of the man, but the
figure was not clear, sort of foggy.

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You know. What surprised me most
was that I could look right through

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him and see the back of the
lounge. I said to myself, is

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this a dream or the effect of
the powder I had taken? And I

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pinched my leg and rubbed my eyes. But although I seem to be perfectly

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wide awake, the shape did not
disappear. What did you say, I

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asked. I remarked that the subject
of high explosives was decidedly interesting, answered

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the shape. I was a chemist
when alive, but it makes me sad

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to think how very little I really
knew. Chemistry as well as the other

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branches of science, has made great
strides during the past generation since my day,

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but even now they really know very
little. But I answered, it

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seems to me the high explosives which
we now have are sufficiently powerful if we

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knew how to use them with safety. That's it, answered the shape.

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Now I have a couple of hours
to spare, and if it would interest

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you, and you care to come
over to my laboratory, I will be

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happy to give you one or two
points which may prove of value to you.

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I say my laboratory, but it
really is not mine. I use

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any laboratory that is handiest, and
I know most of the good ones in

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the city. You see, I
do not need to have a key to

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enter a room. That is one
of the great advantages we have, as

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you will discover one of these days. Just now, I can get you

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in very well. Because the owner
of the laboratory to which we will go

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is out of town. I will
go in first and unlock the door for

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you. I told him that I
should be most happy to accept his invitation.

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It seemed the most natural thing in
the world to be conversing with a

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ghost and to have him invite me
to go to somebody's laboratory and use up

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his chemicals. It never occurred to
me that it might not be considered quite

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good form. We went out of
my room and downstairs, the shadow floating

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alongside of me in the most friendly
manner possible. I could see by the

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position of his body that he had
hold of my arm, but his fingers

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did not show on my coat sleeve. We went uptown for perhaps half a

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mile and entered a large brick building
in which I noted were various studios.

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It was dark, but going up
three flights of stairs, my guide opened

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a door and ushered me into a
large and expensively furnished laboratory, evidently belonging

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to some scientific man of means and
experience. The ghost turned the button on

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the electric light, and then motioned
me to a seat. My time,

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he said, is somewhat limited,
because I have an appointment with a lady

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at twelve. But I'll show you
what a high explosive really is, and

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then if we have time, we
will talk of something else. The difficulty

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in high explosives is not in making
them, but in using them. After

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they are made, you create a
gigantic power which you do not know how

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to handle. The rather modern discovery
of how to make liquid air has simplified

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matters a good deal. When you
can make liquid hydrogen in quantities, you

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will have a still better agent for
many purposes. Now, let's take a

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little of this liquid air. You
see, it pours like water. As

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I happen to know, our absent
host has nearly two gallons of it,

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or had this afternoon. Some of
it has evaporated, but as you see,

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there is still more than a gallon
left, and we will not steal

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much as all we want for our
experiment to illustrate to you the greatest explosive

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which can be manufactured is about as
much liquid air as you can hold in

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a thimble. How do you propose
to try your explosive here? Mister I

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hesitated? By the way, what
is your name? Oh call me any

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old name, It does not matter, mister spook. Shall we say ahem

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a little personal perhaps, but it
will do as well as another. Now,

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as I was saying, I will
show you how to make the most

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powerful explosive that has ever been invented. It is possible that I did not

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show as much interest and enthusiasm as
he expected, and to tell the truth,

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I was a little nervous. Spooks
do not have the same interest in

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being careful in their experiments. An
accident or two is of little consequence to

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them, but might be decidedly disagreeable
to me. I may have shown something

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of what I was thinking in my
manner, for Spook looked at me keenly,

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what is the matter? You do
not appear interested. On the contrary,

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I answered, I am deeply so. But do we not run considerable

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risk in trying such experiments in a
laboratory without the consent of its owner.

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Not at all, Not at all. I will use a very very small

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amount of the explosive and there will
be no damage done. Have you attempted

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to make it before, mister Spook? I ventured, Oh yes, last

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week. That was a mistake,
you see now I know all about it.

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I didn't then. The explosive was
something awful. It blew the building

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pretty much all to pieces. If
I had been alive, I don't believe

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you could have found a piece of
me as large as your finger. They

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call it spontaneous combustion. However,
we won't have anything of that kind tonight.

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Please don't, I answered, no. I promise you. Now we

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will take a little of this red
phosphorus ordinary phosphorus will not answer, and

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pour a little liquid air on it, stir it gently as you see.

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Now, if I should let that
dry, it would explode at the slightest

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touch. But we do not want
that, and we wish to increase its

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power. So we add a little
chlorine of potassium. Now watch it dry.

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See the color change to a light
red brown. There. If you

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should strike that or put fire to
it, it would wreck this building as

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completely as if you'd exploded fifty pounds
of dynamite in it. I drew away

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from the table instinctively. Have no
fear. I will not explode it.

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Now watch me closely. I will
ignite a minute quantity, about as much

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as would make the head of a
small black pin or a number four bird

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shot. See the rest we will
put in a pail of water. There.

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Now all is ready, Here goes
He lit a match and touched the

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little brown dot. A tremendous explosion
followed, and the wooden table was split

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into pieces. The sound was so
terrific and the shock so unexpected, that

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I was dizzy and frightened. Good
heavens, I explained, you have broken

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everything in the laboratory, No,
replied the ghost, rather shamefacedly. Not

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so bad as all that. But
I'm afraid that I have ruined the table

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and cracked a few things. However, I will be more careful next time.

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It is even more powerful than I
thought. What do you suppose will

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be the effect on a warship if
struck by a shell containing one hundred pounds

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of that stuff? I answered that
she would be destroyed, destroyed, I

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should say she would the largest battleship
would be blown to atoms. Thus Bouch

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glanced up at the old fashioned Dutch
clock in the corner of the laboratory.

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Fine clock, that glad I didn't
break it with our little racket. Just

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now, I see I have nearly
an hour to spare. Is there any

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experiment you would like to try?
I said anything would interest me, but

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I didn't care for any more explosives. I suppose you know how to make

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diamonds, don't you? I answered
that for years Ben had tried to manufacture

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diamonds, but practically without success.
That as far as I was aware,

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they had only succeeded in making them
so small as to be practically of no

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use commercially, and the expense of
manufacture was far in excess of their value.

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That's all right, answered the spook. But really it is a very

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simple matter. Here I will make
a diamond for you. He walked across

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the room to the fireplace, and, taking from the grate a lump of

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coal about the size of a billiard
ball, he laid it upon the table.

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This, he said, is nearly
pure carbon, and as you are

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well aware, it is practically what
a diamond is. Now I will illustrate

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to you how you may make a
diamond from this piece of coal, which

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will be as good as any diamond
ever found in the mines. We will

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manufacture it instead of letting nature do
it. We will first place it in

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this glass bowl and pour over it
sufficient liquid air to cover it completely.

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We will let it remain until it
is thoroughly cold, say at least two

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hundred below zero. There Now,
all we have to do is to heat

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it and then subject it to a
powerful gray g hosephad five minutes to twelve.

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I must go appointment with a lady
at twelve. But I say,

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old fellow, just hold it under
a blowpipe until it gets hot, just

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as hot as you can. I
will be back soon, Tadah, his

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last words, came to me faintly
through the window he had already floated out.

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I took the queer colored piece of
coal and began heating it under the

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blowpipe. It did not burn as
I thought it would, but turned red

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and then white. Gradually it seemed
to grow larger and larger, brighter and

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brighter, until I opened my eyes
and found myself in bed, with the

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sun shining full upon me through the
open window. The end of a Lesson

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in Chemistry by Charles B. Cory