A lesson in chemistry by Charles B. Cory. I took the powder as
agreed, and sat down to read the evening paper before retiring, with the
result that I did not retire at all. I became interested in an article
on new explosives with which the government has been lately experimenting, and had nearly
finished it when I heard a voice say to me, interesting subject, isn't
it. I turned and saw seated on my lounge a peculiar looking man.
His clothes seemed to be all run in together. You could make out the
outlines of the man, but the figure was not clear, sort of foggy.
You know. What surprised me most was that I could look right through
him and see the back of the lounge. I said to myself, is
this a dream or the effect of the powder I had taken? And I
pinched my leg and rubbed my eyes. But although I seem to be perfectly
wide awake, the shape did not disappear. What did you say, I
asked. I remarked that the subject of high explosives was decidedly interesting, answered
the shape. I was a chemist when alive, but it makes me sad
to think how very little I really knew. Chemistry as well as the other
branches of science, has made great strides during the past generation since my day,
but even now they really know very little. But I answered, it
seems to me the high explosives which we now have are sufficiently powerful if we
knew how to use them with safety. That's it, answered the shape.
Now I have a couple of hours to spare, and if it would interest
you, and you care to come over to my laboratory, I will be
happy to give you one or two points which may prove of value to you.
I say my laboratory, but it really is not mine. I use
any laboratory that is handiest, and I know most of the good ones in
the city. You see, I do not need to have a key to
enter a room. That is one of the great advantages we have, as
you will discover one of these days. Just now, I can get you
in very well. Because the owner of the laboratory to which we will go
is out of town. I will go in first and unlock the door for
you. I told him that I should be most happy to accept his invitation.
It seemed the most natural thing in the world to be conversing with a
ghost and to have him invite me to go to somebody's laboratory and use up
his chemicals. It never occurred to me that it might not be considered quite
good form. We went out of my room and downstairs, the shadow floating
alongside of me in the most friendly manner possible. I could see by the
position of his body that he had hold of my arm, but his fingers
did not show on my coat sleeve. We went uptown for perhaps half a
mile and entered a large brick building in which I noted were various studios.
It was dark, but going up three flights of stairs, my guide opened
a door and ushered me into a large and expensively furnished laboratory, evidently belonging
to some scientific man of means and experience. The ghost turned the button on
the electric light, and then motioned me to a seat. My time,
he said, is somewhat limited, because I have an appointment with a lady
at twelve. But I'll show you what a high explosive really is, and
then if we have time, we will talk of something else. The difficulty
in high explosives is not in making them, but in using them. After
they are made, you create a gigantic power which you do not know how
to handle. The rather modern discovery of how to make liquid air has simplified
matters a good deal. When you can make liquid hydrogen in quantities, you
will have a still better agent for many purposes. Now, let's take a
little of this liquid air. You see, it pours like water. As
I happen to know, our absent host has nearly two gallons of it,
or had this afternoon. Some of it has evaporated, but as you see,
there is still more than a gallon left, and we will not steal
much as all we want for our experiment to illustrate to you the greatest explosive
which can be manufactured is about as much liquid air as you can hold in
a thimble. How do you propose to try your explosive here? Mister I
hesitated? By the way, what is your name? Oh call me any
old name, It does not matter, mister spook. Shall we say ahem
a little personal perhaps, but it will do as well as another. Now,
as I was saying, I will show you how to make the most
powerful explosive that has ever been invented. It is possible that I did not
show as much interest and enthusiasm as he expected, and to tell the truth,
I was a little nervous. Spooks do not have the same interest in
being careful in their experiments. An accident or two is of little consequence to
them, but might be decidedly disagreeable to me. I may have shown something
of what I was thinking in my manner, for Spook looked at me keenly,
what is the matter? You do not appear interested. On the contrary,
I answered, I am deeply so. But do we not run considerable
risk in trying such experiments in a laboratory without the consent of its owner.
Not at all, Not at all. I will use a very very small
amount of the explosive and there will be no damage done. Have you attempted
to make it before, mister Spook? I ventured, Oh yes, last
week. That was a mistake, you see now I know all about it.
I didn't then. The explosive was something awful. It blew the building
pretty much all to pieces. If I had been alive, I don't believe
you could have found a piece of me as large as your finger. They
call it spontaneous combustion. However, we won't have anything of that kind tonight.
Please don't, I answered, no. I promise you. Now we
will take a little of this red phosphorus ordinary phosphorus will not answer, and
pour a little liquid air on it, stir it gently as you see.
Now, if I should let that dry, it would explode at the slightest
touch. But we do not want that, and we wish to increase its
power. So we add a little chlorine of potassium. Now watch it dry.
See the color change to a light red brown. There. If you
should strike that or put fire to it, it would wreck this building as
completely as if you'd exploded fifty pounds of dynamite in it. I drew away
from the table instinctively. Have no fear. I will not explode it.
Now watch me closely. I will ignite a minute quantity, about as much
as would make the head of a small black pin or a number four bird
shot. See the rest we will put in a pail of water. There.
Now all is ready, Here goes He lit a match and touched the
little brown dot. A tremendous explosion followed, and the wooden table was split
into pieces. The sound was so terrific and the shock so unexpected, that
I was dizzy and frightened. Good heavens, I explained, you have broken
everything in the laboratory, No, replied the ghost, rather shamefacedly. Not
so bad as all that. But I'm afraid that I have ruined the table
and cracked a few things. However, I will be more careful next time.
It is even more powerful than I thought. What do you suppose will
be the effect on a warship if struck by a shell containing one hundred pounds
of that stuff? I answered that she would be destroyed, destroyed, I
should say she would the largest battleship would be blown to atoms. Thus Bouch
glanced up at the old fashioned Dutch clock in the corner of the laboratory.
Fine clock, that glad I didn't break it with our little racket. Just
now, I see I have nearly an hour to spare. Is there any
experiment you would like to try? I said anything would interest me, but
I didn't care for any more explosives. I suppose you know how to make
diamonds, don't you? I answered that for years Ben had tried to manufacture
diamonds, but practically without success. That as far as I was aware,
they had only succeeded in making them so small as to be practically of no
use commercially, and the expense of manufacture was far in excess of their value.
That's all right, answered the spook. But really it is a very
simple matter. Here I will make a diamond for you. He walked across
the room to the fireplace, and, taking from the grate a lump of
coal about the size of a billiard ball, he laid it upon the table.
This, he said, is nearly pure carbon, and as you are
well aware, it is practically what a diamond is. Now I will illustrate
to you how you may make a diamond from this piece of coal, which
will be as good as any diamond ever found in the mines. We will
manufacture it instead of letting nature do it. We will first place it in
this glass bowl and pour over it sufficient liquid air to cover it completely.
We will let it remain until it is thoroughly cold, say at least two
hundred below zero. There Now, all we have to do is to heat
it and then subject it to a powerful gray g hosephad five minutes to twelve.
I must go appointment with a lady at twelve. But I say,
old fellow, just hold it under a blowpipe until it gets hot, just
as hot as you can. I will be back soon, Tadah, his
last words, came to me faintly through the window he had already floated out.
I took the queer colored piece of coal and began heating it under the
blowpipe. It did not burn as I thought it would, but turned red
and then white. Gradually it seemed to grow larger and larger, brighter and
brighter, until I opened my eyes and found myself in bed, with the
sun shining full upon me through the open window. The end of a Lesson
in Chemistry by Charles B. Cory