** Drying Photograph Prints without Curling [425]

Having made some photograph prints at one time that I wanted to dry without the edges curling, I took an ordinary tin can and a strip of clean cotton cloth, as wide as the can was long, and wound it one turn around the can and then placed the prints, one after the other, while they were damp, on the cloth, face downward, and proceeded to roll the cloth and prints quite close on the can.  I then pinned the end of the cloth to keep it from unwinding and set the whole in a draft for drying.

The curvature of the can just about

[Illustration:  Rolling Up the Prints]

counteracted the tendency of the coating on the paper to make the prints curl and when they were thoroughly dried and removed they remained nice and flat.  —­Contributed by W. H. Eppens, Chicago.

** Piercing Glass Plates with a Spark Coil [426]

Anyone possessing a 1-in. induction coil and a 1-qt.  Leyden jar can easily perform the interesting experiment of piercing glass plates.  Connect the Leyden jar to the induction coil as shown in the diagram.  A discharger is now constructed of very dry wood and boiled in paraffine for about 15 minutes.  The main part of the discharger, A B, is a piece of wood about 6 in. long and to the middle of it is fastened a wood handle by means of one or two wood screws.  A binding-post is fastened to each end of the main piece or at A and B as shown in the diagram.

[Illustration:  Puncturing Glass Plates]

Two stiff brass wires of No. 14 gauge and 6 in. long, with a small brass ball attached to one end of each, are bent in an arc of a circle and attached one to each binding-post.  A plate of glass, G, is now placed between the two brass balls and the coil set in action.  The plate will soon be pierced by the spark.  Larger coils will pierce heavier glass plates.  —­Contributed by I. Wolff, Brooklyn, N. Y.

** A Home-Made Still [426]

Remove the metal end of an old electric light globe.  This can be done by soaking a piece of twine in alcohol and tying it around the globe at the place the break is to be made.  Light the string and after it is burned off, turn cold water on the globe.  The result will be a smooth break where the string

[Illustration:  The Complete Still]

was placed.  Purchase a piece of glass tubing from your druggist and secure a cork that will fit the opening in the glass bulb.  Bore a hole in the cork the right size for the glass tube to fit in tightly.  If you cannot get a glass tube with a bend in it, you will have to make a bend, as shown in the illustration, by heating the tube at the right place over an alcohol lamp and allowing the weight of the glass to make the bend while it is hot.

Insert the short end of the tube in the cork and place the other end in a test tube that is placed in water as shown.  The globe may be fastened in position by a wire passed through the cork and tied to a ring stand.  If you do not have a ring stand, suspend the globe by a wire from a hook that is screwed into any convenient place.