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Unlike Volta's Pistol
or the Powder Bomb, the aim
of this demonstration is not the loud explosion, but showing the ability
of the electrical spark to start a fire in a flammable substance. The ether
is held in the cup on the end of the handle, and a spark from a Leiden jar
is allowed to jump to the edge of the cup that has been moistened with ether.
The demonstration can also be done with alcohol. This apparatus is at Grinnell
College in Iowa. There is no maker's name; similar apparatus was $1.00 in
the 1888 Queen catalogue and $0.55 in the 1912 catalogue of C. H. Stoelting
of Chicago.
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