You inform a person that at a certain hour, and in a certain place, he shall see the apparition of a deceased friend, (whose portrait you possess.) In order to produce this phantom, there must be a door which opens into an apartment to which there is a considerable descent. Under that door you are to place the portrait, which must be inverted and strongly illuminated, that it may be brightly reflected by the mirror, which must be large and well polished. Then having introduced the incredulous spectator at another door, and placed him in the proper point of view, you suddenly throw open the door, when to his great surprise he will view the apparition of his friend. _The Distorting Mirror._ Opticians sometimes grind a glass mirror concave in one direction only, or longitudinally; it is in fact a concave portion of a cylinder, the breadth of which may be considered that of the mirror. A person looking at his face in this mirror, in the direction of its concavity, will see it curiously distorted in a very lengthened appearance; and by turning the cylindrical mirror a quarter round, his visage will appear distorted another way, by an apparent increase in width only. If in a very near situation before it, you put your finger on the right hand side of your nose, it will appear the same in the mirror; but if in a distant situation, somewhat beyond the centre of concavity, you again look at your face in the mirror, your finger will appear to be removed to the other side of your nose. _Water colder than Ice._ Put a lump of ice into an equal quantity of water, heated to 176 degrees, the result will be, that the fluid will be no hotter than water just beginning to freeze; but if a little sea salt be added to the water, and it be heated only to 166 or 170, a fluid will be produced _colder than the ice was at first_. _Exploding Salt._ If a small quantity of powdered charcoal and hyper-oxymuriate of potash be rubbed together in a mortar, an explosion will be produced, and the charcoal inflamed. Three parts of this salt, and one of sulphur, rubbed together in a mortar, produce a violent detonation. If struck with a hammer on an anvil, there is an explosion like the report of a pistol. When concentrated sulphuric acid is poured upon this salt, there is a considerable explosion; it is thrown about to a great distance, sometimes with a red flame; and there is exhaled a brown vapour, accompanied with a strong odour. _Dioptrical Paradox._