This remarkable operation unites utility with amusement. For being in the country, or in a place where there is no glazier nor glassman to be had, the following means will answer the purpose without their help. Take a bit of a walnut-tree, about the thickness of a candle, and cut one of its ends to a point; put that end in the fire, and let it burn till it is quite red. While the stick is burning, draw on the glass or crystal, with ink, the design or outline of the form in which you mean to cut it out. Then take a file or a bit of glass and scratch a little the place where you mean to begin your section; then take the wood red hot from the fire, and lay the point of it about the twentieth part of an inch, or thickness of a guinea, from the marked place; taking care to blow always on that point in order to keep it red; follow the drawing traced on the glass, leaving, as before, about the twentieth part of an inch interval every time that you present your piece of wood, which you must take care to blow often. After having followed exactly the outlines of your drawing, to separate the two pieces thus cut, you need only pull them up and down, and they will divide. CHAP. XXV. _To melt a Piece of Steel as if it was Lead, without requiring a very great Fire._ Take a piece of steel and put it in a crucible; then throw in a handful of antimony in powder: as soon as your crucible begins to be red, your piece of steel will melt like lead. Pour it afterwards into an earthen vessel, or a wedge-mould, to shew the company your operation has succeeded as you had promised. _Another Method of melting Steel, and to see it liquify._ Make a piece of steel quite red in the fire; then holding it with a pair of pincers or tongs, take in the other hand a stick of brimstone, and touch the piece of steel with it: immediately after their contact, you will see the steel melt and drop like a liquid. CHAP. XXVI. _To unite Wax and Water (Things absolutely opposite to each other); this Union made in the twentieth Part of a Minute, forms a good Pomatum to clean the Skin, and render it soft and white. It is a fine Cosmetic._ In order to make this mixture, (useful for many things) put in a glazed earthen pot quite new, six ounces of spring or river water, to two ounces of good white virgin wax; add to this a good pinch of salt of tartar. If you wish to conceal your operation, nothing is easier: make a little roll or stick of wax, in which you will introduce a pinch of salt of tartar; put these ingredients on the fire, and when they begin to heat, be attentive to stir them with a little stick, and you will see the union take place as soon as the wax melts; you will then have it at your option to render the pomatum, by the result of this operation, more or less liquid, by leaving it on the fire more or less time. CHAP. XXVII.