As a kid, the fun you have is bound by your ideas. Popular Mechanics has known this for a long time. In 1913, they published a book called “The Boy Mechanic” to help young kids around the world (correction: to help young boys around the US) have fun killing themselves playing with things.
Thanks to our friends at Project Gutenberg, you can now read the entire book for free. Project Gutenberg is devoted to providing access to out-of-print and out-of-copyright text to everyone for free. (Kind of like that Google Books project you’ve been hearing so much about, but these guys aren’t going to turn around and try to take over the world.)
Along with the full transcription of the book, they felt the need to include this disclaimer, which I feel is the best introduction possible:
These projects involve items such as gunpowder, acetylene, hydrogen, lead, mercury, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, cadmium, potassium sulfate, potassium cyanide, potassium ferrocyanide, copper sulfate, and hydrochloric acid. Several involve the construction of hazardous electrical devices. Please view these as snapshots of culture and attitude, not as suggestions for contemporary activity.
Wow. It was like a mainstream Anarchist Cookbook! (if you don’t know what that is, you missed out on some reckless can’t-yet-be-tried-as-an-adult fun)
The word “caution” only appears 11 times - and it is used mostly in the context of “if you don’t take caution to … this will not work” - not in the context of “Caution: You may die from the effects of playing with gunpowder in an enclosed space.” By contrast, the word “mercury” appears 51 times.
There are some helpful tips in the book, such as:
The pain of carbolic acid burns can be relieved promptly by washing with alcohol, if applied immediately. If too late for alcohol to be of use, brush with water containing saturated solution of picric acid.
In case you were wondering:
Two or three applications of milk which are wiped up with a dry cloth will remove india ink spots on carpets.
If you want to make a homemade Grenet battery, be prepared to:
Dip a piece of rag in a diluted solution of sulphuric acid (water 16 parts, acid 1 part); rub the zinc well, at the same time allowing a few drops of mercury to fall on a spot attacked by the acid. The mercury will adhere, and if the rubbing is continued so as to spread the mercury, it will cover the entire surface of the zinc, giving it a bright, silvery appearance.
I think we should revive this “amusement:”
Among the numerous exciting amusements in which boys may participate during the Fourth-of-July celebration is to make a cannon that will shoot life-sized dummies
dressed in old clothes. Building the cannon, as described in the following, makes it safe to fire and not dangerous to others, provided care is taken to place it at an angle of 45 deg. and not to fire when anyone is within its range.
After reading through many of the entries, I have concluded several things.
- Life was more fun before mercury was poisonous
- In 1913 boys had an insatiable desire to perform simple magic tricks
- Life was more fun before kids were mortal.
[Visit the Project Gutenberg page for The Boy Mechanic]
November 17th, 2005 at 11:13 am
I love Project Gutenberg. I’ve never spent so much time looking through so many books that I’ve never heard of. I think your conclusions are absolutely correct. Life was more fun before mercury was poisonous. Oh the days of rubbing mercury on my teeth to make them look like they were made of metal! Oh, and remember how much fun we had before x-rays went sour? Though I do have to say that I’ve learned from my many years of experience as a cub scout leader that boys today still have an insatiable desire to perform simple magic tricks. Maybe I should print out copies of The Boy Mechanic and give them to the scouts for Christmas. . .