As I promised last week while reviewing a blog about "unfarming," I've just finished a reread of an old Edwin Way Teale book - A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm. It's a book that will delight those who take pleasure in learning about the natural world. But the passage that most intrigued me this time taught me something about stagecraft of the 17th century:
“The fastest-burning material I have ever thrown into our fireplace was a handful of the infinitesimally small spores of the club moss, Lycopodium complanatum. When I tossed this living yellow dust, gathered in the woods, among the flames, it ignited in an almost instantaneous flash of brilliant light. This same light, produced in a similar way, stabbed across the stage in Shakespeare’s day when lycopodium powder was ignited to simulate lightning.”Pictures of the moss here; it's apparently native to the Upper Midwest, but I don't recall having seen any. Will need to keep my eyes open.
Google lycopodium experiments... the spores (powder) are used for all sorts of classroom demos, but most often some variation of what you describe. If you can't find or gather enough to play with, lycopodium powder is readily available for sale from educational vendors.
ReplyDeleteBlogged. Thanks for the heads-up, Lockwood.
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