CONTENTS.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by Chas. McArthur, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
[SECRETS OF THE LIQUOR TRADE.]
Cider Without Apples.—To each gallon of cold water, put 1 lb. common sugar, ½ oz. tartaric acid, 1 tablespoonful of yeast, shake well, make in the evening, and it will be fit for use next day. I make in a keg a few gallons at a time, leaving a few quarts to make into next time; not using yeast again until the keg needs rinsing. If it gets a little sour make a little more into it, or put as much water with it as there is cider, and put it with the vinegar. If it is desired to bottle this cider by manufacturers of small drinks, you will proceed as follows: Put in a barrel 5 gallons hot water, 30 lbs. brown sugar, ¾ lb. tartaric acid, 25 gallons cold water, 3 pints of hop or brewers' yeast worked into paste with ¾ lb. flour, and 1 pint water will be required in making this paste, put altogether in a barrel, which it will fill, and let it work 24 hours—the yeast running out at the bung all the time, by putting in a little occasionally to keep it full. Then bottle, putting in 2 or 3 broken raisins to each bottle, and it will nearly equal Champagne.
Cider Champagne, No. 1.—Good cider, 20 gallons; spirits, 1 gallon; honey or sugar, 6 lbs. Mix, and let them rest for a fortnight; then fine with skimmed milk, 1 quart. This, put up in champagne bottles, silvered and labeled, has often been sold for Champagne. It opens very sparkling.
Cider—To Keep Sweet.—1st. By putting into the barrel before the cider has begun to work, about half a pint of whole fresh mustard seed tied up in a coarse muslin bag. 2d. By burning a little sulphur or sulphur match in the barrel previous to putting in the cider. 3d. By the use of ¾ of an ounce of the bi-sulphite of lime to the barrel. This article is the preserving powder sold at rather a high price by various firms.
To Neutralize Whiskey to make various Liquors.—To 40 gallons of whiskey, add 1½ lbs. unslacked lime; ¾ lb. alum, and ½ pint of spirits of nitre. Stand 24 hours and draw it off.
Madeira Wine.—To 40 gallons prepared cider, add, ¼ lb. tartaric acid; 4 gallons spirits; 3 lbs. loaf sugar. Let it stand 10 days, draw it off carefully; fine it down, and again rack it into another cask.
Sherry Wine.—To 40 gallons prepared cider, add, 2 gallons spirits; 3 lbs. of raisins; 6 gallons good sherry, and ½ ounce oil bitter almonds, (dissolved in alcohol). Let it stand 10 days, and draw it off carefully; fine it down and again rack it into another cask.
Port Wine.—To 40 gallons prepared cider, add, 6 gallons good port wine; 10 quarts wild grapes, (clusters); ½ lb. bruised rhatany root; 3 oz. tincture of kino; 3 lbs. loaf sugar; 2 gallons spirits. Let this stand ten days; color if too light, with tincture of rhatany, then rack it off and fine it. This should be repeated until the color is perfect and the liquid clear.
To correct a bad Taste and sourness in Wine.—Put in a bag the root of wild horse-radish cut in bits. Let it down in the wine, and leave it there two days; take this out, and put another, repeating the same till the wine is perfectly restored. Or fill a bag with wheat; it will have the same effect.
To restore Flat Wine.—Add four or five pounds of sugar, honey, or bruised raisins, to every hundred gallons, and bung close. A little spirits may also be added.
To restore Wine that has turned sour or sharp.—Fill a bag with leek-seed, or of leaves or twisters of vine, and put either of them to infuse in the cask.
Ginger Wine.—Take one quart of 95 per cent. alcohol, and put into it one ounce of best ginger root (bruised and not ground), five grains of capsicum, and one drachm of tartaric acid. Let stand one week and filter. Now add one gallon of water, in which one pound of crushed sugar has been boiled. Mix when cold. To make the color, boil ½ ounce of cochineal, ¾ ounce of cream tartar, ½ ounce of saleratus, and ½ ounce alum in a pint of water till you get a bright red color.
French Brandy.—Pure spirits, 1 gallon; best French brandy, or any kind you wish to imitate, 1 quart; loaf sugar, 2 ounces; sweet spirits of nitre, ½ ounce; a few drops of tincture of catechu, or oak bark, to roughen the taste if desired, and color to suit.
Gin.—Take 100 gallons of clean, rectified spirits; add, after you have killed the oils well, 1½ ounces of the oil of English juniper, ½ ounce of angelica essence, ½ ounce of the oil bitter almonds, ½ ounce of the oil of coriander, and ½ ounce of the oil of caraway; put this into the rectified spirit and well rummage it up; this is what the rectifiers call strong gin.
To make this up, as it is called by the trade, add 45 pounds of loaf-sugar, dissolved; then rummage the whole well up together with 4 ounces of roche alum. For finings there may be added two ounces of salts of tartar.
Aromatic Schiedam Schnapps, to imitate.—To 25 gallons good common gin, 5 over proof, add 15 pints strained honey; 2 gallons clear water; 5 pints white-sugar syrup; 5 pints spirit of nutmegs mixed with the nitric ether; 5 pints orange-flower water; 7 quarts pure water; 1 ounce acetic ether; 8 drops of oil of wintergreen, dissolved with the acetic ether. Mix all the ingredients well; if necessary, fine with alum and salt of tartar.
St. Croix Rum.—To 40 gallons p. or n. spirits, add 2 gallons St. Croix Rum; 2 oz. acetic acid; 1½ ounce butyric acid; 3 pounds loaf sugar.
Pine-Apple Rum.—To 50 gallons rum, made by the fruit method, add 25 pine-apples sliced, and 8 pounds white sugar. Let it stand two weeks before drawing off.
Irish or Scotch Whiskey.—To 40 gallons proof spirits, add 60 drops of creosote, dissolved in 1 quart of alcohol; 2 oz. acetic acid; 1 pound loaf sugar. Stand 48 hours.
Rum Shrub.—Tartaric acid, 5 pounds; pale sugar, 100 pounds; oil lemon, 4 drs.; oil orange, 4 drs.; put them into a large cask (80 gallons), and add water, 10 gallons. Rummage till the acid and sugar are dissolved, then add rum (proof), 20 gallons; water to make up 55 gallons in all; coloring one quart or more. Fine with 12 eggs. The addition of 12 sliced oranges will improve the flavor.
Bourbon Whiskey.—To 100 gallons pure proof spirit, add 4 ounces pear oil; 2 ounces pelargonif ether; 13 drs. oil of wintergreen, dissolved in the ether; 1 gallon wine vinegar. Color with burnt sugar.
Strong Beer, English Improved.—Malt, 1 peck; coarse brown sugar, 6 pounds; hops, 4 ounces; good yeast, 1 teacup; if you have not malt, take a little over 1 peck of barley, (twice the amount of oats will do, but are not as good,) and put it into an oven after the bread is drawn, or into a stove oven, and steam the moisture from them. Grind coarsely. Now pour upon the ground malt 3½ gallons of water at 170 or 172° of heat. The tub in which you scald the malt should have a false bottom, 2 or 3 inches from the real bottom; the false bottom should be bored full of gimlet holes, so as to act as a strainer, to keep back the malt meal. When the water is poured on, stir them well, and let it stand 3 hours, and draw off by a faucet; put in 7 gallons more of water at 180 to 182°; stir it well, and let it stand 2 hours, and draw it off. Then put on a gallon or two of cold water, stir it well, and draw it off; you should have about 5 or 6 gallons. Put the 6 pounds of coarse brown sugar in an equal amount of water; mix with the wort, and boil 1½ to 2 hours with the hops; you should have eight gallons when boiled; when cooled to 80° put in the yeast, and let it work 18 to 20 hours, covered with a sack; use sound iron hooped kegs or porter bottles, bung or cork tight, and in two weeks it will be good sound beer, and will keep a long time; and for persons of a weak habit of body, and especially females, 1 glass of this with their meals is far better than tea or coffee, or all the ardent spirits in the universe. If more malt is used, not exceeding ½ a bushel, the beer, of course, would have more spirit, but this strength is sufficient for the use of families or invalids.
Root Beer.—For 10 gallons beer, take 3 pounds common burdock root, or 1 ounce essence of sassafras; ½ pound good hops; 1 pint corn, roasted brown. Boil the whole in 6 gallons pure water until the strength of the materials is obtained; strain while hot into a keg, adding enough cold water to make 10 gallons. When nearly cold, add clean molasses or syrup until palatable,—not sickishly sweet. Add also as much fresh yeast as will raise a batch of 8 loaves of bread. Place the keg in a cellar or other cool place, and in 48 hours you will have a keg of first-rate sparkling root beer.
Superior Ginger Beer.—Ten pounds of sugar; 9 ounces of lemon juice; ½ a pound of honey; 11 ounces of bruised ginger root; 9 gallons of water; 3 pints of yeast. Boil the ginger half an hour in a gallon of water; then add the rest of the water and the other ingredients, and strain it when cold. Add the white of an egg, beaten, and ½ an ounce of essence of lemon. Let it stand 4 days, then bottle, and it will keep many months.
Spruce Beer.—Take of the essence of spruce half a pint; bruised pimento and ginger, of each four ounces; water, three gallons. Boil five or ten minutes, then strain and add 11 gallons of warm water, a pint of yeast, and six pints of molasses. Allow the mixture to ferment for 24 hours.
To Cure Ropy Beer.—Put a handful or two of flour, and the same quantity of hops, with a little powdered alum, into the beer and rummage it well.
To give Beer the appearance of Age.—Add a few handfuls of pickled cucumbers and Seville oranges, both chopped up. This is said to make malt liquor appear six months older than it really is.
How to make Mead.—The following is a good receipt for Mead:—On twenty pounds of honey pour five gallons of boiling water; boil, and remove the scum as it rises; add one ounce of best hops, and boil for ten minutes; then put the liquor into a tub to cool; when all but cold add a little yeast, spread upon a slice of toasted bread; let it stand in a warm room. When fermentation is set up, put the mixture into a cask, and fill up from time to time as the yeast runs out of the bunghole; when the fermentation is finished, bung it down, leaving a peg-hole which can afterwards be closed, and in less than a year it will be fit to bottle.
Stomach Bitters, equal to Hostetter's, for one-fourth its cost.—European Gentian root, 1½ ounce; orange peel, 2½ ounces; cinnamon, ¼ ounce; aniseseed, ½ ounce; coriander seed, ½ ounce; cardamon seed, ⅛ ounce; unground Peruvian bark, ½ ounce; gum kino, ¼ ounce; bruise all these articles, and put them into the best alcohol, 1 pint; let it stand a week and pour off the clear tincture: then boil the dregs a few minutes in 1 quart of water, strain, and press out all the strength; now dissolve loaf sugar, 1 pound, in the hot liquid, adding 3 quarts cold water, and mix with spirit tincture first poured off, or you can add these, and let it stand on the dregs if preferred.
Soda Syrup, with or without Fountains.—The common or more watery syrups are made by using loaf or crushed sugar, 8 pounds; pure water, 1 gallon, gum arabic, 2 ounces, mix in a brass or copper kettle; boil until the gum is dissolved, then skim and strain through white flannel, after which add tartaric acid, 5½ oz., dissolved in hot water; to flavor, use extract of lemon, orange, rose, pine-apple, peach, sarsaparilla, strawberry, etc., ½ ounce to each bottle, or to your taste.
Bead for Liquor.—The best bead is the orange-flower water bead, (oil of neroli,) 1 drop to each gallon of brandy. Another method:—To every 40 drops of sulpuric acid, add 60 drops purest sweet oil in a glass vessel; use immediately. This quantity is generally sufficient for 10 gallons spirit. Another:—take 1 ounce of the purest oil sweet almonds; 1 ounce of sulphuric acid; put them in a stone mortar, add, by degrees, 2 ounces white lump sugar, rubbing it well with the pestle till it becomes a paste; then add small quantities of spirits of wine till it comes into a liquid. This quantity is sufficient for 100 gallons. The first is strongly recommended as the best.
Coloring for Liquors.—Take 2 pounds crushed or lump sugar, put it into a kettle that will hold 4 to 6 quarts, with ½ tumbler of water. Boil it until it is black, then take it off and cool with water, stirring it as you put in the water.
Wax Putty for Leaky Casks, Bungs, etc.—Spirits turpentine, 2 pounds; tallow, 4 pounds; solid turpentine, 12 pounds. Melt the wax and solid turpentine together over a slow fire, then add the tallow. When melted, remove far from the fire, then stir the spirits turpentine, and let it cool.
Cement for the Mouths of Corked Bottles.—Melt together ¼ of a pound of rosin, a couple of ounces of beeswax. When it froths stir it with a tallow candle. As soon as it melts, dip the mouths of the corked bottles into it. This is an excellent thing to exclude the air from such things as are injured by being exposed to it.
[DRUGGISTS' DEPARTMENT.]
Arnica Liniment.—Add to one pint of sweet oil, two tablespoonfuls of tincture of arnica; or the leaves may be heated in the oil over a slow fire. Good for wounds, stiff joints, rheumatic, and all injuries.
Ayer's Cherry Pectoral.—Take four grains of acetate of morphia, 2 fluid drachms of tincture of bloodroot, 7 fluid drachms each of antimonial wine and wine of ipecacuanha, and 3 fluid ounces of syrup of wild cherry. Mix.
Balm Gilead.—Balm-gilead buds, bottled up in new rum, are very healing to fresh cuts or wounds. No family should be without a bottle.
Blackberry Cordial.—To one quart of blackberry juice, add one pound of white sugar, one tablespoonful of cloves, one of allspice, one of cinnamon, and one of nutmeg. Boil all together fifteen minutes; add a wineglass of whiskey, brandy or rum. Bottle while hot, cork tight, and seal. This is almost a specific in diarrhea. One dose, which is a wineglassful for an adult—half that quantity for a child—will often cure diarrhea. It can be taken three or four times a day if the case is severe.
Brandreth's Pills.—Take two pounds of aloes, one pound of gamboge, four ounces of extract of colocynth, half a pound of castile soap, two fluid drachms of oil of peppermint, and one fluid drachm of cinnamon. Mix, and form into pills.
Brown's Bronchial Troches.—Take one pound of pulverized extract of licorice, one and a half pounds of pulverized sugar, four ounces of pulverized cubebs, four ounces of pulverized gum arabic, and one ounce of pulverized extract of conium. Mix.
Bryan's Pulmonic Wafers for Coughs, Colds, Etc.—Take white sugar, seven pounds; tincture of syrup of ipecac, four ounces: antimonial wine, two ounces; morphine, ten grains; dissolved in a tablespoonful of water, with ten or fifteen drops sulphuric acid; tincture of bloodroot, one ounce; syrup of tolu, two ounces; add these to the sugar, and mix the whole mass as confectioners do for lozenges, and cut into lozenges the ordinary size. Use from six to twelve of these in twenty-four hours. They sell at a great profit.
Candied Lemon or Peppermint, for Colds.—Boil one and a half pounds of sugar in a half pint of water, till it begins to candy round the sides; put in eight drops of essence; pour it upon buttered paper, and cut it with a knife.
Camphor Balls, for rubbing on the hands, to prevent chaps, etc.—Melt three drachms of spermaceti, four drachms of white wax, and one ounce of almond oil; stir in three drachms of powdered camphor. Pour the compound into small gallipots, so as to form small hemispherical cakes. They may be colored with alkanet, if preferred.
Camphorated Oil.—This is another camphor liniment. The proportions are the same as in the preceding formula, substituting olive oil for the alcohol, and exposing the materials to a moderate heat. As an external stimulant application it is even more powerful than the spirits; and to obtain its full influence the part treated should be also covered with flannel and oil silk. It forms a valuable liniment in chronic rheumatism and other painful affections, and is specially valuable as a counter-irritant in sore or inflamed throats and diseased bowels. Camphor constitutes the basis of a large number of valuable liniments. Thus, in cases of whooping-cough and some chronic bronchitic affections, the following liniment may be advantageously rubbed into the chest and along the spine. Spirits of camphor, two parts; laudanum, half a part; spirits of turpentine, one part; castile soap in powder, finely divided, half an ounce; alcohol, 3 parts. Digest the whole together for three days, and strain through linen. This liniment should be gently warmed before using. A powerful liniment for old rheumatic pains, especially when affecting the loins, is the following: camphorated oil and spirits of turpentine, of each two parts; water of hartshorn, one part; laudanum, one part; to be well shaken together. Another very efficient liniment or embrocation, serviceable in chronic painful affections, may be conveniently and easily made as follows: Take of camphor, one ounce; cayenne pepper, in powder, two teaspoonfuls; alcohol, one pint. The whole to be digested with moderate heat for ten days, and filtered. It is an active rubificant; and after a slight friction with it, it produces a grateful, thrilling sensation of heat in the pained part, which is rapidly relieved.
Camphor Tablet for Chapped Hands, etc.—Melt tallow, and add a little powdered camphor and glycerine, with a few drops of oil of almonds to scent. Pour in molds and cool.
Camphorated Eye-Water.—Sulphate of copper, 15 grains; French bolo, 15 grains; camphor, 4 grains; boiling water, 4 oz. Infuse, strain, and dilute with 2 quarts of cold water.
Canker-Cure.—Take one large teaspoonful of water, two teaspoonfuls of honey, two of loaf sugar, three of powdered sage, two of powdered gold-thread, and one of alum. Stir up all together; put into a vessel, and let it simmer moderately over a steady fire. An oven is better. Then bottle for use. Give a teaspoonful occasionally through the day.
Cephalic Snuff.—Dried asarbacca leaves, three parts; majoram, one part, lavender flowers, one part; rub together to a powder.
Certain Cure for Headache and all Neuralgic Pains.—Opodeldoc, spirits of wine, sal ammoniac, equal parts. To be applied as any other lotion.
Chamomile Pills.—Aloes, twelve grains; extract chamomile, thirty-six grains; oil of chamomile, three drops; make into twelve pills: two every night, or twice a day.
Chlorine Pastiles for Disinfecting the Breath.—Dry chloride of lime, two drachms; sugar, eight ounces; starch, one ounce, gum tragacanth, one drachm; carmine, two grains. Form into small lozenges.
2. Sugar flavored with vanilla, 1 ounce; powdered tragacanth, 20 grains; liquid chloride of soda sufficient to mix; add two drops of any essential oil. Form a paste and divide into lozenges of 15 grains each.
Cholera Morbus.—Take two ounces of the leaves of the bene plant, put them in half a pint of cold water and let them soak an hour. Give two tablespoonfuls hourly, until relief is experienced.
Cholera Remedy.—Spirits of wine, one ounce; spirits of lavender, quarter ounce; spirits of camphor, quarter ounce; compound tincture of benzoin, half an ounce; oil of origanum, quarter ounce; twenty drops on moist sugar. To be rubbed outwardly also.
2. Twenty-five minims of diluted sulphuric acid in an ounce of water.
Corn Remedy.—Soak a piece of copper in strong vinegar for twelve or twenty-four hours. Pour the liquid off, and bottle. Apply frequently, till the corn is removed.
2. Supercarbonate of soda, one ounce, finely pulverized, and mix with half an ounce of lard. Apply on a linen rag every night.
Cough Compound.—For the cure of coughs, colds, asthma, whooping cough and all diseases of the lungs; One spoonful of common tar, three spoonfuls of honey, the yolk of three hen's eggs, and half a pint of wine; beat the tar, eggs and honey well together with a knife, and bottle for use. A teaspoonful every morning, noon and night, before eating.
Cough Syrup.—Put one quart hoarhound to one quart water, and boil it down to a pint; add two or three sticks of licorice and a tablespoonful of essence of lemon. Take a tablespoonful of the syrup three times a day, or as often as the cough may be troublesome. The above receipt has been sold for $100. Several firms are making much money by its manufacture.
Cure for Diarrhea.—The following is said to be an excellent cure for the above distressing complaint: Laudanum, two ounces; spirits of camphor, two ounces; essence of peppermint, two ounces; Hoffman's anodyne, two ounces; tincture of cayenne pepper, two drachms; tincture of ginger, one ounce. Mix all together. Dose, teaspoonful in a little water, or a half teaspoonful repeated in an hour afterward in a tablespoonful of brandy. This preparation it is said, will check diarrhea in ten minutes, and abate other premonitory symptoms of cholera immediately. In cases of cholera, it has been used with great success to restore reaction by outward application.
Digestive Pills.—Rhubarb, two ounces; ipecacuanha, half an ounce; cayenne pepper, quarter of an ounce; soap, half an ounce; ginger, quarter of an ounce; gamboge, half an ounce. Mix, and divide into four grain pills.
Dried Herbs.—All herbs which are to be dried should be washed, separated, and carefully picked over, then spread on a coarse paper and keep in a room until perfectly dry. Those which are intended for cooking should be stripped from the stems and rubbed very fine. Then put them in bottles and cork tightly. Put those which are intended for medicinal purposes into paper bags, and keep them in a dry place.
Dysentery Specific, (particularly for bloody dysentery in Adults and Children.)—Take one pound gum arabic, one ounce gum tragacanth, dissolved in two quarts of soft water, and strained. Then take one pound of cloves, half a pound of cinnamon, half a pound allspice, and boil in two quarts of soft water, and strain. Add it to the gums, and boil all together over a moderate fire, and stir into it two pounds of loaf sugar. Strain the whole again when you take it off, and when it is cool, add to it half a pint sweet tincture rhubarb, and a pint and a half of best brandy. Cork it tight in bottles, as the gums will sour, if exposed. If corked properly it will keep for years.
Anti-Bilious Pills.—Compound extract of colocynth, 60 grains; rhubarb, 30 grains; soap, 10 grains. Make into 24 pills. Dose 2 to 4.
2. Compound extract of colocynth, 2 drachms; extract of rhubarb, half a drachm; soap, 10 grains. Mix, and divide into 40 pills. Dose, 1, 2, or 3.
3. Scammony, 10 to 15 grains; compound extract of colocynth, 2 scruples; extract of rhubarb, half a drachm; soap, 10 grains; oil of caraway, 5 drops. Make into 20 pills. Dose, 1 or 2, as required.
Great Pain Extractor.—Spirits of ammonia, one ounce; laudanum, one ounce; oil of organum, one ounce; mutton tallow, half-pound; combine the articles with the tallow when it is nearly cool.
Godfrey's Cordial.—Sassafras, six ounces; seeds of coriander, caraway and anise, of each one ounce; infuse in six pints of water; simmer the mixture till reduced to four pints; then add six pounds of molasses; boil a few minutes; when cold, add three fluid ounces of tincture of opium. For children teething.
Hydrophobia, to Prevent.—Elecampane, one drachm; chalk, four drachms; Armenian bole, three drachms; alum, ten grains; oil of aniseseed, five drops.
Infant's Syrup.—The syrup is made thus: one pound best box raisins, half an ounce of aniseseed, two sticks licorice; split the raisins, pound the aniseseed, and cut the licorice fine; add to it three quarts of rain water, and boil down to two quarts. Feed three or four times a day, as much as the child will willingly drink. The raisins are to strengthen, the anise is to expel the wind, and the licorice as a physic.
Basilicon Ointment.—Good resin, five parts; lard, eight parts; yellow wax, two parts. Melt, and stir together till cool.
Cancer Ointment.—White arsenic, sulphur, powdered flowers of lesser spearwort, and stinking chamomile, levigated together and formed into a paste with white of egg.
Elder Flower Ointment.—Lard, twenty-five pounds; prepared mutton suet, five pounds; melt in an earthen vessel; add elder flower water, three gallons. Agitate for half an hour, and set it aside; the next day gently pour off the water, remelt the ointment, add benzoic acid three drachms; otto of roses, twenty drops; essence of bergamot and oil of rosemary, of each, thirty drops; again agitate well, let it settle for a few minutes, and pour off the clear into pots.
Eruption Ointment, for Frosted Feet, etc.—Chrome yellow, and hog's lard.
Foot Ointment (for all domestic animals).—Equal parts of tar, lard and resin, melted together.
Golden Ointment.—Orpiment, mixed with lard to the consistence of an ointment.
Pile Ointment.—Powdered nutgall, two drachms; camphor, one drachm; melted wax, one ounce; tincture of opium, two drachms. Mix.
Swaim's Vermifuge.—Wormseed, two ounces: valerian, rhubarb, pink-root, white agaric, of each, one and a half ounces; boil in sufficient water to yield three quarts of decoction, and add to it thirty drops of oil of tansy, and forty-five drops of oil of cloves, dissolved in a quart of rectified spirits. Dose, one teaspoonful at night.
For Tetter, Ringworm, and Scald Head.—One pound simple cerate; sulphuric acid, one-quarter of a pound; mix together, and ready for use.
Tincture for Wounds.—Digest flowers of St. Johnswart, one handful, in half a pint of rectified spirits, then express the liquor and dissolve it in myrrh, aloes, and dragon's blood, of each one drachm, with Canada balsam, half an ounce.
Tonic.—The following is the tonic used by reformed drunkards to restore the vigor of the stomach. Take of gentian root, half an ounce; valerian root, one drachm; best rhubarb root, two drachms; bitter orange peel, three drachms; cardamom seeds, half an ounce; and cinnamon bark, one drachm. Having bruised all the above together in a mortar (the druggist will do it if requested), pour upon it one and a half pints of boiling water and cover up close; let it stand till cold; strain, bottle, and cork securely; keep in a dark place. Two tablespoonfuls may be taken every hour before meals, and half that quantity whenever the patient feels that distressing sickness and prostration so generally present for some time after alcoholic stimulants have been abandoned.
Whooping Cough.—Mix a quarter of a pound of ground elecampane root in half a pint of strained honey and half a pint of water. Put them in a glazed earthen pot, and place it in a stone oven, with half the heat required to bake bread. Let it bake until about the consistency of strained honey, and take it out. Administer in doses of a teaspoonful before each meal, to a child; if an adult, double the dose.
Wild Cherry Bitters.—Boil a pound of wild cherry bark in a quart of water till reduced to a pint. Sweeten and add a little rum to preserve, or, if to be used immediately, omit the rum. Dose, a wineglassful three times a day, on an empty stomach.
A Certain Cure for Drunkenness.—Sulphate of iron, 5 grains; magnesia, 10 grains peppermint water, 11 drachms; spirits of nutmeg, 1 drachm; twice a day. This preparation acts as a tonic and stimulant, and so partially supplies the place of the accustomed liquor, and prevents that absolute physical and moral prostration that follows a sudden breaking off from the use of stimulating drinks.
[MANUFACTURERS' DEPARTMENT.]
Indelible Ink for Marking Clothing.—Nitrate of silver, five scruples; gum arabic, two drachms; sap green, one scruple; distilled water, one ounce; mix together. Before writing on the article to be marked, apply a little of the following: carbonate of soda, one-half ounce; distilled water, four ounces; let this last, which is the mordant, get dry; then, with a quill pen, write what you require.
Imitation Gold.—16 parts platina; 7 parts copper; 1 part zinc. Put in a covered crucible, with powdered charcoal, and melt together till the whole forms one mass, and are thoroughly incorporated together. Or, take 4 oz. platina, 3 oz. silver, 1 oz. copper.
Imitation Silver.—11 oz. refined nickel; 2 oz. metalic bismuth. Melt the compositions together three times, and pour them out in ley. The third time, when melting, add 2 oz. pure silver. Or take ¼ oz. copper, 1 oz. bismuth, 2 oz. saltpetre, 2 oz. common salt, 1 oz. arsenic, 1 oz. potash, 2 oz. brass, and 3 oz. pure silver. Melt all together in a crucible.
Recipe for Making Artificial Honey.—To 10 lbs. sugar add 3 lbs. water, 40 grains cream tartar, 10 drops essence peppermint, and 3 lbs. strained honey. First dissolve the sugar in water, and take off the scum; then dissolve the cream of tartar in a little warm water, which you will add with some little stirring; then add the honey; heat to a boiling point, and stir for a few minutes.
Vinegar.—Take forty gallons of soft water, six quarts of cheap molasses, and six pounds of acetic acid; put them into a barrel (an old vinegar barrel is best), and let them stand from three to ten weeks, stirring occasionally. Add a little "mother" of old vinegar if convenient. Age improves it.
Soft Soap.—Dissolve fifteen pounds of common cheap hard soap in fifteen gallons of hot water, and let it cool. Then dissolve fifteen pounds of sal soda in fifteen gallons of hot water; add six pounds of unslaked lime, and boil twenty minutes. Let it cool and settle, and then pour off the clear liquor very carefully and mix it with the soap solution. It improves it very much to add one quart of alcohol after mixing the two solutions. Smaller quantities can be made in the same proportions. If too strong, add water to suit.
Babbit's Premium Soap.—5 gals, strong ley; 5 gals water; 5 lbs. tallow; 1 lb. potash; 2 lbs. sal soda; ½ lb. rosin; 1 pt. salt; 1 pt. washing fluid. Let the water boil; then put in the articles, and boil half an hour. Stir it well while boiling, and then run into moulds. It will be ready for use as soon as cold. The above preparations are for 100 pounds of soap.
Celebrated Recipe for Silver Wash.—One ounce of nitric acid, one ten-cent piece, and one ounce of quick-silver. Put in an open glass vessel and let it stand until dissolved; then add one pint of water, and it is ready for use. Make it into a powder by adding whiting, and it may be used on brass, copper, German silver, etc.
Cement for Aquaria.—Many persons have attempted to make aquarium, but have failed on account of the extreme difficulty in making the tank resist the action of water for any length of time. Below is a recipe for a cement that can be relied upon; it is perfectly free from anything that injures the animals or plants; it sticks to glass, metal, wood, stone, etc., and hardens under water. A hundred different experiments with cements have been tried, but there is nothing like it. It is the same as that used in constructing the tanks of the Zoological Gardens, London, and is almost unknown in this country. One part, by measure, say a gill, of litharge; one gill of plaster of Paris; one gill of dry, white sand, one-third of a gill of finely-powdered resin. Sift and keep corked tight until required for use, when it is to be made into a putty by mixing in boiled oil (linseed) with a little patent dryer added. Never use it after it has been mixed (that is, with the oil) over fifteen hours. This cement can be used for marine as well as fresh water aquaria, as it resists the action of salt water. The tank can be used immediately, but it is best to give it three or four hours to dry.
Cement for Attaching Metal to Glass.—Take two ounces of a thick solution of glue, and mix it with one ounce of linseed-oil varnish, and half an ounce of pure turpentine; the whole are then boiled together in a close vessel. The two bodies should be clamped and held together for about two days after they are united, to allow the cement to become dry. The clamps may then be removed.
Cement for Mending Broken China.—Stir plaster of Paris into a thick solution of gum arabic, till it becomes a viscous paste. Apply it with a brush to the fractured edges, and draw the parts closely together.
Cement for Mending Steam Boilers.—Mix two parts of finely powdered litharge with one part of very fine sand, and one part of quicklime which has been allowed to slack spontaneously by exposure to the air. This mixture may be kept for any length of time without injury. In using it a portion is mixed into paste with linseed oil, or, still better, boiled linseed oil. In this state it must be quickly applied, as it soon becomes hard.
Cheap White House Paint.—Take skim milk, two quarts, eight ounces fresh slaked lime, six ounces linseed oil; two ounces white Burgundy pitch, three pounds Spanish white. Slake the lime in water, expose it to the air, and mix in about one-quarter of the milk, the oil, in which the pitch is previously dissolved, to be added, a little at the time; then the rest of the milk, and afterwards the Spanish white. This quantity is sufficient for thirty square yards, two coats, and costs but a few cents. If the other colors are wanted, use, instead of Spanish white, other coloring matter.
Composition for House-Roofs.—Take one measure of fine sand, two of sifted wood-ashes, and three of lime, ground up with oil. Mix thoroughly, and lay on with a painter's brush, first a thin coat and then a thick one. This composition is not only cheap, but it strongly resists fire.
Diamond Cement.—Isinglass, one ounce; distilled vinegar, five and a half ounces; spirits of wine, two ounces; gum ammoniacum, half an ounce; gum mastic, half an ounce. Mix well.
French Polish.—To one pint of spirits of wine, add a quarter of an ounce of gum copal, a quarter of an ounce of gum arabic, and one ounce of shellac. Let the gums be well bruised, and sifted through a piece of muslin. Put the spirits and the gums together in a vessel that can be closely corked; place them near a warm stove, and frequently shake them; in two or three days they will be dissolved; strain the mixture through a piece of muslin, and keep it tightly corked for use.
Furniture Oil for Polishing and Staining Mahogany.—Take of linseed oil, one gallon; alkanet root, three ounces; rose pink, one ounce. Boil them together ten minutes, and strain so that the oil be quite clear. The furniture should be well rubbed with it every day until the polish is brought up, which will be more durable than any other.
Glue for ready Use.—To any quantity of glue use common whiskey instead of water. Put both together in a bottle, cork tight, and set it away for three or four days, when it will be fit for use without the application of heat.
A Quart of Ink, for a Dime.—Buy extract of logwood, which may be had at three cents an ounce, or cheaper by the quantity. Buy also, for three cents, an ounce of bi-chromate of potash. Do not make a mistake, and get the simple chromate of potash. The former is orange red, and the latter clear yellow. Now, take half an ounce of extract of logwood and ten grains of bi-chromate of potash, and dissolve them in a quart of hot rain water. When cold, pour it into a glass bottle, and leave it uncorked for a week or two. Exposure to the air is indispensable. The ink is then made, and has cost five to ten minutes' labor, and about three cents, beside the bottle. The ink is at first an intense steel blue, but becomes quite black.
An Excellent Substitute for Ink.—Put a couple of iron nails into a teaspoonful of vinegar. In half an hour pour in a tablespoonful of strong tea, and then you will have ink enough for a while.
Ink, First-Rate Black.—Take twelve pounds of bruised galls, five pounds of gum Senegal, five pounds of green sulphate of iron, and twelve gallons of rain water. Boil the galls with nine gallons of water for three hours, adding fresh water to replace what is lost by evaporation. Let the decoction settle, and draw off the clear liquor; add to it a strained solution of the gum; dissolve also the sulphate of iron separately, and mix the whole.
Ink, Blue.—Chinese blue, three ounces; oxalic acid, (pure,) three-quarters of an ounce; gum arabic, powdered, one ounce; distilled water, six pints. Mix.
Ink, Cheap Printing.—Take equal parts of lampblack and oil; mix and keep on the fire till reduced to the right consistency. This is a good ink for common purposes, and is very cheap. We have used it extensively ourselves.
Ink, Copying.—Dissolve half an ounce of gum and twenty grains of Spanish licorice in thirteen drachms of water, and add one drachm of lampblack, previously mixed with a teaspoonful of sherry.
Ink, Indelible.—To four drachms of lunar caustic, in four ounces of water, add 60 drops of nutgalls, made strong by being pulverized and steeped in soft water. The mordant, which is to be applied to the cloth before writing, is composed of one ounce of pearlash, dissolved in four ounces of water, with a little gum arabic dissolved in it. Wet the spot with this; dry and iron the cloth; then write.
Ink, Indelible Marking.—One and a half drachms of nitrate of silver, one ounce of distilled water, half an ounce of strong mucilage of gum arabic, three-quarters of a drachm of liquid ammonia. Mix the above in a clean glass bottle, cork tightly, and keep in a dark place till dissolved, and ever afterwards. Directions for use: Shake the bottle, then dip a clean quill pen in the ink, and write or draw what you require on the article; immediately hold it close to the fire (without scorching), or pass a hot iron over it, and it will become a deep and indelible black, indestructible by either time or acids of any description.
Ink, Indestructible.—On many occasions it is of importance to employ an ink indestructible by any process, that will not equally destroy the material on which it is applied. For black ink, twenty-five grains of copal, in powder, are to be dissolved in two hundred grains of oil of lavender, by the assistance of a gentle heat, and are then to be mixed with two and a half grains of lampblack and half a grain of indigo. This ink is particularly useful for labelling phials, &c., containing chemical, substances of a corrosive nature.
Ink for Marking Linen with Type.—Dissolve one part of asphaltum in four parts of oil of turpentine, and lamp-black or black-lead, in fine powder, in sufficient quantity to render of proper consistency to print with type.
Ink Powder for Immediate Use.—Reduce to powder ten ounces of gall-nuts, three ounces of green copperas, two ounces each of powdered alum and gum arabic. Put a little of this mixture into white wine, and it will be fit for immediate use.
Ink Stains.—The moment the ink is spilled, take a little milk, and saturate the stain, soak it up with a rag, and apply a little more milk, rubbing it well in. In a few minutes the ink will be completely removed.
Red Ink.—Take of the raspings of Brazil wood, quarter of a pound, and infuse them two or three days in colorless vinegar. Boil the infusion one hour and a half over a gentle fire, and afterward filter it while hot, through paper laid in an earthenware cullender. Put it again over the fire, and dissolve in it first half an ounce of gum arabic, and afterward of alum and white sugar each half an ounce. Care should be taken that the Brazil wood be not adulterated with the Braziletto or campeachy wood.
Transfer Ink.—Mastic in tears, four ounces; shellac, six oz.; Venice turpentine, half an ounce; melt together; add wax, half a pound; tallow, three ounces. When dissolved, further add hard tallow soap (in shavings), three ounces; and when the whole is combined, add lampblack, two ounces. Mix well, cool a little, and then pour it into molds. This ink is rubbed down with a little water in a cup or saucer, in the same way as water-color cakes. In winter, the operation should be performed near the fire.
Indian Glues.—Take one pound of the best glue, the stronger the better, boil it and strain it very clear; boil also four ounces of isinglass; put the mixture into a double glue pot, add half a pound of brown sugar, and boil the whole until it gets thick; then pour it into thin plates or molds, and when cold you may cut and dry them in small pieces for the pocket. The glue is used by merely holding it over steam, or wetting it with the mouth. This is a most useful and convenient article, being much stronger than common glue. It is sold under the name of Indian glue, but is much less expensive in making, and is applicable to all kinds of small fractures, etc.; answers well on the hardest woods, and cements china, etc., though, of course, it will not resist the action of hot water. For parchment and paper, in lieu of gum or paste, it will be found equally convenient.
Japanese Cement.—Intimately mix the best powdered rice with a little cold water, then gradually add boiling water until a proper consistence is acquired, being particularly careful to keep it well stirred all the time; lastly, it must be boiled for one minute in a clean saucepan or earthern pipkin. This glue is beautifully white and almost transparent, for which reason it is well adapted for fancy paper work, which requires a strong and colorless cement.
Liquid Blacking.—Mix a quarter of a pound of ivory-black, six gills of vinegar, a tablespoonful of sweet oil, and two large spoonfuls of molasses. Stir the whole well together, and it will then be fit for use.
Liquid Glue.—Dissolve one part of powdered alum, one hundred and twenty parts of water; add one hundred and twenty parts of glue, ten of acetic acid, and forty of alcohol, and digest. Prepared glue is made by dissolving common glue in warm water, and then adding acetic acid (strong vinegar) to keep it. Dissolve one pound of best glue in one and a half pints of water, and add one pint of vinegar. It is then ready for use.
Magic Copying Paper.—To make black paper, lampblack mixed with cold lard; red paper, Venetian red mixed with lard; blue paper, Prussian blue mixed with lard; green paper, Chrome green mixed with lard. The above ingredients to be mixed to the consistency of thick paste, and to be applied to the paper with a rag. Then take a flannel rag, and rub until all color ceases coming off. Cut your sheets four inches wide and six inches long; put four sheets together, one of each color, and sell for twenty-five cents per package. The first cost will not exceed three cents.
Directions for writing with this paper: Lay down your paper upon which you wish to write; then lay on the copying paper, and over this lay any scrap of paper you choose; then take any hard pointed substance and write as you would with a pen.
Mahogany Stain.—Break two ounces of dragon's blood in pieces, and put them in a quart of rectified spirits of wine; let the bottle stand in a warm place, and shake it frequently. When dissolved, it is fit for use, and will render common wood an excellent imitation of mahogany.
Marine Glue.—Dissolve four parts of India-rubber in thirty-four parts of coal tar naptha, aiding the solution with heat and agitation. The solution is then thick as cream, and it should be added to sixty-four parts of powdered shellac, which must be heated in the mixture till all is dissolved. While the mixture is hot it is poured on plates of metal, in sheets like leather. It can be kept in that state, and when it is required to be used, it is put into a pot and heated till it is soft, and then applied with a brush to the surfaces to be joined. Two pieces of wood joined with this cement can scarcely be sundered.
Parchment.—Paper parchment may be produced by immersing paper in a concentratic solution of chloride of zinc.
Amalgam of Gold.—Place one part of gold in a small iron saucepan or ladle, perfectly clean, then add 8 parts of mercury, and apply a gentle heat, when the gold will dissolve; agitate the mixture for one minute, and pour it out on a clean plate or stone slab.
For gilding brass, copper etc. The metal to be gilded is first rubbed over with a solution of nitrate of mercury, and then covered with a very thin film of the amalgam. On heat being applied the mercury volatilizes, leaving the gold behind.
A much less proportion of gold is often employed than the above, where a very thin and cheap gilding is required, as by increasing the quantity of the mercury, the precious metal may be extended over a much larger surface. A similar amalgam prepared with silver is used for silvering.
Amalgam for Mirrors.—Lead and tin, each 1 oz; bismuth, 2 oz; mercury, 4 oz.; melt as before, and add the mercury. These are used to silver mirrors, glass globes, etc., by warming the glass, melting the amalgam, and applying it.
Annealing Steel.—1. For a small quantity. Heat the steel to a cherry red in a charcoal fire, then bury in sawdust, in an iron box, covering the sawdust with ashes. Let stay until cold.—2. For a larger quantity, and when it is required to be very "soft." Pack the steel with cast iron (lathe or planer) chips in an iron box, as follows: Having at least ½ or ¾ inch in depth of chips in the bottom of the box, put in a layer of steel, then more chips to fill spaces between the steel, and also the ½ or ¾ inch space between the sides of box and steel, then more steel; and lastly, at least 1 inch in depth of chips, well rammed down on top of steel. Heat to and keep at a red heat for from two to four hours. Do not disturb the box until cold.
To make Bell Metal.—1. Melt together under powdered charcoal, 100 parts of pure copper, with 20 parts of tin, and unite the two metals by frequently stirring the mass. Product very fine.—2. Copper 3 parts; tin 1 part; as above. Some of the finest church bells in the world have this composition.—3. Copper 2 parts: tin 1 part; as above.—4. Copper 72 parts; tin 26½ parts; iron 1½ parts. The bells of small clocks or pendules are made of this alloy in Paris.
Brass to Make. 1. Fine Brass.—2 parts of copper to 1 part of zinc. This is nearly one equivalent each of copper and zinc, if the equivalent of the former metal be taken at 63-2; or 2 equivalents of copper to 1 equivalent of zine, if it be taken with Liebig and Berzelius, at 31-6.
2. Copper 4 parts, zinc 1 part. An excellent and very useful brass.
Cleansing Solution for Brass.—Put together two ounces sulphuric acid, an ounce and a half nitric acid, one dram saltpetre and two ounces rain water. Let stand for a few hours, and apply by passing the article in and out quickly, and then washing off thoroughly with clean rain water. Old, discolored brass chains treated in this way will look equally as well as when new. The usual method of drying as in sawdust.
To Cover Brass with beautiful Luster Colors.—One ounce of cream of tartar is dissolved in one quart of hot water, to which is added half an ounce of tin salt (protochloride of tin) dissolved in four ounces of cold water. The whole is then heated to boiling, the clear solution decanted from a trifling precipitate, and poured under continual stirring into a solution of three ounces hyposulphite of soda in one-half a pint of water, whereupon it is again heated to boiling, and filtered from the separated sulphur. This solution produces on brass the various luster-colors, depending on the length of time during which the articles are allowed to remain in it. The colors at first will be light to dark, gold yellow, passing through all the tints of red to an irridescent brown. A similar series of colors is produced by sulphide of copper and lead, which, however, are not remarkable for their stability; whether this defect will be obviated by the use of the tin solution, experience and time alone can show.
Bronzing Gun-Barrels.—The so-called butter of zinc used for bronzing gun-barrels is made by dissolving zinc in hydrochloric acid till no more free acid is left; which is secured by placing zinc in the acid until it ceases to be dissolved. The liquid is then evaporated until a drop taken out and placed on a piece of glass solidifies in cooling, when it is mixed with 2 parts of olive oil for every three parts of the liquid. The barrels must be cleansed and warmed before applying the so-called butter, which put on with a piece of linen rag.
Bronzing Fluid.—For brown: Iron filings, or scales, 1 lb.; arsenic, 1 oz.; hydrochloric acid, 1 lb.; metallic zinc, 1 oz. The article to be bronzed is to be dipped in this solution till the desired effect be produced.
Bronze, Green.—Acetic acid, diluted, 4 lbs; green veriter, 2 oz.; muriate of ammonia, 1 oz.; common salt, 2 oz.; alum, ½ oz.; French berries, ½ lb.; boil them together till the berries have yielded their color, and strain. Olive bronze, for brass or copper.—Nitric acid, 1 oz.; hydrochloric acid, 2 oz.; titanium or palladium, as much as will dissolve, and add three pints of distilled water.
To Soften Cast-Iron, for Drilling.—Heat to a cherry red, having it lie level in the fire, then with a pair of cold tongs put on a piece of brimstone, a little less in size than you wish the hole to be when drilled, and it softens entirely through the piece; let it lie in the fire until a little cool, when it is ready to drill.
To Weld Cast-Iron.—Take of good clear white sand, three parts; refined solton, one part; fosterine, one part; rock-salt, one part; mix all together. Take 2 pieces of cast-iron, heat them in a moderate charcoal-fire, occasionally taking them out while heating, and dipping them into the composition, until they are of a proper heat to weld; then at once lay them on the anvil, and gently hammer them together, and, if done carefully by one who understands welding iron, you will have them nicely welded together. One man prefers heating the metal, then cooling it in the water of common beans, and heat it again for welding.
To recut old Files and Rasps.—Dissolve 4 oz. of saleratus in 1 quart of water, and boil the files in it for half an hour; then remove, wash and dry them. Now have ready, in a glass or stoneware vessel, 1 quart of rain water, into which you have slowly added 4 oz. of best sulphuric acid, and keep the proportions for any amount used. Immerse the files in this preparation for from six to twelve hours, according to fineness or coarseness of the files; then remove, wash them clean, dry quickly, and put a little sweet oil on them to cover the surface. If the files are coarse, they will need to remain in about twelve hours, but for fine files six to eight hours is sufficient. This plan is applicable to blacksmiths', gunsmiths', tinners', coppersmiths' and machinists' files. Copper and tin workers will only require a short time to take the articles out of their files, as the soft metals with which they become filled are soon dissolved. Blacksmiths' and saw-mill files require full time. Files may be recut three times by this process. The liquid may be used at different times if required. Keep away from children, as it is poisonous.
Twist, Browning for Gun-Barrels.—Take spirits of nitre ¾ oz.; tincture of steel, ¾ oz.: (if the tincture of steel cannot be obtained, the unmedicated tincture of iron may be used, but it is not so good) black brimstone, ¼ oz.; blue vitriol, ½ oz.; corrosive sublimate, ¼ oz.; nitric acid, 1 dr. or 60 drops; copperas, ¼ oz.; mix with 1½ pts. of rain water, keep corked, also, as the other, and the process of applying is also the same.
Gun Metal.—1. Melt together 112 lbs. of Bristol brass, 14 lbs. of spelter, and 7 lbs. of block tin.—2. Melt together 9 parts of copper and 1 part of tin; the above compounds are those used in the manufacture of small and great brass guns, swivels, etc.
Chinese Method of Mending Holes in Iron.—The Chinese mend holes in cast-iron vessels as follows: They melt a small quantity of iron in a crucible the size of a thimble, and pour the molten metal on a piece of felt covered with wood-ashes. This is pressed inside the vessel against the hole, and as it exudes on the other side it is struck by a small roll of felt covered with ashes. The new iron then adheres to the old.
Common Pewter.—Melt in a crucible 7 lbs. of tin, and when fused throw in 1 lb. of lead, 6 oz. of copper and 2 oz. of zinc. This combination of metal will form an alloy of great durability and tenacity; also of considerable luster.
Best Pewter.—The best sort of pewter consists of 100 parts of tin, and 17 of regulus of antimony.
Hard Pewter.—Melt together 12 lbs. of tin, 1 lb. of regulus of antimony, and 4 oz. of copper.
To Mend Broken Saws.—Pure silver, 19 parts: pure copper, 1 part: pure brass, 2 parts; all are to be filed into powder and intimately mixed. Place the saw level upon the anvil, the broken edges in close contact, and hold them so: now put a small line of the mixture along the seam, covering it with a large bulk of powdered charcoal; now with a spirit lamp and a jeweler's blow-pipe, hold the coal-dust in place, and blow sufficient to melt the solder mixture: then with a hammer set the joint smooth, if not already so, and file away any superfluous solder; and you will be surprised at its strength.
Solder, to Adhere to Brass or Copper.—Prepare a soldering solution in this way: Pour a small quantity of muriatic acid on some zinc filings, so as to completely cover the zinc. Let it stand about an hour, and then pour off the acid, to which add twice its amount of water. By first wetting the brass or copper with this preparation, the solder will readily adhere.
Common Solder.—Put into a crucible 2 lbs. of lead, and when melted throw in 1 lb. of tin. This alloy is that generally known by the name of solder. When heated by a hot iron and applied to tinned iron with powdered rosin, it acts as a cement or solder.
Tempering Steel.—For tempering many kinds of tools, the steel is first hardened by heating it to a cherry red, and plunging it into cold water. Afterward the temper is drawn by moderately heating the steel again. Different degrees of hardness are required for different purposes, and the degree of heat for each of these, with the corresponding color, will be found in the annexed table:
Very pale straw color, 430°—the temper required for lancets.
A shade of darker yellow, 450°—for razors and surgical instruments.
Darker straw-yellow, 470°—for penknives.
Still darker yellow, 490°—chisels for cutting iron.
A brown yellow, 500°—axes and plane-irons.
Yellow, slightly tinged with purple, 520°—table-knives and watch-springs.
Tempering Liquid.—1. To 6 quarts of soft water put in corrosive sublimate, 1 oz.; common salt, 2 handfuls; when dissolved it is ready for use. The first gives toughness to the steel, while the latter gives the hardness. Be careful with this preparation, as it is a dangerous poison.—2. Salt, ½ teacup; saltpetre, ½ oz.; alum, pulverized, 1 tea-spoon; soft water, 1 gallon; never heat over a cherry red, nor draw any temper.—3. Saltpetre, sal-ammoniac, and alum, of each 2 oz.; salt, 1½ lbs.; water, 3 gallons, and draw no temper.—4. Saltpetre and alum, each 2 oz.; sal-ammoniac, ½ oz.; salt, 1½ lbs.; soft water, 2 gallons. Heat to a cherry red, and plunge in, drawing no temper.
Bayberry, or Myrtle Soap.—Dissolve two and a quarter pounds of white potash in five quarts of water, then mix it with ten pounds of myrtle wax, or bayberry tallow. Boil the whole over a slow fire till it turns to soap, then add a teacup of cold water; let it boil ten minutes longer; at the end of that time turn it into tin molds or pans, and let them remain a week or ten days to dry; then turn them out of the molds. If you wish to have the soap scented, stir into it an essential oil that has an agreeable smell, just before you turn it into the molds. This kind of soap is excellent for shaving, and for chapped hands: it is also good for eruptions on the face. It will be fit for use in the course of three or four weeks after it is made, but it is better for being kept ten or twelve months.
Chemical Soap, (for taking Oil, Grease, etc., from Cloth).—Take five pounds castile soap, cut fine; one pint alcohol; one pint soft water; two ounces aquafortis; one and a half ounces lampblack; two ounces of saltpetre; three ounces potash; one ounce of camphor; and four ounces of cinnamon, in powder. First dissolve the soap, potash and saltpetre, by boiling; then add all the other articles, and continue to stir until it cools; then pour into a box and let it stand twenty-four hours and cut into cakes.
Cold Soap.—Mix twenty-six pounds of melted and strained grease with four pailfuls of ley, made of twenty pounds of white potash. Let the whole stand in the sun, stirring it frequently. In the course of the week, fill the barrel with weak ley.
Genuine Erasive Soap.—Two pounds of good castile soap; half a pound of carbonate of potash; dissolve in half a pint of hot water. Cut the soap in thin slices, and boil the soap with the potash until it is thick enough to mould in cakes; also add alcohol, half an ounce; camphor, half an ounce; hartshorn, half an ounce; color with half an ounce of pulverized charcoal.
Hard White Soap.—To fifteen pounds of lard or suet, made boiling hot, add slowly six gallons of hot ley, or solution of potash, that will bear up an egg high enough to leave a piece big as a shilling bare. Take out a little, and cool it. If no grease rise it is done. If any grease appears, add ley, and boil till no grease rises. Add three quarts of fine salt, and boil up again. If this does not harden well on cooling, add more salt. If it is to be perfumed, melt it next day, add the perfume, and run it in molds or cut in cakes.
Labor-Saving Soap.—Take two pounds of sal-soda, two pounds of yellow bar soap, and ten quarts of water. Cut the soap in thin slices, and boil together for two hours; strain, and it will be fit for use. Put the clothes in soak the night before you wash, and to every pail of water in which you boil them, add a pound of soap. They will need no rubbing; merely rinse them out, and they will be perfectly clean and white.
To Make Good Soap.—To make matchless soap, take one gallon of soft soap, to which add a gill of common salt, and boil an hour. When cold, separate the ley from the crude. Add to the crude two pounds of sal-soda, and boil in two gallons of soft water till dissolved. If you wish it better, slice two pounds of common bar soap and dissolve in the above. If the soft soap makes more than three pounds of crude, add in proportion to the sal-soda and water.
To Make Hard Soap from Soft.—Take seven pounds of good soft soap; four pounds sal-soda; two ounces borax; one ounce hartshorn; half a pound of resin; to be dissolved in twenty-two quarts of water, and boiled about twenty minutes.
Whale Oil Soap (for the destruction of Insects.)—Render common ley caustic, by boiling it at full strength on quicklime; then take the ley and boil it with as much whale oil foot as it will saponify (change to soap), pour off into molds, and, when cold, it is tolerably hard. Whale oil foot is the sediment produced in refining whale oil, and is worth two dollars per barrel.
Soluble Glass.—Mix ten parts of carbonate of potash, fifteen parts of powdered quartz, and one pound of charcoal. Fuse well together. The mass is soluble in four or five parts of boiling water, and the filtered solution, evaporated to dryness, yields a transparent glass, permanent in the air.
To Make Eggs of Pharaoh's Serpents.—Take mercury and dissolve it in moderately diluted nitric acid by means of heat, taking care, however, that there be always an excess of metallic mercury remaining; decant the solution and pour it into a solution of sulpho-cyanide of ammonium or potassium, which may be bought at a good drug store, or of a dealer in chemicals. Equal weights of both will answer. A precipitate will fall to the bottom of the beaker or jar, which is to be collected on a filter and washed two or three times with water, when it is put in a warm place to dry. Take for every pound of this material one ounce of gum tragacanth which has been soaked in hot water. When the gum is completely softened it is to be transferred to a mortar, and the pulverized and dried precipitate gradually mixed with it by means of a little water, so as to present a somewhat dry pill mass, from which by hand pellets of the desired size are formed, put on a piece of glass, and dried again; they are then ready for use.
Tracing Paper.—In order to prepare a beautiful transparent, colorless paper, it is best to employ the varnish formed with Demarara resin in the following way: The sheets intended for this purpose are laid flat on each other, and the varnish spread over the uppermost sheet with a brush, until the paper appears perfectly colorless, without, however, the liquid thereon being visible. The first sheet is then removed, hung up for drying, and the second treated in the same manner. After being dried, this paper is capable of being written on, either with chalk or pencil, or steel pens. It preserves its colorless transparency without becoming yellow, as is frequently the case with that prepared in any other way.
Unsurpassable Blacking.—Put one gallon of vinegar into a stone jug, and one pound of ivory-black well pulverized, half a pound of loaf sugar, half an ounce of oil of vitriol, and seven ounces of sweet oil. Incorporate the whole by stirring.
2. Take twelve ounces each of ivory-black and molasses; spermaceti oil, four ounces; and white wine vinegar, two quarts. Mix thoroughly. This contains no vitriol, and therefore will not injure the leather. The trouble of making it is very little, and it would be well to prepare it for one's self, were it only to be assured that it is not injurious.
Varnish for Iron Work.—To make a good black varnish for iron work, take eight pounds of asphaltum and fuse it in an iron kettle; then add five gallons of boiled linseed oil, one pound of litharge, half a pound of sulphate of zinc (add these slowly, or it will fume over), and boil them for about three hours. Now add one and a half pounds of dark gum amber, and boil for two hours longer, or until the mass will become quite thick when cool, after which it should be thinned with turpentine to due consistency.
[THE TOILET, PERFUMERY, Etc.]
Hair Restorers and Invigorators.—There are hundreds; Lyon's, Wood's, Barry's, Bogle's, Jayne's, Storr's, Baker's, Driscol's, Phalon's, Haskel's, Allen's, Spaulding's, etc. But, though all under different names, are similar in principle, being vegetable oils dissolved in alcohol, with the addition of spirit of soap, and an astringent material, such as tincture of catechu, or infusion of bark. The best is to dissolve one ounce of castor oil in one quart of 95 alcohol, and add one ounce of tincture of cantharides, two ounces of tincture of catechu, two ounces of lemon juice, two ounces of tincture of cinchona; and to scent it, add oil of cinnamon, or oil of rosemary, or both.
To Make the Hair Soft and Glossy.—Put one ounce of castor oil in one pint of bay rum or alcohol, and color it with a little of the tincture of alkanet root. Apply a little every morning.
Instantaneous Hair Dye.—Take one drachm of nitrate of silver, and add to it just sufficient rain water to dissolve it, and no more; then take strong spirit of ammonia, and gradually pour on the solution of silver, until it becomes as clear as water, (the addition of the ammonia at first makes it brown); then wrap round the bottle two or three covers of blue paper, to exclude the light—otherwise it will spoil. Having made this, obtain two drachms of gallic acid; put this into another bottle which will contain one-half pint; pour upon it hot water, and let it stand until cold—when it is fit for use.
Directions to Dye the Hair.—First wash the head, beard, or moustaches with soap and water; afterwards with clean water. Dry, and apply the gallic acid solution, with a clean brush. When it is almost dry, take a small tooth comb, and with a fine brush, put on the teeth of the comb a little of the silver solution, and comb it through the hair, when it will become a brilliant jet black. Wait a few hours; then wash the head again with clean water. If you want to make a brown dye, add double or treble the quantity of water to the silver solution, and you can obtain any shade of color you choose.
To Prevent Gray Hair.—When the hair begins to change color, the use of the following pomade has a beneficial effect in preventing the disease extending, and has the character of even restoring the color of the hair in many instances: Lard, 4 ounces: spermaceti, 4 drachms: oxide of bismuth, 4 drachms. Melt the lard and spermaceti together, and when getting cold stir in the bismuth; to this can be added any kind of perfume, according to choice. It should be used whenever the hair requires dressing. It must not be imagined that any good effect speedily results; it is, in general, a long time taking place, the change being very gradual.
Liquid Rouge for the Complexion.—Four ounces of alcohol, two ounces of water, twenty grains of carmine; twenty grains of ammonia, six grains of oxalic acid, six grains of alum—mix.
Vinegar Rouge.—Cochineal, three drachms; carmine lake, three drachms; alcohol, six drachms; mix, and then put into one pint of vinegar, perfumed with lavender; let it stand a fortnight, then strain for use.
Pearl Powder for Complexion.—Take white bismuth, one pound; starch powder, one ounce; orris powder, one ounce. Mix and sift through lawn. Add a drop of otto of roses or neroli.
Pearl Water for the Complexion.—Castile soap, one pound; water, one gallon. Dissolve, then add alcohol, one quart; oil of rosemary and oil of lavender, each two drachms. Mix well.
Complexion Pomatum.—Mutton grease, one pound; oxide of bismuth, four ounces; powdered French chalk, two ounces; mix.
Feuchtwanger's Tooth Paste.—Powdered myrrh, two ounces; burnt alum, one ounce; cream tartar, one ounce; cuttlefish bone, four ounces: drop lake, two ounces; honey, half a gallon; mix.
Spanish Vermilion for the Toilette.—Take an alkine solution of bastard saffron, and precipitate the color with lemon juice; mix the precipitate with a sufficient quantity of finely powdered French chalk and lemon juice, then add a little perfume.
Fine Tooth Powder.—Powdered orris root, one ounce; peruvian bark, one ounce; prepared chalk, one ounce; myrrh, one-half ounce.
To Make Brown Teeth White.—Apply carefully over the teeth, a stick dipped in strong acetic or nitric acid, and immediately wash out the mouth with cold water. To make the teeth even, if irregular, draw a piece of fine cord betwixt them.
Superior Cologne Water.—Alcohol, one gallon: add oil of cloves, lemon, nutmeg and bergamot, each one drachm; oil neroli, three and a half drachms; seven drops of oils of rosemary, lavender and cassia; half a pint of spirits of nitre; half a pint of elder-flower water. Let it stand a day or two, then take a cullender and at the bottom lay a piece of white cloth, and fill it up, one-fourth of white sand, and filter through it.
Smelling Salts.—Super carbonate of ammonia, eight parts; put it in coarse powder into a bottle, and pour out lavender oil one part.
Oil of Roses—for the Hair.—Olive oil, two pints: otto of roses, one drachm; oil of rosemary, one drachm; mix. It may be colored by steeping a little alkanet root in the oil (by heat) before scenting it.
Arnica Hair Wash.—When the hair is falling off and becoming thin, from the too frequent use of castor, Macassar oils, &c., or when premature baldness arises from illness, the arnica hair wash will be found of great service in arresting the mischief. It is thus prepared: take elder water, half a pint; sherry wine, half a pint; tincture of arnica, half an ounce; alcoholic ammonia, 1 drachm—if this last named ingredient is old, and has lost its strength, then two drachms instead of one may be employed. The whole of these are to be mixed in a lotion bottle, and applied every night to the head with a sponge. Wash the head with warm water twice a week. Soft brushes only must be used during the growth of the young hair.
Ammoniacal Pomatum for Promoting the Growth of Hair.—Take almond oil, quarter of a pound; white wax, half an ounce; clarified lard, three ounces; liquid ammonia, a quarter fluid ounce; otto of lavender, and cloves, of each one drachm. Place the oil, wax and lard in a jar, which set in boiling water; when the wax is melted, allow the grease to cool till nearly ready to set, then stir in the ammonia and the perfume, and put into small jars for use. Never use a hard brush, nor comb the hair too much. Apply the pomade at night only.
Bandoline for the Hair.—This mixture is best made a little at a time. Pour a tablespoonful of boiling water on a dozen quince seeds, and repeat when fresh is required.
Artificial Bear's Grease.—Bear's grease is imitated by a mixture of prepared veal suet and beef marrow. It may be scented at pleasure. The following are some of the best compounds sold by that name:
1. Prepared suets, 3 ounces; lard, 1 ounce; olive oil, 1 ounce; oil of cloves, 10 drops; compound tincture of benzoin, 1 drachm. Mix.
2. Lard, 1 pound; solution of carbonate of potash, 2 ounces. Mix.
3. Olive oil, 3 pints; white wax, 3 ounces; spermaceti, 1 ounce; scent with oil of roses and oil of bitter almonds.
Bears' Oil.—The best description of lard oil, properly perfumed, is far preferable to any other kind of oil.
Cosmetic Soap, for Washing the Hands.—Take a pound of castile soap, or any other nice old soap; scrape it fine; put it on the fire with a little water, stir it to a smooth paste; turn it into a bowl; or any kind of essence; beat it with a silver spoon till well mixed; thicken it with Indian meal, and keep it in small pots, closely covered; exposure to the air will harden it.
Cosmetic Wash for the Hair.—Red wine, one pound; salt, one drachm; sulphate of iron, two drachms; boil for a few minutes, add common verdigris, one drachm; leave it on the fire two minutes; withdraw it, and add two drachms of powdered nutgall. Rub the hair with the liquid, in a few minutes dry it with a warm cloth, and afterwards wash with water.
To Remove Dandruff.—Take a thimbleful of powdered refined borax, let it dissolve in a teacupful of water, first brush the head well, then wet a brush and apply it to the head. Do this every day for a week, and twice a week for a few times, and you will effectually remove the dandruff.
To Make the Complexion Fair.—Take emulsion of bitter almonds, one pint; oxymuriate of quicksilver, two and a half grains; sal ammonia, one drachm. Use moderately for pimples, freckles, tanned complexions.
Eau de Cologne—Cologne Water.—Oil of lavender, oil of bergamot, oil of lemon, oil of neroli, each one ounce; oil of cinnamon, half an ounce; spirit of rosemary, fifteen ounces; highly rectified spirits, eight pints. Let them stand fourteen days; then distil in a water bath.
2. Essential oils of bergamot, lemon, neroli, orange-peel and rosemary, each twelve drops; cardamon seeds, one drachm, rectified spirits, one pint. It improves by age.
Eau de Rosieres.—Spirits of roses, 4 pints; spirits of jessamine, one pint; spirits of orange flowers, one pint; spirits of cucumber, two and a quarter pints; spirits of celery seed, two and a quarter pints; spirits of angelica root, two and three quarter pints; tincture of benzoin, three quarters of a pint; balsam of Mecca, a few drops.
Eau de Violettes.—Macerate five ounces of fine orris root in a quart of rectified spirits, for some days, and filter.
Esprit de Bouquet.—Oil of lavender, oil of cloves and oil of bergamot, each two drachms; otto of rose, and oil of cinnamon, each, twenty drops; essence of musk, one drachm; rectified spirits, one pint. Mix.
Essence of Ambergris.—Spirits of wine, half a pint; ambergris, 24 grains. Let it stand for three days in a warm place, and filter.
Essence of Bergamot.—Spirits of wine, half a pint; bergamot-peel, four ounces: as above.
Essence of Cedrat.—Essence of bergamot, one ounce; essence of neroli, two drachms.
Essence of Cloves.—Spirits of wine, half a pint; bruised cloves, one ounce.
Essence for the Headache.—Spirits of wine, two pounds; roche alum, in fine powder, two ounces; camphor, four ounces; essence of lemon, half an ounce; strong water of ammonia, four ounces. Stop the bottle close, and shake it daily, for three or four days.
Essence of Lavender.—Essential oil of lavender, three and a half ounces; rectified spirits, two quarts; rose water, half a pint; tincture of orris, half a pint.
Essence of Lemon.—Spirits of wine, half a pint; fresh lemon-peel, four ounces.
Essence of Musk.—Take one pint proof spirit, and add two drachms musk. Let it stand a fortnight, with frequent agitation.
Essence of Neroli.—Spirits of wine, half a pint; orange-peel, cut small, three ounces; orris root in powder, one drachm; musk, two grains.
Essence for Smelling Bottles.—Oil of lavender and essence of bergamot, each one drachm; oil of orange-peel, eight drops; oil of cinnamon, four drops; oil of neroli, two drops; alcohol and strongest water of ammonia, each two ounces.
Essence of Verbena Leaf.—Take rectified spirits of wine, half a pint; otto of verbena, half a drachm; otto of bergamot, one drachm; tincture of tolu, quarter of an ounce. Mix them together, and it is ready for use. This sweet scent does not stain the handkerchief and is very economical.
Essence of Violets.—Spirits of wine, half a pint; orris root, one ounce. Other essences in the same manner.
Eye Water.—Take one pint of rose water, and add one teaspoonful each of spirits of camphor and laudanum. Mix and bottle. To be shaken and applied to the eyes as often as necessary. Perfectly harmless.
Honey Water.—Rectified spirits, eight pints; oil of cloves, oil of lavender, oil of bergamot, each half an ounce; musk, eight grains; yellow sandus shavings, four ounces; digest for eight days and add two pints each of orange flower and rose water.
Lavender Water.—Oil of lavender, four ounces; spirit, three quarts; rose water, one pint. Mix and filter.
Lisbon Water.—To rectified spirit, one gallon, add essential oils of orange-peel and lemon-peel, of each three ounces, and otto of roses, one quarter of an ounce.
Odoriferous Lavender Water.—Rectified spirit, five gallons; essential oil of lavender, twenty ounces; oil of bergamot, five ounces; essence of ambergris, half an ounce.
2. Oil of lavender, three drachms; oil of bergamot, twenty drops; nerolic, six drops; otto of roses, six drops; essence of cedrat, eight drops; essence of musk, twenty drops; rectified spirit, twenty-eight fluid ounces; distilled water, four ounces.
Queen of Hungary's Water.—Spirit of rosemary, four pints; orange flower water, one quarter of a pint; essence of neroli, four drops.