Crimson. A mordant of alum, followed by a hot bath of brazil wood, and afterwards by a weak one of cudbear.
Pink or Rose. With safflower and lemon juice.
Plum. The red dye, followed by alkaline bath.
Red. A mordant of alum, followed by a hot brazil-wood bath.
Yellow. From an alum mordant, followed by a bath of turmeric or weld. Other shades may be obtained by a mixture of the above dyes.
Feathers may also be dyed by simple immersion, for two or three minutes, in a bath of any of the aniline colours.
Goose feathers for BEDS are generally PURIFIED by simply exposing them to the sun or in a stove until perfectly dry, and then beating them to remove loose dirt. When carelessly collected and dirty, they are sometimes first cleansed with lime water, or, better still, with a weak solution of carbonate of soda, or water to which a little solution of chloride of lime has been added; after which they are rinsed in clean water, and dried or stoved as before. Old feathers are cleansed or purified in the same way.
FEB′RIFUGES. Syn. Febrifuga, L. In pharmacy, substances or agents which cure or alleviate fever. The term is more particularly applied to medicines used against the ague, as CINCHONA BARK and ARSENIOUS ACID, and their preparations. The extreme value of cold water, as a drink in ardent fever, has been known in all ages. In 1723 Dr Hancocke published a work entitled—‘Febrifugum Magnum, or Common Water the best Cure for Fevers, and probably for the Plague,’ which in a short time ran through several large editions, but appears to have been overlooked by the hydropaths of the present day.
FEC′ULA. Syn. Fæcula, L. The matter which subsides from cold water in which bruised or rasped vegetable substances have been washed. The fecula obtained from the seeds of the cereals and leguminosæ, and from tuberous or bulbous roots, consists of nearly pure STARCH. In some cases the starch is associated with the green colouring matter (CHLOROPHYLL) and the narcotic principles of the vegetables which yield it. The green fecula obtained by straining the expressed juices of the leaves and herbaceous parts of plants is of this character.
The fecula of all the amylaceous roots, rhizomes, and tubers, may be easily obtained, on the small scale, by rasping them, pressing, and working the pulp in cold water, and after straining the resulting milky liquid through a hair sieve, allowing it to settle. The sediment may be again washed by diffusion through clean cold water, and must be, lastly, collected, and dried out of the dust, and, without artificial heat.