[190] ‘Pharmacist.’
Burnt sponge (SPONGIA USTA—Ph. D.) is prepared by heating the cuttings and unsaleable pieces in a closed iron crucible until they become black and friable, avoiding too much heat, and allowing the whole to cool before exposing it to the air. It was formerly in great repute in bronchocele and scrofulous complaints.—Dose, 1 to 3 dr., in water, or made into an electuary or lozenges. When good burnt sponge evolves violet fumes of iodine on being heated in a flask along with sulphuric acid.
Compressed or WAXED SPONGE (SPONGIA CERATA, S. COMPRESSA) is sponge which has been dipped into melted wax and then compressed between two iron plates until cold. When cut into pieces it forms ‘SPONGE TENTS,’ which are used by surgeons to dilate wounds.
Sponge, To Clean a. There is nothing more pleasant for washing the skin than a fresh good sponge, or the reverse when not kept thoroughly clean. Without the greatest care, a sponge is apt to get slimy long before it is worn out. It may be made almost as good as, in fact often better than, new, by the following process:—Take about 2 or 3 oz. of carbonate of soda, or of potash; dissolve in 21⁄2 pints of water; soak the sponge in it for 24 hours, then wash and rinse it in pure water. Then put it for some hours in a mixture, 1 glassful of muriatic acid to 3 pints of water; finally, rinse in cold water, and dry thoroughly. A sponge should always be dried, if possible, in the sun every time it has been used.
SPONGES Employed in Washing Wounds, Purification of. M. Leriche advises the sponge to be first saturated with a solution of 4 parts of permanganate of potassium in 100 parts of water; then passed through a solution of sulphurous acid, and finally washed thoroughly with water. The sponges are said to become perfectly disinfected and deodorised, whilst the tissue is not affected by the treatment.
SPOROKTON. See Sulphurous anhydride.
SPOTS and STAINS. 1. Oil and Grease spots on boards, marble, &c., when recent, may be removed by covering them with a
paste made of fullers earth and hot water, and the next day, when the mixture has become perfectly dry, scouring it off with hot soap-and-water. For old spots, a mixture of fullers earth and soft soap, or a paste made of fresh-slaked lime and pearlash, will be better; observing not to touch the last with the fingers.
2. Recent spots of OIL, GREASE, or WAX, on woollen cloth or silk, may be removed with a little clean oil of turpentine or benzol; or with a little fullers earth or scraped French chalk, made into a paste with water, and allowed to dry on them. They may also be generally removed by means of a rather hot flat-iron and blotting-paper or spongy brown paper, more especially if the cloth, or one of the pieces of paper, be first slightly damped. Old oil and GREASE SPOTS require to be treated with ox-gall or yolk of egg, made into a paste with fullers earth or soap. Paint spots, when recent, generally yield to the last treatment. Old ones, however, are more obstinate, and require some fullers earth and soft soap made into a paste with either ox-gall or spirit of turpentine.
The ‘American Chemist’ gives the following method for extracting grease-spots from books or paper:—Gently warm the greased or spotted part of the book or paper, and then press upon it pieces of blotting paper one after another, so as to absorb as much of the grease as possible. Have ready some fine, clear, essential oil of turpentine heated almost to a boiling state;[191] warm the greased leaf a little, and then with a soft, clean brush, wet with the heated turpentine both sides of the spotted part. By repeating this application the grease will be extracted. Lastly, with another brush dipped in rectified spirits of wine go over the place, and the grease will no longer appear, neither will the paper be discoloured.