For wetting the linen—mix together a quarter of an ounce of salt of soda, a heaped table-spoonful of powdered gum arabic, and two ounces of hot water.
TO KEEP PEARL-ASH.—
Take three ounces of pearl-ash, and put it into a clean black bottle with a pint and a half (not more) of soft water. The proportion is an ounce of pearl-ash to half a pint of water. Cork it very tightly, shake it, and it will be fit for use as soon as all the pearl-ash is dissolved. A table-spoonful of this liquid is equal to a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash in the lump or powder. Keeping it ready dissolved will be found very convenient.
ALMOND PASTE.—
Blanch half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and a quarter of a pound of bitter ones, and beat them in a mortar to a smooth paste—adding by degrees a jill of rose or orange-flower water. Then beat in, gradually, half a pound of clear strained honey. When the whole is well incorporated, put it into gallipots, pouring on the top of each some orange-flower or rose-water. Keep it closely covered.
This is a celebrated cosmetic for the hands.