[160] “Riv. Ital. Numism.” 1903, p. 31; also “Chemiker Zeitung,” XXVII. 1903, p. 825.
[161] [In this connection however it must be remembered that celluloid gives off traces of acid for a long time. This may possibly involve risk of injury to certain specimens. Transl.]
[162] “Mittheilungen des Nordböhmischen Gewerbe Museum,” 1903, p. 104.
[163] [A few drops of formalin will serve the same purpose. Transl.]
[164] [Lanoline, especially if applied warm, retains the flexibility of the leather very satisfactorily. It may be here mentioned that the leather of old book-bindings may be preserved by the application, by means of a soft brush, of a mixture of white wax with a small quantity of white vaseline and paraffin wax, brought to a pasty consistency with benzine or turpentine.
The ‘Stearine Glaze’ used for the same purpose is made by boiling one part of caustic soda with eight parts of stearic acid and 50 parts of water till dissolved, then mixing another 150 parts of cold water and stirring until the whole sets to a jelly.
Either of these media should be applied very thinly and then polished with a brush or flannel. If the cover is very bad, considerable improvement is effected by repeated applications of the stearine glaze so as to fill up the damaged surface of the leather. In some cases the addition of some dye such as logwood, or one or other of the acid coal-tar dyes, is advantageous.
Lanoline, or wool fat, i.e. lanoline without the water, is useful, but gives a dull surface to the leather.
In some cases a thin coating of diluted white of egg, to which a few drops of clove oil, or some other essential oil, has been added as an antiseptic is beneficial. Transl.]
[165] On preservation in alcohol see p. [159] under the heading ‘Wood.’