Perfumes and their preparation

by George William Askinson

Prepared chalk	2 lb.
Orris root	2 lb.
Sugar	2 lb.
Water	1 lb.
Madder lake	¾ to 1½ oz.
Oil of lavender	150 grains.
Oil of mace	150 grains.
Oil of clove	150 grains.
Oil of peppermint	1 oz.
Oil of rose	150 grains.

The prepared chalk used in this and many other articles is pure precipitated carbonate of lime. It is made from pieces of white marble, the offal from sculptors’ workshops, which are placed in wide porcelain or glass vessels and covered with hydrochloric acid, when abundant vapors of carbonic acid are given off. When the development of carbonic acid has ceased, the liquid is allowed to stand at rest for several days with an excess of marble, whereby all the iron oxide is separated. This is necessary, otherwise the preparation would not be white, but yellowish. The liquid is filtered and treated with a solution of carbonate of soda (sal soda), in water as long as any white precipitate results. This precipitate is washed with pure water on a filter, and when slowly dried it forms a fine, brilliant white powder. Crystalline calcium chloride may also be purchased, dissolved in water, and treated with the soda solution to obtain the white precipitate. The quantity of madder lake in the above formula is given within the limits to form light or dark red tooth paste.

B. Tooth Powders.

Quinine Tooth Powder.

Prepared chalk	2 lb.
Starch flour	1 lb.
Orris root, powdered	1 lb.
Sulphate of quinine	¾ oz.
Oil of peppermint	150 grains.

Cinchona Bark Tooth Powder.

Cinchona bark, powdered	1 lb.
Prepared chalk	2 lb.
Myrrh, powdered	1 lb.
Orris root, powdered	2 lb.
Cinnamon, powdered	1 lb.
Carbonate of ammonia	2 lb.
Oil of clove	¾ oz.

Borated Tooth Powder.

Borax, powered	1 lb.
Prepared chalk	2 lb.
Myrrh, powdered	½ lb.
Orris root, powdered	½ lb.
Cinnamon, powdered	½ lb.

Homœopathic Chalk Tooth Powder.