Spirits of wine, 0.5 pint.
Yellow soap, 2 oz.
"Put all these ingredients in a pipkin, which place over a slow fire, stirring the mixture briskly till the several parts are dissolved and form one homogeneous mass. This may then be poured into a wide-mouthed bottle and allowed to stand till quite cold, when it will be ready for use. Of course, these quantities may be increased or decreased according to the size of the animal to be operated on; but the proportions here given must be preserved."
Did it ever occur to the gifted author of this that stirring camphor and spirits of wine briskly over a slow fire would be as quick a way as could be invented of summoning the fire brigade; also, that nine ounces of poison to eleven ounces of other ingredients, well worked into the hands at different times, as it must be, when handling, or returning skins painted with it, would not tend to lengthen the life of the learner? Corrosive sublimate being a mercurial preparation — i.e., bichloride of mercury — I ask any chemist amongst my readers what effect three ounces of that dangerous preparation, six ounces of arsenic, yellow soap, and spirits of wine would have upon the constitution? Would it not be readily absorbed through the hands into the system? and next comes salivation, and then — the last scene of all!
Yet another little treat for the amateur desirous of committing suicide under the transparent pretence of studying taxidermy. This, which I have culled from the pages of "Maunders' Treasury of Natural History," is, by a fine irony, entitled Bullock's "Preservative" Powder:
No. 7. — Bullock's Preservative Powder.
Arsenic, 1 lb.
Camphor, 0.5 lb.
Burnt alum, 1 lb.
Tincture of musk, 12 oz.