Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes

How to silver a mirror, brew ginger beer, kill moths, make fireworks, tan a hide, bronze iron, cure a ham and clean a straw hat: William B. Dick's numbered encyclopedia answered the questions a nineteenth-century household actually had.

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To Clean Furniture

Mix together 1 pint cold drawn linseed oil, 1 pint best vinegar, and 1/2 pint spirits of wine. Dip furniture, and then wipe thoroughly with a clean soft cloth. Always shake the mixture before using. We do not know any article naphtha. It was first procured by Hugo Müller, but its nitro-compound had previously been discovered by Warren De la Rue, in 1856. Coal-tar naphtha is submitted to frac- for cleaning furniture equal to this. (Trent.) tional distillation until the part which boils at 141° is separated; this is submitted to the action of fuming sulphuric acid, which dissolves the xylol and leaves the other hydrocarbons. The xylol is then separated by distillation from this mixture. Xylol is said to have been used by Dr. Zuelzer, the Senior 6412. To Wash Ladies' Summer Suits. Summer suits are nearly all made of white or buff linen, piqué, cambric or muslin, and the art of preserving the new appearance after washing is a matter of the greatest importance. In the first place, the water should be tepid, the soap should not be allow- Physician at the Charité Hospital at Berlin, ed to touch the fabric; it should be washed with great success in cases of small-pox. The and rinsed quickly, turned upon the wrong theory of its action would appear to be that side, and hung in the shade to dry, and when xylol is taken up by the blood, and acts as a starched (in thin-boiled, but not boiling disinfectant. Its boiling point is variously starch) should be folded in sheets or towels, stated at 139° to 140°. The specimens ex- and ironed upon the wrong side, as soon as amined by the writer generally commenced possible. Linen should be washed in water to boil at about 135°. The specific gravity in which hay or a quart-bag of bran has been was .866. It is said that the purity of xylol boiled. This last will be found to answer for is of importance, but there is no very ready starch as well, and is excellent for print method for testing its purity. It should be dresses of all kinds; a handful of salt is also soluble in fuming sulphuric acid, but it is not very useful to set the colors of light cambrics soluble in the ordinary sulphuric acid of the and dotted lawns; and a little beef's gall will Pharmacopeia. It has a faint odor something not only set, but brighten, yellow and purple like benzole, and an aromatic taste. The tints, and has a good effect upon green. No doses are 3 to 5 drops for children; 10 to 15 soda, or other washing compound should on drops for adults, every hour to every 3 hours. any account be used. It is quite harmless in reasonable doses. In 6413. Το Dissolve Wool Out of Berlin it is given in capsules. As it is very Mixed Fabrics. Boil the rags in a mixture insoluble, the best method of giving it would of 1 part nitric acid and 10 water, or a little be in an emulsion of almonds. (Tichborne.) stronger. The cotton fibre, after drying, can be shaken out as dust in a willowing machine, 6417. Grape Champagne. Gather the leaving the wool behind ready for dyeing. grapes when they are just turning, or about This is the plan adopted in England and half ripe; pound them in a tub, and to every Germany for making "extract," and is used quart of pounded fruit add 2 quarts water. for mixing with wool in many manufactures. Let it stand in the mash-tub for 14 days, then This prepared wool, however, will be found to draw it off, and to every gallon of liquor add have lost, to a great extent, its felting prop- 3 pounds loaf sugar. When the sugar is disertv. solved, cask it; and, after it has done work-

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