Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 253

_Obs._ Chlorine fumigations, although so popular, and so much relied on by many medical pract.i.tioners, are apparently useless in preventing the progress of certain contagious diseases. "In Moscow, chlorine was extensively tried and found unavailing, nay, even injurious, in cholera."

(Dr Pereira.) "At the time that the cholera hospital was filled with clouds of chlorine, then it was that the greatest number of the attendants were attacked." (Dr Albers.) At the Smallpox Hospital, where chlorine was tried, with the view of arresting the progress of erysipelas, "all offensive smell was removed, but the power of communicating the disease remained behind." ('Lond. Med. Gaz.') Notwithstanding these marked failures, the confidence of many eminent members of the profession continues unabated. "As a fumigating agent, disinfectant and antiseptic, chlorine, I believe, stands unrivalled." "For destroying miasmata, noxious effluvia, and putrid odours, it is the most powerful agent known." (Dr Pereira.) Our own experience leads us to the conclusion that chlorine is more useful in neutralising the contagious or morbific matter of fevers (especially of scarlet fevers) and putrid diseases generally, than of the other diseases in which it has been employed.

=Fumigation, Hydrochlo"ric.= _Syn._ MURIATIC FUMIGATION; FUMIGATIO MURIATICA, F. ACIDI HYDROCHLORICI, L. _Prep._ From common salt placed in a cup or saucer, and an equal weight of sulphuric acid poured over it. Now seldom used. It rapidly neutralises ammoniacal fumes.

=Fumigation, I'odine.= _Syn._ FUMIGATIO IODINII, L. _Prep._ 1. From iodine, 5 to 25 gr., or more, according to extent of surface, placed on a heated iron contained in a box or case in which the limb is enclosed. In the usual skin diseases in which the use of iodine is indicated. Iodine may be readily diffused through the atmosphere by placing a small quant.i.ty on a hot plate. Duroy says iodine powerfully arrests putrefaction.

2. (Compound; FUMIGATIO IODINII COMPOSITA--Sellers.) Iodine, 20 gr.; red sulphide of mercury, 40 gr.; sulphur, 6 dr.; mix, and divide into 12 powders. One to be used, as the last, 3 times daily; in lepra, psoriasis, &c.

=Fumigation, Mercu"rial.= _Syn._ FUMIGATIO MERCURIALIS, L. _Prep._ (Bouchardat.) Olibanum (in powder), 2 parts; red sulphide of mercury, 3 parts. A little is sprinkled on red-hot coals or a heated shovel held beneath the part; or the fumes are inhaled. _Obs._ Abernethy used the black oxide of mercury (1-1/2 to 2 dr.), and applied it to the whole body, excepting the head, in a similar way to the sulphur bath, and continued the application for about a quarter of an hour. See CANDLES, (Mercurial), and No. 2 (_above_).

=Fumigation, Mu'riatic.= See HYDROCHLORIC F. (_above_).

=Fumigation, Ni'trous.= _Syn._ FUMIGATIO NITROSA. _Prep._ (P. Cod.) Sulphuric acid, diluted with half its weight of water, is placed in a porcelain cup (any shallow vessel of gla.s.s or earthenware will do), placed over heated cinders, and small quant.i.ties of powdered nitre added to it from time to time.

_Obs._ Heat causes the gas to be evolved more rapidly, and thus renders the fumes more offensive, without increasing their efficacy. Equal weights of oil of vitriol and water are the proportions usually employed, 1/4 oz.

of nitre is said to be sufficient for a small room. (Dr Bateman.) The vessel containing the ingredients should be placed in an elevated position in the centre of the apartment.

Dr Carmichael Smith, who introduced nitrous acid gas as a fumigation (1799), received a reward of 5000 from Parliament for publishing his formula.

=Fumigation, Sulphu'rous.= _Syn._ FUMIGATIO SULPHUROSA, F. SULPHURIS, L.

_Prep._ 1. The gas produced by burning sulphur, sulphurous anhydride, or, as Mr Keates has suggested, by burning bisulphide of carbon.

To guard against the danger arising from fire, when sulphur is burnt for the purposes of fumigation, the operator is advised to proceed as follows:--Having closed the fireplace, windows, &c., of the apartment to be disinfected, procure a common pail or a large earthenware pan, and place it in the centre of the room; then into the middle of the pail or pan put upside down an ordinary flower-pot. Then pour water into the pail or pan (as the case may be) until it nearly reaches to the top of the inverted flower-pot. Now stand on the flower-pot a plate or saucer of earthenware or common crockery, sufficiently large to hold the quant.i.ty of sulphur required; place this quant.i.ty of sulphur in the plate or saucer, and put on it a few live coals; then close the door of the apartment, and leave it undisturbed for six or eight hours. At the expiration of this time the door may be opened, as well as the windows, the barricade being at the same time removed from the fireplace; a thorough draught of air being thus established, the sulphurous smell will soon disappear. During the fumigation all articles within the room should be spread out so as to expose as great a surface as possible. "The cubic s.p.a.ce to be thus disinfected should be calculated by multiplying the length, height, and breadth together, and taking an ounce and a half of sulphur for every 100 cubic feet. For a small bedroom one pound of sulphur would be sufficient.

Indeed, eighteen ounces would suffice for a room measuring 12 ft. 10 ft.

10 ft."[321]

[Footnote 321: 'Water, Air, and Disinfectants,' by Noel Hartley.]

2. Flowers of sulphur, 7 parts; nitre, 4 parts; benzoin and olibanum, of each 2 parts; camphor, 1 part; pressed into the bowls of tobacco-pipes, and lighted with a quick-match. See BATH and DISINFECTANT.

=Fumigation, Tar.= _Syn._ FUMIGATIO PICEA, SUFFUMIGATIO PICIS LIQUIDae, L.

_Prep._ 1. Vegetable tar, 1 part; water, 7 or 8 parts; mix, and let it simmer in an open vessel set over a spirit lamp placed near the centre of the apartment.

2. (Sir A. Crichton.) Norway tar, 1 lb.; powdered carbonate of potash, 1/2 oz. or 1 oz.; mix, and heat it as last. The potash is added to neutralise any volatile acid. Formerly highly thought of in bronchitis and pulmonary consumption.

=Fumigation, Tooth'ache.= _Syn._ FUMIGATIO ODONTALGICA, F.

ANTI-NEURALGICA, L. _Prep._ 1. From henbane seeds, powdered and thrown into a basin of boiling water, and the affected part held in the steam.

Sometimes a little of the seed is placed on a heated iron spoon, and the part exposed to the fumes.

2. (Beasley.) A popular remedy is to throw henbane seed on hot cinders, inverting a cup over them to receive the smoke and empyreumatic oil produced. The cup is then filled with hot water, and the steam conveyed to the affected side of the mouth.

=FU"MING LIQUORS.= See AMMONIUM SULPHYDRATE, a.r.s.eNIC TRICHLORIDE, TIN BICHLORIDE, &c.

=FUNG'I.= In _botany_, a natural order of cellular plants, producing their fructification in the air; growing in or upon decaying or living organic substances, and nourished through their vegetative structure called the sp.a.w.n or mycelium. Fungi have very variable properties. Some are medical, others edible, others are deadly poisons. The various diseases of plants known as blight, mildew, rust, s.m.u.t, vine-mildew, potato-disease, ergot, &c., are either caused by or accelerated by the agency of fungi. See AGARIC, MUSHROOM, &c.

=FUR'NACE.= An enclosed fireplace for obtaining a high degree of heat.

Furnaces vary much in construction and size, according to the particular manufacture in which they are employed. They may be broadly divided into two cla.s.ses--WIND-FURNACES and BLAST FURNACES. In the former a high temperature is produced without the aid of bellows by means of a powerful draught. In the latter heated air is blown in through a pipe or pipes at the bottom. For many metallurgic and large chemical operations REVERBERATORY FURNACES are employed. A furnace of this kind is usually long, with a low roof to keep down the flame and hot air upon the 'hearth'

or s.p.a.ce between the fireplace and the flue.[322] For the smaller operations in chemistry, a variety of furnaces have been invented, and the introduction of coal-gas as a fuel by Develle, Griffin, Gore, Fletcher, and others, has wrought a complete change in the arrangements of the laboratory. The GAS-FURNACES of Mr J. J. Griffin are adapted for almost every operation performed by the aid of heat. Those more recently introduced by Mr W. Gore are very compact and portable, and will rapidly produce a 'white heat,' without the help of bellows or high chimney, by means of ordinary coal-gas and atmospheric air. The first and smallest size consumes 33 cubic feet of gas (value seven farthings) per hour, and is suitable for a.s.sayers, jewellers, a.n.a.lytical chemists, experimentalists, dentists, and others. It is capable of fusing eight ounces of copper or six ounces of cast iron, copper begins to melt in it in about twelve minutes from the time of lighting. The second-sized one consumes about twice that quant.i.ty of gas, is suitable for manufacturing jewellers generally, and for a great variety of practical persons who require to melt small quant.i.ties of gold, silver, copper, german silver, bra.s.s, cast iron, gla.s.s, and other substances, or require a small crucible heated to high temperatures. It is capable of melting 45 ounces of copper, or 40 ounces of cast iron, and with its heat up it melts one pound of copper in eight minutes; copper begins to melt in about twenty minutes from the time of lighting.

[Footnote 322: For an ill.u.s.tration of this kind of furnace, see SODIUM, Carbonate of.]

Fletcher's[323] UNIVERSAL FURNACES for high temperatures, which are said to require neither blast nor attention, are intended for laboratory purposes, enamel burning, heating soldering irons, and for jewellers' and dentists' work. These furnaces are made in two distinct types; one with a perforated cover to the crucibles and m.u.f.fles to attain the maximum heat; the other with a slide chimney and a double lid over the crucible.

[Footnote 323: Manufactured by Thos. Fletcher, Museum Street, Warrington.]

The power and rapidity of working depend in each case on the length of the chimney used. A furnace with a four-feet chimney will melt a crucible of cast-iron in thirty-five minutes; a furnace with an eight-feet chimney will melt the same quant.i.ty of iron in about twenty minutes, starting with the furnace cold. The stove with the side chimney, although more convenient in use, is slower in working, taking about twice as long to obtain the same temperature.

The following are varieties of Fletcher's UNIVERSAL FURNACE:--

1. SMALL LABORATORY FURNACE for crucibles, with nickel-plated burner tubes. This takes crucibles up to 2-1/2 by 2-1/4 inches outside, and with a three-feet chimney, as supplied with the furnace, will, it is stated, melt copper, gold, silver, &c., in about ten minutes, or cast-iron in thirty-five minutes from the time the gas is lighted. Small m.u.f.fle fittings, with m.u.f.fles 2-1/4 by 3 by 2-1/2 inches inside, can be supplied with this furnace.

2. SMALL CRUCIBLE FURNACE, with fixed chimney. This furnace is more especially designed for gold, silver, copper, &c., and, as sent out with a four-feet chimney and a single lid, is amply powerful, and practically of a very convenient form.

3. SMALL m.u.f.fLE FURNACE, with three feet chimney. This requires about eighteen inches longer chimney than the small crucible furnace to obtain the same temperature in the same time, owing to a slight loss of heat by radiation from the stoppers.

4. _a._ LARGE m.u.f.fLE FURNACE. This is identical in design and construction with the smaller one. The clear working s.p.a.ce inside the muzzle is 3-7/8 by 5 inches, by about 3 inches deep. This is recommended as a useful furnace for watch dial enamellers, a.s.sayers, photo-enamel burning, and for all purposes where exact temperatures are required not exceeding the fusing point of cast iron.

The burner of this furnace is twice the size of the small laboratory furnace, and requires a gas supply from a pipe and tap of half-an-inch bore. The burner is the same shape as the m.u.f.fle, and is unfit for crucible work.

_b._ EXTRA LARGE m.u.f.fLE FURNACE 4-1/2 by 3-3/4 by 7 inches clear inside working s.p.a.ce. This will take a No. 3 plumbago pot, and with half an inch gas pipe, giving a supply of about 35 feet per hour, will, it is affirmed, melt 3 or 4 lbs. of bra.s.s in about 25 minutes, and the same quant.i.ty of cast iron in 60 or 70 minutes from the time the gas is first lighted, without the slightest trouble or attention.

5. LADLE FURNACE. This takes ladles up to 6-1/2 inches diameter, and will melt 6 or 8 lbs. of zinc in about 15 minutes, or the same quant.i.ty of lead, tin, &c., in about half the time. It is said to be a convenient and powerful arrangement for dentists, heating soldering-irons, making granulated zinc, sand baths, &c.

6. SMALL LABORATORY FURNACE, complete for crucibles, m.u.f.fles, ladles, and sand baths.

7. FLETCHER'S INJECTOR GAS FURNACE (with Blast). This furnace is intended for general purposes, and for the treatment of refractory substances at high temperatures. The patentee states "that it will burn perfectly in the same s.p.a.ce any available gas supply from 10 to 50 feet per hour, or more, if required, giving temperatures in exact proportion; and any operation may be repeated at any time by taking a note of the position of the air slide which governs the combustion of the gas."

Mr Fletcher gives the power of the small furnace as follows:--With an 1/2 inch gas supply-pipe, day pressure, starting with the furnace cold, it will melt silver in 3 minutes, cast iron in 8 minutes, cast steel in 25 minutes.

With a supply of 50 feet per hour, the same results are stated to be obtained in a little over half the time, and so on in proportion with a greater or less gas supply. It is also said to work satisfactorily for gold, &c., melting it with a supply of gas too small for any other furnace, and the maximum temperatures obtained are limited, only by the available gas supply and the fusibility of the casing. The highest temperature as obtained by measuring by Wedgwoods' Pyrometer, is said to be 9000 Fahrenheit. This furnace is stated to be particularly suited for gold and silver melting, and refining, iron a.s.says, and general crucible work, and safe in the hands of the most careless workman. It is adapted for crucibles not exceeding 4 inches by 2-1/4, 5 inches by 3-1/2, 7-1/2 inches by 5. For further information respecting furnaces intended for use in the laboratory and a.s.say office, the reader is referred to 'Watt's Dictionary of Chemistry,' also to 'Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines,' for description of the furnaces employed in the different metallurgical operations; and to the 'Chemical News' (June 30th, 1876, and February 2nd, 1877), for a description of a new decomposing furnace. See a.s.sAYING, CHIMNEYS, COPPER, CRUCIBLE, FUEL, &c.

=FUR'NISHING.= It is essential for the sake of neatness, and for a pleasing effect to the eye, that there should be a harmony of colours, and also a similarity of style, in the main articles of furniture. The tints of the carpet, of the paper or paint of the walls, and of the window-curtains, should be all in harmony in each room; that is, either possess a general resemblance of colour, or various colours in pleasing contrast and harmony with each other. If the preponderating colour of the curtains is scarlet, and the colour of the walls or carpet blue, a most inharmonious and unpleasing effect is produced; but brown and green, or green and gold, will be in harmony, and may, therefore, be placed together. Carpets being the most expensive articles, it is safest to buy them first, and then to let their colour guide us in the tone and style of the curtains, paper-hangings, chair-covers, hearth-rugs, and the various minor articles. It is also economical to buy carpets of the same pattern for several rooms, because in the event of removal to a house with different sized apartments, a piece of one carpet may be taken to alter the size of another.

=FUR'NITURE.= See FRENCH POLISHING, OIL, POLISH, VARNISH, &c.

=FURS.= Of these the most valuable are Ermine and Sable. Fur skins, when unprepared, or merely dried, go under the name of 'Peltry.' (Brande.)

Furs may be preserved from moths and other insects by placing a little colocynth pulp (bitter apple), or spice (cloves, pimento, &c.), wrapped in muslin, among them; or they may be washed in a very weak solution of corrosive sublimate in warm water (10 to 15 gr. to the pint), and afterwards carefully dried. As well as every other species of clothing, they should be kept in a clean, dry place, from which they should be taken out occasionally, well beaten, and exposed to the air, and re-turned.

=FU'SEL-OIL.= _Syn._ FOUSEL OIL, POTATO-OIL, OIL OF POTATO SPIRIT, GRAIN OIL, GRAIN-SPIRIT OIL, MARC-BRANDY OIL, CRUDE HYDRATED OXIDE OF AMYL.

_Source._ An offensive, strong-smelling oil, produced along with alcohol during the fermentation of grain, potatoes, &c., on the large scale, and which gives the peculiar and disagreeable flavour and odour to raw whiskey. It is found chiefly in the last portion of the spirit which pa.s.ses over, called the 'faints,' to which it imparts its characteristic odour and flavour. By rectifying the faints at a very gentle heat, most of the alcohol and water first pa.s.s over together with only a little fusel oil, whilst the latter forms the residuum in the still. Various names (as _above_) are given to the crude oil thus obtained, according to its source. In each case it essentially consists of hydrated oxide of amyl, but trifling and variable quant.i.ties of other organic compounds are mixed with it, which slightly modify its character, more particularly its odour and flavour. The oil of potato spirit is the purest form of crude fusel oil.

_Obs._ The exertions of the distiller are directed, as much as possible, to lessen the formation of fusel oil during the fermentation of his 'worts,' and to eliminate, during the distillation and rectification of his liquors, the greatest possible proportion of that with which they may be contaminated.

_Prop., &c._ Fusel oil is a nearly colourless volatile liquid, with a rather high boiling point, a durable, penetrating, offensive smell, and an acrid, burning taste; when swallowed, it occasions nausea, giddiness, headache, &c.; in slightly larger quant.i.ties, vomiting, delirium, oppressive respiration, and lessened sensibility to pain; its vapour also produces these effects. In quant.i.ty, it is a narcotic poison. The greater intoxicating power of whiskey, more especially that from raw grain, than other spirit, is due to the larger quant.i.ty of fusel oil which it contains. This appears to be well known to the lower cla.s.s of whiskey drinkers in these countries, and to the consumers of corn brandy in some of the northern parts of Europe. The last are said to frequently demand to be served with "a gla.s.s of good fusel." In England fusel oil is chiefly used for lamps and varnishes.

_Purific._ The AMYLIC ALCOHOL (ALCOHOL AMYLIc.u.m) of the Dublin College is thus prepared. Introduce the ordinary fusel oil of the distilleries into a small still or retort, connected with a condenser, and apply heat; as soon as the oil begins to flow over, unmixed with water, the receiver should be changed, and the distillation resumed, and carried nearly to dryness; the product in the second receiver, and the oily matter which separates from the water in the first receiver, are to be reserved for use. It is employed in the preparation of VALERIANATE OF SODA. See AMYL.

=FU'SIBLE ALLOY'.= _Syn._ FUSIBLE METAL. _Prep._ 1. Bis.m.u.th, 2 parts; lead, 5 parts; tin, 3 parts. Melts in boiling water.