Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 166

Manuring experiments on potatoes in 1867-1869 show that on light soils a mixture of mineral superphosphate, crude potash salts, and ammonium sulphate, produces very beneficial results; on stiff soils nitrogenous manures have little effect. Further proof is given that manuring with common salt tends to decrease the yield.

a.n.a.lyses, conducted by A. Stockardt, of potatoes grown in eight different years, show that those manured with salt invariably contain less starch than those unmanured, the decrease being from 10 to 20 per cent. of starch; the same effect is produced when the salt is mixed with other manures.

Under the microscope the cells are seen to be very sparingly fitted with starch grains.

Unmanured potatoes contained 43 per cent. of sodium chloride in the dry substance, and those which had received a small dressing of common salt 134 per cent.[121]

[Footnote 121: Voelcker 'Roy. Agric. Society's Journal,' quoted in 'Journal of Chemical Society,' vol. XXV.]

No certain rule can be laid down for 'dressing' potatoes. "If boiled, it may be that they require to be put into boiling water, or, may be, into cold, and either boiled quickly or slowly; but this you must find out.

Choose them all about the same size, with a smooth skin, and when they are boiled and begin to crack, throw off the water immediately, as it only damages the root. When dressed let them stand near the fire, with a cloth over them, and serve them in their skins. Salt may be put into the water at the beginning. A watery potato will require quick boiling, and, sometimes, to be put into boiling water." (Soyer.)

To retain the highest amount of nourishment in potatoes they should be 'dressed' with their skins on them. The bruised or damaged parts, worm-holes, &c., being removed with a knife, the dirt should be carefully cleaned out of the 'eyes,' and from the rough parts of the skins, by means of a brush and water, after which they should be well rinsed in clean water, and drained in a colander. If they are at all dry or shrivelled, they may be advantageously left to soak for 3 or 4 hours in clean cold water before cooking them. Potatoes 'dressed' in the skins have been found to be nearly twice as rich in pota.s.sa salts as those which have been first peeled. The skins are easily removed before sending them to table.

NEW POTATOES should have their loose outer skin rubbed off with a cloth or stiff brush before being dressed or cooked.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Potato starch granules.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Potato starch granules swollen by liquor pota.s.sae.]

MASHED POTATOES are prepared by crushing, with the back of a spoon, or with a rolling-pin, the hot 'dressed' tubers, placed in a bowl or dish, or on a pie-board. A little milk, b.u.t.ter, and salt may be added to them at will, and they may be either at once 'served up,' or pressed into 'forms,'

and first 'browned off' in the oven. Potatoes, if not soft and mealy, and well masticated, frequently escape the solvent action of the stomach, and pa.s.s off undigested, often to the serious derangement of the health. By mashing them this inconvenience is removed. The delicate, the dyspeptic, and the aged should take them in no other form.

Potatoes may be preserved so as to stand the longest voyages unchanged, by thoroughly desiccating them in an oven, or by steam heat. For this purpose the roots, either raw or three parts dressed, are generally first cut into dice of above 3/4 inch square, to facilitate the operation. Under a patent granted to Mr Downes Edwards, Aug., 1840, the boiled potatoes are mashed and granulated by forcing them through a perforated plate before drying them. The granulated product, beaten up with a little hot milk or hot water, forms an excellent extemporaneous dish of mashed potatoes.

The microscopic detection of potato starch is easy. Instead of being round or oval, and with a central hilum, the starch grains are pyriform, with an eccentric hilum placed at the smaller end, and with well-marked concentric rings. A weak solution of liquor pota.s.sae (one drop of the Pharmacopia preparation to ten of water) swells them out greatly after a time; while wheat starch is little affected by potash of this strength; if the strength is 1 to 3 (as in the _figs._) the swelling takes place very rapidly.

=POT POURRI.= [Fr.] A mixture of odorous flowers, roots, gums, &c., varied according to the taste of the operator, either mixed together dry, or in the fresh state preserved with salt. "The usual way of making it is to collect roses, lavender, and other sweet-scented flowers, as they blow; to put them into a large jar mixed (stratified) with salt, until a sufficient quant.i.ty has been collected; then to add to these such other odorous substances as may be required to form an agreeable perfume." Among the substances thus added are--ambergris, benzoin, calamus root, cascarilla, ca.s.sia, ca.s.sia buds, cinnamon, civet, cloves, musk, musk seed, orange berries and flowers, orris root, pimento, storax, vanilla, yellow sandal wood, &c.

"Instead of the fresh flowers, dried roses are sometimes used, and, with the addition of some essential oils, these answer quite as well."

(Redwood.)

The following is a French formula:--Take the petals of the pale and red roses, pinks, violets, moss rose, orange flower, lily of the valley, acacia flowers, clove gilliflowers, mignonette, heliotrope, jonquils, with a small proportion of the flowers of myrtle, balm, rosemary, and thyme; spread them out for some days, and as they become dry put them into a jar, with alternate layers of dry salt mixed with orris powder, till the vessel is filled. Close it for a month and stir the whole up, and moisten it with rose water.

=POT'TED MEATS.= See PUTREFACTION and POTTING (_below_).

=POT'TERY.= The mechanical operations connected with the manufacture of pottery (CERAMIC ART) do not come within the province of this work. The materials employed, in this country, to produce the best kind of earthenware (STAFFORDSHIRE WARE) are the fine white clays of Devonshire and Cornwall, and powdered chert or flint. This is brought to a perfectly h.o.m.ogeneous plastic ma.s.s with water, and in this state is fashioned upon the potter's wheel and lathe, or by moulding, into all the varied objects of utility and ornament, which are made in this material. After the newly formed vessels and other articles have been dried by exposure in heated rooms, they are enclosed in clay cases (SEGGARS) and exposed to heat in a kiln, by which they arrive at a state (BISCUIT) which renders them fit for glazing; the patterns (if any) and, afterwards, appropriate vitreous materials having been applied to their surfaces, they are again placed in the seggars, and are again exposed in a kiln to a heat sufficiently high to fuse the newly applied compound, by which they acquire a uniform enamelled surface, and become fit for the market. PORCELAIN, or CHINA, as it is commonly called, is manufactured in a nearly similar manner, but the materials are selected and the various processes conducted with corresponding skill and care.

The ornamental patterns are produced upon both Staffordshire ware and porcelain by a number of ingenious processes, among which printing, painting, and moulding are the princ.i.p.al. The colours employed are those which have been already referred to under ENAMELS.

The metallic l.u.s.tres now so common on stoneware, &c., are given as follows:--

1. GOLD l.u.s.tRE. Dissolve grain-gold, 1 dr., in aqua regia, 3/4 oz.; to the solution add of metallic tin, 6 gr.; and when this is dissolved, pour it very gradually, with constant stirring, into a mixture of balsam of sulphur, 1/2 dr.; oil of turpentine, 20 gr.; when the ma.s.s begins to stiffen, 1/2 dr. more of oil of turpentine must be added, and well mixed in. More gold deepens and brightens the l.u.s.tre; more tin turns it on the violet or purple.

2. IRON l.u.s.tRE. From a mixture of 'muriate of iron' (ferric chloride) and spirit of tar.

3. PLATINUM l.u.s.tRE. To a solution of platinum in aqua regia (platinic chloride) is added, drop by drop, a mixture of spirit of tar and balsam of sulphur in equal proportions, until by a trial the composition is found to give the required result. This gives the appearance of polished steel.

4. SILVER l.u.s.tRE. The ammonio-chloride of platinum is reduced to an impalpable powder, ground up to the requisite consistence with a little spirit of tar, and at once applied with a brush.

The above l.u.s.tres are applied, over an easily fusible glaze, to the outer surfaces only of the vessels, after which adhesion is produced by exposing the pieces to a slight degree of heat in the m.u.f.fle. To give them their full beauty they must be rubbed with cotton, wool, or chamois leather, after the firing. See ALUMINA, CLAY, ENAMELS, GILDING, GLAZES, KAOLIN, &c.

=POT'TING.= A term commonly applied to the operation or practice of preserving animal substances in a state fit for immediate use, in small pots or jars. The method of proceeding is, first, to mince the substance (previously well dressed, and carefully deprived of bones, sinews, skin, &c.), and, next, to pound it in a clean polished marble or iron mortar, along with a little b.u.t.ter and some cayenne pepper, or other suitable spice or sauce, until it forms a perfectly smooth paste; this is pressed into the pots, so as to about 2-3rds fill them, and clarified melted b.u.t.ter is then poured in to the depth of about 1-8th of an inch; the pots are, lastly, closely covered over, and kept in a cool situation. In this state their contents may be preserved for a year, or longer. Potted beef, ham, veal, poultry, game, anchovies, bloaters, salmon, &c., are commonly sold in the shops. They are all intended for relishes, and are spread upon bread in the same manner as b.u.t.ter.

=POUDRE KOUSIQUE.= [Fr.] A French nostrum, consisting of nitre and sulphur, of each 50 parts; charcoal and antimony, of each 1 part. It is divided into 1/2-dr. doses, of which three are put into each packet. It is given to dogs in a ball of b.u.t.ter, to prevent the disorders to which they are liable.

=POUDRE METALLIQUE.= [Fr.] See TOOTH CEMENTS.

=POUDRE SUBTILE.= [Fr.] See DEPILATORY.

=POUDRETTE.= [Fr.] Dried night-soil. The manure sold under this name is a compound of night-soil with clay, charcoal, or gypsum, made into b.a.l.l.s or cakes. Its extensive use in Belgium, France, the United States of America, and, more particularly, in China, where it was first employed, has shown it to be the most fertilising and generally applicable of all the numerous substances used as manure. Unfortunately, the prejudices of Englishmen lead them to poison the air of their cities and towns, and the waters of their rivers, with a substance which, if rightly applied, would crown their fields with golden harvests, and drive pauperism from the land.

Tardieu, speaking of the men engaged in making poudrette, says:--"The action of the exhalations from the manure manufacturers is certainly not injurious. The workmen show actually no trace of sickness or disease which can be referred to the influence of these exhalations."

That 'poudrette' is, however, occasionally liable to set up fermentation seems undeniable; and when this is the case, and large quant.i.ties of poudrette are stored within a small s.p.a.ce, serious consequences may ensue.

Parent Duchatelet cites the case of a vessel carrying poudrette to Guadaloupe, in which half the crew died, and the remainder were in a very low state of health on the arrival of the vessel at Guadaloupe, owing, as he affirms, to the exhalations given off by the poudrette.

=POUL'TICE.= _Syn._ CATAPLASM; CATAPLASMA, L. An external application, generally extemporaneous, used to promote suppuration, allay pain and inflammation, resolve tumours, &c.

Poultices (cataplasmata) are generally prepared with substances capable of absorbing much water, and a.s.suming a pulpy consistence, so as to admit of their application to any surface, however irregular. Their curative action princ.i.p.ally depends upon the liquids with which they are moistened, and the heat retained by the ma.s.s. With this object they should never be heavy or very bulky, and should be frequently repeated, and lightly, but securely, bandaged on, to prevent displacement.

The addition of a little lard, olive oil, or, still better, glycerin, to a poultice, tends greatly to promote its emollient action, and to r.e.t.a.r.d its hardening.

As the continued medication of the part with warmth and moisture, or with substances applied in the moist way, is the princ.i.p.al object to be attained in the application of poultices, a fold or two of lint or soft linen dipped in hot water, either simple or medicated, and covered with a piece of thin sheet gutta percha or india-rubber cloth, to prevent evaporation, may be often conveniently applied in their stead. A very elegant and useful subst.i.tute of this kind is sold under the name of 'spongio piline.' Its cleanliness, lightness, and ease of application has led to its extensive adoption by the medical profession.

The following formulae embrace all the cataplasma of the Pharmacopias:--

=Poultice of Al'um.= _Syn._ CATAPLASMA ALUMINIS, L. _Prep._ (B. P., Ph. D.

1826.) Alum (in powder), 1 dr.; whites of 2 eggs; shake them together until they form a coagulum. Applied, between the folds of fine linen, to chilblains, sore nipples, inflamed eyes, &c.

=Poultice, Anodyne.= (P. Cod.) _Syn._ CATAPLASMA ANODYNUM. _Prep._ Poppy heads, 1 oz.; dried leaves of henbane, 2 oz.; water, 24 oz. Boil, strain, and add to the liquor 4 oz. of emollient meals, to form a poultice.

=Poultice, Antiseptic.= (Fr. Hosp.) _Syn._ CATAPLASMA ANTISEPTIc.u.m.

_Prep._ Barley flour, 6 oz.; powdered Peruvian bark, 1 oz.; water, q. s.

Boil and, when cool enough, add camphor in powder, 1 dr.

=Poultice, Astringent.= (Foy.) _Syn._ CATAPLASMA ASTRINGENS. _Prep._ Catechu, 1 oz.; powdered oak bark and barley meal, of each 1 oz.; cold water, q. s.

=Poultice of Belladonna.= (Dr Reece.) _Syn._ CATAPLASMA BELLADONNae.

_Prep._ Extract of belladonna, made in vacuo, 1 dr.; oatmeal, 1/2 lb.; boiling water, q. s.

=Poultice, Bran.= _Syn_. CATAPLASMA FURFURIS. _Prep._ Fine bran, with one tenth of linseed meal, made into a poultice with boiling water. Mr Payne recommends, as a cheap hospital poultice, 3-1/2 pecks of pollard, 14 lbs.

of bruised meal, and 1/4 lb. of lard.

=Poultice of Bread.= _Syn._ CATAPLASMA PANIS, L. _Prep._ From crum of bread, soaked in hot water, slightly pressed, and then beaten up with a little lard, b.u.t.ter, or oil. Emollient. See POULTICE, LINSEED MEAL (_below_).

=Poultice of Car'rot.= _Syn._ CATAPLASMA DAUCI, L. _Prep._ 1. From the common esculent carrot, sc.r.a.ped fine, so as to form a pulp.