Enquire Within Upon Everything Part 178

[JUDGEMENT IS THE THRONE OF PRUDENCE.]

2318. Borax in the Laundry.

For washing add a threepenny packet to every ten gallons of hot water used; let the clothes soak all night in the solution; in the morning give them a slight boil, adding a little more Patent Borax, if they be very greasy or dirty. By this means the clothes are rendered whiter, soap is saved, and the hands are uninjured. It acts, moreover, as a disinfectant, if the clothes have been taken from the bed or person of anyone who is suffering from any infectious disorder. Flannels are rendered softer, and the appearance of lace, fine articles, coloured prints, soiled ribbons, &c., greatly improved by washing them in this solution. A teaspoonful to each pint of starch, when hot, will add to the stiffness and gloss of linen when ironed.

2319. To Revive Black Lace.

Lay the lace on a piece of clean smooth board, and moisten it all over with a piece of black silk dipped in a solution of a teaspoonful of Patent Borax to a pint of warm water. Iron while damp, after covering the lace with a piece of black silk or cloth.

2320. Borax for the Toilet.

As a wash for the mouth add half a teaspoonful of spirits of camphor, and a teaspoonful of tincture of myrrh to a pint of hot water, in which a penny packet of Patent Borax has been dissolved, and use a winegla.s.sful of this mixture in half a tumbler of water, when brushing the teeth. When the mouth is washed out with this solution, it removes the smell of tobacco and any unpleasant odour arising from decayed teeth. Camphorated chalk dentrifice is improved as a tooth powder by the addition of a little powdered borax. For washing hair brushes, sponges, etc., a solution of a small packet in a pint of hot water should be used.

2321. Borax in the Nursery.

A little borax added to water for bathing infants and children has a beneficial effect on the skin. For cleaning the hair and removing scurf or dandruff wash the head with a solution of a small packet of borax in a pint of hot water, after which the head should be rinsed with cold water, and carefully dried. This wash may be improved by the addition of half an ounce of rosemary spirit sold by any chemist.

2322. Borax in the Garden.

A solution made by dissolving borax in hot water in the proportion of a penny packet of the former to a pint of the latter, will kill the green fly on roses, and other plants. A weaker solution may be used for syringing the plants. When applied to the stems of fruit trees, and other trees, it destroys all insects in and about the bark, and clears the blight on apple trees. For these purposes the solution should be applied with a brush. For washing the shelves, boards, and woodwork of greenhouses, the solution is especially valuable, and when used for syringing vines in the proportion of a pint of the solution to ten gallons of water, and half a pound of borax dry soap, as soon as the grapes have been thinned, it will keep them free from red spider and all other insects.

2323. Fever or Infection.

In all cases of fever or infectious diseases, it should be freely used in the room by dusting the dry powder over floors, carpets, mats, &c.

(it will not injure the finest fabrics), and by placing in dishes or other vehicles, into which hot water should be poured. It has _no smell_, but quickly removes _all smells_. In cases of death it is most valuable; the corpse may be kept perfectly sweet by merely dusting into ears, nose, mouth, under arm-pits, feet, &c., or when any moisture exudes. It will preserve features and skin fresh as in life for many weeks, and keep the corpse free from decomposition.

2324. Vaseline.

What it is.--This indispensable household requisite is a product of petroleum, from which it is obtained by an elaborate system of nitration, without the addition or aid of any chemical whatever. The substance thus produced, to which the name of "Vaseline" has been given, is in the form of a lemon-coloured jelly, completely devoid of either smell or taste, and of exquisite softness and smoothness to the touch. This jelly, which is one of the finest emollients known, and is possessed of healing and other medicinal properties, forms the basis of many preparations which are now widely used all the world over.

2325. Vaseline for Medicinal Use.

The pure jelly itself, without any addition, is an invaluable family remedy for burns, chilblains, chapped hands, and skin roughened by exposure to wind and water in cold weather; as well as for sun-burns, wounds, sprains, and all diseases of the skin; for inflamed eyelids, and for preventing pitting in small-pox, when used externally as an ointment. When taken internally, in doses of half a teaspoonful, or in smaller quant.i.ties, it forms a cure for diseases of the throat, chest, and stomach, and gives speedy relief in cases of diphtheria, croup, &c. For convenience in using it, a confection is prepared from it for complaints of the throat and lungs. No one need fear to use it, for although it is a product of petroleum, it is the only one that is not dangerous to use, and is possessed of no poisonous qualities. It may be procured from or through any chemist and druggist.

2326. Vaseline for the Toilet.

The toilet soap and tar soap made from vaseline are superior in emollient and healing properties, to similar preparations from glycerine. For the hair, an excellent hair tonic and pomade are supplied, which have the effect not only of strengthening, but of promoting its growth. For the complexion, vaseline cold cream should be used, and for the lips, when sore and chapped by cold winds or any other cause, vaseline camphor ice.

2327. Vaseline for the Household.

As time progresses there can be no doubt that this valuable preparation will be turned to good account for many domestic uses. It has already been found an excellent anti-corrosive, being an efficient protection against rust, when smeared over guns, bicycles, arms, knives, tools, and steel goods, of any kind in general household use.

An excellent boot and shoe paste is prepared from it, which renders boots and shoes absolutely waterproof, and over which any ordinary blacking may be used to produce a polish.

2328. Vaseline in the Stable.

When mixed with graphite, vaseline affords a valuable lubricant for application to the axles of light and heavy carriages of every description, and for all bearings in machinery of any kind, especially where great speed is required. A paste is also prepared from it which renders leather harness soft, pliable, impervious to wet, and free from any tendency to crack, thus increasing its durability. Another preparation is found most useful for the cure of injuries and diseases of cattle and domestic animals. This, which is supplied under the name of Veterinary Vaseline, has been found to promote the growth of the hair, unchanged in colour, in the case of broken knees. Its use will also improve the condition of the coat on horses, and will keep off the flies, and cure the mange, and all skin diseases commonly met with in the stable, including injuries to the frogs, hoofs, and fetlocks.

2329. Damp Situations, Remedy for.

People who live in damp localities, particularly near undrained land, are apt to think that there is no help for them save in removal. They are mistaken. Successful experiments have shown that it is possible to materially improve the atmosphere in such neighbourhoods by the planting of the laurel and the sunflower. The laurel gives off an abundance of ozone, whilst the sunflower is potent in destroying the malarial condition. These two, if planted on the most restricted scale in a garden or any ground close to the house, will be found to speedily increase the dryness and salubrity of the atmosphere.

2330. Plant Skeletons.

The leaves should be put into an earthen or gla.s.s vessel, and a large quant.i.ty of rain water poured over them; after this they must be left in the open air, and to the heat of the sun, without covering the vessel. As the water evaporates and the leaves become dry, more water must be added; the leaves will by this means putrefy, but the time required for this varies; some plants will be finished in a month, others will require two months or longer, according to the toughness of their parenchyma. When they have been in a state of putrefaction for some time, the two membranes will begin to separate, and the green part of the leaf to become fluid; then the operation of clearing is to be performed.

The leaf is to be put upon a flat white earthen plate, and covered with clear water; and being gently squeezed with the finger, the membranes will begin to open, and the green substance will come out at the edges; the membranes must be carefully taken off with the finger, and great caution must be used in separating them near the middle rib.

When once there is an opening towards this separation, the whole membrane always follows easily; when both membranes are taken off, the skeleton is finished, and it has to be washed clean with water, and then dried between the leaves of a book.

2331. Fruit Skeletons.

Fruits are divested of their pulp and made into skeletons in a different manner. Take, for an instance, a fine large pear which is soft, and not tough; let it be carefully pared without squeezing it, and without injuring either the crown or the stalk; put it into a pot of rain water, covered, set it over the fire, and let it boil gently till perfectly soft, then take it out and lay it in a dish filled with cold water; then holding it by the stalk with one hand, rub off as much of the pulp as you can with the finger and thumb, beginning at the stalk and rubbing it regularly towards the crown. The fibres are most tender towards the extremities, and are therefore to be treated with great care there. When the pulp has thus been cleared pretty well off, the point of a fine penknife may be of use to pick away the pulp sticking to the core. In order to see how the operation advances, the soiled water must be thrown away from time to time, and clean poured on in its place. When the pulp is in this manner perfectly separated, the clean skeleton is to be preserved in spirits of wine.

2332. To make Impressions of Leaves.

Prepare two rubbers by tying up wool or any other substance in wash-leather; then prepare the colours in which you wish to print leaves, by rubbing up with cold drawn linseed oil the tints that are required, as indigo for blue, chrome for yellow, indigo and chrome for green, &c. Get a number of leaves the size and kind you wish to stamp, then dip the rubbers into the paint, and rub them one over the other, so that you may have but a small quant.i.ty of the composition upon the rubbers; place a leaf upon one rubber and moisten it gently with the other; take the leaf off and apply it to the substance on which you wish to make an imprint of the leaf. Upon the leaf place a piece of white paper, press gently, and a beautiful impression of all the veins of the leaf will be obtained.

2333. To make a Fac-simile of a Leaf in Copper.

This beautiful experiment can be performed by any person in possession of a common galvanic battery. The process is as follows:

Soften a piece of gutta percha over a candle, or before a fire; knead it with the moist fingers upon a table, until the surface is perfectly smooth, and large enough to cover the leaf to be copied; lay the leaf flat upon the surface, and press every part well into the gutta-percha. In about five minutes the leaf may be removed, when, if the operation has been carefully performed, a perfect impression of the leaf will be made in the gutta percha.

This must now be attached to the wire in connection with the zinc end of the battery (which can easily be done by heating the end of the wire, and pressing it into the gutta percha), dusted well over with the best blacklead with a camel-hair brush--the object of which is to render it a conductor of electricity; it should then be completely immersed in a saturated solution of sulphate of copper. A piece of copper attached to the wire in connection with the copper end of the battery must also be inserted into the copper solution facing ihe gutta percha, but not touching it; this not only acts as a conductor to the electricity, but also maintains the solution of copper of a permanent strength.

In a short time the copper will be found to creep over the whole surface of the gutta percha, and in about twenty-four hours a thick deposit of copper will be obtained, which may then be detached from the mould. The accuracy with which a leaf may thus be cast is truly surprising.

2334. Leaf Printing.

After warming the leaf between the hands apply printing ink, by means of a small leather ball containing cotton, or some soft substance, or with the end of the finger. The leather ball (and the finger, when used for that purpose), after the ink is applied to it, should be pressed several times on a piece of leather, or some smooth surface, before each application to the leaf, that the ink may be smoothly and evenly applied. After the under surface of the leaf has been sufficiently inked, apply it to the paper where you wish the impression to be; and, after covering it with a slip of paper, use the hand or roller to press upon it.

2335. Directions for Taking Leaf Impressions.