The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing Part 72

Good Tooth Powder.--Procure, at a druggist's, half an ounce of powdered orris root, half an ounce of prepared chalk finely pulverized, and two or three small lumps of Dutch pink. Let them all be mixed in a mortar, and pounded together. The Dutch pink is to impart a pale reddish color.

Keep it in a close box.

Another Tooth Powder.--Mix together, in a mortar, half an ounce of red Peruvian bark, finely powdered, a quarter of an ounce of powdered myrrh, and a quarter of an ounce of prepared chalk.

A Safe Depilatory.--Take a strong solution of sulphuret of barium, and add enough finely powdered starch to make a paste. Apply to the roots of the hair and allow it to remain on a few minutes, then sc.r.a.pe off with the back edge of a knife blade, and rub with sweet oil.

Quick Depilatory for Removing Hair.--Best slaked lime, 6 ounces; orpiment, fine powder, 1 ounce. Mix with a covered sieve and preserve in a dry place in closely stoppered bottles. In using mix the powder with enough water to form a paste, and apply to the hair to be removed. In about five minutes, or as soon as its caustic action is felt on the skin, remove, as in shaving, with an ivory or bone paper knife, wash with cold water freely, and apply cold cream.

Tricopherus for the Hair.--Castor oil, alcohol, each 1 pint; tinct.

cantharides, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 1/2 ounce; alkanet coloring, to color as wished. Mix and let it stand forty-eight hours, with occasional shaking, and then filter.

Liquid Shampoo.--Take bay rum. 2-1/2 pints; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine, 1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams; carbonate of ammonia, 2 drams; borax, 1/2 ounce; or take of New England rum, 1-1/2 pints; bay rum, 1 pint; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine, 1 ounce; tinct. cantharides, 2 drams, ammon. carbonate, 2 drams; borax, 1/2 ounce; the salts to be dissolved in water and the other ingredients to be added gradually.

Cleaning Hair Brushes.--Put a teaspoonful or dessertspoonful of aqua ammonia into a basin half full of water, comb the loose hairs out of the brush, then agitate the water briskly with the brush, and rinse it well with clear water.

Hair Invigorator.--Bay rum, two pints; alcohol, one pint; castor oil, one ounce; carb. ammonia, half an ounce; tincture of cantharides, one ounce. Mix them well. This compound will promote the growth of the hair and prevent it from falling out.

For Dandruff.--Take glycerine, four ounces; tincture of cantharides, five ounces; bay rum, four ounces; water, two ounces. Mix and apply once a day, and rub well into the scalp.

Mustache Grower.--Simple cerate, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 10 minims; saturated tinct. of cantharides, 15 minims. Rub them together thoroughly, or melt the cerate and stir in the tincture while hot, and the oil as soon as it is nearly cold, then run into molds or rolls. To be applied as a pomade, rubbing in at the roots of the hair. Care must be used not to inflame the skin by too frequent application.

Razor-strop Paste.--Wet the strop with a little sweet oil, and apply a little flour of emery evenly over the surface.

Shaving Compound.--Half a pound of plain white soap, dissolved in a small quant.i.ty of alcohol, as little as can be used; add a tablespoonful of pulverized borax. Shave the soap and put it in a small tin basin or cup; place it on the fire in a dish of boiling water; when melted, add the alcohol, and remove from the fire; stir in oil of bergamot sufficient to perfume it.

Cure for p.r.i.c.kly Heat.--Mix a large portion of wheat bran with either cold or lukewarm water, and use it as a bath twice or thrice a day.

Children who are covered with p.r.i.c.kly heat in warm weather will be thus effectually relieved from that tormenting eruption. As soon as it begins to appear on the neck, face or arms, commence using the bran water on these parts repeatedly through the day, and it may probably spread no farther. If it does, the bran water bath will certainly cure it, if persisted in.

To Remove Corns from Between the Toes.--These corns are generally more painful than any others, and are frequently situated as to be almost inaccessible to the usual remedies. Wetting them several times a day with hartshorn will in most cases cure them. Try it.

Superior Cologne Water.--Oil of lavender, two drams; oil of rosemary, one dram and a half; orange, lemon and bergamot, one dram each of the oil; also two drams of the essence of musk, attar of rose, ten drops, and a pint of proof spirit. Shake all together thoroughly three times a day for a week.

Inexhaustible Smelling Salts.--Sal tartar, three drams; muriate ammonia, granulated, 6 drams; oil neroli. 5 minims; oil lavender flowers, 5 minims; oil rose, 3 minims; spirits ammonia, 15 minims. Put into the pungent a small piece of sponge filling about one-fourth the s.p.a.ce, and pour on it a due proportion of the oils, then put in the mixed salts until the bottle is three-fourths full, and pour on the spirits of ammonia in proper proportion and close the bottle.

Volatile Salts for Pungents.--Liquor ammon., 1 pint; oil lavender flowers, 1 dram; oil rosemary, fine, 1 dram; oil bergamot, 1/2 dram; oil peppermint, 10 minims. Mix thoroughly and fill pungents or keep in well stoppered bottle. Another formula is, sesqui-carbonate of ammonia, small pieces, 10 ounces; concentrated liq. ammonia, 5 ounces. Put the sesqui-carb. in a wide-mouthed jar with air-tight stopper, perfume the liquor ammonia to suit and pour over the carbonate; close tightly the lid and place in a cool place; stir with a stiff spatula every other day for a week, and then keep it closed for two weeks, or until it becomes hard, when it is ready for use.

Paste for Papering Boxes.--Boil water and stir in batter of wheat or rye flour. Let it boil one minute, take off and strain through a colander.

Add, while boiling, a little glue or powdered alum. Do plenty of stirring while the paste is cooking, and make of consistency that will spread nicely.

Aromatic Spirit of Vinegar.--Acetic acid, No. 8. pure, 8 ounces; camphor, 1/2 ounce. Dissolve and add oil lemon, oil lavender flowers, each two drams; oil ca.s.sia, oil cloves, 1/2 dram each. Thoroughly mix and keep in well stoppered bottle.

Rose-Water.--Preferable to the distilled for a perfume, or for ordinary purposes. Attar of rose, twelve drops; rub it up with half an ounce of white sugar and two drams carbonate magnesia, then add gradually one quart of water and two ounces of proof spirit, and filter through paper.

Bay Rum.--French proof spirit, one gallon; extract bay, six ounces. Mix and color with caramel; needs no filtering.

Fine Lavender Water.--Mix together, in a clean bottle, a pint of inodorous spirit of wine, an ounce of oil of lavender, a teaspoonful of oil of bergamot, and a tablespoonful of oil of ambergris.

The Virtues of Turpentine.--After a housekeeper fully realizes the worth of turpentine in the household, she is never willing to be without a supply of it. It gives quick relief to burns, it is an excellent application for corns, it is good for rheumatism and sore throat, and it is the quickest remedy for convulsions or fits. Then it is a sure preventive against moths: by just dropping a trifle in the bottom of drawers, chests and cupboards, it will render the garments secure from injury during the summer. It will keep ants and bugs from closets and store-rooms by putting a few drops in the corners and upon the shelves; it is sure destruction to bedbugs, and will effectually drive them away from their haunts if thoroughly applied to all the joints of the bedstead in the spring cleaning time, and injures neither furniture nor clothing. A spoonful of it added to a pail of warm water is excellent for cleaning paint. A little in suds washing days lightens laundry labor.

A Perpetual Paste is a paste that may be made by dissolving an ounce of alum in a quart of warm water. When cold, add as much flour as will make it the consistency of cream, then stir into it half a teaspoonful of powdered resin, and two or three cloves. Boil it to a consistency of mush, stirring all the time. It will keep for twelve months, and when dry may be softened with warm water.

Paste for Sc.r.a.p Books.--Take half a teaspoonful of starch, same of flour, pour on a little boiling water, let it stand a minute, add more water, stir and cook it until it is thick enough to starch a shirt bosom. It spreads smooth, sticks well and will not mold or discolor paper. Starch alone will make a very good paste.

A Strong Paste.--A paste that will neither decay nor become moldy. Mix good clean flour with cold water into a thick paste well blended together; then add boiling water, stirring well up until it is of a consistency that can be easily and smoothly spread with a brush; add to this a spoonful or two of brown sugar, a little corrosive sublimate and about half a dozen drops of oil of lavender, and you will have a paste that will hold with wonderful tenacity.

A Brilliant Paste.--A brilliant and adhesive paste, adapted to fancy articles, may be made by dissolving caseine precipitated from milk by acetic acid and washed with pure water in a saturated solution of borax.

A Sugar Paste.--In order to prevent the gum from cracking, to ten parts by weight of gum arabic and three parts of sugar add water until the desired consistency is obtained. If a very strong paste is required, add a quant.i.ty of flour equal in weight to the gum, without boiling the mixture. The paste improves in strength when it begins to ferment.

Tin Box Cement.--To fix labels to tin boxes either of the following will answer: 1. Soften good glue in water, then boil it in strong vinegar, and thicken the liquid while boiling with fine wheat flour, so that a paste results. 2. Starch paste, with which a little Venice turpentine has been incorporated while warm.

Paper and Leather Paste.--Cover four parts, by weight, of glue, with fifteen parts of cold water, and allow it to soak for several hours, then warm moderately till the solution is perfectly clear, and dilute with sixty parts of boiling water, intimately stirred in. Next prepare a solution of thirty parts of starch in two hundred parts of cold water, so as to form a thin h.o.m.ogeneous liquid, free from lumps, and pour the boiling glue solution into it with thorough stirring, and at the same time keep the ma.s.s boiling.

Commercial Mucilage.--The best quality of mucilage in the market is made by dissolving clear glue in equal volumes of water and strong vinegar, and adding one-fourth of an equal volume of alcohol, and a small quant.i.ty of a solution of alum in water. Some of the cheaper preparations offered for sale are merely boiled starch or flour, mixed with nitric acid to prevent their gelatinizing.

Acid-Proof Paste.--A paste formed by mixing powdered gla.s.s with a concentrated solution of silicate of soda makes an excellent acid-proof cement.

Paste to Fasten Cloth to Wood.--Take a plump pound of wheat flour, one tablespoonful of powdered resin, one tablespoonful of finely powdered alum, and rub the mixture in a suitable vessel, with water, to a uniform, smooth paste; transfer this to a small kettle over a fire, and stir until the paste is perfectly h.o.m.ogeneous without lumps. As soon as the ma.s.s has become so stiff that the stirrer remains upright in it, transfer it to another vessel and cover it up so that no skin may form on its surface. This paste is applied in a very thin layer to the surface of the table; the cloth, or leather, is then laid and pressed upon it, and smoothed with a roller. The ends are cut off after drying.

If leather is to be fastened on, this must first be moistened with water. The paste is then applied, and the leather rubbed smooth with a cloth.

Paste for Printing Office.--Take two gallons of cold water and one quart wheat flour, rub out all the lumps, then add one-fourth pound of finely pulverized alum and boil the mixture for ten minutes, or until a thick consistency is reached. Now add one quart of hot water and, boil again, until the paste becomes a pale brown color, and thick. The paste should be well stirred during both processes of cooking. Paste thus made will keep sweet for two weeks and prove very adhesive.

To Take Smoke Stains from Walls.--An easy and sure way to remove smoke stains from common plain ceilings is to mix wood ashes with the whitewash just before applying. A pint of ashes to a small pail of whitewash is sufficient, but a little more or less will do no harm.

To Remove Stains from Broadcloth.--Take an ounce of pipe clay, which has been ground fine, mix it with twelve drops of alcohol and the same quant.i.ty of spirits of turpentine. Whenever you wish to remove any stains from cloth, moisten a little of this mixture with alcohol and rub it on the spots. Let it remain till dry, then rub it off with a woolen cloth, and the spots will disappear.

To Remove Red Stains of Fruit from Linen.--Moisten the cloth and hold it over a piece of burning sulphur; then wash thoroughly, or else the spots may reappear.

To Remove Oil Stains.--Take three ounces of spirits of turpentine and one ounce of essence of lemon, mix well, and apply it as you would any other scouring drops. It will take out all the grease.

Iron Stains may be removed by the salt of lemons. Many stains may be removed by dipping the linen in some b.u.t.termilk, and then drying it in a hot sun; wash it in cold water; repeat this three or four times.

To Remove Oil Stains from Wood.--Mix together fuller's earth and soap lees, and rub it into the boards. Let it dry and then scour it off with some strong soft soap and sand, or use lees to scour it with. It should be put on hot, which may easily be done by heating the lees.

To Remove Tea Stains.--Mix thoroughly soft soap and salt--say a tablespoonful of salt to a teacupful of soap, rub on the spots, and spread the cloth on the gra.s.s where the sun will shine on it. Let it lie two or three days, then wash. If the spots are wet occasionally while lying on the gra.s.s, it will hasten the bleaching.

To Remove Stains from Muslin.--If you have stained your muslin or gingham dress, or similar articles, with berries, before wetting with anything else, pour boiling water through the stains and they will disappear. Before fruit juice dries it can often be removed by cold water, using a sponge and towel if necessary.

To Remove Acid Stains.--Stains caused by acids may be removed by tying some pearlash up in the stained part; sc.r.a.pe some soap in cold, soft water, and boil the linen until the stain is gone.

To Disinfect Sinks and Drains.--Copperas dissolved in water, one-fourth of a pound to a gallon, and poured into a sink and water drain occasionally, will keep such places sweet and wholesome. A little chloride of lime, say half a pound to a gallon of water, will have the same effect, and either of these costs but a trifle.

A preparation may be made at home which will answer about as well as the chloride of lime. Dissolve a bushel of salt in a barrel of water, and with the salt water slake a barrel of lime, which should be made wet enough to form a thin paste or wash.

To Disinfect a Cellar.--A damp, musty cellar may be sweetened by sprinkling upon the floor pulverized copperas, chloride of lime, or even common lime. The most effective means I have ever used to disinfect decaying vegetable matter is chloride of lime in solution. One pound may be dissolved in two gallons of water. Plaster of Paris has also been found an excellent absorbent of noxious odors. If used one part with three parts of charcoal, it will be found still better.

How to Thaw Out a Water Pipe.--Water pipes usually freeze up when exposed, for inside the walls, where they cannot be reached, they are or should be packed to prevent freezing. To thaw out a frozen pipe, bundle a newspaper into a torch, light it, and pa.s.s it along the pipe slowly.