As alum cannot be affected by petroleum, it is used to fasten rings to petroleum-lamp holders. These are lined with alum which has been melted by heat. Alum melted forms a strong cement for glass and metal.

Paste for Wall-Paper.—Ten parts of flour are made into common paste; add one of glue boiled in hot water; add to the whole one-twentieth part of white of egg. This holds very firmly. Paste made with flour and gum-arabic, &c., does not mould or turn sour if it be mixed with a few drops of oil of cloves or carbolic acid.

Clay Mortar.—Where lime cannot be had, a very good mortar for chimneys may be made by mixing clay with common molasses. This is said (Lehner) to resist the action of heat when well dried.

Another fireproof cement is made as follows:—

Clay 40
Flint-sand 40
Slacked lime 4
Borax 2

This is mixed with a very little water. It is used as a wash, and should, when dry, be heated by fire.

Log cabins and houses built with wood are, in America, often swarming with vermin to a degree which would seem incredible. In all such cases the joints and cavities should be well packed and plastered with cement—lime if possible—and then whitewashed. Rat-holes should be plugged with stones or gravel and then cemented.

Zeiodeleth.—Vessels of wood, iron, stoneware, or of moulded cement, are often eaten away by the action of acids and alkalies. To prevent this they are in Germany coated with a composition called Zeiodeleth. In its simplest form this is simply sulphur mixed with very finely sifted flint-sand, or else ground glass, chinaware, or stone. Of this thin plates are also made to coat such vessels, or even to form them.

Merrick’s Zeiodeleth:—

Sulphur 20
Glass-powder 40

Böttger’s Zeiodeleth (Lehner):—

Powdered flint 90
Graphite 10
Sulphur 100

I.

A fluid paste is made by pouring into a porcelain jar 5 kilogrammes of potato-starch with 6 kilogrammes of water and 250 grammes of white nitric acid. Keep the whole in a warm place for forty-eight hours, stirring it frequently, and then boil it till syrupy and transparent. Add a little water, or sufficient to make it fluid enough to be filtered through a closely woven towel.

II.

Dissolve 5 kilogrammes of gum-arabic to 1 of sugar in 5 quarts of water, adding 50 grammes of nitric acid; warm to boiling, and then add No. I. The result is a perfectly fluid adhesive, which will not mould, and dries on paper with a glaze. It is adapted for postage-stamps, marking over impressions, and fine stationery.

Durable Flour-Paste for Stationers.—Take good flour-paste, adding to it while boiling one-tenth part of clear liquid glue, to be well stirred in. Add a few drops of carbolic acid or oil of cloves. Keep it corked in wide-mouthed, large vials.

Dry Cement, or Travellers’ Glue:—

Glue 600 grms.
Sugar 250 ”

The glue must be of the best quality, and perfectly melted in water, as usual, and the sugar stirred in. It is then steamed away until it becomes hard when cold. To use, place it in hot water, when it at once liquefies. This is specially used for paper.

Coating to protect trees from insects:—

Colophonium (resin) 100
Common soap 100
Tar 50
Whale-oil 25

Smear the trunks of the trees with this. It may also be put on sheets of brown paper to catch flies.

Cement for Filling.—Take fresh curd (caseine), and knead it with water to a putty. It can be used in this state for many purposes. To greatly harden it, add one-twentieth of its weight in lime, and more or less of some indifferent substance, such as chalk, calcined magnesia, oxide of zinc, and colouring matter. This sets so hard that it may be used to make casts or many small works of art.

French Glues.—Two very excellent glues used in France are the colle forte de Flandre and that of Givet. Goupil recommends as the best glue, where a very superior article is required, one made of equal parts of the two. Break them up, let the pieces remain fifteen hours in water, then boil for two hours in the bain-marie, or glue-kettle. After a time the glue will settle and become clear. Add, if needed, a little water from the bain-marie.

To give a Satin Gloss to Paper.—Paint with a broad, soft brush on the paper with a solution of hypo-sulphite of barium (chemically expressed by BaS2O3). It may be laid on by itself or mingled with a colour. It is used sometimes by bookbinders. This may be applied in water-colour pictures to the imitation of silk or satin.

Gomme laque, or shellac, also gelatine glue, is sold in thin leaves. To prepare it, put into a bain-marie twenty parts of the gum to one of flowers of sulphur, stir it well, and add a little lukewarm water. It may be made into little bars by hand; let them cool, and warm them when required for use.

A very good cement, which, according to Fred. Dillaye, is both fire and water proof, is made as follows:—Take half-a-pint of milk, as much vinegar, mix them, and take away the whey. Add the white of five eggs to the curd, mix the whole well, and add so much finely sifted quicklime as will form a paste.

Snail Cement.—It is said that snails or slugs, mashed, form a strong and hard glue. This is probable; also, that it would combine with powdered quicklime, or carbonate of lime in powder, to set very hard.

To mend marble use shellac in leaves, mixed with white wax.

To mend alabaster use gum-arabic mixed with powdered alabaster. This is also useful for many other purposes.

A cement useful for many purposes, also as a ground for painting, is made as follows:—Take barley and soak it in six equivalents of water for several days, or till the barley expands or sprouts. Throw out the barley, after pressing it. This gives a glutinous liquid, which, combined with pipeclay and white soap, sets hard. It is improved by adding the powder of calcined bone. Barley water may also be used in many other combinations. Gum-arabic and thin glue, dextrine, and fish-glue may be used in its place.

A strong cement for horn or tortoise-shell:—

Glue (fluid) 1 ½
Sugar-candy 3
Gum-arabic ¾

The two latter to be dissolved in six parts of water.

Another for the same:—Take strong lime-water; combine it with new cheese. The latter is to be mixed with two parts of water, so as to form a soft mass. Pour into this the lime-water, but see that there is no solid cheese in it. This will form a liquid which can be used as a cement.

Cat-gut, which is, however, made from the intestines of sheep, &c., is of great service in some kinds of repairing, owing to its strength. It can be made into very small cord, which will sustain a man.

Very strong cords for fishermen are also said to be made by taking silkworms just before they spin, cutting them open, and using the silk, which is then found in a solid, longish lump, and which can be artificially drawn out into any shape. It is probable that the silk in this state could be thinned and applied in combination with fibre to produce useful results. It is also probable that this substance, or the silk en masse, could be used for mending silk fabrics in many ways. It could be produced very cheaply, because the greatest expense in manufacturing silk is the reeling, winding, and spinning the thread.

An incredibly strong and serviceable silk is spun by the elm-worm, which can be raised in any quantities wherever elm-trees abound. This is much cultivated in China, and it is said that garments made of its silk descend from father to son. It is several times larger than the silkworm, and survives even the severe winters of Canada. It would be much easier to raise than the delicate bombyx, or common silkworm. It is worth noting that a man can carry easily in his pocket fifty yards of cat-gut or elm worm silk cord strong enough to sustain his weight, which is very useful for travellers to know, since it is useful to mend harness or tether horses.

To soften Horn.—This material can be softened so as to bend in hot water. It requires long boiling. According to Geissler, a horn can be moulded to shape by steeping the horn for two or three days in half a kilogramme of black alicant, 375 grammes of newly calcined lime, and 2 litres (two full quarts) of hot water. Should the mixture assume a reddish colour it is all right; if not, add more alicant and lime. After the horn has been moulded, dry it in well-dried common salt. Horn shavings and filings are made into a paste, which hardens by being in a strong solution of potash and slacked lime, in which it becomes jelly-like and can be moulded. This must be subjected to pressure to expel the moisture. By adding a little glycerine its brittleness is much diminished.

Artificial Bonework.—Reduce the bone or ivory to a very fine, flour-like powder, mix it very thoroughly with the white of eggs, and a very hard and tough mass will be the result. This can be turned and highly polished. This is improved in hardness and quality by grinding the mass again and subjecting it to heat and pressure (Die Verarbeitung Hornes, &c., von Louis Edgar Andés; Vienna, 1892).

To properly dust Clothes.—The following extract on cleaning garments is taken from my forthcoming work, entitled One Hundred Arts:—

“The obvious way to remove dust from a coat—as some take evil out of children (vide Northcote’s Fables)—is by whipping or beating with a stick. This, indeed, effects the purpose, but it speedily breaks the fibre of the cloth. Therefore in Germany, as in Italy, a little bat plaited of split cane or reeds is employed to exorcise the demon of dust, known as Pāpākeewis to the Chippeways. But better than this is a small whisp-broom. Half a century ago this simple contrivance was only known in the United States and in Poland.

“Whip the garment with the side of the soft whisp, and as the dust rises to the surface brush it away. If the reader will try this on any coat, however clean it may be, he will be astonished to find how much dust he will extract or raise.

“All the dust which thus lies hidden in cloth, when it comes to the surface, acts as grit or powder insensibly but certainly, and helps to wear away the surface whenever it is touched. That we take in dust every time we go out will appear from inspecting a silk hat. Again, the dust on a coat, &c., every time it is rubbed by the cleanest hand, takes in grease, which in time aids in spoiling the surface. In fact, half the wear-out of all cloth is due to dust alone.

“Therefore, if we carefully dust our clothes with a whisp, every time we take them off, fold them with care, and lay them in a drawer, they will last much longer than they do. Pure air free from dust is as conducive to the well-being of coats as to that of their wearers, and Dominie Sampson uttered more truth than he imagined when he observed that the atmosphere of his patron’s dwelling was singularly preservative of broadcloth.”

In proof of this it may be observed, that as a sandblast attacks some substances exclusively, so dust or grit injures certain fabrics and not others, and that the latter are all known as the more lasting fabrics.

INDEX