We have elsewhere given directions as to the best mode of cleaning various articles, such as bottles, glass, etc. What remains, therefore, under this head, is to furnish hints for cleaning miscellaneous articles, which have not been included under previous accounts; and the very important process of disinfecting, which may be regarded as a medical cleaning, falls, naturally, into the same chapter. As the substances to be submitted to the process of cleaning vary greatly from one another, we shall find it more convenient to throw our remarks into the form of miscellaneous hints, than to arrange them in a chapter for consecutive reading.

Iron-work which is exposed to wet, rusts rapidly; it is usually preserved from the action of moisture either by covering it with two or three coatings of paint, as is customary in large out-door works, or by brushing it over with a varnish termed Brunswick black; this plan is usually followed in the case of smaller substances used in-doors. A very superior plan for protecting small iron goods from the injurious action of wet, is to heat them a little below redness, and whilst hot to brush them over with common linseed oil, which is decomposed by the heat, and forms a thin, very firm coating of varnish, which is quite impervious to water, and unlike paint or Japan-black, does not chip off. It is evident that this plan can only be adopted in few cases, but where it is available we very strongly recommend it.

Floor Boarding and other wood work is exceedingly apt to be stained by various substances spilt upon it. Ink stains, for instance, are extremely obstinate; they withstand washing many times, and at last turn to a rusty iron color, from the application of the alkali of the soap. But the black stain of recent ink and the rusty iron-mould may be removed by the action of oxalic or muriatic acid. As wood is not likely to be injured like cloth or linen, the latter may be used, being the cheaper, and it should be diluted with two or three times its bulk of water, and applied until the stain is removed. Grease which has been trodden in, or has remained a long time, should be first softened by the application of a little turpentine, and then it will be found to yield much more readily than it otherwise would to the action of fuller's earth and pearlash or soda. Fruit stains are quickly removed by the action of a little chloride of lime, mixed with water, and applied until the desired effect is produced. It should be borne in mind that all vegetable colors are utterly destroyed beyond any restoration, by the energetic action of this agent.

Paint, when soiled, is readily cleaned by soap and water; soda and pearlash are frequently employed, but they act by removing a portion of the paint, and if not thoroughly washed off with clean water afterwards, they will be found to soften the whole. Caustic alkalies, such as the solution for washing on the new plan, will rapidly dissolve paint, and are therefore inapplicable for cleaning; they may, however, be usefully employed in removing paint from wood, where such an operation is requisite.

± late may be cleaned by rouge, or if this is not readily obtained, by washed whiting; this is readily made by stirring some whiting up with water, then allowing the larger particles and the grit to subside, and pouring off the water charged with the finer powder, which is allowed to settle, and dried for use. When plate is very much stained, it may be cleaned with putty powder, but this preparation would soon wear away the silver if used frequently or unnecessarily. It may be mentioned, that this substance is not made from putty, as its name might seem to imply, but is a rust or oxide of tin, obtained by heating the metal.

Japanned Goods, such as tea-boards, should not have boiling water poured upon them, but should be washed with warm water, and polished with a piece of wash-leather and fine flour.

Knives

The common wooden knifeboard wears out the knives very rapidly, it is therefore much better to employ a piece of buff-leather to cover the board; for very superior cutlery emery powder should be used instead of Bath-brick. "Whatever, the material of the board, it will be rapidly spoiled by cleaning the backs of knives upon the edge of the board; to prevent this evil, a small piece of leather should be fixed on one end to clean the backs upon.

Steel Forks are readily cleaned by having a pot of damp moss or hay, with some sand intermixed, into which they may be repeatedly thrust. If knives or forks get an unpleasant taint which cannot be removed readily, they may be plunged into the mould of the garden, which has much absorptive power, and rapidly removes such odors.

Bedsteads may be freed from vermin by brushing them over in the cracks with a mixture formed of one ounce of corrosive sublimate, dissolved in half a pint of oil of turpentine, and the same quantity of any spirit, such as strong gin or whiskey; this effectually prevents their harboring. But when first applied, it has a disagreeable odor from the turpentine, and great care must be taken with it, as it is excessively poisonous. It has been found that the presence of the odor of creosote has effectually driven away these enemies to our nocturnal peace. On the whole, constant and unremitting cleanliness, and the employment of iron bedsteads, which are now manufactured of the most elegant forms, are the best means of getting rid of these pests.

We pass on to the important operations of disinfecting. Various means have been proposed of lessening or utterly destroying the infectious emanations that proceed from persons in certain diseases, and which frequently have the power of attaching themselves with greater or less tenacity to articles of wearing apparel, furniture, etc. Generally speaking, a good system of ventilation is sufficient to prevent infection. When rooms are properly aired, a disease can seldom be caught more than a few feet from the patient; or even in the case, of those most infectious disorders, scarlet-fever, and small-pox, it seldom spreads more than a few yards; but if the air of a room is confined, the infection is concentrated, and becomes much more certain in its action.