This section is from the book "The Young Wife's Cook Book", by Hannah Mary Peterson . Also available from Amazon: The Young Wife's Cook Book.
Four parts lard, two parts white wax, and two parts spermaceti.
When the stopper of a glass decanter is too tight, a cloth wet with hot water, and applied to the neck, will cause the glass to expand, and the stopper may be removed. In a phial the warmth of the finger may be sufficient.
Make scalding hot skim-milk and water, with a small piece of glue in it. Immerse faded and rusty black crape in this for a few minutes; then take it out. clasp it in the hands and pull it dry, and it will look equal to new.
Pulverize either red, white, or black sealing wax, sift it, put it in a phial with enough spirits of wine to just cover it. Stand it in a very warm place for a couple of days, when it will be ready for use.
Take a wide-mouthed bottle, and dissolve in it eight ounces of the best glue in half a pint of water, by setting it in a vessel of water, and heating until dissolved. Then add, slowly, two and a half ounces of strong aqua fortis (nitric acid), stirring all the while. Keep it well corked, and it will be ready for use at any moment. This preparation does not gelatinize, nor undergo putrefaction nor fermentation. It is applicable for many domestic uses, such as mending china, repairing cabinet work, etc.
This is usually accompanied with confused sounds, and noises of various kinds in the inside of the ear itself. In such cases, insert a piece of cotton wool, on which a very little oil of cloves or cinnamon has been dropped, or which has been dipped in equal parts of aromatic spirit of ammonia and tincture of lavender. The ear trumpet ought likewise to be occasionally used.
Put the white of an egg in a plate, and with a lump of alum rub the egg until a thick curd is formed; the curd is sometimes used as a poultice for an inflammation of the eyes.
Dissolve an ounce of glue, and to this add half a pound of Venetian red, one pound of Spanish brown, and sufficient hot water to make a thin wash.
Lay the lamp-wicks in vinegar for an hour, dry them well before they are used.
Shut the doors and windows and throw some powdered brimstone on the fire, and stop up the front of the chimney to prevent the fumes from entering the room. The vapor of the brimstone ascending the chimney will effectually extinguish the flame. If brimstone is not at hand, throw some salt on the fire.
The simplest and cheapest way to cool a room is to wet a cloth of any size, the larger the better, and suspend it in the place you want cooled. Let the room be well ventilated, and the temperature will sink from ten to twenty degrees in less than an hour. This is the plan adopted by many eastern nations.
 
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