This section is from the book "The Druggist's General Receipt Book", by Henry Beasley. Also available from Amazon: The druggist's general receipt book.
Clichee Moulds. Bismuth 8 parts, tin 4, lead 5, regulus of antimony 1; melt repeatedly together, and pour out in drops, till perfectly mixed. Amalgam for Electrical Machines. 1. Fuse 1 oz. of zinc with 1/2 oz. of tin, at as low a temperature as possible; then add 1 1/2 oz. of quicksilver, previously made hot; mix, pour out, and when cold reduce it to a powder, and triturate it with sufficient quicksilver to bring it to a proper consistence.
2. Zinc 1 part, tin 1, quicksilver 2; melt together.
3. Zinc 2, tin 1, mercury 5.
4. La Beaume's. Pour into a chalked wooden box 6 oz. of quicksilver; pour into an iron ladle 1/2 oz. bees'-wax, with 2 oz. of purified zinc, and 1 oz. of grain tin; set it over a brisk fire, and when the metals are melted, pour them into the box, avoiding the dross. When cold, reduce it to a powder, and mix it with lard. Keep it in a box, covered with tallow, and spread it on leather for use.
Pure lead 1 oz., grain tin 1 oz.; melt in a clean ladle, and immediately add 1 oz. of bismuth. Skim off the dross, remove the ladle from the fire, and, before the metal sets, add 10 oz. of quicksilver. Stir together, avoiding the fumes.
Melt 2 oz. of tin with 1/2 oz. of bismuth, and add 1/2 oz. of quicksilver. When cold, grind it with white of egg, and apply to the figure.
The metal is plunged into a solution of caustic potash. The surface, becoming frosted, does not tarnish on exposure to the air. - Macadam.
10 parts of aluminium are melted with 90 parts of copper. It is said to be as tenacious as steel.
Prepared from Boletus igniarius, B. fomentarius, and some other allied species of fungi. The fungus is cut into thin slices, the hard external parts removed, and the rest beaten with a mallet till soft. This forms surgeon's agaric. If intended for German tinder, it is soaked in a solution of nitre, and sometimes sprinkled with gunpowder, and carefully dried.
See Allots, above.
An impure sulphate of amnionr , suitable for agricultural purposes, is obtained by neuty lizing the ammoniacal liquor of gasworks with sulphuric acid. By recrystallization and filtration through animal charcoal, it may be obtained in a state of greater purity. The carbonate (hydrated sesqui-carbonate) is obtained by mixing either this sulphate, or sal-ammoniac, with chalk, and subliming it in iron retorts into leaden receivers. It is further purified by resubliming it with a gentle heat. See AmmoniAe Carbonas, Pocket Formulary.
To a boiling solution of pearlash add as much annotto as it will dissolve. When cold, decant the clear solution, and neutralize with diluted sulphuric acid, avoiding any excess. Wash the precipitate with a little cold water, and dry it.
Boil equal weights of annotto and pearlash with water, and dilute to the required colour.
1. One part of fine black-lead, ground perfectly smooth, with 4 parts of lard. Some recipes add a little camphor.
2. Booth's Axle Grease. (Expired Patent.) Dissolve 1/2 lb. common soda in 1 gallon of water, add 3 lbs. of tallow, and 6 lbs. palm oil (or 10 lbs. palm oil only); heat them together to 200 or 210° F.; mix, and keep the mixture constantly stirred till the composition is cooled down to 60° or 70° F. A thinner composition is made with 1/2 lb. of soda, a gallon of water, a gallon of rape-oil, and 1/4 lb. of tallow or palm-oil. [See also Lubricating Compounds.]
 
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