How To Soften Ivory

Slice a quarter of a pound of mandrake, and put it into half a pint of the best vinegar, into which put your ivory; let the whole stand in a warm place for forty-eight hours, when you will be able to bend the ivory to your mind.

How To Bleach Ivory

Take a double handful of lime, and slake it by sprinkling it with water; then add three pints of water, and stir the whole together; let it settle ten minutes, and pour the water into a pan. Take the ivory, and steep it in the lime-water for twenty-four hours, after which boil it in a strong alum-water one hour, and dry it in the air.

Artificial Ivory

Two parts of caoutchouc are dissolved in 36 parts of chloroform, and the solution is saturated with pure gaseous ammonia. The chloroform is then distilled off at a temperature of 85 deg. C. (185 deg. F.). The residue is mixed with calcium phosphate or zinc carbonate, pressed into moulds and dried. When calcium phosphate is used, the product possesses to a considerable degree the nature and composition of ivory.