A useful preparatory size can be made by boiling a handful of the leaves of wormwood and two or three heads of garlic in a quart of water, until the liquid is reduced to one-half, then strain it through a cloth, and add half a handful of common salt, and nearly half a pint of vinegar. The design of this composition, usually employed in gilding looking-glass and picture frames, is to obviate the greasiness of the wood, and prepare it the better to receive the coats which are to be laid on, and to preserve it from the ravages of worms. When used it is mixed with a sufficient portion of good glue, boiling hot. In applying it to the gilding of plaster or marble, the salt must be left out of its composition, as, in damp situations, this would produce a white saline efflorescence on the surface of the gold.