5880. Gutta-Percha Stopping for Teeth

5880.      Gutta-Percha Stopping for Teeth. This is pure, uncolored, native gutta-percha. A small piece is softened in hot water, and at once applied. It answers well for filling hollow teeth with central cavities, and is efficient and durable.

5881. White Gutta-Percha

5881.      White Gutta-Percha. The Journal of Applied Chemistry gives the following method of preparing this, for dentists' use and for other purposes. 4 ounces of pure gutta-percha are digested with 5 pounds of methyl-chloroform until the solution, is thin enough to pass through filtering paper. It is then filtered (an additional pound of chloroform will facilitate this), and should then be clear and nearly colorless. Alcohol is now added in sufficient quantity to precipitate the gutta-percha in a voluminous white mass, which is washed with alcohol, pressed in a cloth, and dried in the air. It must finally be boiled in water in a porcelain vessel for half an hour, and, while still hot, rolled into sticks. The chloroform can bo separated from the alcohol by adding water, and the alcohol recovered by distillation. (See No. 1725 (To Bleach Gutta Percha).)

5882. How to Fill or Plug Teeth

5882.    How to Fill or Plug Teeth. One of the most important points to attend to in filling or stopping teeth, is that each tooth must be thoroughly cleaned out, and wiped perfectly dry, before inserting or applying the cement, of whatever kind it be. Without careful attention to this matter, the cement will not adhere, or will soon become loose, and drop out or off, and the operation prove a failure. "When a defective tooth is conveniently situated it may often be stopped by the party himself, by the exercise of a little skill and care, particularly if it be a hollow one with a clearly defined central cavity. When the reverse is the case, it is generally necessary that the operator should be a second party. A hollow tooth with a central and nearly circular hole in it may, in general, be effectively filled with a plug of dry soft wood, or of bono or ivory. If the hole be not round, it may be made so. Such stopping will often last for years.

5883. To Remove Tattoo Marks from the Skin

5883.    To Remove Tattoo Marks from the Skin. Inquiry is frequently made for methods for the successful removal of tattoo marks in the skin. While these are generally asserted to bo indelible, if produced by the insertion of some carbonaceous matter, a correspondent of the Chemical News says that the marks disappeared by being first well rubbed with a salve of pure acetic acid and lard, then with a solution of potash, and finally with hydrochloric acid.

5884. To Remove Freckles

5884.    To Remove Freckles. If the exact cause of freckles were known, a remedy for them might be found. A chemist in Moravia, observing the bleaching effect of mercurial preparations, inferred that the growth of a local parasitical fungus was the cause of the discoloration of the skin, which extended and ripened its spores in the warmer season. Knowing that sulpho-carbolate of zinc is a deadly enemy to all parasitic vegetation (itself not being otherwise injurious), ho applied this salt for the purpose of removing the freckles. The compound consists of 2 parts of sulpho-carbolate of zinc, 25 parts of distilled glycerine, 25 parts of rose-water, and 5 parts of scented alcohol, and is to be applied twice daily for from half an hour to an hour, then washed off with cold water. Protection against the sun by veiling and other means is recommended, and in addition, for persona of pale complexion, some mild preparation of iron.