Domestic Manipulations, although one of the most simple and easy, is the labelling of glass vessels. It is not too much to affirm, that scores of lives might have been saved if this had been attended to; in cases of accidental poisoning, we usually find that the victim has drunk from some bottle which has been put away without a label; and that thus corrosive liquid used for cleaning, or some poisonous lotion, has been inadvertently swallowed.

3081. One of the most ready modes of labelling glass, and other objects, consists of having at hand a sheet of paper which has had spread on one side some gum water, mixed with half its weight of coarse brown sugar, and allowed to dry; this may be cut into labels, written on, and readily attached to glass by moistening with the tongue; the white margin of a sheet of postage stamps answers the purpose very well. If, however, acid liquids are used, or the vessel is placed in a damp situation, as a cellar, other means must be had recourse to.

3082. With a little practice, it is easy to write in a legible, though not very conspicuous manner, on glass, with a gun-flint, or with the sharp-edged fragment of common flint. In the laboratory, what is called a writing diamond is used for this purpose; this should not be confounded with a glazier's diamond, which is used for dividing, and not scratching glass.

3083. We would here caution our readers against writing on glass with a diamond ring, etc, as the practice injures the jewel considerably; in the glazier's diamond, the natural edges of the crystal are used, which are not liable to injury as are the cut angles of a brilliant.

3084. When glass vessels are exposed to damp, the best mode of writing on them is to prepare an ink for the purpose, by mixing the common cheap varnish, called Brunswick black, with half its weight of oil of turpentine, on what is the same thing,in a purer states camphine; this should be kept in a closely-corked bottle, and used with a broad-nibbed quill pen; it soon dries, and though pale, is very distinct, and almost imperishable. If it is required much darker, about a quarter of an hour after it has been done, a little lamp black should be rubbed over it, with cotton or wadding, when it immediately becomes as black as common ink, and resists damp, and rubbing or wiping with either wet or dry cloths, for a very long time; the same ink is equally advantageous for use with white earthenware; and although we have never had occasion to use such a mixture, there is no doubt that a little whiting mixed thin, with any common varnish, would furnish an equally useful ink for writing on black bottles.