^22 Miscellaneous InteUigcnce. 



razors and other cutting instruments on a hone. His own 

 words are : " Not having any oil to set my razor, it occurred 

 to me to try the soap I was washing with, called palm-soap, 

 and I found it so completely to answer my purpose, that I have 

 constantly used it ever since instead of oil, both for razors and 

 penknives. It sets quicker, gives a good edge, and removes 

 notches with great facility: it is a more cleanly material, oil 

 being liable to drop on, and soil any thing it comes in contact 

 with ; dust will frequently get into oil which will spoil the 

 edge, and in such case it must be changed. It is as cheap or 

 cheaper than oil, a small square of palm-soap costing only 

 threepence, which will last for a great length of time. The 

 operation is performed as follows : having first cleaned your 

 hone with a spunge, soap, and water, wipe it dry : then dip 

 the soap in some clean soft water, and wetting also the hone, 

 rub the square of soap lightly over it until the surface is thinly 

 covered all over, then proceed to set in the usual way, keeping 

 the soap sufficiently moist, and adding from time to time a little 

 more soap and water if it should be necessary. Observe the 

 soap is clean and free from dust before you rub it on the hone ; 

 if it should not be so, it is easily washed clean ; strop the razor 

 after setting, and also again when you put it by, and sponge 

 the hone when you have done with it." 



Many instrument-makers and others have tried Mr. Reveley's 

 method of setting instruments, and speak in high commenda- 

 tion of it. Among them are Messrs. West, Pepys, Long, and 

 Frewen. — Trans. Soc. Art. xxxi.x. 137. 



8. Improved Drawing Tablets. — The extra stout drawing- 

 boards, or card-boards as they are usually called, are liable to 

 many defects. They are made by pasting several sheets of paper 

 together in the manner of common pasteboard, and are then 

 pressed and rolled. In consequence of this process, it fre- 

 quently happens that a small portion of paste is left on the 

 surface, which, escaping observation at first, causes injury when 

 a drawing is made on the board. In drawing also if frequent 

 re-wetting on a particular part be necessary, the paste some- 

 times gives way, the sheets separate, and blisters rise. It has 

 been remarked too, that drawings made on such boards, and 

 hung up in rooms where fires are seldom made, spoil from the 

 tendency of the paste to mould or mildew. Another defect is, 

 a hollow or spongy texture, arising from the indiscriminate 

 mixture of linen and cotton fibres in the pulp of the paper ; 

 and another, the deleterious effect of bleaching by oxymuriate 

 of lime, a process which, though it makes the paper beautiful 

 in appearance, leaves a small portion of muriatic acid, which 

 speedily destroys the fine and delicate tints laid upon it. 



In consequence of these defects, Mr. Steart, of the Montalt 



