Bressmjj for 

 etc. 



TAKE a piece of Indian rubber, about the size of a walnut : cut it 

 in small pieces, and put it into a phial with four ounces of highly 

 rectified spirits of turpentine. Cork it up for about a fortnight 

 (more or less, according to cold or hot weather), and shake it every 

 day. When this mixture has come to a consistence about the thick- 

 ness of treacle, it is fit for use. You may then work it, with a paint 

 brush, into leather, rope, or what you please. But, when used for 

 the soles of shoes, leather trunks, or any thing that does not require 

 flexibility, you should add, to this composition, three times the 

 quantity of copal varnish. The most effectual mode of application 

 is to anoint, not only the outside seams, but also the whole inside of 

 the soles. 



If you want this dressing in a hurry, and an extra expense is no 

 object, you will find that aether, or naptha, will dissolve Indian 

 rubber, and dry, much quicker than spirits of turpentine. The 

 powder colours, for painting, either with or without oil, will mix 

 perfectly well with this composition. 



The foregoing recipe was given me (just in time to 

 publish it, but too late to make a proper trial of it), 

 by Mr. Cornelius Varley, who tells me that he sent it, 

 many years ago, to the Philosophical Magazine. Not 

 wishing, however, to enter it without some kind of in- 

 vestigation, I applied to Mr. Fisher, the celebrated 

 chemist in Conduit-street, who was good enough to 

 make for me as many experiments as the limited time 



