540 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



gum or resin in a thin, even coating over the 

 surface. If now any alcoholic substance 

 comes upon such a surface, whether it be alco- 

 hol itself, as used for lamps, or spirits of any 

 kind, or even wine, which contains but a small 

 per centagc of alcohol, a portion of it is dis- 

 solved, and the brilliancy of the surface is de- 

 stroyed. Oils will not attack either marbles 

 or varnished surfaces, and will do no- injury 

 except to naked wood or other porous sub- 

 stan -es which admit them into the pores, from 

 which they cannnt afterwards be easily ex- 

 pelled. Water alfects no substances except 

 such as have open pores exposed, in which 

 case it enters and causes the substance to 

 swell, or such as are soluble in water, as glue 

 in joints, and mucilage or gum arable, used 

 sometimes for attaching superficial ornaments 

 to fancy work. 



Hair Washes. — It is only right to refer to 

 a source of po.ssible disease which is peculiar- 

 ly wide spread just now, and against which the 

 public should be cautioned. At the present 

 time there is quite a rage for the use of hair 

 "washes" or "restorers," which, whilst the 

 charge of their being "dyes" is indignantly 

 repudiated, yet in a short time "restore" the 

 color of the hair. The active agent in these 

 washes is, of course, lead. In the majority of 

 cases, probably, a moderate use of such a lo- 

 tion would be unattended with mischief; but 

 it is worth remembering that palsy has been 

 known to be produced by the long continued 

 use of cosmetics containing lead. But of the 

 thousands of persons who are applying lead to 

 their scalps, there will doubtless be some with 

 an extreme susceptibility to the action of the 

 poison, and these will certainly run no incon- 

 siderable risk of finding the "restoration" of 

 their hair attended by loss of power in their 

 wrists. — Tlie Lancet. 



The Virtues of Borax. — The washer- 

 women of Holland and Belgium, so proverbi- 

 ally clean, and who get up their linens so 



beautifully white, use refined borax as washing 

 powder, instead of soda, in the proportion of 

 a large handful of borax powder to al)Out ten 

 gallons of boiling water; they save in soap 

 nearly half. All the large washing establish- 

 ments adopt the same mode. For laces, cam- 

 brics, «&c., an extra quantity of the powder is 

 used, and for crinolines, (requiring to be made 

 stiff,) a strong solution is necessary. Borax 

 being a noutral salt, does not in the slightest 

 degree injure the texture of the linen ; its ef- 

 fect is to soften the hardest water, and there- 

 fore it should be kept on the toilet table. To 

 the taste it is rather sweet, is used for clean- 

 ing the hair, is an excellent dentrifice, and in 

 hot countries is used in combination with tar- 

 taric acid and bi-carbonate of soda as a cool- 

 insc beverage. 



Ladies' Horns. — We must commiserate 

 the unfortunate Charles VI., of France, who 

 sought to beguile thought in any way, however 

 puerile, when we remember what manner of 

 of woman was his coarse and cruel con- 

 sort, Isabella of Bavaria. Surely no man in 

 his senses can wonder that the sight of her 

 did occasionally scare the imoecile king, for 

 on her head she wore horns, and th:'Se 

 grew wider and wider, and in proportion high- 

 er. This formidable horn head-dress, various- 

 ly decked with jewels and fur, was' introduced 

 into France by the queen above-named, and 

 eventually became so monstrous that, the horns 

 growing at least two yards apart from each 

 other, door-ways were enlarged to admit the 

 breadth of them. And not only horns, but 

 tails were at that time worn by ladies ; and to 

 these robes a-qucice, or long-train dresses, 

 were attached sleeves which swept the ground. 

 In addition to all this, it may be observed that 

 ornaments resembling animals' ears were 

 sometimes appended to the horns ; but the 

 under-garmencs of this amazing costume were 

 usually of wool or coarse cloth, for fine linen 

 was at that time so rare in France that the 

 mighty Isabella herself possessed but a scanty 

 supply of it as a luxury. 



