£TCHIN'G AND CLEANINO ALABASTER. 177 



Oi pure bee's-wax in 100 gallons of pure spirits of turpentine, add- 

 ing thereto 20 lbs. of Burgundy-pitch, and 10 lbs. of gum-frankin- 

 cense. The solution of these articles, I obtain by the same means 

 as described for dissolving the caoutchouc. To these two matters 

 (Jr solutions, when mixed together, I add, after they are quite cold, 

 10 gallons of the best copal varnish. The whole of these mate- 

 rials are then to be put togiether in a large reservoir, where the 

 compound may be diluted by adding 100 gallons of lime-water, 

 pouring in five gallons at a time, and stirring it continually for six 

 or eight hours ; which agitation must be repeated whenever any 

 of the composition is taken out of the reservoir, either to be bottled 

 or casked. In order to color this composition, when it is required 

 to be rendered black, 20 lbs. weight of the best lamp-black should 

 be mixed up with 20 gallons of the purest turpentine spirits, (which 

 20 gallons should, under these circumstances, have been deducted 

 from the previous mixture ;) this, when properly blended, is to be 

 added to the composition, but that should be done previous to the 

 introduction of the lime-water. The composition, when thus pre- 

 pared, is to be laid upon the leather by means of a painting-brush, 

 and nibbed into the surface, which will render the leather, after 

 the composition has become dry. impervious to water, and at the 

 same time peifectly soft and pliable. Though I have thus minute- 

 ly described the comparative proportions of each material, yet I 

 do not mean to confine myself precisely to those respective quanti- 

 ties, nor to the precise mode adopted in mixing and preparing 

 them, but have stated such proportions and such process as the 

 best that I am acquainted with, and which I am, from considerable 

 experience, induced to adopt, and recommend. 



[Repert. Pat. Invent. 



ETCHING AND CLEANING ALABASTER. 



Bi/ Henry Moore, of Green Hill, near Derby. 



Taking advantage of the v/ell-known fact that gypsum, or ala- 

 baster, or sulphate of lime, (for these are only tliree names for the 

 same thing,) is perfectly soluble in 500 parts of cold water, Mr. 

 Moore has adopted the following process : 



He covers the ornament, and all those parts that are not to be 

 corroded, with a composition that will resist water. Wax, dissolv- 

 ed in spirits of turpentine, and mixed with white lead, maybe used 

 with a camel-hair pencil; or turpentine varnish, with a little ani- 

 mal oil and white lead, and will be found to work more freely than 

 the wax. Spirits of turpentine must be used in pencilling with 

 these compositions. The use of animal oil is to prevent the var- 

 nish from becoming very hard, which would render its removal, 

 after corrosion, extremely difficult. The ornament, and other 

 parts which are intended to be preserved, being completely cover- 

 ed with the composition, it is suffered to remain a few hours to 

 dry. The article is then put into a vessel of rain water, in which 

 it must remain forty-eitiht hours, or longer, according as the orna- 

 2.1 ' VeL. I. 



