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Practical Hints. 
To Preserve Natural Flowers by the Wax Process.—Dip the 
flowers in melted paraffin, withdrawing them quickly. The liquid 
should only be hot enough to maintain the fluidity, and the 
flowers should be dipped one at a time, held by the stalks, and 
moved about for an instant, to get rid of air-bubbles. Fresh-cut 
flowers, free from moisture, make excellent specimens in this way. 
Ink for Stamp-Pads.—This consists of aniline violet, + ounce, 
dissolved in 15 ounces of alcohol and 15 ounces of glycerine 
added. Other aniline colours may be used if preferred. 
Remedy for Constipation.—The use of whole wheat (frumenty), 
says the Luglish Mechanic, is recommended by H. H. Hill, M.D., 
of Augusta, Maine. For many years he has recommended it to 
his patients, and asserts that it is much more useful when properly 
cooked in the natural state than when it has been maltreated by 
grinding, etc. Oatmeal he finds to be very indigestible in cases 
of dyspepsia, but boiled wheat is, in his experience, a perfect 
remedy for constipation. The wheat is to be washed clean and 
soaked in cold water overnight, then boiled as if it were rice until 
thoroughly soft, and eaten with any simple adjunct. 
Cement for India-Rubber.—Bisulphide of carbon, 5 ounces; 
gutta percha, 5 drachms ; india-rubber, ro drachms; fish glue, 2} 
drachms. This composition is recommended for filling the 
cracks that occur in the rubber belts of band-saws, tyres of 
bicycle wheels, and rubber tubing. The sides of the fissure must 
be well cleaned, and the solution then introduced. If the slit is 
gaping, the edges may be first united by a few stitches, and the 
solution applied in layers. After the composition has become 
hard, the threads are removed, and the projecting cement shaved 
off -with a very sharp blade that has previously been dipped in 
water. 
Preserving the Natural Colour of Flowers—The Pharmaceu- 
tical Journal draws attention to R. Hegler’s method of preserving 
the natural colour of flowers, which consists in dusting salicylic 
acid on the plants as they lie in the press, and removing it again 
with a brush when the flowers are dry. Red colours in particular 
are well preserved by this agent. Another method of applying 
the same preservative is to use a solution of 1 part of salicylic 
acid in 14 of alcohol by means of blotting-paper or cotton wool 
soaked in it, and placed above and below the flowers. Powdered 
