168 ~ Miscellanies. 



MISCELLANIES. 



FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 



1. Alum may be used for ornaments, like alabaster. When of a 

 proper degree of solidity, it may be wrought with tools, polished, fee. 

 When melted by heat, it may be cast into pasteboard moulds, and 

 then polished or wrought. While in a melted state, it may be col- 

 ored to suit the fancy. If rubbed with an excaustic of yellow wax, 

 the appearance of marble or alabaster may be given to it. (J. G.) 



2. Cement. (J. G.) — Calcined and pulverized shells, mixed into 

 a paste with coarse or refuse oil, makes a cement, used in India for 

 stopping the joints of boats, he. 



3. A heater or calorif actor , for preserving the heat of the body 

 in attacks of cholera, or severe and protracted chills, is made with 

 advantage, by forming a semi-cylindrical case of tin, which will 

 cover the body when in bed, leaving an opening at one end for the 

 neck, so that the head may protrude. This case is made double, 

 with a space of four inches between the inner and outer sheet. One 

 opening is left at the top, for the insertion of a funnel, through which 

 hot water is to be poured, and another small opening for the escape 

 of air. This case is to be pressed down, over the patient, when in 

 bed, and the clothes packed round it. If covered with a blanket, it 

 will, when charged with hot water, retain the heat a great while. It 

 need not be filled with hot water. The steam which rises, keeps 

 the upper part hot. The two sides should be connected by a tube, 

 to equalize the flow of the water. In fifteen minutes the pulse has 

 been raised from sixty one to eighty seven per minute. In rheuma- 

 tism, and all cases in which sweating is indicated, this instrument 

 may be effectually used. The water is drawn off by a stop cock at 

 the bottom. (J. G.) 



4. Freezing mixture. (J. G.) — Four pounds of pulverized sul- 

 phate of soda, (not efflorescent,) and three pounds of cold dilute 

 sulphuric acid, (seven pounds strong acid and five pounds of water, 

 mixed the day before using.) I have prepared by this process more 

 than three hundred pounds of artificial ice. — Boutigny. D'Evreux. 



