Miscellanies. 201 



5. Composition for mending crystals, glass, porcelain and crock- 

 ery. — Take half a pound of the curd of skimmed milk, wash it until 

 the water comes from it limpid ; press out all the water, mix with 

 this washed curd the whites of six eggs, and to this mixture add the 

 expressed juice of 15 cloves of garlic; triturate the whole together 

 thoroughly in a mortar, then add, gradually, powdered and sifted 

 quick lime, in sufficient quantity to make a dry paste, and stir the 

 whole until it is perfectly mixed. 



To use this mastic, rub a small portion of it with a little water, on 

 a piece of glass with a muUer ; when well rubbed, put it on the frag- 

 ment to be mended, or in the crack to be filled, and fasten the parts 

 well together, and let it dry in the shade. This cement, if well dried, 

 resists fire and boiling water. Vases and other valuable articles can 

 be perfectly mended by it. 



The mixture of curd, whites of eggs, and garlic juice, may be pul- 

 verized, mixed with an equal part of quick lime, and kept for use in 

 a well-stopped vial. Such a mixture as this is kept for sale as an Eng- 

 lish article, in a shop in the Palais-Royal and is in demand. — Idem. 



6. Indelible Ink for marking linen. — The following composition 

 may be used with facility and success : Take nitrate of silver 1 dram, 

 printer's ink 1 ounce ; rub the salt with the ink very thoroughly on a 

 glass plate with a glass muller, so as to incorporate them well. A 

 small portion of the ink, put, by means of a ball, on types or letters 

 in relief, and thus impressed on linen or muslin, will remain very dis- 

 tinct through many washings with soap or ley.^ — Idem. 



7. How to hoil Potatoes. — Few persons are aware of the neces- 

 sity of skill or attention in this common operation. Potatoes should 

 be cooked by steam, either by putting a small quantity of water 

 in the pot, just enough to preserve an atmosphere of steam around 

 the potatoes, or by introducing steam among them through a pipe 

 from a boiler. Strict attention must be paid, that they be not 

 overdone. In general from ten to twenty minutes of steaming 

 are sufficient. Where the right point is attained, they are dry and 

 friable and easily reduced into meal. If the action of the steam 

 is continued even a few moments too long, they become greasy, 

 compact, and acrid, and are not easily mashed, which proves that 

 a change of composition is commencing which alters their quali- 

 ties. It has been ascertained that potatoes which have thus been in- 



VoL. XXIII.— No. 1. 26 



