344 J, M. Ordway on Waterglass. 
with silicate of soda, might in many cases, be substituted for the 
easily detached lime washes so commonly used in this country. 
_ Fuchs at first made and applied waterglass to render w 
incapable of being inflamed, and experiments instituted by order 
of the British admiralty are said to have proved its efficacy m 
this respect.* Better antiphlogistics may have been found, but 
none of them are capable of serving at the same time as var 
waterglass can do little toward permanently excluding aT an 
moisture, and as little toward counteracting albuminous i 
within the wood, its preservative power must be far in 
thness, } 
away by the slow action of the atmosphere. Indeed th 
of waterglass in painting depends in some measure on me ble it 
solu 
water, and only after having been exposed to the air for sev 
days, is it safe from moisture or rain. The fixation is sometimes 
hastened by brushing over the coating of silicate, after a day 
two, with a weak solution of sal-ammoniac or of carbonate 
ammonia, 
* Répertoire de Chimie Appliquée, i, 63.- 
