March, 1880. 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
89 
Imitation White Wine Vinegar.— Filter ordinary vinegar 
through animal charcoal and paper. 
To Reclaim Spoiled Distilled Waters.— Add one grain 
each of alum and borax to every pint. 
MAKING FERN PICTURES. 
There are two ways — the mechanical and the photographi- 
cal. For the first, take a sheet of strong white paper, and 
with an atomizer pass over it a spray of very . diluted 
mucilage, so as to obtain a very thin and slightly sticking film, 
which will make the ferns adhere of which it is desired to 
make the picture. The ferns and leaves must have been first 
pressed in a book, and. after arranging them to suit your taste, 
cause them to lie as closely to the paper as possible ; fill an 
atomizer with very diluted India ink, and blow a spray over 
the ferns, more or less in proportion as you want a darker or 
lighter shade. It is well to do this with intermissions, letting 
it dry a little, so as to avoid excess of moisture and possibility 
of running the liquid into drops. When nearly dry, but still 
a little moist, remove the ferns, which may be used over again 
several times. For the photographic method, cover a sheet 
of paper with a weak solution of salt in water and some white 
of an egg, well beaten ; after it is dry, take it into a dark room, 
and with a tuft of cotton pass over it a solution of nitrate of 
silver (50 grains to an ounce of water) ; dry it in the dark, 
and the coat of chloride of silver formed on its surface will 
receive the impression. Then arrange your ferns between two 
plates of glass, and cut the paper to the same size as the glass 
plates; place it under them and expose to the sun, in the 
same way as a photographer prints a portrait. Watch it until 
dark enough, and before removing the paper from the glass 
take it into a dark room. Here place the picture in a 
solution of hyposulphite of soda, which will dissolve the 
chloride of silver, but leave the decomposed material (finely 
divided black silver) which forms the black back-ground, 
while the shadow of the leaves will be white. 
REMEDIES FOR CHILBLAINS. 
The following applications will be found quite useful to cure 
chilblains, or at least to greatly relieve the pain and itching. 
The first ones are for the unbroken, and the last for broken 
chilblains. 
The first is a liniment , made as follows : — 
Sulphuric acid 
1 drachm. 
Spirit of turpentine 
1 „ 
Olive oil 
3 drachms. 
Mix the oil and turpentine first, then gradually add the 
acid. To be rubbed in two or three times a day. 
The two others are ointments : — 
(1) Lard 
4 ounces. 
Turpentine 
1 ounce. 
Camphor 
2 drachms. 
Oil of rosemary 
... 15 minims. 
This ointment to be rubbed in with continued friction. 
(2) Yellow wax 
3 ounces. 
Olive oil... 
3 „ 
Camphorated oil 
3 „ 
Goulard extract 
1£ „ 
Melt the wax with the olive oil, 
then add the camphor oil 
and Goulard extract. 
WATER AND FIRE PROOF PAPER. 
A water and fire proof paper, lately patented, is made by 
putting a mixture of ordinary pulp and asbestos reduced to 
pulp, in the proportion of about two-thirds of the former to 
one-third of the latter, into a strong solution of common salt 
and alum. This mixture is put through the engine and then 
run oft through a Fourdrinier. The paper thus made is run 
through a bath of gum shellac, dissolved in alcohol or other 
suitable volatile solvent of that gum, and subsequently through 
ordinary calendar rolls, after which the paper is ready to be 
cut into such sized sheets as may be required for use. The 
effect of the strong solution of salt and alum upon the paper 
is to greatly strengthen it, and to increase its fire-resisting 
qualities. The shellac bath to which it is treated is said to 
cause the paper to become thoroughly permeated with the gum, 
so the paper becomes waterproof to such an extent that long 
boiling in water does not disintegrate it, and the presence of 
the gum in and upon the surface of the paper seems to present 
no obstacle to the proper and usual absorption of ink, either 
printing or writing. Thus, by the combination of the asbestos, 
salt, and alum in the paper, it is rendered so far fire-proof that 
a direct exposure to an intense fire does not burn up the sub- 
stance of the paper to an extent that interferes with safely 
handling it; and when exposed to great heat in books, or 
between metallic plates, a number of sheets together, it is 
much less injured by the fire. 
The addition of the gum shellac to the paper makes it, for 
all practical purposes, water-proof, so that if account books, 
valuable documents, bank bills, and other monetary papers for 
which this paper is used be subjected to the action of fire and 
water, either one or both, in a burning building, they will not 
be injured to such an extent as to destroy their value. — 
Scientific American. 
CORK, CORKS, AND CORKSCREWS. 
(By H. G. Glasspoole.) 
( Concluded.) 
The British import duty on unmanufactured cork was 
abolished in the year 1845, and in 1860 the duties on cork 
ready made and cork squared for rounding, which had been 
fixed in 1853 at 6d. per lb. and 8s. per cwt. respectively, were 
repealed. 
The imports of cork into the United Kingdom in 1876 
were : — 
Cork unmanufactured. 
Tons. 
Value. 
From Portugal 
... 6267 
£172,666 
From Spain 
... 395 
11.413 
From Algeria 
... 351 
7,045 
Other countries 
... 195 
6,391 
Total . . . 
... 7208 
£197,515 
Cork manufactured. 
Lbs. 
Value. 
From France 
3,174,431 
£267,624 
From Portugal ... 
2.537,175 
147,975 
From Spain 
927,793 
72,354 
Other countries ... 
21,804 
1,586 
Total 
6,661,203 
£489,539 
Ancient Use of Cor7is, fyc. — The cork tree, and the applica- 
tion of its bark to useful purposes, was well known to the 
Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. The former used to construct 
their coffins of this material. Theophrastus, the Greek philo- 
sopher, who wrote on botany, &c., four centuries B.c., mentions 
this tree amongst the oaks, under the name of phellus , and 
says that it has a thick fleshy bark, which must be stripped off 
every three years to prevent it from perishing. He adds that 
it was so light as never to sink in water, and on that account 
might be used for many purposes. Pliny describes the tree 
under the name of suber , and relates everything said by 
Theophrastus of phellus. From his account we learn that the 
Roman fishermen used it as floats to their nets and fishing 
tackle, and as buoys to their anchors. The use of these buoys 
in saving life appears to have been well known to the ancients, 
for Lucian (Ejpist. 1, 17) mentions that when two men, one 
of whom had fallen into the sea, and another who jumped 
after to afford him assistance, both were saved by means of an 
anchor buoy. The use of this substance in assisting swimmers 
was not unknown to the Romans. By Plutarchus, in Vita 
Camilli, we are told that when the imperial city was besieged 
by the Gauls, Camillus sent a Roman to the Capitol, who to 
avoid the enemy swam the Tiber with corks under him, his 
clothes being bound upon his head, and was fortunate enough 
to succeed in the attempt. The use of cork for stoppers was 
not entirely unknown to the Romans, and instances of its being 
thus employed may be seen in Cato’s Be Re Rustled , cap. 
120 ; but its application to this purpose seems not to have been 
very common, or cork stoppers would have been oftener 
mentioned by authors who have written on agriculture and 
cookery, and also in the works of ancient poets. The convivial 
customs of those days had no connection with the bottle, glass 
bottles being of a much later invention. Instead of having 
dozens of sparkling champagne or hock, to be liberated from 
the bottle by the corkscrew, at their feasts, the guests filled 
their drinking cups of gold, silver, crystal, or beech wood from 
a two-handled amphora, a Kind of earthenware pitcher in 
which their choice wines used to be kept. The mouths of 
these vessels were stopped with wood, and covered with a 
mastic, composed of pitch, chalk, and oil, to prevent air 
spoiling the wine or evaporation taking p£ace. Columella, 
who wrote one of the earliest works on agriculture, gives 
