560 
VARIETIES. 
qualities  in  union,  and,  therefore,  to  produce  such  an  article  is  the  object  of 
the  perfumer  in  his  remelting  process. 
Prior  to  the  removal  of  the  excise  duty  upon  soap  in  last  year,  it  was  a 
commercial  impossibility  for  a  perfumer  to  manufacture  soap,  because  the  law 
did  not  allow  less  than  one  ton  of  soap  to  be  made  at  a  time.  This  law? 
which,  with  certain  modifications,  had  been  in  force  since  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.,  confined  the  actual  manufacture  of  that  article  into  the  hands  of 
a  few  capitalists.  Such  law,  however,  was  but  of  little  importance  to  the 
perfumer,  as  a  soap-boiling  plant  and  apparatus  is  not  very  compatible  with 
a  laboratory  of  flowers;  yet,  in  some  exceptional  instances,  these  excise 
regulations  interfered  with  him;  such,  for  instance,  as  that  in  making  soft 
soap  of  lard  and  potash;  known,  when  perfumed,  as  Crime  cV  Amande;  or 
unscented,  as  Saponaceous  Cream,  which  has,  in  consequence  of  that  law, 
been  entirely  thrown  into  the  hands  of  our  continental  neighbors. 
Fig  Soft  Soap  is  a  combination  of  oils,  principally  olive  oil  of  the  com- 
monest kind,  with  potash. 
Naples  Soft  Soap  is  a  fish  oil  (mixed  with  Lucca  oil)  and  potash,  colored 
brown  for  the  London  shavers,  retaining,  when  pure,  its  unsophisticated 
"  fishy  "  odor. 
The  above  soaps  constitute  the  real  body  or  base  of  all  the  fancy  scented 
soaps  as  made  by  the  perfumers,  which  are  mixed  and  remelted  according  to 
the  following  formula  : — 
The  remelting  process  is  exceedingly  simple.  The  bar  soap  is  first  cut  up 
into  thin  slabs,  by  pressing  them  against  a  wire  fixed  upon  the  working 
bench.  This  cutting  wire  (piano-wire  is  the  kind)  is  made  taut  upon  the 
bench  by  being  attached  to  two  screws.  These  screws  regulate  the  height 
of  the  wire  from  the  bench,  and  hence  the  thickness  of  the  slabs  from  the 
bars.  The  soap  is  cut  up  into  thin  slabs,  because  it  would  be  next  to  im- 
possible to  melt  a  bar  whole,  on  account  of  soap  being  one  of  the  worst  con- 
ductors of  heat. 
The  melting  pan  is  an  iron  vessel,  of  various  sizes,  capable  of  holding  28 
lbs.  to  3  cwt..  heated  by  a  steam  jacket,  or  by  a  water  bath.  The  soap  is 
put  into  the  pan  by  degrees,  or  what  is  in  the  vernacular  called  "  rounds," 
that  is,  the  thin  slabs  are  placed  perpendicularly  all  round  the  side  of  the 
pan ;  a  few  ounces  of  water  are  at  the  same  time  introduced,  the  steam  of 
which  assists  the  melting.  The  pan  being  covered  up,  in  about  half  an 
hour  the  soap  will  have  "  run  down."  Another  round  is  then  introduced,  and 
so  continued  every  half-hour  until  the  whole  li  melting'5  is  finished.  The 
more  water  a  soap  contains,  the  easier  it  is  melted  ;  hence  a  round  of  marine 
soap,  or  of  new  yellow  soap,  will  run  down  in  half  the  time  that  it  requires 
for  old  soap. 
When  different  soaps  are  being  remelted  to  form  one  kind  when  finished f 
the  various  sorts  are  to  be  inserted  into  the  pan  in  alternate  rounds,  but  each 
round  must  consist  only  of  one  kind  to  ensure  uniformity  of  condition.  As 
the  soap  melts,  in  order  to  mix  it,  and  to  break  up  lumps,  &c,  it  is  from  time 
to  time  11  crutched."   The  "crutch  "  is  an  instrument  or  tool  for  stirring  up 
