THE 
 
 LABORATORY? 
 
 OR, 
 
 SCHOOL OF ARTS: 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A LARGE COLLECTION OF VALUABLE 
 SECRETS, EXPERIMENTS, AND MANUAL OPERATIONS 
 
 IN 
 
 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, 
 
 HIGHLY USEFUL TO 
 
 GILDERS, || GOLDSMITHS, || PEWTERERS, 
 
 JEWELLERS, II DYERS, | JOINERS, 
 
 ENAMELLERS, | CUTLERS, II JAPANNERS, 
 
 BOOK-BINDERS, 
 PLASTERERS, 
 
 ARTISTS, 
 
 AND TO THE WORKERS IN METALS IN GENERAL j 
 
 AND IN 
 
 PLASTER OF PARIS, WOOD, IVORY, BONE, HORN, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 
 
 COMPILED ORIGINALLY BY 
 
 G. SMITH. 
 
 S>iptlJ <£5ition, 
 
 »v "if .A r.KEAT NUMBER OF ADDITIONAL RECEIPTS, CORRECTIONS, AND AMENDMENTS 
 A COMPLETE TREATISE OH FIRE-WORKS, AN D THE ART OF SHORT- HAND WRI TING. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH EXGRA VINGS. 
 
 VOL I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED BY C. WHlTlINGIIAM ; 
 
 FOR H. D. SYMONDS, J. WALLIS, AND WYNNE AND SCHOLEY, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW; AND YERNORAND HOOD, POULTRY. 
 
 1799. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SIXTH EDITION. 
 
 THE arts have so necessary a dependance 
 on each other, that it would he an use- 
 less task to endeavour to point out their advan- 
 tage to mankind. Daily experience, and in- 
 deed the mere operation of our senses, confirm 
 the impossibility of detailing the utility which 
 must result from the publication of human in- 
 ventions. The rapid progress of the physical 
 sciences has been the occasion of much labour 
 to the learned, whose works have been often 
 rendered useless by the appearance of new 
 Volumes, and has given rise to many compila- 
 tions and abridgments. But for these compres- 
 sions of matter into reasonable bounds, in the 
 forms of Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias, the 
 diffusion of knowledge would be less exten- 
 sive ; because the price would be too high for 
 
 a 2 the 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 the generality of readers, and discoveries would 
 chance to remain scattered and uncollected. 
 
 But whilst the succession of every year may 
 have thrown a light upon the principles of 
 many facts which were before unknown to us, 
 we should take heed that many of the facts 
 themselves do not escape us. The history of 
 former ages has furnished the wofiil certainty 
 of the loss of many arts, which the unwearied 
 attention of succeeding times may be long in 
 restoring. Had the simple manual of every 
 art been recorded, without attempting to be- 
 wilder by the addition of theory, we should 
 probably be in the possession of what we may 
 wistfully require in vain. Of these valuable 
 secrets which have been lost, the one of ren- 
 dering glass malleable, is alone sufficient to 
 claim our sorrow. 
 
 The original plan and intention of the work 
 which is now announced to the Public, was to 
 disseminate, in a reasonable way, what had 
 been collected at great cost and expence ; such 
 as the secret methods of working which were 
 practised by artists in their several employ- 
 ments, and various other valuable receipts. — 
 With the same view, this new edition appears, 
 which is no fewer than the sixth from its first 
 publication. 
 
 Why 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Why a work of so distant a date is still held 
 in such great request, is owing to the reasons 
 assigned above, that it is a repository of many 
 operations which are employed at this very time, 
 free from theoretical descriptions, and there- 
 fore intelligible to the meanest capacity. — 
 Moreover, the terms of art, and the names of 
 the several ingredients, are conformable to 
 those in common use, and such as on enquiry 
 at druggists shops will be known and sold 
 under those titles. 
 
 A work of this kind is ever useful, although 
 it be not adapted to the reading of philosophi- 
 cal students ; for unless some such publications 
 are afloat, philosophers themselves, in distant 
 periods, would be deprived of the very mate- 
 rials of their own labours : it is by the esta- 
 blished custom of tradesmen following the 
 occupation of their fathers, that the manual 
 arts have been preserved in the East. 
 
 Many of the passages in this edition will be 
 found entirely expunged, by comparing it 
 with former ones : many of them are abridg- 
 ed ; most of them are corrected ; and a variety 
 of new matter is added. Sometimes whole 
 paragraphs, and even chapters, have been 
 transposed ; which has been purposely done, 
 to arrange it in a series more orderly and con- 
 venient. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 venient. The chapter on Fire-works, for iri^ 
 stance, here begins the work, because it forms 
 one of the earliest amusements of youth, and 
 will be likely to employ their first attention to 
 experiment; thence, gradually acquiring a ma- 
 nual expertness, they will be led to undertake 
 more elaborate operations, and be initiated in 
 a fondness for philosophy. For the retention of 
 some peculiarities, such as the usual and ordi- 
 nary appellations of drugs and chemicals, in lieu 
 of modern philosophical names, a fair reason 
 has been assigned ; and, indeed, to employ new 
 terms would totally defeat the intention of the 
 worl?^ which is compiled for a valuable class of 
 men, whose operations must be couched in their 
 own technical terms. Quickening is a singular 
 expression to be employed in gilding; but wa- 
 ter-gilders are accustomed to the phrase, and 
 employ it constantly. Black-lead pencils are 
 also known to every class of society, inde- 
 pendent of artists who are more acquainted with 
 their use ; yet it is a notorious fact that they 
 have not a particle of lead in their compo- 
 sition.* Some terms, then, cannot be corrected, 
 unless a display of knowledge be preferred to 
 the more valuable requisite of being intelligible* 
 
 * What was supposed, by the old chemists, to be black- 
 lead, is now well-known, to be a compound of iron; called 
 carbure of iron, in modern chemical language. 
 
 It 
 
PREFACE. Vii 
 
 It must be confessed, indeed, that a number 
 of the receipts might be greatly amended, and 
 the processes of many of them be curtailed and 
 cheapened; but it has been thought better to 
 retain all, except such as are impracticable at 
 the first glance, and to make additions to the 
 original stock ; for this reason, that many of 
 them are still in request by workmen, whose 
 time is principally busied in effects, and are lit- 
 tle observant and anxious of the causes of such 
 effects. Till, therefore, some able chemist, 
 whose time is at his command, will condescend 
 to leave the chase after new discoveries, and give 
 the condensed hiftory, the rationale, and im- 
 proved manual of the operative arts, we mull: 
 be content to offer such as is known, and add 
 occasionally (as will be found in this Edition) 
 fresh receipts as fresh matter is produced. By 
 the addition of new processes, in lieu of en- 
 tirely expunging the old, another advantage 
 will accrue — that the methods of working for- 
 merly known, will still be in preservation, 
 whereby a basis is left for improvement, by the 
 ingenious, as the theory of the arts is gradually 
 unfolding. The just and obvious objection to 
 obsolete experiments is, therefore, in some mea- 
 sure removed ; and it is hoped, that the large 
 class of young people, whom these recreations 
 
 concern, 
 
vm PREFACE, 
 
 concern, may find the amusement and instruc- 
 tion which it is so much their interest to cul- 
 tivate. 
 
 Before a final close is put to the above ob-> 
 scrvations, it may be proper to remark, that a, 
 useful treatise has been introduced, in this edi- 
 tion, on the practice of Short-hand writing. 
 "When a quick and easy mode of committing 
 cither our own thoughts, or those of others, to 
 the safe-guard of manuscript, is attainable, no 
 one surely will forego the application of a few 
 hours to the occasional practice of the art! A 
 thousand thoughts which daily strike us may 
 be thus instantly preserved from destruction, to 
 the future benefit of ourselves, and the probable 
 benefit of posterity : and if our ideas be, at 
 first, crude and undigested, which will be too 
 frequently the case in sudden flights of imagi- 
 nation, they will be recorded in symbols of 
 more than ordinary usage, of course, free from 
 observation till matured by time. 
 
 The few explanatory notes, marked Ed. are, 
 by the Editor. 
 
( ix ) 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS 1 
 
 Nitre 2 
 
 Of sulphur, or brimstone 3 
 
 Charcoal 4> 
 
 How to break or granulate sulphur ib. 
 
 To combine oil with sulphur 5 
 
 — make artificial camphor, and its oil ib. 
 
 — make moulds for rockets ib. 
 
 — prepare cases for swarmers, or rockets 7 
 
 Preliminary observations in preparing the charges for rockets; 
 
 and to order their fires of various colours 8 
 
 Charges for land swarmers, or small rockets 10 
 
 A general charge for rockets of two or three ounces H 
 
 Charges for rockets of four, five, and six ounces ib. 
 
 water rockets ib. 
 
 For eight, nine, arid twelve ounce rockets ib. 
 
 one, and one and a half pound rockets 12 
 
 two and three pound rockets ib. 
 
 — four or rive pound rockets 13 
 
 six, eight, or nine pounders ib. 
 
 — ten ami twelve pounders ib. 
 
 — fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen pounders 14> 
 
 — eighteen or twenty pounders ib. 
 
 — thirty, forty, and fifty pounders ib. 
 
 sixty, eighty, and a hundred pounders ib. 
 
 To bore the rockets, or ram them over the piercer ib. 
 
 For garnishing of rockets 15 
 
 flow to proportion the rocket-poles and sticks 16 
 
 a Rockets 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Rockets without sticks 16 
 
 Of girandel chests; how, and with what, the rockets are 
 
 tired therein 17 
 
 Their composition 18 
 
 Of rockets that run upon lines, or ropes, from one place to 
 
 another ib. 
 
 Charges for the line rockets 19 
 
 How to join two rockets to one another; the one to burn in 
 
 the water, and the other suddenly to fly up into the air 20 
 How to make water-rockets, water-brands, water-cats, wa- 
 ter-ducks, &c. that turn themselves in the water 21 
 
 Charges for water-rockets 23 
 
 water-crackers 24- 
 
 tumbling water-crackers ib. 
 
 ■ water-cats lb. 
 
 Some general remarks upon rockets 25 
 
 Observations for discovering defective rockets ib. 
 
 Of rocket-flyers, and the manner of charging them 26 
 
 — fire-wheels , 27 
 
 — tourbillons 28 
 
 Charges for fire-flyers and wheels, of four, five, and six 
 
 ounce rockets 30 
 
 For wheels of one pound rockets 31 
 
 one and a half, and two pound rockets ib. 
 
 three and four pound rockets ib. 
 
 To make single and double cartouches, or boxes, tubes, 
 
 stars, sparks, &c ib. 
 
 Double boxes, or cartouches 33 
 
 Another sort of lire tubes ib. 
 
 The following stars are of a mote yellow cast, inclining to 
 
 white 3j 
 
 Sparks are prepared thus ib. 
 
 Single tubes, or cases 36 
 
 Another fire tube 37 
 
 Of salvo's 3S 
 
 Charges for cartouches, or boxes , ib. 
 
 hie tubes ib. 
 
 A preservative for wood against fire ib. 
 
 The manner of preparing, and making letters and names in 
 
 fire- works 39 
 
 Charges for burning letters with cases - 4 1 
 
 To order and preserve leading-tires, trains, and quick-matches ib. 
 
 Charges for fuzees, or leading-matches 42 
 
 Of water-balls ib. 
 
 How to charge a water-globe with many crackers 44 
 
 prepare a water-mortar, or water pump, with se- 
 veral tubes 45 
 
 — charge a large water-globe with several little ones, 
 
 and with crackers 46 
 
 To prepare the water bee-hive, or bee-swarm, both single 
 
 and double 47 
 
 How 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 Page 
 How to prepare a water-globe, on the outside, with running 
 
 rockets .'. 48 
 
 To prepare water-globes with single or double ascending 
 
 rockets ib. 
 
 Charges for single water-globes 49 
 
 double water-globes 50 
 
 bee-swarms ib. 
 
 riferous, or perfumed water-balls 51 
 
 The c ampositioBs for, them ib. 
 
 The manner, of preparing the melted stu ft .. .. 52 
 
 — cold melted stuff ib. 
 
 To pre : ibe which burns like a star, and leaps about 
 
 both on land ^nd water 53 
 
 — charge globes, which leap on land, with iron and paper 
 
 crackers ib. 
 
 How the globes, discharged out of a mortar, are made and 
 
 ordered 54 
 
 r Fo prepare the light balls, proper to be used at bonfires ... 55 
 
 paste for stars and sparks 56 
 
 To project globes from a mortar, and the quantity of pow- 
 der required for that purpose 57 
 
 A fixed sun, with a transparent face 58 
 
 Explanation of plate iv 00 
 
 Form and dimensions of a furnace 62 
 
 Use of the furnace 64 
 
 Observation .' 66 
 
 Of lutes 67 
 
 PART II. 
 
 A variety of curious and valuable experiments on Gold and 
 Silver; shewing the method of testing, refining, sepa- 
 rating, allaying, and toughening those metals; together 
 
 with other receipts, for gilding. &c 69 
 
 Of gold 71 
 
 Method of testing gold by cupellation : used also in testing 
 
 of silver 73 
 
 Of separating gold from silver 74 
 
 Parting of gold from silver, by solution ib. 
 
 ■ cementation 75 
 
 in the dry way 76 
 
 Purification of gold by antimony ib. 
 
 Of silver 77 
 
 Purification of silver by nitre 7S 
 
 To prepare a crucible, so as not to contract any gold though 
 
 it be for several hours in the greatest heat 79 
 
 Other receipts for cements 80 
 
 To 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 Pa*« 
 
 To separate gold and silver out of the sweepings 81 
 
 the gold from gilt copper ib. 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 To separate copper from silver, or any other allay 82 
 
 — extract the silver out of a ring that is thick gilded, so as 
 
 the gold may remain intire : a curious secret ib. 
 
 — make brittle gold malleable ib. 
 
 silver that is brittle, pliable 83 
 
 — give gold, silver, or other metals, a quick fusion ib. 
 
 — try whether granulated silver contains any gold 84 
 
 — amalgamate gold, or to mix it with mercury, which is of 
 
 use to gilders ib. 
 
 Gilding upon silver, brass, copper, andiron ib. 
 
 A particular secret to gild silver to the greatest perfection ... 85 
 
 Another advantageous manner of gilding on silver ib. 
 
 A particular method of gilding, which may be done in a mo- 
 ment, better than with quicksilver ib. 
 
 Gilding after the Grecian manner 86 
 
 The true Italian gilding ib. 
 
 To deaden quicksilver for gilding 87 
 
 — boil silver white ib. 
 
 A gold powder 87 
 
 Another for cold gilding 88 
 
 powder to gild with ib. 
 
 A quickening water" 89 
 
 Another water-gilding upon silver ib. 
 
 A water which will give silver a gold colour 90 
 
 A method to work a cup, one side gold and the other silver ib. 
 
 To adorn gold, silver, or brass, with embellishments of glass 91 
 
 Of heightening the colour of gold and gilt works ib. 
 
 Gilding wax, used for gold, or gilded work ib. 
 
 To give gold a high colour 92 
 
 Nuremberg gilding-wax ib. 
 
 To make all metals malleable 93 
 
 How to quicken brass for gilding ib. 
 
 Of several gold colours, whereby gold, or gilt work, after it 
 
 has been heightened with gilding- wax, receives its pro- 
 per colour ib. 
 
 A silver gold-colour, or a colour for gilt silver ib. 
 
 — green gold-colour ib. 
 
 — French gold-colour 9 4 
 
 — line gold-colour ib. 
 
 Another gold-colour ib. 
 
 A green gold-colour ib. 
 
 — white colour for gold <>j 
 
 To colour an old gold chain as if it were new ib. 
 
 A green colour for gold chains ib. 
 
 To give gold a high and line colour ib. 
 
 Another line colour for gold 96 
 
 To bring pale gold to an high colour ] ib. 
 
 — make silver yellow throughout, and to give it the colour 
 
 of go! d ib. 
 
 A water 
 
CONTENTS. XIH 
 
 Page 
 
 A water to give any metal a gold-colour i*7 
 
 Another water wherewith one may tinge any metal of a gold 
 
 colour. A curious secret ifa. 
 
 To colour gold ib. 
 
 — give gold a fine and high colour ib. 
 
 gilded work a line colour 93 
 
 — brighten spots in gilding ib. 
 
 — give old silver-lace, or trimmings, the beauty and colour 
 
 of new ib. 
 
 Of the hell, or helling of gold 99 
 
 To hell gold, or gilt work ib. 
 
 How to lake off the gold from gilt silver tankards or cups ... 100 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 An improved method to take off the gilding from silver 101 
 
 How to get the gold out of aqua-fortis ib. 
 
 To give silver utensils a lustre ib. 
 
 — separate gold from gilded silver, by cementation 102 
 
 Of several sorts of solder for gold and silver ib. 
 
 Filings-solder for siUer chain-work ib. 
 
 A solder for silver ib. 
 
 Another for coarse silver 103 
 
 silver solder ib. 
 
 Of good solder for gold ib. 
 
 The' manner and way of soldering gold or silver ib. 
 
 To solder a ring set with stones 104 
 
 A powder tor soldering, equal to borax ib,. 
 
 To melt in a moment several sorts of metals, over a table ... 105 
 
 Another manner of doing it ib. 
 
 To make aurum sophisticum, or mimick gold ib. 
 
 Another 106 
 
 Another ib. 
 
 To make a curious yellow-mixed metal, resembling gold, 
 
 and which may be drawn into tine wire ib. 
 
 Another method to make a metal resembling gold 107 
 
 To make brass 108 
 
 — silver copper, or brass ib. 
 
 Another way 10.9 
 
 What metal are most proper to incorporate with silver ib. 
 
 To silver brass, in lire 110 
 
 A powder to silver copper or brass with, by rubbing it with 
 
 the finger or thumb ib. 
 
 A silvering on copper . . ib. 
 
 To silver copper, or brass, bv boiling it 
 
 — boil brass, like silver ib. 
 
 — silver copper, brass, steel, or iron, so as not to 
 
 except it be made red hot ib. 
 
 — silver all sorts of metals 113 
 
 PART 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 Page 
 
 The art of Enamelling in Ordinary, and the method of pro- 
 paring the Colours ; the art of painting in enamel ; 
 curious instructions how to make artificial pearls; of 
 doublets and foils, and the manner of colouring them ; 
 the art of counterfeiting precious stones, with other rare 
 
 secrets 1 13 
 
 Of enamelling in ordinary ; and of preparing the enamel- 
 colours .» ib. 
 
 To prepare the flux for enamel-colours 1 14 
 
 Another sort of flux, -which is very soft ib. 
 
 A green colour ib. 
 
 Dark green J15 
 
 Yellow colour ib. 
 
 A high yellow ib. 
 
 Brimstone colour ib. 
 
 A black colour ib. 
 
 A good red 1 ]<i 
 
 Another ib. 
 
 good red ib. 
 
 Blue colours ib. 
 
 Green ] 17 
 
 Grass green ib. 
 
 Brown colours ib. 
 
 Purple colour , ib. 
 
 Hair colour ib. 
 
 Fawn colour ib. 
 
 Carnation colour 118 
 
 A steel red for enamel ib. 
 
 Of the art of painting on enamel ib. 
 
 To prepare the principal matter for enamel colours 120 
 
 t— make enamel of a milk-white colour 121 
 
 A turcoise blue enamel 122 
 
 — fine blue enamel 123 
 
 — green enamel ib. 
 
 — black enamel 124 
 
 < — velvet- black enamel ib. 
 
 — purple-colour enamel ib. 
 
 — violet enamel 125 
 
 — yellow enamel ib. 
 
 An excellent red enamel, of a very splendid ruby colour ... ib. 
 
 A rose colour enamel 126 
 
 — fine purple ib. 
 
 -!— good red enamel colour 127 
 
 — flux for red enamel 128 
 
 Some general observations ib. 
 
 Of artificial pearls „ 130 
 
 To imitate fine oriental pearls ib. 
 
 Another 
 
CONTEXTS. XV 
 
 Page 
 
 Another way to make artificial pear's 132 
 
 way 133 
 
 • method Uk 
 
 To form large pearls out of small ones, as directed by Korn 
 
 dorffer ib. 
 
 • — make of small pearls a fine necklace of large ones 135 
 
 Best method of imitating pearls 135 
 
 To clean pearls when of a foul colour ib. 
 
 — blanch and cleanse pearls 137 
 
 Other methods used in blanching pearls ib. 
 
 Of doublets 138 
 
 Method of making doublets 139 
 
 The crystal glue of Milan 141 
 
 Instructions concerning foils, or metallic leaves, which are 
 
 laid under precious stones 142, 
 
 Hoy, to polish and colour foils 143 
 
 To colour foils of a green colour, for an emerald 145 
 
 — colour the foils of a ruby colour ib. 
 
 The colour of an amethyst ib. 
 
 How foils are to be mixed with copper and other metals ... ib. 
 
 Another way US 
 
 The art of imitating precious stones, or of making artificial 
 
 gems ib. 
 
 The way of preparing natural crystal 147 
 
 To counterfeit an opal 148 
 
 — make a fair emerald ib. 
 
 A deeper emerald 149 
 
 To make a paste for imitating an Oriental topaz ib. 
 
 — make an artificial chrysolite 150 
 
 — counterfeit a beryl, or aqua marina ib. 
 
 A sapphire colour ib. 
 
 Another, more beautiful, and nearer the Oriental ib. 
 
 deeper coloured sapphire 151 
 
 To make a paste for an Oriental garnet ib. 
 
 Anotiier, deeper garnet ib. 
 
 ■ process for counterfeiting of precicu, stones ib. 
 
 An approved composition 152 
 
 To melt these compositions ; and how to tinge and finish 
 
 your work : 153- 
 
 — make a sapphire ib. 
 
 To prepare crocus martis with vinegar ib. 
 
 sulphur 15* 
 
 aqua-fortis ib. 
 
 by a reverberatory fire ib. 
 
 — make a fine hyacinth 155 
 
 The opal ib. 
 
 Of crystal ib. 
 
 Bartholomew Korndorfer's secret to make a diamond of a 
 
 natural crystal ib. 
 
 How to make a diamond out of a sapphire, according to 
 
 Porta's description 156 
 
 To 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 tage 
 
 To make a fine amethyst > 1.^7 
 
 ruby, or a line hyacinth ib. 
 
 Another artificial ruby 158 
 
 To make a ruby balass ib. 
 
 — harden Bohemian diamonds ib. 
 
 Plain directions for polishing the counterfeits, and also natu- 
 ral gems 159 
 
 A powder for polishing soft stones 160 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 The art of Making Glass ; with the art of painting, and 
 making impressions upon glass, and of laying thereon 
 gold or silver; together with the method of preparing 
 
 the colours for Potters-work, or delft-ware 161 
 
 Of glass ib. 
 
 Materials of glass 162 
 
 To prepare ashes for making glass 163 
 
 Description of a calcar 165 
 
 Another method of preparing ashes ib. 
 
 To make the glass frit 166 
 
 Description of a glass-furnace 167 
 
 A smaller furnace, for glass, and other experiments 168 
 
 Instruments for making of glass 16y 
 
 Of the sorts of glass 170 
 
 Compositions for white and crystal glass ib. 
 
 flint glass 171 
 
 A harder glass than the foregoing 172 
 
 To calcine brass, which in glass makes a sky or sea-green ... ib. 
 To calcine brass after another manner, for a transparent 
 
 red colour, or a yellow 173 
 
 General observations for all colours ib. 
 
 To make glass of lead, which is the fittest for receiving of 
 
 most colours 171 
 
 How to work the said glass ib. 
 
 Blue glass ib. 
 
 t\ chrysolite glass ib. 
 
 A sapphire green glass 175 
 
 To make fine green glass of tin ib. 
 
 a ruby-coloured glass ib. 
 
 The ait of glass in miniature 176 
 
 is performed by the flame of a lamp ib. 
 
 How to lay silver on glass utensils, plates, dishes, salts, 
 
 drinking cups, &c 177 
 
 A curious drinking glass 17S 
 
 How to quicksilver the inside of glass globes, so r as to make 
 
 them look like looking-glass ib. 
 
 The art of painting upon glass 179 
 
 Neceffary 
 
CONTENTS. XVX1 
 
 Page 
 Necessary observations in the baking of glass, or burning-in 
 
 the colours, after it is painted .- 180 
 
 For a carnation colour 182 
 
 Of black colours ib. 
 
 A brown colour 183 
 
 A reJ colour ib. 
 
 A blue colour ib. 
 
 Another blue olour . 18^j 
 
 A green colour • »* 
 
 — fine yellow paint for glass ib. 
 
 — pale yellow 185 
 
 How to "deaden the glass, and fit it to paint upon ib. 
 
 Some general observations on the management of painting 
 
 and baking of glass -. 186 
 
 A particular way to paint upon a drinking glass ib. 
 
 — fine gilding for gla<s ib. 
 
 To write or draw upon glass 187 
 
 The art of glazing mid painting on fine earthen ware, com- 
 monly called Delft ware ibi 
 
 How to prepare the clay for Delft ware 188 
 
 To prepare a white glazing ib. 
 
 The Rotterdam line shining white ib. 
 
 Another fine white for earthen ware 189 
 
 ■ white ib. 
 
 Saltzburg white ib. 
 
 To lay a ground upon earthen ware, on which the white 
 
 glass will spread the better ib. 
 
 The right Dutch mastirat for white porcelain ib. 
 
 common ware is thus glazed 190 
 
 Colours for potter's glaze-work , ib. 
 
 A fine yellow ib. 
 
 citron colour 191 
 
 — green colour ib. 
 
 — blue colour ib. 
 
 — brown colour l$3 
 
 — flesh colour ib. 
 
 — purple brown ib. 
 
 An iron grev ib. 
 
 A black ...."...., ib. 
 
 — brown on white 193 
 
 — fine red ib. 
 
 To glaze with Venice glass ib. 
 
 A green ib. 
 
 — yellow ib- 
 
 — giod yellow J94 
 
 — fine blue glass to paint with ib. 
 
 — brown ib. 
 
 — liver colour ,.. ib. 
 
 — sea green , *'. ib. 
 
 To lay gold, silver or copper on earthen ware, so as to re- 
 semble either of these metals .-..,. : 195 
 
 b PART 
 
XV 111 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART V. 
 
 •Page 
 Several receipts for casting in Silver, Copper, Brass, Tin, 
 Steel, and other Metals; likewise in Wax, Plaster of 
 Paris, Wood, Horn, &c. with the management of the 
 
 respective Moulds 196 
 
 To prepare clay for making all sorts of moulds to cast gold, 
 
 silver, and other metals in ..; ib. 
 
 — make moulds of clay to cast brass or other metals in 197 
 
 — prepare moulds, which need not to be heated, for cast- 
 
 ing metal in IDS 
 
 The preparation of Mantua earth, for moulds ib. 
 
 A particular sort of mould, in which one may cast very fine 
 
 and sharp ib. 
 
 To impress basso relievo, or medals, in imitation of ivory 199 
 
 — medals and other things in basso relievo, on paper ib. 
 
 — cast vegetables in moulds peculiarly prepared for silver ... 200 
 Powders for moulds to cast all sorts of things in gold, in sil- 
 ver, or in other metals 201 
 
 To cast vegetables and insects ib. 
 
 — prepare the mould 202 
 
 — cast vegetables, or insects, in another manner 203 
 
 figures, or medals, in sulphur 204 
 
 How to form and cast all sorts of small birds, frogs, fish, &c. ib. 
 
 cast small shot 205 
 
 i images of plaster of Paris ; to cast wax, either 
 
 solid or hollow ; al»o to form images in wax, and cast 
 
 them afterwards in any metal, either solid or hollow ib. 
 
 To prepare the wax 207 
 
 r — cast medals and other things in basso relievo ib. 
 
 Medals and figures in basso relievo, like jasper .-.' ib. 
 
 Another T. , 208 
 
 To cast fish, reptiles, fruit, or any kind of things, in a pew- 
 ter plate, or di^h ib. 
 
 figures in imitation of ivory 20V 
 
 Another ib. 
 
 mixture to cast figures in basso relievo ib. 
 
 To cast with marble colours in plaster 210 
 
 A sand in which one may cast things to the greatest nicety, 
 
 whether flat, or in basso relievo ib. 
 
 To make horn soft ib. 
 
 — cast horn into moulds 211 
 
 —^ wood in moulds, as line as ivory, of a fragrant 
 
 smell, and in several colours ib. 
 
 Mixtures for casting mirrors, and for casting other things ... 21.2. 
 
 For reflecting mirrors $ ih.- 
 
 Ant ther •••• 21.3 
 
 — i sort of steel mixture for mirrors 214 
 
 Peter Shot's metallic mixture for minors .. 215 
 
 5 An 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 P.ige 
 
 An uncommon way of preparing a mirror-mixture on brass 2 17 
 
 To cast iron 2 18 
 
 steel ib. 
 
 iron as white as silver , 219 
 
 Another method ■ ib- 
 
 How to take impressions with isinglass, from copper-plates 220 
 Of the colours fit to be mixed wita isinglass, for impressions 
 
 of plates ib. 
 
 To cast plaster of Paris on copperplates 221 
 
 A mixture which may be used for making impressions of 
 
 any kind, and which will grow as hard as stone ib. 
 
 To impress tigures in imitation of porcelain ., 
 
 got ■ 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 A collection of very Valuable Secrets for the use of Smiths. 
 Cutlers, Pewterers, Braziers, Book-binders, Joiners, 
 
 Turners, Japanners, &c 223 
 
 Choice experiments on iron and steel ib. 
 
 To harden sword-blades ib. 
 
 How to imitate the Damascan blades ib. 
 
 — i — the Damascan blades are hardened 2J-t 
 
 To perfume a sword-blade, so as to retain always an odori- 
 ferous Scent ib. 
 
 — harden steel and iron, which will resist and cut common 
 
 iron • ib. 
 
 — temper steel, so as to cut iron like lead 225 
 
 Several other temperings of steel and iron ib. 
 
 A particular secret to harden armour 226 
 
 To temper steel or iron, so as to make excellent knives ib. 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 To bring gravers and other tools to a softer temper ib. 
 
 .General rules to be observed in tempering of iron or steel .. 227 
 A curious method of hammering iron without fire, and mak- 
 ing it red hot ib. 
 
 To soften iron or steei that is brittle 288 
 
 A particular powder and oil, to take oif rusts and spots from 
 iron, and to preserve it from rust for a long time ; very 
 
 useful in armories 229 
 
 The powder ib. 
 
 • oil ib. 
 
 Another oil 230 
 
 To etch upon sword or knife-blades , ib. 
 
 — prepare the etch-water ib. 
 
 — make the ground ib. 
 
 Another water to etch with ib. 
 
 To etch one hundred or more knife blades at once 231 
 
 b 2 Tfl 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 To make blue letters on sword-blades 231 
 
 -— harden fishing hooks ...., ib. 
 
 — gild upon iron or steel 232 
 
 A ground for gilding steel or iron ib. 
 
 Of lead and pewter^ 233 
 
 To make pewter hard ib. 
 
 Another method to make pewter as white as silver 234 
 
 To make tin, or lead, ashes ib. 
 
 A gold colour upon lead or tin 235 
 
 — water to be used in tinning all sorts of metals, especially 
 
 iron ib. 
 
 To make tin which shall have the weight, hardness, sound, 
 
 and colour of silver ib» 
 
 flow easy 237 
 
 A particular method to make tin resemble silver ib. 
 
 Solder, to solder tin with ib. 
 
 Another solder, for pewter ib. 
 
 To make tin coat-buttons, in imitation of worked buttons of 
 
 gold and silk 238 
 
 The art of making tin plates, or latten ib. 
 
 To gild upon tin, pewter or lead ... 241 
 
 Another method to gild pewter, or lead ib. 
 
 —pewter 242 
 
 A method to gild with pewter, or with tin-foil ib. 
 
 To gild lead ib. 
 
 Some experiments relating to copper and brass 243 
 
 To make brass ib. 
 
 — melt copper and brass, and give it a quick fusion ib. 
 
 — make brass that is brittle, and apt to crack in the work- 
 
 ing, malleable ib. 
 
 A solder for brass 24<<- 
 
 To precipitate copper from aqua-fortis ib. 
 
 — make copper as white as silver ib. 
 
 Choice secrets for book-binders 240 
 
 To prepare a lack varnish for book- binders, for French 
 
 bindings ib. 
 
 French leather for binding of books ib. 
 
 To make white tables for memorandum books, to write upon 
 
 with a silver bodkin or wire 247 
 
 — prepare parchment that resembles jafper or marble 248 
 
 A green transparent parchment ib. 
 
 For a transparent red 249 
 
 blue ib. 
 
 . violet or purple colour 250 
 
 black colour ib. 
 
 To gild the edges of books ib. 
 
 — make red Brasil ink 251 
 
 — prepare Brasil ink without fire ib. 
 
 — ■ in sticks ib. 
 
 or extract lake-colours from flowers 252 
 
 — eild paper ■ ib. 
 
 . • To 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 Page 
 
 To make Indian ink 233 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 To prepare blue ink ib. 
 
 — make good writing ink 254 
 
 For a small quantity of writing-ink ib. 
 
 Ink for parchment 255 
 
 Another receipt for writing-ink ib. 
 
 To make ink powder 256 
 
 — prepare red ink ib. 
 
 Yellow ink 257 
 
 To make letters, or other characters, of a gold or silver 
 
 colour , ib. 
 
 of gold or silver embossed ib. 
 
 A rare Secret to prepare gold the ancient way, to paint or- 
 
 write with 25$ 
 
 To write golden letters with a pen ib. 
 
 Fine red ink of vermilion 25'J 
 
 An artificial water for writing letters of secrecy ib. 
 
 Another secret, to write a letter, white upon white, which 
 
 cannot be read but in fair water 260 
 
 The manner of marbling paper or books .., ib. 
 
 To silver paper, after the Chinese manner, without silver ... 262 
 
 — prepare ink, so that what is written therewith cannot be 
 
 read but in a dark place 263 
 
 — make line red paper ib. 
 
 — prepare ink, for drawing of lines to write upon evenlv, 
 
 which may be rubbed out again ".. 264 
 
 — write so that the letters may appear white, and the ground 
 
 of the parchment black , ib. 
 
 — make oil paper ib. 
 
 Choice secrets for cabinet-makers, and turners 265 
 
 To prepare a black colour for staining wood ib. 
 
 — imitate ebony wood ib. 
 
 Another, but more costly, method 266 
 
 Another method , ib. 
 
 An excellent secret to dye wood of any colour 261 
 
 To dye wood of a red colour ib. 
 
 Another red for dying wood , 26& 
 
 To etch figures upon wood it). 
 
 — marble upon wood , ib. 
 
 A gold, silver, or'copper-colour, on wood ggg 
 
 To colour wood of a walnut-tree colour ib. 
 
 — stain wood of a mie green ib. 
 
 A "red colour, for wood , 270 
 
 A. violet colour, for wood , ib. 
 
 To adorn wood with ornaments of silver or tin 271 
 
 — emboss, or trace all manner of ornaments on a gilded 
 
 smooth pannel, the gold being laid over with black, or 
 
 any other colour fly, 
 
 — do this upon a blue ground 272 
 
 Varieties 
 
inra contents. 
 
 Pag« 
 Varieties of glues and cements, for joining wood, stone, glas-s, 
 
 and metais •. 272 
 
 An excellent glue for wood, stone, glass, and metals ib. 
 
 A good stone glue, or cement for grotto-work 273 
 
 A wood glue, which stands water ib. 
 
 Another hne glue „• 274 
 
 — extraordinary glue ib. 
 
 A good water-cement ib. 
 
 Stone-glue, wherewith you may glue either stone or glass ... ib^ 
 
 An exceeding fine cement to mend broken china, or glasses 275 
 
 A cement for broken glasses , ib. 
 
 A lute or cement, for cracksin glasses used for chemical pre- 
 parations, which will stand the lire ib. 
 
 To join broken amber .... ,. 276 
 
 An excellent glue or cement to mix with stone, glass, mar- 
 ble, &c. in order to make utensils, images, and other 
 
 things therewith ib. 
 
 Another cement, which dries quickly ib. 
 
 Good glue-sticks } or spittle glue, tit for book-binders 277 
 
 A water cement, which grows the harder for being in water ib. 
 
 A cement as hard as iron ib. 
 
 Several curious secrets relating to ivory, bone, and horn .... ib. 
 
 To whiten ivory that is become red or yellow ib. 
 
 Another method to whiten green ivory 278 
 
 M o imitate marble upon ivory ib. 
 
 — stain ivory of a fine green ib. 
 
 — d}e ivory, or bone, of a fine coral red 27^ 
 
 — stain ivory, or bone, of a black colour ib. 
 
 — dye bones of a green colour ib. 
 
 or ivory, the colour of an emerald 280 
 
 red, blue, or any other colour ib. 
 
 — make horn soft ib. 
 
 Another ib. 
 
 To prepare horn leaves in imitation of tortoise-shell 281 
 
 Another method to counterfeit tortoise-shell on horn ib. 
 
 To solder horn together, after it has been lined with proper 
 
 foils or colours 282 
 
 ^— dye horn of a green colour ib. 
 
 -J red colour 2S3 
 
 — stain horn of a brown colour ib. 
 
 ■ — dye horn of a blue colour ib. 
 
 Of varnishing, or japanning on wood, &c ib. 
 
 A white varnish ib. 
 
 Another varnish iit to mix with red or dark colours, and to 
 
 japan the work 28J 
 
 Another lac varnish ib» 
 
 Another 285 
 
 A white or clear lac varnish ib. 
 
 A fine varnish for blue, and other colours, which will make 
 
 them bright, like looking-glass 2SS 
 
 A Chinese 
 
CONTENTS. XXUi 
 
 A Chinese varnish for all sorts of colours ....... 287 
 
 How to varnish chairs, tables, and other furniture, to imi- 
 tate tortoise-shell; so as not to be defaced by oil or 
 
 spirituous liquors >b. 
 
 Avery fine Indian varnish - 288 
 
 To japan with gold, glass, or any other metallic spangles ... 289 
 
 A very fine varnish for a violin ib. 
 
 — choice varnish which cannot be hurt by wet 290 
 
 — good varnish for paintings |b. 
 
 — fine marbling on wood, or japanning ib. 
 
 gold varnish, wherewith you may gild any silvered 
 
 or tinned articles, with such lustre as if done with gold 231 
 
 Of coral work 298 
 
 To make red coral branches, for the embellishment of grottos ib. 
 
 PART VII. 
 
 The art of preparing Colours for Painters ; with several me- 
 thods of Gilding, &c 294 
 
 Of blue colours ib. 
 
 To make, or prepare, ultramarine ib. 
 
 Another method, less troublesome 290' 
 
 To prepare a curious blue colour, little inferior to ultrama- 
 rine, from blue smalt ib. 
 
 from silver ib. 
 
 Another method 297 
 
 Anot her ib. 
 
 To prepare a blue colour from verdigrise ib. 
 
 Another method 298 
 
 To prepare blue Tornisel, or Turnsol, a beautiful colour .... ib. 
 
 A blue of egg-shells 299 
 
 To make Venetian sky-blue ib. 
 
 Prussian blue ib. 
 
 Of several red colours 300 
 
 Lake, or laque ib. 
 
 To extract lake from scarlet wool 301 
 
 — make fine vermilion 302 
 
 How to purify vermilion 303 
 
 To make a fine purple colour ib. 
 
 Colours extracted from Howers, &c 304 
 
 How to extract yellow, blue, violet, and other colours ib. 
 
 Kunkel's method of extracting the colours from flowers, &c. 305 
 
 Of yellow colours 306 
 
 '["rue Naples' yellow ib. 
 
 Masticot, or massicot ib. 
 
 Orange colour ib. 
 
 Ot 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Of green colours 306 
 
 How to make good verdigrise ib. 
 
 Another 307 
 
 — —easier method to make verdigrise ib. 
 
 To make line verdigrise for dyers 30S 
 
 Fine verdigrise for painters ib. 
 
 How to make sap-green 309 
 
 Another finer sap-green ib. 
 
 To prepare a fine green colour 310 
 
 A good and cheap green ib. 
 
 Of white colours 311 
 
 To make fine white lead ib, 
 
 Another method to make white lead ib. 
 
 of preparing white lead 312 
 
 Nottingham white ib. 
 
 To prepare another white colour ib. 
 
 A good white colour 313 
 
 A fine white colour for painting in miniature ib. 
 
 How to refine white lead ib. 
 
 1 prepare egg shells, for a white colour 314 
 
 White for water-colours, fit for paper-stainers, &c ib. 
 
 Of several black colours 315 
 
 To burn lamp-black, in order to make it finer, and of a bet- 
 ter colour ib. 
 
 How to make a finer lamp-black than is ordinarily sold in 
 
 colour shops ib. 
 
 To make a black of trotter-bones ib. 
 
 ivory-black ib. 
 
 Another method to burn ivory either black or white 316 
 
 A cherry-stone black ib. 
 
 To make Indian ink ib. 
 
 a fine ink-powder, to write or draw with ib. 
 
 Several methods of gilding 317 
 
 A particular way of gilding; in the open air, where leaf- 
 gold cannot be managed, on account of the wind ib. 
 
 How to prepare the size for gilding in burnished gold ib. 
 
 gild in burnish upon wood, picture-frames, or any 
 
 other sort of work ib. 
 
 ; — prepare the Nurimberg metallic powder, which 
 
 gives a beautiful lustre, when strewed upon writing, or 
 
 letters 318 
 
 ■ bronze images of plaster of Paris 319 
 
 To spot a white horse with black spot? ib. 
 
 How to dapple ahorse — M 3~0 
 
 
 PART 
 
CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 PART VI H. 
 
 Several Choice Curiosities f 32j| 
 
 A particular method to furnish a iish-poud with variety offish ib. 
 
 To illuminate an apartment with various beautiful colours ... 322 
 
 Arbor Diana;, or the philosophical tree ib. 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 much shorter 323 
 
 • less fallible ib. 
 
 To preserve tilings from corruption 324< 
 
 The preparation of the spirit or oil of salt, a preserver of 
 things from corruption, and a great restorer and pre- 
 server of health i ib. 
 
 A regeneration of coral 525 
 
 To make phosphorus 326 
 
 Another method to prepare phosphorus ib. 
 
 process for making phosphorus 327 
 
 ■ luminous matter 328 
 
 To prepare a room, or closet, in such a manner that any one, 
 entering with a lighted candle, will think himself sur- 
 rounded by fire ib. 
 
 luminous stone 329 
 
 The preparation of pyrophorus ib. 
 
 a species of pyrophorus 330 
 
 How to prepare thunder powder ib. 
 
 To prepare a stone, which being wetted, produces lire 331 
 
 — represent the four elements in a glass phial ib. 
 
 An elementary world in a phial 332 
 
 To ornament a room with a continually moving picture ib. 
 
 — make microscopes to great perfection 333 
 
 How to extract the quintessence of roses ib. 
 
 Ansther method to extract the quintessence of any vege 
 
 tables 335 
 
 How to extract oil from herbs, flowers or seeds ib. 
 
 A curious secret to distil herbs, so that the water will retain 
 
 both their colour and taste 336 
 
 To make vinegar of wine ib. 
 
 PART IX. 
 
 Several Secrets relating to Marble 337 
 
 Artificial marble ib. 
 
 Stained marble 338 
 
 A more expeditious process 339 
 
 How 
 
XXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Pag* 
 
 How to prepare two colours, of gold and silver, to stain 
 marble that is white, and paint upon it : which will pe- 
 netrate into the stone, so as to bear polishing 340 
 
 To imitate marble 341 
 
 -ft paint on wood in imitation of marble ib. 
 
 — imitate, and counterfeit, agate 342 
 
 — imitate jasper ib. 
 
 How to clean alabaster, or white marble 343 
 
 To stain alabaster-images of all sorts of colours ib. 
 
 — imitate marble, in sulphur ib. 
 
 ■ prophyry, on a glass 344 
 
 How tomake fret-work ceilings 345 
 
 Mosaic-work ib. 
 
 How to perform it skilfully ib. 
 
 PART X. 
 
 Plain instructions fof Painting in Water-colours ; and an in*- 
 
 troduction to the Art of Drawing in Perfpective 34i 
 
 Of the colours generally used in the art ib. 
 
 To paint or colour a clear sky 350 
 
 - 1 — lay a ground on the walls of chambers, halls, &c 351 
 
 Of carnation or flesh-colour ib. 
 
 Paper-black 352 
 
 How to paint or colour cattle 354 
 
 Of birds 355 
 
 — fruit 356 
 
 — flowers 357 
 
 ■ — metals 353 
 
 A short introduction to the art of drawing in perspective ... 359 
 
 To raise a perpendicular line 360 
 
 — divide a given line into any number of equal parts ib. 
 
 Of the visual rays 361 
 
 horizon 362 
 
 -— point of sight, the base, the point of distance and 
 
 the point accidental ib. 
 
 direct, or front 363 
 
 The oblique point of sight ib. 
 
 Of the diagonals and their sections ib. 
 
 Deep sinking in drawing of perspective 364 
 
 Of elevationin perspective, or scenography ib. 
 
 PART 
 
CONTENTS. XXVAA 
 
 PART XL 
 
 Page 
 
 Of Cosmetics, Odoriferous-waters, Oils, &c. ., .,..,, 368 
 
 How to beautify the skin ib* 
 
 Another ib. 
 
 A fine water for beautifying the face M . 369 
 
 An odoriferous water ib. 
 
 To prepare the cloth of the Levant, for ladies to colour 
 
 their faces with ib. 
 
 To prepare oil of Benjamin, or benzoin 370 
 
 Oil of roses 371 
 
 cloves ib. 
 
 Queen of Hungary's water ib. 
 
 To make balls for taking out spots of oil or grease 372 
 
 — prepare a leather strap ... i!>. 
 
 — make the hair grow 373 
 
 A liniment, for the same purpose ib. 
 
 — compound oil, for the same ib. 
 
 — remedy for corns , 374 
 
 An excellent tooth-powder . ib. 
 
 Another dentifrice ib. 
 
 Imperial water 375 
 
 Venetian water, to clear a sun-burnt complexion ib. 
 
 To preserve flowers ib. 
 
 A liniment to destroy vermin 37<> 
 
 — fine varnish for the skin ib. 
 
 — remedy for whitloes ib. 
 
 Fine perfumed powder, for the hair > 377. 
 
 Almond paste, for the skin ib. 
 
 Cold cream, for the complexion ib. 
 
 Lip salve 378 
 
 White pomatum ib. 
 
 A pomatum to remove wrinkles . jb. 
 
 — for the skin ib. 
 
 Method of scenting pomatum 37.0 
 
 Common scented powder ib. 
 
 For the eyes ib. 
 
 Balls to take out spots of oil or grease ib. 
 
 Cosmetic lotion, resembling the celebrated Gowland's lotion 
 
 in its effects, smell, and properties 380 
 
 PART XII. 
 
 Of dying Silk, Worsted, Cotton, &c. of various colours ... 380 
 
 How to dye silk, or worsted, of a fine carnation colour 3S1 
 
 Another 
 
KXV1U CONTENTS. 
 
 Another method to dye silk of a crimson red 382 
 
 General observations in dying crimson, scarlet, or purple... 383 
 How to dissolve pewter, for an article called " Djer's 
 
 aqua fortis" ib. 
 
 To dye a crimson with archil 3&4 
 
 violet colour ib. 
 
 — — — worsted, stuff, or yarn of a crimson colour ib. 
 
 Another method 385 
 
 for silk : ib. 
 
 ■ line carnation ib. 
 
 A carnation, for woollen 386 
 
 To dye a carnation, on silk, or cotton ib. 
 
 Another method 387 
 
 f- method ».. ib. 
 
 To dye yarn, or linen, of a lasting violet colour ib. 
 
 How to prepare, or set, a blue vat, for dying 388 
 
 Another direction how to set a blue vat ; together with se- 
 veral observations in the management, both for silk and 
 
 worsted 3S9 
 
 Another method, for woollen 390 
 
 To dye silk of a straw yellow , ib.- 
 
 Another method 391 
 
 Of dying silk, &c. of different green colours ib. 
 
 A fine green for dying silk ib. 
 
 How to dye linen of a green colour 392 
 
 To dye yarn of a yellow colour ib. 
 
 — dye green yarn, or linen, black 393 
 
 — dye silk an orange colour ib. 
 
 Another orangecolour ib. 
 
 A fine brimstone yellow for worsted 394 
 
 •. — lemon colour ib. 
 
 To dye an olive colour ib. 
 
 — dve a gold colour ib. 
 
 The t)utch manner of dying scarlet 395 
 
 General observations for dying cloth of a red or scarlet co- ib. 
 
 lour ib. 
 
 To prepare the cloth for dying of scarlet 396 
 
 ■ — dye cloth of a common red ib. 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 To dve a brown colour 3L'7 
 
 A nutmeg colour, on stuffs ib. 
 
 How to make flax soft and mellow 398 
 
 An excellent water for taking out spots in cloth, stuff, &c. ... i!>. 
 
 To dye woollen stuffs of a black colour ib. 
 
 — d'ye linen of a black colour 3'39 
 
 — dye woollen of a good black ib. 
 
 Another black colour for woollen ib. 
 
 : fur plush 400 
 
 To dye silk of a good black ib. 
 
 Another manner for dying silk " 401 
 
 To dve a grey colour , ,,.,... 402 
 
CONTENTS. XXIX 
 
 Page 
 
 To dye a brown-red colour either on silk or worsted 402 
 
 Another 403 
 
 Of madder, and its use in dying of silk, worsted, cotton, &c. ib. 
 
 Concerning the dying with madder 404 
 
 To dye silk of a madder colour 405 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 Of cochineal, and its usefulness in dying 406 
 
 Of Kermes, and its use in dying ib. 
 
 Of indigo 407 
 
 Turmeric ib. 
 
 Brasil-wood 408 
 
 Archil ib. 
 
 Orleans' yellow ib. 
 
 Gall-nuts, or galls 409 
 
 PART XIII. 
 
 Stenography; or, the Art of Short-hand Writing 409 
 
 The universal regulator of work and workmen 410 
 
 Short-hand writing ib. 
 
 PART XIV. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — Of Snuff-making 414 
 
 How to reduce tobacco into powder 417 
 
 > — purge snuff, and prepare it for admitting of odours ... ib. 
 
 perfume snuff with flowers 418 
 
 Another way to do the same ib. 
 
 method 419 
 
 Snuff of Mille-fleur ib. 
 
 after the method practised at Rome ib. 
 
 The snuff with the odour of civet , *. 420 
 
 Amber- snuff ib. 
 
 Snuff, Malthese fashion ib. 
 
 The true Malthese method of preparing snuff ib. 
 
 — Spanish method of preparing perfumed snuff ... 421 
 
 To give a red or yellow colour to snuff ib. 
 
 Secrets entertaining and useful 422 
 
 To whiten wax ib. 
 
 Another way of whitening wax, in large manufactories 423 
 
 How to multiply wax 424 
 
 To make mutton-suet candles, in imitation of wax candles 425 
 
 «— make soap , ib. 
 
 — prevent any thing from burning in the fire 4 Jo 
 
 3 To 
 
**X CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 I'o prevent burning one's fingers in melted lead 4-2G 
 
 Afire which Cannot be extinguished by water ib. 
 
 I'o prevent the oil of a lamp from smoking 427 
 
 Another receipt for the same purpose ib. 
 
 J'o make an incombustible wick ib. 
 
 A stone which is inflammable with water ib. 
 
 Secrets relative to wine .... 428 
 
 To make wine to have the taste and flavour of French muscat ib: 
 
 « the Vin-doux ib. 
 
 ■ Vin-bourru, of an excellent taste ib. 
 
 — - imitate Malvoisie ib- 
 
 — change red wine into white, and white into red 429 
 
 — prevent wine from fusting, otherwise tasting of the cask, 
 
 and to give it both a taste and flavour quite agreeable ... ib. 
 
 — make a vine produce sweet wine ib. 
 
 ■ a sweet wine of a very agreeable flavour, and be- 
 sides very wholesome ib. 
 
 To clarify, in two days, new wine when muddy 430 
 
 — make the wine keep mout, or unfermented, for twelve 
 
 months , ib. 
 
 ■ wine turn black ib. 
 
 — clarify wine which is turned '. ib 
 
 — correct a bad flavour in wine 431 
 
 — prevent wine from spoiling and turning ib. 
 
 thunder and lightning from hurting wine ib. 
 
 wine from corrupting ib. 
 
 — restore a wine turned sour or sharp ib. 
 
 — corrupted and glairy ib. 
 
 prevent wine from growing sour, and turning into vi- 
 negar , 432 
 
 make a new wine taste m an old wine ib. 
 
 restore a wine turned ib. 
 
 fusted, or tasting of the cask ib. 
 
 — prevent wine from pricking ib. 
 
 — make wine keep 433 
 
 — clarify wine easily ib. 
 
 — prevent wine from turning ib. 
 
 .— correct a musty taste in wine ib. 
 
 Another method ib. 
 
 To correct a sour, or bitter taste in wine 434 
 
 — restore spoiled wine ib. 
 
 — sweeten a tart wine ib. 
 
 Another way ib. 
 
 To prevent "tartness in wine ib. 
 
 - — heighten a wine inliquor, and give it an agreeable flavour 435 
 
 — give wine a most agreeable flavour ib. 
 
 How to find out whether or not there be water mixed in a 
 
 cask of wine ib. 
 
 To separate the water from wine ib. 
 
 — ungrease wine in less than twenty-four hours 436 
 
 To 
 
CONTENTS. XXXI 
 
 Page 
 
 To restore a wine 43b" 
 
 — correct a bad taste and sourness in wine ib. 
 
 Another way ib. 
 
 way 437 
 
 To cure those who are too much addicted to drink wine ... ib. 
 
 Another method, not less certain ib. 
 
 To prevent one from getting intoxicated with drinking ib. 
 
 Another way ib. 
 
 way 438 
 
 way ib. 
 
 method ib. 
 
 way ib. 
 
 A method of making people drunk, without endangering 
 
 their health ib. 
 
 Another way , 43V 
 
 To recover a person from intoxication ib. 
 
 — prevent the breath from smelling of wine ib. 
 
 „... preserve wine good to the last ... ib 
 

THE 
 
 LABORATORY 
 
 OR, 
 
 SCHOOL OF ARTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 
 
 AS the principal ingredient in Artificial Fire-works i$ 
 compounded of three substances, of the nature of 
 which the reader may not be acquainted, we shall set out 
 with giving a short account of gunpowder, and its compo- 
 nent parts — Nitre, Sulphur, and Charcoal. 
 
 Gunpowder is so well known by its effects, as to render 
 it unnecessary to give any particular description, further 
 than to state, that it is an intimate mixture of seventy-five 
 parts of purified nitre, nine and a half parts of sulphur, 
 and fifteen and a half parts of charcoal. Many Other pro- 
 portions have been employed, but the above are found to 
 succeed, for general uses, the best of any other ; because 
 its force and goodness greatly depends on the total decom- 
 position of the nitre, and the rapidity with which it is per- 
 formed. The accuracy and intimacy of the mixture must 
 of course be as great a requisite as the very ingredients 
 themselves ; and the combination is attended with no small 
 degree of danger. In large manufactories, a mill is em- 
 
 vol. i, b ployed, 
 
2 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 ployed, in which wooden mortars are disposed in rows, 
 and in each of which is a wooden pestle, moved by the 
 arbor of a wheel turned by water, or wind. The mate- 
 rials are pounded and mixed in these wooden mortars, for 
 twelve hours together, being occasionally moistened during 
 the trituration, to prevent any sudden explosion. Nothing 
 now remains, after the above operation, but to form the 
 powder into grains, which is found wonderfully to improve 
 its powers, and renders it less liable to soil the fingers, or 
 foul the barrels of fire-arms : — the grains are made larger 
 for cannon, and smaller for muskets. No process can be 
 well imagined more simple than the granulation of the 
 powder. It is placed to a certain thickness upon sieves, 
 the holes of which are of a certain diameter, and a fiat 
 piece of wood is horizontally pressed upon the surface of 
 the powder. The powder being damp when taken from 
 the mill, for. the reasons stated above, is readily formed 
 into molecules of the size of the holes, and its surface 
 rendered smoother, less liable to adhere to the surfaces of 
 other bodies,- and admitting a freer contact of atmosphe- 
 rical air between its particles. A still greater smoothness, 
 and even lustre, is given to it, by putting a portion into a 
 barrel, which turns upon an axis, by means of wheel- 
 work, and produces a certain degree of friction. After 
 this, the whole grains are separated from the finer powder, 
 by sifting it ; and the finer powder is again granulated, and 
 finished like the rest. — We now proceed to treat briefly of 
 the several ingredients : and first of 
 
 NITRE. 
 Nitre, or common saltpetre, is formed by the union of 
 the nitric acid with potash. This salt is of a fresh taste, 
 and its crystals are, uniformly, six-sided prisms, terminat- 
 ing in dihedral pyramids, or cut off with a slope, and 
 channelled, frequently, from one end to the other. There 
 is great abundance of this salt in nature, as it is continu- 
 ally 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 3 
 
 ally forming in places frequented by animals, and on walls 
 secured from rain, and in the rubbish and plaster of old 
 buildings. 
 
 Three circumstances seem to be necessary to the for- 
 mation of nitre. First, calcareous earth, which forms a 
 nidus for its reception in buildings, &c. : Secondly, animal 
 substances ; for it is a known fact, that places watered by 
 animal liquors, and in a state of putrefaction, such as dung- 
 hills, stables, jakes, &c. afford great quantities of nitre : 
 Thirdly, the contact of air, without which no nitre could 
 be formed. Upon the above principles are founded the 
 beds of artificial nitre-works. To this effect, a number of 
 proposals have been made, from time to time, by ingeni- 
 ous men, whereby vast quantities of nitre might certainly 
 be formed, to the great advantage of the state, and emo- 
 lument of the speculator. But this has been little attended 
 to in England, which is supplied from her settlements in 
 the East-Indies, with more than perhaps she can consume. 
 Spain alone could furnish all Europe with this commodity, 
 according to the information of Mr. Townsend ; but she 
 keeps it principally for her own use, and that of her colo- 
 nies. France also manufactures this article in great abun- 
 dance, of as excellent and pure a quality as any on the 
 globe. When nitre has been dissolved, and freed of its 
 impurities, and re-crystallized, it is fitted for the making 
 of gunpowder. 
 
 OF SULPHUR, OR BRIMSTONE. 
 
 Sulphur, or brimstone, is a combustible body; drv, 
 brittle, of a citron yellow colour, without smell, except when 
 burnt ; of a peculiar taste, which is weak though percep- 
 tible. It is electric when rubbed, and crackles and breaks 
 on being instantly exposed to heat. Sulphur is combined 
 with a number of substances, and pervades all nature ; 
 but we shall here only speak of it pure and uncombined. It 
 is usually obtained by the decomposition of a mineral sub- 
 
 B 2 stance 
 
4 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 stance termed pyrites. In Saxony and Bohemia, it is ma- 
 nufactured in a more elaborate manner than elsewhere ; it 
 is put in earthen tubes, in small pieces, and placed on an 
 oblong furnace. One end of the tube stands in the fur- 
 nace, and the other passes into a vessel of cast-iron, con- 
 taining water. In this receiver the sulphur accumulates, 
 though impure ; and it is afterwards purified by melting it 
 in an iron ladle, which causes the impurities to be preci- 
 pitated to the bottom. It is again kept in fusion in a cop- 
 per boiler, and it is then poured into wooden cylindrical 
 moulds, which give it the form in which we usually see it 
 in commerce. 
 
 CHARCOAL. 
 
 Charcoal is the black residue of vegetable matter, 
 whose volatile principles have been decomposed and set at 
 liberty by fire. Different vegetable matters afford coal in 
 greater or less abundance, according to the soliditv and form 
 of their texture. It has a strong attraction for all substances 
 which contain vital or pure air, (now termed oxygenc) 
 which is one reason for the phenomena we sec in the ex- 
 plosion of gunpowder. The charcoal of willow-wood is 
 preferred, by many, for the manufacture of gunpowder ; 
 though others maintain, that the coal of hard woods is 
 equally fitted for the purpose, provided it be thoroughly 
 burned, and preserved from the contact of the atmosphere 
 during the operation. 
 
 Having now mentioned, in a cursory way, the nature 
 of gunpowder, and its several parts, it remains only that 
 we detail a few other ingredients, and processes, employed 
 in the composition of fire-works, previous to describing 
 the fire-works themselves. 
 
 How to break or granulate Sulphur. 
 
 Take some spirits ; put a handful of sulphur therein, 
 and let it dissolve ; then take a broad stick, and stir it 
 
 about 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 5 
 
 about till it grows mealy, and like sand. If you would 
 again have it strong and hard, fling a little nitre kito it. 
 
 To combine Oil with Sulphur. 
 
 Fill a matrass with fine pulverised sulphur, about one- 
 third full ; on this pour as much nut or elder oil as will fill 
 the matrass half full: set it in warm ashes, and let it stand 
 for eight or nine hours, and the oil will change the sulphur 
 to a high red colour. 
 
 To make artificial Camphor, and its Oil. 
 
 Take of pulverised juniper-gum two pounds, and of 
 distilled vinegar enough to cover it ; close them together 
 in a glass phial ; set it for twenty days in warm horse dung ; 
 then take it out again, and pour it out into another glass, 
 with a wide mouth to it ; expose it to the sun for a month, 
 and you will have a concreted camphor, which is in some 
 measure like the natural camphor : this, for use in fire- 
 works, is pulverized by grinding it with sulphur in a mortar. 
 
 The oil of camphor is made by adding a little oil of 
 sweet almonds to the camphor, and working it in a brass 
 mortar with a pestle ; which will turn it into a green oil. 
 
 To ??iake Moulds for fiockets, 
 
 Rockets bearing the pre-eminence, and being the 
 principal things belonging to fire-works, it is requisite to 
 give some account of every part of them— how they are 
 made, finished and fired. In order to do this, I shall first 
 endeavour to give the curious some idea concerning the 
 moulds they are formed in ; these are turned commonly 
 of close and hard wood, as of white plumb-tree, box, 
 chesnut, cypress, juniper, Indian wood, &c. Some also 
 are made of ivory ; and for rockets of an extraordinary 
 large size, they are cast in brass or copper, and turned in 
 the inside in a nice manner : the foot, or basis, with its 
 
 cylinder, 
 
a THE LABORATORY. 
 
 cylinder, wart, or half-bullet, may in these, as in others, 
 remain of solid wood. The whole is commonly turned 
 of the size and form of a column in architecture ; and 
 embellished with ornaments, according to the taste of the 
 fire-worker. 
 
 The size of the cylinder is agreed, by the most famous 
 artificers, to be, for rockets from a half to six pounds, six 
 diameters ; but for the larger size, four, four and a half, 
 or five diameters of the height of the orifice. 
 
 Those rockets which go under the denomination of small 
 ones, are those whose inward diameter cannot receive a 
 ball that exceeds one pound. The middling sort are those 
 whose diameter can admit balls of one, two, or three 
 pounds ; and great ones are such, whose bore will receive 
 balls from three to a hundred pounds. 
 
 Rocket moulds, from some ounces to three pounds, are 
 ordinarily seven diameters of their bore long ; the foot, 
 two or three diameters thick ; the wart, two-thirds of the 
 diameters ; and the piercer, one-third of the bore ; the 
 roller, two-thirds, and always one or two diameters, from 
 the handle, longer than the mould ; the rammer, one 
 diameter shorter than the mould, and somewhat thinner 
 than the roller, to prevent the sacking of the paper when 
 the charge is rammed in ; having, always, one still shorter, 
 that, when the shell of the rocket is rammed half full, 
 you may use that with more ease. For the better illustra- 
 tion, see fig. 1. representing the mould with its basis, 
 cylinder, bore and piercer. A B the interior diameter of 
 the mould : — C D the height of the mould, seven diame- 
 ters : from D to E is the height of the breech at bottom, 
 which stops the mould when the rocket is driving ; and; 
 this is one and one-third diameter. Upon this bottom you 
 have a solid cylinder, whose height is one diameter of the 
 orifice A B ; this cylinder is crowned with a wart, or half 
 bullet I, having a hole in the centre, in which is fixed the 
 iron, or copper piercer F. — G. a pin that keeps the bottom 
 
 and 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. T 
 
 and cylinder together. 2. The roller. 3. The rammer. 4. 
 The shorter rammer. 
 
 It is to be observed, that some of these moulds are made 
 nine diameters of their orifice long ; the shell therefore, 
 with the wart, will be twelve diameters. These sort of 
 rockets fly very high, because of their length, containing 
 a greater charge than the short ; nevertheless, the piercer 
 needs to be no longer than seven diameters, but substan- 
 tial, so as to keep in its proper attitude : — it will require 
 the dimension of two-thirds of the diameter at bottom, 
 and from thence, tapering, to half the diameter. 
 
 To prepare Cases for Szcarmcrs, or Rockets. 
 
 The cases, or trunks, of rockets, are made of different 
 sorts of things, viz. paper, wood, tin, pasteboard, linen, 
 leather, &c. 
 
 In paper cases, which are for the most part made use 
 of, it must be observed, 1. That great care ought to be 
 taken in winding, or rolling them, upon the roller, tight 
 and close. 2. That the concave stroke be struck clean, 
 smooth, and without large wrinkles; and, 3. That each 
 sort of cases be of an equal length and size. 
 
 The rocket-shells being very tiresome for two persons to 
 make by hand, a machine has been invented for the ease- 
 ment. It is made of an oaken board, about two foot wide, 
 and three or four inches thick, planed smooth, and cut out 
 into channels, or groves, of different sizes, to serve for 
 greater, or lesser, rockets ; and is commonly called the 
 saddle. To these sort of saddles are also made pressers, 
 whereby the cases on the roller are pressed down with a 
 heavy hand ; the handle of the roller having a hole in the 
 middle, a small iron bar is put in, and as the man presses 
 with one hand, he turns the roller with the other ; and, 
 by this means, the paper is brought as tight as it ought to 
 be. See fig. 5 and 6.. 
 
 For four and six pound shells it is to be observed, that 
 
 each 
 
3 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 each sheet of paper (except the first and last, in the part 
 where the neck is formed) be a little moistened. 
 
 The necks of rockets may be formed several ways: — 
 for those of three quarters of a pound, a well twisted 
 pack-thread will do, which, having one end tied to a stick 
 and put between one's legs, and the other to a post, will 
 draw it close with ease. The large shells require more 
 strength ; one end of a strong cord being fastened to a 
 post, and the other to a leathern belt, with a hook, as 
 fig. 7 : — and this, by main force, draws the cord, twisted 
 about the neck of the case, — as you see in fig. 8. 
 
 Some make use of a bench, on one end of which is 
 fixed a post, to which a cord is fixed, and conveyed over 
 a pully, and through a hole in the bench, to a treddle, to 
 which it is fastened, whereby the necks are forced very 
 tight. See fig. 9. 
 
 The necks of extraordinary large sized rockets are 
 forced, with strong cords, over screws, and round-necked 
 irons, proportioned to the size of the shell. See fig. 10. 
 
 The wooden, tin, and paste-board rockets, are supplied 
 with necks, turned of wood, joined, and fastened through 
 the sides of the shell with wooden pegs. 
 
 Preliminary Observations in preparing the Charges fox 
 Rockets; and to order their Fires of various Colours 
 
 Before you begin to charge the shell of the rocket, be 
 very careful that the powder is well worked and cleaned ; 
 that the nitre is thoroughly refined, and made into an im- 
 palpable powder ; that the sulphur be well cleansed, and 
 brought to the highest perfection; that the coals be of 
 lime-tree, or other soft wood, well burnt, powdered, 
 dried, and sifted ; and all these ingredients be well mixed 
 together and searsed through a fine sieve. 
 
 When you are satisfied in these things, and have weigh- 
 ed the proportionable quantities of each, put the mixture 
 into the work board, fig. 11. and grind it with the grinder, 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 9 
 
 fig. 12. for an hour: then try your charge, by sifting a 
 little on a table, and if, when lighted, it burns away in an 
 even fire, and does not fly up, it is a sign that it is worked 
 enough ; but if at one place it burns quicker than another, 
 or stops its course, then you must grind it more. The 
 charge being thus prepared, you must put it up safe in a 
 place that is neither too hot, cold, nor damp, in a box, 
 or other dry vessel; and when you charge your rocket, 
 then sprinkle and mix the charge with a little brandy. 
 
 Having rammed a rocket, for trial, fire it in a secure 
 open place ; if it mounts even and high, and gives a re- 
 port as soon as it turns, it is a sign of being made to per- 
 fection ; but if the rocket burst as soon as it is lighted, 
 then the charge is too fierce ; or if it rises a little, and 
 falls back, then the charge is foul and weak :— the former 
 is rectified by adding more charcoal ; -and the latter, by 
 some meal-powder. For the rest, it must be observed, 
 that the larger the rockets arc, the weaker must be the 
 charge ; and on the contrary, the smaller they are, the 
 stronger must be their charge. 
 
 If you would represent a fiery rain falling from the 
 rocket, mix among your charge a composition of pow- 
 dered glass, filings of iron, and saw-dust ; this shower is 
 commonly called the peacock's tail, on account of the 
 various colours that appear in it. 
 
 You may also exhibit a variety of colours issuing forth 
 from a rocket, by mixing among the charge a certain 
 quantity of camphor, which produces a white, or pale 
 fire ; rosin, a red and copper colour ; blood-stone, which 
 has been nealed and beaten to a palpable powder, a blood 
 red ; sulphur, a blue ; sal ammoniac, a green ; antimony, 
 a reddish, or honey colour ; ivory shavings, a shining sil- 
 ver ; filed agate-stone, an orange ; and pitch, a dark and 
 deep coloured fire. This must be managed with discre- 
 tion ; and practice will be the best teacher in that parti- 
 cular, 
 
10 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 cular, for long lessons are more fit to perplex a young 
 beginner than put him forwards. 
 
 The charges are commonly divided into three sorts, or 
 degrees, viz. white, grey, and black. I have, the better 
 to guide beginners in this art, set down several sorts of 
 charges, according to the proportion of rockets, but with- 
 out distinguishing the three several colours ; wherefore 
 you have to observe, that to the grey charges are four 
 ingredients, viz. mealed gunpowder *, nitre, sulphur and 
 charcoal ; to the white charges three ingredients, viz. 
 nitre, sulphur, and charcoal ; and to the black charges 
 two ingredients, viz. mealed gunpowder and charcoal. 
 
 Charges for Land Sn'armers, or Small Rockets. 
 
 Mealed gunpowder one pound, and charcoal one 
 ounce. Or, 
 
 Mealed powder five ounces, and charcoal half an ounce. 
 
 Mealed powder fifteen ounces, and charcoal two ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder six ounces, nitre four ounces, sulphur 
 one ounce, charcoal one ounce and three quarters. This 
 last may be used for the fuzee of others. 
 
 Charges for Water Rockets. 
 
 Nitre, or saltpetre, two ounces, sulphur half an 
 ounce, and charcoal one ounce and a half. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound and a half, nitre four pounds, 
 sulphur two pounds, and charcoal five ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder four ounces, nitre one pound, sulphur 
 eight ounces, and charcoal one ounce. 
 
 Nitre two ounces, sulphur half an ounce, and charcoal 
 half an ounce. 
 
 " Wherever the term mealed powder, or poiuder onlv, is used, it 
 mt^nsjinely bruised gunpowder : corn powder is whole gunpowder. 
 
 A general 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. II 
 
 A general Charge for Rockets of two or three Ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder twelve ounces, nitre two ounces, 
 sulphur half an ounce, charcoal one ounce and a half. 
 
 Charges for Rockets of four, five, and six Ounces. 
 
 Powder, i.e. gunpowder, fifteen ounces, nitre twelve 
 ounces, sulphur one ounce and a half, and charcoal four 
 ounces. 
 
 Powder one pound and a half, nitre one pound and a 
 half, sulphur ten ounces and a half, and charcoal twelve 
 ounces. 
 
 Powder two pounds, nitre one pound, sulphur three 
 ounces, and charcoal fourteen ounces and a half. 
 
 Powder eight pounds, nitre twelve pounds, sulphur two 
 pounds, and charcoal four pounds. 
 
 Powder twelve ounces, nitre two ounces, sulphur two 
 ounces, and charcoal two ounces. 
 
 Nitre four pounds, sulphur fourteen ounces, and char- 
 coal one pound. 
 
 Powder three ounces, nitre half an ounce, sulphur half 
 an ounce, and charcoal half an ounce. 
 
 Powder one pound and a half, charcoal three ounces 
 and three quarters. 
 
 For eight, nine, and twelve Ounce Rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder eighteen pounds, nitre eight pounds,' 
 sulphur one pound, and charcoal four pounds. 
 
 Powder four pounds, nitre three pounds and a half, 
 sulphur fifteen ounces, charcoal one pound four ounces. 
 
 Powder three pounds, nitre two pounds, sulphur two 
 pounds, and charcoal one pound. 
 
 Powder three pounds, nitre two pounds, sulphur one 
 ounce, and charcoal one pound. 
 
 Powder nine pounds, charcoal one pound eight ounces. 
 
 Nitre 
 
12 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Nitre two pounds four ounces, sulphur eight ounces, 
 charcoal fourteen ounces, and antimony four ounces. 
 
 Nitre one pound two ounces, sulphur two ounces, and 
 charcoal four ounces. 
 
 Nitre ten ounces and a half, sulphur one ounce, char- 
 coal three ounces, and brass file-dust half an ounce. 
 
 Nitre two pounds four ounces, sulphur eight ounces, 
 and charcoal fourteen ounces. 
 
 For one, and one and a half Pound Pockets. 
 
 Mealed powder three pounds, nitre four ounces, suL 
 phur one ounce, and charcoal four ounces and a half. 
 
 Powder thirty-two pounds, sulphur two pounds, and 
 charcoal six pounds. 
 
 Powder two pounds, nitre two pounds and a half, sul- 
 phur twelve ounces, and charcoal one pound three ounces. 
 
 Powder six pounds and a half, charcoal one pound. 
 
 Powder three pounds, nitre fifteen ounces, sulphur four 
 ounces, and charcoal seven ounces and a half. 
 
 Powder four pounds, nitre one pound eight ounces, sul- 
 phur ten ounces, and charcoal one pound twelve ounces. 
 
 Powder two pounds, nitre one pound four ounces, sul- 
 phur one ounce, and charcoal eight ounces and a half. 
 
 For two and three Pound Rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder three pounds eight ounces, nitre three 
 pounds ten ounces, sulphur one pound four ounces, and 
 charcoal one pound three ounces. 
 
 Nitre four pounds eight ounces, sulphur one pound 
 eight ounces, and charcoal one pound four ounces. 
 
 Nitre sixty pounds,, sulphur two pounds, and charcoal 
 fifteen pounds. 
 
 Powder two pounds thirteen ounces, nitre fifteen ounces, 
 sulphur four ounces, and charcoal seven ounces and a 
 half. 
 
 Powder 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 13 
 
 Powder twelve ounces, nitre one pound eight ounces, 
 sulphur six ounces, and charcoal six ounces. 
 
 Powder four pounds, nitre nine ounces, sulphur three 
 ounces and a half, and charcoal ten ounces and a half. 
 
 Powder one pound, nitre eight ounces, sulphur two 
 ounces, and charcoal three ounces. 
 
 Powfler eleven pounds, and charcoal two pounds ten 
 ounces. 
 
 Nitre six pounds four ounces, sulphur one pound, and 
 charcoal two pounds and a half. 
 
 For four or Jive Pound Rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder six pounds, nitre four pounds, sul- 
 phur one pound and a half, and charcoal two pounds six 
 ounces. Or, 
 
 Nitre sixty-four pounds, sulphur eight pounds, and 
 charcoal eight pounds. 
 
 For six, eight, or nine Pounders. 
 
 Mealed powder twelve pounds three quarters, nitre 
 six pounds, sulphur two pounds and a half, and charcoal 
 five pounds and a half. Or, 
 
 Nitre thirty-five pounds, sulphur five pounds, charcoal 
 ten pounds. 
 
 Mealed powder twenty-two pounds and a half, and 
 charcoal five pounds twelve ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre half a pound, sulphur 
 two ounces, and charcoal three ounces. 
 
 Nitre nine pounds, sulphur one pound nine ounces, and 
 charcoal three pounds and a half. 
 
 For ten and twelve Pounders. 
 Nitre sixty-two pounds, sulphur nine pounds, char- 
 coal twenty pounds. 
 
 Powder eleven pounds, nitre seven pounds, sulphur 
 three pounds, and charcoal six pounds. 
 
 For 
 
14 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 For fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen Pounders. 
 
 Powder ten pounds and a half, sulphur nine pound's 
 three quarters, and charcoal seven pounds* 
 
 Nitre twenty-three pounds, sulphur eight pounds, and 
 charcoal sixteen pounds. 
 
 For eighteen or twenty Pounders. 
 
 Powder twenty-two pounds, nitre sixteen pounds, sul- 
 phur seven pounds, charcoal thirteen pounds and a half. 
 
 Nitre twenty-four pounds, sulphur twelve pounds, and 
 charcoal twenty-six pounds. 
 
 For thirty, forty, and ffty Pounders. 
 
 Powder eight pounds, nitre sixteen pounds, sulphur 
 two pounds, and charcoal four pounds. 
 
 Nitre thirty pounds, sulphur seven pounds, and char- 
 coal eighteen pounds. 
 
 For sixty, eighty, and a hundred Pounders. 
 
 Nitre thirty-six pounds, sulphur ten pounds, and char- 
 coal eighteen pounds. 
 
 Nitre fifty pounds, sulphur twenty pounds, and char- 
 coal thirty pounds. 
 
 To bore the Rockets, or ram them over the Piercer. 
 Since the boring of rockets is one of the principal 
 things belonging to them, (for their operating well) the 
 bores are to be made in proportion to the size of the 
 rockets ; some of them are bored tapering to a point ; 
 others are hollowed square, running also to a point ; and 
 others are rammed over a round piercer, which is fixed 
 in the wart of the rocket-mould. See fig. 1. I, which 
 stands perpendicular, running tapering to a point. The 
 stronger the charge of the rockets, the narrower should 
 be the bore ; and the weaker the charge, the deeper and 
 
 wider : 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 15 
 
 ^der : — for if a strong charge is bored too deep, it will 
 break in ascending ; and if it is bored too little, and the 
 charge too slow, it will fall to the ground without any 
 effect : — they are commonly, in middling charges, bored 
 two-thirds of the tube from the neck. 
 
 The boring must be performed strait and even ; and 
 although some will give themselves the trouble to bore 
 them by hand, it is better, when a quantity is to be bored, 
 to send them to a turner. 
 
 The rockets should be bored but a few days before they 
 are to be used ; and kept in dry places ; which you must 
 also observe in other materials for fire-works. 
 
 For garnishing of Rockets. 
 
 This is done several ways, for they may be both within 
 and without furnished with crackers. On the outside it is 
 done in the following manner, viz. That end of the rocket 
 which is solid is divided into three equal parts, and then 
 bored in the middle of each, quite to the charge j at the 
 bottom of these holes paste a ring of thin paper, upon 
 which fling some mealed powder ; then fix in the crackers, 
 stuffing the sides with some tow or flax ; and over that, 
 paste a covering of paper, to close the opening between 
 the rocket and crackers. 
 
 The inside is finished thus: put a small round board (in 
 which you have bored several holes) upon the charge ; 
 then strew mealed powder in them, and fix your crackers ; 
 cover it with a cap, and paste it to the outside of the 
 rocket. 
 
 You may also furnish rockets, both within and without, 
 with sparks, stars, and fire-rain, when those materials are 
 joined either within or without. You may also fix to the 
 large rockets, swarmers, by boring a touch-hole in both, 
 filling them with mealed powder, and, after the touch- 
 holes are fixed exactly on one another, glue them toge- 
 ther with a bandage of paper ; thus you may mark a 
 
 winding 
 
1G THE LABORATORY. 
 
 winding figure with a thread on a rocket, and place your 
 swarmers accordingly. See fig. 13. You may also, in- 
 stead of swarmers, place a globe on the top of the rocket, 
 charged with the composition of rockets, and filled with 
 crackers ; this globe must have a touch-hole, and be light- 
 ed before the rocket is let off, and it will have a good 
 effect. Several other things may be done that way, as 
 the genius of every virtuoso will direct him. See fig. 14, 
 15. 
 
 How to proportion the Rocket-Poles and Sticks. 
 
 It is common to tie but one rocket to a stick ; but six 
 or seven may be placed round the thick end, which must 
 be worked with grooves, as you see fig. 17. But as no 
 rocket would ascend high, if it were not for the true 
 balance observed in the pole or stick, you must further 
 observe, that these sticks are made of light, dry, and 
 strait wood, and must (to one and two pound rockets) be 
 seven times as long as the rocket ; which proportion, of 
 the small ones of seven diameters, must also be observed 
 in the larger sort. That end where the rocket is tied to, 
 must be two-fifths ; and below, one sixth of the diameter. 
 It is best to give the turner an unborcd rocket, and one 
 that is bored, thereby not only to measure the length, but 
 also balance the weight. After the rocket is tied to the 
 stick, take it four inches from the neck of that rocket 
 which is not yet bored ; and from the neck of the bored 
 one, about two or three fingers, so as to stand on the back 
 of a knife, or one's finger, in an equilibrium. In large 
 rockets, the poles must be eight or nine rockets long ; 
 and to find their balance, you take their libration twelve 
 inches from the neck. 
 
 Rockets without Sticks. 
 There are rockets made without sticks. Fix to the 
 small ones (from four, to eight, nine, or ten ounces after 
 
 they 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. IT 
 
 they are bored and rammed) four wings, in the nature of 
 arrow-feathers, made either of light wood or paste-board, 
 and glued crossways to the rocket : their length must be 
 two-thirds ; and the breadth, below, one-sixth of the length 
 of the rocket ; the thickness may be one-eighth of the 
 diameter of the mouth. See fig. 18, and 19. These sort 
 of rockets are fired on a board or stand, placed between 
 four small sticks ; as you see in fig. 20. 
 
 Others fasten one end of a wire, which is about a foot 
 long, twisted like a screw, to the mouth of the rocket, 
 and hang an iron ball to the other end, of an equal weight 
 with the rocket. See fig. 21. 
 
 Of Girandel Chests ; how, and with what, the Rockets are 
 fired therein. 
 
 The girandel chest, see fig. 16, is made of wood, of 
 what size you think proper, according to the number of 
 rockets you design to fire at once. 
 
 The method of firing the rockets is performed several 
 ways ; some fill the necks of them with mealed powder ; 
 others, with quick match ; wherewith, or with gun match, 
 they fire them : the best way to light the girandel, or other 
 fire-works, is with a match, prepared on purpose in the 
 following manner : 
 
 Cut some slips of paper, of the length of half a sheet, 
 and about one or two inches wide ; roll, and glue, each 
 of them together over a little round and smooth stick, of 
 a quarter of an inch thick ; this done, take it off, when 
 dry, and fill it with the composition hereafter-mentioned ; 
 ramming it in, by little and little, with a less stick than 
 that upon which you rolled the shell. These sort of 
 matches are put upon pinchers, as you see in fig. 22 ; and 
 when they are lighted, they cannot be extinguished either 
 by rain or wind. 
 
 vol. I. c Their 
 
18 THE LABORATORY.". 
 
 Their Composition. 
 
 Mealed powder three ounces and a half, nitre severt 
 ounces, and sulphur three ounces three quarters, moisten- 
 ed with linseed oil. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre one pound, and sul- 
 phur thirteen ounces, moistened with linseed oil. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre one pound four ounces, 
 sulphur four ounces, charcoal two ounces, resin two ounces 
 and a half, moistened with turpentine and linseed oil, and 
 worked well together. 
 
 Mealed powder twelve ounces, nitre two ounces, sul- 
 phur three ounces and a half, charcoal an ounce and a 
 quarter, turpentine one ounce, and tallow three ounces 
 and a quarter ; first melt the turpentine and tallow toge- 
 ther, then stir the other ingredients among it, and pour it 
 in the paper shells ; when dry, they are fit for use. 
 
 Of Rockets that run upon Lines, or Ropes, from one place 
 to another. 
 
 These are made several different ways ; and to give 
 them the more shew, some garnish them wiih figures of 
 various devices. 
 
 The first sort is contrived by fixing two iron rings, or a 
 wooden tube, to a rocket, filled with a certain quantity of 
 a suitable composition, and bored as usual ; through these 
 rings, or tubes, is put a line, on which the rocket is to 
 run; this is of the most simple kind, for being arrived at 
 the place where the duration of its combustible matter 
 will allow it to reach, it there stops. This sort is repre- 
 sented in fig. 23. 
 
 For the second sort, fill any rocket, whose orifice is 
 equal to that of the former, but much longer, to the 
 height of four diameters ; bore it to the depth of three 
 
 and 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 19 
 
 and a half. Upon this composition put a cap, or little 
 wooden partition, without any hole through it; glue this 
 to the inside of the rocket, or secure it any other way, to 
 prevent the fire, when arrived at that place, from catching 
 hold of the composition contained in the other part of the 
 case. This done, charge the remainder of the rocket to 
 the same height as before, viz. to four diameters (three 
 and a half must be bored) ; after this choak the rocket at 
 top, and make a little receptacle for the priming, as at 
 the other end ; or else, fit a round piece of wood to it, 
 with a hole through the middle, as you see in A, fig. 24. 
 which you cover with a little cap ; to this add, on one 
 side, a tube made of very thin iron plate, which fill with 
 mealed powder ; then bore a hole through the side of the 
 rocket, near the other side of the partition that is in the 
 middle, and fill it with mealed powder ; this is done to 
 convey the fire through the tube to the receptable A, 
 where it lights the other rocket, and consequently obliges 
 it to return back to the place whence it came ; the upper 
 part which holds the priming must be covered with paper, 
 as well as the small tube that conveys the fire from that 
 to the other end. This rocket must also have - two iron 
 rings, or a wooden tube, to run along the line. You may 
 make the diversion the greater, by tying small paper 
 crackers all round. The contrivance of this rocket is very 
 pretty. You have the representation plain in fig. 24, 25. 
 
 The decorations and devices that are usually fixed to 
 these running rockets, may be either flying dragons, 
 pigeons, Mercuries, Cupids, or any other fancy, as the 
 occasion of a feast or rejoicing requires. - 
 
 Charges for the Line Rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder three ounces, nitre one ounce and a 
 half, and charcoal three ounces, will be a right proportion 
 for three, four, or six ounce rockets. 
 
 c 2 Mealed 
 
20 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Mealed powder eight ounces, nitre two ounces, sulphur 
 half an ounce, and charcoal one ounce. 
 
 Mealed powder nine ounces, nitre one ounce, sulphur 
 three quarters of an ounce, and charcoal four ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder fourteen ounces, nitre seven ounces, 
 sulphur two ounces, and charcoal four ounces. 
 
 These charges may be used for sixteen and twenty-four 
 pounders. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre half a pound, sulphur 
 three ounces, and charcoal five ounces. This charge is 
 proper for three quarters and one pound line rockets. 
 
 It will be adviseable to make some trials of the charges, 
 that you may be sure of not failing in the performance : 
 see fig. 23, 24, 25, where a is the rocket; b the tube, or, 
 instead thereof, some rings that slide upon the cord ; c 
 the partition ; d the pipe, for the communication of the 
 fire from one rocket to another. 
 
 How to join two Bockeis to one another ; the one to burn in 
 the Water, and the other suddenly to fly up into the Air. 
 
 Take two rocket shells of equal dimensions ; fill one 
 w 7 ith a good charge, quite full ; the other charge, bore and 
 tie to a stick, as usual ; the former you glue, upside down, 
 to the middle of the latter ; and, towards the end, tie it 
 round with a cord, which is somewhat longer than the 
 rocket stick ; to the end thereof fasten a ring, and, in that, 
 a leaden ball, which is to keep both rockets in a due posi- 
 tion on the surface of the water ; through this ring put 
 the end of the stick, which is provided with a cross that is 
 somewhat wider than the diameter of the ring, and keeps 
 the cord, ring and ball under water : the communication 
 of the fire must be made below the rockets, by a small 
 pipe, filled with mealed powder very secure, so as to keep 
 it from the water ; for, as soon as the water rocket is burnt 
 io the end, the fire will make its way through the pipe, 
 
 and 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 21 
 
 and the land rocket will disengage itself by its force from 
 the case of the other, and leave the cord, ring and ball, 
 behind in the water: see fig. 26. 
 
 How to make Water-rockets, Water-brands, Water-cats, 
 Water-ducks, Nc. that turn themselves in the Water. 
 
 The cases for the water-brands, and also their sticks, 
 must be made something longer than ordinary, and be 
 filled with a composition of coarse coal-dust, small rubbed 
 tanner's-bark, or saw-dust, but in the same method as sky- 
 rockets. The whole case is to be nine or ten diameters 
 long, and must be divided into five equal parts, and be 
 charged two-fifths full of composition : upon this, charge 
 a report of a quarter high, and upon that, fine iron flakes, 
 in order to sink it ; then cover it with paper, and draw it 
 together with a cord ; — the charge is lifted up a little in 
 the neck, and supplied with brandy-dough, or mealed 
 powder moistened with brandy, and glued over with 
 paper ; and having fixed a wooden swimmer below the 
 neck, it is dipped in wax and pitch, and is ready for use. 
 
 Water-crackers, which turn in the water, are thus pre- 
 pared : 
 
 This case is made nine or ten diameters long 3 the neck 
 is drawn quite close, and charged with mealed powder 
 almost half full : upon this, a partition is made with a 
 hole in it ; then put corned powder for a report ; upon 
 that is placed another partition ; the rest is filled with 
 mealed powder, and the end tied close, and the paper 
 cut short at both ends ; when these crackers are to be 
 fired, make a touch-hole at the end of both, reversed, 
 and having filled them up with mealed-powder, and co- 
 vered them well with brandy-dough, you may fire and 
 fling them into the water, having before dipt them in 
 melted wax, or pitch. 
 
 It is to be observed, that, to the water cat-cases, we 
 
 may 
 
22 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 may proceed thus (from one ounce to half pound crackers) ; 
 but, if larger, they are too heavy, and will not so soon 
 turn up again in the water, till some parts of them are 
 consumed ; wherefore, to remedy this, put in the case, 
 first, three measures of charge ; upon this, put a little 
 corn powder; then again, two measures of charge, and 
 a little corn powder, and proceed thus as far- as the report ; 
 upon the charge is placed a partition of wood, with a hole 
 in it ; on that, a report of good corn-powder ; then tie it 
 close : further, open it a little, putting some mealed pow- 
 der to it mixed with brandy ; and when you would use it, 
 anoint it all over with grease or linseed oil. The water- 
 crackers, or divers, are commonly rammed in one, one 
 and a half, and two ounce, cases, stratified in the manner 
 just mentioned, taking two measures for each lay of water 
 cat-charge, and a little corn powder between each. 
 
 There are other sorts of rockets, that may be repre- 
 sented swimming on the water : these are made in the 
 same manner as the one, or one ounce and a half rockets, 
 bored one-third in the charge, then put into a paper cylin- 
 der with two small wooden heads, or bases, having a hole 
 bored to the centre of each : the height of this cylinder 
 must be equal to half of the rocket, and the hole through 
 the centre of each head fitted exactly to the rocket ; when 
 you have fixed every thing to a nicety, put it into melted 
 wax, or pitch ; and when cold, you may fire and fling it 
 into the water. See fig. 27, 28, 29. 
 
 You may also put these sorts of rockets into a paper 
 cone, and fasten it to the neck of the rocket ; or else in a 
 bladder full of wind, which, instead of dipping in melted 
 wax, do over with a mixture of four parts of linseed oil, 
 two parts of bole armenic, one part of white lead, and 
 half a part of ashes. See fig. 30, 31. 
 
 You may mix along with the reports of the rockets, cer- 
 tain sparks and stars, intermixed with meal and corn 
 powder ; to this is fixed an iron or wooden tube ; from 
 
 each 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 23 
 
 each end of this goes another smaller tube, all having 
 communication with one another. These are filled with 
 mealed powder, covered over with paper, dipped in wax 
 or pitch, and a counterpoise being fixed below, it is fired. 
 As soon as the composition is burnt down to the cap, it is 
 conveyed through small tubes to the lower part, where 
 beating out the partition, it disperses the powder, stars, 
 &c. into the air. See fig. 32, 
 
 Charges for Water-rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder six ounces, resin one ounce, charcoal 
 three quarters of an ounce, nitre one ounce, corn powder 
 one ounce. 
 
 Nitre one pound, sulphur eight ounces, mealed powder 
 eight ounces, and charcoal four ounces and a half. 
 
 Nitre four ounces, sulphur three ounces, and charcoal 
 three quarters of an ounce. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound and a half, nitre half a 
 pound, sulphur four ounces and a half, charcoal six ounces, 
 coarse coal two ounces and a half, and lead, for sinking, 
 one ounce. 
 
 Mealed powder two pounds, nitre one pound, sulphur 
 ten ounces, charcoal eight ounces, coarse coal three ounces, 
 sinking lead one ounce and three quarters (for three quar- 
 ter ounce rockets.) 
 
 Mealed powder two pounds, nitre two pounds, sulphur 
 one pound, charcoal four ounces, coarse coal three 
 ounces, tanner's-dust two ounces and a half, saw-dust two 
 ounces, glass powder one ounce, sinking lead one ounce 
 and three quarters, for one pound rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder half a pound, nitre three quarters of a 
 pound, charcoal five ounces, saw-dust half an ounce, and 
 a quarter of an ounce of fine chopped cotton, boiled in 
 nitre lye. 
 
 Charges 
 
24- THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Charges for Water-crackers. 
 
 Mealed powder two pounds and a half, nitre one 
 pound and a half, sulphur ten ounces, charcoal eleven 
 ounces, coarse coals nine ounces ; the sinking is, to two 
 ounce crackers, a quarter of an ounce of lead. 
 
 Mealed powder two pounds and a half, nitre two pounds 
 and a half, sulphur one pound five ounces, saw-dust twelve 
 ounces, charcoal three quarters of a pound, coarse coals 
 half a pound ; the sinking, a quarter of an ounce. 
 
 Mealed powder four ounces, nitre five pounds, sulphur 
 two pounds and three quarters, tanner's-dust one pound 
 and a half, charcoal one pound, coarse coals two pounds 
 and three quarters, glass-dust four ounces, lead three 
 quarters of an ounce to sink it. 
 
 Charges for Tumbling Water-crackers. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre one ounce, and 
 charcoal one ounce and a half.- 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre eight ounces, sulphur 
 three quarters of an ounce, and charcoal one ounce and 
 three quarters. 
 
 Mealed powder three quarters of a pound, charcoal four 
 ounces ; for one and a half, or two pound rockets. 
 
 Charges for Water -cats. 
 
 Mealed powder two parts, nitre four parts, sulphur 
 one part, coarse coals two parts, saw-dust two parts, and 
 antimony three parts, moistened with linseed oil. 
 
 Mealed powder two ounces and a half, nitre three ounces 
 and a half, sulphur two ounces and a half, and antimony 
 half an ounce. 
 
 Mealed 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 25 
 
 Mealed flour one pound, nitre two pounds, sulphur 
 one pound, and charcoal one pound. 
 
 Nitre fifteen ounces, sulphur five ounces, saw-dust eight 
 ounces, and antimony two ounces. 
 
 Some general Remarks upon Rockets. 
 
 1. Your rockets must have their proportionable height, 
 according to the diameters of their orifices. 
 
 2. Their necks must be drawn, or choaked, firm ; and, 
 to prevent the cord giving way, they must be glued over. 
 
 3. Prepare your composition just before you want it. 
 
 4. Let it be neither too damp nor too dry, but sprinkle 
 it over with a little oily substance, or a little brandy. 
 
 5. When you drive your rockets, put always equal quan- 
 tities of composition in your cases at a time. 
 
 6. Carry with your mallet an even and perpendicular 
 stroke, when you charge your rockets. 
 
 7. The cavity must be bored upright and perpendicular, 
 exactly in the middle of the composition. 
 
 8. Bore your rockets just before you use them ; then 
 handle them carefully, lest their form should be spoiled. 
 
 9. Let the sticks and rods be well proportioned, strait 
 and smooth. 
 
 10. Put your rockets, when completed, in a place that 
 is neither very damp nor dry. 
 
 1 1 . Let most of your rockets have at top a conic figure, 
 by that means they will the easier shoot through the air. 
 
 12. Avoid, if possible, a damp, foggy, rainy or windy 
 night, to play your rockets. 
 
 Defective Rockets are chiefly discovered by the following 
 Observations. 
 
 I. When they are fired, and in mounting two or three 
 perches, they break and disperse, without performing 
 their proper effects. 
 
 / 2. When 
 
26 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 2. When they remain suspended on the nail, and waste 
 away slowly, without rising at all. 
 
 3. When they form an arch in their ascent, or a semi~ 
 circle, and return to the ground before their composition 
 is burnt out. 
 
 4. When they mount in a winding posture, without an 
 uniform motion. 
 
 5. When they move on slowly and heavy. 
 
 6. When the cases remain on the nails, and the com- 
 position rises and disperses in the air. 
 
 More of these vexatious accidents will sometimes fru- 
 strate the hopes of a young practitioner ; but as the above 
 are the principal ones, he must endeavour to avoid them 
 in his first beginning. 
 
 Of Rocket-flyers, and the Manner of charging them. 
 
 These are of two sorts, namely, the single and dou- 
 ble ; the latter are made after the following manner : 
 
 Have a nave, or button, turned, the dimension of three 
 inches, together with two knots upon it, perpendicular, 
 one against the other, of an inch and a half long, and so 
 thick that both rocket-cases may fit over them ; (there 
 must be a hole, of the third of an inch in the centre of 
 the nave, for the iron pin to go through, on which it is to 
 fly;) after this, take two rocket cases, of equal dimen- 
 sions, which are choaked quite close at the neck, and 
 glued : ram in the charge, so far as to leave only room 
 to fix them on the two knobs upon the nave : this done, 
 bore into both rockets, near the closed-up necks, small 
 touch-holes, (and one more near the pin) in that which 
 is to burn first ; from this hole, carry a little pipe to the 
 hole near the neck of the other rocket, having first filled 
 it with mealed powder, that when the rocket is almost 
 burnt out, the second may be lighted by the first. The 
 three touch-holes are to stand in one row ; and you may 
 
 on 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 27 
 
 .on the other side fix a couple of reports, which will cause 
 a swifter motion. 
 
 The single flyers are made with more ease ; the neck 
 in these must not be tied close, as in the former, but they 
 must be fired in that place ; but these do not turn so well 
 as those that are made double. 
 
 Of Fire-wheels. 
 
 Of these there are three sorts, viz. single, double, and 
 triple ; some of their fells are of a circular form, others an 
 hexagonal, octagonal, or decagonal form ; some like a 
 star, without fells ; some, and the most of them, are 
 made to run perpendicular to the earth ; others horizontal ; 
 all may be ordered so as to serve either on land or water. 
 
 Horizontal wheels are often fired two at a time, and 
 made to keep time like vertical wheels ; only they are 
 made without any slow or dead fire : ten or twelve inches 
 will be enough for the diameter of wheels with six spokes. 
 Fig. 34, represents such a wheel on fire, with the first case 
 burning. 
 
 The fire-wheels that are used on land, turn upon an 
 iron pin or bolt, drawn or screwed into a post. The nave 
 is turned of close and firm wood, in which the joiners 
 glue the spokes, according to the number of the fells, 
 which must be carefully joined together ; then have a 
 groove hollowed round, so deep that the rocket or case 
 may be about half lodged therein. See fig. 35. 
 
 The double wheels must have their fells turned stronger 
 and wider, with a groove for the rockets, not only at top, 
 but also on one side thereof; plying the necks of the 
 rockets at top, to the right, and those of the sides to the 
 left hand. See fig. 36. 
 
 Your rockets being ready, and cut behind a little shelv- 
 ing, bore them ; the first, three diameters of its orifice ; 
 the second, two and three quarters ; the third, two and a 
 
 quarter ; 
 
28 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 quarter ; the fourth, two diameters ; the fifth, one and 
 three quarters ; the sixth, one and a half; the seventh, 
 one and a quarter ; the eighth, one diameter ; always the 
 latter something shorter than the preceding : — after this, 
 they are primed with mealed powder worked up with 
 •*-■* brandy, and when dry, glued in the above described 
 
 grooves ; you must bear the first-fired rocket's neck above 
 the rest, underlaying it with a tin plate, or any thing else ; 
 the same you must observe in the head of the last fired 
 one, wherein you put the charge of a report , you may 
 also glue on every end of the rockets, a report of paper, 
 with small pipes of copper, or goose-quills, which are 
 fixed one end in the side of the rocket, and the other in 
 the report. When all is dry, then you may cover your 
 wheel on one or both sides, with linen or paper, in what 
 form you would have it. 
 
 Of Tourbillons. 
 
 Having filled some cases within about one and a haff 
 diameter, drive in some clay ; then pinch their ends close, 
 and drive them down with a mallet ; when done, find the 
 centre of gravity of each case, where nail and tic a stick, 
 which should be half an inch broad at the middle, and a 
 little narrower at the ends : these sticks must have their 
 ends turned upwards, so that the cases may turn horizon- 
 tally on their centres : at the opposite side of the cases, 
 at each end, bore a hole close to the clay with a gimlet ; 
 from these holes draw a fine round the case, and at the 
 under part of the case bore a hole, with the same gimlet, 
 within half a diameter of each line towards the centre ; 
 then from one hole to the other draw a right line : divide 
 this line into three equal parts, and at X and Y, fig. 38. 
 pi. 2. bore a hole, and from this hole to the other two, 
 lead a quick match, over which paste a thin paper. 
 
 Afire 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 29 
 
 A fire wheel which is to whirl horizontally in the water 
 must be thus ordered : 
 
 Take a pretty large wooden dish, or bowl, that has a 
 broad flat rim ; (see fig. 39 ;) also a smooth dry board, 
 something larger than the dish, and formed into an octa- 
 gon ; in the middle of this board make a round hole that 
 will hold a water-ball, so that one half be received in the 
 dish, and the other half rise above the surface of the 
 board ; nail this board upon the rim of the dish, and fix 
 the ball in the middle, tying it fast with wire ; then glue 
 your rockets in the grooves which are made round the 
 edges of the board, laying them close to one another, so 
 that successively taking fire from one another, they may 
 keep the wheel in an equal rotation. You may add, if 
 you please, on each side of the wheel, a few boxes, filled 
 with crackers or cartouches, erected perpendicular ; and 
 also fix double and single crackers, following in a range, 
 one after another, for two or three fires ; or as many as 
 the extent of the wheel will admit. 
 
 For your private fuzees, observe that you conduct one 
 from the rocket, which is to be fixed to the composition 
 of the ball, in a channel. 
 
 Fill these channels with mealed powder, and cover them 
 close with paper : also lay a train of fusees of communi- 
 cation from the rockets to a cartouch, and from that to 
 the rest. See fig. 40. 
 
 Lastly, when all is ready and covered, dip the whole 
 machine into melted pitch, and secure it from the injury 
 of the water ; the ball is fired first, and, when lighted, 
 you place it gently on the surface of the water, and then 
 lire the. rocket. 
 
 To try a fire-wheel ; first weigh one of the rockets, and 
 tie it to a fell, with cord, and according to the weight, fill 
 little long bags full of sand, tying them likewise on the 
 rest of the fells ; then, hang the wheel on an iron pin, 
 
 and 
 
 *m 
 
30 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and fire the rocket, and if it turns the wheel, then yon 
 may assure yourself it will be complete. 
 
 Wheels formed like stars, are to have their spokes fixed 
 upright in the nave, like other wheels, only with grooves 
 on one of the sides of each, where you glue the rockets; 
 at the bottom of each rocket is made a little hole, 
 whence the fire is conveyed through little pipes, filled 
 with mealed powder up to the next, and so on, all round ; 
 then cover it with linen cloth, or paper, in the shape of a 
 star, and place it on the iron axis. 
 
 Observe, that all the rockets used in fire-wheels have 
 their necks tied close, leaving only a small conveyance 
 from one rocket to another : — the last of all must be well 
 secured below, where you may place a strong report of 
 corn powder. 
 
 Charges for Fire-flyers and Wheels, of four, five, and 
 sir Ounce Rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder three pounds, nitre two pounds, char- 
 coal five ounces, and sea-coal three ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder fourteen ounces, nitre six ounces, char- 
 coal three ounces and a half, sulphur three ounces, and 
 sea-coal three ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder fifteen ounces, nitre six ounces, sulphur 
 three ounces, and charcoal three ounces. 
 
 Nitre five pounds, sulphur three quarters of a pound, 
 charcoal one pound four ounces. 
 
 These charges are bored with a round bodkin. 
 
 Mealed powder two pounds, sea-coal eight ounces, and 
 charcoal ten ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder three pounds, sulphur eight ounces, and 
 charcoal ten ounces. 
 
 These charges may be used for triple wheels, and 
 must be bored, one-third, with a bodkin. 
 
 For 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 31 
 
 For Wheels of one Pound Rockets. 
 
 Mealed powder six pounds, nitre three pounds, sul- 
 phur one pound seven ounces, charcoal two pounds nine 
 ounces, and tanner's-dust one ounce. 
 
 The bore must be an inch and a half. 
 
 For Wheels of one and a half and two Pound Pockets. 
 
 Mealed powder six pounds, nitre three pounds and a 
 half, sulphur one pound and a half, charcoal two pounds 
 three quarters, and saw-dust one ounce and a half. 
 
 The first rocket in the wheel is, in length, two diame- 
 ters and a half of its orifice. 
 
 For Wheels of three and four Pound Pockets. 
 
 Mealed powder nine pounds, nitre one pound and a 
 half, sulphur one pound two ounces, and charcoal three 
 pounds four ounces. 
 
 The first rocket is bored but one and a half of its 
 diameter. 
 
 TO MAKE SINGLE AND DOUBLE CARTOUCHES, OR 
 BOXES, TUBES, STARS, SPARKS, &c. 
 
 When some hundred boxes or cartouches are adjusted 
 and fixed in machines of great fire-works, they afford 
 among the towering rockets great delight to the spectators. 
 These boxes are made either of wood, paste-board, or 
 copper ; and are charged and proportioned according to 
 their strength. If made of wood, they must fit exactly, 
 and receive each other, so as to seem but one continual 
 piece ; and if paste-board, you must glue on a foot at 
 
 bottom, 
 
32 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 bottom, of a hand high, to each of them : the inside of 
 these machines must exactly fit and correspond with the 
 outside of the cartouches themselves, and be so contrived 
 as to slip into one another. 
 
 The engine, fig. 41. is very proper for the construction 
 of those boxes, and represents the bench : the other, fig. 
 42. shews the cylinders, upon which, (having greased 
 them first over with soap) you fashion your boxes, just as 
 you think proper, by pasting one thickness of paper upon 
 another, and fixing a handle to the end of the cylinder. 
 
 Having formed them, put them to dry in a moderate 
 heat ; too great a heat will shrivel them up ; when dry, 
 take one after another off the cylinder, and immediately 
 clap round wooden bottoms (the edges being first done 
 over with glue) into them, and sprig them on the outside, 
 to make them secure. 
 
 The single boxes are to be changed in the following 
 manner : 
 
 1 . Put in some corn powder. 
 
 2. Upon that charge, fix a round paste-board, well fitted 
 to the concave side of the box, which has five or six small 
 holes, and is on both sides laid over with mealed powder 
 tempered with brandy. 
 
 3. Put upon the paste-board a little mealed powder, and 
 upon that, well pierced crackers, so as to stand with their 
 necks downwards : the principal rocket is put in the mid- 
 dle, with the neck downwards, open at both ends ; so 
 that being lighted above, and burning down, it may fire 
 the rest of the crackers, which are blown up in the air by 
 the corn powder. 
 
 4. The empty spaces between the large fire-case and 
 the crackers, are carefully filled up, and the cartouch is 
 stuffed at top with tow, or else with saw-dust boiled in 
 nitre lye. 
 
 5. The cartouch is covered with a cap, which is glued 
 very closely thereon* ; and for the great case reaching out 
 
 of 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 33 
 
 Of the cartouch, make in the middle of the cap a hole, 
 through which it is put, and close the opening by glueing 
 some slips of paper round it. The fire-case is loose, 
 covered with a paste-board cap. 
 
 Double Boxes, or Cartouches. 
 
 In fig. 43, is exhibited the construction of a case, called 
 a double one ; to enlarge on the description thereof seems 
 to be needless, only observe, that the bottoms of the upper 
 boxes serve for the covers of the lower, a hole being 
 made, through whkh the composition of the lower box is 
 fired, after the upper rocket has forced away the empty 
 box, which already has discharged its load. The upper 
 box you cover, as has been shewn above. If there are 
 more than two cartouches upon one another, they are 
 called Burning Tubes, which, when fired, shorten by de- 
 grees, the cartouches following one another till all are 
 fired ; some are intermixed with artificial globes, and seve- 
 ral other fancies, which afford great pleasure to the spec- 
 tators. 
 
 These boxes, or cartouches, are placed in long cases 
 made for that purpose. The vacancies about the car- 
 touches may be filled up with sand. See fig. 44. 
 
 Another Sort of iFire Tubes. 
 
 These are made of solid, hard, and dry wood, of what 
 height and thickness you think proper. Bore the middle 
 of the wood one-third, or a quarter of its diameter, after 
 which divide the whole height into equal parts, each ex- 
 actly corresponding with the sky-roskets you design to fix 
 upon them, but rather a small matter shorter: all these 
 divisions are cut sloping downwards, except the uppermost, 
 which must run out in a cylinder. On the rims of each 
 of these divisions make a groove all round, of about a 
 
 vol. i. u finger's 
 
34 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 finger's breadth ; in these grooves bore small holes, by 
 which the fire may be conveyed through, pipes from the 
 cavity of the tube, to light the rockets that stand behind 
 the paper cartouches, which must be made secure to the 
 wood, lest they should flv up along with the rockets. 
 
 The construction of the hollow tube in this and other 
 such-like tubes is expressed in fig. 45. A, the fire-stars and 
 sparks, interspersed with corn powder. 13, a box filled 
 with paper or crackers. C, a fire-ball, or water-globe, 
 which you please. D, another box filled with crackers. 
 The hollows between these fires are filled up with corn 
 powder, to blow up the globes and boxes one after 
 another. 
 
 The stars and sparks made use of on this occasion arc 
 prepared in the following manner : 
 
 Take of beaten nitre five pounds and a half, mealed 
 powder two pounds four ounces, and sulphur one pound 
 twelve ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder three pounds, nitre six pounds, sulphur 
 one pound, camphor half an ounce, tanner's-bark two 
 ounces, or else saw-dust ; all finely sifted and moistened 
 with linseed oil. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre four pounds, sulphur 
 half a pound, and pounded glass six ounces, moistened 
 with linseed oil. 
 
 Nitre half a pound, sulphur two ounces, antimony one 
 ounce, and mealed powder three ounces. 
 
 Nitre half a pound, sulphur three ounces, antimony one 
 ounce, and iron file-dust half an. ounce. 
 
 Nitre two pounds, mealed powder ten pounds, and sul- 
 phur one pound. 
 
 Nitre one pound, sulphur half a pound, mealed powder 
 three ounces, and antimony one ounce. 
 
 Nitre one pound, sulphur two ounces, powder of yellow 
 amber one ounce, crude antimony one ounce, mealed 
 powder three ounces. 
 
 Sulohur 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 35 
 
 Sulphur two ounces and a half, nitre six ounces, fine 
 mealed powder five ounces ; frankincense in drops, 
 mastich, corrosive-sublimate, of each four ounces ; white 
 amber and camphor, of each one ounce ; antimony and 
 orpiment, of each half an ounce. 
 
 These ingredients being well beaten, and finely sifted, 
 must be sprinkled over with a little glue or gum-water, and 
 formed into little balls, of the bigness of a small nut, then 
 dried in the sun, or near a fire, and laid up in a dry place, 
 to be ready, on occasion, for playing off with fire-works. 
 When you use them, wrap them up in tow. 
 
 The following Stars are of a more i/ellozc) Cast, inclining 
 to white. 
 
 Take four ounces of gum-tragacanth, or gum-arabic, 
 pounded and sifted through a fine sieve, camphor dissolved 
 in brandy two ounces, nitre one pound, sulphur half a 
 pound, coarse powder of glass four ounces, white amber 
 one ounce and a half, orpiment two ounces ; incorporate 
 them, and make balls of them, as directed before. 
 
 Sparks are prepared thus. 
 
 Take nitre one ounce, melted nitre half an ounce, 
 mealed powder half an ounce, and camphor two ounces ,• 
 having melted these things by themselves (only when you 
 use them) in an earthen pot, pour on them water of gum 
 tragacanth, or brandy that has gum arabic, or gum tra- 
 gacanth dissolved in it, that the whole may have the con- 
 sistence of a pretty thick liquid j this done, take one 
 ounce of lint, which before has been boiled in brandy, 
 vinegar, or nitre ; when dry, throw it into the composi- 
 tion, and mix and stir it about, till it has soaked it up ; 
 then roll them up in pills, about the size of great pins- 
 
 D 2 heads, 
 
J>"> THE LABORATORY. 
 
 heads, and set them to dry, having first sprinkled them 
 with mealed powder. 
 
 Some of these pyramidical tubes and fire-works, are 
 now and then fired in large rooms, upon grand entertain- 
 ments, in miniature, wherein are employed odoriferous 
 pills, and other ingredients, that have a fragrant smell ; 
 these pills are commonly composed of stora.v calamita, 
 benjamin, gum-juniper, of each two ounces ; olibanum, 
 mastich, frankincense, white amber, yellow amber, and 
 camphor, of each one ounce ; nitre three ounces ; lime- 
 tree-coal four ounces ; beat these ingredients very fine ; 
 pulverize and incorporate them together, and moisten with 
 rose-water wherein you have dissolved some gum arabic or 
 gum tragacanth ; you may form them into pills, and dry 
 them in the sun, or before a fire. 
 
 Single Tubes, or Cases. 
 
 These are only filled with compositions, and to the out- 
 side are fastened some crackers, serpents, or cartouches , 
 these cases being generally round and uniform, like a 
 cylinder, you are to trace out a winding line from the top 
 to the bottom, on which cut holes to the depth of two or 
 three inches. See fig. 46. Into these holes contrive to 
 fix paper-cases with wooden bottoms, wherein you may 
 put any sort of rockets vou please ; but take care you 
 provide little holes, to lead from the great tube to the 
 corn powder under these rockets. 
 
 Another fire tube is delineated, fig. 47. This is sur- 
 rounded with cartouches, disposed in a serpentine order, 
 like the first, which are glued and nailed as secure as pos- 
 sible ; out of these are dispersed great numbers of squibs. 
 As for the rest, they have nothing but what is common 
 in others. 
 
 Another 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. JH 
 
 Another Fire Tube. 
 
 The circumference of a cylinder is, by a cord, divided 
 into a certain number or" equal parts, and being brought 
 into a poligonal figure, cutting away the convex part, it is 
 brought into angles. 
 
 Bore the plain sides with a number of boles, perpendi- 
 cularly, so as to penetrate obliquely to the great boring in 
 the middle : into these holes thrust crackers, squibs, or 
 serpents. — See fig. 48. 
 
 Fig. 49, exhibits a tube, whose length is six diameters 
 of its thickness. The cylinder being divided round the 
 rim into six parts, and each of those into seven parts, re- 
 serve one of them for the list, between each of which 
 make channels, which being six in number, place little 
 mortars of the same dimensions therein. 
 
 The mortars must be turned of wood ; bore the bot- 
 toms, and add a chamber to them ; each chamber must 
 be one-third, or one-half, of the depth of the fluting ; 
 and the breadth, one-sixth only. These chambers are de- 
 signed to hold corn-powder. 
 
 Secure the mortars on the outside with strong paper 
 cases, and nail them fast in the hollow channels, whose 
 cavity they are to fit exactly ; their length may be double 
 to their breadth : — each mortar must contain a globe made 
 of paper, with a wooden bottom ; and their chambers 
 must be charged with corn-powder. 
 
 These mortars fix in a spiral line, one onlv in each flut- 
 ing, with iron stays, and bind the middle with an iron 
 plate, fastened on each side of the interstices ; but before 
 you fix the mortars, you must not forget to pierce little 
 holes in the tube, and to fix the touch-holes of your mor- 
 tars exactly upon them, priming both with mealed-powdcr. 
 Every thing relating to this may be plainly conceived in 
 
 the 
 
38 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the figure, where A and B describe the mortars, and C the 
 globe or cartouch. 
 
 Of Salvo's. 
 
 These, in fire-works, are a great number of strong iron 
 reports, fixed either in a post or plank, and, with a fire, 
 discharged at once. 
 
 Charges for Cartouches, or Boxes. 
 
 Mealed powder six ounces, nitre one pound eight 
 ounces, sulphur four ounces, and charcoal four ounces and 
 a half. 
 
 Mealed powder fourteen ounces, nitre five ounces, sul- 
 phur two ounces, and charcoal three ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre three quarters of a. 
 pound, sulphur four ounces and a half, tanner's-bark or 
 saw-dust two ounces, and charcoal four ounces. 
 
 Charges for Fire Tubes, 
 
 Mealed powder six pounds, nitre four pounds, char- 
 coal two pounds, resin half a pound, tanner's-bark five 
 ounces, moistened with a little linseed oil. 
 
 Mealed powder three-quarters of a pound, nitre four 
 pounds, sulphur ten ounces, and saw-dust four ounces. 
 This charge may be used dry. 
 
 Mealed powder five pounds, nitre three pounds, char- 
 coal one pound six ounces, resin three-quarters of a 
 ■nound : not moistened. 
 
 A Preservative for Wood against Fire. 
 
 This being a" necessary article in the execution of fire- 
 ;, it will not be improper to set it down in this place. 
 
 Take 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. i 39 
 
 Take brick-dust, ashes, iron-filings, pulverized, of each 
 an equal quantity ; put them together in a pot ; pour gluc- 
 water or size upon thein ; then put them near the fire, 
 and, when warm, stfc them together. With this size, 
 wash over your wood- work ; and when dry, repeat it, and 
 it will be proof against tire. 
 
 The ?Jctn)icr nf preparing, and making Letters and Navies 
 in Fire-works. 
 
 Burning letters may be represented, after several me- 
 thods. 
 
 Order a joiner to cut any capital letters, of what length 
 and breadth you please, or about two feet long, and three 
 or four inches wide, and an inch and a half thick, fig. 50. 
 — hollow out of the body of the letters a groove, a quar- 
 ter of an inch deep, reserving for the edges of the letters 
 a quarter, or half, an inch of wood. If you design to 
 have the letters burn of a blue fire, then make wicks ot 
 cotton or flax, according to the bigness and depth of the 
 grooves in the letters, and draw them leisurely through 
 melted sulphur, and place them in the grooves •, brush 
 them over with brandy, and strew mealed powder on ; and, 
 again, with brandy and thin dissolved gum-tragacanth, and 
 on that strew mealed powder also ; when dry, drive small 
 tacks all round the edges of the grooves, and twist small 
 wire to those tacks, that it may cross the letters, and keep 
 the cotton or flax close therein; then, lay over it brandy 
 paste ; strew, over that, mealed powder ; and, at last, 
 glue over it a single paper. 
 
 If you would have the letters burn w 7 hite, dissolve six 
 pounds of nitre, and add to it a little corn-powder ; in that 
 dip your wicks of cotton or flax. You may, instead, use 
 dry touchwood, cut into pieces of an inch thick; put 
 them in melted nitre over a fire ; let them lay till the nitre 
 ; .s quite soaked through the wood ; after which, mix pow- 
 dered 
 
40 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 dered nitre with good strong brandy ; take some cotton, 
 and with a spatula, or your hands, work that, the nitre 
 and brandy, together ; then squeeze it out ; strew the cot- 
 ten over with powdered nitre, and make wicks ; having 
 first placed the touchwood in the grooves, lay the wicks 
 over that and the vacancies about it, and then proceed to 
 make it tight and secure, as has been directed above. 
 
 There is another method of burning letters, without 
 grooves, and this is done by boiing small holes in the let- 
 ters, about an inch distance one from the other ; the dia- 
 meter of the holes must not be above the eighth of an 
 inch ; into them put, and glue, cases, rammed with burn- 
 ing charges : — these letters do not burn so long as the 
 others, except the charges are very long. 
 
 Another method for burning of letters is, when they are 
 formed, by a smith, of coarse wire, about a quarter of an 
 inch thick ; when this is done, get some cotton spun into 
 match-thread, but not much twisted ; to two yards of this, 
 take one pound of sulphur, six ounces of nitre, and two 
 ounces of antimony ; melt these ingredients in a kettle, 
 first the sulphur by itself, and then the rest all together ; 
 when melted, put in the match-thread and stir it about, 
 till it has drawn in all the matter ; then take it out, and 
 strew it over with mealed powder ; let it dry, and wind it 
 about the white letters : fasten these upon a board, that 
 has been well laid over with a preservative to keep it from 
 firing. When you have lighted one letter, all the rest will 
 take fire immediately. 
 
 Letters cut through a smooth board, which is made to 
 slide in the grooves of a chest, are ordered thus : the lid 
 of the box is made full of holes, for dispersing the smoke 
 of the lamps, or wax tapers, which are set behind to illu- 
 minate the letters ; behind the cut-out letters is pasted oil 
 paper, of various colours, which, when the lamps are 
 lighted, has a fine tfkei. Bv these means, various changes 
 tnay be made in representing devices, names, coats of 
 
 arms. 
 
ARTIFICIAL FJRE-WORKS. 41 
 
 arms, &c. But this way is more practised on the stage, 
 in plays, than in fire-works. 
 
 Charges for burning Letters with Cases. 
 
 Mealed powder six ounces, nitre one pound, mixed 
 with rock-oil, or petroleum oil. 
 
 Mealed powder three quarters of a pound, nitre nine 
 ounces, and sulphur three ounces, mixed up dry. 
 
 Mealed powder five ounces, nitre seven ounces, sul- 
 phur three ounces, and file-dust half an ounce ; moisten- 
 ed with linseed oil. 
 
 To order and preserve Leading-fires, Trams, and Stack- 
 mate lies. 
 
 Fire-works being of various kinds and inventions, it 
 is impossible to assign certain rules for their several perfor- 
 mances. But to say something of what concerns a mas- 
 ter's praise, it is observed, that great fire-works are not to 
 be fired above once or twice at most ; for it would not be 
 deemed an artful performance to fire one cartouch after 
 another ; likewise, the match pipes, the most preferable 
 of which are either iron, lead, or wood, and should be 
 (Strengthened or closely twisted round with the sinews of 
 beasts, and filled with slow charges, which ought to be 
 well tried ; or else furnished with match-thread, dry and 
 well prepared, and afterwards cither joined to the grooves 
 made ill the boards, or only laid free from one work to 
 another. The joinings of the pipes must be well closed 
 ;.nd luted with potters clay, so as to prevent the fire from 
 breaking out ; these pipes must also have little vent holes 
 to give the fire air, or else it would be stifled, and burst 
 the pipes ; but these holes must be so contrived, that the 
 flame may vent itself in the open air, and at some dis- 
 tance from the works, so as to prevent touching them. 
 
 All 
 
42 IKE LABORATORY. 
 
 All burning matches are to be as distant from the ma- 
 chines as possible, to prevent accidents. 
 
 A particular direction for conducting your trains and fu- 
 zees, cannot be given, because of the variety of postures, 
 situations, and contrivances of machinerv : those rules al 
 ready given will be sufficient for the ingenious : add to this. 
 the advantage a novice in this art may gather from the 
 direction in the figures, which, with much care and in- 
 dustry, have been traced out for their information. 
 
 Charges for Fuzees, or Leading-inafeiies. 
 
 Mealed powder three ounces and a half, nitre foui 
 ounces, sulphur one ounce and three quarters, and char- 
 coal one ounce and three quarters. 
 
 Mealed powder three ounces, nitre nine ounces, sulphur 
 four ounces and a half, and charcoal half an ounce. 
 
 Mealed powder four ounces, charcoal half an ounce, 
 and coarse coal half an ounce. 
 
 Mealed powder half a part, nitre three parts, sulphur 
 two parts, and charcoal one part ; this last is very slow. 
 
 Of Water-balls. 
 
 Balls, in fire -works, are made of different fashions , 
 some are globular, some oval, some conical, some cylin- 
 drical, others in the form of a pendant, or drop. 
 
 The water-balls are commonly made of knitted cord- 
 bags, or of wood ; those made of bags are shaped like 
 ostriches eggs, and are, 
 
 I*, tilled with their proper charge. 
 
 2. The outside is dipped in glue, and wound about with 
 hemp or flax,- till it is a quarter of an inch thick with it. 
 
 3. This ball is then coated over with cloth, and about 
 the touch-hole is glued over with a piece of leather. 
 
 4. The 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 43 
 
 4. The touch-hole is bored with a gimlet, and stopped 
 with a wooden peg. 
 
 5. At the bottom of the globe, pierce a small hole 
 through to the composition, in which fasten a small copper- 
 pipe, furnished with a paper report, together with a leaden 
 balance ; glue the report fast to the ball ; then dip the ball 
 in melted pitch ; open the touch-hole, and prime it with a 
 quick-burning charge. 
 
 These balls keep a long time under water before they 
 rise ; and if a true balance is not observed in the lead, or 
 the ball is overcharged, they will sink to the bottom, and 
 burn out ; therefore you must well observe, that when a 
 water-ball, without the balance, is two pounds weight, 
 you must give it four, or four ounces and a half of lead ; 
 but, if it weighs one pound and a half, balance it with 
 three, or three ounces and a half. 
 
 Water-balls, or globes, made of wood, which swim and 
 burn upon the water without any further effect, are of two 
 sorts, viz. single and double ; the single ones are made 
 thus : have a hollow globe, turned somewhat oblong, with 
 a vent-hole ; fill that with a good and approved charge, 
 but not too close ; prime the end with some mealed pow- 
 der ; then glue a stopple in* the hole, which must be thrice 
 as thick as the shell of tbe globe, in which beforehand 
 the counterpoise is cast of lead ; when dry, make a hole 
 at top, large enough for a two-ounce cracker to enter ; 
 through this, ram down the charge in the globe, and fill it 
 quite full with tbe same composition ; then glue it over 
 with a paste-board : and, lastly, fix. a small copper pipe 
 through the stopple, having bored a hole through it for 
 that purpose; to the pipe fasten a paper report ; when this 
 is done, dip the whole in pitch : these are called single 
 water-globes. Both sorts of globes are, for better secu- 
 rity, twisted and tied round with several rows of strong 
 packthread. 
 
 Double 
 
H- THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Double water-globes are such, which after one is fired, 
 discharges another. These have chambers at bottom, 
 which are filled with gunpowder ; on these put a cover oi 
 thick leather, which has several holes in the middle, and 
 goes close to the side ; on this strew mealed powder, and 
 place thereon arlre-globe, which is charged. Fig. 52, will 
 demonstrate the construction. Observe, 
 
 1. That the little chamber, at bottom, ought to be one- 
 fifth of the breadth of the whole globe, and that its height 
 be one and a half. 
 
 2. That the water-ball B should be encompassed with a 
 water-ball composition, as vou see by H. 
 
 3. The partition C is for this purpose, that when the 
 powder in it shall have the fire conveyed to it through the 
 pipes EFG, it may with more force blow up the ball in 
 the body of the first ; this taking fire at the hole D, will 
 burn upon the water for some time, and then, to the asto- 
 nishment of the spectators, on a sudden, it will blow up 
 the ball that was in it. 
 
 4. You must be very careful to secure the piece of lea- 
 ther or board tlr.it covers the little chamber, lest it should 
 be blown up by the composition of the greater globe, be- 
 fore it is all burned out. 
 
 llow io charge a Water-globe with many Crackers. 
 
 Takk, for this purpose, a single water-globe, which 
 may be round, or of an oval form, and fill the same with 
 the composition hereafter-mentioned. Hollow the outside, 
 in several places, to the size of your reports, or crackers, 
 which arc to be fixed in them : to each of the crackers 
 belongs a small copper tube, filled with mealed pow r dcr, 
 which is to be fitted to the small holes in the flutings, in 
 fhe manner as expressed in the print, where fig. 53. A, are 
 the riutings ; B. the little holes for the fuzes ; C, the upper 
 
 orifice 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS, 45 
 
 orifice tor priming ; D, the hollow stopple, through which 
 the ball is primed ; E, the form of the crackers, which are 
 to be fixed in theflutings; F, little fuzees belonging to them. 
 
 How to prepare a Water-mortar, or Water-pump, with 
 several Tubes. 
 
 Take seven wooden tubes ; wrap them about with cloth 
 that is either pitched or dipped in glue, twisting them 
 round very tight with packthread. Their height, thick- 
 ness, and diameter, you may order as you think proper, 
 only allowing the middlemost a greater height than the 
 rest ; bind them together in one cylindrical body : to the 
 bottom fix a round board, with nails, and then with strong- 
 glue stop up all the crevices to prevent the air getting to 
 the composition : this done, fill the tubes according to the 
 order represented in fig. 5 4-. First pour into each tube a 
 little corn-powder, about half an inch high ; upon that put 
 a water-ball A ; upon that a slow composition ; then again 
 corn-powder ; upon which put a water-globe, filled with 
 squibs, as you see in B ; on that again a slow composition ; 
 then corn-powder ; and then a light bail, as may be seen 
 in C ; over this put, a third time, a slow composition upon 
 corn-powder, as before, which you must cover with a 
 wooden cap ; on this fix running rockets, not too close, 
 but to leave room enough between for a wooden case filled 
 with a water composition ; the remainder of the tube fill 
 with a slow charge, and close it up. Your tubes being all 
 filled in this manner, get a square, or round, piece of 
 plank, with a round hole in the middle, large enough to 
 receive the ends of all the tubes, which cover close, to 
 preserve the powder and composition from being wet ; this 
 float-board is marked with the letter D, fig. 55. Thus pre- 
 pared, dip it in a quantity of tar, or melted pitch ; then 
 put the rocket E, or a small wooden tube filled with a 
 stroag composition that will burn on the water, into the 
 
 orifice 
 
46 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 orifice of the middle tube ; the composition of which should 
 be more slow than the rest. 
 
 If you would have the tubes take fire all round at once, 
 you must pierce the sides of the great one with small holes, 
 corresponding with those in each of the other tubes ; by 
 this means the fire may be conveyed to all of them at 
 once, and consume them equally and at one time ; but, if 
 you would have them burn one after another, you must 
 close them well up with paste-board ; and to each tube fix 
 a fuzee of communication, filled with mealed powder, or 
 a slow composition, through which the fire may be con- 
 veyed from the bottom of that which is consumed, to the 
 orifice of that next to it ; and so on, successively, to such 
 as have not been fired. 
 
 How to charge a large Water-globe with several little ones, 
 arid with Crackers. 
 
 Gkt a wooden cylinder made ; let its orifice be at least 
 one foot diameter, and its height one and a half: let there 
 be a lodge, or chamber, at bottom, to hold the powder, 
 which must be confined by a tampion, or stopple, joined to 
 a round board, fitted exactly to the inside of the globe j 
 through the middle of the stopple must pass an iron tube 
 filled with mealed powder ; then prepare six water-balls, or 
 more, if you think fit, so that when all are set together in 
 the circumference of the globe, they may fill up that cir- 
 cle ; each of these balls must be provided with an iron 
 fuzee in its orifice, filled with mealed powder. Having 
 charged the chamber of the globe with corn-powder, . let 
 down the fore-mentioned board, with the stopple upon it; 
 then arrange the six water-balls ; cover them with another 
 round board, that has six little round holes, corresponding 
 with the six iron.fuzees of the balls, which must a little 
 surmount it. Spread this last board over with mealed and 
 corn-po.vder, mixed together, and upon it place as many 
 
 rockets 
 
ARTIFTCIAL FIRE-WORKS. 47 
 
 rockets as the globe can hold : in the midst of these fix a 
 large rocket, into whose orifice the iron tube may enter, 
 which is the same you see in E, fig. 56. 
 
 This tube must have holes drilled all round the plane of 
 the said partition or board, that the fire, having a commu- 
 nication through them, may reach the running rockets, and 
 at the same time fire the water-balls, whose tubes rise out 
 of the board ; and, thence, after having penetrated down 
 to the chamber below, may blow up the whole into the 
 air, and make a great noise. See the figure, where A 
 points out the six water-balls ; B, the great rocket in the 
 middle of the running ones ; C, the chamber for the pow- 
 der ; D, a communication, or the iron pipe, to convey the 
 fire to the paper cracker ; F, the globe ; which having been 
 adjusted after the manner dire&ed, cover it close rcun<J ? 
 and dip it in tar, to preserve it from the water. 
 
 To prepare the JVater Bee-hive, or Bees-warm, both single 
 and double. 
 
 The single bee-swarm is thus prepared. Have an ob- 
 long globe turned, whose length is two diameters of its 
 breadth, or proportioned to the height of your rounding 
 rockets, which place round the wooden tube marked with 
 A ; this must be of an equal height with the globe, and be 
 filled with a composition of three parts of powder, two of 
 nitre, and one of sulphur ; at the lower end of the globe 
 fix a paper cracker C. The letter D is a counterpoise of 
 lead, through which you convey a little pipe, or fuzee, to 
 communicate with the charge in the wooden tube : at top, 
 fix a round board for a balance, and two little holes, which 
 convey the fire to the charge for blowing up the rockets 
 See fig. 57. 
 
 Ho: 
 
45 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 How to prepare a Water-globe, on the Outside, with Run- 
 'fiing-rockets. 
 
 Get a wooden globe perfectly round and hollow; bore 
 on the outside several cavities, sufficient to receive running - 
 rockets, leaving a quarter of an inch between the extre- 
 mities of them, and the composition within the ball; then 
 bore the wood left between each, with a small gimlet ; fill 
 them with mealed powder; then put in your rockets; 
 close the top of the globe with a wooden cylinder, that has 
 a hollow top, with a touch-hole to receive the priming ; 
 the bottom stop with a stopple, which likewise has a 
 conveyance to the cracker that is commonly fixed beneath 
 it ; between which and the stopple fix also a leaden coun- 
 terpoise, to keep the whole upright in the water. See 
 fig. 58. 
 
 To prepare Water-globes with single or double ascending 
 Rockets. 
 
 For the first sort, have a globe turned with a tube in 
 the middle, half its diameter wide, leaving two inches for 
 the placing of solid wood at the bottom ; round this tube, 
 bore holes for small rockets ; after which, burn, with a. 
 red hot wire, or small iron, touch-holes out of the large 
 tubes into the little ones; then fill the globe with the fol- 
 lowing composition, xiz. 
 
 Two pounds of nitre, eight ounces of sulphur, eight 
 ounces of mealed powder, twelve ounces of saw-dust ; 
 this done, close the top with a stopple which has a touch- 
 hole in the middle ; then put a good deal of mealed pow- 
 der into the small tubes, up to the touch-holes ; and after 
 you have placed your rockets upon that, fill the vacancy 
 round with a little corn-powder ; glue over them paper- 
 caps ; then dip the globe into pitch, but not over the paper 
 
 covering 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 49 
 
 covering; fix a counterpoise at bottom; and when the fire 
 has burned half way, or further, in the large tube, it will 
 communicate through the touch-holes, and discharge all 
 the rockets at once. 
 
 The second sort are made after the same manner, only 
 the middle tube is not bored so wide, because of giving 
 more room for two rows of small tubes round it ; the first 
 row, next to the tube, is bored a little below the middle ; 
 the second almost near to the end ; the touch-holes for the 
 former are burnt from the inside of the great tube, and 
 those of the latter, from the outside -hole, are closed again 
 with a wooden pin : in the large tube you may lodge a 
 strong report of iron, charged with corn-powder, having a 
 touch-hole left at top. Sec fig. 59, 60. 
 
 Charges for single V/ater-ghbes. 
 
 Corn-powder half a pound, nitre sixteen pounds, 
 sulphur four pounds, ivory shavings four ounces, saw-dust, 
 boiled in saltpetre-lye, four pounds. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound, nitre six pounds, sulphur 
 three pounds, iron filings two pounds, and resin half a 
 pound. 
 
 Mealed powder four pounds, nitre twenty-four pounds 
 sulphur twelve pounds, saw-dust eight pounds, powdered 
 glass half a pound, and camphor half a pound. 
 
 Corn-powder one ounce, nitre twelve ounces, sulphur 
 four ounces, and saw-dust three ounces. 
 
 Nitre twelve ounces, sulphur four ounces, saw-dust two 
 ounces, melted stufF three quarters ; this must be rammed 
 in tight. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound four ounces, nitre one pound 
 eight ounces, sulphur nine ounces, saw-dust five ounces, 
 pounded glass one ounce, melted stufF four ounces ; mix 
 them together with a little linseed oil. 
 
 vol. i. e Mealed 
 
THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Mealed powder eight ounces, nitre five pounds, sul- 
 phur two pounds, copper filings eight ounces and a half, 
 and coarse coal-dust eight ounces and a half. 
 
 Nitre eight ounces, sulphur three ounces, saw-dust one 
 ounce, and tanner's-bark two ounces. 
 
 Nitre six pounds twelve ounces, sulphur two pounds 
 fourteen ounces, melted stuff half a pound, saw-dust one 
 pound, coarse coal-dust one pound, and pounded glass one 
 pound* mixed up and moistened with vinegar. 
 
 Nitre two pounds twelve ounces, sulphur two pounds 
 six ounces, melted stuff four ounces, saw-dust eight ounces, 
 charcoal one ounce and a half, and pounded glass three 
 quarters of an ounce, moistened with linseed oil, and 
 mixed up with a little corn-powder. 
 
 Charges for doable Water-globes. 
 
 Nitre four pound six ounces, sulphur one pound four 
 ounces, saw-dust half a pound, and coarse coal-dust six 
 ounces, moistened with a little vinegar or linseed oil. 
 
 Mealed powder one pound four ounces, sulphur four 
 ounces, and charcoal two ounces, moistened with Petro- 
 leum oil, or rock oil. 
 
 Nitre three pounds, sulphur a quarter of a pound, and 
 saw-dust boiled with nitre ten ounces, moistened a 
 little. 
 
 Charges for Bee-smarms. ' 
 
 Mealed powder thirteen ounces and a half, nitre six 
 ounces, sulphur two ounces and a half, fine charcoal three 
 ounces, coarse charcoal one ounce, and fine saw-dust three 
 ounces. 
 
 Mealed powder three quarters of a pound, nitre six 
 ounces, sulphur three ounces and a half, fine charcoal four 
 ounces, and coarse charcoal two ounces and a half. 
 
 Mealed 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 51 
 
 Mealed powder four parts, nitre eight parts, sulphur 
 two parts, coarse charcoal two parts, and fine charcoal one 
 part. 
 
 Odoriferous, or perfumed Water-balls. 
 
 Have balls turned, about the size of large walnuts ■ fill 
 them with any of the compositions specified below ; after 
 they are filled and ready, light and put them into water. 
 This is generally done in a large room, or hall, at grand 
 entertainments. 
 
 The Compositions for them are as follows : 
 
 Nitre four ounces ; storax calamita, one ounce ; frank- 
 incense, one ounce ; mastich, one ounce ; amber half an 
 ounce; civet, half an ounce; saw-dust of juniper, two 
 ounces ; saw-dust of cypress, two ounces ; and oil of spike, 
 one ounce. 
 
 Nitre two ounces, flowers of sulphur one ounce, cam- 
 phor half an ounce, raspings of yellow amber half an 
 ounce, coal of lime-tree wood one ounce, flowers of ben- 
 jamin half an ounce ; let those which are to be powdered 
 be done very fine ; then mix them together, as usual. 
 
 Nitre two ounces, myrrh four ounces, frankincense three 
 ounces, amber three ounces, mastich one ounce, camphor 
 half an ounce, resin one ounce, boiled saw-dust one ounce, 
 lime-tree coal, half an ounce, bees-wax half an ounce; 
 mix them up with a little oil of juniper. 
 
 Nitre one ounce, myrrh four ounces, frankincense two 
 ounces and a half, amber two ounces, mother of pearl four 
 ounces, melted stuff half an ounce, and resin half an 
 ounce ; mix them up with oil of roses. 
 
 Mealed powder three ounces, nitre twelve ounces, frank- 
 incense one ounce, myrrh half an ounce, and charcoal 
 three ounces, mixed with oil of spike. 
 
 e 2 The 
 
52 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 The manner of preparing the melted Stuff. 
 
 Melt twenty-four pounds of sulphur in a shallow 
 earthen pan, over a clear fire, and as it melts, fling in 
 sixteen pounds of nitre ; stir them well together with an 
 iron spatula ; as soon as they are melted, take it off the 
 fire, and add to it eight pounds of corn-powder ; mix it 
 well together, and, being cooled, pour out this compo- 
 sition upon a polished marble, or metal-plates, and then 
 divide it into pieces about the size of a walnut. This 
 composition is chiefly used in military fire-works, and not 
 for those I am treating of; but for those fire-works which 
 are only for pleasure, it is distinguished by warm and cold 
 melted stuff, and is prepared in the following manner. 
 
 Take for the first sort half a pound of nitre ; grind 
 among it three quarters of an ounce of antimony, till one 
 cannot be distinguished from the other ; then melt one 
 pound and a half of sulphur, put the mixed nitre and an- 
 timony to it, and mix them well together ; this done, put 
 it warm into a wooden mould of two pieces, which should 
 be well greased on the inside : this stuff you break after- 
 wards into less pieces : it is, on account of its clear fire, 
 used to imitate stars. 
 
 The Manner of preparing the cold melted Stuff. 
 
 Grind the above ingredients, or eight ounces of mealed 
 powder, four ounces of nitre, three ounces of sulphur, 
 and one ounce of coal-dust, together, till all is of one co- 
 lour ; this done, moisten that stuff with the white of eggs, 
 gum-water, or size, and make a stiff dough ; then strew, 
 on a smooth board, some mealed powder ; roll the dough 
 upon that a quarter of an inch thick ; strew, again, mealed 
 powder upon it; then cut it in square pieces, and let them 
 dry ; or else form small balls of it, of the size of a small 
 
 nut, 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 53 
 
 siut, or larger; then roll them in mealed powder, and put 
 them up to dry. 
 
 To prepare a Globe which burns like a Star, and leaps 
 about both on Land and Water. 
 
 Cause a globe to be turned, of dry wood, whose dia» 
 meter is the length of a half pound or a pound rocket : di- 
 vide this globe into two equal parts ; in the middle of one 
 of the half globes, on the inside, make a cavity, deep, 
 long, and wide enough to hold three or four rockets, or 
 crackers, so that the other half of the globe may be easily 
 and closely fitted upon them ; after this take three crackers, 
 one with strong reports, and two without any ; place them 
 •so into the hollow, that the head of the one may lay to the 
 other's, neck, and be so ordered that as soon as the one is 
 spent, the other may take fire and force the globe back, 
 and thus alternately from one to the other till it comes to 
 the report, which finishes. Care must be taken that the 
 fire passes not from the first to the next cracker, before it 
 has quite consumed the first , but as I have given a caution 
 in the article about rockets that run on a cord, the same 
 may be observed here. 
 
 Having taken care to fix the rockets, cover them with 
 the other half globe, and join them firmly with strong 
 pasted paper. 
 
 To charge Globes, which leap on Land, with Iron and 
 Paper CracJters. 
 
 Take a hollow wooden globe, which has a touch-hole 
 at the top, in the form of a small cylinder ; fill it with an 
 aquatic composition, quite full ; then bore into the charge 
 five or six holes, about half an inch wide, in which put 
 iron petards, or crackers, which run tapering; provide 
 them at the lower end with a small touch-hole, and cover 
 
 the 
 
5-t THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the top with a tin-plate, in which there is four holes, which 
 you must close up with wads of paper or tow, after you 
 have filled them with the best corn-powder : and when 
 you fire them on even ground, you will see them leap as 
 often as a cracker goes off. See fig. 61. 
 
 The other sort is not much unlike the first, except that 
 to this you add a certain number of crackers, which are 
 disposed as you may observe in fig. 62. A the crackers, 
 B the touch-hole. 
 
 How the Globes, discharged out of a Mortar, arc made 
 and ordered. 
 
 First find the mouth of a mortar, and divide it into 
 twelve parts ; then have a globe turned of wood, which is 
 two diameters of the mortar's mouth high j divide the 
 diameter in six equal parts, and let the height between A 
 and C be the diameter of the globe ; the thickness of the 
 wood H I, should be one-twelfth of the above diameter, 
 and the thickness of the cover of the globe ; the height 
 of the priming chamber F shall be one-sixth and a half of 
 the diameter, but its breadth only one-sixth ; the diameter 
 of the touch-hole B is one-fourth, or one-sixth, of that of 
 the chamber: for the better understanding these direc- 
 tions, see fig. 63. 
 
 The manner of filling these globes is thus ; 
 
 Take hollow canes, or common reeds ; cut them into 
 lengths, to fit the cavity of the globe, and fill them with a 
 weak composition made of three parts mealed powder, 
 two of coal, and one of sulphur, moistened with a little 
 linseed oil (excepting the lower ends of them, which rest 
 upon the bottom of the globe, which must have mealed 
 powder only, moistened likewise with the same oil, or 
 sprinkled over with brandy, and dried :) the bottom of the 
 globe cover with mealed powder, mixed with an equal 
 quantity of corn-powder ; the reed being filled in this man- 
 ner, 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 55 
 
 ner, set as many of them upright in the cavity of the 
 globe, as it will contain ; then cover it well at top ; and 
 wrap it up with a cloth dipped in glue ; the priming must 
 be of the same composition with the reeds. 
 
 The globes represented at 64, and 65, are contrived like 
 the above, only the first of these is filled with running 
 rockets, and the last with crackers, stars, and sparks, in- 
 terspersed with mealed powder, and put promiscuously 
 over the crackers. The figures are so plain, that I need 
 not give any further explanation. 
 
 No. 66 is the representation of a globe, which plainly 
 shews its construction: the great globe, which contains 
 the lesser, is the same as described above ; for it is charged 
 with running rockets. In the midst of these rockets fix a 
 globe in a cylindrical form, with a flat bottom, and a cham- 
 ber and touch-hole. The cavity of this inner globe is filled 
 with iron crackers, and covered with a flat covering : the 
 priming chamber is to be filled with the same composi- 
 tion as has been directed for the above globes : the fuzees 
 must be filled with good mealed powder. 
 
 To prepare the Light Baits, proper to be used at Bonfires. 
 
 Take two pounds of crude-antimony, four pounds of 
 sulphur, four pounds of resin, four pounds of coal, and 
 half a pound of pitch : having powdered all these ingre- 
 dients, put them into a kettle, or glazed earthen pan, 
 over a coal fire, and let them melt ; then throw as much 
 hemp, or flax, into it as may be sufficient to soak it up ; 
 then take it off the fire, and whilst it is cooling, form it 
 into balls. 
 
 You may wrap them up in tow, and put them either 
 into rockets or globes. 
 
 To 
 
56 THE LABORATORY 
 
 To prepare the Paste for Stars and Sparks. 
 
 Take five ounces and a half of mealed powder, one 
 pound twelve ounces of sulphur. Or, 
 
 Take three pounds of mealed powder, six pounds of 
 nitre, one pound of sulphur, two pounds of camphor, 
 and two ounces of tanner's-bark, or saw-dust. Moisten 
 all these ingredients with linseed oil. 
 
 Take mealed powder one pound, nitre four pounds, 
 sulphur half a pound, and powdered glass six ounces ; 
 moistened with a little linseed oil. 
 
 Nitre half a pound, sulphur two ounces, antimony one 
 ounce, and mealed powder three ounces. 
 
 Nitre half a pound, sulphur three ounces, antimony one 
 ounce, and iron file-dust half an ounce. 
 
 Nitre two pounds, mealed powder ten pounds, and sul- 
 phur one pound. 
 
 Nitre one pound, sulphur half a pound, mealed pow- 
 der three ounces, and antimony one ounce. 
 
 Having mixed and prepared your ingredients, boil some 
 flax in nitre-lye and camphor ; then cut it small, and mix 
 it up with any of the above compositions, which must be 
 moistened with either the white of eggs, gum, or size : 
 form this into little balls, of the size of a hazel-nut ; strew 
 them over with mealed powder, and let them dry. 
 
 To cause the stars to burn very bright, make your com- 
 position of one ounce and three quarters of nitre, three 
 quarters of an ounce of sulphur, and a quarter of an ounce 
 of powder. 
 
 Nitre two pounds, sulphur fourteen pounds and a half, 
 and mealed powder six ounces. 
 
 The paste, or melted stuff above-mentioned, is also 
 made use of for the same purpose, wrapped in tow. 
 
 To 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 57 
 
 To project Globes from a Mortar, and the Quantity of 
 Powder required for that Purpose. 
 
 The globes being of wood, it is requisite that the 
 charges for them should be agreeable to their substance ; 
 for which end they are first weighed, allowing for each 
 pound of its weight a quarter of an ounce of gunpowder. 
 For example, if your globe weighs forty pounds, you 
 must, to discharge it, allow ten ounces of powder. 
 
 The charge is thus performed ; put the powder into the 
 chamber of the mortar, and cover it with straw, hay, 
 hemp, or flax, so as to fill it quite full ; or if the chamber 
 of the mortar be too big, get one turned of wood, equal 
 in height and breadth to the chamber of the mortar that 
 contains the charge of powder required ; pierce this with 
 a red hot wire, from the bottom of the wood to the centre 
 of the bottom of the chamber in it, not perpendicular, 
 but slanting. The place where the touch-hole begins 
 must be marked, so that you may turn it to correspond 
 with the touch-hole of the mortar. When you would load 
 your mortar, cover the bottom of the chamber with a little 
 mealed and corn-powder, mixed together ; and upon that 
 put the wooden chamber, in which is the powder required 
 to discharge the globe ; then fix the touch-hole of the 
 globe, exactly, upon the chamber, wrapping it in hemp, 
 &c. to make it stand upright. 
 
 The mortars contrived on purpose for globes are more 
 commodious, and we are more certain in projecting them : 
 these are cast as follows : the length of the mortar with the 
 chamber, without the bottom, is two diameters of the 
 mouth ; the bottom is one-fifth thick ; the chamber is half 
 the diameter of the mouth long, and a quarter wide ; oval 
 at bottom : the sides are an eighth of the diameter of the 
 mouth thick, which is encreased at bottom to a third; the 
 thickness about the chamber is a fourth part. 
 
 Some 
 
53 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Some prepare these balls with nitre four pounds, sul- 
 phur one pound and a half, powder half a pound, anti- 
 mony six ounces, and charcoal half an ounce. 
 
 Nitre four pounds, sulphur three pounds, camphor a 
 quarter of a pound, and powder half a pound. 
 
 A fired Sun, with a Transparent Face. 
 
 To make a sun of the best sort, there should be twe 
 rows of cases, as in fig. 67, which will shew a double glory, 
 and make the rays strong and full. The frame, or sun 
 wheel, must be made thus ; have a circular flat nave made 
 very strong, twelve inches diameter ; to this fix six strong 
 flat spokes, A. B. C. D. E. F. : — on the front of these fix a 
 circular fell, five feet diameter, within which fix another 
 fell, the length of one of the sua cases less in diame- 
 ter ; within this fix a third fell, whose diameter must be 
 less than the second, by the length of one case and one- 
 third. The wheel being made, divide the fells into as 
 many equal parts as you would have cases (namely, from 
 24 to 44) : at each division fix a flat iron staple, which 
 must be made to fit the cases to hold them fast on the 
 wheel : let the staples be so placed, that one row of cases 
 m ay lie in the middle of the intervals of the other. 
 
 In the centre of the block of the sun drive a spindle, on 
 which put a small hexagonal wheel, whose cases must be 
 ii!Ied with the same charge as the cases of the sun. Two 
 cases of this wheel must burn at a time ; but begin with 
 them on the fells. Having fixed on all the cases, carry 
 pipes of communication from one to the other, as you see 
 in the figure ; and from one side of the sun to the wheel 
 in the middle, and thence to the other side of the sun. 
 These leaders will hold the wheel steady while the sun is 
 fixing up, and will aiso be a sure method of lighting both 
 cases of the wheel together. A sun thus made is called a 
 brilliant sun, because tire wood-work is entirely covered 
 
 with 
 
ARTIFICIAL FIRE-WORKS. 59 
 
 with fire from the wheel in the middle, so that there ap- 
 pears nothing but brilliant fire : but, if you would have a 
 transparent face in the centre, you must follow this me- 
 thod : take a piece of paste-board of a circular figure, like 
 the sun's face, and cut out the eyes, nose, and mouth, for 
 the sparks of the wheel to appear through ; or, instead of 
 this, paint a face on oiled paper, or Persian silk, struined 
 tight over a small hoop : either of the faces are to be 
 supported by three or four pieces of wire, at six inches 
 distance from the centre of the wheel, so that the light 
 may illuminate the face. In a similar way, you may place 
 transparent motto's — " Vivat Rex;" or any other de- 
 vices, suitable to the day of exhibition. Half pound cases, 
 filled up ten inches with composition, will be a good size 
 for a sun of five feet diameter ; but, if larger, the cases 
 must also be pronortionably larger. 
 
 EXPLANATION 
 
€0 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV. 
 
 THAT the reader may have some idea of many of the 
 chemical apparatus employed and mentioned in this 
 work, it has been thought expedient to engrave them on 
 one plate, whereby the whole may be seen at one view. 
 It is adviseable, that it be thoroughly committed to me- 
 mory, which will save the tediousness of a frequent refe- 
 rence, and give a quickness and facility in performing the 
 operations themselves. 
 
 Fig. 1. A perpendicular section of a Cupel or Test: c 
 the powdered bones kneaded with water, and 
 firmly pressed into the iron ring, of which a 
 section is seen at a b. There is a part at d 
 which is hollowed, or dished out, for the re- 
 ception of the metal to be tested. 
 
 Fig. 2. A Muff el, in which all articles are placed which 
 are to undergo the operation of a strong fire, 
 free from smoke, such as enamelled work, 
 stained glass, &c. 
 
 Fig. 3. An Ingot-Mould, into the grooves of which 
 melted metals are poured. 
 
 Fig. 4. A Retort, made either of glass or earthen-ware, 
 and used in various distillations. 
 
 Fig. 5. A Crucible. 
 
 Fig. 6. An Iron Cone, inverted, with a handle and foot, 
 into which metals, and other results of opera- 
 tions, are occasionally directed to be poured. 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV. &l 
 
 Fig. 7. A Reverberating Furnace. 
 
 a, The ash-hole door. 
 
 b, The fire-place door. 
 
 c c c c, Registers, to regulate the heat. 
 
 d f The dome, or reverberatory, 
 
 e, The conical funnel. 
 
 f The retort in the furnace. 
 
 gt The receiver. 
 
 h lit Iron bars to sustain the retort. 
 Fig. 8. A Furnace for colouring of Foils, where the 
 > hand is represented in the act of performing 
 
 the operation. See the article " Foil-making" 
 Fig. 9. A long-necked Glass Alembic. 
 
 A, The body of the matrass. 
 
 B, The neck of the matrass. 
 
 C, The head of the alembic. 
 Fig. 10. A Glass Alembic. 
 
 At The cucurbit. 
 
 B, The head. 
 
 C, The aperture in the head, with the stopple. 
 
 D, The beak. 
 
 Fig. 11. A Bolt-head, or cap, which is affixed on the 
 upper opening of a still. A still of this kind 
 nearly resembles the reverberating furnace ex- 
 ternally, fig. 7. — d, which is there the dome, 
 may be supposed to be the upper half of the 
 body of the still, the under half being hid 
 within the cavity of the fire-place ; and in lieu 
 of the conical funnel e, is substituted the above 
 bolt-head. The exact proportions between the 
 opening of the still, and the neck of the bolt- 
 head, are not preserved in the plate, because 
 the furnace would be, by this, too large for 
 the work, or, on the Contrary, the bolt-head 
 would be too small. 
 
 Fig 
 
62 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Fig. 12. A Melting Furnace, with its parts, A. B* C> 
 D. F, taken from " Cramer's Art of Assaying 
 Metals." We shall be very particular in the 
 account of this furnace, as it is extremely well 
 constructed, and usefuL 
 
 Form and Dimensions of this Furnace. 
 
 The melting furnace is made of iron-plates, the inner 
 surfaces of which are covered with lute*. The cavity of 
 it may be formed according to an elliptical mould. 1st,.. 
 Make a hollow ellipsis, the focusses 12 inches asunder, 
 and the ordinate 5 inches long ; cut it off in both its 
 focusses, that it may assume the figure A. 2dly, Make in 
 the hollow body, near its lower aperture, four holes, eight 
 lines in diameter, and directly opposite (c, c,). 3dly, 
 Fasten two flat iron-rings (d,) almost an inch and a half 
 broad, at both the upper and the lower inward edge of 
 this oval cavity ; and fill the inside of it with small iron 
 hooks, jutting out about six lines, and three or four inches 
 distant from each other. These, together with the rings 
 just mentioned, serve to fasten the lute. Thus will the 
 body of the furnace be made : only you must add at the 
 outside, two iron handles (e, e,) to be rivetted on each 
 side of it, that it may be taken hold of and moved. 4thly, 
 Make the cover of the furnace, which may be formed like 
 the part cut off from the ellipsis, see fg. B. Let this 
 have an opening (b) made in it, four inches high, five 
 inches broad at bottom, and four inches at the top ; and 
 adapt to this an iron door, hung on hinges, to shut close, 
 and having at the inside a border fastened to it, answering 
 exactly to the circumference of the door, and as promi- 
 nent inwardly as the thickness of the lute to be applied to 
 
 * Lute will be described at large in the next article. 
 
 it: 
 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV. 63 
 
 it : for the same purpose, let small iron hooks be fastened 
 to the inside of the door, which is intercepted by the said 
 border. And lest this cover should be burnt within by the 
 force of the fire, you must cover the inside of it with the 
 same lute ; therefore it must be likewise furnished with a 
 ring and iron hooks, as was done to the part A. Besides 
 this, you must fasten two iron handles on the outside of 
 this cover (fig. B. c c,) : then a round hole must be made 
 in the top of it, being three inches in diameter, prolonged 
 into a hollow tube (d) almost cylindrical, and a few inches 
 high, upon which an iron funnel may, in case of neces- 
 sity, be adapted. 5thly, The lining both of the body and 
 cover of the furnace is made of the same materials as be- 
 fore-mentioned. Moreover, you must make for this fur- 
 nace two moveable bottoms, viz. one to receive the ashes, 
 and admit the air ; the other to serve for reductions. The 
 first is made with an iron plate, formed into a hollow cy- 
 linder, open at top, and to be shut at bottom with an 
 orbicular iron plate, as with a basis, five inches high, pf 
 such a diameter, as that it may receive the inferior orifice 
 of the body of the furnace (fig. A) the depth of half an 
 inch, see fig. C : therefore, let an iron ring (c) half an 
 inch broad, fastened on the inside of the said bottom, the 
 distance of half an inch from its upper border, to support 
 the body of the furnace put into it. Again, let this but- 
 torn have a square door, four inches high, and as many- 
 inches broad, that may be shut closely, that y r ou may in- 
 crease or diminish the draught of the air, at pleasure. 
 On the left side of this door, about half the height of the 
 bottom, let a round hole (d) be made, one inch and a 
 half in a diameter, to admit the pipe of the bellows when 
 need requires. Next to this, let another bottom part be 
 made of the same matter and figure as the foregoing : let 
 it be likewise of the same diameter, but two inches higher, 
 so as to be seven inches high. Let it likewise have round 
 it a similar iron ring below its upper border, to support the 
 
 bod 
 
64 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 body of the furnace to be received in it. But let a hole, 
 two or three inches broad, and one inch high (fig. D. c,) 
 be cut out just below the ring in the side of this bottom 
 part; and let another round hole be made in the left side 
 of this first hole, fit to admit the pipe of the bellows (d). 
 Further, let another round hole like the foregoing (e) be 
 made on the right, one inch from the bottom : then let 
 the whole inside of this bottom part (the part above the 
 ring excepted) be over-laid with lute, and a bed be made 
 at the bottom, of a figure like, that represented by the line 
 (f, g, h,). The matter of which this is made is common 
 lute pulverized, passed through a sieve, and mixed with 
 such a quantity of sifted charcoal dust, as may be lightly 
 coherent, when moistened, mixed together, and pressed 
 down. Of this matter the bed is made at bottom, like a 
 segment of a sphere, having in the middle a small cavity 
 somewhat lower, and made extremely smooth. 
 
 Use of this Furnace, 
 
 This furnace is chiefly fit for fusions, which may be 
 made in it, with or without vessels. When you are to 
 melt with a vessel, put the body of the furnace (fig. A.) 
 upon the first bottom (fig. C\) which has a door to it, to 
 open or. hinges : introduce two iron bars through the holes 
 of the furnace, (fig. A. c, c,) ; put upon them the iron- 
 grate, which you are to introduce through the upper 
 mouth of the furnace : then put in the middle of this 
 grate a brick or square tile, very smooth, warmed, and 
 dry ; otherwise, the vessels put upon it, especially the 
 large ones, are easily split by the moist vapours coming 
 out of it by the heat. Let the height and width of these 
 be a small matter broader and higher than the bottom of 
 the crucible or vessel set up'on it ; for if it were less high, 
 the bottom of the vessel could not be sufficiently warmed ; 
 and if it were less broad, the vessel might easily fall 
 
 from 
 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV. 65 
 
 from it : then put upon this tile the vessel containing the 
 matter to be melted, and surround it immediately with 
 coals on every side, which must be ranged with care. 
 The fire is governed and regulated by opening or shutting 
 the door of the ash-hole (fig. C. b) ; you may excite it, 
 by putting the cover (fig. B) upon the body of the fur- 
 nace ; and if, besides, you put a funnel upon the cylin- 
 drical mouth (d) of this cover, the melting fire becomes 
 still more violent : but if you moreover introduce the bel- 
 lows through the hole of the bottom part (fig. C. d) ; and 
 the joint of the furnace with the bottom part and the 
 door of the ash-hole (unless it can be stopped very close 
 of itself) be tightly closed with Windsor loam, the fire 
 may be excited to so powerful a degree, as to surpass the 
 heat of a smith's forge. Another advantage of this me- 
 thod is, that the vessels are not so easily broken, because 
 the blowing of the bellows cannot affect them immedi- 
 ately, and because a fire perfectly equal is excited on 
 every side. One may easily examine with this apparatus, 
 how stones are affected by the violence of the fire only. 
 Now, if you have a mind to perform any operation with- 
 out a vessel, and with a naked fire ; for instance, to melt 
 and reduce copper, tin, lead, and iron, or their ores ; 
 the body of the furnace must be put upon the other pe- 
 distals, having a bed in it (fig. D). However, you must, 
 before this, open with a knife the oblong hole (c), and the 
 round one (d) of this bottom part, which are stopped 
 with the lute sticking to the inside : then you apply at the 
 round hole (d), on the left side, the bellows, in such 
 manner that the nozzle of it being directed obliquely 
 downwards, may blow strongly against the bed {f,g,h,) : 
 by this means, all the ashes that fall into the bed are 
 blown away, and the strength of the fire determined to 
 such a degree, that all the melted bodies that fall into 
 the said bed, remain in their state of fusion ; and were it 
 otherwise, the melted bodies would immediately wax 
 vol. i, f eold, 
 
66 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 cold, and adhere in grains to the bed, whereas they ought 
 to have melted into one regular mass. The oblong hole 
 in the fore part of this bottom part (c) serves to discover, 
 by means of a poker, whether the matter in the bed be 
 melted or not : it serves likewise to take away through it 
 whatever might stop the bellows, and in some cases to 
 take away the scoria: then you put, first, coals into the 
 furnace, one span high, and blow them well with the 
 bellows, to make them burn, that the bed may be very 
 hot before the matter to be melted is put in ; for if this is 
 not previously done, the melted mass seldom runs into a 
 regains, but remains dispersed among the scoria, which 
 soon grow hard. The bed being well heated, and fresh 
 coals added to the fire, put into it such quantity of the 
 matter to be melted as cannot hinder the fire from being 
 carried to the requisite degree ; which cannot be deter- 
 mined otherwise than by experience : again, put fresh 
 coals, and upon them another quantity of the matter to 
 be melted ; they may be, like strata, one upon another : 
 but if the mass, once melted, could not long sustain the 
 strength of the fire, or if you had a mind to melt a greater 
 quantity of the matter than what can be contained in the 
 bed, you must open the round lower hole (fig. D, e,) that 
 you may make a channel passing from that hole through 
 the lute, and reaching to the small cavity at the bottom of 
 the bed (g) : to this hole, at the outside, apply an earthen 
 dish like the bed within, or any other proper recipient, 
 surrounded with burning coals, into which the matter 
 melted, running from the bed through the hole «(fig. D. t) 
 may be collected, as is represented by figure E. 
 
 OBSERVATION. 
 
 Furnaces of the foregoing description, together with 
 crucibles, black-lead pots, and many other chemical appa- 
 ratus, were formerly imported, from Germany, at great 
 
 cost 
 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV. 67 
 
 cost and trouble. They are now made in England *, 
 and with considerable advantages, being more portable, 
 cheaper, and readier. A complete furnace, capable of 
 being worked in a parlour chimney, may be had, from 
 £. 3, to a higher cxpence, which will create little trouble, 
 and will require no assistance from the bricklayer. 
 
 OF LUTES. 
 
 In many chemical operations, the vessels must be co- 
 vered with something to preserve them from the violence 
 of the fire, from being broken or melted, and also to close 
 exactly their joinings to each other, to retain the sub- 
 stances which they contain when they are volatile and 
 reduced to vapour. <For this purpose, several matters are 
 employed, called in general lutes. 
 
 The lutes with which glass and earthen-ware retorts are 
 covered, ought to be composed of nearly equal parts of 
 coarse sand and refractory clay. These matters are to be 
 well mixed with water and a little hair, so as to form a 
 liquid paste, with which vessels are to be covered, layer 
 upon layer, till it is of the required thickness. The sand 
 mixed with the clay is necessary in this lute, to prevent the 
 cracks which are occasioned by the contracting of clay 
 during its drying, which it always does when it is pure. 
 The hair serves also to bind the parts of the lute, and to 
 keep it applied to the vessel ; for, notwithstanding the sand 
 is introduced into it, some cracks are always formed, which 
 would be likely to tumble off in pieces. 
 
 The lutes with which the joinings of vessels are closed, 
 are of different kinds, according to the nature of the ope- 
 rations to be made, and of the substances to be distilled in 
 
 * They may be had, of all sizes and prices, of Mess. Pugh and 
 Speck, at their manufactory, at the bottom of Booth Street, 
 Spital Fields. 
 
 f 2 these 
 
63 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 these vessels. When vapours of watery liquors, and such 
 as are not corrosive, are to be contained, it is sufficient to 
 surround the joining of the receiver to the nose of the 
 alembic, or of the retort, with slips of paper or linen, 
 covered with a tough paste of flour and water. In such 
 cases also, slips of wet bladder, which will affix them- 
 selves close to the parts, are highly convenient. When 
 more penetrating and dissolving vapours are to be contain- 
 ed, a lute is to be employed of quick-lime slaked by the 
 air, and beat into a liquid paste with whites of eggs. This 
 paste is to be spread on linen slips, which are to be ap- 
 plied exactly to the joining of the vessels. This lute is 
 convenient ; it easily dries, becomes solid, and sufficiently 
 firm. Lastly, when saline, acid, and corrosive vapours are 
 to be contained, we must then have recourse to the lute 
 called fat lute. This lute is made by forming into a paste 
 some dried clay finely powdered, sifted through a fine 
 lawn sieve, and moistened with water, and then by beat- 
 ing this paste well in a mortar with boiled linseed oil, i. e. 
 linseed oil which has been made drying by boiling it with 
 litharge — sold by the colourmen. This lute will take and 
 retain the form that is given it. It is generally rolled in 
 cylinders of a convenient size. These are to be applied, 
 by flattening them, to the joinings of the vessels, which 
 ought to be perfectly dry, because the least moisture would 
 prevent the lute from adhering. When the joinings are 
 well closed with this fat lute, the whole is to be covered 
 with slips of linen, spread with lute of lime and whites of 
 eggs. These slips are to be bound round with pack-thread. 
 The second lute is necessary to keep on the fat lute, be- 
 cause this latter remains soft, and does not become solid 
 enougfr to stick on alone. 
 
 PART 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 69 
 
 PART II. 
 
 A VARIETY OF 
 
 CURIOUS AND VALUABLE EXPERIMENTS 
 
 ON 
 
 GOLD AND SILVER-, 
 
 SHEWING THE METHOD OF TESTING, REFINING, SEPARATING, 
 ALLAYING, AND TOUGHENING THOSE METALS; TOGETHER 
 •WITH OTHER RECEIPTS, FOR GILDING, &C. 
 
 PREVIOUS to entering upon the several detached re- 
 ceipts upon gold and silver, it may be proper to give 
 a brief sketch of metallurgy ; or, in other words, " The 
 art of extracting and purifying of metals, in the great 
 way." 
 
 After trial has been made on a small scale (which is 
 called an Assay) that any particular mine is likely to be 
 profitable, the workmen proceed as follows : They dig a 
 perpendicular square pit, large enough to admit ladders, 
 whereby they may descend. Across the mouth of this pit, 
 which is called a shaft, an axis is usually laid, for the pur- 
 pose of raising buckets loaded with the mineral ; and 
 pumps are also placed, for carrying off the drainage water. 
 If the depth of the mine be so great as to exceed the due 
 
 proportion 
 
70 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 proportion of the £rst square pit, an horizontal drift is 
 formed, at the end of which a new shaft is sunk, and so 
 on alternately till they reach the bottom of the ore-mine. 
 The drifts, which resemble galleries in some measure, are 
 propped up by art, if the stratum through which they pass 
 is of too crumbly a texture to support itself. Regular 
 supplies of fresh air ought at all times to be kept up. 
 Sometimes it is practicable to open an immediate passage 
 to the plane below ; but if this cannot be effected, a new 
 shaft is sunk at that part of the drift or gallery which is 
 furthest from the former shaft, so that if one of these is 
 higher than the other, the air easily circulates. When, 
 however, they are equally high, a fire is kindled in a fur- 
 nace over the mouth of one of the shafts, and thus a sup- 
 ply of air is gained. Again, the pumps which are usually 
 employed to take off the drainage water are sometimes 
 insufficient for the purpose, for a sudden burst of water 
 will in a moment inundate the galleries ; in this case, the 
 workmen, having warning by the peculiar sound of the 
 rock when it is struck, cut the rock to give vent to the 
 water, and retreat behind a door which they have pre- 
 pared, which shuts out the fluid from overtaking them. — 
 Mines are subject to elastic vapours, which are extremely 
 dangerous to the workmen : their effects are prevented by 
 rapid currents of fresh air, or by detonation. 
 
 When the mineral is brought out of the mine, it is 
 pounded, washed, roasted, melted and refined. For 
 pounding it, large knockers are moved by some strong 
 mechanical power ; and after it is pounded, it is put on 
 inclined tables, to be washed, that the water may carrv off 
 the gangue, matrix, or immediate bed of the ore. When 
 ores contain sulphur they should be roasted in the open 
 air, otherwise they may be roasted in the furnaces in which 
 they are to be afterwards melted. Some ores will melt by 
 themselves ; others require a flux for fusing them, and 
 xnust be brought in contact with charcoal. The furnaces 
 
 which 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 71 
 
 which arc employed arc of various kinds ; but, sometimes, 
 the same furnace will answer two purposes. Although 
 metals are by these means reduced to a metallic state, yet 
 they are frequently mixed together, of various kinds, and 
 they therefore require some further processes to separate 
 them. 
 
 OF GOLD. 
 
 Gold, which has been termed sol, the suit*, and king 
 
 of metals, is a perfect metal, of a splendid yellow colour, 
 and not liable to alteration. When gold is very pure it 
 loses in water between a nineteenth and a twentieth of its 
 weight. A cubic foot of gold weighs 1326 pounds: its 
 hardness is not very considerable, being in an intermediate 
 state between the hard and soft metals. It is extremely 
 malleable, and spreads readily under the hammer; and by 
 the hand of a skilful artist may be wrought into any shape 
 or form. So wonderful and surprising is its ductility as to 
 nearly exceed belief. From absolute experiments, an 
 ounce of gold may be beaten into a leaf that will cover 
 ten acres of ground ; and an ounce of gold mav be made 
 also to cover, perfectly, a silver wire that is 444 leagues, 
 or 1332 miles, or 2,344,320 yards, or 7,032,960 feet, or 
 84,395,520 inches, in length. A single grain of pure gold 
 has been extended over an area that is more than fourteen 
 hundred inches square ; and a wire of the same metal, 
 only one-tenth of an inch in diameter, has been found so 
 tenacious as to support five hundred pounds weight, with- 
 out breaking. Long hammering will make it rather brittle, 
 but heat soon restores its ductility, which is termed neal- 
 ing or annealing. The colour of gold sometimes varies, 
 but this is owing to some mixture or alloy. When it is 
 pure, it is called gold of 24 carats ; and as the number of 
 earats decrease, so much the more is the alloy (generally 
 of silver or copper) ; thus, one quarter of silver, and one 
 quarter of copper, to one half of gold, incorporated to- 
 gether, 
 
72 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 gether, make a gold of 1 2 carats ; and this is specified on 
 the bars or ingots. Gold is unalterable by air or water ; 
 and the dulness which may appear occasionally on its sur- 
 face is entirely owing to extraneous matters, and not to 
 rust. The action even of fire, long continued, makes no 
 alteration of its substance. When it has acquired a vivid 
 redness, it soon melts ; but it emits no fumes, and suffers 
 no loss of weight whilst in fusion. Kunckel kept gold in 
 a glass-house furnace for a month ; and Mr. Boyle kept it 
 in a similar furnace for a much longer time, without the 
 loss of a single grain. Simple chemical agents are unable 
 to make any impression on gold, but compound bodies, 
 such as aqua regia and liver of sulphur*, dissolve it power- 
 fully. Gold has a much greater affinity for mercury than 
 any other metallic substance has, and it will therefore de- 
 compose amalgams of any other metals with mercury. 
 The amalgam of gold with mercury is of a higher and 
 more solid colour in proportion to the greater quantity of 
 gold. This amalgam is liquified by heat, and will crytal- 
 lize on cooling, like most of the compounds of this kind. 
 It is used principally by the workmen in gilding in water- 
 gold, termed water-gilders. An alloy of silver with gold 
 produces green-gold, which is used by the jewellers. 
 
 As gold is a standard, used by most nations, to repre- 
 sent the value of the productions of nature and art, it is 
 highly necessary and important to discover its extreme 
 purity, and to be able to detect any fraud which may have 
 been used to encrease its bulk. Chemists are in the pos- 
 session of a method of testing it, and this peculiar process 
 is termed cupellation ; which is as follows. 
 
 * These old names are retained, in lieu of nitro-muriatic acid and 
 sulphure of potash of the new nomenclature, because they are sold 
 by these names in the shops, and are so called by the workmen in 
 gold and silver. Ed. 
 
 Method 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. IS 
 
 Method of testing Gold by Cupellalion : used also in 
 testing of Silver. 
 
 The process of cupellation is the art of destroying, vi- 
 trifying and scorifying all the imperfect metals which are de- 
 structible, and which are extraneous to pure gold and silver. 
 We see then, that the examination, or assay, of the purity 
 of gold or silver, separately considered (for when they are 
 mixed, and purified from their several ores, on a large 
 scale, it is termed refining) is no other than ascertaining 
 the difference of weight between the residue of the metal, 
 after the operation, and its primitive state. A quantity of 
 lead, proportionate to the supposed quantity of alloy, is 
 mixed with either of the purer metals. This mixture is 
 put into flat porous vessels, called cupels, made of the 
 powder of calcined bones kneaded with water ; or the 
 latter composition is crammed into an iron ringle, see 
 plate iv. fig. 1 . After this, it is exposed, for a length of 
 time, to the strongest heat of a reverberating furnace, till 
 the imperfect metal, lead, is totally scorified, or, till the 
 gold, or silver, which ever is the subject of the operation, 
 assume a dazzling brightness. At this time it will be 
 found, that the bone ashes have absorbed the impurities, 
 and the pure metal forms a bright metallic button in the 
 centre of the cupel. In determining the quantity of im- 
 purity the purer metal contained, it is considered as con- 
 sisting of twelve parts, which are called penny -weights, 
 each of which are divided into twenty-four grains. If the 
 mass under consideration has lost in the cupel only the 
 twelfth-part of its weight, it is said to be of eleven penny- 
 weights ; if it has lost only a twenty-fourth part of its 
 weight, it is said to be of eleven penny-weights and twelve 
 grains fine. 
 
 Of 
 
74- THE LABORATORY". 
 
 Of separating Gold from Silver. 
 
 Although gold and silver may be perfectly separated 
 from the more imperfect metals by the afore-mentioned 
 process, yet they cannot be separated from each other 
 by the same means, because they equally withstand the 
 heat of the furnace : other methods, therefore, are em- 
 ployed, which are termed parting, viz. bv solution, by ce- 
 mentation, and in the dry -jtaij \ oi which, separately, 
 
 Parting of Gold from Sliver, by Solution. 
 
 Parting by solution is usually termed parting by 
 aqua fortis. The aqua fortis, which is used for this pur- 
 pose, must be extremely pure, and free from any ad- 
 mixture of other acids, otherwise the other acids will 
 keep a part of the silver dissolved within themselves, 
 forming other compounds, which remaining mingled with 
 the gold, will keep some of the silver unpurified by the 
 process. Another material circumstance, beside the pu- 
 rity of the aqua fortis, is, a due knowledge of the pro- 
 portions of the two metals to each other ; for if the 
 gold exceed the silver in quantity, the latter will be co- 
 vered by the former, and thus be guarded from the ac- 
 tion of the acid; which, it should be observed, is not a 
 solvent of gold. When assayers, therefore, want to know 
 the proportion of gold to silver in the mass, they rub 
 the mass upon a touch-stone., so as to leave a mark upon 
 it; they then make similar marks with their proof needles 
 (which are needles composed of gold and silver allayed 
 together in graduated proportions), and by comparing the 
 colour of the several marks, they discover the probable 
 scale of admixture. Having ascertained this point, they 
 add more silver, if necessary, and the mixed metal is 
 cither rolled up spirally into cornets, or is reduced into 
 
 grains. 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. IS 
 
 grains, and is placed in a matrass (See plate 4.) ; the 
 aqua fortis is now to be poured upon it, in the propor- 
 tion, by weight, of three parts to two of the silver, and 
 the solution is to be assisted by the heat of a sand-bath. 
 When no further solution goes on, the aqua fortis is tho- 
 roughly charged with the silver, and is to be decanted 
 off; fresh aqua fortis is to be added, and to be repeated 
 to a third time, as before : the gold is now to be washed 
 with boiling water, which will make it perfectly pure, if 
 the operation has been duly performed, and this gold is 
 called gold of parting. 
 
 Parting of Gold from Silver, by Cementation. 
 
 Parting by cementation, which is an appropriate term, is 
 also called parting by concentration, and is usually em- 
 ployed when the quantity of gold is so great to that of 
 the silver, as to render it a difficult task by aqua fortis. 
 The mixed metal to be cemented is to be reduced to 
 plates, as thin as small pieces of money. At the bottom 
 of the crucible, or melting pot, is to be laid a stratum of 
 cement, composed of four parts of bricks powdered and 
 sifted, one part of green vitriol, i. e. copperas, calcined to 
 redness, and one part of common salt ; about the thick- 
 ness of a finger in depth. Upon this stratum a layer of 
 plates of the metal is to be placed, and then another 
 stratum of cement, and so on till the crucible is filled. 
 It is now to be placed in a furnace, or oven, (after a 
 top has been luted on the crucible) and exposed for 
 twenty-four hours, till it is gradually made red hot, but by 
 no means to be melted. The fire is now left to go 
 out, and the metal is permitted to cool, that it may be 
 separated from the cement, and boiled repeatedly in 
 large quantities of pure water. This gold is afterwards 
 to be tried on a touch-stone ; and if it is not sufficiently 
 purified, the process must be formed a second time. 
 
 By 
 
16 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 By the above method we see how powerfully silver h 
 dissolved by marine acid, when in a state of subtile va- 
 pour, which is disengaged from the common salt of the 
 cement. Instead of common salt, nitre may be used, as 
 the nitrous acid readily dissolves silver ; but the mixing 
 of common salt and nitre together, is highly injudicious, 
 because the joint acids are able to dissolve some of the gold 
 with the silver. Whatever silver has been separated will 
 now remain in the cement, but it may be freed from this 
 by lead, in the method described in cupeUation. 
 
 Parting of Gold from Silver, in the dry Way. 
 
 Besides the two former methods of parting, there is a 
 third, which is termed dry parting, or parting by fusion, 
 which is performed by means of sulphur. This dry part- 
 ing is troublesome, and even expensive, and ought not 
 to be undertaken but when the silver far exceeds the 
 gold, because sulphur will not separate it so easily as 
 aqua fortis, and will, therefore, require a further appli- 
 cation to cupellation and solution. 
 
 Before we treat of silver separately, we shall mention 
 the purification of gold by antimony. 
 
 Purification of Gold by Antimony. 
 
 Gold is purified from its allays by melting it in a cru- 
 cible that will hold twice its quantity at least, and throw- 
 ing upon it, whilst in fusion, twice its weight of crude 
 antimony. The crucible is then to be covered, and the 
 whole is to be kept in a melting state for some mi- 
 nutes ; and when the surface sparkles, it is quickly to 
 be poured into an inverted cone (see plate 4.) which has 
 been previously heated and greased. By striking the 
 cone on the ground, the descent of the metal will be 
 assisted, and will come out, compactly, when cold, by 
 
 simply 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. Ti 
 
 simply inverting it. The compact mass consists of two 
 substances : the upper part is the sulphur of the crude 
 antimony united with the impure allay ; and the lower- 
 part is the gold united to some of the regulus of an- 
 timony, proportionable to the quantity of metals which 
 have been separated from the gold, and which are now 
 united with the sulphur of the antimony. This regulus 
 of gold may be separated from the regulus of antimony 
 by simple exposure to a less heat than will melt the 
 gold, because antimony is volatile in such a heat, and 
 is then dissipated. If the gold is not sufficiently purified 
 by this first process, (which is often the case) it must 
 be repeated a second and even a third time. When a 
 part is dissipated, more heat is required to keep the 
 gold in fusion ; therefore the fire must be encreased to- 
 wards the end of the operation. The purification is 
 completed by means of a little nitre thrown into the 
 crucible, which effectually calcines the remaining regulus 
 of antimony. Sometimes after these operations, the 
 gold is found to be deprived of much of its usual duc- 
 tility, which, however, is easily restored to it by fusing 
 it with nitre and borax. 
 
 OF SILVER.' 
 
 Silver, called Luna and Diana, by the chemists, is a 
 metal of a white colour, and lively brilliancy. It has 
 neither taste nor smell, when perfectly pure. Its spe- 
 cific gravity is, although considerable, nearly one half 
 less than that of gold, as it loses in the hydrostatic ba- 
 lance about an eleventh part of its weight. A cubic foot 
 of this metal weighs seven hundred and twenty pounds. 
 The tenacity of silver is also very considerable, for a 
 wire of this metal, only one-tenth of an inch in dia- 
 meter, will sustain a weight of two hundred and seventy 
 pounds, without breaking. Although gold exceed it in 
 
 ductility, 
 
78 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 ductility, yet it may be drawn into wires as fine as hairs, 
 and extended into very thin leaves ; so thin, that a 
 grain only may be spread under the hammer, and be 
 made to contain an ounce of water. It is inferior even 
 to copper in hardness and elasticity, and next after it 
 the most sonorous. Under the hammer it acquires a 
 hardness, which it may be deprived of by heating. It 
 seems to be as fixed and indestructible as gold. Kunckel 
 kept silver, as well as gold, in a glass-house furnace 
 during a month, without alteration. Silver is apt to 
 tarnish, and even to turn black, but it does not lose its 
 property of being brightened to brilliancy. All the strong 
 acids are capable of dissolving it, but the muriatic and 
 vitriolic are less powerful than the nitric, or aqua fortis. 
 
 Silver may be purified from an allay with other inferior 
 metals, by treating it with lead, and also with nitre • the 
 former of which methods is termed cupellation or re- 
 fining, and the latter purification by nitre. As we have 
 given a description of the one, under the article gold, 
 we shall now proceed to treat briefly of the other. 
 
 Purification of Silver by Kit re. 
 
 Silver that is to be purified by nitre ought first to 
 be granulated,* and then mixed with a fourth part of 
 its weight of dry nitre, an eighth part of potash, and 
 a little common glass, all in powder. This mixture is 
 to be put into a good crucible, of such a size as to be 
 only two-thirds filled with it ; and it is then to be co- 
 vered with a small inverted crucible, with a small hole in 
 the bottom, and luted on fast. Several, thus disposed^ 
 may be placed in a furnace, to which a ready access 
 of air can be admitted, in order to melt the silver. Char- 
 
 * Granulation is easily performed, by pouring, leisurely, the 
 melted metal between the twigs of a new birch-broom, whilst they 
 are agitated, in u pan of water. 
 
 coal 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 79 
 
 coal is now to surround the crucibles even with the tops, 
 but not above them ; and the fire is to be kindled, and the 
 vessels made moderately red, a lighted coal being placed 
 over the little hole of the inverted crucible. If a shining 
 light be observed round this hole, and a slight hissing 
 noise be heard, the operation proceeds well. Let the 
 fire be kept up equally till the appearance cease, when it 
 is to be encreased to melt the metal thoroughly, and 
 then removed from the furnace. The larger crucible is 
 to be broken when it is cold, and the silver will be 
 found at the bottom, covered with a green alkaline 
 scoria. If the metal be not sufficiently pure and ductile, 
 the operation must be again repeated. Some silver is apt 
 to be lost in this operation, by the swelling and detonation 
 of the nitre, which often forces it through the hole in 
 the upper crucible, unless great care be used ; nevertheless, 
 this method has its advantages, being much more expe- 
 ditious than cupellation. 
 
 We now proceed to detail some of the various methods 
 that are known and practised by workmen in gold and 
 silver. 
 
 To prepare a Crucible, so as not to contract any Gold though 
 it be for several Hours in the greatest Heat. 
 
 Take a good crucible, that will stand the fire, warm it 
 a little, and smear or rub it over with a rhind of bacon, 
 both inside and outside ; then put it in a warm place to 
 dry ; when dry, repeat rubbing it over again as before, and 
 let it dry : this do for three or four times. This done, 
 warm your crucible again, and smear it, both out and in- 
 side, plentifully, with soap ; then put it to dry ; and before 
 you use it, put it on a charcoal fire, and the soap will burn 
 in a flame ; when it is burnt out, you may use it for melt- 
 ing gold or silver, and it will not attract these metals, as 
 your common crucible will. 
 
 Other 
 
80 THE LABORATORY 
 
 Othw Receipts for Cements. 
 
 Take fine brick-dust one part, and finely pounded salt,; 
 one part ; moisten and mix them with vinegar, and fill a 
 crucible half full j then stratify plates of gold, or gold coin, 
 with the aforesaid mixture, or paste, and press it close 
 down ; repeat this as you have occasion, and put a thick 
 laver at top ; then cover and lute the crucible close, that 
 nothing may evaporate : when this is done, fix your cru- 
 cible upon a high brick, in the middle of the furnace ; give 
 it a violent heat, for twelve hours, and the salt will con- 
 sume the impurities of the gold, and attract it into the 
 brick-dust. Or, 
 
 Take, in weight, of nitre, of alum, and of sal-ammo- 
 niac, one part ; two parts of vitriol ; four parts of salt j 
 cither parts of brick-dust, and mix them with vinegar ; 
 stratify this mixture and the gold, as before directed, in 
 the crucible ; cover and lute it well, and give it a vio- 
 lent fire for an hour or two, and let it cool of itself; but 
 before it is quite cold, take out the gold, fling it into white- 
 wine vinegar, and boil it therein ; then brush it ; and 
 after you have done this, heat it red hot upon an iron 
 plate. Oi\ 
 
 Take blood-stone two ounces, rust of iron, calcined 
 vitriol, sal-ammoniac, verdigrise, one ounce of each ; ar- 
 menian bole, tutty, nitre, alum, a quarter of an ounce of 
 each ; moisten this mixture three or four times with vi- 
 negar ; let it dry between while ; then grind it fine, and 
 proceed as directed ; give it a strong fire for three hours, 
 and repeat it three times. 
 
 To bring the silver out of the cementing powder, or 
 brick-dust, mix it with glass and granulated lead ; let it 
 melt together ; put it to the test, that is, test it by cu- 
 pellation, and you will have the silver again which was 
 in the gold. 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 81 
 
 To separate Gold and Silver out of the Sweepings. 
 
 Take sweepings ; put them into a pan well glazed ; add 
 a proportionable quantity of mercury to them ; mix the 
 dust and mercury, with your hands, well together, till 
 you think the mercury has extracted all the gold and 
 silver from the dust ; then put the mass into a pie^e of 
 wash-leather, and wring out the mercury ; what remains 
 in the leather will be like a paste ; put that into an alembic* 
 and drive the mercury from it into a dish with water, 
 which put under the head to receive it ; what remains, 
 put to the test ; refine it with lead, and separate it with 
 aquafortis. 
 
 To separate the Gold from gilt Copper. 
 
 Take four ounces of sulphur, two ounces of sal-am- 
 moniac, one ounce of nitre, half an ounce of borax ; 
 grind them fine, with strong vinegar, to a paste, which 
 lay thin over the gilded copper; give it a gentle heat, 
 until the paste is burned away, and the copper looks 
 black ; then take it out, and with a knife, or other such 
 instrument, scrape off the gold in a clean dish, and it 
 will come off very easy. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take the root of bertram;* cut it fine ; pour one quart 
 of strong white-wine vinegar upon it ; put it into aboiiing- 
 pot ; cover it with a lid ; lute it well, and let it boil a little ; 
 then take it off the fire, and let it cool. After this, take a 
 copper cup, or any other thing that is gilt ; neal it well ; 
 quench it in that liquid, and the gold will fali off from 
 
 * Not a commonly known root. Ed. 
 vol. I c the 
 
S2 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the copper to the bottom ; wash it, and then melt it in 
 a crucible. Or, 
 
 Take fine sal-ammoniac two parts, and sulphur one part ; 
 grind them well together ; anoint with linseed oil ; strew 
 the powder upon it ; hold the gilt piece to the fire, over an 
 earthen dish, with water ; strike it with an iron, and the 
 gold will fall off into the dish. Or, 
 
 Take nitre and borax, one ounce of each ; dissolve them 
 in a little quantity of water ; then neal your copper, and 
 quench it in this water ; repeat this several times, and the 
 gold will fall to the bottom. 
 
 To separate Copper from Silver, or any other Allay. 
 
 Take half an ounce of verditer, or Spanish green ; 
 white vitriol and sulphur, one ounce of each ; alum half 
 an ounce ; boil all together in vinegar, in a glass ; put 
 in your mixt silver ; this will dissolve and extract the 
 copper, and the silver remain whole. 
 
 To extract the Silver out of a Ring that is thick gilded, so 
 as the Gold may remain intire : a curious Secret. 
 
 Take a silver ring that is thick gilt ; make a little hole 
 through the gold into the silver ; then put the ring into aqua 
 fortis in a warm place ; it will dissolve the silver, and the 
 gold will remain whole. 
 
 To make brittle Gold malleable. 
 
 Put gold into a crucible, and give it a brisk fire in a 
 wind furnace, or before the bellows ; when the gold is 
 ready to melt, fling gently upon it some good, dry, and 
 clear nitre, which will presently flame, and promote the 
 fusion of the gold, and will spread and cover the gold ; 
 
 then 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 83 
 
 then cast it into an ingot, which before has been warmed 
 and anointed with wax. Or, 
 
 A good way to make gold malleable, is this : take human 
 excrements, dry and calcine them in a crucible to a black 
 powder ; when the gold is in fusion, fling some of this 
 powder upon it, and give it a brisk fire ; when the powder 
 is consumed, cast the gold into an ingot, and it will be 
 fine and malleable : if you extract the salt from the black 
 powder before you use it, it will still have a better effect, 
 and that with a less quantity. 
 
 To make Silver that is brittle, pliable. 
 
 Take a mark of silver, half an ounce of glass, one 
 ounce of nitre, a quarter of an ounce of borax, half an 
 ounce of sal gemnice, or rock salt ; put all this into a cru- 
 cible, and cover it with a lesser one that has a vent-hole 
 at the bottom, and lute it well ; then give it a brisk fire, 
 and continue it till you think the silver is dissolved ; then 
 cover the crucible all over with live coals, except the vent- 
 hole, and leave it to cool : take off the upper crucible, 
 and you will find therein hanging all the impurities the 
 silver contained, and which occasioned its hardness : then 
 melt the silver again in a crucible, and throw into it half 
 an ounce of tartar finely ground, and, when in fusion, cast 
 it into an ingot, and you will have fine and malleable silver. 
 
 To give Gold, Silver, or other Metals, a quick fusion. 
 
 Take calcined Venetian soap, borax, glass-gall, or Ve- 
 nice glass, an equal quantity ; grind and mix it well to- 
 gether ; this will cause a quick fusion. Or, 
 
 Take yellow amber, borax, glass-gall and soap, equal 
 quantities ; grind them together to a powder; and what you 
 design to melt, let be done with that composition. 
 
 G 2 IV 
 
84 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To try whether granulated Silver contains any Gold. 
 
 Take some silver grains, and make strokes with them 
 on a touch-stone ; then, with the end of a feather, let 
 fall a drop or two of aqua fortis upon the strokes, and 
 let them continue upon it for a little while ; if it con- 
 tains gold, you will see some remains of the strokes, but 
 if not, the strokes will vanish. 
 
 To amalgamate Gold, or to mix it with Mercury, which 
 is of use to Gilders. 
 
 Take a pennyweight of fine gold, beat it into very thin 
 small plates ; heat them in a crucible red hot ; then take 
 it from the fire, and pour upon them eight pennyweights 
 of pure quicksilver ; stir the matter with a little iron rod, 
 and when you see it begin to rise in fumes, which quickly 
 happens, cast your mixture into an earthen pan filled with 
 water, it will coagulate, and become tractable ; wash it 
 several times to take away its blackness ; thus you have 
 an amalgam ; from which separate that mercury which 
 is not united, by pressing it between your fingers, after 
 you have wrapt it up in a linen cloth. 
 
 Gilding upon Silver, Brass, Copper, and Iron. 
 
 If you would gild over silver, take of the above amal- 
 gam, and with it rub that which you design to gild, close, 
 every where, that it may receive gold all over ; then hold 
 it over a charcoal fire, or lay it upon it, and it will cause 
 the quicksilver to fly away ; after which, you may heighten 
 the colour with gilding wax, as shall be directed. 
 
 A par- 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 85 
 
 J particular Secret to gild Silver to the greatest Perfection. 
 
 Take crocus veneris* and vinegar, add to them quick- 
 silver, heat them together, till they come to the consistence 
 of a paste ; with this quicken or anoint the silver you in- 
 tend to gild, and wherever you quicken, it will turn of a 
 reddish gold colour, which doth not happen when done 
 with quicksilver only, for then it looks white : this is a cu- 
 rious secret ; you may gild upon this paste with leaf-gold, 
 which otherwise would require to be ground ; it makes the 
 gilding look rich, and of an high colour. 
 
 Another advantageous Manner of gilding on Silver. 
 
 Take tartar one part, salt two parts ; pour water upon 
 them, and add some steel filings : boil the silver therein 
 until it becomes reddish ; and it will require only the third 
 part of what gold you would otherwise use. 
 
 A particular Method of Gilding, which may he done in a 
 Moment, better than with Quicksilver. 
 
 Take the finest gold ; dissolve it in aqua regia f, which 
 has been prepared with salt ; let the aqua regia be evapo- 
 
 * Take slips of copper, and quench them in urine ; repeat this 
 until it easily pulverizes. The powder you will find at the bottom 
 of the urine, which workmen term Crocus Veneris. 
 
 f Anna repa is a mixture of the nitric and muriatic acids. The 
 proportions vary, according to the nature of the work it is to be em- 
 ployed in ; some make it of equal parts, whilst others double one 
 or other of the acids, as experience in working has directed 
 them. — Aqua regia may be also made by dissolving in nitrous acid 
 any salt which contains the muriatic acid, viz. common salt, and 
 sal ammoniac. It must be kept in a phial closely flopped, to keep 
 in the suffocating fumes which are constantly rising. 
 
 rated 
 
86 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 rated to half the quantity ; then put the glass into a damp 
 cellar, on sand, and the gold will over night shoot into 
 crystals, which take out, and let them dissolve again in 
 distilled vinegar ; put it again upon the fire, and let the 
 half thereof evaporate, then put the glass again in the 
 cellar, as before, in moist sand, and over night the gold 
 will shoot into crystals. Dissolve these in rain water ; and 
 evaporate that to half the quantity, and again it will shoot 
 into crystals ; when this is done, take the crystaline gold, 
 grind it to powder with a knife, put that powder into the 
 white of an hard-boiled egg, after the yolk has been taken 
 out ; set it in a cool and damp place, and over night it will 
 dissolve into an oil : and what silver you anoint with it, 
 though ever so thin, drying it gently, you will find the 
 gilding of a perfectly high and fine colour. 
 
 Gilding after the Grecian Manner. 
 
 Take mercury-sublimate* and sal-ammoniac, of each 
 one ounce ; make a solution thereof in aqua fortis ; then 
 dissolve in it line gold, beaten very thin ; let this solution 
 evaporate over a fire until it becomes thickish ; dip in it a 
 silver wire, and if it comes out black, and, by nealing it 
 in the fire, turns out gilded, it is fit to be used for gilding 
 silver. 
 
 The true Italian gilding. 
 
 Take common vitriol four ounces, alum two ounces, 
 white vitriol one ounce, white lead one ounce, salt two 
 handfuls, river water one quart ; let it boil to half the quan- 
 tity, and let it stand until it settles and looks clear, then it 
 is fit for use. 
 
 * Mercury sublimate, orcorrofive sublimate, is mercury dissolved 
 by the muriatic acid ; and, by fire, raised to the top of a matrass, 
 or other veffel. 
 
 To 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 87 
 
 To deaden Quicksilver for Gilding. 
 
 Take pure quicksilver, i. e. free from any mixture of 
 lead ; put it into a matrass, and fling into it a handful of 
 fine white salt ; shake it well together, and let it stand for 
 two days ; then pour upon it strong vinegar ; let it rest a 
 .day, and you will find a good quicksilver for gilding, and 
 very cheap. 
 
 To boil Silver white. 
 
 First neal your silver on a charcoal fire, till it be- 
 comes a little reddish : then, having boiled it with an 
 equal quantity of salt and tartar, powdered, with water, 
 for a quarter of an hour, take it out and scratch-brush 
 it in clean water ; then take good tartar, tie it up close 
 in a paper, put it in the fire so long until it has done burn- 
 ing and smoking ; grind it to a fine powder, mix it with 
 clean water into a paste, and with it rub over your silver : 
 this done, neal it again, and quench it in cold water ; 
 brush what remains black upon it with a hair brush ; and 
 boil it for two minutes in tartar water ; then rince in clean 
 water, and, after you have wiped it with a dry rag, your 
 work will be done. 
 
 A Gold Powder. 
 
 Take leaf-gold, or any other thin beaten gold, to the 
 quantity of a penny-weight, or as much as you please ; 
 dissolve it in twice its weight of aqua regia. Let half the 
 solution evaporate in a sand heat ; then take dried linen 
 rags ; soak them in the remaining liquid ; dry them by a 
 gentle heat ; and burn them on a slow fire, in a crucible ; 
 the powder will remain at the bottom, and be of a yel- 
 lowish colour ; and with this the gilding is performed. 
 
 Another 
 
88 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Another for Cold Gilding. 
 
 Take half a pound of aqua fortis, put into it two 
 ounces of sal-ammoniac, finely pulverized ; let it dissolve 
 over a fire, and then filtrate it through a paper ; put it into 
 a matrass, with as much fine beaten gold as will weigh two 
 penny-weights ; set it on a slow lire, in order to dissolve the 
 gold into this aqua regia. "When this is done, add to it 
 two ounces of powdered sai-g amine, or rock salt, fine and 
 clear, and let it dissolve upon the fire ; then take fine 
 clean linen rags, each about a quarter of an ounce in 
 weight ; dip them into that liquid, until all the solution 
 is soaked ; and having dried them, burn them to a pow- 
 der, which preserve for use. When you gild any thing 
 with this powder, let the metal vou intend to gild be boiled 
 and scraped, that it may be clean and fresh ; wet a piece 
 of cork with spittle, or water, and with it take up some of 
 the powder, rubbing the places of the metal you are 
 about to gild, until it is yellow ; after which, brush and 
 polish it. You may use, instead of cork, a soft leather, 
 sewed or tied to the round end of a little stick. Or, 
 
 Take of the finest gold the quantity of two penny- 
 weights, and dissolve it in aqua regia ; add to this solu- 
 tion the weight of the gold of refined nitre ; let that 
 also dissolve ; this done, dip a fine little linen rag until it 
 has soaked up all ; dry it gently, and burn it to powder. 
 With this powder, and fresh water, gild your silver, by 
 rubbing it with a cork, or a leather fastened to the nob 
 end of a stick. 
 
 Another Powder to gild with. 
 
 Take refined gold ; beat it very thin ; make it into 
 little rolls ; fling it into aqua regia ; put it in a matrass over 
 a slow fire, until all the gold is dissolved, and the solution 
 
 is 
 
GOLD AND STLVER WORKS. 89 
 
 is turned of a yellow colour ; then throw into it some pul- 
 verized nitre, by little and little, (as much as it will con- 
 sume) : now take some long narrow slips of old fine linen, 
 draw them through the liquid, and when they are thoroughly 
 wet, hang them in the air to dry, in a glass bowl, or a 
 piece of a broken bottle, and, when dry, light them with 
 a coal, and let them thus, without flaming, consume to 
 ashes. With these ashes you may gild, rubbing it on the 
 silver with a piece of cork. Or, 
 
 Take a penny-weight of gold, with an equal weight of 
 nitre, and sal-ammoniac, all which put into a matrass, 
 with three quarts of aqua fortis ; then put the gold, neal- 
 ing hot, into it, and as soon as the gold is dissolved, 
 take some dry linen rags, dip them therein, dry and burn 
 them, by a candle, to tinder, and preserve it for use, as 
 has been said above. 
 
 A quickening Water. 
 
 Take one ounce of quicksilver, and as much aquafortis ; 
 let them be put together into a glass, and after the quick- 
 silver is dissolved, add to it five ounces of fresh water ; 
 warm it, and it will be fit for use. Or, 
 
 Take one ounce of aqua fortis ; put it into a matrass ; 
 add to it a quarter of an ounce of mercury, and let it dis- 
 solve ; then take fresh river water, and mix it with that in 
 the glass, and make it lukewarm : let it stand close shut up, 
 and you will have a good quickening water for gilding. 
 
 Another Water-gilding upon Silver. 
 
 Take copper-flakes, pour strong vinegar thereon, add 
 to it alum and salt, equal quantities of both ; set them on a 
 fire, and when the vinegar is boiled to a fourth part, throw 
 into it what metal you design to gild, and it will acquire a 
 copper colour. If you continue boiling it, it will change 
 
 into 
 
90 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 into a fine gold colour. This is a fine secret for goldsmiths 
 to gild silver, for the boiling it in that liquid gives the 
 gilding a high and rich colour. 
 
 A Water which will give Silver a Gold Colour. 
 
 Take sulphur and nitre, of each an equal quantity; 
 grind them together very fine, and put them into an un- 
 glazed vessel ; cover and lute it well ; then set it over a slow 
 fire for twenty-four hours, and what you find remaining, 
 put into a strong crucible, and let it dissolve ; then put it 
 into a phial, and whatever silver you anoint with it, will 
 have a gold colour. Or, 
 
 Take sulphur half a pound, nitre three quarters of a 
 pound, mix both together, and grind it fine, and proceed 
 as above, or set it twenty-four hours on hot ashes ; then 
 take it out and grind it again. Of this powder, take one 
 third ; mix it up with three quarterns of running water ; 
 mix it well, and you will have a red water, like blood, 
 which will tinge silver, copper, or brass of a fine gold co- 
 lour, after it has lain therein ten days. 
 
 A Method to work a Cup, one side Gold and the other Silver. 
 
 Take a piece of fine silver ; flat it, aud file it rough all 
 Qver on one side ; raise with a graver little points upon it. 
 Then take a piece of gold in proportion to what thick- 
 ness you would have it ; form it exactly to the dimen- 
 sions of the silver, in a flat square ; neal both the gold and 
 the silver red hot ; then lay them quick on one another, 
 and with a wooden hammer strike them gently together : 
 when thus you have united these two metals, you may 
 make thereof what you please ; one side will be silver 
 and the other gold. 
 
 To 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 91 
 
 To adorn Gold, Si her, or Brass, with Embellishments of 
 
 Glass. 
 
 Take fine pulverized Venice glass, of what colour you 
 please ; grind it upon a stone ; temper it with oil ; and 
 melt it over a clear charcoal fire ; it will look fine and 
 beautiful, espechllv if the ornaments are well designed on 
 the metal, previously to covering it with glass. 
 
 OF HEIGHTENING THE COLOUR OF GOLD AND 
 GILT WORKS. 
 
 Unwrought gold and silver want considerably of that 
 lustre and brightness they appear in at goldsmiths shops ; 
 for there they undergo several operations, and are height- 
 ened by gilding wax, colouring and helling. ; each of which 
 shall be separately explained. 
 
 Gilding Wax, nsed for Gold, or gilded IVork. 
 
 Take four ounces of clear wax, three-quarters of an 
 ounce of verditer, half an ounce of copper flakes, half an 
 ounce of red chalk, quarter of an ounce of alum ; melt 
 the wax, and put the other things, finely powdered, into 
 it, and stir it well together ; let it cool ; and form thereof 
 round sticks like sealing-wax : when you have occasion to 
 make use of it, first heat your gold, and then rub it over 
 with this wax ; then neal it, and draw it nimbly through 
 boiling hot water and tartar, and it will give the gold a 
 deep colour : 
 
 To 
 
THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To give Gold a high Colour. 
 
 Take clear wax one pound ; crocus of copper an ounce 
 and a half; sal-ammoniac, fine terra-verte and alum, one 
 ounce of each ; red chalk, half an ounce and one drachm ; 
 crocus martis and tutty, of each half an ounce ; nitre, two 
 drachms ; mix all these ingredients together, and after you 
 have pulverized them, stir and mix it well with melted 
 wax, which being spread over the gilded work, and then 
 nealed, as has been observed before, it will give the gold 
 a surprising beauty. Or, 
 
 Take two pounds of wax, one pound of red chalk, one 
 pound of white vitriol, and four ounces of ces iistum. Or, 
 
 Take eight ounces of clear wax, one ounce and a half 
 of terra verte, one ounce »f ces ustum, one ounce of red 
 chalk, and half an ounce of alum ; dissolve the wax, and 
 put these ingredients into it ; let it cool ; then form it into 
 sticks like sealing-wax ; with this, after you have heated 
 your gilded metal, rub it over ; then burn it off, and it 
 will give the gold a deep colour. 
 
 Nuremberg Gilding-Wax. 
 
 Take two pound of wax, two pound and one ounce of 
 red chalk, one ounce of vitriol, half an ounce of ces 
 ustum, three ounces of verdigrise, and half an ounce of 
 borax. Or, 
 
 Take four pounds of clear wax, one pound eight ounces 
 of red chalk, one pound eight ounces of white vitriol, fif- 
 teen ounces of verdigrise, three ounces of borax, and 
 fifteen ounces of ces ustum ; beat them fine, and mix them 
 together : when the wax is melted, stir it until you per- 
 ceive it to cool, and then put in the ingredients, and stir 
 them well together : when cold, form them into sticks 
 like sealing-wax. 
 
 To 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 93 
 
 To make all Metals malleable. 
 
 Take mastich, frankincense, myrrh, and borax, of 
 each half an ounce, pulverize and mix them together, and 
 when your metal is melted, fling in it some of the powder, 
 and you will be surprised at the effect. 
 
 How to quicken Brass for gilding. 
 
 Dissolve sal-ammoniac in white-wine vinegar, and 
 with it anoint your work ; this will cause it to receive the 
 mercury. 
 
 OF SEVERAL GOLD COLOURS, WHEREBY GOLD, OR 
 GILT WORK, AFTER IT HAS BEEN HEIGHTENED 
 WITH GILDING-WAX, RECEIVES ITS PROPER CO- 
 LOUR. 
 
 A Silver Gold-Colour, or a Colour for Gilt Silver. 
 
 Take one ounce of verdigrise, one ounce of nitre, one 
 ounce of vitriol, half an ounce of sal-ammoniac, half an 
 ounce of borax ; grind them fine ; boil them in half a pint 
 of urine, to half the quantity ; then with a brush dipt in 
 this liquid, brush over your gilt work ; put it upon a clear 
 charcoal fire, and when you see it turn black, take it off 
 the fire and quench it in urine. 
 
 A Green Gold-Colour. 
 
 Take two ounces of nitre, two ounces of vitriol, two 
 ounces of verdigrise, and one ounce of sal-ammoniac ; 
 mix and grind them with vinegar. Or> 
 
 Take 
 
94 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Take four ounces of verdigrise, four ounces of sal-am- 
 moniac, two ounces of vitriol, two ounces of as ustum, 
 one ounce of nitre ; grind them with vinegar, and colour 
 your gold with it. 
 
 A French Gold-Colour. 
 
 Take four ounces of salt, two ounces of alum, two 
 ounces of sal-ammoniac, two ounces of as ustum, one 
 ounce of nitre ; grind them with vinegar. Or, 
 
 Take four ounces of sal-ammoniac, four ounces of ver- 
 digrise, two ounces of nitre, one ounce and a half of 
 clean copper-flakes ; grind them with vinegar. 
 
 A fine Gold-Colour. 
 
 Take melted nitre, and black vitriol, an equal quan- 
 tity of each ; let them boil half away in a clean pipkin. 
 
 Another Gold-Colour. 
 
 Take one ounce of verdigrise, one ounce of sal-am- 
 moniac, one ounce of red chalk, one ounce of fine salt ; 
 grind all together, and boil them with vinegar. Or, 
 
 Take one ounce of nitre, one ounce of verdigrise, one 
 ounce of vitriol, one ounce of sal-ammoniac ; grind each 
 ingredient, separately, in a clean mortar ; then mix and 
 put them in a clean pan, with water, and boil them nearly 
 half an hour. 
 
 A Green Gold-Colour. 
 
 Take four ounces of sal-ammoniac, four ounces of 
 verdigrise, two grains of nitre, and grind them in vinegar. 
 
 A White 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 95 
 
 A White Colour for Gold. 
 
 Take two ounces of nitre, one ounce of alum, and 
 one ounce of salt ; pulverize and mix them well together ; 
 then take a piece of a broken crucible ; put it in the fire, 
 and let it be red-hot. Wet the work you design to colour^ 
 and roll it in the powder ; then put it on the red-hot piece 
 of crucible, and the colour will boil up ; when it melts, 
 turn the piece of work with your tongs, and when the 
 colour is quite fluid, and is growing yellow, take it out, 
 and lay it upon a clean brick, or anvil, until it is cold. 
 Then take an unglazed pot, or a large crucible ; fill it 
 almost with clean water ; put into it a handful of salt, and 
 the quantity of a filbert of ground tartar, and six or eight 
 drops of aqua fortis ; let them boil ; then put your work 
 into it, and boil it until the dross of the white colour is 
 taken off; then scratch-brush it. 
 
 To colour an old Gold Chain as if it were new. 
 
 Take urine, and dissolve therein sal-ammoniac ; boil 
 the gold chain in this, and it will have a fine colour. 
 
 A Green Colour for Gold Chains. 
 
 Take four ounces of sal-ammoniac, four ounces ofver- 
 digrise, one ounce and a half of nitre, half an ounce of 
 white vitriol ; make a powder thereof, mix it with vinegar, 
 and boil your chain in it. 
 
 To give Gold a high and fine Colour. 
 
 Take red calcined vitriol, or colcothar of vitriol, three 
 ounces, sal-ammoniac two ounces, and verdigrise one 
 ounce ; grind them together and keep them dry. When 
 
 vou 
 
96 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 you would colour your gold, moisten it, and strew this 
 powder over it ; neal it often, and quench it in pump- 
 water. 
 
 Another fine Colour for Gold. 
 
 Take verdigrise, sal-ammoniac, nitre and vitriol, an 
 equal quantity of each ; grind them well together ; pour 
 vinegar upon them ; grind them again, as painters do their 
 colours, and let them dry ; then moisten, grind, and dry 
 them again ; repeat this for several times ; then lay up 
 your powder carefully. When you would colour gold, wet 
 it with urine ; rub it with a brush ; fling the above powder 
 upon it, and lay it on red hot coals, and it will turn black ; 
 then quench it in urine, and rub it with a wire brush : in 
 tliis manner you may proceed with the other colours. 
 
 To bring pale Gold to an high Colour. 
 
 Take verdigrise; pour vinegar upon it; stir it well; 
 anoint your gold therewith ; heat it in the fire, and quench 
 it in - urine. 
 
 To make Silver yellow throughout, and to give it the Co- 
 lour of Gold. 
 
 Take common aqua fort is ; dissolve therein as much 
 silver as you please ; to eight ounces, take four ounces of 
 hepatic aloes, six ounces of turmeric, and two ounces of 
 prepared tutty that has been several times quenched in 
 urine ; put these to the solution of the silver ; they will 
 disssolve, but rise up in the glass like a spungc, so the glass 
 must be large, to prevent the running over ; then draw it 
 off, and you will have ten ounces of silver, which is as 
 yellow as gold. 
 
 N. B. The two ounces increase in the weight, by the 
 
 tutty, 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 91 
 
 tutty, will not stand the test, but be lost when melted 
 down with lead, in cupellation. 
 
 A Water to give any Metal a Gold Colour. 
 
 Take fine sulphur, and pulverize it ; then boil some 
 stale spring, or rain, water ; pour it hot upon the powder, 
 and stir it well together ; boil it, and put into it one ounce 
 of dragon's blood ; after it is well boiled, take it off and 
 filter it through a fine cloth : put this water into a matrass, 
 after you have put in what you design to colour ; close it 
 well, and boil it, and the metal will be of a fine gold 
 colour. 
 
 Another Water wherewith one may tinge any Metal of a 
 Gold Colour. A curious Secret. 
 
 Take hepatic aloes, nitre, and Romayi vitriol, each equal 
 quantities ; distil them with water in an alembic, till all 
 the spirits are extracted ; it will at last yield a yellowish 
 water, which will tinge any sort of metal of a gold colour. 
 
 To colour Gold. 
 
 Take a lock of human hair, of about a finger thick $ 
 lay it on live coals, and hold the gold with a pair of tongs 
 over it, to receive the fumes thereof. 
 
 To give Gold a fine and high Colour. 
 
 Take one ounce of sal-ammoniac, two ounces of cop- 
 per-flakes, one ounce of distilled verdigrise ; grind all well 
 together ; put the mixture into a matrass ; pour upon it 
 one quart of good distilled white-wine vinegar : let it thus 
 dry and boil away; then grind it fine, strew it on a glass 
 plate, and set it in a cellar, where it will turn into an oil : 
 
 vol. i. H this 
 
95 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 this is again to be gently coagulated, and then ground and 
 mixed with sublimate mercury ; put half an ounce of it, 
 wrapt up in bees-wax, into the quantity of a pound of 
 gold that is in fusion, and it will give it a high and fine 
 colour. 
 
 To give gilded Work a fine Colour. 
 
 Take clean salt and sulphur ; boil them together, with 
 water, in an egg-shell, after taking away the inside film ; 
 take care you do not give too much fire to burn the egg- 
 shell ; with this liquid wipe over your gilding, and it will 
 make it of a much brighter colour than it was before. Or, 
 
 Take powder of sulphur, and bruised garlic ; boil these 
 in urine ; neal your gold ; quench it therein, and it will 
 give it a fine colour. 
 
 To brighten Spots in gilding. 
 
 Take alum ; boil it in clear water ; put your work into 
 it : this will restore the colour again, and remove the spots. 
 
 To give old Silver-Lace, or Trimmings, the Beauty and 
 Colour of new. 
 
 Take powder of alabaster, or fresh plaster of Paris in 
 powder ; put it dry into a pipkin, and let it boil as long as 
 it can ; then take it off the fire; when cold, lay your lace 
 upon a cloth, and, with a comb-brush, take up some of 
 that powder, and rub therewith both sides, till it is as 
 bright as you would have it ; afterwards polish it with a 
 smooth stone. Or, 
 
 Take ox-gall, or the gall of a large jack, and some 
 water ; mix together, and with it rub your gold or silver, 
 and you will see the colour change to your liking. 
 
 OF 
 
COLD AND SILVER WORKS. 99 
 
 OF THE HELL, OR HELLING OF GOLD. 
 
 This is the finishing stroke of either gold or gilt work ; and is per- 
 formed, after it has undergone the operations with the gilding 
 wax and gold colours, as has been shewn in tlie foregoing arti- 
 cles. The following are the different receipts of different mas- 
 ters. The ingenious and judicious will, by experiments, soon 
 discover which of them is best, and make his choice of such as 
 he approves. 
 
 To Hell Gold, or Gilt Work. 
 
 Take two ounces of tartar, two ounces of sulphur, and 
 four ounces of salt ; boil this in half water and half urine ; 
 dip your gold, or gilt work, into it, and it will give it a 
 fine lustre. Or, 
 
 Take eight ounces of salt, two ounces of tartar, two 
 ounces of sulphur, half an ounce of alum ; boil these in 
 water and urine, and draw your work through, and it will 
 answer your expectation. Or, 
 
 Take eight ounces of sulphur, eight ounces of alum, 
 eight ounces of yellow arsenic, sixteen ounces of tartar," 
 sixteen ounces of salt ; boil them in water and urine. Or, 
 Take three ounces of sulphur, one ounce of alum, one 
 ounce of arsenic, half an ounce of turmeric, and half a 
 grain of antimony ; grind them very finely together ; then 
 boil them in urine and water, and stir the ingredients 
 gently together ; boil the mixture a little, put the gilded 
 plate into it, and boil it till the colour is bright. Or, 
 
 Take eight ounces of yellow arsenic, sixteen ounces of 
 sulphur, sixteen ounces of tartar, sixteen ounces of burnt 
 alum, three ounces and a half of salt ; boil the mixture in 
 urine and water. Or, 
 
 Take sifted ashes and antimony finely pulverized; with 
 these make a lye, and with a brush rub over the gilt silver. 
 Or, 
 
 H2 Take 
 
100 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Take one ounce of white tartar, one ounce of grain 
 sulphur, and nine ounces of salt : grind them together like 
 flour ; then take a copper sauce-pan with fresh water, 
 and let the water boil : put into it one grain of crude yel- 
 low arsenic ; take of the ground ingredients three spoon- 
 fuls, and let it boil ; after that, you may draw your work 
 through it, and make it as high as you will ; and it will 
 come out clear and with a fine lustve. 
 
 How to take off the Gold from Gilt Silver Tankards or Cups. 
 
 To take off the gold from such plate, take sal-ammo- 
 niac one part, nitre half a part ; grind them both to a pow- 
 der i wipe over the gilded part with oil ; strew the powder 
 upon it, and lay your plate into the fire to heat it well ; 
 then take it out ; hold your plate over an earthen dish, in 
 one hand, and, with the other, beat it with an iron ; the 
 powder will fall into the dish, together with the gold; 
 which you may separate in the manner as has been 
 directed. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Put quicksilver in an earthen dish ; heat it lukewarm ; 
 in this turn your silver cup, or other utensil, and the gold 
 will separate from the silver, and join the quicksilver ; 
 when you see the gold is all come off the plate, take it 
 out and pour the quicksilver with the gold, after it is cold, 
 into another dish ; if any place still retains some gold, 
 repeat it, till you perceive no more upon it ; then strain the 
 quicksilver through a leather ; what remains put into a 
 retort, on hot sand, or ashes, and force the rest of the 
 mercury from it into a receiver with water ; what is left, 
 melt together, and refine the gold as has been shewn 
 before. 
 
 An 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 101 
 
 An approved Method to take off the Gilding from Silver. 
 
 Take a glass utensil, put aqua-fortis in it, the quantity 
 whereof must be according to the bigness of your work ; 
 take no more than one-eighth of an ounce of sal-ammo- 
 niac to one ounce of aqua-fortis ; beat your sal-ammoniac 
 fine ; put it into the aqua-fortis, and set it over the fire 
 till it grows warm ; and when you perceive the sal-ammo- 
 niac to work, then put in the gilded silver, and when you 
 observe your work to become of a black colour, then the 
 gold is taken off of it ; if there is a pretty large quantity 
 of work,, let it lie for half an hour, or an hour, before you 
 take it out, which you must do with a pair of wooden 
 pliers ; when it is taken out, put it into clean water ; then 
 neal it, and afterwards boil it with tartar ; repeat this three 
 times successively, and your silver will look fresh and 
 new. 
 
 How to get the Gold out of Aqua Fortis. 
 
 Take a copper bowl, or cup ; put into it a glass full of 
 water, and pour in the aqua-fortis which contains gold ; 
 then add to it a quarter of an ounce of borax, and boil it 
 up : let it stand all night ; in the morning pour it off gently, 
 and the gold will be settled at the bottom : dry it by 
 degrees ; and, when dry, put a little borax to it, and 
 melt it, 
 
 To give Silver Utensils a Lustre. 
 
 Dissolve alum in a strong lye ; scum it carefully ; then 
 mix it up with soap, and wash your silver utensils there- 
 with, with a linen rag. 
 
 To 
 
102 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To separate Gold from gilded Silver, by Cementation. , 
 
 Take red calcined * vitriol, or cokothar, one part, salt, 
 one part, red lead, half a part ; pulverize and mix them 
 all well together ; with this mixed powder cover your gilded 
 silver all over in an earthen pan ; put it into a furnace, 
 and give it a slow fire, to prevent the melting of the silver : 
 the powder will attract the gold, which you may reduce by 
 melting it with lead, and by separating it by cupellation. 
 
 OF SEVERAL 
 
 SORTS OF SOLDER FOR GOLD AND SILVER. 
 
 Filings-solder for Silver Chai?i-zcork. 
 
 Melt three parts of fine silver, and one part of brass ; 
 when in fusion, fling into it a little quantity of yellow 
 arsenic. Or, 
 
 Take one part of vellow arsenic, and one part of cop- 
 per, and melt and granulate : of this take one part, and of 
 fine silver four parts ; melt them together ; cast them into 
 an ingot, and, when cold, file to a fine dust. 
 
 A Solder for Silver. 
 
 Melt two parts of silver ; then put to it one part of 
 thin beaten brass, or tinsel ; but do not keep it too long in 
 fusion, lest the brass should fly away in fumes. 
 
 * The calcination of vitriol is performed thus : put what quan- 
 tity you please of green vitriol into an earthen pot, unglazed ; set 
 the pot over the fire, and boil it till the moisture is consumed, and 
 the matter turns into a greyish mass, drawing towards white ; this 
 is called white calcined vitriol. If you calcine this white vitriol a 
 good while over a strong fire, it will turn as red as blood : this is 
 called cokothar. Cokothar of vitriol may be had at the shops. 
 
 Another 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 103 
 
 Another for Coarse Silver. 
 
 Four ounces of silver, three ounces of brass, a quarter 
 of an ounce of arsenic ; melt them together, and pour 
 them out quick. 
 
 Another Silver Solder. 
 
 Melt two ounces of silver, one ounce of tinsel; add 
 to them half an ounce of white arsenic 5 pour it out quick, 
 and it is a very good solder. Or, 
 
 Melt one ounce of fine silver, and one ounce of thin 
 brass : when both are well melted together, fling one ounce 
 of white arsenic upon it ; let it melt, stir it well together, 
 and pour it out quickly. 
 
 Of good Solder for Gold. 
 
 Melt copper and fine silver together, of each one part ; 
 ■of fine gold, two parts. Or, 
 
 Take one penny-weight of the same gold your work is 
 of, and allay it with three grains of copper, and three 
 grains of silver. 
 
 The Manner and Way of Solderiyig Gold or Silver, 
 
 Beat the solder thin, and cut it into little bits, or pal- 
 lions ; then take the work which is to be soldered, join it 
 together with fine wire twisted over it ; wet the joinings 
 with a pencil with water, mixed up with borax; then lay 
 the bits, or pallions, of solder upon it, and strew some 
 powdered borax over ; lay the work, if it be a button or 
 some other small thing, upon a large coal, and blow with 
 your blow-pipe through a large lamp-flame upon it, to 
 melt it. 
 
 After 
 
IQi THE LABORATORY. 
 
 After this, boil the work either in alum-water, or else 
 in aqua-fortis, to clear it from the borax ; dry it on a char- 
 coal fire ; then file or turn it ; if it be silver, boil it white 
 in the following manner : 
 
 Take the work ; lay it on a clear fire, and, when red hot, 
 take it out, and put it by to cool ; in the mean while, set 
 a copper-pan, not tinned, with water upon the fire, into 
 which put one part of fine salt, and one part of tartar ; 
 boil these together, yet not too fiercely, to prevent its boil- 
 ing over ; after it is well boiled, lay the work, when it is 
 a little cold, into it, and let it boil about six minutes ; 
 then take it off the fire, take out the work, and put it im- 
 mediately into clean water; take it out, and scratch it 
 well with a wire brush, to clear it of the coat ; then re- 
 peat this work over again ; neal it once more , boil it in 
 tartar and salt, and proceed as before ; then take black 
 burnt tartar, and mix it with a little water into a paste, 
 with which rub over the work ; then neal it on a clear coal 
 fire ; take it out, and brush the work well of the burnt 
 tartar in clean water ; put it once more in the tartar-water 
 in which it was boiled, and let it boil four minutes ; then 
 wash it in cold water, and dry it with a clean rag, and it 
 wiilbe of a white and beautiful pearl colour. 
 
 To Solder a Ring set with Stones. 
 
 Take a large charcoal ; put two or three penny-weights 
 of silver upon it ; melt it with your blow-pipe and the 
 lamp ; then, after you have clapped a thin pallion of silver 
 solder betwixt the opening of the ring, dip it into it ; but 
 as soon as you see the pallion run, take off your ring 
 instantly. 
 
 A Powder for soldering, equal to Borax. 
 
 Take the best hard Venice soap ; scrape it as thin as 
 possible j let it dry, between two papers, in the air ; then 
 
 rub 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 105 
 
 rub it to a powder; put it into an unglazed pipkin; set 
 it on a gentle coal fire, and let it, by degrees, fumigate un- 
 til it has no moisture at all ; then it is right. This you 
 may use for all manner of work, and it will do, equal to 
 Venice borax. 
 
 To melt in a Moment several sorts of Metals, over a Table, 
 
 Take two ounces of nitre, tartar one ounce, sulphur 
 half an ounce ; beat in a mortar to a powder ; then take 
 one ounce of filed metal, (of any sort) mix it well to- 
 gether ; put it into a small crucible, or a hollow char- 
 coal ; light it with a little splinter, and it will melt imme- 
 diately. 
 
 Another Manner of doing it. 
 
 Take one ounce of nitre, half an ounce of sulphur, 
 and a quarter of an ounce of gunpowder; grind them well 
 together, and put half of this powder into a small cru- 
 cible, or, if you will, into an egg-shell ; then put a far- 
 thing, or six-pence, or any other metal, upon it, and, upon 
 that, put the other half of the powder ; press it down 
 with your finger ; then set it on a stone ; light it, and it 
 will melt immediately. 
 
 N. B. A gilt cup, or other plate, if anointed with salad 
 oil, and this powder flung upon it and lighted, takes off the 
 gold, and melts it to a mass. 
 
 To make Aarum Sophisticum, or Mimick Gold. 
 
 Take fine distilled verdigrise eight ounces, tutty four 
 ounces, borax twelve ounces, nitre one ounce and a 
 half; pulverize, and mix them all together ; temper 
 them with oil, with a wooden spatula, to the con- 
 sistence of a paste; then put a crucible into a wind- 
 furnace, heat it red hot, and convey your mass into 
 
 it 
 
106 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 it with a wooden spatula, by little and little ; when all 
 is in, cover it ; fill your furnace with coals all over the cru- 
 cible ; let it stand in a fierce fire, to melt ; let it cool of 
 itself; then break the crucible, and you will find, at the 
 bottom, a fine metal like gold, weighing about four ounces, 
 out of which you may form and make what you please : 
 it will be as malleable as real gold. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Take fine and clear wire-copper four ounces ; melt 
 it ; then fling into it one ounce of spelter, i. e. zinc ; stir 
 it well together with an iron spatula ; blow the fire brisk, 
 to bring it into fusion, but, before you pour it out, put in 
 some borax, and it will give it a peculiar beauty ; then cast 
 it into an ingot ; out of this ingot you may draw wire for 
 chains, and work it in what form or shape you please ; after 
 you have filed it, and rubbed your work well with tripoli, 
 then give it the finishing, with a mixture of one grain of 
 tripoli, and six grains of flower of sulphur, put upon a 
 piece of leather ; rub your work as usual, and it will have 
 a fine gold colour. 
 
 Another. * 
 
 Take spelter one ounce, of the finest and softest cop- 
 per two ounces ; melt the copper in a crucible ; when 
 melted, fling into it borax two grains, and sal-ammoniac 
 two grains ; and, lastly, fling in the spelter : pour it into an 
 ingot, and you will have a fine gold-coloured metal. 
 
 To make a curious Yellow-mixed Metal, resembling Gold, 
 and which may be drawn into fine Wire. 
 
 Take eight ounces of tartar ; put it into a crucible, and 
 neal it by degrees ; then take pulverized dry nitre, and 
 
 fiins: 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 101 
 
 fling it on the red hot tartar, and it will melt into a yellow 
 mass; take it from the fire, and Jet it cool; then take 
 clean copper; keep it in fusion until it is like water, and 
 fling in (to eight ounces of copper) the first mass ; give the 
 crucible a strong reverberatory heat, until in fusion ; then 
 take the best spelter, or zinc, half an ounce, tutty and Vt* 
 nice salqcani* half an ounce ; put it to the melted copper, 
 and presently vou will hear a crackling noise, and see a 
 yellow fume and flame ascend ; stir this copper, and the 
 other ingredients together, with an iron wire, until it is 
 burnt away ; let it stand a little in the flux, and then, after 
 you have rubbed your ingot with wax, pour it in, and it 
 will be so pliable as to be drawn into wire, and of a high 
 gold colour ; you may work, form, finish, and colour it as 
 you do other gold. 
 
 Another Method to make a Metal resembling Gold. 
 
 Take fine copper filings one pound, fine nitre eight 
 ounces, prepared tutty six ounces, borax six ounces, hep- 
 atic aloes four ounces ; mix all well together, and incor- 
 porate the mixture with linseed oil into a mass ; put it 
 into a clean crucible, and cover it at top, a finger's height, 
 with subtilly pulverised Venice glass; lute it well; put it 
 into a wind-furnace ; fill the same with dead coals, and 
 then put live coals upon them, i. e. light the fire from the 
 top, to go downwards ; blow it for an hour, and give it a 
 fierce fire ; then let it cool of itself; take out the crucible, 
 and break it, and you will find at the bottom a very fine 
 metal, like gold ; this melt again, and add to it one pound 
 two ounces of mercury sublimate, and two ounces of pre- 
 pared tutty, both clapped up in red sealing-wax ; stir it 
 well with a dry stick ; then cast it into a mould, and make 
 of it what you please. Or, 
 
 * An article unknown j and it is, probably, of little use in the 
 receipt. Ed. 
 
 Take 
 
. 103 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Take six ounces of distilled verdigrise ; grind it fine in a 
 marble mortar ; beat eight ounces of prepared tutty, four 
 ounces of nitre, and four ounces of borax, into a coarse 
 powder : moisten them with oil of turnips,* and stir them 
 in an earthen dish, together, until all is well mixed : then 
 put a crucible into a wind-furnace, and, when red hot, con- 
 vey the said mixture into it with a wooden spatula ; cover 
 it • add more coals, and give a brisk and strong fire all 
 over the crucible. In about half an hour, put a little 
 stick into it, and try whether the matter be dissolved, and 
 in fusion like water ; if so, then it is time to pour it out ; 
 but if you find still some matter remain, stir it about with 
 your stick ; cover it, and give it a brisk fire, until you find 
 it is all dissolved : then pour it out into a mortar,' or brass 
 cone, and you will have a fine gold-coloured metal. 
 
 To make Brass. 
 
 Take of copper what quantity you please; add to. it a 
 third part of powdered lapis calaminaris ; put them toge- 
 ther into a melting pot, and be in fusion for about an hour l 
 then pour out the brass. 
 
 To Silver Copper, or Brass. 
 
 Take of fine silver one ounce ; sal-gemmae, i. e. rock- 
 salt, and sal-ammoniac of each six ounces; glass-gall six 
 ounces ; beat the silver thin, and then put it into one 
 ounce of aqua-fortis ; let it dissolve ; when dissolved, fling 
 a little salt into it, and the silver will settle like a white 
 powder at the bottom; then pour off that water, and put 
 on fresh ; repeat it, until the silver calx has lost all the fla- 
 vour of the aqua-fortis ; dry this, then take the above in-* 
 gredicnts, and grind them well on a clean stone ; when 
 
 * Common oil will probably do. Ed. 
 
 von 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. 109 
 
 you have well ground them, mix and grind them and the 
 silver calx together, with a little water, until the mixture is 
 like a thick paste ; put this up in a clean glass, and when 
 you would silver, take care that your metal be riled and 
 brushed clean ; rub it over with the above matter, and lay 
 it on live coals ; when it has done smoking, scratch it 
 well, and rub it over again with the silver matter ; do this 
 three times successively, and you will have a fine sil- 
 vering. 
 
 Another way. 
 
 Take fine silver; dissolve it in aqua-fortis ; then add 
 to it the same quantity of water as you had done of 
 aqua-fortis ; take common salt, and fling it into the 
 mixed waters, and the silver will precipitate to the bot- 
 tom, like a powder ; when settled, pour off the mixed 
 water, and sweeten this silver calx by pouring fresh 
 water to it, shifting it until all the sharpness is re- 
 moved. Then drain off the water, and let the silver 
 dry ; of which take a quarter of an ounce, white cal- 
 cined tartar one ounce, common salt half an ounce ; 
 then beat and mix them well together, and with aqua- 
 fortis grind them upon a stone ; then let them dry, 
 and you have a powder ready to silver with. If you 
 would silver either poor silver, copper, or brass, then 
 rub the powder well in, after you have moistened it 
 with water, with a piece of cork, to your mind ; then 
 lay it on a coal fire until it is red hot ; let it cool ; 
 then boil it in water with tartar and salt ; and after it 
 is boiled, wash it in clean water. 
 
 What Metals are most proper to incorporate with Silver. 
 
 Silver will easily mix and incorporate with fine clean 
 ropper, of each an equal quantity : if you add more 
 
 copper 
 
110 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 copper than silver to your composition, it loses the 
 whiteness, and is not fit to make any utensils with. 
 All other metals are of a contrary nature to silver, as 
 lead, tin, iron, brass, &c. therefore they are to be avoided. 
 
 To silver Brass, in Fire. 
 
 TAKe calx of fine silver half an ounce, one ounce of 
 sal-ammoniac, three ounces of salt ; mix and grind these 
 well together. When you use it, grind and temper it 
 together with water, and rub your brass therewith ; 
 neal it brown ; then quench it in water wherein tartar 
 has been dissolved ; scratch it, and finish your work by 
 polishing it as you see requisite. 
 
 A Powder to silver Copper or Brass with, by rubbing 
 it with the Finger or Thumb. 
 
 Dissolve a little silver in aqua-fortis ; add to it as 
 much tartar and sal-ammoniac as to make it like a 
 paste, whereof make little balls ; dry and pulverize them : 
 if you take some of this powder on your wetted thumb, 
 and rub it upon the copper or brass, it will give it the co- 
 lour of silver. 
 
 A silvering on Copper. 
 
 Dissolve fine silver in aqua-fortis; pour it upon 
 pulverized tartar; and then draw your aqua-fortis 
 clear off, and there remains a black matter ; with this 
 rub your copper ; then neal it well, and boil it in tartar 
 and salt. 
 
 To 
 
GOLD AND SILVER WORKS. Ill 
 
 To silver Copper, or Brass, by boiling it. 
 
 Take three ounces of salt, twenty-six leaves of silver, 
 a quarter of an ounce of tartar, and half an ounce of 
 alum ; boil these in an earthen pipkin, and stir well toge- 
 ther ; put what you design to silver into it ; pour water 
 upon it, and let it boil ; after it is well boiled, scratch- 
 brush it ; put it in again, and boil it ; then scratch it 
 again, and repeat this until it is to your mind. 
 
 To boil Brass, like Silver. 
 
 Take one part of the filings of good pewter ; add to 
 it one part of white tartar, and mix together ; then take 
 an unglazed pipkin ; put these two ingredients, and the 
 brass (which before must be well scratched and cleaned) 
 into it, and let it boil. 
 
 To silver Copper, Brass, Steel, or Iron, so as ?iot to come 
 off, except it be made red hot. 
 
 Take urine which is made in the morning •, cover 
 it, and let it stand a whole month ; put it into an earthen 
 pot, and let it boil ; skim it, and when the third part is 
 evaporated, take two pints of urine, one ounce of tartar, 
 and an ounce of gall-stone ; put it in, and let it boil once 
 up. This liquid keep clean ; and if you would silver any 
 metal, take brick-dust on a wet woollen rag, and rub 
 therewith your iron, or other metal, until it is clear and 
 line, and put it 24 hours in the prepared urine; after- 
 wards dry it, and where you design to silver, rub it over 
 with quicksilver ; you must lay it on thin, with an iron 
 spatula which has lain two hours in the urine ; then rub it 
 on with a soft woollen rag, and it is a fine bright silvering. 
 
 To 
 
112 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To silver all Sorts of Metals. 
 
 Take as much aqna-fortis as you think there is oc- 
 casion for ; put it in a glass, and set it on hot ashes ; 
 then put in your quantity of silver, which first has been 
 beaten very thin, and cut into little shreds. When your 
 silver is dissolved, take it off the ashes, and mix that liquid 
 with as much white tartar as will make it like a paste : if 
 you rub brass, copper, or any other metal, with this, it 
 will be like silver. 
 
 PART 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 113 
 
 PART 111. 
 
 THE ART OF 
 
 ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY, 
 
 AND THE METHOD OF 
 
 PREPARING THE COLOURS. 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING IN ENAMEL. — CURIOUS INSTRUCTIONS 
 HOW TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL PEARLS. — OF DOUBLETS AND 
 FOILS, AND THE MANNER OF COLOURING THEM. — THE ART 
 OF COUNTERFEITING PRECIOUS STONES, WITH OTHER RARE 
 SECRETS. 
 
 Of Enamelling in Ordinary ; and of prepaying the Enamel- 
 Colours. 
 
 ENAMELLING is the art of laying a coat of enamel 
 upon metals, as gold, silver, copper, &c. and of 
 burning-in various colours by the fire, so as to preserve 
 indissoluble the figures and letters which are formed of 
 them. Several receipts are in the possession of curious ar- 
 tisfs, many of whom excel in this useful art ; of these we 
 shall now proceed to give the detail. 
 
 vol. i. \ To 
 
114- THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To prepare the Flax for Enamel-colours. 
 
 Take four ounces of red lead, and one ounce of well 
 washed and clean sea sand ; melt them together, and put 
 them in a cold ingot. 
 
 Another Sort of Flux, which is very soft. 
 
 Take one ounce of white lead, a quarter of an ounce of 
 red lead, twelve grains of pebble ; heat the pebbles red 
 hot, and quench them in urine ; repeat this until you can 
 crumble them to an impalpable powder between your 
 fingers ; then beat them fine ; put them with the ingredi- 
 ents into a clean crucible ; lute it well, and when dry, give 
 it a fierce fire for half an hour, or longer ; then take it 
 off the fire, and let it cool of itself; break the crucible, 
 and melt the contents again in another clean crucible, and 
 pour it into a clean ingot, or a bright brass weight- 
 scale, and then it will be fit for use ; beat and grind it in 
 an agat mortar*, to an impalpable powder. When you 
 mix your colours therewith, temper as much as you have 
 occasion for with oil of spike, i. e. spike-lavender. 
 
 A Green Colour. 
 
 A green colour is best made by miring blue and yellow 
 together, and by adding a little brown, if it be required to 
 be dark. The reason is, that greens are otherwise made 
 from copper, which must retain some portion of the acid- 
 m which it was dissolved if it remain green ; and if you 
 dissipate all the acid it becomes dusky, which will happen 
 on exposing the enamel to fire. 
 
 Take copper, and dissolve it in aquafortis ; then evapo- 
 rate. Take of this one part, and three parts of flux. Or, 
 
 * A mortar of Wedgwood's ware is as good, and much easier ob- 
 tained. Ed. 
 
 Take 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 115 
 
 Take a copper plate, and with a piece of pumice-stone 
 with water, rub it over ; receive the water into a bason or 
 dish, and let it settle ; pour off the water, and neal the 
 settling ; then take thereof one part and three parts of 
 flux ; and this makes a good and fine green. 
 
 Dark Green. 
 
 Take green enamel two parts, yellow smalt one- 
 eighth part, and six parts of verditer. 
 
 Yellow Colour. 
 
 Take fine King's yellow, and neal it in a crucible ; one 
 part yellow, and three parts flux. 
 
 A high Yellow. 
 
 Take gold-yellow enamel, vitriol and flux; grind and 
 temper them to your mind with oil of spike. 
 
 Brimstone Colour. 
 
 Take calcined Naples-y z\\o\v one part, three parts of 
 burned lead-yellow, and three parts of flux. 
 
 A -Black Colour. 
 
 Take three-fourths of black enamel, and one-eighth of 
 scales of iron ; grind these with water, in an agate mortar, 
 very fine ; draw the water from it, and dry it upon hot 
 plates-, then grind it with oil of spike. Or, 
 
 Take manganese ; neal it upon a tile ; the blacker it 
 comes off the fire the better ; take one part thereof with 
 three parts of flux, ground with oil of spike. 
 
 i 2 A good 
 
llG THE LABORATORY. 
 
 A good lied. 
 
 Take green vitriol ; grind it fine, and dry it in the sun j 
 then neal it between two crucibles, well luted, so as tor 
 prevent the air's coming to it. Take thereof one part, 
 and two parts and a half of Mux ; melt them together, 
 and when you use them, grind them with oil of spike. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Take Roynan, or blue, vitriol, about the quantity of a 
 walnut ; grind it in a stone mortar, very fine ; dry it, and 
 then neal it to a brown colour ; take the lumps, and put 
 them into a new glazed pipkin, and pour aqua-fortis upon 
 them ; then wash the aqua-fortis from them again, and let 
 it evaporate; take afterwards one part thereof, and three 
 parts of flux ; grind it with oil of spike. 
 
 Another gbod Tied. 
 
 Take brown red, colcothar of vitriol, or Paris reef, 
 and a little flux ; grind them fine with oil of spike. Or, 
 
 Take vitriol, calcine it in a clean crucible, and when dry f 
 pour a little aqua-fortis and vinegar on it ; neal it well ; 
 after that wash it with clean water, till it has no taste ; 
 dry it over a fire ; and when dry, neal it again ; then take 
 of this one part, and three parts of flux. 
 
 Blue Colours. 
 
 Take fine smalt; wash it well with clean water, as 
 fine as possible ; put a little flux to it, and grind it with 
 oil of spike. Or, 
 
 Smalt may be used alone without the flux-powder, 
 ground with oil of spike. Or, 
 
 Take 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 1H 
 
 Take ultramarine one part, flux four parts ; grind them, 
 with oil of spike. 
 
 Green. 
 
 Take verditer, and a little ground flux 5 grind them 
 with oil of spike. 
 
 Grass Green. 
 
 Take verditer, and neal it in a crucible ; take, one part 
 of it, and three parts and a half of flux. 
 
 Brown Colours. 
 
 Take crocus martis one part, flux two parts ; grind 
 them with oil of spike. 
 
 Purple Colour. 
 
 Take one part crocus martis, one part smalt, and three 
 parts flux. Or, 
 
 Take blood-stone, and grind it with vinegar , when it \s 
 fine, wash it clean, and burn it oyer a candle on a thin plate. 
 
 Hair Colour. 
 
 Take umber, and neal it in a crucible ; then take one 
 part thereof, and three parts of flux ; grind them with oil 
 of spike. 
 
 Jpawn Colour. 
 
 Take vitriol, glow it as hot as possibly you can, i. e. 
 give it a red heat ; then take of it one part, and three parts 
 flux. 
 
 Carnation 
 
118 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Carnation Colour. 
 
 Take yellow ochre, and glow it in a crucible very hot ; 
 after that let it cool, and beat it in an iron mortar, and, if 
 it is not of a fine colour, neal it again ; take of this one 
 part, and three parts and a half of flux. 
 
 A steel Red for Enamel. 
 
 Take fine thin beaten plates of steel, and cut them 
 into small shreds ; put them into a vial with aqua-fortis, 
 and when reduced over a slow fire, neal it ; of this take 
 one part, and three parts of flux. 
 
 OF THE ART OF PAINTING ON ENAMEL. 
 
 The ancients that laboured in this noble art, were un- 
 acquainted with the beauties the moderns have discovered, 
 particularly in the art of compounding colours for repre- 
 senting portraitures and history : the fine performances in 
 those particulars are the admiration of every curious be- 
 holder. Besides their peculiar beauty and lustre, they have 
 this advantage over all other paintings, that they are not 
 subject to the injury of the air or weather, as paintings 
 in oil or water colours ; and unless they are rubbed or 
 scratched with any thing harder than themselves, the co- 
 lours will retain their beauty for ever, and be as fine and 
 bright as when first done. 
 
 This art cannot be effected without fire, which always 
 must be reverberatory, in a furnace so contrived that the 
 fire may play all over the mujfle that covers your work. 
 To explain this more fully, see plate 4. When your re- 
 verb eratorv 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 119 
 
 verberatory is building, let the mouth part of the muffle 
 be placed fronting the mouth of the furnace, and be 
 fixed in such a manner that the furnace fire may not 
 play into it, nor the ashes drop upon your work. 
 
 Your furnace may be either round or square ; it may be 
 of iron or earth, no matter which ; only let there be so 
 much room in the inside as will contain the muffle, with a 
 good charcoal fire round about to cover it : you must have 
 a slice, or iron plate, to put your work upon, which, with 
 a pair of tongs, convey into the furnace, and bring out 
 again. 
 
 The metals fittest to enamel upon, as has been said, are 
 gold, silver, and copper ; but the best work is performed 
 on gold, for silver makes the white enamel appear of a yel- 
 lowish hue ; and copper is apt to scale, whereby the enamel 
 is subject to break in pieces ; besides, the colours lose a 
 a great deal of their charms and lustre to what they do 
 upon gold. The gold used for this purpose should be the 
 finest, else the impurities of a bad allay will have the same 
 effect in the enamel colours as the silver or copper. 
 
 Your plate, of whatever metal it be, must be vervthin, 
 raised convex ; both that and the concave side are laid over 
 with white enamel ; the convex side, whereon you paint, 
 must be laid a small matter thicker than the other. You 
 must observe, that the white enamel which you lay on the 
 convex be ground with fair water in an agate mortar, and 
 with an agate pestle, until it be fit for use : the enamel for 
 the other side must be tempered with water wherein vou 
 have before steeped some quince kernels. 
 
 As to the enamel colours which you paint with, you must 
 take great care that they be equally tempered, or your 
 work wil. be spoiled ; if one be softer than the other, when 
 your work comes into the furnace and grows hot, the soft 
 colour will intermix with the hard, so as to deface vour 
 work intirely: this may serve to caution you to make trial 
 upon a white enamelled plate for that purpose, of all your 
 
 enamels, 
 
120 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 enamels, before you begin your work : experience will di- 
 rect you further. 
 
 Take particular care that not the least dirt imaginable 
 come to your colours, while you are either painting or 
 grinding them ; for the least speck, when it is worked up 
 with it, and when the work comes to be put into the rever- 
 beratory to be red hot, will leave a hole, and deface your 
 work. 
 
 After you have prepared your plate with a white enamel, 
 and it is ready to paint upon, apply your colours on an 
 ivory palette, or a piece of glass, in just order, and first 
 delineate your design with a dark red, made of crocus 
 martis ground with oil of spike ; put the piece in the muffle, 
 and with a reverberatory fire, as before directed, fix that 
 colour ; and then proceed, remembering to dilute the thick 
 and opaque enamel colours with oil of spike ; and the 
 transparent ones with fair water : bv mixing blue and yel- 
 low enamel colour you have a fair green ; blue and red a 
 violet ; red and white a rose colour ; and so of other co- 
 lours. 
 
 We shall here set down several other receipts for pre- 
 paring enamel colours, which will not only serve for ordi- 
 nary work, but for enamel-painting in miniature, 
 
 To prepare the principal Matter for Enamel Colours. 
 
 Take lead fifteen pounds, plate-tin ashes sixteen 
 pounds ; mix and calcine these, as directed in the first 
 part; after you have calcined your lead and tin, search out 
 the calx, and put it into an earthen pot filled with water ; 
 set it over a fire, and let it boil a little ; after which, take 
 it off, and pour the water into another vessel, which will 
 carry the more subtil calx along with it : repeat this till you 
 can subtilize no more of the calx, and the water comes off 
 clean without any mixture. What gross part remains in 
 the pot, calcine as before, and this repeat till you can draw 
 
 off 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 121 
 
 off no more of the subtil matter. Then pour the water 
 from all your receivers into one that is larger, and evapo- 
 rate it on a slow fire. 
 
 Of this calx take 12 pounds, frit of white sand, beaten 
 and sifted, 12 pounds, nitre purified 12 pounds, salt of tar- 
 tar purified * two ounces. Put these powders all together 
 into a pot, place it in a ghss-housc furnace for ten or 
 twelve hours to digest and purify. Then take and reduce it 
 to an impalpable powder, and keep it in a close, dry place 
 for use. Thus is your first or principal matter for enamel 
 colours prepared. 
 
 To make Enamel of a Milk-white Colour. 
 
 Take three pounds of the fore-mentioned principal 
 ?natter, twenty-four grains of prepared magnesia, and ar- 
 senic two pounds ; put these together into a melting-pot, 
 to melt and purify over a fierce fire ; when the matter is 
 melted, throw it out of the pot into fair water ; and having 
 
 * You may buy salt of tartar purified, or you may purify it 
 yourself. Calcine tartar of red wine in an earthen crucible, till 
 It comes black ; continue the tire till it changes to a white. 
 Then put it into an .earthen pan, glazed; till the pan with clear 
 vater, and boil it over a gentle tire, so that in four hours the wa- 
 fer may evaporate the fourth part ; then take it off the tire, and 
 after the water is settled and cold, pour it off by inclination into 
 a clean glazed pan, and you will have a strong lye. Then pour 
 clean water on, and let them boil as before : this repeat, till the 
 water becomes infipid ; then filter the lye ; put it in glass veffels 
 upon a sand-bath, in a gentle heat, to evaporate, and at the bottom 
 there will remain a very white salt. Dissolve this salt again in 
 fair water, and let it stand two days to settle ; filter it, and 
 evaporate at a gentle fire, as before, and you will have a salt 
 whiter than the former ; repeat this three or four times, and your 
 salt will be whiter than snow itself. 
 
 The same process may be employed on pot-ash, without cal- 
 cining it as the tartar is ; the same may be done also on pearl- 
 ash. 
 
 afterwards 
 
V22 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 afterwards dried it, melt it again as before ; do this for the 
 third time, changing the water ; when you have thus puri- 
 fied it, and found the white colour answer your intent, it 
 is done ; but in case it has still a greenish hue, add a little 
 more magnesia, and, bv melting it over again, it will becoma 
 as white as milk, and be fit to enamel with on gold or other 
 metals : take it off the fire ; make it into cakes, and pre- 
 serve it for use. 
 
 A Turcoise Blue Enamel. 
 
 Take of the principal matter three pounds ; melt and 
 purify it in a proper melting-pot, then cast it into water ; 
 when dry, put it again into a pot, and being melted over 
 again, add to it at four times this composition : scales, 
 thrice calcined*, two ounces and a half; prepared zaffre 
 forty-three grains : prepared magnesia twenty-four grains ; 
 stone-blue two ounces ; mix and reduce these to a very 
 fine powder ; stir the matter very well with an iron rod, for 
 the powders to incorporate. When your matter is thus 
 tinged, observe well whether vour colour answer vour in- 
 tention before you empty the pot: if you perceive the 
 tinging powders are too predominant, add more of the 
 principal powder ; and if too faint, add more of the ting- 
 ing powders. Your own judgment must direct you in the 
 management of this preparation. 
 
 r To calcine copper scales, such as come from the hammer of 
 braziers or copper-smiths : wash them from their foulness, put 
 them into a crucible ; place it in the mouth of a reverberator}' 
 furnace, for four days; after which, let them cool ; then pound, 
 grind, and fift them. Put this powder a second time into the fur- 
 nace, to reverberate four days longer; proceed as before; and 
 after it has stood again the third time for four days, reduce it into 
 powder, and it will be lit for the use intended. 
 
 Afne 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 123 
 
 A fine Blue Enamel. 
 
 Take two pounds of the principal matter ; one ounce 
 of prepared zafFre, or of indigo blue ; twenty-two grains 
 of copper, thrice calcined ; mix and reduce these to a fine 
 powder, and put them into a melting-pot : when the metal 
 is melted, cast it into water ; then dry it and put it into 
 the pot again ; let it stand upon the fire until it is well in- 
 corporated ; take it off; make it into cakes, and keep it 
 for use. 
 
 A Green Enamel. 
 
 Take two pounds of the principal matter, one ounce of 
 copper scales, thrice calcined, twenty-four grains of scales 
 of iron, blue vitriol two ounces, yellow arsenic one 
 ounce ; mix and reduce these to an impalpable powder, 
 and, at three several times, or in three several portions, 
 fling it into the principal matter, stirring the metal so as to 
 tinge it equally. When the colour is to your liking, let it 
 stand for a while in the fire, to incorporate thoroughly ; 
 then take it off, and you will have a delicate green. Or, 
 - Take * Feretto of Spain two ounces, forty-eight grains 
 of crocus martis, yellow arsenic two ounces ; pulverize 
 and mix these well, and put them into a white glazed potf ; 
 
 * Feretto of Spain, is thus prepared : stratify thin plates of cop- 
 per with vitriol, in a crucible; put it in the mouth of a glass fur- 
 nace for three days; then take it out, and add to the copper fresh 
 layers of vitriol, stratifying them as before : now put the crucible 
 in the same place of the furnace; repeat it six times successively, 
 and you will have an excellent feretto. Beat this to powder, and 
 it will tinge glass of an extraordinary beautiful colour. 
 
 f The best melting-pots for glasses and fluxes are made of to- 
 bacco-pipe clay. They may be had of Meffrs. Pugh and Speck, 
 melting-pot manufactory, bottom of Booth-Street, Spital-Fields. Ed. 
 
 set 
 
124- THE LABORATORV. 
 
 set it in the furnace to melt, and refine the matter ; after 
 which cast it into water ; and when dried, throw it again 
 into the pot : when melted, observe whether the colour is 
 to your liking ; if so, let it stand for some time longer to 
 refine. If you find the colour loo faint, add more of 
 the tinging powder. 
 
 A Black Enamel, 
 
 Take of the principal matter two pounds, prepared 
 zaffre one ounce, and prepared manganese one ounce ; 
 pulverize and mix these, and proceed as directed in the 
 preceding colours. Or x 
 
 Take ot the principal matter three pounds, zaffrc one 
 ounce, crocus martis one ounce, feretto of Spain one 
 ounce; pound and mix them, and proceed as directed 
 before. 
 
 A Velvet-black Enamel. 
 
 Of the principal matter two pounds, red tartar two 
 ounces, prepared manganese one ounce ; pulverize 
 these, and put them into a glazed pot, bigger than or- 
 dinary, because the matter will rise ; for the rest, proceed 
 as directed before. 
 
 A Purple-colour Enamel. 
 
 Of the principal matter two pounds, prepared manga- 
 nese one ounce, indigo blue half an ounce ; proceed as 
 above. Or, 
 
 Principal matter three pounds, prepared manganese 
 one ounce and an half, of twice calcined scales of cop- 
 per three ounces, stone blue one ounce : pulverize and 
 proceed as directed, 
 
 A Violet 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY- 12: 
 
 A Violet Enamel. 
 
 Of the principal matter three pounds, prepared manga- 
 nese one ounce, thrice calcined copper scales twenty-four 
 grains, terra verte one ounce ; pulverize and mix these aU 
 together, and proceed as before directed. 
 
 A Yellow Enamel. 
 
 Of the principal matter three pounds, tartar one ounce 
 and a half, prepared manganese six grains, yellow orpi- 
 ment two ounces, arsenic one ounce ; pulverize them, 
 and proceed as before directed. 
 
 An excellent Htd Eiunnel, of a very splendid ruby Colour. 
 
 This enamel is of a surprising beauty, and its lustre 
 equals that of a red ruby. To prepare this, take equal 
 quantities of manganese and nitre ; let them reverberate 
 and calcine in a crucible in a furnace for twenty-four 
 hours; take it then off, and wash it well in warm wa- 
 ter, to separate the nitre ; dry it well, and the mass will 
 be of a red colour : to this add an equal quantity of 
 sal-ammoniac ; grind this on a marble with distilled vi- 
 negar, as painters do their colours ; dry it, and pulve- 
 rize it ; then put it into a strong matrass, and let it sub- 
 limate for twelve hours ; break off the neck of your 
 matrass, and mix all the volatile and fixed parts together, 
 adding the same quantity of sal-ammoniac as there are 
 flowers, and take care to weigh them before the compo- 
 sition ; grind, pulverize and sublimate as before, repeating, 
 this until your manganese remains fuzible at the bottom 
 of the matrass : this preserve to tinge your crystal with ; 
 and according to your liking, add either a greater or less 
 
 quantity 
 
126 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 quantity of the manganese, or of the crystal, until you 
 have brought it to its degree of perfection. 
 
 A Rose Colour EnameL 
 
 Take five pounds of ground crystal* ; melt it in a cru- 
 cible ; add, at four different times, two ounces and a 
 half of thrice calcined copper ; stir the metal every time ; 
 then pour into it crocus martis and manganese prepared as 
 directed ; let it stand for six hours to cleanse, and if 
 the colour is too light, add a little more crocus martis, 
 until it be of a fine rose colour. 
 
 Observe that all the colours, (which are not pure 
 enamel,) must be incorporated with the crystal, that 
 they may vitrify the better, which else they would not 
 easily do. Some workmen make use of rocaille ; but that 
 does not answer the purpose so well as ground crystal. 
 
 A fine Purple. 
 
 Take half an ounce of fine gold ; neal it, and beat it 
 into very thin plates ; dissolve this in four ounces of 
 aqua regia ; put it into a glass cucurbit, and set it on 
 warm ashes, or sand, to dissolve ; put in it a small 
 matter of nitre ; when all is dissolved, drop two or three 
 drops of oil of tartar into it, and stop the cucurbit 
 close, to prevent its boiling over : then put in some more 
 drops of oil, and repeat this until it hisses no more. Af- 
 ter this put some lukewarm rain-water to it, and let it 
 stand for some time, and a powder will settle at the bot- 
 tom of the cucurbit ; then pour off the water leisurely 
 into an earthen, or glazed receiver ; put more fresh water 
 to the sediment, and repeat this until the water comes off 
 
 * Crystal means crystal glass, which is usually kept in powder, 
 nt for use, by enamellers. . Ed. 
 
 clear, 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 127 
 
 clear, and free from the sharpness of the aqua regia. 
 When the powder is settled, and all the water poured 
 from it, then put it upon a piece of whited-brown paper, 
 to separate it from the rest of the water ; and dry it on a 
 warm tile, or in the sun. To one part of this powder, 
 add six parts of the principal matter; grind it with oil of 
 spike, and it will make a good purple. 
 
 A good Red Enamel Colour. 
 
 Take green vitriol ; put it into a copper cup ; hold it 
 over a fire, and stir it with a copper wire until it is reduced 
 to a powder ; burn this upon a hot tile, on which let it 
 cool of itself; then wash it with rain water, and when 
 settled, pour off that, and put fresh water on, and thus 
 repeat it several times*. 
 
 But some artists, instead of washing this powder, 
 boil it in fair water, and think this method better than 
 that of washing. With this powder you may tinge the 
 principal matter to what height you would have your co- 
 lour. Or, 
 
 Melt vitriol in a crucible, with a cover, and burn over a 
 gentle fire ; when thus you have burned it to a powder, 
 boil it in clean water ; filter and dry it : of this take one 
 part, of the principal powder three parts, and of trans- 
 parent yellow one and one-eighth part. Or, 
 
 Put vitriol into a crucible, pour a little aqua-fords upon 
 it, and neal it gently ; then put it in a clean earthen pip- 
 kin, pour clean water upon it, and boil it one hour; then 
 pour off that, and put fresh water upon it ; wash it, and 
 when settled dry it ; neal it once more, and it is fit for use. 
 
 * This, and some others are, in reality, the same thing with Col- 
 cothar of vitriol ; so are the following, with a little variation, viz. 
 scarlet ochre, Spanish brown, Indian red, Venetian red. Ed. 
 
 Of 
 
12£ THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Of this powder take two parts, and of the principal pow- 
 der, or Mux, three parts. 
 
 A Flux for Red Enamel. 
 
 Take of red lead four ounces, white scouring sand 
 one ounce ; melt it, and pour it into an iron mortar. 
 
 Some General Obserzafio?: 1 ;. 
 
 Before we proceed to another subject, we will con- 
 clude this article with a few observations and general 
 rules, for the more easy apprehending of what has 
 been said already. 
 
 Observe that gold is the most proper metal to enamel 
 upon ; that every colour, except a violet or purple, re- 
 ceives an additional beauty from it, to what it does 
 from silver or copper : that it is best to enrich gold with 
 such beautiful colours, since they raise admiration in 
 the beholder when the skilful artist places them in due 
 order. 
 
 The ancients only painted in black and white, with 
 something of a carnation, or flesh colour ; in process of 
 time they indeed made some few improvements, but 
 all their enamel colours were equally alike on gold, 
 silver, or copper, every one transparent ; and every co- 
 lour wrought by itself. But since the modern artists 
 have found out a way of enamelling with opaque co- 
 lours, and of compounding them in such a manner as 
 to shade or heighten the painting in the same manner 
 as is done in miniature, or oil painting, this art has 
 gained the pre-eminence in small portraits, having the 
 advantage of a natural and lasting lustre, which is never 
 tarnished, nor subiecTtc. decay 
 
 The 
 
ENAMELLING IN ORDINARY. 129 
 
 The purple coloured enamel does best on silver, from 
 which it receives great beauty ; so does the ultramarine, 
 azure and green ; all other colours, as well clear as 
 opaque, do not suit it ; copper suits with all thick enamels, 
 but is unfit for that which is clear. 
 
 Make choice of good, hard, and lasting enamel : the 
 soft is commonly full of lead, which is apt to change 
 the colours and make them look sullied and foul ; but 
 if you follow the prescriptions, you will meet with no 
 such inconvenience. 
 
 Remember, when you lay white enamel on gold, 
 silver, or copper, to dilute it with water of quince-ker- 
 nels, as has been directed : clean enamel colours, mix 
 only with fair water; and the opaque, when mixed 
 with flux, or the principal matter, dilute with oil of 
 spike. 
 
 Be careful not to keep your work too long in the 
 furnace, but take it often out, to see when it has the pro- 
 per glazing ; and then it is finished. 
 
 Before you use your enamels, grind as much as you 
 have occasion for, with fair water, in an agate mortar ; 
 thus do with all your clear and transparent enamels, 
 and by this means you will have all things in readiness 
 to proceed in your work with pleasure. 
 
 All opaque colours that will stand the fire, are fit to 
 be used in painting enamel. The ingenious artist will not be 
 at a loss, but will meet probably with several colours 
 not yet discovered, as frequently happens to those who 
 try experiments. 
 
 vol. 1. k OF 
 
230 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 OF ARTIFICIAL PEARLS. 
 
 It will not be improper to treat in this place of artificial 
 pearls, as it is a branch of jewellery. 
 
 The ancients who wrote on the several sorts of precious 
 stones, ranged pearls among the jewels of the first class ;. 
 they have at all times been in high esteem, and have been 
 employed particularly in adorning the fair sex. 
 
 The oriental pearls are the finest, on account of their 
 size, colour, and beauty, being of a silver white ; whereas, 
 the occidental or western pearls seldom exceed the colour 
 of milk. The best pearls are brought from the Persian 
 Gulf, above the isles of Ormus and Bassora*. They are 
 found in Europe, both in salt and fresh waters ; Scotland, 
 Silesia, Bohemia, and Frisia f, produce very fine ones i 
 though those of the latter country arc very small. 
 
 Art, which is always busy to mimic nature, has not 
 been idle to bring counterfeit pearls to the greatest perfec- 
 tion : they are imitated so near, that the naked eye cannot 
 distinguish them from pearls of the first class, or the real 
 ones. 
 
 We shall here present the curious with several receipts 
 how to counterfeit pearls in the best manner, and after a 
 method both easy and satisfactory, so as to render his 
 labour pleasant, and make it answer his expectations. 
 
 To imitate fine Oriental Pearls* 
 
 Take of distilled vinegar two pounds, Venice turpen- 
 tine one pound ; mix them together into a mass, and put 
 them into a cucurbit ; fit a head and receiver to it, and, 
 after you have luted the joints, set it, when dry, on a 
 
 * Called also Bahora and Basrah. Ed. 
 
 f That part of Germany lying between the Rhine and the Ems. 
 Ed. 
 
 sand 
 
ARTIFICIAL PEARLS. 131 
 
 sand furnace, to distil the vinegar from it ; do not give it 
 too much heat, lest the stuff should swell up. 
 
 After this, put the vinegar into another glass cucurbit, 
 in which there is a quantity of seed pearl, wrapt in a piece 
 of thin silk, but so as not to touch the vinegar ; put a 
 cover or head upon the cucurbit ; lute it well, and put it in 
 Bal. Maria* : , where you may let it remain a fortnight. 
 The heat of the Balneum will raise the fumes of the vine- 
 gar, and they will soften the pearls in the silk, and bring 
 them to the consistence of a paste ; which being done, 
 take them out, and mould them to what bigness, shape, 
 and form you please. Your mould should be of fine sil- 
 ver, the inside gilt ; you must refrain from touching the 
 paste with your fingers, but use silver gilt utensils, with 
 which fill your moulds ; when you have moulded them, 
 bore them through with a hog's bristle, or gold wire, and 
 let them dry a little ; then thread them again on a gold 
 wire, and put them in a glass ; close it up, and set them 
 in the sun to dry ; after they are thoroughly dry, put them 
 into a glass matrass in a stream of running water, and 
 leave them there twenty days ; by that time they will con- 
 tract the natural hardness and solidity of pearls. Then 
 take them out of the matrass, and hang them in mercury- 
 •water f, where they will moisten, swell, and assume their 
 
 oriental 
 
 * Balneum Maris, sometimes called Balneum Maris, is a bath 
 of sand, heated by a fire, in which chemical apparatus are plung- 
 ed, to submit their contents to a digestive heat. Ed. 
 
 f Mercury-water, so called by the workmen, is thus prepared. 
 Take plate-tin of Cornwall ; calcine it, and let the calx be pure 
 and line ; then with one ounce of the calx, and two ounces of pure 
 mercury, make an amalgam ; wash it with fair water, till the water 
 remains insipid and clear ; then dry the amalgam thoroughly ; put 
 it into a matrass, on a sand bath, giving it such a heat as is requi- 
 site for sublimation. When the matter is well sublimated, take off 
 the matrass, and let it cool. Take out that sublimate ; add one 
 ounce of Venice sublimate to it, and grind it together on a marble ; 
 
 k. 2 put 
 
1-52 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 oriental beauty ; after which shift them into a matrass, 
 hermetically closed up, to prevent any water coming to 
 them, and let it down into a well, to continue there about 
 eight days ; then draw the matrass up, and on opening it 
 you will find pearls exactly resembling oriental ones. This 
 method is very excellent, and welt worth the trouble. 
 
 Another Way to make Artificial Pearls. 
 
 Take oriental, seed-pearls • reduce them into a fine 
 powder, on a marble ; then dissolve them in mercury-wa- 
 ter, or clarified juice of lemons. To make more dis- 
 patch, set them in a cucurbit, in bal. mar. and you wilf 
 see presently a cream arise at the top, which take off im- 
 mediately: take the solution off" the fire, and, when set- 
 tled, pour off the liquid into another glass, and save it. 
 You will have the pearl paste at the bottom, with which 
 fill your silver-gilt moulds ; then put them by for twenty- 
 four hours : bore them through with a bristle ; close up the 
 moulds, in barley dough, and put it in an oven to bake, 
 and when about half baked, draw it out, take out your 
 pearls, and steep them in the liquor you saved before, 
 putting them in and taking them out several times : then 
 close them up in their moulds, and bake them again with 
 the like dough ; but let it remain in the oven till it is al- 
 most burnt, before you draw it out. After you have taken 
 your pearls out of their moulds, string them on one or 
 
 put tFiis into another matrass; close it well, and set it upside down 
 in a pail of water ; and the whole mass will dissolve in a little time : 
 this done, filter it into a glass receiver; set it on a gentle sand heat 
 to coagulate, and it will turn into a crystalline substance : this beat 
 in a glass mortar, with a glass pestle, to a line powder; sift it 
 through a fine sieve, and put it into a matrass; stop it close up, 
 and place it in bain, mar'ut ; there let it remain till it resolves again 
 into water j which is the mercury? waief, fit tor the above-mentioned 
 use. 
 
 mora 
 
ARTIFICIAL PEARLS. 13 J 
 
 more gold or silver threads, and steep them in mercury- 
 water for about a fortnight ; after which time, take and 
 dry them in the sun, in a well-closed glass, and you will 
 have very fine and bright pearls. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Dissolve very line pulverised oriental pearls in ajum- 
 water ; when the solution is settled, pour off the water, 
 and wash the paste first in distilled water, then in bean 
 water, and afterwards set it in bed. mar ice, or horse-dung, 
 to digest for a fortnight ; this done, take out your glass, 
 and the matter being come to the consistence of a paste, 
 mould it as you have been directed before ; bore and string 
 the pearls on a silver thread, and hang them in a well- 
 closed glass alembic, to prevent the air coming to them : 
 thus dried, wrap every one up in leaves of silver ; then 
 split a barbel, and close them up in the belly thereof.; 
 make a dough of barlev meal, and bake the fish, as you 
 ; do bread ; then draw him, take out your pearls, and dry 
 jthem in a closed glass in the sun. 
 
 To give them a transparency and splendor, dip them in 
 mercury-water; or, instead, take the herb gratuli*, and 
 squeeze it in water ; put therein six ounces of seed-pearl, 
 one ounce of nitre, one ounce of roach alum, one ounce 
 of litharge ; the whole being dissolved, heat first the pearls, 
 and then dip them in this solution to cool ; repeat this 
 about six times successively. 
 
 If your pearls shoukl not have their natural hardness, 
 then take two ounces of lapis caUuninaris, in impalpable 
 powder ; add to this two ounces of acid of vitriol, and; 
 two ounces of whites of eggs beaten into a water ; put 
 them together into a retort ; lute a receiver to it, and you 
 
 :: Probably gratiola, i. e. hedge-/n>ssop, is here meant by the un- 
 known term gratuli. Ed. 
 
 will 
 
134 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 will distil a fair water, with which, and some fine barley- 
 flour, make a paste, in which put your pearls, and bake 
 them as before ; thus they will become exceedingly hard. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take chalk well purified and cleansed from all gross- 
 ness and sand, i. e. whiten ; of this make a paste, and 
 form pearls, in a mould for that purpose ; pierce them 
 through with a bristle, and let them dry in the s un or in 
 an oven ; then string them on a silver thread ; colour 
 them lightly over with Armenian boie, diluted in the white 
 of eggs ; and when dry, drench them with a pencil and 
 fair water; lay them over with leaf jilver, and put them 
 under a glass in the sun to dry ; when dry, polish them with 
 a dog's ooth. 
 
 To give them the true colour, make a glue of vellum 
 shavings, thus: after you have washed them in warm 
 water, boil them in fair water, in a new earthen pot or 
 pipkin, to some thickness, and then strain them through a 
 cloth. When you w r ould use it, warm it first, and dip 
 your string of pearls into it, but let there be an interval 
 between each pearl, so as not to touch one another ; this 
 will give your pearls a natural lustre. 
 
 To form large Pearls out of small ones, as directed by 
 Korndorffer. 
 
 Take of mercurial water fourteen ounces ; put two 
 ounces of sulph. soils*, into a low matrass, pour the mer- 
 curial water upon it, and let it dissolve and extract. Then 
 take of the whitest small pearls tw r enty ounces, put them 
 into a proper matrass, and pour the said w r ater upon it. 
 
 * Sulphur So/is may probably mean a preparation of silver, not 
 now in use. Ed. 
 
 The 
 

 ARTIFICIAL PEARLS. 135 
 
 The pearls will by degrees dissolve, and at last turn to a 
 clear calx, much like dissolved silver calx : pour off the 
 mercurial water ; boil the calx well out, and dry it; then 
 put it into a clean crucible by itself, and melt and cast it 
 into what form you please. When cold, polish it in the 
 same manner as you do gems or crystals ; and you will 
 have your work of the consistence and beauty of the finest 
 and clearest oriental pearL 
 
 To make of small Pearls a fine Necklace of large ones. 
 
 Take small oriental pearls, as many as you will ; put 
 them into mercurial water fifteen days and nights together, 
 and they will turn soft, like a paste ; then have a pearl 
 mould, made of silver; into this convey the paste by a 
 silver spatula, or such like implement ; but you must not 
 touch the paste with your fingers, and be very careful to 
 have every thing nice and clean about this work : when it 
 is in the mould, let it dry ; bore a hole with a silver wire 
 through it, and let it stick there till you have more, but 
 take care they do not touch one another ; then have a glass 
 wherein you may fix, as upon a pair of stands, your wires 
 with the pearls : put them, well closed up, in the sun to 
 harden, and when you find them hard enough, put them 
 into a matrass ; lute the neck very close, and sink it in a 
 running spring of water for twenty days, in which time 
 they will contract their natural colour. 
 
 It is asserted, by those who have wearied themselves 
 with the hopes of forming small imperfect pearls into 
 larger ones, that artificial pearls cannot be made of the 
 materials of original pearls. The foregoing receipts are 
 laborious and expensive ; and that the reader may have 
 some reward for his exertions, shouJd the experiments balk 
 wis expectations, we shall add to this edition a tried and 
 approved method of imitating pearls from other materials, 
 
 which, 
 
136 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 which, when well executed, can only be distinguished 
 from the real by their absolutely containing fewer ble- 
 mishes. The method was kept a profound secret for 
 many years. 
 
 Best Method of imitating Pearls. 
 
 Take the blay or bleak-fish, which is very common in 
 the rivers near London, and scrape off, in a delicate way, 
 the fine silvery scales from the belly. Wash and rub these 
 in fair water, changing the water, and permitting the seve- 
 ral liquors to settle : the water being carefully poured off, 
 the pearly matter will be found at the bottom, of an oily 
 consistence, called by the French essence d'orient. A 
 little of this essence is dropped into a little hollow glass 
 bead of a bluish tinge, and shaken about, so as to fill up 
 all the cavities and surface of the internal part. When 
 the essence is thoroughly dry, melted white wax is drop- 
 ped into the beads, to give them weight, solidity, and 
 security. 
 
 To clean Pearls when of a foul Colour. 
 
 Take pigeon's dung ; moisten it with alum-water, tq 
 the consistence of a paste : put this into a glass, big enough 
 to hold four times the quantity , put into this your yellow- 
 coloured or foul pearls, so that they may be covered all 
 over, and set them in a warm place, or behind an oven ; 
 Jet them stand for a month • then take them out, and 
 fling them into fresh cold alum-water, and dry them care- 
 fully, and your pearls will become fine and white : if you 
 repeat the operation once or twice, they will be done to 
 greater perfection. 
 
 To 
 
ARTIFICIAL PEARLS. J$7 
 
 To blanch and cleanse Pearls, 
 
 First soak and cleanse them in bran-water; then in 
 milk-warm water, and last of all, steep them in mercury- 
 water : then string and hang them in a glass ; close it well, 
 and set them in the sun to dry. 
 
 The bran water is made thus: boil two large handfuls 
 of wheaten bran in a quart of water, till all the strength 
 of the bran is drawn out : use it thus ; take a new glazed 
 earthen pan, in which put your pearls on a string, and 
 pour the third part of the bran water upon it ; when they 
 have soaked, and the water is just warm, rub your pearls 
 gently with your hands, to clean them the better ; conti- 
 nue this until the water is cold ; then throw off that, and 
 pour on another third part of the bran water that is boil- 
 ing; proceed with this as you did before, and when cold 
 throw it away, and pour on the remainder of the water, 
 still proceeding as before ; after this, heat fair water, and 
 pour it on your pearls, to refresh them, and to wash away 
 the remains of the bran, by shifting them, and pouring on 
 fresh warm water : this do thrice, without handling your 
 pearls ; then lay them on a sheet of clean white paper ; 
 and dry them in the shade ; then dip them into mercury 
 water, to bring them to perfection. 
 
 Other Methods used in blanching Pearls. 
 
 Pound plaster of Paris to an impalable powder ; rub the 
 pearls therewith very gently ; this will not only cleanse 
 them, but if vou let them remain in this powder twenty- 
 four hours afterwards, they will still be the better for it, 
 White coral has the same effect, used in the like manner. 
 
 White tartar calcined and divested of all its moisture, is 
 very good for the same purpose. 
 
 Salt, 
 
!38 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Salt, well dried and ground, is as effectual as any of the 
 former things, for cleansing of pearls, by rubbing them 
 therewith ; and if afterwards you lay them up in some 
 ground millet, it will contribute to their natural brightness. 
 
 OF DOUBLETS. 
 
 A Doublet, among lapidaries, implies a counterfeit 
 stone composed of two pieces of crystal, with proper co- 
 lours between them ; so that they may make the same 
 appearance to the eye as if the whole substance of the 
 crystal had been tinged with these colours. 
 
 The impracticability of imparting tinges to the body of 
 genuine natural crystals, without depriving them of their 
 brilliancy, gave inducements to the introduction of colour- 
 ing the surface of them, so as to give them, when finished, 
 the appearance of a gem. They have not the property 
 which artificial stones have of being set transparent, as is 
 required for drops of earings, &c. but they suit very well 
 for rings, and other ornaments which allow of an opaque 
 back-ground. They are made after the following manner : 
 
 A crystal, or glass in imitation of crystal, is to be cut 
 by a lapidarv into the shape of the precious stone it is to 
 resemble; a brilliant, for instance, must be composed of 
 two separate stones, or two parts of one stone, forming 
 the upper and under parts of the brilliant, dividing the. 
 whole stone in a horiz ontal plane, a little lower than the 
 middle. No division appearing between the two pieces 
 when duly polished and placed on one another, the colour 
 of the intended stone is put between them, after the fol- 
 lowing method : 
 
 Take of Venice or Cyprus turpentine two scruples, and 
 add to it one scruple of the grains of mastich, chosen per- 
 
 fectlv 
 
OF DOUBLETS. 139 
 
 feetlv pure, free from foulness, and previously powdered. 
 Melt them together in a small silver or brass spoon ladle, 
 and put to them some one of the colour rig substances 
 mentioned hereafter, they being also finely powdered : 
 stir them together as the colour is put in, that they may 
 be thoroughly commixed. Warm then the doublets to the 
 same degree of heat as the melted mixture, and paint the 
 upper surface of the lower part, putting the upper one 
 instantly upon it ; and press them to each other, taking 
 care that they are conjoined in the most perfectly even 
 manner. When the paint or cement is quite cold and set, 
 scrape off the redundant part of it which has been pressed 
 out of the joint, so as to leave no colour on the outside of 
 the doublet. They should be so set as skilfully to carry 
 the mointing just above the joint, which will hide the arti- 
 fice and secure the pieces from separating. 
 
 As the proportions vary in the receipt given in the former 
 editions of this work, we shall here insert it, lest it be 
 thought, on trial, to have the preference : it is as follows — 
 
 Method of making Doublets. 
 
 Take two drachms of clear mastich, and of the clearest 
 Venetian or Cyprian turpentine sixteen drams ; dissolve 
 these together in a silver or brass spoon : if you find there 
 is too much turpentine, then add a little more mastich to 
 it, to bring it to a right temper. Then take what colour 
 you please, as lake, dragon's blood, distilled verdigrise, or 
 what colour else you design, for representing a particular 
 stone ; grind each by itself, in the nicest manner you pos- 
 sibly can, and mix each apart with the mixture of mastich 
 and turpentine, which you ought to have ready by you ; 
 and you will find the lake to imitate the colour of a ruby, 
 the dragon's blood that of a hyacinth, and the verdigrise 
 the colour of an emerald. But in case you would have 
 your colours, as it were, distilled, then get a little box, 
 
 made 
 
1 JO THE LABORATORY. 
 
 made of lime-tree, in the shnpe of an egg or acorn. This 
 box must be turned at the bottom as thin as possible, so 
 that the light may be seen through it. Then make a quan- 
 tity of any one of the abovcsaid colours, mixed with the 
 mixture of mastich and turpentine, and put it into the 
 little box, hung over a gentle glowing coal fire, or in sum- 
 mer-time in the heat of the sun, where the colour will 
 distil through very fine ; scrape and put this into little boxes 
 of ivory, to preserve it from dust, for your use ; it is ne- 
 cessary to have to every different colour such a different 
 wooden box. 
 
 When the colours are ready, take your crystals (first 
 ground exactly to fit upon one another) and make vour 
 colours and stone of an equal warmth ; lay your colour 
 with a fine hair pencil on the sides of the crystals that are 
 to be joined together ; then clap them against each other 
 as nimbly as possible : press them with your fingers close 
 together; let them cool, and it is done. 
 
 The colour of the Itubxj is thought by some ingenious 
 artists to be best imitated by a fourth part of carmine, with 
 some of the finest crimson lake that can be procured. 
 
 The Sapphire may be counterfeited by very high Prus- 
 sia n blue, mixed with a little of the above-mentioned 
 crimson lake, to give it a tinge of the purple hue. Let not 
 the Prussian blue be too deep coloured, or you must use 
 the less of it. otherwise it will give a black shade which 
 wiil obscure the brilliancy of the doublet. 
 
 The Emerald may be well imitated by distilled vcrdi- 
 grise, with a small portion of powdered aloes. But the 
 mixture should not be strongly heated, nor kept over the 
 fire after the verdigrise is added, for the colour is impaired 
 by it. 
 
 The resemblance of the Garnet may be made by dra- 
 gon's blood ; which, if it cannot be procured of sufficient 
 brightness, may be helped by a small quantity of carmine. 
 
 The 
 
OF DOUBLETS. Ill 
 
 The Amethyst is imitated by the mixture of some 
 Prussian blue with crimson lake ; but the proportions can 
 only be regulated bv experience, as the parcels of blue and 
 lake vary so much in their hues, and are of such different 
 strengths of colours. 
 
 The Yellow Topaz may be counterfeited by mixing 
 powdered aloes with a little dragon's blood, or by good 
 Spanish anotto ; but the colour must be sparingly used, or 
 the colour will exceed that of the stone. 
 
 The Chrysolite, Hyacinth, Vinegar Garnet, Eagle 
 Marine, and other such weak and diluted colours, may be 
 formed and imitated in like manner, only with less propor- 
 tions of the due colours ; for which purpose, those who 
 employ their ingenuity and leisure hours in this pursuit, 
 should obtain an original stone of each of those specified,, 
 keeping his eye perpetually watchful whilst mixing the 
 colours. When these precautions are taken, and the ope- 
 ration is well conducted, it is practicable to bring the 
 doublets to so near a resemblance of the true stones, as to 
 deceive the best judges (when they are well set, and the 
 joint hid) unless inspected in one direction only. The 
 direction alluded to is, to hold them betwixt the light and 
 the eye, so that the light may pass through the upper part 
 and corners of the stone ; when it will be readily perceiv- 
 ed whether there be any colour in the crystal ; which can- 
 not be learned by looking down upon the doublet. 
 
 The Crystal Glue of Milan. 
 
 This is nothing eise but grains of mastich, squeezed 
 out of a linen bag by degrees over a charcoai fire, and like 
 clear turpentine. Its use is, to unite two pieces of crystal 
 together, to form a doublet, precisely in the manner be- 
 fore described. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS 
 
142 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING FOILS, OR METALLIC 
 LEAVES, WHICH ARE LAID UNDER PRECIOUS 
 STONES. 
 
 It is customary to place thin foils, or leaves of metaf 
 under precious stones, to make them look transparent, 
 and to give them an agreeable colour, either deep or 
 pale : thus, if you want a stone to be of a pale colour, 
 put a foil of that colour under it ; again, if you would 
 have it deep, lay a dark one under it : besides, as the 
 transparency of gems discovers the bottom of, the ring 
 they are set in, artificers have found out these means to 
 give the stone an additional beauty. 
 
 These foils are made either of copper, or gold, or gold 
 and silver together : we shall fust mention those made of 
 copper only, which are generally known by the name of 
 Nuremburg or German foils. 
 
 Procure the thinnest copper plates you can, the thinner 
 they are the less trouble they will give you in reducing 
 them to a finer substance : beat these plates gently upon 
 a well polished anvil, with a polished hammer, as thin 
 as possible ; but before you go about this work, take 
 two iron plates, about six inches long, and as wide, 
 but no thicker than writing-paper ; bend them so as to 
 fit one on the other ; between these neal the copper 
 you design to hammer for the foils, to prevent ashes, or 
 other impurities getting to it ; then, taking them out r 
 shake the ashes from them, and hammer the copper 
 until cool. Then take your foils to the anvil, and beat 
 them until they become very thin, and whilst you beat one 
 number, put in another between the irons to neal ; this 
 you may repeat eight times, until they are as thin as the 
 work requires. You must have a pipkin with water at 
 hand, in which put tartar and salt, of each an equal 
 quantity ; boil, and put the foils in, and stir them con- 
 tinually, until, by boiling, they become white : then 
 take them from the fire ; wash them in clean water ; 
 
 drv 
 
METALLIC FOILS. H3 
 
 dry them with a clean fine rag, and give them another 
 hammering on the the anvil, until they are lit for your 
 purpose. 
 
 A'. B, Care must be taken in the management of this 
 work, not to give the foils" too much heat, to prevent their 
 melting; neither must they be too long boiled, for fear of 
 attracting too much salt. 
 
 How to polish and colour Foils. 
 
 Tkke a plate of the best copper, one foot long, and 
 about five or six inches wide, polished to the greatest 
 perfection : bend this to a convex shape, lengthwise, 
 and fix it to a bench, or table : then take some whiten, 
 and having laid some on the roll, and wetted the cop- 
 per all over, lay your foils upon it, and with a polish- 
 stone and the whiten, polish your foils, until they are 
 as bright as a looking-glass ; then dry them between a 
 fine rag, and lay them up secure from dust. I shall now 
 shew how these foils are coloured ; but shall first give a short 
 description of the oven, or furnace, requisite for that 
 purpose. 
 
 The furnace must be but small and round (see plate 4, 
 and the explanation) about a foot high, and as wide ; 
 cover the same with a round iron plate, in which is a 
 round hole, about four inches wide ; upon this furnace 
 put another without a bottom, of the same dimension 
 as the former, and let the crevices of the sides round 
 about be well closed and luted : this furnace must also, have 
 a hole at top. The lower furnace must have a little door 
 at bottom, about five inches big. Before this fix a sort of 
 funnel, like a smoke-funnel to an oven, and lute it close- 
 to the furnace ; then light some charcoal on your hearth, 
 and when they burn clear, and free from smoke, convey 
 them through the funnel into the furnace, till they come 
 up so high as to fill half the funnel. When every thing is 
 
 ready, 
 
f44 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 ready, and you have a clear fire, then begin to colour you? 
 foils in the following manner : 
 
 Lay the foils upon a pair of iron tongs ; hold them ovey 
 the hole that is at top of the furnace, so that the fumes of 
 the coals may reverberate over them, and move them 
 about till they are of a brownish violet colour y and this is 
 done without any other vapour or smoke. When you 
 have done with this colour, put it by ; and if you would 
 colour others of a sky blue, then put the foils upon the 
 tongs as before ; and whilst you, with one hand, are hold- 
 ing the foils over the holes, fling, with the other, some 
 down-feathers of a goose, upon the live coals in the fun-, 
 nel, and with a red-hot poker press them down, to drive 
 the smoke of the feathers up through the holes of the 
 oven, which, by settling upon the foils, gives them a fine 
 sky colour : but you must have your eyes very quick upon 
 them, and, as soon as you see that they have attracted the 
 colour you design, take them away from the oven, to pre- 
 vent their changing to some other colour: if you would 
 have your foils of a sapphire blue, then first silver them 
 over; which is done in this manner : 
 
 Take a little silver and dissolve it in aqua-fortis ; when 
 dissolved, put spring water to it ; fling thin bits of copper 
 into it, and the water will look troubled, and the silver 
 precipitate and hang to the copper ; pour off that, sweeten 
 the silver with fair water, and let it diy in the sun ; when 
 dry, grind it on a porphyry : then take one ounce of tar- 
 tar, and as much of common salt ; mix and grind them all 
 together, till they are well mixed ; fling this powder upon 
 the thin foils, and rub them with your finger backwards 
 and forwards, and it will silver them ; then lay them upon 
 the polisher, pour water over them, and some of the 
 powder, and rub it with your thumb till they are as white 
 as you would have them : polish them with a polisher of 
 bloud-stone ; and then holding them over the goose-fea^ 
 ther smoke, they will take a line dark blue. 
 
 To 
 
METALLIC FOILS. 145 
 
 To colour Foils of a Green Colour, for an Emerald. 
 
 You must first colour your foils of a sky blue, as di- 
 rected before ; then hold them over the smoke-hole, and 
 below, in the funnel, lay, upon the red-hot iron plate, 
 leaves of box, from which ascends a smoke that gives the 
 foils a green colour ; but before they contract that colour 
 they undergo several changes, as blue, red, and yellow, 
 &c. wherefore you must hold them till you have the green 
 colour to your mind. 
 
 To colour Ike Foils of a lluby Colour. 
 
 Put the shearings of scarlet cloth upon the coals, and 
 holding the foils over the smoke-hole, they will contract a 
 fine red colour. 
 
 The Colour of an Amethyst'. 
 
 This may be obtained by proceeding with your foils as 
 for the blue or sapphire colour ; for, before that blue colour 
 comes, it first changes to an amethyst ; as soon as you 
 perceive this, take them off, and polish them. 
 
 How Foils are to be mixed with Copper and other Metals, 
 
 These are more difficult to make, but more lasting in 
 their colour. Take one pound and a half of copper, and 
 melt it in a crucible ; fling into this two ounces and eleven 
 penny-weights of gold ; when in fusion, pour it into a flat 
 ingot, and let it cool : this beat and work, as has been 
 taught, into thin foils ; then boi! them in tartar and salt. 
 These sort of foils will take a fine ruby colour; nor can 
 that colour be well done without this mixture. 
 
 vofc- I. l Another 
 
146 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Take small-coal dust; put it into a little iron oven, 
 and in the midst thereof a live charcoal ; blow it till all the 
 small-coal dust is lighted, and let this glow for two hours : 
 when it is nearly all glown out, add such another quantity 
 to it, and let it glow for an hour. At the top of your oven 
 must be a round or square hole, with a close cover to it, 
 in which hang the foils to some copper or iron wire : when 
 your small-coal has glowed for about an hour, take a little 
 iron bowl, and warm it well ; put in it a little quantity of* 
 fox hair, and then set it upon the small-coal dust ; shut 
 the oven door, and open the top : this will draw the smoke 
 through, and give the foils, first, the colour of a ruby, then 
 of an amethyst, and, lastly, a sapphire. You may take 
 out such colours as will serve your purpose ; and if you 
 want a green, let those foils hang, and burn sage leaves 
 till the foils turn to a green colour. Take care to put but 
 a few sage leaves in at a time. 
 
 To the ruby and hyacinth-colours use pure copper ; but 
 for an emerald and sapphire, take one part of gold, two 
 parts of silver, and eight parts of copper ; melt, and work 
 them together. 
 
 THE ART OF IMITATING PRECIOUS STONES, OR OF 
 MAKING ARTIFICIAL GEMS. 
 
 This curious art is arrived at such perfection, as to be 
 capable of imitating precious stones in their lustre, colour, 
 and beauty, equal to the natural ones, except in hardness, 
 to obtain which has been, and no doubt still is, the endea- 
 vour of ingenious men. 
 
 The 
 
ARTIFICIAL GEMS. 147 
 
 The aft of making artificial gems, consists chiefly in 
 rightly imitating the tints of those that are real : these 
 must be prepared from such things as resist the fire, and 
 do not change their colour. 
 
 You must therefore take such colours as change not, 
 when mixt together: therefore, since blue and yellow 
 make a green, you must take such blue as shall not hurt 
 the yellow when you mix them ; and also such a yellow as 
 shall not be detrimental to the blue ; and so of the other 
 colours. We shall give plain instructions to carry the in- 
 genious artist with ease through his experiments. 
 
 The Way of preparing Natural Crystal. 
 
 Take natural crystal, the clearest you caji get, no mat- 
 ter how big the pieces are ; fill a large crucible with them, 
 and cover it with a lid broader than the mouth of the cru- 
 cible,, to prevent the falling of ashes or coals into it: then 
 put it into a small furnace, on burning coke : and when 
 the crystal is thorough hot, cast it into a pretty large vessel 
 ot cold water. Then take it out of the water, dry it on 
 an earthen plate, and put it into the same crucible again , 
 cover it, and proceed as before, repeating it twelve times 
 running, and changing each time the water : when the crys- 
 tal easily breaks and crumbles, and is thoroughly white, it 
 is a sign that it is calcined enough : if there appear any 
 black parts in the veins, break off the white, and put these 
 again into the furnace, and proceed therewith as before, 
 till only the white remain behind. 
 
 After you have dried this calcined crystal thoroughly, 
 grind it to an impalpable powder, on a marble or porphyry, 
 and sift it through a lawn sieve. Of this powder of crys- 
 tal, as it is used for ail artificial gems of which we shah 
 treat, it will be proper to have a sufficient quantity by you, 
 to have recourse to when at work ; and if you would suc- 
 ceed in this art, you must not use ordinary frit of crystal, 
 
 l 2 be. 
 
143 TH£ LABORATORY. 
 
 be it ever so good ; for that will not answer, or come up 
 to, the lustre or beauty of natural crystal. 
 
 To counterfeit an Opal. 
 
 At Harlem they make counterfeit opal glass, which is 
 very lively, and whose several colours are supposed to be 
 produced by different degrees of heat. When the com- 
 position is thoroughly melted, some of it, taken out on the 
 point of an iron rod, being cooled, either in the air or 
 water, is colourless and pellucid, but being put again into 
 the mouth of the furnace upon the same rod, and turned 
 round for a little time, acquires such various positions, as 
 that the light falling on them being variously modified, re- 
 presents the several colours observable in the true opal. 
 And it is remarkable that these colours may be destroyed, 
 and restored again by different degrees of heat. 
 
 To make a fair Emerald. 
 
 Take of natural crystal four ounces, of red-lead four 
 ounces, verdigrise forty-eight grains, crocus martis, pre- 
 pared with vinegar, eight grains ; let the whole be finely 
 pulverized and sifted : put this together in a crucible, leav- 
 ing one inch empty ; lute it well, and put it into a potter's 
 furnace, where they bake their earthen ware, and let it 
 stand there as long as thev do their pots. When cold, 
 break the crucible, and you will find a matter of a fine 
 emerald colour, which, after it is cut and set in gold, will 
 equal in beauty an oriental emerald. If you find that your 
 matter is not refined or purified enough, put it again, the 
 second time, in the same furnace, and in lifting off the 
 cover you will see the matter shining ; you may then break 
 the crucible, but not before ; for if you should put the 
 matter into another crucible, the paste would be cloudy 
 and full of blisters. If you cannot come to a potter's- 
 furnace. 
 
ARTIFICIAL GEMS. 149 
 
 furnace, you may build one yourself at a small expencex*, 
 in which you may put tvyenty crucibles at once, each with 
 a different colour, and one baking will produce a great 
 variety of artificial gems. Heat your furnace with hard 
 and dry wood, and keep your matter in fusion twenty-four 
 hours, which time it will require to be thoroughly puri- 
 fied ; and if you let it stand four or six hours longer, it will 
 not be the worse for it. 
 
 A deeper Emerald. 
 
 Take one opnce of natural crystal, six ounces and a 
 half of red lead, seventy-five grains of verdigrise, ten 
 grains of crocus martis, made with vinegar : proceed as 
 directed before. Or, 
 
 Take prepared crystal two ounces, red led seven ounces, 
 verdigrise eighteen grains, crocus martis ten grains, and 
 proceed as before directed. 
 
 To make a Paste for imitating an Oriental Topaz. 
 
 The colour of this stone is like water tinged with saffron 
 or rhubarb : to imitate it, take of prepared natural crystal 
 one ounce, of red lead seven ounces, finely powdered and 
 sifted ; mix the whole well together, and put it into a cru- 
 cible, not quite full by an inch, lest the matter should run 
 over, or stick to the cover of the crucible in rising ; then 
 proceed as directed above. Or, 
 
 Take prepared crystal two ounces, native cinnabar two 
 ounces ; <es uslum two ounces (all finely pulverized and 
 sifted), four times as much calcined tin; put it all together 
 into a crucible well covered, and proceed as before. 
 
 '■ Tlje reverberating furnace, which belongs to the common port- 
 able furnaces, will do for one crucible at a time. Ed. 
 
 To 
 
150 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To make an Artificial Chrysolite. 
 
 This stone is of a green colour, and some have the cast 
 of gold ; to imitate it, take natural crystal prepared two 
 ounces, red lead eight ounces, crocus martis twelve grains;' 
 mix the whole finely together, and proceed as before, only 
 leaving it a little longer than ordinary in the furnace. 
 
 To counterfeit a Beryl, or Aqua Marina. 
 
 This stone is of a bluish sea-green: to imitate it, take 
 two ounces of natural crystal prepared, five ounces of red 
 lead,, twenty-one grains of zafFre prepared (the whole 
 finely pulverized) ; put them in a crucible, and cover and 
 lute it ; then proceed as directed above, and you will have 
 a beautiful colour. 
 
 A Sapphire Colour. 
 
 A sapphire is generally of a verv clear sky-colour, and 
 is highly esteemed for its beauty. There are some of a 
 whitish colour, like diamonds ; others, of a full blue ; and 
 some, of a violet. 
 
 To make this paste, take of prepared rock crystal two 
 ounces, red lead four ounces and a half, smalt twenty-six 
 grains ; pulverize and proceed as directed. This colour 
 will come near to a violet. 
 
 Another, more beautiful, and nearer the Oriental. 
 
 Take two ounces of natural crystal prepared, six ounces 
 of red lead, two scruples of prepared zafFre, and six grains 
 of prepared manganese (all reduced to a fine powder) ; 
 mix, and proceed as before. 
 
 Another 
 
ARTIFICIAL GEMS. 151 
 
 Another \ deeper coloured Sapphire. 
 
 Of prepared natural crystal take two ounces, red lead 
 live ounces, prepared zaffre 42 grains, prepared manganese 
 eight grains ; the whole reduced to an impalpable powder, 
 and mixed together ; proceed as you have been directed, 
 and you will have a colour deeper than the former, tending 
 io a violet. 
 
 To make a Paste for an Oriental Garnet, 
 
 A garnet is much like a carbuncle ; both, if exposed 
 to the sun, exhibit a colour like burning coals, between 
 red and yellow ; and this is the true colour of fire. To 
 imitate this stone, take two ounces of natural crystal pre- 
 pared, and six ounces of red lead, also 16 grains of pre- 
 pared manganese, and two grains of prepared zaffre, pul- 
 verize and mix the whole ; put it into a crucible, and pro- 
 ceed as directed. 
 
 Another, deeper Garnet. 
 
 Of natural crystal prepared take two ounces, red lead 
 five ounces and a half, prepared manganese 1 5 grains ; pul- 
 verize alL and proceed as before directed. 
 
 ANOTHER PROCESS FOR COUNTERFEITING OF 
 PRECIOUS STONES. 
 
 Take of black flint stones what quantity you please ; 
 put them into a pail of hot water, and, being wet, put 
 them into a hot furnace, (this will prevent their flying into 
 
 small 
 
152 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 small pieces ;) or else warm them thoroughly by degrees, 
 before you put them into the furnace. When you see that 
 they are thoroughly red hot, quench them in fair water, 
 and they will look of a fine white colour ; dry and pulve- 
 rize them very fine : this you may do in an iron mor- 
 tar, but, as the powder may contract some of the iron, 
 it will be proper, after you have taken it out, to pour 
 on it some muriatic acid, which will clear it of the iron, 
 and disengage it from impurities : wash it in several clean 
 hot waters, afterwards. 
 
 Powder, thus prepared, is fit to be used for making 
 the finest glass, and for imitating the clearest and most 
 transparent gems, especially those that require the lustre 
 of a diamond or ruby : as for a sapphire, emerald, topaz, 
 chrvsolite, amethyst, &c. your labour with the acid may 
 be saved, if your mortar be bright and free from rust. 
 Such as have a mortar of porphyry, or such like stone, 
 have no occasion to use an iron one, but will save them- 
 selves a great deal of trouble. 
 
 If you cannot get black flint stones, you may content 
 yourself with pebble ; but flint is far preferable, and makes 
 the glass of a harder substance than that made of pebble. 
 
 An approved Composition. 
 
 Qf the above flint powder take three parts, refined nitre 
 two parts, borax and arsenic one part. Or, 
 
 Of the flint powder three parts, nitre two, and borax 
 four parts. Or, 
 
 Of the flint powder two parts, of refined pot-ash, or 
 salt of tartar and borax, of each one. part- Or, 
 
 Take of flint powder seven parts and a half, purified pot- 
 ash five parts. Or, 
 
 Flint powder six parts and an half; nitre two and a 
 half; borax one half; arsenic one half; and tartar one 
 part. 
 
 To 
 
ARTIFICIAL GEMS. 153 
 
 To melt these Compositions ; and how to tinge and finish 
 your Work. 
 
 Take any one of the above specified compositions, and 
 weigh what quantity you please, (one or two ounces) ; then 
 mix it with the colour you design to have it of ; for 
 Instance, 
 
 To make a Sapphire. 
 
 Take, to one ounce of the composition, four grains of 
 zaffre ; mix well together, and melt in a crucible ; if you 
 find the colour to your liking, proceed to finish it. You 
 may make a sapphire either deeper or paler, according to 
 what quantity you take of each ingredient ; and it is the 
 same with respect to other colours. A new practitioner in 
 this art may make experiments in small crucibles, in order 
 to acquaint himself with the nature of it. 
 
 I have already given receipts of most colours for imi- 
 tating precious stones ; but, nevertheless, I shall here lay 
 down some experimental rules necessary to be observed- 
 Know then that crocus martis may be prepared different 
 ways, and each will have a particular effect in colouring of 
 crystals ; one is prepared with vinegar, another with sul- 
 phur, a third with aqua-fortis, and a fourth by only a rever- 
 beratory fire. 
 
 To prepare Crocus Martis with Vinegar. 
 
 Take iron, or, which is better, steel filings ; moisten and 
 mix them up with good strong vinegar, in an earthen dish, 
 or pan ; after which, spread them, and let them dry in 
 the sun ; when dry, beat them fine in a mortar ; moisten 
 this powder with fresh vinegar, and dry and beat it again, 
 ^s before ; repeat this eight times running ; afterwards, dry 
 
 and 
 
154 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and sift it through a fine hair sieve, and it will be of the 
 colour of brick-dust ; but when mixt with glass, of a fine 
 crimson colour. Put this powder up carefully, to preserve 
 it from dust. 
 
 To prepare Crocus Martis with Sulphur. 
 
 , Take iron, or steel filings, one part ; sulphur three 
 parts; mix them together, and put them into a crucible ; 
 caver and lute it well ; then set it into a wind-furnace, and 
 give it a strong fire, with charcoal, for four hours together ; 
 then shake it out, and, when cold, pulverize and sift it 
 through a fine sieve : this powder put into a crucible ; 
 lute it, and place the same in the eye, or hole, of a glass 
 furnace ; let it stand there for fourteen days or more, and 
 it will turn to a red powder, inclining to purple : this is a 
 very useful ingredient for tinging of glass. 
 
 To prepare Crocus Martis with Aqua-Fortis. 
 
 Moisten some iron, or steel filings, in a glazed earthen 
 plate, cr dish, with aqua-fortis ; set it to dry in the sun, or 
 air ; when dry, grind it to a fine powder ;' moisten it again 
 with fresh aqua-fortis ; dry it, and proceed as before, re- 
 peating it several times, till you see it of a high red colour 5 
 then grind and sift it through a fine hair sieve, and lay it up 
 safe from dust. 
 
 To prepare Crocus Martis by a reverberator^/ Fire. 
 
 Take clean iron, or steel filings, and put it into a large 
 pot, or pan, about the quantity of an inch high ; cover it 
 well, and put it into a reverberatory furnace, or any other 
 place where it may be surrounded with a strong heat and 
 flame ; the iron will swell and rise in a fine red powder, so 
 as to fill the pot, and even force up the lid ; take off this 
 
 powder, 
 
ARTIFICIAL GEMS. 155 
 
 powder, and you will rind a good quantity of iron, caked 
 together at the bottom, which put again into the furnace, 
 where it will swell and rise into a powder as before ; tliis 
 continue until you have a sufficient quantity. This is the 
 most valuable, crocus, and of great use in the art of co- 
 louring or tinging of glass for counterfeiting of precious 
 stones. 
 
 To make a fine Hyacinth. 
 
 Take of crocus martis, or of that iron powder pre- 
 pared by reverberation, eight or ten grains to one ounce of 
 the composition. 
 
 The Opal 
 
 This is made of silv&r dissolved in aqua-fortis, preci- 
 pitated by common salt ; add to it some load-stone, and 
 mix it up with the above composition : it gives divers co- 
 lours, so as to represent a natural opal. 
 
 Of Chystal. 
 
 Such as v/ill save themselves the trouble of preparing 
 the composition for counterfeiting precious stones, may use 
 fine crystal or Venice glass, beat in a clean mortar to a fine 
 powder ; of this take eight ounces, borax two ounces, re- 
 fined nitre one ounce ; which mixture you may melt and 
 colour, with little trouble. 
 
 Bartholomew Korndorfer's Secret to make a Dia- 
 mond of a natural Crystal. 
 
 Take trie best polished crystal, no matter whether 
 large or small, so it is but clear and transparent ; put 
 it in a crucible, with three times as much of my fixed 
 sulphur of gold, so that the crystal may be covered all over 
 
 with 
 
156 THE LABORATORY, 
 
 with it; then, after you have put a lid over it, and luted the 
 crucible well, let it for three days and nights neal in a strong 
 fire ; then take it out and quench it in spring water, in 
 which red hot steel is quenched forty-six times running, 
 and you will have a diamond which resembles a natural one 
 in every respect., and is right and good. 
 
 Thus far Korndorffer, but as to his sulphur he has left 
 us in the dark. 
 
 Hcrx to make a Diamond out of a Sapphire, according to 
 Porta's Description. 
 
 We used to make it, (the diamond) the surest way, in 
 this manner : we filled an earthen pipkin, or crucible, with 
 quick-lime, and laid the sapphire in the midst thereof, co- 
 vering it first with a tile, and then with coals all over, blow- 
 ing them gently until we had a clear fire ; for if it is bloAvn 
 too much, it may occasion the breaking of the stone. 
 
 When we thought that the sapphire had changed its co- 
 lour, we let the fire go out of itself, and took it out to see 
 whether it was turned white ; if so, then we laid it again 
 in the crucible, in order to let it cool with the fire ; but if il 
 had not the right colour, then we augmented the heat again 
 as before, and looked often to sec whether the force of the 
 fire had taken away all the colour, which was done in about 
 five or six hours ; if then the blue colour was not quite 
 gone, we began our operation afresh, until it Was white 
 and clear. It is to be observed, that the heat of the fire, 
 in the beginning of the operation, must increase by slow 
 degrees, and also in the same manner decrease ; for if the 
 stone comes either too suddenly into the heat, or from the 
 heat into the cold, it is apt to turn dark, or fly to pieces. 
 
 In like manner all other precious stones lose their co- 
 lour, some sooner' than others, according as they are ei- 
 ther harder or softer. The amethyst is very light, and re- 
 quires 
 
ARTIFICIAL GEMSi 15T 
 
 quires but a slow fire, for if it has too much heat, it be- 
 comes dark, or turns to a chalky appearance. 
 
 This is the art whereby inferior precious stones are 
 changed into diamonds ; they are afterwards cut in the 
 middle, and a colour given them ; and hence become a se- 
 cond sort of false diamonds, or doublets. 
 
 To make a fine Amethyst. 
 
 Take calcined flint-stone, and sift it through cambric, 
 whereof take three quarters of an ounce ; of fixed nitre, 
 one quarter of an ounce ; of borax three quarters of an 
 ounce ; manganese one quarter of an ounce : then add 
 fixed * nitre and borax, well mixed, to it ; put it in a 
 crucible into a wind furnace ; give it at first a gentle heat 
 until it is red hot, and thus keep it for a quarter of an hour ; 
 then give it a strong fire for two or three hours ; at last pour 
 it into a mould, and let it cool by degrees, to prevent its 
 flying asunder. 
 
 To make a Ruby, or a fine Hyacinth. 
 
 Take acid of vitriol one ounce, and mix with the same 
 weight of water ; in this dissolve filings, or very thin beaten 
 steel ; set the glass on warm sand ; filtrate the solution be- 
 fore it is cold ; then set it in a cellar, and it will shoot into 
 crystals, which pulverize ; put it under a muffle, and stir it 
 until you see it of a crimson colour ; then take it off the 
 fire, put it in a phial, pour on it good distilled vinegar, and 
 after it has stood four days in a gentle warmth, pour off 
 that vinegar, and pour fresh to it, and let it stand four 
 days more ; this repeat until the vinegar is observed to 
 make no extraction ; then pour off the vinegar, and 
 
 * Fixed nitre is no other than purified pot-ash, the acid of the 
 nitre being set at liberty by charcoal, in the process of deto- 
 nation. Ecf, 
 
 there 
 
158 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 there will remain at the bottom of your phial a crimson* 
 coloured powder ; sweeten this well with warm water. 
 This is the tincture-powder for the ruby orhyacinthf. 
 
 Then take black flints ; calcine them well, as has been 
 already directed, in order to bring them to a white powder, 
 and sift this through cambric : take thereof, and of borax, 
 of each half an ounce, and of the aforesaid tincture- 
 powder eight or nine grains ; and mix weil together in a 
 crucible, and give it, for half an hour, a gentle fire: "aug- 
 ment it by degrees, until you see your mixture in the cru- 
 cible as clear as crystal, and of a crimson colour ; then 
 pour into a mould of what shape you would have it. 
 
 Another Artificial Ruby. 
 
 Brasilia^ topazes, of a smoky appearance, may be 
 artificially made into rubies by giving them a gradual heat 
 in a crucible filled with ashes, till it be red-hot. 
 
 To make a Ruby Balass. 
 
 Take prepared powdered flint three ounces, fixed nitre, 
 I. e. purified pot-ash, one quarter of an ounce ; borax three 
 grains ; some of the above-mentioned tincture-powder ; 
 of copper and iron fifty-four grains ; of prepared manga- 
 nese five grains ; mix all together, and put it into a new 
 crucible ; give it, at first, a gentle fire, till it begins to 
 melt ; then give it a strong fire, for two hours, and let it 
 cool of itself. 
 
 To harden Bohemian Diamonds. 
 
 Take black lead two ounces, golden talc two ounces, 
 powder it line, and mix it well together ; then take off this 
 
 f This is no other than crocus martis. Ed. 
 
 mixture, 
 
ARTIFICIAL GEMS. 159 
 
 mixture, put it into a new crucible, about half full, and 
 place the said diamonds upon that powder, so as not to 
 touch one another ; then put of the powder as much upon 
 them as will fill the crucible ; cover and lute it, and set it in 
 a cupel with ashes, so as to have the ashes a hand's breadth 
 about the crucible ; then give it a slow fire, and augment 
 the heat by degrees, in order to preserve the stones from 
 breaking, until the cupel which holds your crucible begins 
 to be red hot; continue it thus for forty-eight hours, then 
 let it cool, and take the stones out of the crucible, and you 
 will find them look black ; polish them with ashes of tin ; 
 they will not only have contracted a tolerable hardness, but 
 have also a fine lustre, much resembling natural diamonds. 
 
 Plain Directions for polishing these Counterfeits, and also 
 natural Gems. 
 
 It is to be observed that all glass, or artificial stones, may 
 be cut and polished after one method, namely, bv strewing 
 fine powdered emery upon a leaden plate with water, and, 
 holding the stone firm, grinding it in what form or shape 
 you please. 
 
 If you fling ground tripoli, mixed with water, upon a 
 pewter plate, and add a little copper ashes amongst it, 
 it will have the same effect. 
 
 Pulverized antimony strewed upon a smooth plate of 
 lead, with tripoli and vinegar, polishes not only glass, 
 crystal, garnets, agates, and amethysts, but all other na- 
 tural stones, except the diamond. The diamond is only 
 cut with the diamond powder itself. Any such diamonds 
 as can be touched by emery, lead, copper, or other me- 
 tals, are false ; and this is a good test for knowing a real 
 diamond. 
 
 All other precious and hard stones may be ground, or 
 cut, with metal and emery ; but the polishing is dif- 
 ferent. 
 
 The 
 
160 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 The sapphire is, next to the diamond, the hardest < it may 
 be polished best with antimony and vinegar, or lead, or 
 with calcined flint-stone and water, upon copper. 
 
 The ruby is polished like the sapphire. 
 
 The emerald and turquoise are polished with potter's clay 
 and water, on pear-tree wood ; or with tripoli, upon wood ; 
 or with emery, upon pewter. 
 
 The beryl is polished with calcined mother-of-pearl, or 
 calcined muscle-shells, upon a board covered with white 
 leather. 
 
 A balass is polished with antimony upon copper. 
 
 The cornelian, onyx, agate, and jasper, upon tin ; or 
 with tripoli, or calcined flint, upon pear-tree wood ; or 
 with antimony upon lead. 
 
 The amethyst, topaz, turquoise, and other soft stones, 
 are polished upon a board of lime-tree wood, upon a plate 
 of tin, and upon a board with leather. First polish it, top 
 and bottom, upon the wood : the small diamond cuts are 
 done upon the plate of tin, and receive the last polishing 
 upon the board that is covered with leather, with the fol- 
 lowing powder : 
 
 A Powder for polishing soft Stones. 
 
 Take iron scales, and mix them with vinegar and salt, 
 and let them stand thus infused for three or four days, 
 the longer the better ; then grind the mixture very fine ; 
 dry it, and put it in an earthen pot well luted • give it a 
 good fire, and it will be fit for use*. 
 
 * This is simply a crocus, and therefore ordinary crocus martl? 
 is equally as good- Ed. 
 
 FART 
 
.«RT OF MAKING OLASSo l(l 
 
 PART IV, 
 
 THE 
 
 ART OF MAKING GLASS; 
 
 7HE ART OF PAINTING, AND MAKING IMPRESSIONS UPOV 
 GLASS, AND OF LAYING THEREON GOLD OR SILVER; TOGE- 
 THER WITH THE METHOD OF FREPARING THE COLOUR* 
 FOR rOTTERS-WORK, OR DELFT-WARE. 
 
 Of Glass. 
 
 GLASS is a transparent, brittle, factitious body, pro- 
 duced from sand, flints, alkaline salts, lead, slags, 
 &c. by the melting heat of a very strong lire. At what 
 period the art of glass-making was first invented is altoge- 
 ther uncertain. Some suppose it to have been invented 
 before the flood, but of this they can give no proof;. 
 though they rightly conjecture, that the vitrification of the 
 bricks of fire places and furnaces gave the first hint towards 
 glass-making, which in all probability happened as soon as 
 fire was discovered. To those who are curious in forming 
 ppinions on this subject, we recommend them to Neri's 
 Art of Glass, with Dr. Merret's notes and improvements ; 
 ,voj>. I. m and 
 
162 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and we shall now proceed to a branch of much more real 
 utility. 
 
 Glass is so extremely elastic, that if the force with which 
 glass balls strike each other be reckoned 16, that with 
 which they recede by virtue of their elasticity will be 
 nearly 15. When it is suddenly cooled, it becomes 
 highly brittle, which is oftentimes attended with surprising 
 phenomena. Hollow balls made of annealed glass, with 
 a small hole in them, will fly to pieces by the heat of the 
 hand only, if the hole by which the internal and external 
 air communicate be stopped with the finger. Lately, 
 however, such balls have been found out to resist very 
 smart strokes of a hammer, although they are easily 
 shivered in pieces by the fall of very minute and light 
 bodies falling into their cavities. These glasses may be 
 made of any shape ; all that is to be observed is, that their 
 bottoms be made thicker than their sides. These experi- 
 ments were made before the Royal Society, by whose 
 members various reasons have been assigned. Glass ap» 
 pears more fit for the condensation of vapours than me- 
 tallic substances are. An open glass filled with water, in 
 '■# the summer time, will gather drops of water on the put- 
 t side, just as far as the water in the inside reaches ; and a 
 person's breath blown on it, manifestly, moistens it. Glass 
 also becomes moist with dew, which metals do" not. A 
 drinking glass filled with water, and rubbed on the brim 
 with a wet finger, yields musical notes, higher or lower as 
 the glass is more or less full ; and will make the liquor 
 frisk and leap. Glass is moreover possessed of great elec- 
 trical virtues. 
 
 Materials of Glass. 
 
 It has been stated that glass is made of sand, flints, &c. 
 &c. ; but there are various saline matters which Ought to 
 be particularly mentioned, Pokerinc or rochctta is pro- 
 
 cured 
 
ART OF MAKING GLASS. 163 
 
 cured from the Levant, and is prepared from a plant called 
 kali, which is cut down in the summer, dried in the sun, 
 and burnt in heaps, either on the open ground, or on iron 
 grates ; the ashes falling into a pit, grow into a hard mass, 
 tit for use when it has been purified. Kelp, which grows 
 on our sea coasts, and the ashes of the fucus vesiculosus, 
 furnish a similar salt. Pearl-ash, and pot-ash, both of 
 which are procured from vegetable matters, are purified, 
 and employed in glass-making : so also is nitre and borax, 
 and, occasionally, the purified barilla of Spain, called 
 soda. Other fluxes are used, such as calcined lead, arse- 
 nic, smith's clinkers, 6rc. In general it may be observed, 
 that the more metallic preparations enter the composition 
 of glass, so much the more dense, ponderous, fusible, 
 soft, and coloured it will be. Besides the above materials, 
 the artists employ a stone called tarso, which is in fact the 
 body of the glass, and similar to sand, except that being 
 of larger dimensions it may be picked and selected, so as 
 to preserve a clearer and more transparent crystal. At 
 Venice they use a sort of pebble, found in the river Te- 
 sino, resembling white marble, called cuogolo ; and indeed 
 many of our own clear streams in Britain would furnish as 
 good materials as any parts of the world, if we were at 
 the pains of searching for them. Lynn, in Norfolk, and 
 Maidstone, in Kent, produce the white sand for crystal 
 glass ; and Woolwich affords the coarser sand for green 
 glass. 
 
 To prepare Ashes for making Glass. 
 
 Take what quantity, and what sort of wood-ashes you 
 will, except those of oak ; have a tub ready with a spigot 
 and faucet towards the bottom, and in this tub put a laver 
 of straw, and fling your ashes on it ; then pour water upon 
 them, and let the ashes soak thoroughly until the water 
 stands above them : let it thus continue over night ; then 
 
 M 2 draw 
 
 
164 THE LABORATORY, 
 
 draw out the faucet and receive the lye in another tub, put 
 under the first for this purpose : if the lye looks troubled, 
 pour it again on the ashes, and let it settle until in runs 
 clear and is of an amber colour. This clarified lye put 
 by, and pour fresh water on the ashes ; let this also stand 
 over night ; then draw it off, and you will have a weak lye, 
 which, instead of water, pour upon fresh ashes : the re- 
 maining ashes are of use in the manuring cf land. 
 
 After you have made a sufficient quantity of lye, pour 
 it into an iron cauldron, bricked up like a brewing, or 
 washing, copper ; but let it not be filled above three parts 
 full. On the top of the brick-work place a little barrel 
 with lye ; to-.vards the bottom of which bore a hole, and 
 put a small faucet in, to let the lye run gently into the 
 cauldron, in a stream about the roundness of a straw ; but 
 this you must manage according to the quantity of lye, for 
 you ought to mind how much the lye evaporates, and 
 make the lye in the barrel run proportionally to supply 
 that diminution. Care must be taken that the lye do not 
 run over in the first boiling ; but if you find it will, put 
 some cold lye to it, and slacken the fire, and let all the 
 lye boil gently to a dry salt : when this salt is cold, break it, 
 and put it into the calcar (see the next article) and raise 
 your fire by degrees until the salt is red hot, y r et so as not 
 to melt it. If you think it calcined enough, take out a 
 piece and let it cool ; then break it in two, and if it h 
 thoroughly white, it is done enough ; but if there remains 
 a blackness in the middle it must be put in the calcar again, 
 until it comes out thoroughly white. If you will have it 
 still finer, you must dissolve it again, filtrate it, boil it, 
 and calcine it as before : the oftner this is repeated the 
 more will the salt be cleared from the earthy particles ; 
 and it may be made as clear as crystal, and as white as 
 snow. Of this may be made the finest glass possible. 
 "- According to M. Merret, the best ashes in England are 
 !-:::.'. frcm thistle?, and hop-stalks, after the hops are 
 
 gathered ; 
 
ART OF MAKING GLASS. 165 
 
 gathered ; and among trees, the mulberry is reckoned to 
 afford the best salt. 
 
 The most thorny and prickly plants are observed to 
 yield better, and more salt than others ; also all herbs that 
 are bitter, as hops, wormwood, &c. Tobacco stalks, 
 when burnt, produce likewise plenty of salt : and it is 
 observed that fern ashes yield more salt than any other 
 ashes. 
 
 Description of a Calcdr. 
 
 In glass-making, the name of calcar is given to a small 
 oven or reverberatory furnace in which the first calcina- 
 tion of sand and salt of pot-ash is made, for the purpose of 
 turning them into frit. This furnace is fashioned much 
 after the manner of an ordinary baker's oven, ten feet long, 
 seven feet broad in the widest part, and two feet deep. 
 On one side of it is a trench six inches square, the upper 
 part of which is level with the calcar, and separated only 
 from it at the mouth by bricks nine inches wide. Into 
 this trench they put sea-coal, the flame of which is car- 
 ried into every part of the furnace, and it is reverberated 
 from the roof upon the frit, or other materials put within 
 it, over the surface of which the smoke flies very black, 
 and goes out at the mouth of the calcar: the coals are 
 placed on iron bars, laid in the trench; and the ashes 
 fall through. 
 
 Another Method of preparing Ashes. 
 
 Take pot-ash ; stir and boil it in a clean earthen vessei, 
 In plenty of river or rain-water ; let it stand over night 
 and settle ; the next day pour off the clear liquor ; boil 
 this in an iron kettle until it becomes a hard mass ; then 
 beat it into pieces, and put it in a calcar to calcine : dis- 
 solve it again in clear wat^r ; filtrate, and boil it as before; 
 
 and 
 
166 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and the oftener you repeat it, the clearer and finer will be 
 your glass : but if it is for coloured glass, once or twice 
 doing it will be sufficient. 
 
 To make the Glass Frit. 
 
 Take white silver sand ,- w^sh it, and separate all the 
 impurities from it, and let it dry, or, rather, calcine it. 
 Of this take sixtv pounds, and of prepared ashes thirty 
 pounds • mix them well together ; then set them in the 
 melting furnace ; the longer it is melting the clearer will 
 the glass be made. If it stands for two days and two 
 nights, it will be fit to work with, or to tinge with what 
 colour you please. Before you work it, add forty pounds 
 of lead and half a pound of manganese to it. Or, 
 
 Take ashes, prepared as above, sixty pounds ; of pre- 
 pared silver sand one handred and sixty pounds, arsenic 
 four pounds, white lead two pounds, clear dry nitre ten 
 pounds, borax two pounds ; mix all well together, and 
 proceed as has been directed, and you will have a beauti- 
 ful crystal. Or, 
 
 Take prepared silver sand twenty pounds, clear and drv 
 nitre thirty pounds, borax six pounds, arsenic eight pounds 
 mix these well together, and put them into fusion for foul- 
 days ; then add two pounds of manganese, and four 
 pounds of borax. Or, 
 
 Take prepared silver sand thirty-eight pounds, prepared 
 ashes twenty-five pounds, arsenic one pound, nitre two 
 pounds, antimony and borax four pounds. Or, 
 
 Of prepared sand take forty pounds, nitre thirteen 
 pounds and a half, tartar six pounds, arsenic and borax 
 about one pound and a half. Or, 
 
 Prepared silver sand ten pounds, ashes six pounds, tar- 
 tar three pounds, nitre four pounds, lime six pounds, bo- 
 rax one pound. But of this, more hereafter will be said. 
 
 Description 
 
ART OF MAKING GLASS. 167 
 
 Descriptioji of a Glass-furnace. 
 
 The ordinary working furnace, for the making and 
 blowing of glass, is round, three yards diameter and two 
 yards high ; or in these progressive proportions, whether 
 it be built larger or smaller. It is divided into three parts, 
 each of which is vaulted. The lower part is properly 
 called the crozen, and is made in that form. Its use is -to 
 keep a brisk fire, which is never put out. The mouth is 
 called the bocca. There are several holes in the arch of 
 this crown, through which the flame passes into another 
 vault or partition, and reverberates into the pots filled with 
 the proper ingredients. Round the insides are eight or 
 more pots placed, with pots piled again on them ; in short, 
 the number of pots is double that of the boccas or mouths, 
 or of the number of workmen, that each man may have 
 one pot refined to work out of whilst the other is getting 
 ready. Through the working holes the melted glass, cal- 
 led the metal, is taken out of the pots, and the pots are 
 put into the furnace through the same : these holes are 
 stopped with moveable covers made of brick luted, to 
 screen the workmen's eves from the scorching flames. On 
 each side of the bocca, is a smaller hole, or boccarella, 
 out of which coloured glass, or finer metal, is taken from 
 the upper, or piling pots. Above this furnace or oven 
 there is a third oven, called a leer, about five or six 
 yards long, where the vessels of glass are annealed or 
 cooled : this part consists of a tower, besides the leer, 
 into which the flame ascends from the furnace. The 
 tower has two mouths, through which the glasses are put 
 in with a fork, and set on the floor or bottom ; but they 
 are drawn out on iron pans, called fraclies, through the 
 leer, to cool gradually, so that they are cold bv the time 
 they reach the mouth of the leer which enters the room 
 where the glasses are to be stowed, called the sarosel. 
 
 A ojeen- 
 
168 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 A green-glass furnace is square ; and at each angle it 
 has an arch for annealing or cooling glasses, or bottles. 
 The metal is wrought on two opposite sides, and on the 
 other two they have their colours, into which are made 
 linnet holes for the fire to come from the furnace to bake 
 the frit, and to discharge the smoke. Fires are made in 
 the arches to anneal the work, so that the whole proces* 
 is done in one furnace. 
 
 These furnaces must not be of brick, but of hard sandy 
 stones. In France, they build the outside of brick ; and 
 the inner part, to bear the fire, is made of a sort of ful- 
 ler's earth, or tobacco-pipe clay, of which they also make 
 their melting-pots. In Britain the pots are usually made 
 of Stourbridge clay. 
 
 It is observed, that the roughest work in this ait is the 
 changing the pots when they are worn out or cracked. 
 In this case, the great working hole must be uncovered ; 
 the faulty pot must be taken out with iron hooks and 
 forks, arid a new one must be speedily put in its place, 
 through the flames (for glass-furnaces are always kept 
 burning) by the hands only. In doing this, the man 
 guards himself with a garment made of skins, in the shape 
 of a pantaloon, that covers him all but his eyes, and is 
 thoroughly wetted all over: his eyes arc defended by pro- 
 per shaped glasses, of a green colour. See plate 5. 
 
 A smaller Furnace, for Glass, and other Experiments. 
 
 Your furnace must be built according to the situation 
 tnd dimension of your room, about a yard square : at the 
 bottom leave a hole, A, lig. 1. plate 6. which is the re- 
 ceiver of the ashes, and also the drawer of the wind to 
 the lire, which you may make as fierce as you will, by ex- 
 posing it more or less to the open air. B, is an iron 
 grate, which is about a quarter and a half above the hole 
 
 V 
 
 C, are 
 
AR.T OF MAKING GLASS. 169 
 
 C, are holes over the grate, wherein you put the fuel ; 
 over the grate is a bricked vault, wherein the flames draw 
 through the hole D, in the upper vault E. 
 
 F, are two or more holes, through which you put the 
 crucibles in ; you may make one on each side, and make 
 cakes of such clay as the glass makers use, to set them 
 before the holes, and by this means mitigate the flames, 
 which sometimes may strike too fierce upon the upper 
 vault, and give them a little vent. 
 
 G, is a hole in the upper vault, which may be covered 
 and uncovered as much as you will, and the flame may 
 either go strait through the funnel H, which at the top is 
 provided with the cover I, and which, on such occasions, 
 must be taken off; or else, in putting on the cover I, you 
 may convey a reverberatory fire through the funnel K, 
 into another little reverberatory furnace, which will be 
 very useful for calcining and preparing several materials, 
 as may happen to be used. 
 
 The inside of this furnace must be lined smooth, with 
 such potters clay as the glass-makers use, and two or three 
 inches thick. And having finished it according to this 
 direction, you may place a good many crucibles in at a 
 time, making the holes through which you convey your 
 larger crucibles higher, so that the rim of the cruci- 
 ble may come even with the bottom of the hole, and 
 you may easily convey a ladle, spatula, or any thing else 
 through them. This furnace is the most compendious and 
 useful that can be contrived for a novice in the art of 
 glass-making. Fig. 2. plate C, is the appearance of the 
 outside. 
 
 Instruments for making of Glass. 
 
 The absolutely necessary instruments in the art of ^lass- 
 making may be reduced to the following : a blow-pipe, 
 made of iron, about two feet and a half long, with a 
 
 wooden 
 
170 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 wooden handle. An iron rod to take up the glass, Scis- 
 Sars to cut the glass ; and shears for the larger-shaped glass 
 vessels. An iron ladle, with the end of the handle cased 
 with wood, to take the metal out of the refining pot and 
 put it into the workmen's pots. A smaller iron ladle, cased 
 in the same manner, to skim the salt which swims at top. 
 Shovels ; one like a peel, to take up the glasses ; another 
 like a fire-shovel, to feed the fire with coals. A hooked 
 iron fork, to stir the matter in the pots. An iron rake, 
 for the same purpose, and to stir the frit. An iron fork, 
 to change or pull the pots out of the furnace, &c. 
 
 Of the Sorts of Glass. 
 
 There are three principal kinds of glasses, distin- 
 guished by the form or manner of working them, viz. I. 
 Round glass, such as phials, drinking-glasses, &c. 2. 
 Window, or Table glass, of which there are divers kinds, 
 such as crown-glass, jealous-glass, &c. 3. Plate-glass, 
 for mirrors, &c. 
 
 Compositions for White and Crystal Glass. 
 
 To make oysfal-glass, take of the whitest tarso, pound- 
 ed small, and sifted as fine as flour, two hundred pounds ; 
 of the salt of polverine one hundred and thirty pounds ,• 
 mix them together, and put them into the furnace called 
 the calcar, first heating it. For an hour keep a moderate 
 fire, and keep stirring the materials with a proper rake, 
 that they may incorporate and calcine together ; increasing 
 the fire for five hours ; after which the matter is taken out, 
 being sufficiently calcined, and is called frit. After this, 
 remove it immediately from the calcar to a dry place, and 
 cover it up from dust, for three or four months. Now. to 
 make the crvstal glass, take of the above crystal frit, called 
 also bollito, and set it in the melting pots in the furnace, 
 
 adding 
 
ART OF MAKING GLASS. Ill 
 
 adding to it a due quantity of manganese ; when the two 
 are fused, cast the flour into fair water, to clear it of the 
 salt called sandher, which would otherwise make the crys- 
 tal obscure and cloudy. This washing must be repeated 
 again and again, till the crystal be fully purged ; or this 
 scum may be taken off by proper ladles. Now set it to 
 boil for four, five, or six days ; which being finished, see 
 whether it have manganese enough ; and if it be yet 
 greenish, add more manganese, at discretion, by little and 
 little at a time, taking care not to over dose it, because it 
 will incline it to a blackish hue. Let it clarify, and be- 
 come of a shining hue ; which done, it is fit to be used, 
 and blown into vessels of anv kind. 
 
 Compositions for Flint Glass. 
 
 Flint Glass, as it is usually called by us, is of the 
 same general kind with that which in other places is called 
 crystal glass. It has this name from its having been origi- 
 nally made with calcined flints, before the use of white 
 sand was understood ; and it has retained this name, 
 though there are now no flints used in its composition. 
 This glass differs from the crystal glass, in having lead in 
 its compositon, to flux it, and white sand for its body ; 
 whereas the fluxes used in the other are salts, or arsenic, 
 and the bodv consists of tarso, white river pebbles, and 
 such stones. To the lead and white sand a due propor- 
 tion of nitre is added, and a small quantity of magnesia. 
 The most perfect kind of flint glass is made by fusing, in 
 a very strong fire, one hundred and twenty pounds of 
 white sand, fifty pounds of red-lead, forty pounds of the 
 purest pearl-ash, twenty pounds of nitre, and five ounces 
 of magnesia. Another composition of flint glass is said 
 to be the following: one hundred and twenty pounds of 
 white sand, fifty-four pounds of the purest pearl-ash, 
 thirty-six pounds of red-lead, twelve pounds of nitre, and 
 
 six 
 
172 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 six ounces of magnesia. To either of the above composi- 
 tions, a pound or two of arsenic may be added, to increase 
 the flux of the composition. A still cheaper flint glass may 
 be made with one hundred and twenty pounds of white 
 sand, thirty-five pounds of the best pearl-ash* forty pounds 
 of red-lead, thirteen pounds of nitre, six pounds of ar- 
 senic, and four ounces of magnesia; or, instead of the ar- 
 senic may be substituted fifteen pounds of common salt ; 
 but this will make it more brittle than the other. But the 
 cheapest of all the compositions hitherto employed, con- 
 sists of one hundred and twenty pounds of white sand, 
 thirty pounds of red-lead, twenty pounds of the best peari- 
 ash, ten pounds of nitre, fifteen pounds of common salt, 
 and six pounds of arsenic. 
 
 A harder Glass than the foregoing. 
 
 Take four ounces of borax, and an ounce of fine washed 
 white sand ; reduce both to a subtil powder, and melt 
 them together in a large close crucible, set in a wind fur- 
 nace, keeping up a strong fire for half an hour ; then take 
 out the crucible, and let it grow cold, and then break it, 
 and there will be found at the bottom a pure hard glass, 
 capable of cutting common glass like a diamond. It is ob- 
 served, that time makes a sensible impression on glasses 
 in which borax makes too great an ingredient. 
 
 To calcine Brass, which in Glass makes a Sky or Sea-green. 
 
 Brass is copper mixed and fused with Lapis Calami- 
 Waris, which not only changes it into a gold colour, but 
 increases its weight ; this mixture gives a sea-green or 
 sky-co!our to glass, when it is well calcined ; and to do 
 this, observe the following rules : 
 
 Take brass plates, and cut them into small slips, and put 
 them into a crucible ; cover and lute it well, and give it a 
 reverberatorv fire in a furnace, yet not a melting one, for 
 
 if 
 
ART OF MAKING GLASS. 113 
 
 If it melts, all your labour will be lost : let it stand in that 
 heat for four days, by which time it will be well calcined ; 
 then beat it to an impalpable powder and sift it ; grind it 
 fine on a povphyrv, and you will have a black powder ; 
 spread it on tiles, and keep it on burning coals, or the 
 round hole of a furnace, for four days ; clear it of the ashes 
 that have fallen upon it, pulverize and sift it, and keep it 
 for use. To try whether it is calcined enough, fling a little 
 into melted glass, and if it swells, the calcination is enough, 
 but if not, then it is either not calcined enough, or else it 
 is burned, and will not colour the glass near so well as when 
 the calcination is perfect, 
 
 To calcine Brass after another Manner, for a transparent 
 Red Colour, or a Yellow. 
 
 Cut your brass into small shreds, and lay it stratum su- 
 per stratum in a crucible, with powdered sulphur; set it 
 on a charcoal fire in a furnace for 24 hours, then pow- 
 der and sift it : when this is done, put it covered into the 
 furnace hole, for 10 hours, to reverberate, and when cold, 
 grind it again very fine, and keep it for use. 
 
 General Observations for all Colours. 
 
 1. All the melting pots must be glazed with white 
 glass on the inside ; for a new earthen pot that is un- 
 glazed will cause the colours to look bad and foul ; but 
 the second time of using these pots they lose their foul- 
 ness. 
 
 2. Observe that these pots serve for one colour only, 
 and may not be used for another : every colour must have 
 its own pot, except they correspond together. 
 
 3. Let the powders be well calcined ; neither too much 
 nor too little. 
 
 4. Your mixtures must be made in due proportion, and 
 the furnace must be heated with hard and drv wood. 
 
 5. You 
 
174 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 5. You must use your colours divided: one part vou 
 must put in the frit before it is melted, and the other after 
 it is melted and become fine and clear. 
 
 To make Glass of Lead, which is the fittest for receiving of 
 most Colours. 
 
 Take of calcined lead 15 pounds; of rochetta, or pul- 
 verized crystal frit 1 2 pounds • mix them well, and put 
 them together into a melting pot, then into a furnace, and, 
 at the end of ten hours, cast them into water : clear the 
 melting pot of the lead that remains, and return the me- 
 tal into it, which, after 10 hours heat, will be fit to work, 
 with. 
 
 Hon) to work the said Glass. 
 
 Before you take it upon the iron, raise the glass 
 first in the pot a little, then take it out to let it cool 
 for a small space of time, after which work it on a 
 clean and smooth iron plate. 
 
 Blue Glass. 
 
 Take four ounces of calcined and pulverized rock 
 crystal, two ounces of nitre, one ounce of borax, half a 
 pound of manganese, one pound of indigo-blue. 
 
 A Chrysolite Glass, 
 
 To one pound of frit ; take pulverized verdigrise three 
 ounces and a half, red lead one ounce. 
 
 A Sapphire 
 
ART OF MAKING GLASS. i*?5 
 
 A Sapphire Green Glass. 
 
 To one pound of the above composition, or crystal frit, 
 take one ounce of good zaffre, and of very fine pia-dust 
 two pounds. 
 
 To make fine Gree?i Glass of Tin. 
 
 Take the filings, or shavings of tin, nine parts ; dis- 
 solve them in aqua-fortis ; sweeten the calx with clean 
 spring water ; then take 18 parts of nine-times calcined an- 
 timony : its calcination must be repeated until it has done 
 evaporating. Both these melted together, make a line 
 crysolite or emerald. 
 
 This glass will melt upon silver, like enamel, and may 
 be used, on several occasions, for such things as are pro- 
 per for ornaments. 
 
 To make a Ruby '^coloured Glass. 
 
 Take good aqua-rcgia four ounces ; fling into it, by 
 little and little, thin bits, or filings of tin, one ounce, and 
 let it dissolve : take the finest gold, as much as you will, 
 and dissolve it in aqua-regia : take a clean glass with clear 
 spring-water, and pour the solution of the gold, as much 
 as you please, into it ; the same quantity put also to it of the 
 solution of the tin, and the water will turn to a fine rose 
 colour ; with this water moisten several times your glass 
 frit, and let it dry* ; then proceed as you do with other 
 glass in fire ; at first it comes out white, but afterwards 
 becomes a fine ruby. 
 
 * Inftead of letting it dry, let the purple colour subside, and 
 then pour off the liquor, and use the dry powder only. — This pow- 
 der is of various tints of purple, and is the more valuable in pro- 
 portion to the intensity. Ed. 
 
 THE 
 
Ho THE LABORATORY. 
 
 THE ART OF GLASS IN MINIATURE. 
 
 The Art is -performed by the Flame of a Lamp, in tk&foU 
 lowing Manner : 
 
 First, provide yourself from the glass-house with se- 
 veral pipes of glass, that are hollow in the inside, of se- 
 veral colours, and different sizes : then you must have a 
 table, as you see represented at fig. 3, plate 6. A is the 
 artist, who is furnished with a lamp and oil, or with tal- 
 low, and a large wick of twisted cotton ; below the table 
 is a pair of bellows, B. When the artist treads the treadle 
 fastened to the bellows, the wind will be conveyed through 
 the pipes under the table to the small opening by C C, di- 
 rectly in which are placed the lighted wicks of the lamps. 
 The smoke which issues forth from the lamp, is conveyed 
 through a broad funnel made of tin or wood, E. 
 
 The wind, which strikes in a sharp point against the 
 flame, occasions such a violent heat that it will dissolve 
 the most stubborn glass, and you may, after you have sof- 
 tened the end of your pipe in the flame, blow through the 
 hollow, and form, with small plyers and other useful tools, 
 tvhatever you please: small twisted nooses of wire are 
 very convenient to hold your work in, in order to shape and 
 join different colours to one piece. The whole art depends 
 chieflv upon practice. 
 
 The usefulness of such a table answers several other pur- 
 poses ; as, for trying of metal-ore : in this case put some 
 of it in a hallowed charcoal, &c. and by directing the 
 wind through the lamp upon the ore, the heat will melt it 
 immediately, and shew what it contains. In soldering, it 
 is also very convenient ; not to mention the conveniency 
 which such a table affords to practitioners in chemistry. 
 
 Rffw 
 
AR.T OF GLASS IN MINIATURE. 177 
 
 How to lay Silver on Glass Utensils, Plates, Dishes, 
 Salts, Drinking Caps, S(c. 
 
 Take of pure silver what quantity you please, and beat 
 it very thin ; then put it into a matrass, and pour twice 
 its weight of aqua-fortis upon it, and you will presently 
 perceive the silver dissolve: when you observe its ceasing 
 to work, put your matrass on warm sand or ashes, and it 
 will begin to work afresh ; let it thus stand till all your 
 silver is dissolved. After this pour the solution out of that 
 matrass into another, and evaporate a little, and let the 
 matrass remain on the sand till it is cool ; then take it off, 
 and let it stand for twenty-four hours, and the silver will shoot 
 into white crystals ; from these pour off the solution which 
 remains, and evaporate again the half of the liquor ; then 
 set it, as before, to crystallize ; this repeat, till all the 
 silver is turned into crystals : take them out of the glass, 
 lay them upon whited-brown paper to dry, and preserve 
 them for use. 
 
 Of these crystals take as much as you will, and put them 
 into a matrass, and pour upon them two or three times their 
 weight of the strongest spirit of sal ammoniac ; lute it 
 well, and put it into a gentle warmth for eight or ten days 
 to digest, and it will contract a blue colour ; pour it off, 
 filter it, and evaporate in a sand-bath a little, and there 
 will remain a glass-green liquid ; with this melt your glass, 
 and put it into a glass furnace, or into any gentle heat , 
 your glass will look as if it were silver plate. 
 
 But in case there should be an oversight, and the spirit 
 of sal-ammoniac be too much drawn off, and the silver 
 turned to a green salt, then pour as much of that spirit 
 upon the silver again as will bring it to a green liquid. 
 
 vol. i. :s Acufioui 
 
I7S THE LABORATORY, 
 
 A curious Drinking Glass. 
 
 Take two smooth drinking glasses, fitted close to eacfi 
 other, so that the brims of both may be even ; then paint 
 on the inside of the larger glass with oil colours, what you 
 will, cither in imitation of mosaic, or any other inven- 
 tion ; and when dry, you may with the point of a needle 
 open fine veins or other embellishments, &c. Then oil 
 it all over with old linseed oil ; and before it is quite dry, 
 whilst clammy, lay leaf gold upon it ; press it close down 
 to the glass with cotton, and let it dry thoroughly. The 
 mean while, take the other lesser glass, and Jay a thin 
 clear varnish on the outside, and when almost dry, lay on 
 leaf gold, and the inside of the glass will look all over 
 gilded. When this is dry, put it into the larger glass, and 
 make a paste of chalk and lack varnish, with this lute the 
 rims of the two glasses, so that it may not be perceived, 
 but look as if it were made out of one piece ; let it tho- 
 roughly dry, and give it another layer of lac varnish, with 
 a fine pencil, and let it dry ; then smooth it with pumice 
 stone, and lay on it a thin varnish ; and when that is al- 
 most dry, gild it with leaf gold, and give it two or three 
 layers of lac varnish, and the gold will remain firm. 
 
 Instead of painting with oil colour, if you only anoint 
 the inside of the glass with linseed oil, and then strew 
 it over with spangles, and put the inside glass gilded, to 
 join, it will have a singular beauty. This hint will ani- 
 mate the ingenious to try farther experiments of this 
 amusing kind.. 
 
 How to Quicksilver the inside of Glass Globes, so as to make 
 them look like Looking-glass. 
 
 Take two ounces of quicksilver, one ounce of bis- 
 muth, of lead and tin half an ounce each. 
 
 First 
 
ART OF PAINTING UPON GLASS. 179 
 
 First put the lead and tin into fusion, then put in the 
 bismuth j and when you perceive that in fusion too, let it 
 stand till it is almost cold, and pour the quicksilver into it. 
 
 After this, take the glass globe, which must be very- 
 clean, and the inside free from dust ; make a paper funnel* 
 and put it in the hole of the globe, as near to the glass 
 as you can, so that the amalgam when you pour it in, may 
 not splash and cause the glass to be full of spots ; pour it 
 gently, and move it about, so that the amalgam may touch 
 every where. If you find the amalgam begin to be curdly, 
 and to be fixed, hold it over a gentle heat, and it will flow 
 easily again. If you find the amalgam too thin, add a little 
 more lead, tin, and bismuth to it. The finer and clearer 
 your globe is, the better will be the looking-glass. 
 
 THE ART OF PAINTING UPON GLASS* 
 
 This noble art being the admiration of all who have 
 any tolerable taste of designing or painting, it will not be 
 improper to give the ingenious enquirer after this mys- 
 tery some few hints, not only to satisfy his curiosity 
 with its nature, but also, if he be inclined, to lead him 
 into the practice of it ; which we shall do in the plainest 
 and shortest manner possible. 
 
 First then, chuse such panes of glass as are clear, even, 
 and smooth. 
 
 2. Strike one side of each pane with a clean spunge, or 
 a soft hair pencil, dipt in gum-water, all over. 
 
 3. When it is dry, lay the clean side of the glass on the 
 outlined design you intend to copy, and with a small 
 pointed pencil (furnished with black colour, and prepared 
 for that purpose, as shall be directed) delineate the out- 
 lines, or capital strokes ; and where the shades appear 
 soft, work them by dotting, and easy strokes, one into 
 another. 
 
 n 2 4. After 
 
180 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 4. After you have finished your outlines and shades in 
 the best manner you are able, take a larger pencil, and 
 lay on your colours in their respective places ; as a carna- 
 tion in the face, hands, &X. green, blue, red, or any other 
 colour on the drapery, &c. 
 
 5. When you have done this, heighten the lights of your 
 work carefully with an unsplit stiff pen, with which take 
 off the colour, by way of etching, in such places where the 
 light is to fall strongest, and where it is of use to give the 
 beard, or hair, a graceful turn. 
 
 6. You may lay all sorts of colours on the same side of 
 the glass you draw your design upon, except yellow ; 
 which lay on the other side, in order to prevent its flowing 
 and mixing with other colours, and spoiling your work. 
 
 Necessary Observations in the baking of Glass, or burning- 
 in the Colours, after it is painted. 
 
 Your furnace for baking painted glass must be built 
 square, with three divisions. The lower division is for re- 
 ceiving the ashes, and for a draught for the fire. 
 . The middle division is for the fire, which has an 
 iron grate below, and three iron bars cross the top, to 
 set the square earthen pan upon, which contains the 
 painted glass. 
 
 The third division has the aforementioned bars at the 
 bottom, and a lid at top, in which are five holes for the 
 smoke and flame. 
 
 The earthen pan is made of good potters clay, accord- 
 ing to the shape and dimensions of the furnace, about 
 five or fix inches high, with a fiat bottom. It must be 
 fire proof, and no larger than to have at least two inches 
 space all round, free from the sides of the furnace*. 
 
 * Such is the extreme simplicity of the art, and the high value 
 it bears, that it is wonderful so few artists have turned their talents 
 towards it! 
 
 When 
 
ART OF PAINTING UPON GLASS. 181 
 
 When you are going to bake your glass, take quick- 
 lime, which previously has been well nealed, or made red 
 hot in a fierce coal fire : when cold, powder it, and sift it 
 through a small sieve, as even as you can, all over the 
 bottom of the pan, about half an inch thick ; then with 
 a smooth feather wipe it even and level ; when this is done, 
 lay as many of your painted glasses as there is room. 
 This continue till the pan is full, sifting upon every layer 
 of glass a layer of the mixed powder, very even, about 
 the thickness of a crown piece. Upon the uppermost 
 layer of painted glass, let the layer of powder be as 
 thick as the bottom. Put the pan, thus filled to the brim, 
 upon the iron bars in the middle of the furnace, and 
 cover the furnace with a cover made of potter's earth ; 
 lute it very close all round, to prevent any vent but 
 what comes through the holes of the cover. After you 
 have ordered the furnace in this manner, and the luting 
 js dry, make a slow charcoal, or dry wood, fire, at the 
 entrance of the furnace ; increase it by degrees, lest 
 by a too quick fire the glass should be subject to crack ; 
 continue thus to augment your fuel, till the furnace is full 
 of charcoal, and the flame conveys itself through every 
 hole of the cover : keep thus a very violent fire for three 
 or four hours, and then you may draw out your essays, 
 which are pieces of glass on which you have painted 
 some yellow colour, and placed against the pan ; and 
 when you see the glass bended, and the colour melted, 
 and of a qualified yellow, you may conclude that your 
 work is near done ; you may also perceive by the in- 
 crease of the sparklings of the iron bars, or the light 
 streaks on the pan, how your work goes on. When 
 you see your colours almost done, increase the fire with 
 some dry wood, and put it so that the flame may rever-p 
 berate all round the pan : then leave the fire, and let it 
 go out,, and the work cool of itself. Take it out, when 
 quite cold, and with a brush clear your glass gently from 
 
 the 
 
182 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the powder that may lie upon it, and your work is 
 done. 
 
 The colours in use for painting upon glass, are next to 
 be treated of, and are as follows : 
 
 For a Carnation Colour. 
 
 Take menning* one ounce, red enamel two ounces ; 
 grind them fine and clean with good brandy, upon a hard 
 stone : this, if slightly baked, will produce a good car- 
 nation. Or, 
 
 Take red chalk eight ounces ; iron scales and litharge, 
 each two ounces; gum arabic half an ounce ; grind all to- 
 gether for half an hour, quite stiff; then put it in a glass, 
 and let it settle for 1 4 days. 
 
 Of Black Colours. 
 
 Take scales of iron from the anvil, fourteen ounces 
 and a half; mix with it two ounces of white glass, one 
 ounce of antimony, manganese half an ounce ; grind 
 them with good vinegar to an impalpable powder. Or, 
 
 Take scales of iron one part, and rochetta one part, 
 grind them together very fine upon an iron plate, for 
 one or two days ; when thev begin to be tough, and 
 look yellowish, and clog to the muller, it is a sign that 
 it is fine enough. Or, 
 
 Take one pound of enamel, three quarters of a pound 
 of copper flakes, and two ounces of antimony, grind them 
 as before directed. Or, 
 
 Take glass of lead three parts, copper flakes two parts, 
 and one part of antimony, proceed therewith as before. 
 
 * Unknown, Ed. 
 
 4 Brown 
 
ART OF PAINTING UPON GLASS. l83 
 
 A Brown Colour. 
 
 Take one ounce of white glass, or enamel ; half an 
 ounce of good manganese ; grind them first with vinegar 
 very fine, and then with brandy. 
 
 A Red Colour. 
 
 One ounce of red chalk, ground, and mixed with two 
 ounces of ground white enamel and some copper flakes, 
 will make a good red ; you may try, with a little, whether 
 it will stand the fire, if not, add some more copper flakes 
 to it. Or, 
 
 Take red chalk, that is hard and unfit to draw with, one 
 part ; of white enamel one part ; and one-fourth part of 
 orpiment ; grind them well together with vinegar; and 
 when you use them, avoid the smoke, which is poison- 
 ous. 0}\ 
 
 Crocus martis, glass of antimony, and yellow lead glass, 
 such as the potters use, of each an equal quantity : a small 
 matter of silver calcined with sulphur : grind them toge- 
 ther very fine, and they will be fit to paint with, and pro- 
 duce a good red. Or, 
 
 Take one half part of iron flakes, one half part of cop- 
 per ashes, one half part of bismuth, a little silver filings, 
 three or four beads of red coral, six whole parts of red frit 
 from a glass house, one half of litharge, one half of gum, 
 and thirteen whole parts of red chalk. 
 
 A Blue Colour. 
 
 Take Burgundy blue, or blue verditer, and lead glass, 
 an equal quantity ; grind them with water to a very fine 
 powder, and when you use them, lay the flowers that are 
 
 to 
 
184 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 to be of a blue colour, all over therewith ; then raise the 
 yellow parts opened, with a pen, and cover them with a 
 yellow glass colour : observe, that blue upon yellow, and 
 yellow upon blue, always make a green. 
 
 Another Blue Colour. 
 
 Blue verditer or smalt, mixed with enamel, will make 
 a good blue paint. 
 
 A Green Colour. 
 
 Green rocaille, or small beads of the same colour, two 
 parts, brass file dust one part, menning two parts ; grind 
 them together clear and line, and you will have a good 
 green when it comes out of the pan. Or, 
 
 j£s Ustum two ounces ; menning two ounces ; fine 
 white sand eight ounces : grind them to a very fine pow- 
 der, and put them into a crucible ; then lute the lid, and 
 give it for one hour a good brisk fire in a w r ind furnace. 
 After this, draw it off to cool ; when cold, pound it in a 
 brass mortar, adding the fourth part in weight to the pow- 
 der ; grind and mix it well together, and put it into a cru- 
 cible ; then cover and lute it well, and give it a good heat 
 for two hours in a furnace. 
 
 A fine Yellow Paint for Glass. 
 
 It has been found by experience, that the best yellow 
 for painting upon glass, is prepared of silver ; wherefore, 
 if you would have a fine and good yellow, take fine silver, 
 beat it into thin plates, and dissolve and precipitate it in 
 aqua-fouis, as has been directed ; when it has settled, pour 
 off the aqua-fortis, and grind the silver w T ith three times the 
 quantity of well burned clay from an oven, very fine ; and 
 
 with 
 
ART OF PAINTING UPON GLASS. 185 
 
 with a soft hair pencil lay it on the smooth side of the 
 glass, and you will have a fine yellow. Or, 
 
 Melt as much silver as you please in a crucible, and when 
 in fusion, fling, by little and little, so much sulphur upon 
 it, until it is calcined ; then grind it very fine on a stone ; 
 mix it with as much antimony as is the weight of the sil- 
 ver ; and when these are well ground together, take yellow 
 ochre, neal it well, and it will turn to a brown red, which 
 quench in mine, and take thereof double the quantity 
 above specified ; mix it all together, and a r ter you have 
 ground it very fine, lay it on the smooth side of the 
 glass. Or, 
 
 Neal some thin plates of silver ; then cut them into 
 small bits; put them with sulphur and antimony into 
 a crucible ; when they are dissolved, pour them into clear 
 water, and thus mixed together, grind them very fine. 
 
 A pale Yellow. 
 
 Stratify thin plates of brass in an earthen pipkin 
 with powdered sulphur and antimony, and burn them 
 until it yields no more flame ; then pour them red hot 
 into cold water ; take out this and grind it fine. Of 
 this powder one part ; of yellow ochre, after it is nealed 
 and quenched in vinegar, five or six parts ; let it dry ; 
 then grind it on a stone, and it will be fit for use. 
 
 TIozo to deaden the Glass, and fit it to paint upon. 
 
 Take two parts of iron flakes ; one part of copper 
 flakes, three parts of white enamel ; grind them all to- 
 ther, with clear water, on a marble stone, or upon a brass 
 or iron plate, for two or three days, as fine as possible ; 
 with this rub your glass well over, especially that side 
 you draw your design upon^ and you will finish your 
 work much neater. 
 
 Some 
 
186 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Some general Obsewations on the Management of paint- 
 ing and baking of Glass. 
 
 First when you lay your glass in the pan, let the 
 painted side be placed undermost, and the yellow up- 
 permost. 
 
 2. Dilute all your colours with gum-water. 
 - 3. Grind the black and red upon a copper-plate : other 
 colours you may grind on a piece of glass, or a stone. 
 
 4. Glass-colours ready prepared are, glass enamel, which 
 is brought from Venice in cakes of several sorts ; also the 
 small glass beads that are brought over from Germany ', 
 especially from Franckfort on the Main. Old broken 
 pieces of painted glass are good for that purpose ; so is 
 the green glass of potters, and the glass drops that run 
 from the ware in the furnace. 
 
 5. The colours which are used by potters, for paint- 
 ing on earthen ware, may also be used for painting on 
 glass. 
 
 A particular Way to paint vpon a Drinking Glass. 
 
 Take a small quantity of linseed ; bruise it, and put 
 it for four or five days in a little canvas bag, in rain- 
 water, and change the water every day ; then press out 
 the moisture, and you will have a clammy substance, like 
 glue ; with this grind your colours as usual ; then paint, or 
 mark with a pencil, what you please upon the glass, and 
 give it by degrees a thorough heat ; with the same glue 
 you may also gild the glass, before you put it into the 
 fire. 
 
 A fine Gilding for Glass. 
 
 Take gum-ammoniac um ; dissolve it over night in good 
 white-wine vinegar, and grind the gum-ammoniacum, and 
 
 a little 
 
ART OF PAINTING UPON GLASS. 187 
 
 9 little powdered gum-arabic well together with clear wa- 
 ter; when they are well incorporated and fine, then write 
 or draw upon your glass what you please ; and when al- 
 most dry, so that it is but a little clammy, lay on your 
 gold, press it down with some cotton, and let it stand over 
 night ; rub the loose gold afterwards, with a little cotton, 
 gently off the glass, and you will sec the ornaments, 
 figures, or writing, to the perfection you designed ; then 
 dry it slowly over a gentle heat, increasing it by degrees, 
 so as to make it red hot , let it cooi of itself, and the gold 
 wili look fine, and stand wind or water. 
 
 To write or draw upon Glass. 
 
 Take two parts of lead, one part of emery, and a 
 little quantity of white lead; grind them very line with 
 clear water ; then temper them with gum-water, and 
 with a soft hair pencil lay all over the outside of your 
 glass, and when dry, you may, with a pen, draw or 
 write upon it what you please ; then increase the fire 
 from a gentle warmth, to make the glass red hot ; let 
 it cool, and you will see your drawing, or writing, fair 
 upon the glass, which will not be defaced either by 
 cold or hot water. 
 
 THE 
 
 ART OF GLAZING AND PAINTING ON FINE EARTHEN- 
 WARE, COMMONLY CALLED DELFT WARE. 
 
 Potters who paint with colours on earthen ware, 
 may be ranged in the same class with painters upon 
 glass, since they use almost the same materials, and, in 
 pany respects, the same method. 
 
 What 
 
188 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 What has already been said under the foregoing head, 
 is sufficient ; and may serve novices in designing and 
 painting, as an instruction to paint flowers, landscapes, 
 figures, or whatever else, upon earthen ware. We shall, 
 however, set down some receipts that chiefly relate to the 
 glazing of earthen ware : but first we shall shew, 
 
 How to prepare the Clay for Delft Ware. 
 
 Take one part of calcined flint, one part of chalk, 
 and one part of capital, or the cream of clay ; mix and 
 work them well to a proper consistence. 
 
 To prepare a White Glazing. 
 
 Take of lead two pounds, and of tin one pound ; cal- 
 cine them to ashes, as has been directed before. Of this 
 take two parts ; calcined flint or pebble, one part ; salt, 
 one part ; mix them well together, and melt them into a 
 rake. 
 
 The Rotterdam y?;z? shining White. 
 
 Take of clean tin ashes two pounds, lead ashes ten 
 pounds, fine Venice glass two pounds, tartar half a pound ; 
 melt them into a cake. Or, 
 
 Lead ashes eight pounds ; tin ashes three pounds ; fine 
 clear calcined flint, or pebble, six pounds ; salt four pounds : 
 melt them into a cake. Or, 
 
 Calcine eight pounds of lead, and four pounds of tin, into 
 ashes ; of these take one quart, salt and pebble of each 
 one pound ; melt them into a cake. 
 
 Another 
 
GLAZING AND PAINTING EARTHEN WARE. 189 
 
 Another fine White for Earthen Ware. 
 
 Calcine six pounds of lead, and three pounds of tin, 
 to ashes ; whereof take two parts, salt three parts, peb- 
 ble or flint three parts ; melt them into a cake. 
 
 Another White. 
 
 Take eight pounds of lead, and four pounds of tin ashes ; 
 among which mix six pounds of Venice glass, and a hand- 
 ful of rock-salt : melt them into a cake. 
 
 Saltzburg White. 
 
 Take three parts of lead, and six parts of tin ; or six 
 parts lead, and three parts tin ; salt three parts ; tartar one 
 part ; and pebble five parts, &c. Or, 
 
 Take five pounds of lead, one pound of tin, three pounds 
 of flint, three pounds of salt, he. Or, 
 
 Take six pounds of lead, and one pound of tin ; melt 
 and burn them to ashes ; whereof take twelve spoonfuls, 
 twelve of flint, and twelve of fine wood ashes. 
 
 To lay a Ground upon Earthen Ware, on which the White 
 Glass zcill spread the better. 
 
 Take calcined taftar one pint, and flint and salt, of 
 each one pint ; mix them together, and use them for 
 a layer, or ground, over your earthen ware, before you 
 glaze them. 
 
 The right Dutch Mastirat for White Porcelain. 
 
 Take calcined pebble, flint, or sind, one hundred pounds ; 
 of soda forty pounds; wood ashes thirty pounds. This mix- 
 ture 
 
190 THE LABORATORY 
 
 ture is by the Dutch called mastirat : of this take one 
 hundred pounds, tin and lead ashes, together, eighty pounds, 
 common salt ten pounds ; melt them three times into a 
 cake. 
 
 The tin and lead ashes are made of one hundred pound* 
 of lead, and thirty pounds of tin. 
 
 The common Ware is thus glazed, 
 
 Take forty pounds of clear sand, seventy-five pounds 
 of litharge or lead ashes, twenty-six pounds of pot ashes, 
 and ten pounds of salt ; melt them three times into a 
 cake, quenching it each time in clear cold water. Or, 
 
 Take clean sand fifty pounds, lead ashes seventy pounds, 
 wood-ashes thirty pounds, salt twelve pounds: melt them to 
 a cake. 
 
 With this mixture they glaze fine and coarse, and set it 
 in an earthen glazing pan, which is round ! the ware is 
 set in them, upon three-cornered bars that go through 
 the like holes in the pan, and the ware is kept asunder 
 from touching one another : the pan must be entirely 
 closed up. 
 
 COLOURS FOR POTTER'S GLAZE-WORK. 
 A fine Yellow). 
 
 Take red-lead three pints ; antimony and tin, of each 
 two pounds ; melt them into a cake ; grind it fine, and 
 melt it again. Repeat, this several times, and you witt 
 have a good yellow. Or, 
 
 Take fifteen parts of lead ore, three parts of pale li- 
 tharge, and fifteen parts of sand, 0/\ 
 
 Take 
 
potter's glaze-work. 191 
 
 Take eight parts of litharge, nine parts of calcined flint, 
 one part of antimony, and a little iron filings ; calcine 
 and melt them to a cake. 
 
 A fine Citron Yellow. 
 
 Takz six parts of red lead, seven parts of fine red 
 brick-dust two parts of antimony ; melt them to a 
 cake. 
 
 A Green Colour. 
 
 Take eight parts of litharge, eight parts of Venice 
 glass, four parts of brass dust ;, melt them for use. Or, 
 
 Take ten parts of litharge, twelve parts of flint or peb- 
 ble, one part of as ustum, or copper ashes. 
 
 A Blue Colour. 
 
 Take lead ashes one pound, clear sand or pebble 
 two pounds, salt two pounds, white calcined tartar one 
 pound ; Venice or other glass, sixteen pounds ; zafFre half 
 a pound ; mix them well together, and melt them \ 
 quench them in water, and melt them again ; repeat 
 this several times: but if you will have it line and good, 
 it will be proper to put the mixture into a glass fur- 
 nace, for a day or two. Or, 
 
 Take litharge four pounds, clear sand two pounds, zaf- 
 fre one pound ; calcine and melt it together. Or, 
 
 Take twelve pounds of lead, one pound of tin, and 
 one pound of zafFre, five pounds of sand, and three pounds 
 of salt ; tartar and glass one pound ; calcine, and melt 
 into a cake. Or, 
 
 Take two pounds of litharge, a quarter of a pound of 
 sand, one pound of zafFre, and one pound of salt ; melt 
 them as directed. Or, 
 
 One 
 
192 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 One part of tartar, one part of lead ashes, one part 
 of zaffire, one part of sand, and two parts of salt ; melt 
 as before. 
 
 A Brown Colour. 
 
 Take of common glass and manganese, of each one 
 part ; lead glass twelve parts. 
 
 A Flesh Colour. 
 
 Take twelve parts of lead-ashes, and one of white 
 glass. 
 
 A Purple Brown. 
 
 Take lead-ashes fifteen parts, clear sand eighteen 
 parts, manganese one part, white glass fifteen measures, 
 and one. measure of zaffre. 
 
 An Iron Grey. 
 
 Take fifteen parts of lead-ashes, fourteen parts of 
 white sand, five parts of copper-ashes, one of manga- 
 nese, one of zaffre, and one of iron filings. 
 
 A Black. 
 
 Take lead-ashes eighteen measures, iron filings three, 
 copper ashes three, zaffre two ; this, when melted, will 
 make a brown black ; but if you will have it blacker, put 
 some more zaffre to it. 
 
 A Brown 
 
potter's glaze-work. 193 
 
 A Broicn on White, 
 
 Manganese two parts, red lead and white glass one 
 part ; melt them well together. 
 
 A fine Red. 
 
 Take antimony two pounds, litharge three pounds, rust 
 of iron calcined one pound ; grind it to a fine powder. 
 
 To glaze with Venice Glass. 
 
 When your ware is well dried, and ready to bake, strike 
 it all over with white-wine lees ; then lay on the Venice 
 glass (ground fine and mixed with salt of tartar and litharge) 
 and bake it as directed. 
 
 A Green. 
 
 Take copper dust two parts ; yellow glass two parts ; 
 melt them twice. Or, 
 
 Two parts of copper filings, one of lead-ashes, and one 
 of white glass ; melt them to a cake. 
 
 A Yellozv. 
 
 Menning three parts, brick-dust two parts, lead-ashes 
 two parts, antimony two parts, sand one part, of the above 
 white glass one part, well calcined, and melted. Or, 
 
 Red lead four ounces, antimony two ounces ; melt them 
 to a cake. 
 
 vol i. © A good 
 
194 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 A good Yellow. 
 
 Take of antimony, red lead, and sand, an equal quan- 
 tity ; melt to a cake. 
 
 A fine Blue Glass to paint with. 
 
 Take lead ashes one pound, clear sand two pounds, 
 salt two pounds, white calcined tartar one pound, flint 
 glass half a pound, zaffre half a pound ■ melt them together, 
 and quench them in water ; then melt them again, and 
 repeat this several times. 
 
 Zaffre, finely ground by itself, makes a good blue to 
 paint on white-glazed earthen ware. 
 
 A Brown. 
 
 One part of manganese, one of lead, and one of white 
 glass. 
 
 A Liver Colour. 
 
 Take twelve parts of litharge, eight of salt, six of 4 peb- 
 ble or flint, and one of manganese. 
 
 A Sea Green. 
 
 Take five pounds of lead-ashes, one pound of tin- 
 ashes, three pounds of flint, three quarters of a pound of 
 salt, half a pound of tartar, and half a pound of copper 
 dust. 
 
 To 
 
POTTER S GLAZE-WORK. 195 
 
 To lay Gold, Silver or Copper on Earthen Ware, so as to 
 resemble either of these Metals. 
 
 Make any utensil of fine potters earth ; form and shape 
 it thin, neat, and silver fashion ; then bake it, and when 
 baked, glaze it : but, before you bake it again, if you wish 
 to silver, gild, or copper it, take a regulus of antimony and 
 melt any of the above metals with it, and beat it to a pow- 
 der ; grind it with water, very fine, and glaze it therewith. 
 Then bake it, and when done, the whole utensil will look 
 like silver ; for when it comes into the fire, the antimony 
 evaporates and leaves the silver, &c. behind. But if you 
 will silver or gild it only for ornament sake, and keep it 
 from any wet, then you may lay on the gold or silver 
 leaves with brandy, and afterwards polish and finish it in 
 the best manner, after the common method. 
 
 o 2 PART 
 
196 
 
 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 PART V. 
 
 SEVERAL 
 
 RECEIPTS FOR CASTING 
 
 IN 
 
 SILVER, COPPER, BRASS, TIN, STEEL, 
 
 AND OTHER METALS; 
 
 LIKEWISE I>T 
 WAX, PLASTER OF PARIS, WOOD, HORN, &C. — WITH THE 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF THE RESPECTIVE MOULDS. 
 
 To prepare Clay for making all Sorts of Moulds to cast 
 Gold, Silver, and other Metals in. 
 
 TAKE clay, as much as you will ; put it into an earthen 
 pot that is glazed, and cover and lute it very close ; 
 then put it into a potter's furnace, and let it stand as long 
 as other earthen ware. After it is burned, and cold, grind 
 the clay upon a colour-stone very fine ; sift it through a 
 fine hair sieve into clear water, and after it is settled, pour 
 off the water, and grind the clay once more upon the 
 stone, as fine as possible ; then wash it again in fair water 
 as before, and set it in the sun, or in a warm place, to 
 dry. 
 
 After 
 
CASTING SILVER, COPPER, &C. 197 
 
 After this burned and washed clay is thoroughly dry, 
 take of it three pounds, sal-ammoniac two pounds, tartar 
 two pounds, vitriol one pound ; mix them together, and 
 put this mixture into one or two pots ; pour upon it about 
 seven quarts of clean water, and boil this composition for 
 some time ; then take this water, whilst it is warm, and 
 mix your burned clay therewith to such a consistence that 
 you may form it into balls ; lay these in a warm place to 
 dry, and when dry, put them into an earthen pot as be- 
 fore, and give them another baking among the earthen 
 ware, and when cold, grind them fine, and that powder 
 will be fit for use. 
 
 The clay being thus prepared, take sal-ammoniac, and 
 put it into a glass with water, that holds about two quarts ; 
 put so much of the sal-ammoniac to the water as will dis- 
 solve it over a gentle warmth, and let it stand one or two 
 hours closed up ; then take your powder of clay, and tem- 
 per it with this water to such a consistence as to form it 
 into balls, and make what moulds you please thereof. 
 When you cast your metal, you must make your mould 
 red hot ; and be also very nimble in the pouring out your 
 melted metal. 
 
 To make Moulds of Clay to cast Brass or other Metals in. 
 
 Take good clear clay, such as the pewterers use ; take 
 also cloth shaving, or fine short plucked cotton, and fine 
 clear sand, and if the sand is not fine enough, grind it on 
 a colour-stone ; mix this with the clay to such a consis- 
 tence as is fit to make or form your moulds thereof. Your 
 clay must not be made soft with water, but with strong 
 beer ; and when you cast, let your mould be red hot. 
 
 If you would have a fine and sharp cast, sift over your 
 clay some fine washed ashes, before you make the im- 
 pression* 
 
 To 
 
198 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To prepare Moulds, which need not to be heated, for cast- 
 ing Metal in. 
 
 Take fine sand, such as the goldsmiths use ; mix it 
 with lamp-black, as much as you think proper ; then tem- 
 per it with rape, or linseed oil, fit to make your moulds 
 thereof; whatever you cast in them, comes not only out 
 neat and sharp, but you have no occasion to heat your 
 mould, as is required in other cases : you must observe 
 that your sand is very dry before you temper it with the 
 oil. 
 
 The Preparation of Mantua Earth, for Moulds. 
 
 Take one part of Mantua earth, one part of charcoal 
 dust of burnt birch, and one part of salt ; mix with them 
 an equal quantity of tartar ; boil up the mixture in a cop- 
 per pan, three several times : with this water, which keeps 
 always good, moisten and temper your earth, so as to 
 form it into balls between your hands ; and when you 
 make your mould, roll your earth with a roller, till it is 
 smooth and pliable ; then you may form it into what 
 fashion you please. In this mould you may cast before it 
 is dried ; and when you have cast, take off the earth which 
 is dried through the heat of the metal ; grind the same 
 again, and temper it, as you did at first, to use it again. 
 
 A particular Sort of Mould, in which one may cast very 
 fine and sharp. 
 
 Take horse muscle-shells ; or, for want of them, oyster- 
 shells ; let them be calcined in a potter's furnace ; then pul- 
 verize and temper them with urine : of this make your 
 moulds, and you will cast very fine and sharp. 
 
 To 
 
CASTING SILVER, COPPER, &C. 199 
 
 To impress Basso Relievo, or Medals, in Imitation of 
 Ivory. 
 
 Take of prepared clay one pound, fine plaster of 
 Paris eight ounces, white starch eight ounces ; mix these 
 together, and beat up the mixture with the white of six or 
 eight eggs ; put to it three ounces of clear gum arabic ; 
 stir it well together to a paste, and put so much of the dry 
 mixture to it as will knead it like dough ; then press it into 
 a mould with the palm of your hand, and let it dry in the 
 sun, observing to lay the paste side on a smooth board, 
 and it will be clear and hard, like ivory. You may im- 
 press all manner of medals and curiosities, and make them 
 of what colour you please. 
 
 To impress Medals and other things in Basso Relievo, qti 
 
 Paper. 
 
 Take the shavings of superfine white paper, and steep 
 them in fair water for six or eight days ; then put them in- 
 to a clean earthen pot, with water, and boil them for two 
 or three hours : this done, take them out of the pot, with 
 as little moisture as possible, and stamp them in a stone 
 mortar very small and line ; then put them into a clean 
 linen bag, and hang that in a vessel with clean water, 
 changing the water once or twice a week : when you have 
 occasion to use it, take as much as you want out of the 
 bag, squeezing the water from it, and put it on the mould, 
 pressing it down gently with a spunge, which will soak up 
 the water, and make the impression more perfect ; this 
 being done, set the mould to dry in the sun, or in a warm 
 room, and when dry, the impression will come off as fair 
 and sharp as if cast in piaster of Paris, 
 
 To 
 
200 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To cast Vegetables in Moulds peculiarly prepared for 
 Silver. 
 
 Take fine and clear clay that is dry, and pound it in a 
 mortar ; then take a copper or iron pan ; put in your clay, 
 and give it a brisk fire, and after you have heated it 
 thoroughly, take it off and let it cool ; then take one part 
 of this clay, and one part of plume alum ; grind them to- 
 gether, and cast the mixture in little tents, which put into 
 a fire to neal ; beat it very fine ; and when you would form 
 your plant, take one part of this powder, and one part of 
 plume alum ; grind them together, and add as much of 
 the clay powder as the mixt matter contains, and mix and 
 grind them all together. Then take some potter's clay, to 
 make a coffin round your plant ; spread it in what manner 
 you think proper ; and after the coffin is dry, anoint the 
 inside thereof, as also the plant with good brandy ; dust 
 the before prepared clay, and the plant, gently through a 
 fine cambric ; and when you have covered it all over as 
 thick as it will bear, strike the raised coffin a little with 
 your hand or hammer, and the dust will settle closer to the 
 plant, and make the silver come out the sharper. 
 
 After the powder is well settled, and your coffin closed, 
 cover it fine with dead charcoal, and then lay some live 
 ones over them ; let the fire gradually descend to the cof- 
 fin, and heat it by degrees to a strong glue ; then let it cool 
 of itself with the fire ; take, afterwards, fine clay, fine 
 sand, and some wool shearings ; mix these together ; beat 
 and knead it well into one another ; then temper it with 
 glue, and fill your coffin with it all over the plant, leaving 
 an opening at the stalk for the inlet ; then put it again into 
 the fire and make it red hot, and with a pair of bellows, 
 first closed, draw out the ashes from the inlet, and it will 
 be rpady for casting. , 
 
 Then 
 
CASTING SILVER, COPPER, &C. 201 
 
 Then take oil of tartar, which is made of pounded salt 
 of tartar, and scrape a little sal-ammoniac into it, to give 
 it the substance of a thin paste, which is a good flux for 
 silver ; fling some of this upon your silver, when in fusion, 
 and it will cast fine and sharp. 
 
 After it is cast, anoint the silver plant with oil of tartar ; 
 lay it on live coals ; neal it, and then boil it in tartar, to 
 which add a little salt, and this will give it a fine bright 
 pearl-colour. 
 
 Powders for Moulds to cast all Sorts of things hi Gold y 
 in Silver, or in other Metals. 
 
 Take powdered plaster of Paris ; or instead, take ala- 
 baster in powder, and sift it through cambric, or a very 
 fine hair sieve, and put it into an iron pan, over a clear 
 coal fire ; stir it about until it begins to boil and bubble up 
 like water ; keep it stirring ; recruit your fire, and continue 
 this until you find it so thick as not to be able to draw it 
 along with your stick ; then pour it into a bowl, and let it 
 cool. 
 
 Take also brick-dust finely powdered and sifted. 
 
 The miners find sometimes a matter in the iron mines 
 which they call liver-ore ; take this, and wash it from the 
 coarser sand, and when dry, put it into an earthen pot ; 
 cover it, set it to neal thoroughly, and when cold, pound 
 and sift it. When it is right burnt, it will be of a coppe.r 
 colour ; put all these different powders into several boxes, 
 and preserve them from dust and soil, for proper use. 
 
 To cast Vegetables and Insects. 
 
 Four parts of the above plaster of Paris, two parts of 
 brick-dust, and two parts of liver ore ; mix them well to- 
 gether, and sift them through a fine hair sieve ; when you 
 are ready to form your moulds, pour clean water to them, 
 
 and 
 
202 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and stir them well together to the thickness of a thin paste : 
 you must be pretty nimble with this work, else it wijl 
 harden under your hands, and be of no use, 
 
 To prepare the Mould. 
 
 Take the plant you design to cast, and spread the leaves 
 and stalks so as not to touch one another ; then make a 
 coffin, either of lead or clay, and put your plant in it so 
 as not to touch the sides ; at the bottom you may lay a 
 piece of paper to keep the stuff from sticking to the board, 
 but let your stuff be neither too thick nor too thin, for if 
 it is of a right consistence it will force itself close to the 
 plants and come out sharp ; let the stalks be carefully kept 
 up for the inlet ; and when you pour this stuff upon vour 
 plants, do it gently, and separate those leaves which might 
 lie close to one another with a needle, pouring all the 
 while, to make the mould the stronger. After this i$ 
 hardened, put it in a drv place, and keep it until you have 
 some more ready to cast ; but you must secure it from 
 frost. 
 
 If you would cast insects, or any small animal, or rep- 
 tile, put them, in what position you will, upon a little 
 board, brown paper, or paste-board, which first must be 
 anointed with oil, to make the plaster-stuff come off the 
 easier ; about your insect make a little coffin, and if you 
 can raise the insect so as to be freed from the board or 
 paper, it will be the better, which you may do by tying it 
 with two or three hairs, and fastening them at the top of 
 the coffin, by which it will hang in the middle ; when this 
 is ready, pour, as before directed, your plaster gently upon 
 it, and after the mould is a little dry, it will be fit for 
 use. 
 
 If you lay your insect, or other creature, upon the 
 paper, you must make a wall about it, and cast your plas- 
 ter upon it ; let it stand a little, and when dry, take of? 
 
 your 
 
CASTING SILVER, COPPER, Sec. 20$ 
 
 your wall, and cut the plaster round about the insect ; and 
 taking the mould off the paper, there will be an opening 
 at the bottom of the mould where the insect lies ; turn 
 this mould, and anoint.it about the opening, and the part 
 on the insect, with oil ; then casting some fresh plaster 
 upon that plate, your mould will take asunder, and be 
 very convenient to draw out the ashes of the insect, after 
 it has been burned, as is here directed. 
 
 Put your mould upon some warm wood-ashes ; then 
 cover it with small-coal ; over the small-coal lay charcoal, 
 and then fling some lighted small-coal over them, to kindle 
 the others, so that the heat may be gently conveyed to 
 the mould ; and after it has glowed some time, and you 
 think the insect, or plant, is consumed to ashes, let it cool 
 of itself, with the fire about it, to hinder the air coming 
 to it. When your mould is cold, open an hole for an 
 inlet, and, either with your breath, or with a little hand 
 spout that is moist, draw out the ashes, and your mould 
 is ready. 
 
 You may also burn the moulds in a muffel, if you 
 close the muffel to prevent the air coming in, and lay the 
 coals on and glow it as has been directed. After you have 
 taken out the mould, put the same in warm sand, and 
 having your silver, or other metal, ready melted, pour it 
 in quick; but if you cast silver, fling into the flux a little 
 sal-ammoniac and borax, mixed together. After it is cast, 
 let the mould cool a little ; then quench it in water, and 
 the plaster will fall off of itself; brush the silver clean, 
 and neal and boil it as has been already directed. 
 
 To cast Vegetables, or Insects, i?i another manner. 
 
 Tie your plant, sprig, or insect, with a fine thread, to 
 a little stick ; dip either of them into brandy, and let it 
 dry a little ; then temper your plaster of Paris, prepared 
 as before directed, with water of sal-ammoniac, pretty 
 
 thin, 
 
„£04 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 thin, and dip you plant, or insect, in it all over ; then put 
 the little stick in the hole against a wall, or any thing else ; 
 let it hang free, and, in the drying, you may display the 
 leaves of the plant, cr legs of the insect, as you would 
 have them ; and when you have done this, hang it in the 
 coffin (the little stick may rest on each end of the coffin) ; 
 then, pouring your plaster over, you will have an exact 
 mould ; then proceed as directed before. 
 
 If you would have a small insect to stand upon a leaf, 
 then dip the ends of its legs in turpentine, and put it on 
 the plant before you dip it : if it is a spider, or grasshop- 
 per, or any other insect which you think will be too strong 
 for the turpentine, kill it first in vinegar ; and, after that, 
 put its legs in the turpentine, and fix it to the leaf of the 
 plant. 
 
 To cast Figures, or Medals, in Sulphur. 
 
 Melt (in a glazed pipkin) half a pound of sulphur 
 over a gentle fire ; with this mix half a pound of fine ver- 
 milion ; when you have cleared the top, take it off the 
 fire, and stir it well together, and it will dissolve like oil ; 
 then cast it into the mould, after being first anointed with 
 oil ; let it cool, and take it out ; but in case your figure 
 should change to a yellowish colour, you need only wipe 
 it over with aqua-fortis, and it will look like the finest 
 coral. 
 
 Hon) to form and cast all Sb) ts of small Birds, Frogs, 
 Fish, &Tc*. 
 
 Take an earthen, iron, or tin ring, which is high and 
 wide enough to hold the animal you design to cast, and 
 set it upon a clean board, or paste-board ; then lay the 
 animal upon it, and cast the mixture of fine plaster pretty 
 thick over it ; the rest of the vacancy you may fill up 
 
 with 
 
CASTING IMAGES OF PLASTER OF FARIS. 205 
 
 with a coarser plaster, even to the brim : when this is 
 done, and pretty well dried, turn your ring, and putting 
 a little short stick close to the body of the animal, cast a 
 crust on that side, to cover that part which before lay close 
 to the board, and when dry, burn it, and go about the 
 casting as directed : after you have burned it thoroughly, 
 you must draw the ashes out at the hole which is made by 
 the little stick, and this you may use for your inlet. 
 
 How to cast small Shot. 
 
 Melt your lead in a ladle ; then pour it gently, in a 
 continual stream, into a pan or pail of water, on the sur- 
 face whereof swims oil of a finger thick ; thus you will 
 have good round small shot. 
 
 HOW TO CAST IMAGES OF PLASTER OF PARIS : TO 
 CAST WAX, EITHER SOLID OR HOLLOW: ALSO TO 
 FORM IMAGES IN WAX, AND CAST THEM AFTER- 
 WARDS IN ANY METAL, EITHER SOLID OR HOLLOW. 
 
 The preparing the mixture for the moulds has been be- 
 fore shewn, for which reason it is needless to repeat it 
 again. 
 
 If you will make a mould to cast an image, or animal 
 in, take clean potters clay, and make thereof a coffin 
 round about the image, which you lay long-ways on a 
 board, and anoint it first over with oil ; then take fine 
 plaster of Paris ; mix it with water, and pour it all over 
 the image, so that it may cover it every way ; then give it 
 a stronger coat, with a coarser sort, and when the plaster 
 is dry, take off the coffin, and cut that side which is cast 
 something flat, making some notches or marks upon it ; 
 
 then 
 
206 TH£ LABORATORY. 
 
 then turn it, and make a coffin about it again, and casl 
 that side of the image, after you have anointed it with 
 some oil all over, so that the whole may be entirely in- 
 closed. 
 
 After the plaster has been a day or two upon the image, 
 it will be quite dry ; then, with a wooden mallet, beat 
 cautiously against the plaster, till a piece thereof loosens, 
 which being taken off, the rest will come off easy ; and 
 after you have dismantled the whole, anoint the inside 
 thereof with linseed oil, with a fine hair pencil brush, 
 and let it dry in ; this do twice ; after they have lain two 
 or three days, cut in an inlet, where you think it most 
 convenient ; and, when you cast with plaster of Paris, be- 
 fore you do it, anoint the inside of the mould, and, after 
 you have put all the pieces in their proper places and tied 
 them together, cast your plaster, and let it stand half a 
 day : take the pieces one after another carefully off, in 
 order to keep the image intire ; but if you will cast wax 
 in that mould, put only the mould for half an hour before 
 in water, and the wax will not stick to it. If you will 
 have the image hollow, then mind that the wax be not too 
 hot ; pour it into the mould, and you will easily see how 
 thick it sticks to it. When you think it is thick enough. 
 then turn your mould about, and pour out the wax that is 
 remaining, and after you have for a little while laid it in 
 water, take off the pieces of moulding, and you will have 
 the image done to perfection. You must observe, that 
 before you break the mould from the image ort which you 
 formed it, you must mark it all over with crosses, circles, 
 or strokes, by which you may afterwards fix them right 
 and exactly together, to cast again. If you will have the 
 wax figures solid, then let the mould with the images lie 
 for half an hour, or more, to cool in fair water. 
 
 To 
 
CASTING IMAGES OF PLASTER OF PARIS. 207 
 
 To prepare the Wax. 
 
 Take one pound of white resin that is not greasy, and 
 two pounds of wax ; melt the wax ; strain it through a 
 cloth into a glazed pan, and stir it about till it is cool. 
 
 To cast Medals and other things in Basso Relievo. 
 
 Lay your medal on a clean piece of paper, or a clean 
 board; inclose it with a wall of clay or wax; then pour 
 the plaster of Paris half an inch thick upon it ; when it is 
 dry, take off the mould, and anoint it with clear salad 
 oil, two or three times, both within and without. If you 
 will cast plaster of Paris, lay the mould first for a quarter 
 of an hour in clear water ; then cast your plaster as thick 
 as you please. 
 
 You must observe that whenever you make a mould of 
 plaster, let it be for basso relievo, or figures, you must 
 always anoint it with oil, two or three times, which will 
 not only preserve them from the damage they otherwise 
 would sustain from the water, but make the cast pieces 
 come out clear. 
 
 Medals and Figures in Basso Relievo, like Jasper. 
 
 To do this you must have a hand-spout, or a glyster- 
 pipe, at the end whereof fix a tin or iron plate, full of 
 round holes, some larger than others. In this spout put 
 a paste, made of fine chalk of several colours ; then force 
 them out in small shreds of mixed colours in one piece ; 
 cut them with a fine edged knife in thin round slices, and 
 put one into your mould, pressing it down gently ; then 
 pour the plaster of Paris upon it, and, when dry, lay it 
 first over with fish glue, and after that varnish it, and it 
 will be of singular beauty. 
 
 The 
 
208 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 The colours you may first dilute with gum-water, before 
 you mix the chalk with them. 
 
 Another \ 
 
 Take the above-mentioned chalk paste, and, after you 
 have mixed therewith a variety of colours, as smalt, white 
 lead, vermilion, red lead, masticot, verdigrise, brown- 
 red, he. and formed each colour separate, into little cakes, 
 then (with a rolling pin) spread them like pie-crust ; when 
 you have done as many colours as you think proper, lay 
 one leaf upon another ; roll them together from one end 
 to the other, and, with a knife, cut slices as thin as a 
 wafer ; take these and cover your mould with ; press it 
 close down with your thumb, and pour the plaster of 
 Paris over it ; when dry, do it over with fish-glue, and 
 then varnish it, or give it a polish with a dog's tooth. 
 
 To cast Fish, Reptiles, Fruit, or any kind of things, in 
 a Pewter Plate, or Dish. 
 
 Take a pewter plate, or dish ; garnish the same with 
 fish, or reptiles, fruits, plants, he. Dispose them in 
 proper order, as your fancy directs you. Small animals, 
 or leaves of plants, fasten to the dish with a little turpen- 
 tine, and when every thing is in order, wall it round ; then 
 pour your plaster of Paris over it ; strike upon the table 
 which the dish stands on, in order to make the casting fix 
 the closer about the things ; after the plaster is dry, make 
 the mould for the back part of the dish ; glow it, in order 
 to burn the things to ashes ; having cleared your mould, 
 fix them together for casting, and tie them round with 
 wires, and make them red hot ; cast your pewter, and in 
 order not to make the dish too heavy, convey some little 
 openings from the back part of the mould to the body or 
 hollow of the animals, stopping the outside close up again 
 
 till 
 
CASTING IMAGES OF PLASTER OF PARIS. 209 
 
 till your casting is over ; and when you think the pewter 
 sufficiently fixed, then open these conveyances and pour 
 out the melted pewter which may remain, into an ingot. 
 
 If you would cast it in silver, then model your leaves, 
 animals, &c. separate and hollow, that they may be after- 
 wards soldered on. 
 
 To cast Figures in Imitation of Ivory. 
 
 Take isinglass and strong brandy ; make it into a paste, 
 with the powder of very fine ground egg-shells. You may 
 give it what colour you please ; but cast it warm into your 
 mould, having oiled it all over ; leave the figure in the 
 mould till cold ; then set them in the air to dry, and you 
 will have them resemble ivory. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Take a sufficient quantity of egg-shells ; put them into 
 an earthen vessel ; lute it well, and let them be put in a 
 potter's furnace, and they will burn to a white calx ; if, 
 after the first burning they are not white enough, burn 
 them a second time ; then, with parchment-glue, mix it 
 into a mass fit to be cast in moulds, wherein let them dry : 
 if you will have your figures of different colours, you must 
 colour your glue ; for red, with brazil ; for green, with 
 Verdigrise, &c. 
 
 Another Mixture to cast Figures in Basso Relievo* 
 
 Take flower of chalk, finely ground ; mix it with clear 
 glue well together ; pour it into your mould ; press it with 
 the palm of your hand, and it will come out very fine ; 
 you may do this in what colour you please. 
 
 vol. i. p To 
 
210 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To cast with Marble Colours in Plaster. 
 
 Take several colours, as vermilion, Dutch pink, yellow 
 ochre, smalt, he. : temper tnem with water, and mix 
 every one apart with plaster : then take what colours yon 
 please, and, first sprinkling your mould, which is best of 
 sulphur, with one or more of them, with a little pencil 
 or feather ; then pour a colour different from what you 
 sprinkled into the mould, and after it is hardened, give it 
 a gloss with wax or varnish, as pleases you best. 
 
 A Sand in fvhich one may cast things to the greatest nicety, 
 whether Flat, or in Basso lieliexo. 
 
 Take fuller's earth; put it in a reverberatory furnace 
 till it is red hot ; then take sal-ammoniac, about one 
 pound ; dissolve it in two quarts of water ; with this water 
 moisten the burnt earth, and, when cool, put it into the 
 furnace in a red-hot pan : after it has glown there, take it 
 out again ; when the heat is a little over, sprinkle it with 
 the above water again, till it is quenched ; then give it 
 another fire, and repeat this five or six times ; the more, 
 the better it will receive the metal : grind it to a very fine 
 powder ; put it into the frame,- which may be either of 
 brass, iron, or wood, but first moisten it a little with the 
 aforesaid water ; then make your impression, near the in- 
 got, and having dried it before the fire, while it is hot, 
 cast your metal ; the mould or impression will be better 
 the second than the first time using it, but every time you 
 use it, make it first red-hot. 
 
 To make Horn soft. 
 
 Take one pound of wood-ashes, two pounds of quick- 
 lime, one quart of water; let it boil together to one third ; 
 
 then 
 
TO CAST WOOD AND HORN IN MOULDS. 211 
 
 then dip a feather into it, and if, in drawing it out, the 
 plume comes off, it is boiled enough ; if not, let it boil 
 longer ; when it is settled, filter it through a cloth ; then 
 put in shavings, or filings, of horn -, let them soak therein 
 three days ; and, anointing your hands first with oil, work 
 the horn shavings into a mass, and print, mould, or form 
 it in what shape you please. 
 
 To cast Horn into Moulds. 
 
 Take horn shavings as many as you will, and lay them 
 in a new earthen pot ; take two parts of wood-ashes, and 
 the third part of lime ; pour clear lye upon it, so as to 
 cover it all over ; boil it well ; stir it with an iron ladle, 
 till it has the consistence of a paste : if you will have it of 
 a red colour, then take red lead, or vermilion, as much as 
 you think proper, and temper it with the paste ; then cast 
 it into a mould, and let it dry : you may smooth it with a 
 knife, and it will be of one solid piece ; you may in this 
 manner bring horn to what colour you will have it. 
 
 To cast Wood in Moulds, as fine as Ivory, of a fragrant 
 Smell, and in several Colours. 
 
 Take fine saw-dust of lime-tree wood ; put it into a 
 clean pan ; tie it close up with paper, and let it dry by a 
 gentle heat ; then beat it in a stone mortar to a very fine 
 powder ; sift it through cambric, and lay it, if you do not 
 use it presently, in a dry place, to keep it from dust. 
 
 Then take one pound of fine parchment glue ; the finest 
 gum-tragacanth and gum-arabic, of each four ounces ; let 
 them boil in clear pump-water, and filter through a clean 
 rag ; then stir into it of the aforesaid powder of wood ; 
 add till it becomes of the substance of a thick paste, and 
 set it in a glazed pan in hot sand ; stir it well together, 
 and let the rest of the moisture evaporate till it be fit for 
 
 P 2 casting. 
 
f}9 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 casting. Then pour, of mix, your colours with the paste, 
 and put in oil of cloves, of roses, or the like, to give it 
 a scent ; you may mix it, if you will, with a little beaten 
 amber : for a red colour, use brazil ink ; and for other co- 
 lours, such as will be directed under the article for book- 
 binders. Your mould will be better of pewter, or brass, 
 than of plaster of Paris ; anoint it over with oil of almonds, 
 and put your paste into it ; let it stand three or four days 
 to dry and harden ; then take off your mould, and it will 
 be as hard as ivory ; you may cut, turn, carve, and plane 
 it like other wood ; it will be of a sweet scent ; you may, 
 if your mould will allow it, use several colours in one piece, 
 leaving only in some part the natural colour of the wood, 
 in order to convince the beholder what it is. It is a fine 
 and curious experiment. 
 
 MIXTURES FOR CASTING MIRRORS, AND FOR CAST- 
 ING OTHER THINGS. 
 
 Receipts for preparing these mixtures are prescribed 
 by several authors, after different ways ; wherefore I shall 
 Set down only a few, that for the generality are best 
 approved of : and first, 
 
 For reflecting Mirrors. 
 
 Take three pounds of the best refined pewter, and 
 one pound of refined copper. First melt the copper, 
 :tnd then add the pewter to it : when both are in fu- 
 sion, pour it out, and, when cold, beat it to powder: 
 then take twelve ounces of red tartar, a little calcined 
 tartar, three ounces of nitre, one ounce and a half of 
 alum, and four ounces of arsenic: mix and stir these to- 
 gether, 
 
MIXTURES FOR CASTING MIRRORS. 213 
 
 gether, and, after it has done evaporating, pour out the 
 metal into your mould ; let it cool ; and when polished 
 you will have a fine mirror. 
 
 This is the composition which is commonly called the 
 steel mixture. 
 
 Some artists will have the arsenic omitted, because it is 
 apt to turn the mirror to a deadish blue colour, and re- 
 quires new polishing every time it is used ; and they think 
 that copper and pewter are sufficient to answer the purpose 
 of a mirror without it. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Take an earthen pan that is not glazed, and has stood 
 the fire ; put into it two pounds of tartar, and the same 
 weight of crystalline arsenic, and melt them on a coal fire. 
 When this mixture begins to smoke, add to it fifty pounds 
 of old copper, and put it into fusion for six or seven hours, 
 so that it may be well cleansed ; then add to it fifty pounds 
 of pewter, and let them melt together ; after this, take up 
 some of the mixture with an iron, to see whether it is too 
 hard and brittle ; if so, then add a little more pewter ; and 
 when you have the right temper, fling four ounces of bora:-: 
 over it, and let it stand in the furnace until it is dissolved ; 
 then pour it into your mould and let it cool ; when it is 
 cold, rub it first with brimstone and then with emery ; and 
 after the surface is made smooth and even, polish it with 
 tripoly or tin ashes, and give it the finishing stroke with 
 lamp-black. Or, 
 
 Take copper one part, pewter three parts, and a verv 
 little arsenic or tartar ; when these are put into fusion let 
 them incorporate. 
 
 Some take of copper three parts, of pewter one part, 
 and a little silver, antimony, and white flint. 
 
 Others do it with one part of lead, and two parts of 
 silver. 
 
 After 
 
214 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 After the metal is formed and cast, it is requisite to have 
 it smooth and well polished : the first is done with emery, 
 and then with powdered sulphur or tin ashes, or else with 
 tripoly : the polishing is done with pulverized chimney 
 soot of wood fires, and the ashes of willow, or cedar, 
 which will give it a fine lustre : the emery is ground to a 
 fine dust, and moistened with water. Or, 
 
 Steel mixtures are also made out of one pound of pew- 
 ter, and one third of copper ; when these are melted, add 
 two ounces of tartar, and one ounce of orpiment ; and, 
 when evaporated, pour the mixture out into the mould. 
 The casting of a fiat mirror, or looking-glass, is done upon 
 a flat board, with a little edging all round it, made dry and 
 warm, and covered with resin or pitch; by this means the 
 mirror is fixed to the board : when cold, rub it with sand 
 and water, then with emery, or flower of brimstone, and 
 at last polish it with tin-ashes, i. e. putty. 
 
 Another sort of Steel Mixture for Mirrors. 
 
 Take good new copper, of that sort which is used 
 for copper wire, eight parts ; fine English pewter one 
 part ; bismuth five parts ; put them together into a cru- 
 cible, and melt. Grease your mould all over with tallow, 
 in order to cast your metal into it, when it is in fusion ; 
 dip a hot iron into it, and what sticks to it let cool : if the 
 colour is inclining to white, it is right ; but if to red, you 
 must add some more pewter, until it has its right colour : 
 observe, that whatever you put to the melted metal must 
 first be made hot. After this manner you may form and 
 cast whatever you please. Or, 
 
 Melt one pound of copper ; fling into it eight ounces of 
 spelter*, and when the spelter is in flame, stir it with a 
 stick, or hot iron rod, well together : then add five or six 
 
 * Spelter is another name for zinc. 
 
 ounces 
 
MIXTURES FOR CASTING MIRRORS. 215 
 
 ounces of fine pewter to it ; pour it into your moulds ; 
 
 smooth and polish it as has been directed above, and you 
 will have a fine and bright mirror. 
 
 Peter Shot's Metallic Mixture for Mirrors. 
 
 Take ten parts of copper 3 melt them, and add four 
 parts of fine pewter; strew upon the mixture a small 
 quantity of pulverized antimony and sal-ammoniac ; stir 
 it well together until the stinking smoke is evaporated ; 
 then pour it out into the moulds : first smooth it in sand 
 and water, and then proceed as has been directed. 
 
 Mixtures for mirrors are made different ways : copper is 
 the chief ingredient, which must be tempered with a 
 whitish metal, in order to bring the objects that are seen 
 therein to their natural colour ; and this is done by pewter 
 and arsenic. 
 
 To cast a flat looking-glass, it will be best to have 
 two polished stones for a mould ; between these two stones 
 put, at each end, an iron wire, as thick as you would 
 cast your mirror ; then tie the stones close, and fill the 
 crevice round about them with putty, leaving only an open- 
 ing, or hole, to pour the metal in. When that is dry, and 
 the stones are made thoroughly warm., pour the metal in : 
 w r hen it is cold, smooth and polish it as directed above. 
 You may fasten the one side to a flat stone with plaster of 
 Paris, and polish the other with a smooth stone ; and last 
 of all, give it the finishing stroke with a piece of old hat 
 and fine tin ashes. 
 
 If you would cast a concave mirror, or burning-glass, 
 let your mould be exactly tur/ied ; but if you cannot get 
 it conveniently done, you may take a truly turned bowl, 
 and wet it, and proceed thus : 
 
 Muke a crust of wax ; roll it with a wet rolling-pin to 
 what thickness you would have your metal cast ; and to 
 have it of an equal thickness, you may fix a couple of 
 
 rulers 
 
216 THE LABORATORY- 
 
 rulers on each side for your rolling-pin to play upon ; 
 then cut this crust of wax into a circle, and form it upon 
 the outside of your wet bowl, and set it in a cool place 
 to harden. In the meantime prepare a fine clay, by 
 washing and pouring it out of one pan into another \ 
 take the finest of the settling, and get it burnt in a 
 potter's furnace to a reddish colour. When this is 
 done, grind it with sal-ammoniac, sublimate, and rain 
 water, upon a marble, very fine, and to such a consistence 
 that it may be laid on with a pencil, like painters co- 
 lour : with this paint the outside of the wax mould over, 
 and let it dry in the shade ; when dry, lay on a coat 
 of haired clay, of about two fingers thick, and let this 
 also dry in the shade. Then take it off the bowl, and lay 
 the concave side uppermost, and do as above, viz. lay with 
 a soft hair pencil the prepared and burnt clay all over ; 
 and when dry, lay it over with haired clay, so as to cover 
 the whole mould of wax ; the hole at which you design 
 to pour in your metal you may open after it is dry. Then 
 fix the mould, with the hole downwards, upon a couple of 
 iron bars, or a couple of bricks, making a charcoal fire un- 
 derneath and round the sides of it, that the wax may melt 
 and run out at the hole : you may catch some of the wax, 
 and set it by for other uses. When thus the mould is 
 cleared of the wax, and is still hot, turn it up, and set 
 it in warm sand, and put warm sand round about it to 
 the top, to keep it firm ; then put an earthen ware 
 funnel into the hole, and pour in the metal ; as soon 
 as ycu are about to pour, fling into the metal a rag 
 dipped in wax, (which keeps its melted surface from 
 calcining) and, whilst it is in flame, pour the metal into 
 the mould : after the metal in the mould is cold, polish 
 it carefully, so as not to take more off in one place than 
 in another, for, if you do, it will prove a detriment to 
 the mirror. 
 
 The 
 
MIXTURES FOR CASTING MIRRORS. 217 
 
 The polishing is beet done after the braziers manner, 
 viz. with a wheel, to which is fixed a rough sand stone, 
 to take oir the coarse crust ; then with a fine stone and 
 water, make jt smooth ; and then with a wooden wheel, 
 covered with leader, and laid on with emery, polish it 
 from all the streaks or spots, giving it the finishing stroke 
 with fine tin-ashes and blood-stone in powder, which you 
 apply to the wheel that is covered with leather : continue 
 this until it has a perfect gloss. Keep it in as dry a place 
 as possible, to prevent its tarnishing ; but if it should tar- 
 nish, you must polish it again with a piece of buck-skin, 
 clipped in fine washed tin ashes. After the same manner 
 you may also polish the concave side of the mirror. 
 
 An uncommon Way of preparing a Mirror-mixture on 
 
 Brass. 
 
 Take strong distilled white-wine vinegar, one pound; 
 fine sal-ammoniac four ounces ; quicksilver four ounces ; 
 let this boil upon hot sand until the third part of the 
 vinegar is boiled away ; (this liquor is the principal ingre- 
 dient for the work;) then take a brass plate; polish it 
 very bright with some coal dust, and lav it in an iron pan, 
 on a gentle coal fire ; when it is pretty hot, dip a rag into 
 the liquor, and rub your plate with it for an hour together ; 
 and this lays the foundation for what follows. Make a 
 paste, with one part of quicksilver, and two parts of soap- 
 tin* ; in this dip your rag, and rub it upon the plate of 
 brass until you have a looking-glass colour. 
 
 These plates, thus prepared, lay in the iron pan upon a 
 coal fire until you see they begin to turn to a reddish co- 
 lour, which they will do in about a minute's time ; with 
 
 * Soap-tin is not a common appellation. It may mean, pro- 
 bably, an amalgam, of tin-foil and quicksilver, such as is now 
 used on mirrors : or, soap may be required to be added. Ed. 
 
 this 
 
218 i'.THE LABORATORY. 
 
 this colour the mercury flies away, and the tin colour re- 
 mains on the plate ; then let it cool, and take a little pre- 
 pared emery upon a piece of leather, and rub the plate over 
 with even strokes, but not too long, for fear of rubbing the 
 tin from the brass. You may, instead of with emery, po- 
 lish it also with tripoli. 
 
 N. B. If the tin should make the plate too white, you 
 may use lead instead of it, making a paste with that and 
 mercury, and proceed as above. 
 
 By this means you may make what figures you please. 
 
 To cast Iron. 
 
 Take clean filings ©f iron ; wash them in lye, and then 
 water ; mix them with as much powder of sulphur ; put 
 the mixture into a crucible, and give it a strong fire until 
 it is in fusion : if you manage it right, it will cast clean 
 and smooth. 
 
 To cajt Steel. 
 
 Take of the best and finest steel, about one pound ; 
 break it into bits ; put it in a good strong crucible, and 
 neal it to a bright red colour. Then add sixteen or twenty- 
 four ounces of good common steel, and neal it thoroughly : 
 add then eight or ten ounces of * arsenic glass ; give it a 
 
 violent 
 
 * To prepare the arsenic glass - take one pound of white arsenic, 
 and two pounds of good nitre ; put them into a new pot that is 
 not glazed, with a cover that has a little round hole in the middle ; 
 lute it well all round, then let it dry, and when dry, put the pot in 
 a reverberatory fire for three hours, and there will evaporate out of 
 the hole of the cover a red poisonous fume; which you must take 
 care of, and keep at some distance from it. The second hour, 
 move the hre nearer the pot ; and when the fumes cease, close the 
 hole with some clay : at the third hour put the coals close to the 
 
 pot, 
 
MIXTURES FOR CASTING MIRRORS. £39 
 
 violent fire, and it will melt and flux : with this compo- 
 sition you may cast what you please. 
 
 To cast Iron us "white as Silver. 
 
 Take tartar, nitre, arsenic, and clean steel filings, of 
 each an equal quantity ; put them together into a crucible, 
 on a charcoal fire ; when in fusion, pour the mixture out 
 into an ingot, and you will have, out of one pound of steel 
 filings, about two or three ounces of a white bright mass ; 
 clear the top of the dross, and preserve the mass for use. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take tartar, oil, and a little fixed nitre, i. e. purified 
 
 ■potash, and mix these into a paste : then put iron, or steel 
 
 filings into a crucible ; set it on a charcoal fire ; fling the 
 
 mixture upon it, and it will dissolve and come out like 
 
 silver : but it is brittle, and apt to break. Or, 
 
 Take calcined tartar, and mix it with oil ; of this take 
 two ounces, and steel filings six ounces ; put them together 
 into a luted crucible, and set them in a wide furnace until 
 you think they are melted ; then open the crucible, and 
 make a fierce fire until you see the mixture rise ; theii take 
 it off the fire ; clear it from the dross, and cast it into an 
 ingot of what shape you please, and it will be of a white 
 colour. 
 
 pot, and give it a thorough heat: then let it cool of itself, and at 
 the opening of the pot you will find a white, sometimes a greenish- 
 white, stone, which put up in a dry warm place free from the air, 
 to prevent its melting: of this you are to take five ounces, and of 
 "borax three ounces; grind well together, and let it melt in a large 
 crucible until it is fluid ;-pour this into a refining cup, and you will 
 have a fine transparent matter : what is not used, you may preserve 
 iroin the air, to keep it from dissolving. 
 
 JIow 
 
220 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 How to take Impressions with Ising-glass, from Copper- 
 plates. 
 
 Take fine white ising-glass, as much as you please ; 
 cut it fine, and put it into a glass, or cup ; pour on it 
 so much brandy as will just cover the ising-glass ; close it 
 well, and let it soak all night ; then pour some clear water 
 to it, and boil it on a gentle coal fire, until a drop of it put 
 on a knife is like a clear jelly ; strain it then through a cloth, 
 and put it into a cool place ; where it will jelly, and be 
 ready for use. 
 
 When you are about casting a picture, cut so much of 
 the jelly as you think you have occasion to cover the cop- 
 per-plate with ; dissolve it in a clean pipkin, or such like 
 utensil, over a slow coal fire, and mix any of the colours, 
 to be hereafter mentioned, amongst it ; mean while, your 
 copper-plate must be cleaned ; then wipe the plate care- 
 fully with clean hands, as the copper-plate printers do ; 
 and when this is done, pour your dissolved ising-glass over 
 it, but not too hot, spreading it with a pencil very even 
 every where until your copper-plate is covered : set it then 
 in a moderate warm place to dry ; and when you perceive 
 it thoroughly dry, then, with the help of a thin blade of a 
 knife, you may lift it up from the plate ; if you find the 
 matter has been made too thin, add more ising-glass to 
 it ; but if too thick, add a little more water, and boil 
 It again. 
 
 Of the Colours Jit to be mixed with Ising-glass, for Im- 
 pressions of Plates. 
 
 1. For red; mix with it some of the liquid in which 
 you have boiled scarlet rags. 
 
 2. For 
 
MIXTURES FOR CASTING MIRRORS. 221 
 
 2. For blue ; take litmus, dissolved in fair water, and 
 mix it. 
 
 3. For green ; take distilled verdigrise ; grind it as fine 
 as possible, and mix it. 
 
 4. For yellow ; steep saffron in fair water, and mix it. 
 
 5. A gold colour is made with the above red and saf- 
 fron-yellow. 
 
 6. Gold, silver, or copper, separately well ground, as 
 for painting, may be severally mixed with the materials, 
 and poured quickly over the plate. If you first rub 
 printers black in the graving, the gold and silver will 
 look the better. 
 
 To cast Plaster of Paris on Copper-plates, 
 
 First rub the colour, either red, brown, or black, into 
 the graving, and wipe the plate clean ; then mix as much 
 plaster as you think you shall have occasion for, with fresh 
 water, to the consistence of a thin paste, and having put a 
 border round the plate, of four pieces of reglet*, pour the 
 plaster upon it, and move it so as that it may run even all 
 over the plate : let it stand for an hour, or longer, accord- 
 ing to the dimensions of the plate, and when you find it 
 dry, and turned hard, take off the reglets, and then the 
 plaster, and you will have a fine impression of the cop- 
 per graving. You must observe not to mix more at a 
 time than you have occasion for, else it will grow hard be- 
 fore you can use it. 
 
 A Mixture which may be used for making Impressions of 
 any kind, and which will grow as hard as Stone. 
 
 Take clean and fine sifted ashes, and fine plaster of 
 Paris, of each an equal quantity ; temper the mixture 
 
 + A reglet is a ledge of wood used by printers. Ed. 
 
 with 
 
222 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 with gum-water, or with size of parchment ~ knead it 
 well together, and press it down into your mould ; but 
 do not prepare more than what you use presently, else it 
 will harden under your hands. You may give it what co- 
 lour you please ; for black, take lamp-black ; for red, ver- 
 milion ; for white, flake-white ; for green, verdigrise ; for 
 yellow, Dutch pink, &c. severally mix with the com- 
 position. 
 
 You may, instead of gum or size, use the whites of 
 eggs, which is more binding. 
 
 To impress Figures in Imitation of Porcelain. 
 
 Calcined and fine pulverized egg-shells, worked with 
 gum-arabic and the white of eggs into a dough, and 
 then pressed into a mould, and dried in the sun, will 
 come out sharp, and look fine. 
 
 PART 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON IRON AND STEEL. 22S 
 
 PART VI. 
 
 A COLLECTION OF VERT 
 
 VALUABLE SECRETS 
 
 FOR THE USB OF 
 
 SMITHS, CUTLERS, PEWTERERS, BRAZIERS, BOOK- 
 BINDERS, JOINERS, TURNERS, JAPANNERS, &C 
 
 CHOICE EXPERIMENTS ON IRON AND. STEEL. . 
 
 To harden Sword-blades. 
 
 SWORD-BLADES are to be made tough, so as not to 
 Snap or break in pushing against any thing capable of 
 resistance ; they must also be of a keen edge ; for which 
 purpose they must all along the middle be hardened with 
 oil and butter, to make them tough, and the edges with 
 such things as shall be prescribed hereafter, for hardening 
 edged instruments. This work requires not a little care 
 in the practice. 
 
 How to imitate the Damascan Blades. 
 
 This may be done to such perfection that they cannot 
 be distinguished from the real Damascan blades. First po- 
 lish 
 
224- THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Ush your blade in the best manner, and finish it by rub- 
 bing it with flower of chalk ; then take chalk mixed with 
 water, and rub it with your fingers well together on your 
 hand ; with this touch the polished blade, and make spots 
 at pleasure, and set them to dry before the sun, or a fire ; 
 then take water in which tartar has been dissolved, and 
 wet your blade all over therewith, and those places that 
 are left clear from chalk will change to a black colour ; a 
 little after, wash all off with clear water, and the places 
 where the chalk has been will be bright. 
 
 How the Damascan Blades are hardened. 
 
 The Turks take fresh goat's blood, and after they have 
 made their blades red hot, they quench them therein ; 
 this they repeat nine times running, which makes their 
 blades so hard as to cut iron. 
 
 To perfume a Sword-blade, so as to retain always an odo- 
 riferous Scent. 
 
 Take eight grains of ambergrease, four grains of musk* 
 grind them together with a little sugar-candy, in a glass ot 
 agate mortar ; after this add to the mixture four scruples of 
 the best oil of benjamin, and mix it well together ; then 
 hold the sword blade over a gentle, clear, charcoal fire, and 
 when the blade is well heated, dip a little spunge in the 
 forementioned mixture, and wipe your blade all over ; 
 though you do this only once, yet the odoriferous scent 
 will remain, although the blade was to be polished again* 
 
 To harden Steel and Iron, which will resist and cut com- 
 mon Iron. 
 
 Take shoe-leather, and burn it to a powder, the older 
 the leather is the better it is for use ; salt, which is dis-* 
 
 solved 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON IRON AND STEEL. 225 
 
 solved, and glass-gall powdered, of each an equal quan- 
 tity ; then take what you desire to harden and wet it 
 therewith, or lay it in urine, and taking it out, strew it 
 over with this powder, or else stratify it therewith in an 
 earthen pan ; give it for five hours a slow fire to cement, 
 and make it afterwards red hot for an hour together. 
 
 To temper Steel, so as to cut Iron like Lead. 
 
 Take the steel; then distil from earth-worms, in an 
 alembic, a water, which mix with an equal quantity of 
 the juice of radishes; in this liquid quench the steel, 
 blades of knives, daggers, swords, &c. and they will be 
 of an excellent temper. 
 
 Several other Temperings of Steel arid Iron. 
 
 1. Iron quenched in distilled vinegar, or in distilled 
 urine, becomes of a good temper. 
 
 2. Vinegar, in which sal-ammoniac has been dissolved, 
 gives it a good temper. 
 
 3. So does the water in which urine, salt, and salt- 
 petre have been dissolved. .»■ 
 
 4. Mix together an equal quantity of saltpetre and sal- 
 ammoniac, and put the mixture into a phial with a long- 
 neck ; then set it in a damp place, or in horse dung, where 
 it will turn to an oily water ; this liquor will make iron 
 works of an incomparable temper and hardness, if quench- 
 ed therein red hot. 
 
 5. A lye made of quick-lime and salt of soda, or of 
 pot-ash, filtered through a linen cloth, gives a very good 
 hardness to iron, if quenched therein. 
 
 6. The dung of an animal which feeds only on grass, 
 mixed with water and calcined soap to a thin paste, 
 gives such a good temper, as to make it cut untempered 
 iron. 
 
 vol. i. c^ 7. Ox 
 
'226 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 7. Or take Spanish radishes, grate them on a grater, 
 and express their juice 5 this gives a good temper to iron 
 or steel quenched therein. 
 
 8. Take the juice of nettles, fresh urine, ox-gall, salt 
 and strong vinegar, equal quantities of each • this mixture 
 gives an incomparable temper. 
 
 9. Red hot iron or steel, wiped over with goose grease, 
 and then quenched in sour beer, takes also a good temper. 
 
 A particular Secret to harden Armour. 
 
 Of the following take an equal quantity; common salt, 
 orpiment, burned goat's horn, and sal-ammoniac ; powder 
 and mix them together ; then anoint the armour with 
 black soap all over, strew this powder upon them, and 
 wind a wet rag about them, and lay them in a fierce char- 
 coal fire, till they are red hot ; then quench them in urine. 
 If you repeat it, it will be the better. 
 
 To temper Steel or Iron, so as to make excellent Knives. 
 
 Take clean steel, quench it in distilled rain, or warm 
 water, and the juice of Spanish radishes ; the knives 
 made of such steel will cut iron. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take black or Spanish radishes; grate them on a 
 grater ; put salt and oil upon them, and let them stand 
 two days. Then press the liquor out, and quench the 
 steel or iron several times in it, and it will be very hard. 
 
 To bring G> avers and other Tools to a softer Temper. 
 
 Tak i a little pan with live charcoal, and put a couple of 
 old files, or any other smail bars of iron over it ; then lay 
 
 your 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON IRON AND STEEL. 227 
 
 your gravers upon them, and when you see them change 
 to a yellowish colour, it is a sign that they are softer ; 
 after this colour they change to a reddish, which shews 
 them still softer ; and if you let them turn to a blue, then 
 they are quite soft and unfit for use : after this manner you 
 may soften any steel that is too hard. 
 
 General Rules to he observed in tempering of Iron or Steel. 
 
 We know by experience, that the tempering of iron 
 may be performed and executed several ways ; for every 
 mechanical branch requires a particular method of harden- 
 ing. The tools that are used for wood, require a different 
 temper or hardness from those used in cutting of stone or 
 iron, and therefore are prepared, according to the several 
 methods treated of before : an artist ought to acquaint him- 
 self with the powers of the different ingredients and li- 
 quors that are here prescribed, and improve upon such as 
 seem most promising. He is to observe the degrees of 
 heat, which he is to give, and the length of time he is to 
 keep the metal in the liquor for quenching j for if the iron 
 be made so excessively hot that it is not capable of receiv- 
 ing a greater degree of heat, it cannot well be quenched, 
 and it will become cankered ; but if it appears of a saf- 
 fron or reddish colour, it is called gold, and is fit to be 
 quenched, for hardening : however, in this, as well as 
 most other things, practice is the best instructor. 
 
 A curious Method of hammering Iron without Fire, and 
 making it Red Hot. 
 
 Take a round iron, about an inch thick ; at one end 
 
 thereof fix a round iron knob ; then begin gently to 
 
 hammer it under the knob, turning it quickly round ; 
 
 and by following your strokes harder and harder, the 
 
 iron will heat of itself, and begin to be red hot ; be- 
 
 o^2 cause 
 
228 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 cause the knob keeps the heat, on each of the motions, 
 from passing off. 
 
 To soften Iron or Steel that is brittle. 
 
 1. Anoint it with tallow all over; neal it in a gentle 
 charcoal fire, and let it cool of itself. 
 
 2. To neal it, as above, with human excrement, softens 
 it ; but you must keep it in the fire for two hours. 
 
 3. Or take a little clay, lime, and cow's dung; cover 
 your iron with it, and neal it in a charcoal fire : then let it 
 cool of itself. 
 
 4. Or, make iron or steel red hot, and strew upon it 
 good hellebore, and it will become so soft that you may 
 bend it which way you please : this is very useful for those 
 who cut in iron or steel. 
 
 5. Take lead, put it into a crucible, or iron ladle, and 
 melt and pour it into oil ; this repeat seven times run- 
 ning. If you afterwards quench iron or steel in this oil, it 
 will be very soft ; and after you have shaped or worked it 
 in what manner you please, you may harden it again by 
 quenching it in the juice of onions. 
 
 6. Take lime, brick-dust, and Venice soap ; with this 
 anoint your steel, and neal it ; then let it cool of itself. 
 
 1. lake the root of blue lilies; cut them fine ; infuse 
 them in wine, and quench the steel in it. 
 
 8. Wind about the steel some thin slices of bacon, and 
 over that put clay ; let it neal for an hour, and the steel 
 will be very soft. 
 
 9. Take quick-lime and pulverized soap, of one as much 
 as the other ; mix together, and temper it with ox's blood ; 
 with this anoint the steel ; then lay a covering of clay over 
 it ; and let it neal and cool of itself. 
 
 10. Take the juice or water of common beans, quench 
 your iron or steel in it, and it will be as soft as lead. 
 
 A particular 
 
EXPERIMENTS ON IRON AND STEEL. 229 
 
 A particular Powder and Oil, to take off Rust and Spots 
 from Iron, and to preserve it from Rust for a long 
 Time ; ve ry useful in Armories. 
 
 The Powder. 
 
 Take two pounds of crucible powder, of such as is 
 commonly used for refining of silver, and sift it through a 
 fine hair sieve: then take four pounds of emery, and one 
 pound of silver ore ; pound them all very fine, and sift 
 them ; put at last fine beaten scales of iron to them, and 
 the powder is fit for use. 
 
 The Oil 
 
 Take three pounds of Lucca oil, and put it into an 
 iron pot ; then take three pounds of lead, melted, and 
 pour it into the oil ; take it out, and melt it again, and 
 repeat melting and pouring several times ; the oftener the 
 better the oil will be*. After you have done this, and the 
 heat of the lead has extracted both the greasiness and 
 salt of the oil, take the lead out, and put the oil into a 
 glass ; fling three pounds of filings of lead into it, shake 
 it well together ; pour it afterwards on a colour stone, 
 grind it together as painters do their colours, put it again 
 into the glass, to preserve it for use : the lead will sink to 
 the bottom, and the oil swim at top, which you may use in 
 the following manner. 
 
 Take some of it in a bit of cloth, on which there is 
 some of the before-mentioned Powder, and rub the rust 
 of spots, upon armour, or any other iron work,' therewith, 
 and it will take it clean off: if, afterwards, you anoint the 
 
 ' : Litharge is now used in a simiiar intention, to make the oil of 
 a drying quality ; for it is merely a drying oil. Ed. 
 
 armour 
 
230 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 armour or iron work with clear oil, it will keep from rust 
 for a long time. 
 
 N. B. The emery which is used among the other ingre- 
 dients of the powder, must be first calcined. 
 
 Another Oil. 
 
 Fry a middling eel in an iron pan, and when brown and 
 thoroughly fried, express its oil, and put into a phial, to 
 settle and become clear in the sun. Iron work, anointed 
 with this oil, will never rust, although it lay in a damp 
 place. 
 
 TO ETCH UPON SWORD OR KNIFE-BLADES, 
 
 To prepare the Etch-water. 
 
 Take mercury and aqua-fortis, put them together 
 into a glass, till the mercury is consumed, and it is fit 
 for use. 
 
 To make the Ground. 
 
 Take three ounces of red lead, one ounce of white 
 lead, half an ounce of chalk, all finely pounded ; grind 
 these together with varnish, and anoint your iron ; let it 
 dry in the sun, or before a slow fire, and with a pointed 
 steel, or needle, draw or write on it what you please ; and 
 then etch it with the above prepared water. 
 
 Another Water to etch with. 
 
 Take two ounces of verdigrise, one ounce of burnt 
 alum, and one ounce of dissolved salt : boil this mix- 
 ture 
 
TO ETCH UPON SWORD OR KNIFE-BLADES. 231 
 
 lure in one quart of vinegar, till it is half boiled away; 
 and when you are ready to etch, warm, and pour it with a 
 spoon, or glass cup, over your work ; hold it over the 
 fire to keep it warm, and repeat this till you find it etched 
 deep enough. 
 
 To etch 100 or more Knife-blades at once. 
 
 Grind red lead with linseed oil or varnish ; with this 
 wipe your blades all over, and let them dry well, and 
 harden ; then write, or draw, with a pointed bodkin, what- 
 ever you will : then put them at some distance from each 
 other, into a glass or well glazed pot or pan ; dissolve some 
 vitriol in hot water, pour it over the blades, and lute the 
 glass or pot ; set it over a gentle coal-fire ; let it boil for 
 some time, and then let it cool ; then take your blades 
 out ; scrape the red lead off, and you will find the etching 
 to your satisfaction. 
 
 To make Blue Letters on Sxeord-blades. 
 
 Take the blade ; hold it over a charcoal fire till it is 
 blue ; then, with oil colours, write what letters you will 
 upon the blade, and let them dry ; when dry, take good 
 strong vinegar ; make it warm, and pour it all over the 
 blade ; this will take off the blue colour ; then wet your 
 oil colour with fresh water, and it will come offeasily, and 
 the letters drawn therewith remain blue. 
 
 To harden Fishing Hooks. 
 
 After you have (of good wire) made your small fish- 
 ing hooks, you must not put them into the fire to harden, 
 but lay them upon a red hot iron plate ; and when they 
 are red, fling them into water; take them out again, and 
 when dry, put them again on the hot iron plate, and 
 
 when 
 
232 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 when they appear of an ash-colour, fling them again 
 into cold water; this will make them tough, otherwise 
 they will be brittle. 
 
 To gild upon Iron or Steel. 
 
 Take common salt, saltpetre and alum, an equal quan- 
 tity of each ; dissolve them in as little warm water as pos- 
 sible ; then filter them through whited brown paper ; add 
 leaf gold, or rather thin beaten gold, to it, and set it on 
 hot sand, to make it almost boiling hot ; keep it in that 
 heat for twenty-four hours, and if the water evaporate, you 
 may supply it with more ; but at last let it all evapo- 
 rate, and it will turn to a yellow salt ; this pulverize ; 
 put it into a glass, and cover it with strong brandy, or 
 spirit of wine, two inches high above the powder : then 
 stop your glass close, put it into a gentle warmth, and 
 the brandy, or spirit, will extract all the gold, and be 
 of a beautiful colour. With this water you may, with a 
 new pen or pencil, write or draw what you please upon a 
 sword-blade, knife, or any other thing made of iron or 
 steel, and it will be gilded to a high colour. 
 
 A Ground for gilding Sttel or Iron. 
 
 Take five ounces of vitriol, two ounces of gall-stone, 
 two ounces of sal-ammoniac, one ounce of feather-white, 
 and a handful of common salt : beat all this together until 
 it is fine, and mix it well ; put it into a glazed pipkin, add 
 to it a quart of water, and give it a quick boiling ; then 
 take a knife, or any other iron that is clean, and stir it 
 about ; if it is of a copper colour it is right, but of a red 
 colour it is better. 
 
 If you have a mind to gild with this ground, put your 
 steel on a slow fire, and make it so hot that you cannot 
 
 bear 
 
LEAD AND PEWTER. 233 
 
 bear it in your hand ; then take your ground, and dipping 
 some cotton into it, wipe the steel with it ; take afterwards 
 quicksilver, and wipe your ground over ; then take the 
 prepared gold, and lay it on such places as you would have 
 gilded ; after you have done this, lay it on a charcoal fire 
 until it turns yellow ; then wipe it over with tallow ; and 
 take cotton to wipe your blade, holding it all the while 
 over the fire until it inclines to a black ; rub it with a 
 woollen cloth, until that colour vanishes ; and rub it again 
 with chalk, until you bring it to a fine gloss. If you would 
 have the ground brown or blue, hold it over the fire until 
 it turns either to the one or the other colour; then wipe 
 it over with wax, and polish it with chalk. 
 
 OF LEAD AND PEWTER. 
 
 To make Pewter hard. 
 
 Take one pound of common pewter, and let it melt 
 in an iron pan ; add to it some salad oil,- let it evaporate 
 well, and stir it continually, keeping the flame from it ; 
 add some fine wheat flour, and stir it well about ; then 
 take all the burnt matter off the top, and to each pound 
 add three or four ounces of plate brass, filed small, and 
 mixed with oil, and a few ounces of pulverized bismuth, 
 or regulus of antimony ; stir it all the while, and when all 
 is melted and incorporated, you will not only have a pew- 
 ter that is harder and whiter, but also different in its sound 
 from common pewter. Or, 
 
 Melt tin in an iron pan, strew colophony, or common 
 resin, with fine wheat flour mixed together, into it ; and 
 stir it gently about ■; this takes off the blackness, and 
 makes it of a fine white colour. 
 
 If 
 
234 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 If you Avill have it hard, add to each pound of tin one or 
 two ounces of pulverized regulus of antimony ; this makes 
 it white and hard, and gives it a clear sound. 
 
 Another Method to make Pewter as White as Silver. 
 
 Take clean copper one pound, and let it flux ; add to 
 it of the best English pewter one pound, and continue 
 the flux ; to this add two pounds of the regulus of anti- 
 mony, and let it still flux for half an hour ; then cast it 
 into an ingot. Beat this in a mortar to a fine powder, 
 and fling thereof as much into melted tin as you think 
 requisite : you will find it (after you cast it) of a fine 
 silver colour ; it will be hard and give a fine sound : to 
 make it flux the better, you may add a little bismuth. 
 0r, 
 
 Melt one pound of copper, add to it one pound of tin, 
 half a pound of zinc, one pound of regulus of antimony ; 
 let them flux for half an hour, and cast them into an 
 ingot. 
 
 N. B. There are many more secrets relating to 
 whitening and hardening of pewter. It is found by ex- 
 perience, that the regulus of antimony will make it con- 
 tinue white, hard, and of a good sound. 
 
 To make Tin, or Lead, Ashes. 
 
 Take which sort of these metals you will ; let it melt ; 
 and fling well dried and beaten salt into it ; stir it well to- 
 gether with an iron ladle, or spatula, until it separates 
 and forms itself into a powder. Or, 
 
 After the tin or lead is melted, pour it into fine dry salt, 
 Stir it together until it is fit for sifting : then put this pow- 
 der into a pan of clean water, and stir it ; pour off the 
 first water, and put fresh to it ; repeat this until the water 
 conies off clear, and without the taste of any salt. The 
 
 remaining 
 
LEAD AND PEWTER. 235 
 
 remaining powder put into a melting pot ; set it in a rever- 
 beratory furnace ; stir it well together, and you will have 
 fine white tin ashes. 
 
 A Gold Colour upon Lead or Tin. 
 
 Take saffron, as much as you will, and put it into 
 strong gum-water ; add to it a third part of vinegar, and 
 let it soak over night ; then mix it with a little clarified 
 honey ; stir it well together, and let it boil until it comes 
 to the consistence of honey ; strain it afterwards through 
 a cloth, and it is fit for use. Or, 
 
 Take linseed oil skimmed over the fire, and add pow- 
 dered amber and hepatic aloes, of each an equal quan- 
 tity ; set it over the fire, and stir it until it its thick ; then 
 cover it all over with earth, for three days. If you anoint 
 your tin or pewter with it, it will have a fine gold colour. 
 
 A Water to be used in Tinning all Sorts of Metals, especi- 
 ally Iron. 
 
 Take one ounce of fine pounded sal-ammoniac, and 
 put it into very sour vinegar ; when you would tin iron, 
 wash it first with this vinegar, and strew beaten resin over 
 it ; dip it into the melted tin, and it will come out with a 
 fine and bright lustre. 
 
 To make Tin which shall have the Weight, Hardness, 
 Sound, and Colour of Silver. 
 
 Take fine crude crystal antimony ; beat it fine, and 
 wash it in water until it becomes sleek, and let it dry 
 again. 
 
 Then take well dried nitre and tartar, of each an equal 
 quantity ; beat them fine, and put them together into an 
 earthen pan, on which lay some live charcoal, and the 
 
 nitre 
 
236 THE LAEORATOR.V. 
 
 nitre and tartar will soon begin to fulminate ; then cover 
 the pan with a lid ; let the matter burn out and cool, and 
 you will find a yellow salt : this salt beat to powder, be- 
 fore it is quite cold, and put thereof, into a crucible, one 
 pound, and of the washed antimony two pounds. Mix 
 them well together, and let it flux in a wind furnace for 
 three quarters of an hour : then fling a little lighted small 
 coal into them, and let them consume, and stir them well 
 together with a stick. Presently after, take the crucible 
 out of the fire ; beat it a little down to the bottom, and 
 let it cool of itself; then break the crucible, and you will 
 find a silver-coloured regulus of three quarters of a pound 
 weight. 
 
 Then take two pounds of old copper ; cut it fine ; neal 
 it, and quench it, ten times running, in very strong lye 
 made of the above tartar and rain water. Take it, while 
 wet, and put it into a crucible, with one pound of fine 
 beaten arsenic, stratum super stratum. When all is in 
 the crucible, pour as much linseed oil on it as will cover 
 the matter ; then cover and lute your crucible ; put it into 
 a new pan ; fill it all round with sand, and set it three 
 hours in a circular-fire : after it is cold, open it, and you 
 will find the copper spungy and of several colours. Of 
 this take two pounds, and plate-brass two pounds ; melt 
 these together ; add, by degrees, the copper, and give it 
 a quick fusion in a wind furnace : then add two pounds of 
 English pewter, half a pound of bismuth, and two pounds 
 of the above regulus ; let it flux well : then pour it out, 
 and you will have a fine silver mixture. Beat this into a 
 fine powder ; mix it, with linseed oil, to a paste, and 
 with a spatula add it to melted pewter ; stir it well toge- 
 ther, and you will have a fine tin, which will resemble 
 silver exjctlv. 
 
 To 
 
LEAD AND PEWTER. 237 
 
 To make Tin flow easy. 
 
 Take resin and nitre, of each an equal quantity ; beat 
 them to powder, and strew them upon the tin, when in 
 fusion. 
 
 A particular Method to make Tin resemble Silver* 
 
 Melt four ounces of fine plate-brass, add to it four 
 ounces of fine clean tin, and when in fusion, add four 
 ounces of bismuth, and four ounces of regulus of anti- 
 mony ; let these flux together, and pour it out into an ingot ; 
 then beat it to powder ; grind it with resin, and a little sal- 
 ammoniac, and with turpentine form it into balls ; let 
 them dry in the air ; when you would use them, beat them 
 fine, strew the powder thereof upon the melted tin, stir 
 it well together, and continue putting the powdered balls 
 upon the tin, until you perceive it white and hard enough: 
 of this tin you may draw wire, for hilts of swords, or to 
 make buttons ; it will always retain its silver colour. 
 
 Solder, to Solder Tin with. 
 
 Take tin and lead, of each one ounce ; bismuth two 
 ounces ; melt these, and pour them over a plate, to cast 
 them thin : with this you may solder over a candle, or a 
 small charcoal fire. 
 
 Another Solder, for Pewter. 
 
 Take resin and oil ; let them melt in a spoon, and 
 fling into them a little devil's dung* ; then pour them out, 
 
 * Asafoetida is sometimes called bv the name of Devil's dung. 
 Ed. 
 
 and 
 
338 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and having new filed the two pieces to be joined, anoint 
 them with the resin ; dust some fine filed tin over it, and 
 hold it over a coal-fire, and when it flows, take it off and 
 let it cool. 
 
 To make Tin Coat-buttons, in Imitation of worked 
 Buttons of Gold and Silk. 
 
 Take lamp-black ; grind it with oil of spike, and mark 
 the ground-work with a pencil ; when dry, draw it all 
 over with the varnish before described * : the best way to 
 imitate worked buttons is, to do them in a fine mould, 
 either stamped or east ; the ground is first filled up with 
 black, blue, red, or any other colour ; then the raised part 
 is to be wiped very clean, and when dry, to be drawn 
 over with the varnish, which will make it look much 
 finer than what can be done upon a plain button. 
 
 For a brown colour take umber. 
 
 For green take distilled verdigrise, mixed with othei 
 colours, to make it either deeper or lighter. 
 
 For grey take white lead, and lamp-black. 
 
 All your colours must be ground with oil of spike. 
 
 In this manner you may embellish pewter, with a coat 
 of arms, cypher, or ornaments; that is, such pewter things 
 as are not to be scowcrcd* 
 
 The Art of making Tin Plates, or Latten. 
 
 There are only certain sorts of iron which can be re- 
 duced into leaves or sheets for that purpose ; the best is 
 that which, when heated, is easiest extended, and can be 
 forged with a hammer when cold : the more soft and ex- 
 ceeding flexible, as well as the more brittle, are to be 
 rejected. These leaves are drawn from bars of iron about 
 
 :v See Page 2C0. . 
 
 an 
 
LEAD AND PEWTER. 239 
 
 an inch square, which, being made a little flat, they cut 
 into thin pieces, and fold them together into parcels, each 
 parcel containing about forty leaves, which they batter ail 
 at once with a hammer of six or seven hundred pounds 
 weight. After this, the principal of the art is to prepare 
 these leaves ; for the least dust, or rust, upon their surface, 
 will hinder the tin from uniting with them : this indeed 
 might be taken off by filing, but that being both too tedi- 
 ous and expensive, there is a way to it by steeping them 
 in an acid water for a certain time, and scowering them 
 with sand when taken out ; by which method a woman 
 can clean more plates in an hour, than an expeditious 
 workman can file in several days. This water, which is 
 kept a mighty secret, is nothing else but common water, 
 made eager or sour with rve, which requires very little 
 pains ; for, after they have ground the grain grossly, and 
 pounded it, they leave it to ferment in common water for 
 a certain time, and with a little patience they arc sure to 
 have an eager menstruum : with this they fill troughs or 
 tuns, into which they put piles of iron plates , and to 
 make it grow eager the better, and have more activity, 
 they keep these vessels in vaults or sioves, which have a 
 little air, and in which they keep lighted charcoal ; the 
 workmen go into these vaults once or twice a day to turn 
 the plates, to take out such as are sufficiently cleansed, 
 and put others in their room : and as the liquor is more 
 acid, or the heat of the vault or stove more intense, the 
 plates arc sooner cleansed ; but it requires at least two 
 days, and sometimes a longer time. This is the method 
 the Germans use for preparing the iron plates for tinning. 
 In France they go another way to work ; thev dip the iron 
 plates in acid menstruums, as in water wherein alum, 
 common salt, or sal-ammoniac are separately dissolved, 
 and instantly expose them to the air, in order to rust. 
 After two days, during which every plate has been dipt 
 into the menstruum twice or thrice, they are scowered. 
 
 These 
 
210 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 These menstruums, though weak in themselves, produce 
 the effect as well as the stronger which are much dearer; 
 among the latter, vinegar is the most effectual, especially 
 if you dissolve a little sal-ammoniac therein, about a 
 pound or two in a puncheon ; by this means the iron rusts 
 sooner than with any other salt, but it must be used very 
 moderately, and the leaves be left to steep in clean water, 
 to dissolve any particles of it that may stick to its sur- 
 face, which may otherwise make it rust after it has been 
 tinned. 
 
 In the preparation of the plates it must be observed, 1. 
 In battering them, each parcel should receive the immedi- 
 ate action of the hammer in its turn, otherwise they will 
 not extend equally. 2. Steep them in clay, or fuller's 
 earth, tempered with water, before you heat them, to 
 prevent their soldering with one another. 
 
 Whether, you make use of the German or French way, 
 in preparing your plates, it is absolutely necessary, after 
 the plates are sufficiently scaled, to scower them with sand, 
 and when there remain no more black spots on their sur- 
 face, to throw them into fair water to prevent their rusting 
 again, and to let them remain, till you are ready to tin 
 them: the manner of doing it is thus ; flux the tin in a 
 large iron crucible, of the figure of a broken pyramid with 
 four sides, of which two opposite ones are less than the 
 two others ; this crucible you heat from below ; the upper 
 rim you must lute quite round in the furnace : the crucible 
 must be deeper than the plates are long, which you dip in 
 downright, so as for the tin to swim over them. The tin 
 being melted in the crucible, you cover it with a layer of a 
 sort of suet, an inch or two thick, through which the 
 plate must pass before it comes into the tin (the use of 
 this is to keep the tin from burning) : the common unpre- 
 pared suet will render the success of the work uncertain : 
 wherefore you prepare it by first frying and then burning 
 it, which not only gives it a blackish colour, but puts it 
 
 into 
 
leAd and pewter. 24i 
 
 intti a condition to give the iron a disposition to be tinned, 
 which it does surprisingly. 
 
 The tin itself must have a certain degree of heat, for if 
 it is not hot enough, it will not stick to the iron ; if too 
 hot, the coat will be too thin, of several colours, and a 
 dirty yellow cast. To prevent this, you must make an 
 essay with small pieces of the scaled plates, and see when 
 the tin is in proper order. However, you dip the plates 
 into tin that is more or less hot, according to the thickness 
 you would have the coat ; some plates you only give one 
 laver, and these you plunge into lin that has a lesser de- 
 gree of heat than that into which you plunge those which 
 you would have take two layers : when you give these 
 plates the second layer, you put them into tin that has 
 not so great a degree of heat as that into which they were 
 put the first time. Observe, that the tin which is to give 
 the second coat, must be fresh covered with suet, but 
 only with the common sort, without preparation : for, melt- 
 ed tin is sufficiently disposed to attach the new tin to be 
 joined. 
 
 To gild upon Tin, Pewter, or Lead. 
 
 Take varnish of linseed oil ; red lead, white lead, and 
 turpentine ; put them together into a clean pipkin, and 
 let them boil ; then grind them upon a stone, and when 
 you gild pewter, take a pencil, draw the liquid thin upon 
 what you would gild, and lay your leaf gold upon it ; or 
 instead of that, Augsburg metalj and press it with cotton 
 to make it lie close. 
 
 Another Method to gild Pewter, or Lead. 
 
 Take the white of an egg, and beat it clear ; with this 
 
 wipe your tin or pewter, which must be first warmed 
 
 vol. i, r before 
 
242 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 before a gentle fire, in such places as you design to gild ; 
 lay on your leaf gold quick, and press it down with cotton. 
 The juice of nettles is also fit for that use, and rather 
 better than the clear of white of egg. 
 
 Another Method to gild Pewter. 
 
 Take leaves of staniol *, and grind them with common 
 gold-size ; with this wipe your pewter or lead over ; lay on 
 your leaf gold, and press it with cotton : it is a fine gild- 
 ing, and has a beautiful lustre. 
 
 A Method to gild with Pen'ter, or with Tin-foil. 
 
 This may be done several ways ; but the best is to take 
 white lead, ground with nut oil ; with this lay your ground 
 on what you design to gild, let it be wood or any thing 
 else ; then lay on your gilt tin leaves, press them down 
 with cotton, or a fine rag, and let it dry ; when dry, 
 polish it with a horse's tooth or polisher, and it will look 
 as if it had been gilded in fire. 
 
 To gild Lead. 
 
 Take two pounds of yellow ochre, half a pound of red 
 lead, and one ounce of varnish, with which grind your 
 ochre, but the red lead grind with oil ; temper them both 
 together ; lay your ground with this upon lead, and, when 
 it is almost dry, lay on your gold ; let it be thoroughly 
 dry before you polish it. 
 
 * Leaves of staniol are not known by that name ; but it is proba- 
 ble that leaves of tin are meant, /". e. tin-foil, because stannum is the 
 Latin for tin (ignorantly called staniol;) and this conjecture is cor- 
 roborated by the following article. Ed. 
 
 SOME 
 
COPPER AND BRASS. 243 
 
 SOME 
 
 EXPERIMENTS RELATING TO COPPER AND BRASS. 
 
 To make Brass. 
 
 This is done by mixing and melting copper and cala- 
 mine, or zinc, together : calamine is dug in mines about 
 Mendip, &c. in the West of England j it is burnt and 
 calcined in a kiln made red-hot ; then it is ground to a 
 powder, and sifted to the fineness of flour, and mixed with 
 ground charcoal, because the calamine is apt to be Clammy, 
 to clod, and not apt to incorporate ; then they put seven 
 pounds of calamine into a melting pot that holds about a 
 gallon, and about five pounds of copper, uppermost ; this 
 is let down with tongs into a wind furnace, one foot deep, 
 wherein it remains eleven hours, (one furnace holds eight 
 pots ;) after melting it, it is cast into lumps or plates. 
 Zinc, reduced from its ore of calamine, may be immedi- 
 ately united to copper. 
 
 To melt Copper and Brass, and give it a quick fusion. 
 
 Take nitre, tartar and salt, and beat them together very 
 fine. When you see that your metal begins to sink with 
 the heat, fling a little of this powder into it, and, when 
 melted, fling again a little into it, and when you observe it 
 in fusion like water, fling a little again a third time : to 
 twenty-live pounds of metal fling about a walnut size of 
 powder, and your copper or brass will cast easily, and be 
 of a malleable temper. 
 
 To make Brass that is brittle, and apt to crack in the 
 Working, malleable. 
 
 Take tartar, nitre, and sulphur j pulverize them toge- 
 
 R 2 ther ; 
 
244 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 ther ; and after you have made your brass red-hot, strew 
 it all over, and let it cool of itself. 
 
 A Solder for Brass. 
 
 Take one grain and a Quarter of silver, three ounces of 
 brass, one ounce of zinc, and melt them together ; when 
 melted, liing a good quantity of borax upon them. 
 
 To precipitate Copper from Aqua-fortis. 
 
 Take fine milled lead ; cut it in little bits, and put it 
 in the aqua-fortis which holds copper, and it will precipi- 
 tate or sink it all to the bottom. 
 
 To make Copper as White as Silver. 
 
 Put your copper into a strong melting-pot, in the midst 
 of a quantity of glass, and set it in a glass furnace to melt ; 
 let the copper be covered all over with glass, and the glass 
 will contract the greenness of the copper, and make it look 
 white. If you repeat this several times, your copper will 
 be the whiter. Or, 
 
 Take old copper that has been much used, or been long 
 in Open air or weather ; melt it in a strong crucible before 
 a smith's forge, or in a wind furnace, but take care of the 
 smoke • let it melt a quarter of an hour, or longer, and 
 clear it from the scales that swim at top : then pour it 
 through a whisk, or birch-broom, into a sharp lye, made 
 either of quick-lime and vine-branch ashes, or salt of tar- 
 tar, or such like, and the copper will corn fine and nice ; 
 then take it out of the lye, and let it melt again as before ; 
 repeat this four times running, in order to purify the cop- 
 per, and when the copper is well purified, melt it over 
 again ; when it is in fusion, fling two ounces of crystalline 
 arsenic in, by little and little • but avoid the smoke, and 
 
 tie 
 
COPPER AND BRASS. 245 
 
 tic a handkerchief, moistened with milk, about your mouth 
 and nose : after it has evaporated, or rather before it is 
 done, fling into it two ounces of silver ; and when that is 
 melted, granulate it again through a whisk, and melt it 
 again for use. It will be lit to make any thing in imitation 
 of silver. Or, 
 
 Take white arsenic half a pound, nitre eight ounces, 
 tartar eight ounces, borax four ounces, glass-gall four 
 ouivcs ; pulverize each very fine ; then mix and put them 
 together in a crucible, and let them flux in a wind furnace, 
 for an hour or more ; then pour them out, and you will 
 have a whitish yellow substance. 
 
 Then take one part of old copper, and one part of old 
 hammered brass, both cut into small pieces ; neal these 
 well, and quench them in lye made of a quart of urine, 
 an handful of salt, four ounces of white powdered tartar, 
 and two ounces of alum : boil them up together, and 
 repeat it for ten or twelve times. 
 
 When thus you have cleansed the copper and brass, put 
 them together into a crucible, and give them a strong fire, 
 in a wind furnace, or before a smith's forge ; let them flux 
 well, and then fling of the above composition, which must 
 be pulverized, one spatula after another into the crucible, 
 stirring it sometimes about with a stick ; (to one ounce of 
 copper put an ounce and a half of powder) : when all is 
 thrown in and incorporated, fling a few pieces of broken 
 crown-glass into it, and let it melt ; then draw it o,ut again 
 with a pair of tongs, and fling sal-ammoniac into it, of 
 the bigness of a walnut, and when it is thoroughly fused, 
 pour it into a casting-pot, and your copper will be of a 
 tine white. 
 
 It you take of this copper twenty-four ounces, and melt 
 one ounce of silver amongst it, letting it rlux well with sal- 
 ammoniac, you will have a fine mass, which mav be 
 worked into what shape or utensil you please, and it will 
 hardly be distinguished from silver plate. 
 
 * When 
 
246 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 When the silversmith works this composition, he must 
 observe always in the melting, to fling some sal-am- 
 moniac into it, to make it malleable ; and in hammer- 
 ing, he must often neal it, and let it cool of itself; then 
 hammer it gently, until it is as thin as he would have 
 it ; for if it is beat quick in the beginning, it will be apt 
 to crack. 
 
 The more this metal is nealed and gently ham- 
 mered, the better it will be. When the work is done, 
 neal it ; then, rubbing it with charcoal, and boiling it 
 afterwards three times in a strong lye of tartar, your 
 work will be like silver. 
 
 CHOICE SECRETS FOR BOOK-BINDERS. 
 
 To prepare a Lack Varnish for Book-binders, for French 
 Bindings. 
 
 When the book is covered, either with calf or sheep- 
 skin, or with parchment, it is struck over with a varnish, 
 and spotted with such colours as are taught under the ar- 
 ticle of " imitating tortoise-shell on ivory or horn :" some 
 spot the leather before they lay on the varnish ; and after 
 they have sprinkled their colour, which they commonly 
 make of umber, they Jay the varnish over, and polish it 
 with a steel polisher ; after which they give it one layer 
 of varnish more, which is the finishing stroke. 
 
 French Leather for binding of Books. 
 
 JMake choice of such leather as is wrought smooth and 
 fine ; strain it on a frame ; then, having your colours ready 
 at hand, take first of one sort, in a pencil made of hog's 
 
 bristles, 
 
SECRETS FOR BOOK-BINDERS. 247 
 
 bristles, and, with your finger, knock and sprinkle the co- 
 lour thereof upon the leather; and when you have done 
 with one, you may take another colour, and proceed with 
 as many colours as you think proper : if you would imitate 
 a tyger's skin, dot your colours upon the leather with a 
 stick that is rough at the end, or with a pencil ; and after 
 it is well dried, lay it over with a Spanish varnish, which 
 make in the following manner : 
 
 Take a pint of high rectified spirit of wine, of clear 
 gum-sandarac four ounces, clear ojl of spike one ounce ; 
 pound the sandarac, and put it into the spirit of wine, and 
 then into the oil of spike ; let it stand until it is dissolved 
 and settled. 
 
 To make White Tables for Memorandum Books t to write 
 upon with a Silver Bodkin or Wire. 
 
 Take of the finest plaster of Paris; temper it with 
 hartshorn-glue, or any other glue ; and having strained the 
 parchment tight and smooth in a frame, wipe it over 
 with the said mixture, on both sides; when dry, scrape 
 it, to make it even ; then cover it a second time with the 
 same glue, and when dry, scrape and smooth it as before ; 
 this done, take ceruse, and grind it fine with linseed oil 
 that has been boiled ; and with a soft hair pencil lay it 
 smooth and even on your parchment, or tables, and set it 
 to dry in a shady place, for five or six days ; when dry, 
 wipe them over with a damp spunge, or linen rag, to 
 smooth them, setting them to dry thoroughly until fit for 
 use ; then, with a sharp-edged knife, cut the tables to 
 what size you please to have them, and bind them, fit for 
 the pocket, with a little case for the silver bodkin, or wire, 
 to write with. 
 
 To 
 
248 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To prepare Parchment that resembles Jasper or Marble. 
 
 Have a trough made in the manner directed under the 
 article of " making marbled paper ;" let it be filled with the 
 warm solution of gum tragacanth, and having your colours 
 ready prepared, as will be directed, stir the gum-water with 
 a stick, and put it into a quick circular motion ; in the in- 
 terim, dip your pencil, with colour, in the center thereof, 
 and the colour will disperse and form itself in rounds, as 
 it is carried by the motion of the water ; then stir it round 
 in another place, and with a different colour proceed as 
 you did with the first, until your trough is covered with 
 variety of colours. When all is ready, and the water 
 smooth and without motion, then lay on your parchment 
 (which before has been laid between damp paper or cloths) 
 and proceed therewith as you do with marbled paper ; 
 hang it up to dry, then smooth and glaze it in the manner 
 you do coloured parchment. 
 
 A Green Transparent Parchment. 
 
 Wash the parchment in cold lye, until it comes clear 
 from it ; then squeeze out the liquor as much as possible: 
 if you would have it of a fine green colour, take distilled 
 verdigrise, ground with vinegar, and add a little sap-gveen 
 to it ; temper it neither too thick nor too thin : then soak 
 your parchment in this colour, thoroughly, a whole night ; 
 rinse it afterwards in water ; strain it immediately on a 
 frame, and set it to dry ; then take clear varnish, and lay it 
 on both sides ; set it in the sun to dry ; after this cut the 
 parchment out of the frame into leaves, as large as you 
 please, and lay them in a book, under a press, to keep 
 them fine and straight ; the effect of this parchment is to 
 make a small letter appear as big again; and it is a great 
 
 preserver 
 
SECRETS FOR BOOK-BINDERS. 249 
 
 preserver of the eyes, especially to those that read much 
 by candle light. 
 
 The varnish must be prepared of linseed oil, and boiled 
 with frankincense, mastich and sandarac. 
 
 If you would have the parchment of a clear, transpa- 
 rent, and white colour, only wash, strain, and varnish it as 
 above*. 
 
 If you would colour it yellow, steep your parchment, 
 after it has been washed, in a yellow liquid, made of 
 saffron ; for which purpose tie saffron in a thin linen 
 rag, hang it in a weak lye, and let it warm over a slow 
 fire ; and when you see the lye tinctured yellow, it is 
 fit for use. 
 
 For a Transparent Red. 
 
 Take Brasil-wood, as much as you will ; put it into a 
 hot lye, which is clear and not too strong, and it will 
 tincture the lye of a fine red ; then pour into it about half 
 an egg-shell full of clear wine ; draw the parchment 
 through the colour, and when it is as deep as you would 
 have it, strain it. as before. 
 
 For a Blue. 
 
 Take indigo; grind it with vinegar, on a stone, and 
 mix sal-ammoniac among it, to the quantity of a pea ; 
 with this wet your parchment, and proceed as has been 
 directed for the green. 
 
 * This clear and white transparent parchment, might suit for 
 glazing hot-houses, and cottages, being less liable to break than 
 glass. Ed. 
 
 For 
 
250 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 For a Violet or Purple Colour. 
 
 Temper tv/o-thirds of the above red, and one-third of 
 the blue, and use it as before directed. 
 
 For a Black Colour. 
 
 Take alum, beat it into powder, and boil it in rain- 
 water, to a fourth part ; then add Roman vitriol, with 
 some powdered nut-galls, and boil them together ; with 
 this stain your parchment twice or thrice over, and, when 
 dry, lay the Spanish varnish over it. 
 
 With these transparent parchments you may make 
 curious bindings. One sort used at Rome, is made thus; 
 lay the boards, or paste-boards, over with leaf-gold, or 
 leaf-silver, tin-foil, or metal leaves, he. then binding the 
 parchment over it, it will give it an uncommon lustre 
 and beauty. 
 
 To gild the Edges of Books. 
 
 Pound bole-armenic and sugar-candy together, and 
 mix with a proper quantity of the white of an egg well 
 beaten ; this done, take the book you intend to gild, 
 which must be well bound, glued, cut, and well polished ; 
 screw it fast in the press, and as even as possible ; then, 
 with a hair pencil, give it a wipe with the white of an egg 
 well beaten, and let it dry ; then give it another wipe with 
 the above composition, and, when dry, rub and polish it 
 well : when you lay on the gold, wet the edges with a 
 little fair water, and immediately lay on the gold leaves, 
 cut of the due size, pressing them down softly with 
 clean cotton wool; when dry, burnish it with a dog's 
 tooth. 
 
 To 
 
SECRETS FOR MAKING INK. 251 
 
 To make Bed Brazil Ink. 
 
 You must first observe, that when you boil Brazil- 
 wood for ink, you ought to do it when the weather is 
 fair, or your ink will not be so good. 
 
 Take quick-lime, and pour rain-water on it, and let it 
 stand over night. In the morning pour the clear water 
 from the top, through a cloth : to a quart of this water 
 take one pound of Brasil^wood shavings ; let them boil 
 half away, and put to it two ounces of cherry-gum, one 
 ounce of gum-arabic, and one ounce of beaten alum ; then 
 take it, when all is dissolved, from the fire ; pour it off 
 the shavings, and put it up for use ; you may also add to 
 it a little clear chaik. 
 
 To prepare Brasil Ink without Fire. 
 
 Take a new glazed pipkin, in which put two handfuls 
 of Brasil wood-shavings ; pour half a pint of vinegar in, 
 and let it stand over night ; then put to it a piece of alum, 
 as big as a walnut, with a little gum ; take also chalk, 
 scraped fine, about one handful ; put it gently, by little 
 and little, into the pipkin, and stir it well together with a 
 stick, and it will begin to boil, as if it was upon the fire : 
 you must set your pipkin in a clean earthen dish, before 
 you put your chalk in ; for as soon as the chalk is in, it 
 will boil over : when this ebullition is over, put it again 
 into the pipkin, and let it stand a day and a night, and 
 you will have a fine Brasil ink. 
 
 To prepare Brasil Ink in Sticks. 
 
 Take Brasil-wood shavings, or chips ; put them in a 
 pan, and proceed in every respect as directed in the fore- 
 going : 
 
252 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 going : after the Brasil is thus made fit for writing, pour 
 it into shells, and set it in the sun, where no dust can 
 come to it, to stand a full hour : then take other shells, 
 pour the top of the Brasil out of the first shells into them, 
 and fling the settling away ; set these shells also in the 
 sun, and, after they have stood an hour, proceed as be- 
 fore ; this do, till it is quite purified ; then boil it to the 
 consistence of wax, and put it up in a nut-shell, or in a 
 piece of parchment : you may dilute it with wine, or fair 
 water, in a little cup, as much as you have occasion for, 
 and write or paint with it ; it is a fine colour, and very fit 
 for colouring maps or prints. 
 
 By mixing the Brasil ink with a little ground indigo, you 
 have a crimson or purple ; and with a little white lead, 
 you will have a rose colour. 
 
 To prepare or extract Lake-colours from Floxccrs, 
 
 Take flowers of a red colour; (if they stain white paper, 
 when rubbed against it, they are good :) with these flowers 
 fill a large head, upon a common cucurbit that is filled with 
 spirits of wine ; put a receiver to it, and lute it well ; then 
 distil over a gentle fire ; the spirit will rise into the head, 
 and the tincture will be extracted out of the flowers and 
 herbs, and fall into the receiver. This coloured spirit, if 
 distilled in another still, will pass without any colour, and 
 may be used again for the like purposes ; but the tincture, 
 or colour, will remain at the bottom of the still, which 
 take out and dry at a gentle heat : in this manner you may 
 make good lake for painters. 
 
 To gild Paper. 
 
 Take yellow ochre, and grind it with rain-water, and 
 lay a ground with it upon the paper, ail over ; when dry, 
 take the white of eggs, beaten clear with white sugar- 
 candy, 
 
SECRETS FOR MAILING INK. 253 
 
 i andy, and strike it all over ; then lay on leaf gold, and, 
 when dry, polish it with a tooth. 
 
 Some take saffron, and boil it in water, and dissolve a 
 little gum with it ; then they strike it over the paper, and 
 lay on the gold, and, when dry, they polish it. 
 
 To make Indian Ink. 
 
 Burn lamp-black in a crucible, and keep it on the fire 
 till it has done smoking : in like manner, burn some horse- 
 chesnuts, till no vapour or smoke arises from them. Dis- 
 solve gum tragacanth to a proper consistence, and mix 
 with it the lamp-black and chesnuts; stir them well to- 
 ther, and put the paste into moulds, or form it as you 
 think proper, and the pieces let dry in the shade. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Put five or six lighted wicks into an earthen dish of 
 oil ; hang an iron or tin concave cover over it, at a con- 
 venient distance, so as to receive all the smoke, when 
 there is a sufficient quantity of soot settled to the cover, 
 take it off gently with a feather, and mix it up in the 
 manner above directed. 
 
 Note, That the best and clearest oil makes the finest 
 soot, and consequently the best ink. 
 
 To ptrpare Blue Ink. s 
 
 Take elder-berries, and press out the juice into a glass, 
 and put powdered alum to it ; add to it about its fourth 
 part of vinegar, and a little urine j then dip a rag into it, 
 and try whether the colour is to your liking : if it is too 
 pale, add a little more of the juice; and if too dark, 
 add more vinegar to it. 
 
 To 
 
254- THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To make good Writing Ink. 
 
 It must be observed, that according to the quantity 
 of ink you design to make, the weight and measure of 
 the ingredients must be either augmented or lessened : 
 thus for instance, if you wouJd have ten quarts of ink, 
 you ought to take four quarts of water ; six quarts of white- 
 wine vinegar ; three quarts of white wine ; and proportion 
 the rest, by weight, accordingly. 
 
 For a small Quantity of Writing-ink. 
 
 Take one pint of water, one pint and a half of wine, 
 one pint and a half of white-wine vinegar, and mix all 
 together; then take six ounces of galls, powder'd and 
 sifted through a fine hair sieve ; put them into a pot, or 
 bottle, by themselves, and pour on them one half of your 
 mixed liquor ; take also four ounces of powdered vitriol, 
 and put it into a bottle by itself, and pour half the re^ 
 maining liquid upon it : to the rest of the liquor put four 
 ounces of gum arabic, beaten fine : cover these three pans, 
 pots, or bottles, and let them stand three days, stirring 
 every one of them three or four times a day ; on the 
 fourth day, put the pan with the galls upon the fire, and, 
 when you see that it is almost ready to boil, keep the 
 galls down, and, whilst it is warm, pour it into another 
 vessel, through a cloth ; do not squeeze or wring the cloth, 
 but let it run through of itself; then add the liquor which 
 is in the two other vessels to it, stir it well together ; let 
 it stand three days, stirring it every now and then ; the 
 fourth day, after it is settled, pour it through a cloth into 
 a jar, or bottle, and you will have good writing-ink. 
 
 Ink 
 
SECRETS FOR MAKING INK. 255 
 
 Ink for Parchment 
 
 Is prepared in the same manner as the foregoing, only, 
 to a pint of water, take but half a pint of wine and 
 half a pint of vinegar, which together will make one quart 
 of ink. Or, 
 
 Take three or four ounces of powdered galls, and three 
 or four ounces of gum arabic ; put them together into a 
 vessel, with rain water, and when the gum is dissolved, 
 then strain through a cloth, and add nearly half an ounce 
 of powdered vitriol. Or, 
 
 Take one pint of beer, and put in it one ounce of pow- 
 dered gall ; let it boil till you see it of a reddish colour: 
 then add to it six drams of green vitriol, powdered, and 
 let it boil again : when you take it off the fire, add six 
 drams of gum-arabic, and of alum the bigness of a pea, 
 both powdered ; stir it till it is cold. 
 
 Another Receipt for Writing-ink. 
 
 Take, five ounces of galls, six ounces of vitriol, four 
 ounces of gum, a little powder of walnuts, two gallons 
 of beer ; put them into an earthen pot, and add a little sal- 
 ammoniac, to keep the mixture from moulding. Or, 
 
 Take for one quart of ink, one pint, and half a quar- 
 tern, of water, half a quartern of wine, half a quartern 
 of good vinegar, four ounces of vitriol, and four ounces 
 of galls, (both powdered by themselves) ; then mix them 
 together in a glazed vessel, and pour the aforesaid li- 
 quor upon it; stir it often, during six days or more, 
 and, when settled, pour it into a bottle, and you will have 
 very good ink. 
 
 Tfi 
 
256 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To make Ink Powder. 
 
 Take peach or apricot stones, sweet or bitter almonds ; 
 burn them to a black coal in an iron ladle, or fire shovel } 
 take likewise resin, and put it in a ladle, and make it 
 flame and burn, catching the smoke in a little skillet, 
 or a linen canopy put over it ; after the resin has done 
 burning, wipe the smoke on a white paper, and put it up 
 for use ; but, to save the trouble, you may use lamp-black ; 
 take of the said smoke, or lamp-black, one part ; of the 
 coals burnt of the stones, one part ; of vitriol, one part \ 
 powder of galls, which first you fry a little in a ladle with a 
 little oil, two parts; gum-arabic four parts: let all be well 
 mixed and pounded together, and then keep this powder in 
 a leather bag for use ; the older it is the better it will be : 
 when you have occasion to use it, temper a little of it 
 with wine vinegar, or water, made hot, (if you can have 
 it convenientlv), if not, you may make shift with cold. 
 This powder put into pale ink will immediately make it 
 black, and of a fine gloss. 
 
 To prepare Red Ink. 
 
 Take two ounces of fine Brasil chips ; the whites of 
 twelve eggs, and the quantity of a hazel-nut of alum ; 
 beat the whites of the clear eggs ; put them all together in 
 the sun, or before the fire ; stir them sometimes about ; 
 strain them through a cloth, and let the juice dry weil • 
 then keep it from dust, and when you would use it, only 
 temper it with fair water. Or, 
 
 Take the best Brasil-wood, in chips, put it into a cup 
 or pot that is glazed ; pour good wine vinegar over it, and 
 let it stand three or four hours to soak ; then take beer 
 that is clear and bright, and mix it with clear pump-water, 
 
 about 
 
SECRETS FOR BOOK-BINDERS. 257 
 
 about an inch above the chips ; set it on a gentle fire ; let 
 it boil, and take care it does not boil over ; after it has 
 boiled some time, add powdered alum, the quantity of a 
 walnut, to it, and as much gum arabic ; set it again upon 
 the fire, and let it boil ; after it has boiled a little, take it 
 off, and strain the liquor from the chips ; put it into a 
 glass, and close it up, and you will have a fine red-ink. 
 
 If, instead of alum, you put a little sal-ammoniac to it, 
 it will make the ink look bright. 
 
 Yellow Ink. 
 
 Take the yellow cowslip flowers, which grow com- 
 mon in the fields; squeeze out the juice, and mix it 
 with alum : 
 
 Saffron-water with a little alum, makes likewise a good 
 yellow. 
 
 To make Letters, or other Characters, of a Gold or Silver 
 
 Colour. 
 
 Take flint glass, or crystal ; grind it to powder ; tem- 
 per it with the white of an egg, and write with it ; when 
 it is dry, take a gold ring, or a silver thimble, or any piece 
 of either of those metals, and rub your writing therewith 
 gently over ; and when you see the gold or silver strong 
 enough, glaze it over with a tooth. 
 
 To make Letters of Gold or Silver embossed. 
 
 Take the juice of garlic, and mix it with writing-ink, 
 or, rather, with a red or yellow colour, for gold. Write 
 therewith your letters or ornaments on vellum or paper ; 
 when dry, repeat going over them again, so as to give 
 them, a body ; then let it dry : when you lay the gold 
 leaves on, warm the letters with your breath, and close 
 
 yol. i. s the 
 
253 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the gold with cotton upon them; it will have a good 
 effect. 
 
 A rare Secret to prepare Gold the ancient IVay, to paint or 
 write with.' 
 
 Take leaves of gold, and put them in a clean pipkin on 
 the fire, so as to heat ; in another pipkin put quicksilver (four 
 times the quantitv, in weight, of the gold) near the fire 
 to warm it ; this done, take both pipkins from the fire ; 
 pour the quicksilver upon the gold leaves, and immedi- 
 ately stir it together with a little stick ; put it into a dish 
 full of fair water, and you will have an amalgam, which 
 you may work with strong vinegar, or the juice of lemons, 
 on a flat stone, to incorporate it the more ; then you knead 
 and wash it well with fair water, and strain it through a 
 lamb's skin, to bring out the quicksilver ; then take what 
 remains in the skin, and put to it half as much powdered 
 brimstone ; mingle it with the said paste, and set it on the 
 fire, in an iron ladle, or crucible, leaving it till the brim- 
 stone is burned, and all the rest is of a yellow colour ; 
 then let it cool, putting it into a dish, and washing it with 
 fair water, till you have a fair colour of gold ; then put it 
 up in a glass phial, and when you have occasion to use it, 
 dilute it with a little rose-water mixed with a little gum 
 arabic : you may paint or write with it as you please ; and 
 when dry, you may burnish it with a dog's tooth, and it 
 will be of a fine lustre. 
 
 To write Golden Letters with a Pen. 
 
 Take sixteen leaves of the finest gold ; put it upon a 
 colour-stone ; sprinkle a little vinegar over it, and let it lie 
 for a little while ; then grind it with your muller to a fine 
 powder ; put this into a muscle-shell, with as much clear 
 water as will fill it, and mix it together with your finger; 
 
 then 
 
SECRETS FOR BOOK-BINDERS. 259 
 
 then let it settle,' and, after that, pour off the water, and 
 supply it with clear water again, stirring it well with your 
 finger, as before ; repeat this till you see the water come ofF 
 from the gold as clear as when put on ; after you have thus 
 cleared your gold, temper as much as you have occasion 
 for with a little clean gum water, till you see it will easily 
 flow from your pen ; after your writing is dry, glaze it 
 gently with a tooth. 
 
 Fine Red Ink of Vermilion. 
 
 Take vermilion, and grind it fine with clean water, and 
 put it up to keep from dust ; when you would use it, take 
 as much as you think you shall have occasion for, and di- 
 lute it with a little gum water. Or, 
 
 Take half an ounce of vermilion, or prepared cinnabar, 
 and put it into a gallipot ; take a little powdered clear gum 
 arabic, and dissolve it in water, and temper with your 
 vermilion : you may add a little of the white of an egg to 
 it, beat up till all becomes clear. 
 
 An artificial Water for writing Letters of Secrecy. 
 
 Take vitriol, finely powdered, and pour clean water on, 
 it ; after it has stood a little, write therewith either on vel- 
 lum or paper, and the writing cannot be seen any other 
 way than by drawing the letter through a water, which is 
 thus prepared : take a pint of water, and put it into one 
 ounce of powdered galls ; temper it together, and strain it 
 through a cloth ; put the liquor into a dish that is wide 
 enough, and draw your writing through it, and you will 
 read it as you do other writings : to make the secret con- 
 tents less liable to suspicion, you may write, on the con- 
 trary side of the paper, or parchment, with black writing 
 ink, matters of less consequence. 
 
 s 2 Another 
 
260 THE LABORATORY 
 
 Another Secret, to write a Letter, xehite upon white, which 
 cannot be read but in fair Hater. 
 
 Take alum, beat to a fine powder : mix it with wa- 
 ter, so as not to be too thin ; then take a new pen, and 
 with this mixture write what you please upon paper, and 
 let it dry : then let him, who is to read it, lay the letter 
 into a flat bason, or dish, that is filled with clean water, 
 and in a quarter of an hour the letters will appear 
 white upon white, so that they may be plainly seen and 
 read. Or, 
 
 Take the juice of onions, and write with it; he who 
 would read it, must hold it over the fire, and the writing 
 will turn of a reddish or brownish colour. 
 
 The Manner of marbling Paper or Books. 
 
 Take clear gum tragacanth, and put it into an earthen 
 pan ; pour fresh water to it, till it is two hands high 
 over the gum ; cover it, and let it soak twenty-four 
 hours ; then stir it well together, and add more water to 
 it ; keep it often stirring during the day, and it wi-11 swell ; 
 when you find it well dissolved, pour it through a cullendar 
 into another pan, and add to it more water after it has 
 stood a little, and been stirred about, strain it through a 
 clean cloth into another clean pan ; keep it well covered, 
 to hinder the dust or any other thing from coming to it : 
 this water, when you go to make use of it in marbling 
 your paper or books, must be neither too thick nor too 
 thin ; you may try it with your comb, by drawing the 
 same from one end of the trough to the other ; if it swells 
 the water before it, it is a sign that it is too thick, and you 
 must add, in proportion, a little more water. 
 
 Your 
 
SECRETS FOR BOOK-BINDERS. 261 
 
 Your trough must be of the largeness, and the shape of 
 your paper, or rather something wider, cut in flag-stone, 
 about four inches deep. 
 
 . After you have filled your trough with the aforemen- 
 tioned water, and fitted every thing for the work, (before 
 you lay on your colours) take a clean sheet of paper, and 
 draw the surface off, by dipping it flat, which will be a 
 thin sort of film ; then have your three colours, namely, 
 indigo raixt with white lead, yellow ochre, and rose pink, 
 ready prepared at hand ; and, for each colour, have two 
 gallipots, in order to temper them as you would have 
 them, in different shades. 
 
 All your colours must be ground very fine with brandy. 
 
 The blue is easily made deeper or lighter, by adding 
 more or less white lead. 
 
 The yellow used for this purpose, is either yellow orpi- 
 ment, or Dutch pink. 
 
 For blue, grind indigo and white lead, each by itself, 
 in order to mix the colour either lighter or darker. 
 
 For green, take the aforesaid blue and white ; add some 
 yellow to it, and temper it darker or lighter, as you would 
 have it. 
 
 For red, take either lake, or rose pink, or, rather, 
 ball-iake. 
 
 Every one of these colours are to be first ground 
 very fine with brandy, or spirits, and, when you are 
 ready to go to work, add a little ox or fish-gall to 
 them ; but this must be done with discretion : you may 
 try them, by sprinkling a few drops upon your gum 
 water ; if you find the colour fly and spread too much 
 about, it is a sign of too much gall ; to remedy which, 
 add more of the same colour, which has no gall, and 
 when you see the colour retract itself again gently, it 
 is right. 
 
 When thus you have your colours, and all things in 
 good order, take a pencil, or the end of a feather, and 
 
 sprinkle 
 
262 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 sprinkle on your red colour ; then the blue, yellow, green, 
 &c. Begin your red from No. 1 , and go along your trough 
 to No. 2 ; also the blue from No. 3, all along to No. 4 :— 
 the yellow and green put here and there in the vacant 
 places ; then with a bodkin, or small skewer, draw a sort 
 of a serpentine figure through the colours, beginning from 
 No. 1, to No. 2 : when this is done, then take a comb, 
 and draw the same straight along from No. 1, to No. 2: 
 If you would have some turnings, or snail-work on your 
 paper, then, with a bodkin, give the colours what turns 
 you please. 
 
 Now you are ready to lay on your paper, which must 
 be moistened the day before, in the same manner as prin- 
 ters do their paper for printing : take a sheet at a time, 
 and lay it gently upon the surface of your colours in the 
 trough, and press it slightly with your finger in such places 
 where you find the paper lies hollow ; this done, take hold 
 of one end of the paper, and draw it up at the other end 
 of the trough ; hang it up to dry on a cord ; when dry, 
 glaze it*, and it is done. You may also embellish your 
 paper with streaks of gold, by applying muscle-shell gold 
 or silver, tempered with gum-water, among the rest of 
 the colours. 
 
 To silver Paper, after the Chinese Manner, without 
 Silver. 
 
 Take two "scruples of clear glue, made of strips of 
 leather boiled ; one scruple of white alum ; half a pint of 
 clean water; simmer it over a slow fire ; then, your sheets 
 of paper being laid on a smooth table, you dip a pretty 
 large pencil into the glue, and daub it over as even as you 
 
 * The glazing of this paper is performed with a polished flint, 
 fastened at the bottom of a pole, fixed vertically through a 
 hole in a transverse beam, and rubbed briskly over the paper. 
 
 can ; 
 
SECRETS FOR BOOK-BINDERS. 263 
 
 can ; repeat this two or three times ; then sift the powder 
 of talk through a fine sieve, made of lawn, over it, and 
 hang it up to dry, when dry rub off the superfluous talk, 
 which serves again for the same purpose. The talk you are 
 to prepare in the following manner : 
 
 Take fine white transparent talk, which comes from 
 Muscovy, and boil it in clear water for four hours ; then 
 take it off the fire, and let it stand so for two days : take 
 it out, wash it well, and put it into a linen rag, and beat 
 it to pieces with a mallet : to ten pounds of talk add three 
 pounds of white alum, and grind it together in a little 
 I land-mill ; then sift it through a lawn sieve, and, being 
 thus reduced to powder, put it into water, and just boil it 
 up. Then let it sink to the bottom ; pour off the water 
 from it ; place .the powder in the sun to dry ; and it will 
 become a hard substance. Beat this in a mortar to an im- 
 palpable powder, and keep it for the use above-mentioned, 
 free from dust. 
 
 To prepare Ink, so that what is written therewith cannot 
 be read but in a Dark Place. 
 
 Take half a pint of goat's milk ; a sweet apple, peeled 
 and cut; and a handful of touchwood, which in the night- 
 time seems to shine ; put these into a mortar, and beat them 
 together, pouring now and then a little of the goat's milk to 
 it ; after this is well beaten, pour the rest of the milk to 
 it, and stir it well together ; then wring it through a cloth : 
 with this liquor, write what you please, and, if you would 
 read it, go into a dark cellar or chamber, and the writing 
 will appear of a fiery or gold colour. 
 
 To make fine Red Paper. 
 
 Take a pan full of water ; put some quick-lime into 
 it, to make it into a lye, and let it stand over night , then 
 
 put 
 
£64 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 put Brasil chips into a clean pot, about half full, and fill 
 it with the lye, and boil it to half; when it is just hot, 
 add to it a little alum : when you use it, mix it with a 
 little gum, or size, and with a pretty large hair-pencil lay 
 .your colour on the paper, with an even hand. 
 
 To prepare Ink, for drawing of Lines to write upon 
 evenly, which may be rubbed out again. 
 
 Burn tartar to ashes, or until it is calcined, to a white 
 colour ; take thereof the bigness of a hazel-nut, and lay 
 it into a cupful of water to dissolve ; then filter it : to this 
 solution mix as much fine ground touch-stone as will co- 
 lour it black enough to write with ; with this ink rule the 
 lines you would write upon : when you have done writing, 
 only rub it over with the crumb of a stale roll, or with a 
 crumb of bread, and the iincs will vanish from the paper. 
 This may be useful at schools. 
 
 To write so that the Letters may appear Wliite, and the 
 Ground of the Parchment Black. 
 
 Take clean water, and temper it with the yolk of an 
 egg so as to be fit for writing ; with this, write upon your 
 vellum, or parchment, what you please ; let it dry, and 
 draw it through ink, so that it may take every where ; or 
 strike it over with a large soft pencil, to make it of a good 
 black; when it is thoroughly dry, scrape it gently off with 
 a knife, and the writing will appear as white as the parch- 
 ment was before you wrote upon it. 
 
 To make Oil Paper. 
 
 Take the shreds of parchment ; boil them in clear, 
 water until it is clammy, and like a strong glue ; strain it 
 
 through 
 
SECRETS FOR - CABINET-MAKERS, &C. 265 
 
 through a cloth, and with a large pencil strike it over the 
 paper ; when dry, varnish it over with a varnish of tur- 
 pentine, or Spanish varnish. 
 
 CHOICE 
 
 SECRETS FOR CABINET MAKERS, AND TURNERS. 
 
 To prepare a Black Colour for staining Wood. 
 
 Put two ounces of iron filings into a new earthen pan ; 
 add to it one ounce of sal-ammoniac, dissolved in a quart 
 of vinegar, and let it stand twelve days (the longer it 
 stands the better it will be ;) then take rasped logwood, 
 and thiee ounces of gall-nuts, pounded fine ; infuse this in 
 a quart of lye made of lime ; let this also stand the same 
 time as the above. 
 
 When you have occasion to use it, warm both those 
 liquors over a slow fire, and with the lye first strike the 
 wood over you design to dye, and then with vinegar ; re- 
 peat this until you see the wood black enough to your 
 liking ; after which, wax the wood over with bees-wax, 
 and rub it with a woollen rag, and it will look bright and 
 fine. 
 
 To imitate Ebony Wood. 
 
 Take clean and smooth box, and boil it in oil until it 
 turns black. Or, 
 
 Take smooth-planed pear-tree wood, strike it over with 
 aqua-fortis, and let it dry in a shady place in the air ; then 
 wipe it over with good black writing-ink, and let it also dry 
 in the shade ; repeat and wipe the ink over it until the 
 black is to your liking. Then polish it with wax, and a 
 woollen rag. 
 
 Another, 
 
266 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Another, but more costly, Method. 
 
 Dissolve one ounce of fine silver in one pound of 
 aqua-fortis ; add a quarter of a pine of clear water to it ; 
 with this strike your wood over ; repeat it until you 
 perceive it to be as black as velvet, then polish it with 
 wax. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take what sort of wood you please, box, cedar, mul- 
 berry, pear-tree, or the like ; steep it for three days in 
 alum-water, in a warm place ; or, if it be in the summer, 
 in the sun ; then boil it in oil, in which mix some vitriol 
 and sulphur ; the longer you boil it the blacker the wood 
 will be ; however, you must not let it boil too long, lest it 
 should be scorched. Or, 
 
 Strike your wood over with spirits of vitriol, anil hold it 
 over a coal fire ; repeat this until it is black enough ; then 
 polish it. Or, 
 
 Iron filings, steeped in beer and urine, will make a good 
 black. Or, 
 
 Put one pound of rasped Brasil into a clean pan ; boil it 
 in three pints of strong white-wine vinegar until the half 
 is boiled away ; then pour it clear off; take also one pound 
 of bruised gall-nuts, and put them into another pan with 
 water, and let them stand for eight days in the sun to soak ; 
 then put to it eight ounces of vitriol, and stir it together, 
 and let it stand for two or three days ; pour it off clear, 
 and add to this liquor the fourth part of the prepared 
 Brasil ; with this strike your wood over twenty or thirty 
 times running ; letting it every time dry in the shade. 
 
 Then take fine silver, as much as you please ; dissolve 
 it in common aqua-fortis ; add to it twice the quantity of 
 spring-water ; with this strike over the dyed wood, once 
 
 or 
 
SECRETS FOR CABINET-MAKERS, &C. 261 
 
 or twice ; set it in the air to dry, and it will be of a line 
 coal black ; after which, polish it, as before directed. 
 
 An excellent Secret to Bye Wood of any Colour. 
 
 Put fresh horse-dung, the moistest you can get, upon 
 some little sticks laid across one another, over an earthen 
 pan, to receive the liquor that drops from the dung ; sup- 
 ply it with fresh dung every time it is drained until you 
 have a sufficient quantity. Then divide the liquor into as 
 many pots as you intend of colours, and put into each 
 pot the bigness of a horse-bean of alum, and as much 
 gum-arabic ; then steep what colour you will in the liquor, 
 and put in the pieces of wood, which, after it is stained to 
 your liking, take out and dry ; the longeryou let it remain 
 in the liquor, the deeper will be the colour ; by this means 
 you may shade your wood from a deep to a light colour, 
 which will penetrate so as never to fade or vanish. 
 
 To Dye Wood of a Red Colour. 
 
 Take one handful of quick-lime, and two handfuls of 
 wood ashes ; put them together into rain-water, and let 
 them soak for half an hour, until they are well settled, 
 and you have a good lye. Then take a new pan, in which 
 put one pound of Brasil-wood ; pour on it the said lye, 
 and, after it has soaked for half an hour, let it boil ; when 
 it is cold, pour it off" into another clean pan, and iiing one 
 ounce of gum-arabic into it ; take another earthen pan 
 with rain-water, and put into it two ounces of alum ; boil 
 your wood in it, and after it is well soaked, take it out, 
 and let it cool a little, warming, in the mean while, the 
 red colour, and striking it over your wood ; repeat this 
 until your colour is deep enough to your liking ; then 
 polish it with a dog's tooth. 
 
 Another 
 
26S THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Another Red for dying Word. 
 
 Take rasped Brasil-wood, and boil it until you see it of 
 a fine red colour ; then strain it through a linen cloth. 
 
 The wood you design to dye, colour first over with saf- 
 fron yellow ; and after it is dry, strike it over with the red 
 colour, until it is deep enougli ; then polish it with a 
 tooth. If you put a little alum to the Brasii colour, it will 
 turn to a brown. 
 
 To Etch Figures upon JVood. 
 
 Take melted tallow, and, having your table or board 
 of wood ready, form with it flowers, or what else you 
 will, upon it ; then, with a coloured water, boiled with 
 vitriol, nitre and alum, cover the board, over the tallow ; 
 let it stand, or repeat it, until the colour pleases you. In 
 this manner, you may marble, or cloud, your wood, as 
 pleases yon. 
 
 To Marble upon JVood. 
 
 Take the whites of eggs, and beat them up until you 
 can write or draw therewith ; then with a pencil, or fea- 
 ther, draw what veins vou please upon the wood ; after it 
 is dried and hardened for two hours, take quick-lime, and 
 mix it well together with wine ; and with a brush, or pen- 
 cil, paint the wood all over ; after it is thoroughly dry, 
 rub it with a scrubbing-brush, so that both the lime and 
 the whites of the eggs mav come off together ; then rub 
 it with a linen rag, until it is smooth and fine ; after which, 
 you may lay over a thin varnish, and you wilJ have a fine 
 marble wood. Or, 
 
 Grind white-lead, or chalk, together with water, upon 
 a marble very fine ; then mix it up with the whites of well- 
 beaten eggs, wherewith paint, or marble, as y r ou think 
 
 proper ; 
 
SECRETS FOR CABINET-MAKERS, ScC. 269 
 
 proper ; when dry, strike it over with a lye made of lime 
 and urine, and this will give the wood a brown-red colour: 
 upon this colour you may, when dry, marble again with 
 the whites of eggs ; and again, when dry, give it another 
 brush with the lye : after you have, with a scrubbing- 
 brush, rubbed off the marbling with whites of eggs, you 
 may strike once more all over with the lye ; and your 
 work, when dry and polished, will look very agreeable, 
 ' and of a fine marbling. 
 
 A Gold, Silver, or Copper-colour, on JVood. 
 
 Take crystal, and beat it in a mortar to powder ; then 
 grind it on a marble, with clean water, and put it into a 
 clean new pot ; warm it, and add to it a little glue ; with 
 this strike, or paint over, your wood : when dry, take a 
 piece of gold, silver, or copper, and rub it over therewith, 
 and you will have the colour of any one of those metals 
 upon the wood, which you may afterwards polish. 
 
 To colour JVood of a Walnut-tree Colour. 
 
 Take the bark of walnut-trees, or the green shells of 
 walnuts ; dry them in the sun, and mix as much as you 
 have occasion for with nut oil ; boil it up, and rub the 
 wood over with it. 
 
 To stain Wood of a fine Green. 
 
 Take green nut-shells, and put them into a lye made 
 of Roman vitriol and alum, in which let them boil an hour 
 or two. To this lye add some verdigrise, finely ground 
 with vinegar ; then take your wood, after you have soaked 
 it for two days in strong white-wine vinegar, and boil it 
 therein. Or, 
 
 Take 
 
270 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Take the finest verdigrise, and grind it with sharp wine 
 vinegar ; add to it a iitile tartar ; let it stand over night, 
 and the verdigrise will settle, and you will have a fine 
 green ; with this strike over your wood, several times : if 
 you would have it of a grass green, put a little sap-green 
 amongst it. 
 
 A lied Colour, for Wood. 
 
 Take quick-lime, and pour rain-water upon it: let it 
 stand over night, and filter it through a cloth ; then add 
 more rain-water to it, and put in clear and fresh Brasil 
 chips, together with the wood you intend to dye, and boil 
 till the colour is to your liking. The wood is first to be 
 thoroughly soaked in alum water. Or, 
 
 Polish your wood-work, after you have finished it with 
 your plane, and then lay on it muscle-shell gold or silver, 
 diluted with size, or with the white of an egg ; marbling 
 it in the manner before directed in marbling of wood; 
 when dry, strike it over, several times, with the following 
 colour : 
 
 Take rasped Brasi!, and pour on it oil of tartar, or in- 
 fuse it therein, and it will extract a fine red colour: this 
 coloured oil pour off, and put fresh oil to the Brasil, to 
 extract more of the colour. Let these extractions dry 
 gently ; then draw it off again in spirits of wine, and you. 
 will have a red for your use. 
 
 A Violet Colour for Wood. 
 
 Take four ounces of Brasil, and one ounce of indigo ; 
 infuse them together in a quart of water, and boil your 
 wood therein. 
 
 To 
 
SECRETS FOR CABINET-MAKERS, &C. 271 
 
 To adorii Wood with Ornaments of Silver or Tin. 
 
 First carve, or hollow, your ornaments out upon your 
 wood, in the best manner, so as to undermine the edges 
 on both sides of your strokes. Then make an amalgam 
 of tin, by dissolving it over a gentle heat, and putting into 
 it the same quantity of quicksilver, which you have 
 heated ; stir with a stick well together, and pour it into a 
 pan of cold water ; when dry, grind it upon a marble, with 
 water, very fine, tempering it with clear size ; then fill up 
 the carved figures, smoothing it with your hand ; and, 
 when dry, polish it. To make it more of a silver colour, 
 rub it over with an amalgam of silver-leaf and quicksilver, 
 and polish it with a dog's tooth. 
 
 Instead of tin, you may use bismuth ground fine with 
 water. 
 
 To Emboss, or trace all Manner of Ornaments on a gilded 
 smooth Pannel, the Gold being laid over with Black, or 
 any other Colour. 
 
 First gild your pannel, or other wood work, as you are 
 directed under the article of gilding, and when thoroughly 
 dry, paint it all over smooth and even with lamp-black, 
 ground with linseed and nut oil ; add to it an equal quan- 
 tity of umber, in order to dry it the better; after you 
 have set it for two or three days, or more according to the 
 time of the year, to dry, then, before it is quite hard, 
 draw or pounce what you design to emboss, and with a 
 blunt-pointed bodkin, horn, or wood, trace into the black 
 lay, down to the gold, opening the traces, and making 
 the gold appear in the best manner you can. In birds, 
 plants, cattle, and such like, you must observe to take 
 the heightenings clear out, and leave the shade, by hatch- 
 ing into the black, agreeable to your design ; the fine and 
 
 soft 
 
272 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 soft shades of the hair, &c. you may finish with a fine 
 pencil, with the black colour, upon the gold ; and when 
 you have done, let it dry thoroughly for three or four 
 days more ; then lay over it a clear varnish, which you 
 may, after it is dried, repeat a second time, and your 
 work will look beautiful. 
 
 To do this upon a Blue Ground. 
 
 After you have gilded your work, then take alum 
 which is not too coarse, mix it with mortar on a marble- 
 stone, adding to it the white of an egg : with this and a 
 little water mix your smalt, and strike it fine and even 
 over the gilding : then, when it is almost dry, sift through 
 a fine sieve some of the finest smalt over it : you may, if 
 you will, mix it with spangles of several colours ; and 
 when thoroughly dry, wipe off what sticks not to it, and 
 proceed in tracing up your figures you design for gold. 
 The fine finishing strokes upon the gold, because they 
 cannot well be done with smalt, may be done with Prus- 
 sian blue or indigo mixed with white lead. You may, if 
 you will, varnish it ; but it will look better without. 
 
 VARIETIES OF 
 
 GLUES AND CEMENTS, FOR JOINING WOOD, STONE, 
 GLASS AND METALS. 
 
 f An excellent Glue for Wood, Stone, Glass, and Metals. 
 
 ■ Take good glue four ounces, soak it over night in dis- 
 til inegar, then boil it up therewith ; take a clove of 
 ga . beat or bray it in a mortar, and add to it one ounce 
 ot gall, Wring this juice through a linen cloth into 
 the warm glue ; then take mastich and sarcocolla, of each 
 
 one 
 
GLUES AND CEMENTS, 27S 
 
 one drachm, sandarac and turpentine of each two drachms : 
 grind the sandarac and mastich fine, and put them toge- 
 ther with the safcocolla and turpentine into a phial ; pour 
 one ounce of the strongest brandy upon it, and let it stand 
 three hours in a moderate heat, well stopped up, giving it 
 now and then a shake ; add this also to the warm glue ; 
 then stir or beat it together with a wooden spatula, till 
 some of the moisture is evaporated* and the glue is grown 
 cold. When you have occasion to use it, then take as 
 much or as little as your work requires, soak it in strong 
 vinegar, till it is dissolved. If you use this glue for stones, 
 mix it with tripoli, or with some powdered chalk ; and if 
 for glass, mix, besides a little tripoli, fine ground Venice 
 glass ; and if you would use it for metals, as iron, brass, 
 copper, put to it some of the finest filings ; you may also 
 add a little isinglass. And if you would have this glue 
 hold out or stand the water, mix it up with a strong var- 
 nish, as much as the present occasion requires. 
 
 A good Stone Glue, &r Cement for Grotto-work. 
 
 Take two parts of white resin, melt it clear, add to it 
 four parts of bees-wax ; when melted together, add stone 
 flour, made of the stone you design to cement, two or 
 three parts, or so much as will give the cement the colour 
 of the stone ; to this add one part of flour of sulphur. 
 First incorporate all together over a gentle fire, and after- 
 wards knead it with your hands in warm water. With this 
 cement the stones, after they are well dried, and have 
 been warmed before the fire, in order to receive the 
 cement the better. 
 
 A Wood Glue, "which stands Water. 
 
 Common melted glue, mixed up with linseed oil or 
 
 Varnish, applied to the places to be glued together, after 
 
 vol. i, t thev 
 
274 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 they have been wanned, when thoroughly dry, will last 
 and stand water. 
 
 Another fine Glue. 
 
 • Take isinglass and common glue, soak them overnight 
 in strong brandy ; then dissolve them over a coal fire, 
 and mix with a little tine powdered chalk : this will make 
 a very strong glue. 
 
 Another extraordinary Glue. 
 
 Take sal-ammoniac, sandarac and gum-lac ; soak and 
 dissolve them in strong brandy, over a gentle heat, and 
 put to them a little turpentine ; when all is dissolved, pour 
 the solution over isinglass and common glue, and in a close 
 vessel, dissolve it over a slow fire ; add to it a little glass- 
 dust, and when it is of a right temper, use it. 
 
 A good JFatcr-cement. 
 
 Take one part of minium or red lead, and two parts 
 of lime ; mix them well together with the whites of eggs. 
 
 Stone-glue, whefewith you may glue either Stone or 
 Glass. 
 
 Take white flint-stone in powder, dry and finely sifted; 
 then take white resin, and melt it in an iron or earthen 
 ladle, and stir the powder in it, till it is like a thick paster 
 warm the glass, or what you design to glue together ; gild 
 the places or joinings, and it will add a great beauty. 
 This lias been made use of in the embellishment of cabi- 
 nets, and other things. 
 
 An 
 
GLUES AND CEMENTS. 275 
 
 An exceeding fine Cement to mend broken China, or 
 Glasses. 
 
 Garlick stamped in a stone mortar, and the juice 
 applied to the pieces to be joined together, is the finest 
 and strongest cement for that purpose ; and will leave 
 little or no mark, if done with care. 
 
 A Cement for broken Glasses. 
 
 Beat the white of an egg very clear, and mix with it 
 powdered quick-lime ; with this join your broken glasses, 
 china, and earthen ware. Or, 
 
 Take isinglass, powdered chalk, and a little lime ; mix 
 them together, and dissolve in fair water over a slow fire ; 
 with which cement your broken glass, or china ware, and 
 set it to dry in the shade. Or, 
 
 Take isinglass, mastich and turpentine ; dissolve them, 
 and cement your broken ware ; when dry, they will hold, 
 and rather break in another place, than where joined and 
 cemented. Or, 
 
 Take quick-lime, and mix it with old cheese which has 
 been boiled in water to a paste ; with this cement your 
 glass, or china, and it will answer your desire. This paste 
 is likewise a good lute, to lute a cover to an earthen pan, 
 or glass, retorts, he. You may add a little fine brick-dust 
 to it 
 
 A Lute or Cement, for Cracks in Glasses used for Che- 
 mical Preparations, which will stand the Fire. 
 
 Take wheat-flour, finely powdered Venice glass, or 
 Florence flask, pulverized chalk, of each an equal quan- 
 tity ; fine brick-dust one half of the quantity, and a little 
 
 t 2 scraped 
 
216 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 scraped lint ; mix it up with the white of an egg, smear it 
 on a linen cloth like a plaister, and with it enclose the , 
 cracks of your glass retort, or other glass utensil ; but let 
 it dry before you put it to the fire. Or, 
 
 Take old varnish, and glue your pieces together ; tic 
 them close, and set them to dry in the sun, or a warm 
 place ; when dry, scrape off the varnish that is pressed out 
 at the sides, and it will hold very well. 
 
 To join broken Amber. 
 
 Anoint the pieces with linseed oil, join and hold them 
 close together over the fire. 
 
 An excellent Glue or Cement to miv with Stone, Glass, 
 Marble, Kc. in order to piake Utensils, Images, and 
 other things therewith. 
 
 Take of fine glue four ounces • of mastich two ounces , 
 of powdered sealing-wax si* ounces ; of finely ground 
 brick-dust one ounce ; put the fish g!ue into a glazed pip- 
 kin, with water, upon a slow fire ; and after you have 
 mixed your ingredient?, put it into the pipkin, and boil it 
 up ; and what hangs together, use ; if you mix it up with 
 finely powdered glass, of anv colour, you may form it to 
 what shape you will ; and when cold and dry, it will be 
 as hard as stone. 
 
 Another Cement, which dries quickly. 
 
 Take pitch, as much as you will ; melt it, and mix it 
 with brick-dust and litharge ; and, to make it harder, 
 moisten the brick-dust first with sharp vinegar and a larger 
 quantity of the litharge, and it will be as hard as stone. 
 
 Good 
 
IVORY, BONE, AND HORN. 277 
 
 Good Glue-sticks ; or Spittle-glue, Jit for Bookbinders. 
 
 Take two ounces of isinglass, half an ounce of sugar- 
 candy, and half a drachm of gum tragacanth : then take half 
 an ounce" of slips, or parings, of white parchment, pour 
 on it a pint of water, and let it boil weil ; take that water, 
 strain it through a cloth, and pour it over the two other 
 ingredients, mixed with a little rose water ; let it boil away 
 above half, then take it off the fire, and cast it. into little 
 flat sticks ; or in any shape you please. 
 
 A Water-cement, which grows the harder for being in 
 Water. 
 
 Take mastich, frankincense, resin, and finely cut cot- 
 ton, of each an equal quantity ; melt, and, with some 
 powdered quick-lime, mix them up into a mass. 
 
 A Cement as hard as Iron. 
 
 Melt pitch, then take powdered sand, worn off from 
 grind-stones ; stir them well together ; boil up, and it is 
 iit for use. 
 
 SEVERAL CURIOUS 
 
 SECRETS RELATING TO IVORY, BONE, AND HORN 
 
 To whiten Ivory that is become Red or Yellow. 
 
 Boil alum in fair water, so much as will make it look 
 white ; into this put your ivory for an hour, to soak \ rub 
 
 it 
 
278 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 it with a hair cloth, and wipe it over with a clean napkin, 
 or linen rag, moistened ; in this let it lie, till it dries gra- 
 dually, else it will be apt to split. 
 
 Another Method to whiten Green Ivory. 
 
 Boil the ivory in water and quick-lime, till you see it 
 has a good white. 
 
 To imitate Marble upon Ivory. 
 
 Melt bees-wax and tallow together, or else yellow and 
 white bees-wax, and lay it over your ivory ; then with an 
 ivory bodkin, open the strokes that are to imitate marble ; 
 pour the solution of some metal or other on them, and let 
 it stand a little while ; then pour it off, and when it is dry, 
 cover those strokes again with wax, and open some other 
 veins with your bodkin for another metallic solution ; and 
 this repeat to the number of colours you design to give 
 it. 
 
 N. B. The solution of gold gives it a purple ; of copper, 
 a green ; of silver, a lead-black ; of iron, a yellow and 
 brown colour. These solutions well managed,- and applied 
 on ivory, will intirely answer the design of the artist. 
 
 By this method you may imitate tortoise-shell, and seve- 
 ral other things, on ivory. 
 
 To stain Ivory of a fine Green, 
 
 Take two parts of verdigrise and one part of sal- 
 ammoniac ; grind them well together, pour strong white- 
 wine vinegar on them, and put your ivory in ; let it lie 
 covered, till the colour has penetrated, and is deep enough 
 to your likeing. If you would have it marbled or spotted, 
 sprinkle or marble it with wax. 
 
 And 
 
 
IVORY, BONE, AND HORN. 279 
 
 And thus you may colour your ivory with any other 
 colours, if you prepare them in the manner directed, viz. 
 with sal-ammoniac and vinegar. 
 
 To dye Ivory, or Bone, of a fine Coral Red. 
 
 Make a lye of wood-ashes, of which take two quarts ; 
 pour it in a pan upon one pound of Brasil wood ; to this 
 add one pound of alum, and two pounds of copper filings, 
 and boil it for half an hour ; then take it off", and let it 
 stand : in this put the ivory, or bone ; and the longer it 
 continues in this liquor, the redder it will be. 
 
 To stain Ivory, or Bone, of a Black Colour. 
 
 Take of litharge and quick-lime, an equal quantity ; 
 put them into rain-water over the fire, till it begins to boil. 
 In this put the bone or ivory, stirring them well about 
 with a stick ; and afterwards, when you see the bone re- 
 ceive the colour, take the pan from the fire, stirring the 
 bone all the while, till the liquor is cold. 
 
 To dye Bones of a Green Colour. 
 
 Take a panful of clean water, and put into it a pretty 
 large piece of quick-lime, leaving it so for twenty-four 
 hours ; pour it off* clear ; the bones you intend to dye 
 boil in common water, wherein alum has been dissolved 
 for some time ; then scrape them well, and put them into 
 the lime-water, mixt with verdigrise ; boil them well, and 
 then take them out to dry : instead of lime-water, you 
 may make use of urine, which will answer the same 
 purpose. 
 
 To 
 
280 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To dye Bones, or Ivory, the Colour of an Emerald. 
 
 Put copper-filings into some aqua-fortis ; and when it 
 has done working, put in your wrought bone or ivory, 
 leaving it therein for twenty-four hours ; then take it out, 
 and it will be of a pleasant emerald-colour. 
 
 To dye Bones, Red, Blue, or any other Colour. 
 
 First boil the bones in alum water; then take quick- 
 lime-water, or urine ; put into it, Brasil wood, lackwood, 
 or madder, or whatever colour you please ; then boil the 
 bones, or ivory, therein, and it will answer your purpose. 
 
 To make Horn soft. 
 
 Take urine, which has been put by and covered for a 
 month ; in this boil one pound of wood-ashes, or the 
 ashes of vine-stalks, two pounds of quick-lime, eight 
 ounces of tartar, and eight ounces of salt ; after it is boil- 
 ed, pour it through a flannel, and filter it thus three times. 
 Keep this lye covered, and soak the horn therein for eight 
 days, and it will be soft. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Take wood-ashes and quick-lime ; of this make a 
 strong lye, filter it clear, and boil the shavings or chips of 
 horn therein, and they will be like a paste ; you may co- 
 lour it of any colour, and cast or form it into any thing 
 you please. 
 
 To 
 
IVORY, BONE, AND HORN. 281 
 
 To prepare Horn Leaves in Imitation of Tortoise-shell. 
 
 Take of quick-lime one pound, and litharge of silver 
 eight ounces ; mix with some urine into a paste, and make 
 spots with it, in what form or shape you please, on both 
 sides of the horn ; when dry, rub off the powder, and 
 repeat this as many times as you will. Then take vermi- 
 lion, which is prepared with size, lay it all over one side 
 of the horn, as also on the wood, to which you design to 
 fasten it. 
 
 For raised work, form the horn in a mould of what shape 
 soever : put it by to dry, and with the aforesaid paste and 
 the vermilion give it the colour ; then lay on a clear glue 
 (neither too thick, nor too thin) both upon the horn and 
 the wood on which it is to be fixed, and close it together ; 
 do this work in a warm place, and let it stand all night ; 
 then cut, or file off, the roughness, or what is superfluous 
 about it ; rub it over with a coal, and polish it with tripoli 
 and linseed oil. 
 
 The work made in this manner looks very beautiful and 
 natural ; and may be used, by cabinet-makers, for pillars, 
 pilasters, pannels, or any other embellishment in cabinet- 
 work. 
 
 Another Met/tod to counterfeit Tortoise-shell on Horn. 
 
 Take of good aqua-fortis two ounces, and of fine sil- 
 ver one drachm ; let the silver dissolve, and, after you 
 have spotted or marbled your horn with wax, strike the 
 solution over it ; let it dry of itself, and the horn will be, 
 in those places which are free from wax., of a brown or 
 black colour. Or, 
 
 Lay the wax all over the horn ; then, with a pointed 
 skewer, or iron, draw what you will, laying the figure you 
 draw open on the horn ; then pour on the above solution ; 
 
 let 
 
282 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 let it stand a little, and, after you have poured it off, 
 either scrape or melt the wax ; wipe it with a clean rag, 
 and polish it. 
 
 Instead of the solution of silver, you may boil li- 
 tharge of silver in a strong lye made of quick-lime, so 
 long, till it becomes of a black tincture : or, instead of 
 silver, you may dissolve lead in aqua-fortis. 
 
 To solder Horn together, after it has been lined with pro- 
 per Foils or Colours. 
 
 Take two pieces of horn, made on purpose to meet 
 together, either for handles of knives, razors, or any 
 thing else ; lay foils of what colour you please on the in- 
 side of one of the horns, or, instead of foils, painted or 
 gilded paper, or parchment ; then fix the other piece upon 
 it ; lay a wet linen fillet, twice doubled, over the edges, 
 and with a hot iron rub it over, and it will close and join 
 together as firm as if made one piece. 
 
 To dye Horn of a Green Colour. 
 
 Take two parts of verdigrise, one-third part of sal- 
 ammoniac ; grind them well together ; pour on strong 
 white-wine vinegar, and it will be tinctured of a pleasant 
 green : then put your horn into it, and let it lie therein till 
 you see it tinged to what height of colour you would have 
 it. Or, 
 
 Take the green shells of walnuts ; put them into a 
 strong lye, with a little vitriol and alum, and let it boil for 
 two hours ; lay the horn for two days in strong vinegar ; 
 then put half an ounce of verdigrise, ground with vinegar, 
 into the lye ; boil the horn in it, and it will be of a fine 
 green. 
 
 To 
 
JAPANNING ON WOOD. 283 
 
 To dye Horn of a Red Colour. 
 
 Take quick-lime, pour rain-water upon it, and let it 
 stand ; pour it off clear, and put to it one quart of clean 
 water, and two ounces of ground Brasil-wood ; steep the 
 horn therein, then boil it, and you will have a fine red, 
 if you have soaked it for a while in alum-water, pre- 
 viously. 
 
 To stain Horn of a Brown Colour. 
 
 Take quick-lime, slacken it with urine, and wipe it 
 over the horn ; then take red curriers water, wash the 
 horn therein, and it will turn to a green colour; wipe 
 it over again with the same lime, and when dry, wash 
 it with lye ; let it lay therein a whole day, and it will be 
 of a fine chesnut colour. 
 
 To dye Horn of a Blue Colour. 
 
 Take a brass bowl, and when you have made it red 
 hot, wipe it over with sal-ammoniac ; then pour lime 
 water upon it, stir it together, and you will have a blue 
 water, in which steep the horn ; the longer you let it lie, 
 the deeper will be the colour. 
 
 OF VARNISHING, OR JAPANNING ON WOOD, &c. 
 
 A White Vanish. 
 
 Take ten ounces of rectified spirit of wine, fine pul- 
 verized gum-sandarac two ounces, and clear Venice tur- 
 pentine 
 
#34 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 pentine two ounces, put them together into a glass, and 
 cover them close with waxed paper and a bladder ; then 
 take a pot with water, put it on a coal fire, and when it 
 begins to be warm, put some hay at the bottom of the 
 pot, on which set your glass ; then let it boil for two or 
 three hours, and the sandarac and turpentine will dissolve 
 and unite with the spirits : then pour your varnish boiling 
 hot through a clean hair cloth, and put it up in a clean 
 phial for use. This is an excellent varnish, fit to be used 
 for \ r arnishing light colours, as white, yellow, green, &c. ; 
 and such things as are silvered or gilded. 
 
 t>- 
 
 A not her Varnish fit to mix with Red or Dark Colours, and, 
 to japan the Work. 
 
 Take of rectified spirits, (that is, such as when poured 
 on gunpowder will fire it ; or, when a linen rag being dipped 
 into it, and lighted, will consume it,) one pound ; of clean 
 gum-lac, a quarter of a pound ; grind it fine, and put it 
 into a phial, and pour the spirits over it ; let it stand 
 for two days, shaking it once every hour ; the third day 
 hang it over a gentle coal-fire, till it is well dissolved ; then 
 strain it through a hair-bag, and put it up for use. 
 
 Another lac Varnish. 
 
 Take of the best proof spirit one quart, and calcined 
 tartar one pound ; let the spirit stand upon the tartar, close 
 covered, for one day, in a gentle warmth ; then pour off, 
 and filtrate it through a paper : of this take one pound, 
 white amber six ounces, sandarac six ounces, gum lac two 
 ounces, (the amber must be picked out of the clear pieces) 
 grind all fine together, put it into a phial or matrass, then 
 pour on it three pounds of the filtrated spirit ; your phial 
 must be but about half filled ; then shake it about for an 
 
 hour 
 
JAPANNING ON WOOD. 2$>5 
 
 hour together, and keep it in. the matrass for two days, 
 shaking it once every hour ; when settled, pour it through 
 a hair-cloth, and it is fit for use. 
 
 What sediment remains in the phial, may be used in 
 making another such quantity of varnish, adding to it but 
 half the quantity of fresh ingredients. 
 
 Another lac Famish. 
 
 Take highly rectified spirits of wine one pint, gum lac 
 four ounces, sandarac two ounces, white amber one ounce, 
 white frankincense one ounce ; powder these in a stone 
 mortar very fine, and put them, together with the spirits 
 of wine, into a phial or matrass, stopping it very close ; 
 set it in the heat of the sun, or, in winder-time, in a warm 
 place, and after it has stood three or four days, set it on 
 ashes over a charcoal fire ; boil it sofcly for two hours, and 
 when you see the spirits of a yellowish brown colour, and 
 -of a thick consistence, pour it hot through a hair-cloth, 
 and preserve it in a clean phial for use. 
 
 A White or clear lac Va-rnish. 
 
 Take gum elemi, gum anime, white frankincense, and 
 white amber, of each one drachm ; grind them fine ; "put 
 them into a glass, and boil them in distilled vinegar : — then 
 pour off the vinegar, and wash the sediment with clean 
 warm water, and it will be of a white colour; dry it, and 
 grind it fine again ; add to it one drachm of gum traga- 
 canth, two drachms of white sugar-candy, both finely 
 ground ; put them by little and little into a matrass, where- 
 in you have before put two pounds of rectified spirits of 
 wine -, and after you have put all the. ingredients into it, 
 shake it for an hour together ; then put it into a balneum 
 viarice, and when it begins to boil, let it continue so for 
 two hours ; then let it cool ; and after it is cold, let it stand 
 
 for 
 
286 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 for three days ; decant it off into a clean phial, — stop it 
 close, and it is then fit for use. Or, 
 
 Take the above specified ingredients ; boil them in vi- 
 negar, as directed ; and after you have put to it the gum 
 tragacanth and sugar-candy, take of clear oil of spike, or 
 turpentine, one pound, and of Cyprian turpentine six 
 ounces ; put them together into a strong matrass, and set 
 it, furnished with a leaden ring, into a bath heat ; when 
 by that heat the turpentine is dissolved, add the other in- 
 gredients, finely ground, to it ; stir them well together 
 with a wooden spatula, and let them stand in the balneum 
 for three or four hours ; then take it out, and when cold, 
 and it has stood two or three days, pour it into a clean 
 phial, and you will have a fine varnish. 
 
 A fine Varnish for Blue, and other Colours, which will 
 make them bright, like Looking-glass. 
 
 If your table is to be of a blue colour, paint it first 
 over with indigo and white, ground with oil, and a little 
 turpentine ; when dry, you may give it another layer, and 
 heighten or deepen it to your liking ; and when this is 
 thoroughly dry, varnish it with the following varnish : 
 
 Take clear Cyprian turpentine half an ounce, sandarac 
 one ounce, mastich two ounces ; grind the sandarac and 
 mastich very line ; then take oil of spike two ounces, oil 
 of turpentine one ounce, put them into a glass cucurbit, 
 and dissolve it over a gentle heat , add to it the pulverized 
 gum ; set the glass, or matrass, into a pan with water j 
 and let it boil over a slow fire for an hour, and all will be 
 dissolved and united ; then let it cool ; preserve it in a 
 phial, w r ell stopped, for use. 
 
 When you use it ; first wipe your painted table, and 
 clean it from dust ; then take some fine, and light, smalt 
 in a cup, or upon a plate, according to what quantity your 
 piece requires ; temper it with the above varnish, and, 
 
 with 
 
JAPANNING ON WOOD. 287 
 
 with a large hair pencil, glaze it as quick as you can all 
 over ; let it dry in a clean place that is free from dust, 
 which will be in about three hours time ; then glaze it over 
 again ; the oftener you repeat it, the brighter will be your 
 table ; and if you will have it of an exceeding fine lustre, 
 glaze it over twelve or fifteen times. 
 
 A Chinese Varnish for all Sorts of Colours. 
 
 Put into a matrass a pint of spirits of wine, one ounce 
 of gum anime, two ounces of mastich, two ounces of 
 sandarac or juniper gum, powdered finely together in a 
 mortar ; then put them together into the matrass, close it 
 up, and hang it, in hot weather, in the sun for twenty-four 
 hours, or so long over a slow fire, till the gum is dissolved, and 
 the spirits are tinctured ; then filter it through a clean cloth, 
 and keep it in a phial closed up. — You may mix with it 
 what colour you please ; for red, use vermilion ; for black, 
 use lamp-black, or ivory black ; for blue, use indigo, and 
 white ; Prussian blue, or smalt, and white lead, &c. 
 
 How to varnish Chairs, Tables, and other Furniture, to 
 imitate Tortoise-shell ; so as not to be defaced by Oil or 
 spirituous Liquors. 
 
 First lay a lac varnish over the work, as you have been 
 instructed above ; then lay it over again with red-lead and 
 yellow-pink, well ground and mixed up with the said lac- 
 varnish. You may do it twice or three times over, letting 
 it dry thoroughly every time before you repeat it : after 
 which, rub it with Dutch rushes, such as the joiners and 
 cabinet-makers use. 
 
 Then take dragon's blood, which is a red gum ; beat it 
 very fine in a mortar, and temper it with this varnish : if 
 you would be very nice, strain it through a fine hair-cloth, 
 and put it up in a phial for use. The longer it stands, the 
 
 finer 
 
288 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 finer the colour will be. With this, you may shade over 
 your table, or other work, in the best manner you can : if 
 you over-cloud it again, you must have a darker shade : and 
 to deepen your shades, you may add to your varnish a 
 little ivory-black, umber, or indigo ; and work the colours 
 together according to the best of your judgment. When 
 you have done your work, and it is thoroughly dry, take 
 some pumice-stone, and make it red hot, and beat it to a 
 fine powder ; with this, and Dutch rushes soaked in water, 
 rub it smooth, and, afterwards, with a clean woollen rag. 
 Holding it over a gentle heat, give it five or six more coats 
 of varnish ; but be careful it be not heated too much, lest 
 it should blister, and spoil your work : — after it is thoroughly 
 dry, take tin-ashes, i. e. putty, and sweet oil, and, with 
 the rough side of Spanish leather, polish it ; and give it 
 the finishing stroke with some tin-ashes and the palm of 
 your hand, wiping it till it has gained a fine lustre. 
 
 From this direction the artist will make further improve- 
 ments. 
 
 A very fine Indian Varnish. 
 
 Take four or five quarts of such good spirits that, when 
 you light a spoonful, will consume in flames, and leave 
 nothing behind. Having this ready ; take gum-lac, beat 
 it fine, and put it to the spirit into a phial or matrass ; let 
 the spirit be four fingers high above the gum ; close the 
 glass, by tying a treble bladder over it \ then put it on a 
 hot sand-bath, and let it stand till the spirit and gum are 
 well united and boiled ; but be careful to see whether you 
 perceive any bubbles rise to the top of the glass, for as 
 soon as you perceive them, you must take a needle, and 
 prick the bladder, in order to give it vent ; else your glass 
 will be in danger of bursting. 
 
 After which, filter it through a filtering paper into ano- 
 ther glass, and keep it close stopped for use. 
 
JAPANNING ON WOOD. 289 
 
 If you would use this varnish with colours, let them be 
 first ground with rectified spirits ; and temper as much of 
 them as you have present occasion for with the varnish ; lay- 
 it on your work, and when you think you have laid your 
 varnish thick enough, polish it, when dry, with Dutch 
 rushes ; then give it a second polish with tripoli and sweet 
 oil ; afterwards give it another layer, or two, of clear var- 
 nish, and it will be fine, and answer the purpose. 
 
 To japan icith Gold, Glass, or any other Metallic Spangles. 
 
 First lay on your work with lac-varnish; then grind 
 Cologne-earth and gamboge with the same ; this varnish 
 must be bright and dear ; with these colours lay your work 
 once or twice over : let it dry, and then varnish it over, 
 and sift on the gold-dust, or whatever else you design it 
 for. If your work or table is large, lay the varnish on one 
 place after another; for the varnish will dry in one part ber 
 fore you have done sifting over another. After you have 
 sifted your work all over, and it is thoroughly dry, then 
 give it twelve or fifteen layers more of clear varnish, after 
 \vhich, smooth and polish it, as directed. 
 
 A very fine Varnish,/ ? (l Violin. 
 
 To do this in the best manner, you must have three 
 glasses before you : in the first, put of the finest gum-lac 
 eight ounces, sandarac three or four ounces, both very 
 finely pulverized ; upon this pour of the best rectified spi- 
 rit of wine, so much till it stands four inches above the 
 ingredients : when dissolved, strain it through a cloth, and 
 place it, closed up in a still place, to settle ; in a few days, 
 the top will be clear, which you are to decant off in ano- 
 ther glass, and preserve it from dust. 
 
 yox.. i. ft In 
 
 
290 THE LABORATOKY. 
 
 In the second glass, put of dragon's blood five ounces, 
 and of red wood three ounces; make a solution and ex- 
 tract of them, with the same spirit of wine. 
 
 In the third glass, dissolve of colophony, i. e. common 
 resin, three ounces, aloes two ounces ; and when the 
 whole is extracted, then pour the ingredients of the three 
 ^lasses into one, stop them up, and let them settle ; then 
 pour off what is clear at top, and filter the rest through a 
 brown paper. If you find the varnish too thin, exhale it 
 a little over a gentle heat, and you will have, a fine red vaiv 
 nish, which will gild pewter, and be of an excellent com- 
 position for varnishing of violins, See. 
 
 A choice Varnish which cannot be hurt by wet. 
 
 Take of copal, as much as you please, beat it fine, put 
 it into a glass, and pour highly rectified spirit of wine over 
 it, four inches high ; then close the glass with a bladder; 
 set it for twenty-four hours in a warm oven, for the gum to 
 dissolve ; after which, put the glass in balneo maria till 
 the spirits and the copal are incorporated. 
 
 A good Varnish for Paintings. 
 
 Beat up the white of an egg, with a dissolved piece of 
 white sugar-candy, (about the bigness of a filbert) and 
 half a tea-spoonful of brandy, till it becomes a froth ; then 
 let it settle for a little while, and, with the clear liquid, var- 
 nish over your picture ; it is better than any other varnish, 
 since it may be easily washed off again, when the picture 
 wants cleaning, and be done afresh. 
 
 A fine marbling on Wood, or japanning. 
 
 Take of the best transparent yellow amber what quan- 
 tity you please ; beat it to a powder ; put it into a clean 
 
 crucible 
 
 
JAPANNING ON WOOD. 291 
 
 crucible that is glazed within ; let it melt over a gentle 
 charcoal fire ; and stir it well, to keep it from burning ; 
 then pour it upon a smooth clean marble table, let it 
 cool, and beat it again to powder. Take afterwards clean 
 turpentine, and, in a glass, warm it in a sand heat ; put into 
 it the beaten amber ; let them simmer, and dissolve gently 
 together, till they are of a consistence fit to be used with a 
 pencil ; strain them through a cloth, and you will have the 
 finest varnish possible ; and although it be of a brownish 
 colour, yet when laid on, it has a fine clear gloss. 
 
 The colours wherewith you are to marble, are the fol- 
 lowing; lamp-black, brown-red, ochre, vermilion, which 
 are to be ground with linseed oil ; and white lead, ground 
 with oil of almonds. 
 
 For a white ; lay your first ground with linseed oil, and 
 if there are any holes in the wood, fill them up with chalk 
 tempered with size. For a black ground, lay it firsjt with 
 lamp-black and size ; when the ground is dry, mix the 
 vermilion with the above described varnish, and with a 
 hair pencil lay it on with an even and quick hand ; repeat 
 this three or four times till it is bright and fine, and lay the 
 varnish, by itself, over it twice, or thrice ; then mix your 
 other colours with the varnish, in an oyster-shell, or in lit- 
 tle cups ; and with them marble upon the ground you have 
 prepared, in imitation of any thing you please. 
 
 A fine Gold Varnish, wherewith you may gild any sil- 
 vered or turned Articles, with such Lustre as if done 
 with Gold. 
 
 Take of the finest gum-lac, in grains, eight ounces; 
 of clear gum sandarac two ounces ; dragon's blood, one 
 ounce and a half ; colophony, or black resin, one ounce 
 and a half; beat all together into powder, and put it 
 into a pipkin with a quart of highly rectified spirit 
 
 u 2 of 
 
'292 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 of wine, which is strong enough to fire gun-powder ; 
 put it into a sand bath, and let it remain until it is 
 dissolved as much as possible ; then let it cool ; strain it 
 through a cloth, into a glass, so as to separate the dross 
 that might have been in the ingredients. This varnish 
 you may lay on every thing that has been silvered or 
 tinned, three or four times, and it will resemble the 
 brightest gold. If you would have the gold-colour still 
 higher, you only add about two grains of turmeric, 
 two grains of the best hepatic aloes, and one grain of 
 the finest dragon's blood, boiling them up, and strain- 
 ing through a cloth into another glass. 
 
 When you would use it, set the ghss into any vessel 
 full of water over a gentle charcoal fire, in order to make 
 the varnish fluid ; it is also requisite to warm the work, 
 before you begin to varnish it. 
 
 OF CORAL WORK. 
 
 To make Red Coral Branches, for the Embillishment of 
 
 Grottos. 
 
 Take clear resin, and dissolve it in a brass pan ; to 
 one ounce thereof add two drachms of the finest ver- 
 milion ; when you have stirred' them well together, and 
 have chose your twigs and branches, peeled and dried, 
 take a pencil and paint these twigs all over, whilst 
 the composition is warm, and shape them in imitation 
 of natural coral, out of a black-thorn ; when done, hold 
 it over a gentle coal fire ; turn the branch with your 
 hand about, and it will make it ail over smooth and 
 even, as if polished. 
 
 In 
 
CORAL WORK. 293 
 
 In the same manner you may, with white lead, pre- 
 pare white ; and with lamp-black, black coral. 
 
 A gentleman may, at little expence, build a grotto of 
 glass cinders, which may be easily had, pebbles or pieces 
 of large flant, and embellish it with such counterfeit coral, 
 pieces of looking-glass, oyster, muscle, and snail shells, 
 moss, pieces of chalk, ore, &c. As to the cement to 
 bind them together, you have directions how to prepare 
 it under the article of cements. 
 
 PART 
 
204 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 PART VII. 
 
 THE ART OF 
 
 PREPARING COLOURS FOR PAINTERS '; 
 
 WITH SEVERAL METHODS OF GILDING, &C. 
 
 OF BLUE COLOURS. 
 
 To make, or prepare, Ultramarine. 
 
 TAKE lapis lazuli, and calcine it in a crucible on a 
 charcoal lire, and quench it in vinegar. Repeat this 
 twice over ; then grind it "on a fine hard stone to an impal- 
 pable powder. When thus ground, take white resin, pitch, 
 new wax, mastich and turpentine, of each six ounces ; 
 frankincense and linseed oil, of each two ounces ; let them 
 dissolve together over a gentle fire ; stir them well with 
 a wooden spatula, in order to unite them together ; then 
 pour them into clean water, continually stirring them ; 
 take them out, and preserve the mass, from dust, for 
 use. 
 
 When you prepare your ultramarine, take twenty ounces 
 of the above mass, to each pound of the pulverized lapis 
 
 lazuli. 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 295 
 
 lazuli. The mass you are to dissolve before a gentle heat, 
 by degrees in a pipkin, and fling the powder into it by little 
 and little, whilst it is dissolving ; after your powder is all 
 in, and well incorporated, then pour it into a pan with cold 
 water, and form it into little tents or drops ; but to pre- 
 vent its sticking to your fingers, you must anoint them with 
 linseed oil ; these tents or drops you are to put again into 
 fresh cold water, for fifteen days, shifting the water every 
 other day. 
 
 Then take and put them into a clean, earthen, well 
 glazed cup or bason, and pour warm water on them ; when 
 that is cold, pour it off, and put fresh warm water to it; 
 this you are to repeat until the tents or drops begin to dis- 
 solve, which will then turn the water into a blue colour. 
 
 When the water is of a fine blue tincture, and cold, 
 then decant that into another clean earthen cup or bason, 
 and pour more warm water upon the remaining tents ; 
 when that also is coloured, decant it off and pour fresh 
 on, repeating this until the water receives no more 
 tincture. 
 
 Let the tincture waters stand for twenty-four hours to 
 settle, after which you will observe a grcasiness on the 
 surface ; which, together with the water, you are to pour 
 off gently, and put fresh clean water upon the sediment, 
 mixing it well together, and straining it through a fine 
 hair sieve into a clean bowl; the sieve will attract some 
 of the slimy or greasy matter that might otherwise remain 
 therein ; so, after you have washed your sieve, and re- 
 peated the same thing with the next sediment, straining 
 it through with clear water, three times successively, then 
 let it settle ; pour off the water and let it dry of itself. 
 Thus you will have a fine ultramarine. 
 
 Another 
 
296 
 
 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Another Methods less Troublesome. 
 
 Calcine the lapis lazuli in a crucible \ then grind it 
 very fine on a porphyry. Mix up ihe powder with a 
 paste made of wax, pitch, mastic h, turpentine, and oil ; 
 and lastly, wash the paste well in clear water, to se- 
 parate the colouring part from the rest, which preci- 
 pitates to the bottom in the form of a subtile, beau- 
 tiful, blue powder. 
 
 To know whether it be pure, if you buy any ready 
 made ; put a iittle of it in a small crucible, and on heating 
 it red hot, if the powder keeps its colour, it is undoubtedly 
 genuine: on the contrary, if any change be perceived, or 
 any black spots appear, it is either spurious, or adul- 
 terated. 
 
 To prepare a curious blue Colour, little inferior to Ultra- 
 marine, from Blue Smalt. 
 
 Grind your smalt very fine, and proceed in every 
 respect as you have been taught ala^e, in preparing ul- 
 tramarine. 
 
 To prepare a curious Blue Colour from Silver. 
 
 Hammer silver thin ; nc.ii it thoroughly, and rub it 
 a littie over with qukksilvef ; then put a little of the 
 sharpest distilled vinegar, in which you have dissolved 
 some sal-ammoniac, into, a glass ; hang the silver slips 
 over it, so as not to touch the vinegar ; cover it very 
 close, and put it into a warm place, that the fumes of the 
 vine gar may raise on the silver a very beautiful blue, ad- 
 hering to the slips; wipe it off into a shell, and hang 
 the silver slips over the vinegar again, well closed ; re- 
 peat this, until all the silver is corroded. 
 
 Another 
 
COLOUR-MAKING, 237 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take of the purest silver what quantity you please* 
 and dissolve it in good aqua-fortis ; then evaporate half, 
 and set the glass in a damp and cool place, and it will shoot 
 into fine crystals ; then decant the fluid clear from it, put 
 the crystals into glass plates, and let them stand in a warm 
 place until they eifloresce, or run into a flour ; then grind 
 them with as much cicar ammoniac ; set them together in 
 the open air, until you see the mass become of a blue or 
 greenish hue ; then put them together into a cucurbite with 
 a large head to it, and sublime them. After this, grind 
 the silver that is left at the bottom of the matrass with 
 fresh ammonia, and sublime it as before ; this repeat until 
 ail the line blue is raised ; then dry and preserve it. It is a 
 fine and beautiful colour, fit to be used in the most curious 
 paintings. 
 
 Method. 
 
 Take of the finest silver as much as you wiil ; and 
 dissolve it in cicar aqua-fortis, in quantity as little as pos- 
 sible ; when it is dissolved, evaporate, and the silver will 
 remain at the bottom ; pour over it some sal-ammoniac 
 mixed with sharp white-wine vinegar; let it settle and 
 turn clear ; then pour oft the vinegar, and keep the sedi- 
 ment at the bottom for a month, well closed up, to pre- 
 vent the least evaporation, and you will find a very curious 
 blue colour. 
 
 To prepare a Blue Colour from Verdi grise. 
 
 Take sal-ammoniac and verdigrise, of each six ounces : 
 mix them well together with aqua-kali, into a paste, put 
 this into a phial, and stop it close ; let it stand for several 
 days, and you will have a fine blue colour. 
 
 Another 
 
293 THE LABORATORY 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take sal-ammoniac one part, yerdigrise two parts, beat 
 them both to a powder, and mix them with a little white 
 lead ; then incorporate them together with aqua-kali ; put 
 them into a glass, and close it well ; put the glass afterwards 
 in a loaf, and hake it in a baker's oven ; as soon as the loaf 
 isbak gh, your colour will be ready. Or, 
 
 Take quicksilver two parts, sulphur three parts, sal-am- 
 moniac four parts ; mix and beat all well together ; temper 
 them with water, put them in a well glazed pipkin into a 
 furnace, over a coal fire, and when you see a blue smoke 
 arise, take it off and let it cool; then break the utensil, 
 and you will find a fine sky-blue, not unlike ultramarine. 
 
 To prepare Blue Tornisel, or Turnsol, a beautiful Colour. 
 
 Take sloes, before they are full ripe, beat them into a 
 paste, which put in a clean earthen pan : take another 
 earthen pan, put into it a quart of water, three ounces of 
 quick-lime, and a quarter of an ounce of verdigrise, and one- 
 fifth of sal-ammoniac ; let these things soak in the water until 
 it is tinctured of a green colour. In twenty-four hours the 
 lime and verdigrise will be sunk to the bottom, then decant 
 off the water through a cloth, into another earthen vessel , 
 add to it the paste of sloes, and let it gently boil over a 
 slow fire ; when cold, it will be of a fine sky blue ; then 
 pour that liquid into a clean pan through a cloth ; set it 
 on ashes ; and when it begins to be of a thickish substance, 
 then put it up in a bladder, and hang it up to dry. You 
 mav also dip clean soft linen nigs into it; dry them in the 
 shade ; and when dry, repeat it again for three or four 
 times ; these preserve in paper ; and when you have oc- 
 casion 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. - v : 
 
 casion to use it, soak one of these rags in a little fair 
 water, and you will have a beautiful blue colour. 
 
 A Blue of Egg-shells. 
 
 Take egg-shells, calcine them in a crucible, beat them 
 to a fine powder; put that into a copper vessel, and pour 
 vinegar over it ; which set into horse-dung for a month, 
 and you will have a delightful blue. 
 
 To make Venetian Sky-blue. 
 
 Take of quick-lime one pound, mix and work it with 
 sharp white-wine vinegar into a dough ; let it stand for 
 half an hour, and when hard, pour more vinegar to it, 
 in order to make it soft ; when done, add to it two ounces 
 of good pulverized indigo ; mix them well together ; set 
 it into a glass vessel for twenty days under horse-dung, 
 after which time see whether it is of a fine colour ; if not, 
 set it again, as long as before, in the dung, and it will then 
 come to its perfection. 
 
 Prussian Blue. 
 
 Take any animal matters, such as blood, the raspings^ 
 of horn, clippings of skins, &c. &c. and convert them 
 into a black coal, by heating them in a covered vessel, 
 together with an equal weight of alkali. — Lixiviate this 
 coal in water ; then strain it, and evaporate to a degree 
 of strong concentration. This lixivium is then to be gra- 
 dually admixed to a solution of two ounces of martial vi- 
 triol, and four ounces of alum, when a bluish deposite 
 will be formed, which is rendered more intensely blue, 
 by treating it with marine acid. Manufacturers proceed on 
 a much larger scale. 
 
 OF 
 
300 
 
 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 OF SEVERAL RED COLOURS. 
 
 Lake, or Laquc. 
 
 A beautiful red colour was originally prepared iron! 
 gam-lacca or laqiic, which has given the name of lake 
 to all such colouring substances as are capable of attach- 
 ing themselves to the earth of alum, and of being preci- 
 pitated in the form of a red powder. Several such co- 
 louring substances have been employed, viz. madder, log- 
 wood, Brasil-wood, kermes, and cochineal ; but the last 
 is the principal one employed, concerning which we shall 
 now treat. 
 
 Take two ounces of cochineal, and boil them gently in 
 a quart of water; filtering the solution through paper, and 
 adding two ounces of peavl-ash dissolved in half a pint of 
 warm water, filtered also through paper. Make a solution 
 of two ounces of alum in a considerable quantity of water 
 (three pints at least.) Add this latter solution to the for* 
 mer, gradually, so long as any ebullition appears to arise; 
 wash the red-coloured precipi ate from the salts, in -several 
 quantities of fair water, and afterwards filter it through 
 paper, and preserve the powder for use. Or, 
 
 Boil three pounds of the raspings of Brasil-wood with 
 three pounds of common salt in three gallons of water ; 
 filter the hot liquor through flannel, and add to this a 
 warm solution of five pounds of alum in four gallons of 
 water. Nov/, dissolve, or have ready dissolved, three 
 pounds of the best pearl-ash in a gallon and a half of wa- 
 ter, and filter it also ; and put the liquor to the other, gra- 
 dually, till the whole colour is precipitated. If it be pur- 
 ple instead of red, add a fresh quantity of alum till a scar- 
 let hue is produced ; and then proceed with the sediment 
 as in the former article. By the addition of half a pound 
 
 of 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 301 
 
 of seed-lac to the solution of pearl-ash before it is filtered, 
 a lake will be produced that wili stand well both in water 
 and oil, but is not so transparent in oil as without the 
 seed-lac. 
 
 The lake from Brasil-wood may be also made by add- 
 ing half an ounce of Spanish anotto to each pound ot the 
 wood ; but the anotto must be dissolved in the solution of 
 pearl-ash. 
 
 A beautiful lake comes from China, but it does not 
 work readily with oils, or water ; it is however total'y so- 
 luble in spirits of wine, and may be used in nice pieces of 
 art. 
 
 To extract Lake from Scarlet Wool. 
 
 Take clean water, about six or seven gallons, dissolve 
 therein as much pot-ash as will make it a good sharp lye, 
 iiltrate it through a felt, or flannel bag, to make it very- 
 clear ; in this put the scarlet wool ; let it boil well in a 
 kettle, till it is white again, and the lye has extracted all 
 the colour ; then pour it again through a clean felt or rag, 
 and squeeze out the wool ; then take two pounds of alum, 
 let it dissolve in water, and pour it in the coloured lye ; stir 
 it well together, and it will curdle and turn of a thick con- 
 sistence ; pour it again into a clean bag, and the lake will 
 remain in the bag, but the Ive will run clear from it ; and 
 in case it should still run coloured from it, you must let it 
 boil with a little of the dissolved alum, which will wholly 
 curdle it, and keep the lake back. 
 
 When the lake is in this manner in the bag, pour clear 
 water over it, in order to clear it from the alum that may 
 still remain in it ; take a flat cake of plaster of Paris, or 
 chalk ; then strain the lake through a paper cone that has 
 a small opening at the point, in little drops, or tents, upon 
 it ; and when dry, put them up for use. 
 
 You 
 
302 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 You must observe, that in case the liquor should fall 
 short in boiling the wool, you must recruit with warm 
 water. 
 
 If you can get the parings of scarlet cloth, you will save 
 yourself much trouble, by only boiling them in the lye, 
 and proceeding as has been directed. This last method is 
 practised by the French, in preparing their beautiful colour 
 called Carmine. 
 
 To make fine Vermilion. 
 
 Take two parts of quicksilver, and one-third of sul- 
 phur ; put them into a pipkin, and melt them together ; 
 when cold, grind it well upon a stone, and put it into a 
 glass, which before-hand has been laid over with a coating 
 of lute an inch thick ; then make a coffin of clay, for the 
 glass to stand in ; set this on a trivet, over a slow fire ; put 
 a cover of tin, with a little hole in the middle, upon the 
 glass, and lute it all round : put an iron wire through the 
 hole, to stir it about ; augment your lire by degrees, and 
 watch your glass carefully ; (for you will see a coloured 
 smoke proceed from the matter in the glass) ; keep on 
 augmenting your fire, till vou see the smoke become of a 
 red crimson colour, then it is enough ; take it off the fire ; 
 let it cool, and vou will have a fine vermilion. 
 
 Before you use it to paint or write with, take as much 
 vermilion as you will, and grind it well with good white- 
 wine, on a stone, and, after that, with the whites of 
 eggs ; add a little hepatic aloes to it, and make it up into 
 little cakes ; when drv, put them by for use. When you 
 use them, grind or dilute them with clear pump water, 
 and a little white of eggs; and if it will not flow readily 
 from the pen, mix a little myrrh with it. 
 
 How 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 30^ 
 
 How to purify Vermilion. 
 
 The vermilion being made of mercury and sulphur, the 
 impurities which it has contracted from those minerals 
 must be separated, and this is done in the following man- 
 ner : 
 
 Grind the pieces of vermilion with water, upon a stone, 
 and put them on glazed plates to dry ; then pour urine 
 upon them, and mix them thoroughly with it, so that it 
 may swim over it ; let it thus stand, and, when the ver- 
 milion is settled, pour off that urine, and put fresh upon 
 it ; let it stand all night ; repeat this four or five days suc- 
 cessively, till the vermilion is well cleansed ; then pour the 
 white of eggs over it ; mix it up therewith, and stir it well 
 together with a spatula of wood, and let it stand again ; 
 when settled, pour it off, and put fresh on ; repeat this 
 three or four times, covering your vessel every time close, 
 to keep the dust from falling into it, which else would 
 diminish the beauty of the colour : when you would use 
 this vermilion, dilute it with gum-water. Or, 
 
 Grind vermilion in the urine of a child, or in spirits of 
 wine, and set it to dry in the sun. 
 
 If you would have the vermilion of a high colour, and 
 free from a black hue, put into the spirits, or urine, a 
 little saffron, and grind your vermilion with it. 
 
 To make a fine Purple Colour. 
 
 Melt one pound of tin ; after which put two ounces 
 of warm quicksilver to it ; stir them together, till it is an 
 amalgam ; then take sulphur and sal-ammoniac, of each 
 one pound ; grind fine, and mix it up with the amalgam, 
 in a stone mortar or wooden bowl ; put it into a glass 
 which is well coated with clay, and set it, first, over a 
 gentle fire, augmenting it by degrees, so as to keep it in 
 
 one 
 
304 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 one uniform motion ; stir the matter with a stick, and, 
 when you perceive it to be of a yellow colour, take it off 
 the fire ; let it cool, and you will have a fine gold colour, 
 besides a beautiful purple. 
 
 
 COLOURS EXTRACTED FROM FLOWERS, &c. 
 
 JIoic to extract Yellow, Blue, Violet, and other Colours. 
 
 Prepare a middling sharp lye from lime, or pot-ash ; 
 in this boil the flowers, or leaves, of single colours, ovei 
 a slow fire, till the tincture of the flowers is quite extract- 
 ed, which you may know when the leaves turn pale, and 
 the lye is of a fine colour. This lye put afterwards into, 
 a glazed pipkin or pan, and boil it a little, putting in some 
 alum ; then pour the lees off into a pan with clean water, 
 and you will see the colour precipitate to the bottom ; let 
 it settle well ; then pour that water off, and add fresh ; 
 repeat this till the powder is entirely cleansed from the lye 
 and alum ; and the freer it is therefrom, the finer will be 
 your colour. The sediment is a line lake, which spread 
 upon linen cloth, on clean tiles in the shade, to dry. 
 
 You may dry your colours upon a plate of plaster of 
 Paris, or, for want of that, on a piece of chalk ; either of 
 them will do to dry the colours quicker than the method 
 above. 
 
 To the receipt for extracting the tinctures from flowers, 
 leaves, herbs, and plants, by distillation, which has been 
 already inserted, add, that it will be adviseable to 
 preserve the first droppings that fail in the receiver, by 
 themselves, as they yield the finest and most beautiful 
 colour. Care must also be taken, not to bruise the tender 
 leaves of the flowers, else the coarse juice will distil 
 
 alone: 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 305 
 
 along with the tincture, and make it of an unpleasant 
 hue. Such leaves that are firm and strong require not 
 that care. 
 
 Kuhkel's Method of extracting the Colours from 
 Flowers, S(c. 
 
 Take highly rectified spirits of wine, and pour it over 
 a herb, or flower ; and, if the leaves of the plants are large 
 and coarse, cut them small, but leave the leaves of flowers 
 whole : as soon as the spirits are tinctured, and both co- 
 lours of an equal tint *, put them together $ but if they 
 differ, set each apart by itself; after which, distil the 
 spirits of wine from it to a very little, so as to take it off 
 the cucurbit, and put it into a china tea saucer, a glass 
 cup, or a small matrass, and so let it evaporate over a 
 slow fire till it comes to some thickness, or, if you will, 
 quite dry : this must be done very slowly, on account of 
 the tenderness of the colour. 
 
 Some flowers will change their colours and produce 
 quite different ones, and this the blue flowers are most sub*- 
 ject to ; to prevent which, one must be very slow and care- 
 ful in distilling them. There is never so much trouble 
 with any other coloured flowers as the blue ones, and yet 
 there is seldom obtained a blue colour from flowers, to 
 the satisfaction. The whole matter depends chiefly upon 
 care : practice will be the best instructor. 
 
 By this method one may plainly see what flowers or 
 plants are fit for use ; for, by only infusing some in a little 
 spirits of wine, it will soon shew what colours they will 
 produce. 
 
 * This direction is far from clear : it seems that the herbs and 
 flowers are separately put in spirits; but the mixing of them is 
 incorrect. Ed. 
 
 vol. I. X OF 
 
306 
 
 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 OF YELLOW COLOURS. 
 
 True Naples' Yellow. 
 
 Take twelve ounces of white lead, one ounce of alum, 
 one ounce of sal-ammoniac, and three ounces of diapho- 
 retic antimony , put them into an unglazed pipkin, and 
 expose them in a moderate heat for the space of eight 
 hours. Thus will a beautiful yellow be obtained, such as 
 the artists of Italy term Giallolino. 
 
 Masticot, or Massicot. 
 
 Take any quantity of white lead ; put it into a crucible, 
 and expose it to a degree of heat that will turn it yel- 
 low, which may be exactly ascertained by inspection only. 
 
 Orange Colour. 
 
 Boil four ounces of the best Spanish anotto, and one 
 pound of pearl-ash, for the space of half an hour, in one 
 gallon of water. Strain the tincture, and mix it gradually 
 with a solution of a pound and a half of alum to six 
 quarts of water, desisting when no ebullition ensues. 
 Treat the sediment as is usual in preparing lake, and dry 
 it in square bits, or round lozenges. 
 
 OF GREEN COLOURS. 
 
 Ho-j) to make good Verdigrise. 
 
 Take of sharp vinegar as much as you will, of clean 
 copper flakes one pound, salt three quarters of a pound, 
 
 red 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 307 
 
 red tartar eight ounces, sal-ammoniac two ounces, leaven 
 twelve ounces ; beat, what is to be beaten, to a line pow- 
 der, and mix the whole with the vinegar well together ; 
 put it into a new well-glazed pan ; cover it with a lid, and 
 Jute it with clay ; then bury it for eighteen or twenty 
 days in horse dung. Take it out again ; pour off the 
 vinegar gently, and you will have good verdigrise. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Take a well-glazed pan or pot, and put into it good 
 sharp vinegar ; then take thin copper filings, a pretty large 
 quantity ; put them into a crucible, and set the same into 
 the pan with vinegar, so that the vinegar may not touch 
 the copper ; then lute the cover of the pan well with 
 clay, to keep out the air ; put the pan into horse dung, 
 or into a warm place, for twenty-five davs ; then take it 
 out again, and open it, and you will find the verdigrise 
 hang to the copper filings ; scrape the verdigrise off with 
 a knife, and let it fall into the vinegar ; after which, close 
 up the pan again as you did before ; put it into the dung, 
 or a warm place, and thus repeat it till the copper is all 
 consumed : the verdigrise will settle at the bottom of the 
 pan, which, after you have gently poured off the vinegar 
 from it, you may put up for use. 
 
 Another easier Method to make Verdigrise. 
 
 Take a copper kettle, or bowl, and put into it good 
 sharp vinegar ; set it in the heat of the sun to dry, and 
 you will have fine verdigrise ; after you have taken it out 
 of the kettle, or bowl, you may pour on more vinegar, and 
 repeat it as often as you think proper. 
 
 x 2 7 » 
 
303 THE LAE0RAT0RT. 
 
 To make fine Verdigrise for Dyers. 
 
 First, take four pounds of tartar, two pounds of salt, 
 one pound of copper-ashes, one pound and a half of 
 good vinegar ; then take a crucible, or an unglazed pan ; 
 take a handful of tartar, and fling it into the crucible, also 
 one handful of salt, and a handful of copper-ashes ; fling 
 in all, one after another, till the crucible, or pan, is full j 
 then pour on the vinegar, and stir it well together, till the 
 ingredients are thoroughly rnoist, and are turned of a 
 black colour ; cover the pan, and lute it close with clay, 
 to prevent the air coming to it ; put it for a fortnight, of 
 three weeks, in hot horse dung, and you will have a good 
 verdigrise. If you would have it dry, hang it up in a 
 bladder, in the air. Or, 
 
 Take vinegar iri which has been steeped some copper, 
 and one pound of salt , mix the salt with so much vinegar 
 as to make it of a consistence ; then put it into a copper 
 vessel ; close it up, and set it in a damp place ; and after 
 it has stood some days, you will have a good verdigrise 
 Or, 
 
 Take an old copper kettle or copper boiler, and scower 
 it clean with sand ; then take vinegar and honey, of each 
 an equal quantity ; mix them together, and strike the 
 mixture all over the inside ; then take salt, and sprinkle 
 it upon the honey, so as to stick to it ; have a board, 
 made with a good many holes, and cover the kettle there- 
 with ; then turn your kettle with the board upon hot horse 
 dung ; cover it all over with dung, and let it stand fat 
 ciffht davs together, and you will have fine verdigrise. 
 
 Fine Verdigrise for Painters* 
 
 Take copper-slips or filings, and put them into a strong 
 copper-box, with a cover to it ; pour some vinegar, mixed 
 
 up 
 
COLOUR-MAKII\ T G. 30S> 
 
 up with a little honey, into it ; set it in the sun, or in a 
 warm place, for fourteen days, and the vinegar will be- 
 come blue : pour it into a glass, and close it well up : then 
 put more vinegar and honey upon the copper-filings, and 
 proceed as before, till they do not tincture the vinegar : 
 what you have collected in glasses, put in the sun, or a 
 warm place, till it becomes of a proper thickness; then 
 grind it on a stone, and temper it with a little gum-water : 
 if you would have it of a grass green, mix it with a little 
 sap-green. 
 
 flow to myke Sap-green. 
 
 About a fortnight or three weeks before Michaelmas, 
 take as many sloes as you please ; mash them a little, and 
 put them into a clean glazed pan ; sprinkle them well over 
 with powdered alum, and let them stand in a hot place for 
 twenty-four hours ; then pour upon them a clear lye, and 
 put it upon a fire, and give it a slow boiling, till a good 
 quantity is boiled away ; then take it off the fire ; let it 
 cool," and pour it through a cloth ; what comes through, 
 put up in a bladder, and hang it in the air to dry ; after- 
 wards keep it always hanging in a dry place, or in the 
 chimney corner ; and when you have occasion to use it, 
 take as much as you want and dilute it with clear water : 
 if it should turn too much upon the yellow, mix it with a 
 little indigo. 
 
 Another finer Sap-green, 
 
 Take of blue lilies that part of the flower which is of 
 a fine blue colour (for the rest is of no use) and stamp 
 them well in a stone mortar ; then put upon them a spoon- 
 ful, or according to the quantity of the leaves, two or 
 more spoonfuls, of water, wherein before has been dis- 
 solved 
 
310 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 solved a little alum and gum arabic, and work it well 
 together in the mortar ; then strain it through a cloth ; 
 put it into muscle-shells, and set them in the sun to dry. 
 
 ■Or, 
 
 After you have proceeded as before, fling some pow- 
 dered quick-lime over it, before you strain it through the 
 cloth, and pat it in muscle-shells. Or, 
 
 Beat the blue leaves of lilies in a stone mortar ; strain 
 them through a fine cloth into muscle-shells, and fling 
 some powdered alum over ; to one more than the other, 
 in order to make the colours of different shades. 
 
 To prepare a fine Green Colour. 
 
 Temper indigo and yellow orpiment with gum-water: 
 grind it fine, and mix with it a little of ox or fish-gall, and 
 you will have a pleasant green. You mav shade it with 
 indigo or sap-green, and heighten it with Dutch pink. 
 
 A good and, cheap Green. 
 
 To one pound of blue vitriol dissolved in a sufficient 
 quantity of water, add immediately one pound of purified 
 alkali, and five ounces and a half of pulverized white 
 arsenic, dissolved previously in eight pounds of boiling 
 water : the precipitate, arising from the mixture of the 
 two solutions, is to be washed, artd dried. It mixes 
 readily with oils, and is much cheaper than any other 
 green colour. 
 
 OF 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 311 
 
 OF WHITE COLOURS, 
 
 To make fine White Lead*. 
 
 Take some sheet lead, or, rather, milled lead, and cut 
 it into plates of about two inches wide, and six or eight 
 inches long ; make through each of them a hole, to draw 
 a string through, to hang them in an oaken vessel, about 
 two feet high, into which put two quarts of good vinegar, 
 in another vessel, and cover it ; set it over a gentle coal 
 fire, and let it be boiling hot ; then take it off, and put it 
 for ten days in a warm place ; then take off the cover, 
 take out the plates, and they will be covered with a white 
 colour on both sides, a finger thick, wiiich your are to 
 scrape off with a knife, and put into a clean bason ; then 
 hang the plates up again in the wooden vessel, and pro- 
 ceed as before, scraping the colour once every ten days : 
 grind the colour in a stone mortar, with clean water, to a 
 paste, and put it up in clean pans to dry. 
 
 Another Method to make White Lead. 
 
 Take long and flat pieces of lead ; hang them in a 
 Merton stone-ware pan, and, before you hang the lead in 
 the vessel, pour into it good vinegar, heated ; cover it 
 close, and lute it to keep out the air, and put it in a warm 
 place, for a month or five weeks ; then take off the cover, 
 and scrape off the white lead : this you may repeat every 
 fortnight or three weeks, and you will have good white 
 lead. ' 
 
 '' The preparing of white lead'xs so pernicious to health, that we 
 strongly recommend it to the reader to buy it ready prepared ; 
 and, indeed, most other articles that can be purchased readily. 
 Ed. 
 
 Another 
 
iI2 THE LABOP.ATORY. 
 
 Another Method of preparing White Lend. 
 
 Let pieces of milled lead be rolled spirally, so that the 
 space of an inch shall be left between each circumvolution, 
 and place these pieces vertically in earthen pots of a fit 
 size, containing some good vinegar. Support the rolls of 
 lead within the pots, so as not to let them touch the vine- 
 gar, but freely receive its fumes within the circumvolu- 
 tions. The pots are now to be placed in a bed of dung, 
 to raise a gradual heat, by which the surface of the metal 
 may become corroded with a beautiful white pigment 
 called ceruse. When this ceruse is duly ground and wash- 
 ed, it becomes the ordinary white lead of the shops. It 
 is, by some, called fiake white, from its falling off the 
 corroded lead in flakes or scales. 
 
 Nottingham White. 
 
 This very durable white is said to be prepared at Not- 
 tingham in a similar ivay to the method described above, 
 with this only difference — that sour ale, called alegar, is 
 used instead of vinegar. Whether this virtue in alegar is 
 owing to the hops originally boiled in it is not determined, 
 but it is highly probable, because vinegar is usually pre- 
 pared from malt, as well as ale, but without the addition 
 of any hops. 
 
 By absolute experiment, it has been verified that this 
 white keeps its colour for a greater length of time than 
 any other kind of white lead. 
 
 To prepare another White Cclour. 
 
 Take quick-lime, and mix with it calcined egg-shells ; 
 grind these two ingredients with goat's milk, very fine, 
 and it is fit to paint with. 
 
 A good 
 

 
 COLOUR-MAKING. 21S 
 
 A good White Colour. 
 
 Take crown glass, and beat it to an impalpable pow- 
 der ; take also finely pulverized sulphur ; mix them toge- 
 ther into a large crucible with a cover to it ; lute it close, 
 and put it upon a charcoal fire, so as to make the crucible 
 red hot all over : when it is thus heated, take it off the 
 fire, and let it cool ; then take off the cover, and grind 
 the matter upon a stone with clear water, and temper it 
 either with oil or gum-water : it will give a good white 
 colour. 
 
 A fine White Colour for painting in Miniature. 
 
 Take four ounces of good bismuth, and beat it fine ; 
 then dilute it in eight ounces of the best aqua-fortis ; pour 
 the solution into a glass, and put a little salt water to it, 
 and the bismuth will precipitate to the bottom, in a snow- 
 white powder ; pour off the water, and sweeten the pow- 
 der well with clean water from the sharpness of the aqua- 
 fortis ; then dry it, and keep it carefully from dust ; when 
 you use it, dilute it with gum- water. This is the magis- 
 tery of bismuth, used by the ladies for a cosmetic ; and is 
 termed, by artists, Spanish white. It is apt to turn black, 
 although it is at first a beautiful colour. 
 
 How to refine White Lead. 
 
 Take fine white lead, and grind it upon a stone with 
 white-wine vinegar, and it will turn black ; then take an 
 earthen dish full of water, and wash your ground \ e 
 lead well, and let it settle ; then drain the water gently 
 from it, and grind it once more upon a stone with vine- 
 gar, and wash it again : repeat this three or four times, 
 
 and 
 
314 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and you will have a curious fine white, fit for the nicest 
 work, both in oil and water colours. 
 
 How to prepare Egg-shells, for a White Colour. 
 
 Soak the egg-shells three or four days in good sharp 
 vinegar ; then wash them in clear water ; dry them in the 
 heat of the sun ; beat them into a fine powder, and grind 
 them on a stone. 
 
 White for Water-colours, ft for Paper-stainers, 5fc. 
 
 Pour a small quantity of strong nitrous acid upon 
 litharge in a glass vessel, and the acid will unite itself to 
 the metal w T ith strong effervescence and heat. Some 
 water being now poured on, and the glass vessel being 
 shaken, a turbid solution of the litharge is made. If a 
 small quantity of acid of vitriol be now added, it throws 
 down a beautiful white powder ; and the acid of nitre be- 
 ing left at liberty to act upon the remainder of the litharge, 
 begins anew to dissolve it with efTervescence. When it is, 
 again saturated, which will be known by the discontinu- 
 ance of the bubbles, more acid of vitriol is to be added, 
 by drops, and more of the white powder is formed. Thus 
 may you proceed, till all the litharge is converted, by the 
 alternate use of the two acids ; and if the process has 
 been neatly managed, an ounce of nitrous acid may be 
 made to convert several pounds of litharge into a tc/iitt 
 powder of great value. 
 
 OF 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 315 
 
 OF SEVERAL BLACK COLOURS. 
 
 To burn Lamp-black, in order to make it finer, and of a 
 better Colour. 
 
 Take a fire shovel, and hold it in the fire till it is red 
 hot ; then fling your lamp-black upon it, and when it is 
 done smoking, it is enough. 
 
 How to make a finer Lamp-black than is ordinarily sold in 
 Colour Shops. 
 
 Have a lamp with a large wick of cotton, stored plen- 
 tifully with oil ; fix over the lamp a sort of canopy, made 
 of tin or iron ; the smoke which settles to it, sweep off 
 with a feather, and preserve it from dust. When you use 
 it, temper it with oil or gum-water. 
 
 To make a Black of Trotter-bones. 
 
 Take as many trotter-bones as you please, and bum 
 them in a close crucible, and quench them in damp linen 
 rags ; grind them with fair water, before you use them 
 with it : this black is fit to be mixed with lake and umber, 
 for shades in carnation or flesh-colour. 
 
 To make Lvory-black. 
 
 Take the shavings or raspings of ivory, which you 
 may easily have at the comb-makers : mix them up with 
 a little linseed oil ; put them into a pan, or crucible, and 
 lute it close, leaving only a little hole in the middle of the 
 cover ; set it on a coal fire, and let it stand till you per- 
 ceive no more smoke, then take it off, and set it in sand, 
 
 putting 
 
516 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 putting another pan or crucible over it ; when cold, you, 
 will have the finest black colour that can be prepared. 
 
 Another Method to burn Ivory either Black or White. 
 
 Fill a crucible with the wastes of ivory or hartshorn ; 
 lute it well, and put it in a fire, and when the phlegm, 
 spirit, o;!, and salts have fled, it will be of a very fine 
 black colour ; but if you keep it longer in the fire, it will 
 turn white. 
 
 A Cherry 'stone Black: 
 
 Fill a crucible with cherry-stones, and cover and lute 
 it well ;• let them dry first by degrees, then burn them to 
 a coal ; afterwards beat them to powder, and moisten them 
 with gum-tragacanth water; form them into little balls, 
 ready to be used, either for oil or water colours. 
 
 To make Indian Ink. 
 
 Take dryed black horse beans, and burn them to a pow- 
 der ; mix them up with gum-arabic water, and bring them 
 to a mass ; press it in a mould made for that purpose, and 
 let it dry. Or t 
 
 Take one ounce of lamp-black, two ounces of indigo, 
 half an ounce of fish black ; grind them with half water 
 and half milk, and a little gum-arabic, and form tables, 
 thereof. The lamp-black must be cleared from all great- 
 ness, by burning it in a clean pun, on a coal tire. 
 
 To make a fine Ink-powder, to write or draw with. 
 
 Take half an ounce of lamp-black ; plumb or cherry- 
 stones, vitriol, and gall-nuts of each half an ounce ; burn 
 
 them 
 
COLOUR-MAKING. 317 
 
 them together in a crucible ; add half an ounce of gum- 
 arabic : beat all in a mortar to a fine powder, and si 
 through a fine sieve ; then put it up in a box, and, si hea 
 you want to use it, dilute it with fair water. 
 
 SEVERAL METHODS OF GILDING. 
 
 A particular way of Gilding \ in the open Air, where Leaf- 
 Gold cannot be managed, on account of the Wind. 
 
 Take thin pewter leaves, or tinfoil, and strike them 
 over with gold size, and gild them ; and when you are 
 obliged to gild any thing that is high, and you have no 
 shelter to keep off" the wind, lay these on size something 
 stronger, in order to make the gilt leaves stick on the 
 better. 
 
 How to prepare the Size for gilding in burnished Gold. 
 
 Take two pounds of cuttings or shreds of white glove 
 leather ; let them soak for some time in fair water, and then 
 boil them in a pot with ten quarts of water, to two or three 
 quarts ; then strain through a cloth into a clean earthen 
 pan. You may try whether the size be strong enough, by 
 taking a little between your fingers, to see whether it is 
 of a gluish consistence, and whether it will stick. Add 
 to this size a due quantity of whiten, to make a paint 
 of it. 
 
 How to gild in burnish upon Wood, Picture-frames, a* any 
 other Sort of Work. 
 
 The wood must be first well smoothed, and then se- 
 veral times struck over with size and whiten ; when dry, rub 
 
 it 
 
313 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 it well over with Dutch rushes, to make it even and smooth ; 
 then with a soft hair pencil lay it over with size water ; 
 after which lay on the gold coloured ground, twice or three 
 times ; when it is thoroughly dry, rub it over with a linen 
 rag, till it looks polished : then have your leaf gold ready 
 cut upon a leather cushion ; and when, with a large pencil, 
 dipped in the strongest brandy you can get, you have gone 
 over your work, be nimble in laying on the gold : when it 
 is quite dry, polish it with a tooth. 
 
 How to prepare the Nurimberg Metallic Powder, which 
 gives a beautiful Lustre, when strewed upon Writing, 
 or Letters. 
 
 Take the filings of copper, brass, iron, steel, or any 
 other metal ; sift them through a fine sieve, and put 
 them into a clean bason or such like vessel ; wash them 
 well with a clean and sharp lye, and, when you have 
 poured that off, wash them with clean water, till you 
 have cleansed them from all its effects. 
 
 After your filings are thus cleansed and dry> take a 
 smooth plate, either of iron or copper ; lay it upon live 
 coals, and put one sort of the filings upon the plate, 
 stirring it continually about with an iron spatula : as 
 soon as the metal is touched with the heat, it changes 
 into a variety of colours, and that which suffers the 
 greatest heat will take the darkest colour ; each metal 
 different. 
 
 When you have done one sort, proceed in the same 
 manner with another; by which means you will have 
 variety of colours. 
 
 Then take a flatting-mill, such as the silver-wire drawers 
 use, or those employed in flatting of gold, silver or copper- 
 plate ; fit it with a sort of funnel at top, through which 
 the filings may be conveyed to the flatting rolls, (which 
 ought to be very exact, and parallel to each other, made 
 
 of 
 
Colour-making. 319 
 
 of the finest steel, and polished like a looking-glass.) 
 When you are thus prepared, work- it with carefulness 
 between the rollers, and you will have a most beautiful 
 powder, which sparkles with all sorts of colours. 
 
 The filings of brass produce a bright gold colour ; the 
 copper, a line red lire-colour ; iron and steel, various 
 shades of blue ; pewter, marcasite, and bismuth, produce 
 a white colour. 
 
 How to bronze Images of Plaster of Paris. 
 
 Take isinglass, and steep it in very strong brandy; 
 put it, well closed, in a warm place, and it will dissolve ; 
 add to it a little saffron, and mix it up with metallic pow- 
 der in a muscle or oyster shell ; strike this over your image, 
 with a soft hair pencil ; but, before you do this, wash it 
 over with size-water, mixed with a little red-lead. 
 
 To spot a White Horse with Black Spots. 
 
 Take of litharge three ounces, and of quicklime six 
 ounces ; beat them tine, and mix them together ; put the 
 mixture into a pan, and pour a sharp lye over it; then 
 boil it, and you will have a fat substance swim at top, 
 with which anoint the horse in such places as you de- 
 sign to have black, and it will turn of that colour im- 
 mediately. 
 
 It has the same effect in changing hair that is red into a 
 black colour, with only this difference, that you are to 
 take an equal quantity of lime and litharge, and, instead 
 of boiling it with Ive, boil it only with fresh water: what 
 swims at top, is fit for use, and will answer your expecta- 
 tion : what hairs you anoint with it in the evening, will be 
 black the next morning. 
 
 Hqu. 
 
320 
 
 THE LABORATORY*. 
 
 How to dapple a Horse. 
 
 Take, in the spring-time, the large buds of young 
 oak-trees; mix them among the horse's provender, and 
 give it him three or four times to eat, and lie will be 
 dappled, and continue so for a whole year: the buds of 
 young-elm trees will have the same effect. 
 
 PART 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 321 
 
 PART VIII. 
 
 SEVERAL 
 
 CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 
 
 A particular Method to furnish a Fish-pond with Va- 
 riety of Fish. 
 
 TAKE, about the latter end of April, or the beginning 
 of May, the root of a willow that stands near the 
 water side, and is full of fibres ; wash the earth about it 
 clean away ; then tie it to a spike, which drive into a river 
 or fish-pond that is well stored with variety of fish : they 
 will presently strike about and against the root, and void 
 their spawn or roe, which will hang to the fibres ; after a 
 few days, take the spike, with the willow-root, out of that 
 river or fish-pond, and convey it to that which you design 
 to store, driving it about a hand's breadth deep under the 
 surface of the water; and in about a fortnight's time you 
 will perceive a great number of young fish. Be careful 
 that you leave the root not too long in the first pond or 
 . river ; lest the heat of the sun animate the spawn, and, 
 
 disengage it from the root. 
 
 -vol. I. 
 
 Te 
 
322 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To illuminate an Apartment with various beautiful Colours. 
 
 Put three or four prisms, or glasses, together in a tri- 
 angular form in a frame, so as to make it portable : let the 
 prisms be so fixed to your corners, that on one side they 
 make a flat, and on the other a trigonal face, or three- 
 sided figure ; place this frame, thus finished, under a win- 
 dow, towards the sun, so that the flat side be towards it ; 
 and if there be any more windows in the apartment, let 
 them be shut up. As soon as the beams of the sunshine 
 through these trigonal glasses, your apartment will ap- 
 pear like a paradise in the greatest beauty, and of various 
 colours". If you receive the beams on a concave glass, 
 you will see the colours change quite different from what 
 they were before ; and if you look through these glasses 
 into the street, vou will see every thing in different co- 
 lours. 
 
 Arbor Diana-, or the Philosophical Tree. 
 
 Take one ounce of silver, and dissolve, it in two of 
 three ounces of acid of nitre ; put the solution into a:, 
 matrass, or glass phial, into which you have put eighteen 
 or tweftty ounces of distilled water, and two ounces of 
 quicksilver. Let your phial be filled up to the neck, and 
 place it in some convenient place where no body can med- 
 dle with it, for forty days together, in which time you 
 will see a kind of tree spread forth its branches, resembling 
 vegetable ramifications. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Dissolve an ounce of fine silver in three ounces of 
 aqua-fortis, in a phial or small matrass ; evaporate about 
 
 half 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 323 
 
 half that moisture in warm sand, by a gentle fire ; add to 
 it three ounces of good distilled vinegar; heat it a little, 
 and stir It about ; then put your matrass in a place where 
 it may rest for a month, and you will see a tree growing 
 to the very surface of the liquor, resembling a fir-tree. 
 
 Another Method, much shorter. 
 
 Make an amalgam, without heat, of four drachms of 
 filings of silver, or, what is still better, of silver leaf, and 
 of two drachms of mercury : dissolve this amalgam in 
 four ounces, or a sufficient quantity, of acid of nitre, pure 
 and moderately strong; dilute this solution with a pound, 
 and a half of distilled water ; shake the mixture, and pre- 
 serve it in a bottle with a glass stopple : when this prepara- 
 tion is to be used, put an ounce of it in a phial, together 
 with about the size of a pea of an amalgam of gold or 
 silver, which ought to be as soft as butter ; let this re- 
 main at rest : soon afterwards, small filaments will be seen 
 issuing from the small amalgam, which quickly increase, 
 and branch out on both sides, in the form of shrubs. 
 
 Another Method, less fallible. 
 
 Dissolve six drachms of silver in nitrous acid, and 
 four drachms of quicksilver in the same acid; let both 
 the solutions be saturated with their respective metals, 
 and then let them be mixed together: add to this mix- 
 ture five ounces of distilled water, and pour it into an 
 earthen vessel, upon six drachms of amalgam made up 
 of seven parts of quicksilver, with one part of silver leaf. 
 Set it at rest, as before, and the effects will be beautiful. 
 
 To 
 
324 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To preserve Tilings from Corruption. 
 
 This is done in highly rectified spirit of wine cam- 
 phorated ; wherein many sorts of animals, birds, fishes, 
 insects, reptiles, &c. may be kept many years. Porta re- 
 lates, that he had seen a fish at Rome thus preserved for 
 above twenty years, which was as fresh as if alive : like- 
 wise at Florence he saw one that had been preserved 
 above forty years. The glasses, wherein they were kept, 
 were hermetically sealed, to keep the air from coming to 
 them. 
 
 The Preparation of the Spirit or Oil of Salt, a preserver 
 of Things from Corruption, and a great restorer and 
 preserver of Health*. 
 
 Take sea-salt, as much as you please, put it into a 
 crucible, covered, ovex a good coal fire, and when it 
 has done crackling, take it off, put it in a damp place 
 till is is dissolved, filter it often through a paper, till it is 
 thoroughly clear and fine. Then let it digest in horse- 
 dung, for about two months, changing the dung often 
 for fresh, in order to keep it continually warm. Then 
 distil it over some sand, and you will have in your receiver 
 a salt oil, with a watery phlegm, distil this gently in a 
 water bath, and the oil will remain behind, but the watery 
 substance be carried off; whatever is put into this oil, will 
 keep from corruption without changing, for ages. This is 
 the salt spirit which by Paracelsus is called Vividitas Salis, 
 and has incomparable virtues, as w r ell to restore men to 
 health and vigour, as also to preserve them from most. 
 
 * This will be found to be no more than a pure and highly con- 
 centrated brine, with no greater virtues. The same may be made, 
 by mixing pure crystals of kitchen salt with distilled water. Ed. 
 
 distempers ; 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 325 
 
 distempers ; four or six drops taken in wormwood water, 
 is good for the dropsy, convulsions, and the yellow jaun- 
 dice ; three or four drops taken in hartshorn water is good 
 for all sorts of agues ; for worms, it is taken in brandy ; 
 three drops taken in water of Cardans Bencdictus, is good 
 for the stoppage of urine. It is a fine remedy for all 
 sorts of sprains and contractions of the nerves ; it heals 
 bruises and swellings, when mixed with other ointments, 
 and the affected parts anointed therewith. When mixed 
 with oil of turpentine or wax, or camomile, it will assuage 
 the gout. 
 
 But if this preservative is too costly to keep things frora 
 corruption, you may prepare a sea-water at a small ex- 
 pence, which will keep things tor many years ; and this 
 you may do in the following manner : 
 
 Dissolve sea-salt in distilled rain-water, and make a lye 
 which will bear an egg. 
 
 Or, when the salt is decrepitated, put it into a damp 
 place, and when it is dissolved, filter it through a paper till 
 it is clear and fine. This you may use to preserve things 
 from corruption, by distilling it, and pouring it over the 
 thing to be preserved. 
 
 A Regeneration of Coral. 
 
 Take verdigrisc three pounds ; sulphur vivum one pound ; 
 washed and •clear sand four pounds ; pulverize and mix 
 them ; then distil them in a retort on sand, first with a 
 slow fire, but augmenting it by degrees ; it will produce a 
 spirit, which has a sweetish-sour flavour. 
 
 It you pour this spirit upon powdered coral, or harts- 
 horn shavings, which by a gentle warmth is quite dried 
 up, and put it into a phial with some distilled rain-water, 
 and set it in a warm place well closed up, the coral or 
 hartshorn will shoot and grow so naturally that it will be a 
 delightful sight. 
 
 To 
 
32S THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To make Phosphorus. 
 
 Take bones which have been burnt white, reduced to 
 powder, and passed through a fine sieve : then mix them 
 in a vessel of stone ware, with an equal quantity of the 
 strongest acid of vitriol, and as much water as will make 
 the whole into the consistency of clear soup : let the mix-p 
 tuie be at rest for some hours, and it will become thick ; 
 pour it now upon a filtre of double linen cloth, and wash 
 it through with water till it pass clear and tasteless, which 
 is a sign that no acid of phosphorus is left in the residue 
 on the linen cloth. Evaporate the superfluous water, and 
 a white matter will sink to the bottom, which must be 
 taken out and washed in fresh water, till it becomes taste- 
 less : proceed with the evaporation till no more white mat- 
 ter sinks, washing carefully the sediment, and throwing it 
 away, and returning the clear liquor to the other clear li- 
 quor : lastly, evaporate all the clear liquor to the con- 
 sistency of honey, or a soft extract. Mix this thick mat- 
 ter with one third of its weight of powdered charcoal; put 
 the mixture into a stone ware retort, to which a receiver 
 full of water has been properly luted, and distil. Fire is 
 gradually applied till the retort is first reddened, and then 
 rendered white ; the phosphorus then runs in drops, and 
 the operation lasts about nine or ten hours, or more, ac- 
 cording to the quantity of matter distilled, a»d the degree 
 of heat which the furnace is able to bear. Six pounds of 
 bone-ashes will usually yield a trifle more than three ounces 
 of pure phosphorus. 
 
 Another Method to prepare Phosphorus. 
 
 Take of urine as much as you please ; put it into 
 a tub or kettle, and let it stand for three weeks or a 
 month together to putrify ; then boil away the humidity, 
 
 till 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. S2l 
 
 till the remainder becomes a black and tough matter. Of 
 this take one pound, oil of tartar foetid, or the stinking oil 
 of hartshorn, or for want of that, green wax ; mix it 
 well with the matter, and put it into a retort ; set it on 
 a strong fire of a reverberatory furnace ; fit to it a large 
 receiver, and lute the junctures ; give first of all a gentle,, 
 and, lastly, fcr four hours, the fiercest, heat you can ; 
 you will find in the receiver, iirst, sediment, then volatile 
 salt, then some oil, and after that the phosphorus, which 
 in the receiver is sublimated of a yellowish colour : let the 
 first sediment stand over night and grow cold ; then take 
 and wash, with the liquor that is at the bottom, all the 
 phosphorus and oil ; mix them well together, and put 
 them into a matrass ; distil them on a sand-bath, and you 
 will find, first, sediment grains of phosphorus, which, 
 whilst warm, form into little sticks, and preserve in a 
 phial, closely stopped with a glass stopple. 
 
 Another Process for making Phosphorus, 
 
 Take a considerable quantity of human urine, and di- 
 gest it for a pretty while, before you use it ; then distil 
 this liquor, with a moderate heat, till what remains in 
 substance be brought to the consistence of a syrup ; in- 
 corporate this with thrice its weight of fine white sand, and 
 put it in a strong stone retort ; to which join a large re- 
 ceiver, filled in a great measure with water, so that the 
 nose of the retort may almost touch the water ; then lute 
 the two vessels carefully together, and give the whole a 
 graduated fire for five or six hours, to bring over all that is 
 \ olatile ; this done, encrease the fire, and at last for five 
 or six hours more make it strong and intense as possible 
 you can, by which means there will first crime over a 
 large quantity of white fumes, which in a little time will 
 be succeeded by another sort seeming to vield a faint 
 bluish light in the receiver; lastly, the fire being vehement, 
 
 there 
 
328 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 there will come over another substance more ponderous 
 than the former, and fall to the bottom of the receiver, 
 which is the real phosphorus. Preserve it as the former. 
 
 Another luminous Matter. 
 
 Take what by most apothecaries is called land emerald*, 
 as much as you will ; beat it fine with water on a stone ; 
 temper it with gum or honey-water, and. write or paint 
 therewith upon a polished copper or iron plate, whatever 
 you will, and let it dry ; then lay it upon a charcoal fire, or 
 set it before the same, and in a little while it will shine, so 
 that when you bring it into a dark room, or put the can- 
 dles out, the company who are ignorant of what is done, 
 will be surprized at the sudden and strange appearance. 
 
 To prepare a Boom, or Closet, in such a Manner that any 
 one, entering with a lighted Candle, will think him- 
 self surrounded by Fire. 
 
 Take a pretty large quantity of brandy, and put it in 
 a bowl ; set it on a slow coal fire, to receive heat enough 
 to boil it gently up ; into the brandy fling some camphor, 
 cut in little bits, which will soon dissolve ; when all is 
 dissolved, close the windows and doors, and let the brandy 
 boil and evaporate; by this the whole will be filled with 
 subtle spirits, which, as soon as a candle is brought in, 
 wil be lighted, and seem as if on fire. If some pcr- 
 fu e i^ dissolved in the brandy, the flame will give out 
 a fine scent. 
 
 * Land Emerald is expunged from the Pharmacopoeia. Ed. 
 
 To 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 32^ 
 
 To prepare a luminous Stone. 
 
 Take good acid of nitre, and fling quick-lime and chalk 
 into it, till it can dissolve no more, and ceases to bubble ; 
 filter the solution ; put it into a retort, and distil the acid 
 of nitre from it again ; what remains in the retort, place in 
 the air, and let it dissolve ; then put it again into the re- 
 tort , and draw off the moisture till it is dry ; set it again 
 in the air, and let it dissolve ; then put it into a cup. and 
 distil all the moisture from it ; what remains put under a 
 a muffel to harden. Then hold it in the light of day, or 
 of the moon, or the light of a candle, and it will emit 
 light, when put into a dark place. 
 
 The Preparation of Pj/rophorus. 
 
 Let three parts of alum, and one part of fine sugar 
 be rubbed and mixed together. This mixture must be 
 dried in an iron shovel, over a moderate fire, till it be 
 almost reduced to a blackish powder, during which ope- 
 ration it must be stirred with an iron spatuia. Any large 
 masses must be bruised into powder, and then it must be 
 put into a glass matrass, (see A. fig. 9, plate 4.) tic mouth 
 of which is rather strait than wide, and its lenj ll seven 
 .or eight inches. This matrass is to be placed in a cru 
 or rather earthen vessel, large enough to hold the body of 
 the matrass, with a space about equal to a finger's thii 
 around it. The space is to be filed with sand, so that c : ;e 
 matrass shall not touch the earthen vessel : the apparatus 
 is then to be placed in a furnace, and the whole to be 
 made red-hot : the fire must be gradually anp ; ied, that 
 any oily or fuliginous matter may be expelled. After 
 which, when the matrass is made red-hot, sulphureous 
 vapours exhale : this degree of heat is to be continued till 
 
 a truly 
 
330 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 a truly sulphureous flame, which appears at the end of the 
 operation, has continued nearly a quarter of an hour : 
 the fire is then to be extinguished, and the matrass per- 
 mitted to cool, without taking it out of the earthen vessel, 
 or crucible ; and when it ceases to be red-hot, it may be 
 stopped with a cork. Before the matrass is perfectly cold 
 it must be taken out of the earthen pan or crucible, and 
 the powder it contains is to be poured into a very dry glass 
 phial, and well stopped with a glass stopple. The phial 
 should be seldom opened if this pyrophorus be intended 
 to be preserved for a length of time. Should the powder 
 kindle whilst it is pouring into the phial, which sometimes 
 happens, merely close the mouth expeditiously with the 
 stoppel, and the flame will be extinguished. 
 
 The Preparation of a Species of Pyrophcrus. 
 
 Take an earthen plate or dish, which is not glared, 
 about half an inch thick ; make a sort of paste of acid 
 of nitre and pulverized chalk, well stirred together ; of 
 this take the quantity of a shilling, and put it into the 
 plate, and set it on the fire under a muffel, (where it will 
 bubble very much) ; when dry, take it out, let it cool, 
 and mix it up with acid of nitre ; this do six or eight times, 
 and it is done : after it is cold, hold it a little while against 
 a candle ; then, shewing it in a dark place, you will be sur- 
 prised at the light it gives. 
 
 Hon- to prepare Thunder Pczvdcr. 
 
 This is done with three ingredients, namely, three parts 
 nitre, two parts of salt of tartar, and one part of sul- 
 phur ; these are pounded and mixt together : if you take 
 about sixty grains, in a spoon, and warm it over a candle, or 
 other fire, it will give a report like a cannon : if you make 
 
 use 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 331 
 
 use of a copper spoon, or cup, you will, after the report, 
 find a hole at bottom : when fired at top, it will burn away 
 like lightning, without any report. 
 
 To prepare a Stone, which being wetted, produces Fire. 
 
 Take quick-lime, nitre, tutty, and calamine, equal quan- 
 tities ; sulphur and camphor, of each two parts ; beat them 
 fine, and sift them through a fine sieve; then put the pow- 
 der into a new linen cloth, and tie it close ; put it into a 
 crucible ; cover it with another crucible, mouth to mouth, 
 and bind and lute them well; then set them in the sun to 
 dry. Then put the crucible into a potter's furnace, and, 
 when cold again, take it out, and you will find the powder 
 altered into the substance of a brick ; this you may form 
 into less proportions ; and, when you have occasion to 
 light a candle, or fire, wet part of it with a little water, 
 or your own spittle, and it will instantly flame : when you 
 have lighted your fire, you may blow it out again, as you 
 do a candle. 
 
 To represent the four Elements in a Glass PtiiaL 
 
 Have a glass made in the shape of an egg ; fill a fourth 
 part with clean smalt, or common antimony, to represent 
 the earth ; for water, take oil of tartar ; for the air, spirit of 
 wine three times rectified ; and oil of Benjamin, in colour 
 and brightness, may represent fire ; the cover of the glass 
 may be ornamented with a flame, or what you please. 
 
 A Florence flask will answer the same purpose, with 
 a foot adapted to it. 
 
 An 
 
332 
 
 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 An elementary World in a Phial. 
 
 Take black glass, or enamel, and beat it to a middling 
 gravel she , this, for representing the earth, will settle at 
 the bottom ; for the water, you may use calcined tartar, 
 or sand ashes, which you must fast moisten, and what dis- 
 solves pour the clearest off into the phial, and tincture it 
 with a Little ultramarine, to give it the sea colour ; for the 
 air, use spirits of wine, tinctured with a little turnsole, 
 which gives a sky colour ; to represent the lire, take lin- 
 seed oil, or oil of turpentine. All these materials differ 
 both in weight and quality, for, if vou shake them toge- 
 ther, you m.\x indeed observe a little while a chaos of 
 confusion and disorder, but as soon as you set the phial 
 down, each ingredient takes its respective place in the same 
 order as before. 
 
 To ornament a Room with a continually moving Picture. 
 
 Place a luge picture against a wainscot, in a summer- 
 house, or any other room where the wind may be con- 
 veyed to the back of the picture ; bore little holes through 
 the wainscot, to correspond with some paste-board wheels 
 that a:e at the back of the picture : the wind which blows 
 on them through the little holes, vviil put them in motion. 
 Having, on the right side of the picture, subjects painted 
 and fixed to the paste-board wheels on spindles, they will 
 have an equal motion with them: there may be several 
 >reseated in the picture, and their motions made 
 agreeable; as for example, a man grinding of knives, a 
 woman at her spinning-wheel, a wind or water mill, and 
 several other fancies. 
 
 To 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. $33 
 
 To make Mic'rbsCopes to great Perfection. 
 
 Take a lamp with spirits of wine, and, instead of cot- 
 ton, use very small silver wire, doubled up like a skein of 
 thread : then take of beaten glass, after it is well washed 
 and cleansed, a little quantity on the point of a silver 
 needle filled very small and wetted with spittle ; then hold 
 the bit of glass in the flame of the lamp, till it is quite 
 round, but no longer, for fear of burning it; if the side 
 of the glass next the needle is not melted, then turn the 
 rough side to the flame, till it is every where equally round 
 and smooth ; then wipe and rub it with soft leather, and 
 afterwards put it between two pieces of thin brass, with 
 apertures very round ; that towards the eye must be almost 
 as large as the diameter of the glass : piace it in a frame, 
 with the object. 
 
 How to extract the Quintessence of Roses. 
 
 Take fresh roses, which are gathered before sun-rising, 
 whilst the dew is upon them ; bruise and stamp the leaves 
 in a stone mortar ; then put them into an earthen glazed 
 pan or bowl ; cover them close, and let them stand till 
 they putrify, which you will perceive when the scent is 
 sour (it turns so in about twelve or fourteen days.) You 
 may mix up with the leaves a little salt of tartar, for this 
 penetrates, and wiii cause each the better to separate. 
 
 After the rose-leaves are thus putrified, take the fifth or 
 seventh part of them ; put them into a glass cucurbit, and 
 distil them in a sand-bath. Pour the distilled water upon the 
 other part of the leaves ; and, after you have emptied the 
 cucurbit of the first leaves, put in the second part, and 
 distil them, as before ; thus repeating it, you will draw a 
 rectified water, which contains the spirit, to be separated 
 in the following manner : put all the water you have dis- 
 tilled 
 
334 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 tilled into a matrass with a long neck ; add a head to it, 
 and lute a receiver to it , then, with a slow ash-fire, draw 
 off the spirit ; and, as there will go some, of the phlegm 
 along with it, it must be distilled again with a slower fire : 
 thus you will have a pure spirit of roses, which will dif- 
 fuse its strong scent, as soon as the matrass is opened, 
 over the whole room. 
 
 Save this spirit, well closed up, in a phial, as a preci- 
 ous and valuable thing; for its virtue is admirable. Pour 
 the greater part of the distilled rose-water over the already 
 distilled rose-leaves, in order to extract the oil from the wa- 
 ter ; which must be done by distilling it over a hotter ash- 
 tire than you did the spirit : the oil will separate itself from 
 the phlegm, and swim on the surface of the water, of a 
 golden colour ; and although the quantity be but small, the 
 virtue is great and valuable. 
 
 Separate this oil from the phlegm, and put it up by 
 itself, and the distilled rose-water in a glass by itself; after 
 which, take the distilled rose-leaves, from which all the 
 spirit and oil is extracted, and burn them in a crucible to 
 ashes ; in burning, add a little sulphur to them ; give the 
 ashes a fierce fire, and they will be as white as snow. 
 
 These ashes put into a glass or earthen vessel ; pour 
 over them the above phlegm or rose-water ; boil it well, 
 till the water has extracted all the salt from the ashes , 
 then filter it through paper into a matrass ; distil it, and 
 carry off the phlegm, and a clear salt will settle at the 
 bottom of the matrass : the ashes you may calcine anew 
 in a strong reverberatory fire ; then boil them up again in 
 the phlegm, and draw out the salt, as before ; repeat this 
 till all the salt is extracted, and there remains only an 
 earthy substance. 
 
 In this manner are extracted from roses the three prin- 
 ciples, spirit, oil, and salt ; and the three impure parts, 
 phlegm, water, and earthy residuum. 
 
 If the salt should not be clean enough, you must dis- 
 solve 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 333 
 
 solve it again in the phlegm, and repeat your process by 
 distillation, as before, and you may make it as fine as you 
 will*/ 
 
 Another Method to extract the Quintessence of any 
 Vegetables. 
 
 Take a plant, herb, or flower in the month in which 
 they flourish best ; gather them before sun-rising, with the 
 dew upon them ; chop them fine, and fill therewith a glass 
 matrass ; lute the head over it, and place the matrass in a 
 sand-bath ; let it digest over a very slow fire for a fort- 
 night, after which time augment your fire ; when you find 
 some will go over into the receiver, then take your ma- 
 trass out of the bath, and you will see the herb infused in 
 its own juice, which pour off into a clean glass ; what 
 remains of the herb take out of the matrass ; burn it to 
 ashes, and extract the salt with water, and evaporate to 
 dryness. 
 
 How to extract Oil from Herbs, Floivers or Seeds. 
 
 Fill a large cucurbit with herbs, flowers, seeds, or 
 what you please ; infuse it in good spirit of salt ; set it in 
 sand, and give it fire enough to boil, and the oil, as well 
 as the phlegm, will distil over into the receiver ; you 
 may separate this as has been directed ; the spirit you 
 are to pour off; rectify it, and you may use it again for 
 the like process. 
 
 * This process is needlessly laborious, and may be shortened by 
 the methods mentioned in the several parts cf the •work:, see the 
 purification of foi-as/i, Sfr. in the article " Glass." Ed. 
 
 A curious 
 
!36 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 A curious Secret to distil Herbs, so that the Water will 
 retain both their Colour and Taste. 
 
 Take the leaves of the herb you design to distil, and 
 infuse them for a night and day in rain-water ; then take 
 a bolt-head, pour into it some of the water from off the 
 herbs, and swing or rince it about ; pour it through the 
 pipe on the herbs again ; fling more fresh leaves upon it ; 
 put on the head, and lute it close, and distil it in a sand- 
 bath with a slow fire ; you will see the drops will have the 
 colour of the herb or flower. When you have distilled it 
 all over into the receiver, then burn the leaves or ashes, 
 and extract the salt from it in the manner above directed : 
 put half of it into the distilled water ; let it dissolve in the 
 sun, and the colour will be clear and fine. 
 
 To make Vinegar of Wine. 
 
 Fling pieces of barley-bread into a cask of wine, and 
 in two or three days it will be sour. Or, 
 
 Take rye-flour, and mix it into a dough with strong 
 white-wine vinegar ; then bake it rn an oven, and beat it 
 to powder ; mix it again into a dough ; bake it, and repeat 
 it the third time ; put these cakes in wine, and it will in- 
 stantly begin to grow sour. Or, 
 
 Soak the best tartar nine or ten davs in good vinegar, 
 and then dry it in the sun ; when dry, soak it again for ten 
 days in vinegar, and, being dried, beat it to a fine pow- 
 der : of this take as much as will lie on the point of a 
 knife, and mix with a quart of wine, and it will, in a little 
 while, turn it to vinegar. Or, 
 
 Take one pound of raisins, and clear them from the 
 stalks, and put them into a glazed pan or pot, in a quart of 
 good vinegar; let them soak over-night on hot ashes ; boil 
 
 them 
 
CHOICE CURIOSITIES. 337 
 
 them in the morning a little ; then take it off the fire, and 
 let it stand and cool of itself ; strain it, and keep it for 
 use. Or, 
 
 Take iron, or steel, and quench it five or six times in 
 vinegar, and it will become very sharp. Or, 
 
 Salt, pepper and leaven put together into wine, and 
 stirred about, will soon turn it into vinegar. 
 
 PART IX. 
 
 SEVERAL 
 
 SECRETS RELATING TO MARBLE. 
 
 Artificial Marble. 
 
 "ARBLE is often imitated, and very closely, by 
 powdering white marble, and by mixing it up with 
 portions of plaster of Paris and water, after the materials 
 have been finely sifted. Of this composition, called stucco, 
 are -made statues, busts, basso relievo's and other orna- 
 ments of architecture. 
 
 vol. i. z There 
 
33S THE LABORATORY. 
 
 There is another kind of marble made of the flaky se- 
 lenite, or a transparent substance resembling piaster, which 
 becomes very hard, and receives so good a polish as to 
 deceive the eye. This kind of sclenite resembles Mus- 
 covy talc. 
 
 Stained Marble. 
 
 There is also an artificial marble formed by staining 
 white marble with corrosive tinctures, which, penetrating 
 to the depth of a line, or more, imitate the various co- 
 lours of dearer marbles. This, however, requires some 
 manual dexterity, and judgment, for if the marble be not 
 well polished, and its pores previously opened, the effect 
 will not be produced. Very hard white marble is to be 
 chosen for this purpose, to which a due polish must be 
 given, so as to leave neither spot nor vein. Heat is then 
 to be applied to open the pores of the marble : in this lies 
 the chief difficulty of the art. If the marble be made red- 
 hot, the texture of it is injured ; and, again, if the proper 
 degree of heat be not given, the colours will not strike 
 deep enough, nor be permanently fixed. A good general 
 rule is, to heat the marble to that degree as to make drops 
 of water boil on the surface, without making the marble 
 red-hot. Different colouring drugs require different men- 
 struums for their application, such as a lixivium of horse's 
 or dog's urine, with four parts of lime and one of pot-ash : 
 common lye of wood-ashes is very good for others : for 
 some, spirits of wine is necessary; and, lastly, for- many- 
 others, oily liquors, and common white-wine are re- 
 quired. 
 
 The colours which succeed best with certain menstruums 
 are these : stone-bJue dissolved in six times the quantity of 
 spirit of wine, or of the lixivium of urine, and that co- 
 lour which is called litmus, dissolved in common lye of 
 
 wood 
 
STAINING OF MARBLE. 339 
 
 wood-ashes. An extract of saffron, and painter's sap- 
 green, both succeed well when dissolved in urine and 
 quick-lime ; and tolerably well when dissolved in spirit of 
 wine. Vermilion, and a very fine powder of cochineal, 
 also succeed well in the above liquors. Dragon's blood 
 succeeds in spirit of wine, as does a tincture of logwood 
 in the same spirit. Alkanet-root gives a fine colour ; but 
 the only menstruum to be used for it is spirit of turpen- 
 tine ; for neither spirit of wine, nor any lixivium will do 
 with it. There is another kind of dragon's blood, called 
 dragon's blood in tears, which gives a very elegant red 
 colour when mixed with urine. What have been just 
 mentioned are mixtures, but substances of some kinds 
 have been used by themselves, and sink permanently into 
 the marble whilst it is hot — viz. the purest kind of dra- 
 gon's blood, for a red ; gamboge, for a yellow ; green 
 wax, for a green ; common sulphur, pitch and turpentine, 
 for a brown. A fine gold-colour is given in the following 
 manner : take crude sal-ammoniac, white vitriol and ver- 
 digrise, finely powdered, and intimately mixed together. 
 
 A more expeditious Process. 
 
 A good method of operating in a small way, and in a 
 rapid manner, is to put some spirit of wine into a silver 
 spoon, and dissolve in it, over a charcoal fire, such colour- 
 ing drugs as belong to that menstruum ; then, dipping a 
 camel's-hair pencil into the tincture, trace out upon the 
 cold marble such veins and turns as accord with nature ; 
 after this operation, place the marble in a hot baker's 
 oven, and it wiU come out penetrated with the colours. 
 White veins may be traced upon the marble with ordinary 
 white, and the interstices may be dabbed over with the 
 tincture of that- colour which you would have for the gene- 
 ral ground -work; by this plan, the white paint may be 
 
 z 2 removed, 
 
340 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 removed, after the baking is performed ; and the veins 
 will be clear, and distinct at their edges, without the co- 
 lours being intermixed with each other. Every degree of 
 red may be given to marble, for a ground-work, by dra- 
 gon's blood alone ; thus, a slight tincture of it, applied 
 without heat, gives only a pale flesh-colour ; a stronger 
 tincture, applied as before, gives a stronger shade of 
 flesh-colour ; heat being now applied to either, or both, 
 the above tinctures, will heighten the red of both, in 
 equal proportions ; and the addition of a little pitch to 
 the tincture, whilst in the spoon, will give it a tendency 
 to a black colour, according to the quantity that is mixed. 
 
 How to prepare two Colours, of Gold and Silver, to stain 
 Marble that is White, and Paint upon it : which wilt 
 penetrate into (he Stone, so as to bear polishing. 
 
 Take of aqua-fortis two ounces, sal-ammoniac one 
 ounce, of highly rectified spirit of wine four drachms ; 
 then take some gold-leaf and make it into an amalgam 
 with quicksilver ; let the mercury evaporate, and the gold 
 will remain at the bottom of your crucible like a brown 
 powder ; dissolve this in aqua-regia, and evaporate it till 
 it is of a yellow colour ; then pour on the sal-ammoniac 
 and spirit of wine, and when dissolved, evaporate the 
 spirit again, and there remains a bright gold colour. 
 
 Calcine the silver in a phial, and then let the aqua-fortis 
 evaporate until you have a sky colour, which take off and 
 preserve in a clean phial, keeping the rest in a warm 
 sand to evaporate, and you will have a deep blue, which 
 also preserve ; the remains will, by more evaporating, 
 turn into black. 
 
 By mixing these colours you may produce several others, 
 wherewith you may paint or stain what figures you please; 
 and the more you repeat laying on this colour, the deeper 
 
 they 
 
STAINING OF MARELL. 341 
 
 they will penetrate into the stone, and the stronger they 
 will represent themselves thereon. After you have finish- 
 ed your staining, you may polish it like plain white mar- 
 ble, and then you will have the colours appear in their lull 
 lustre. 
 
 To imitate Marble. 
 
 Take plaster of Paris, quick-lime, salt, ox-blood, stones 
 ©f different colours, also pieces of glass, all beat to pow- 
 der, and mixed up to the consistence of a paste, with 
 vinegar, beer, or sour milk, and then lay it into tables, 
 pillars, or what vou will ; let it stand until it is thoroughly 
 dry ; then rub it with a pumice, and polish it with tripoli, 
 giving it the finishing stroke by rubbing it over with leather 
 and oil. Or, . 
 
 With finely pulverized plaster of Paris, and size of 
 parchment, make a paste ; mix with it as many colours as 
 you please ; spread it with a trowel over a board, and 
 when dry proceed as before. 
 
 Ti 
 
 "o paint on Wood in Imitation of Marble. 
 
 First lay a ground (repeating it seven or eight times) 
 with white ; then marble it with what colours you please, 
 after you have tempered them with the white of eggs, and 
 mixed a little saffron water therewith. If you are not 
 used to marbling with a pencil, you may pour one sort of 
 colour, here and there a little, upon the white prepared 
 table, then, holding and turning it shelving, the colour 
 will disperse all over the ground, in a variety of veins ; 
 then, with another colour, proceed in the same manner ; 
 and so, with as many as you think proper: after it is dry, 
 you may, with a pencil, give it a finishing, by mending 
 such places as are faulty ; then you may lay on a varnish, 
 and polish it in the best manner you can, 
 
 T» 
 
342 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To imitate, and counterfeit. Agate. 
 
 Take of clarified turpentine as much as you will ; boil 
 it in an earthen pan, with a little sweet oil, till the tur^ 
 pentine is as thick as a dough ; then pour it on a mould, 
 and let it stand in the sun for eight days \ after this you 
 may form it into what shape you please, and set it in the 
 shade till it is quite hard and dry. 
 
 Others take the whites of eighteen eggs, beat well to- 
 gether ; then they add to it three ounces of clear gum- 
 arabic, one ounce of almond-tree gum, beat to a fine 
 powder, and mixed with the whites of eggs ; when it is 
 well dissolved, they pour it into an earthen plate or dish, 
 and set it in the sun, till it is a mass of substance that may 
 form or make impressions of any thing. 
 
 Others take the white of eggs, and beat them clear, 
 and take off the scum with a clean spunge ; then they co- 
 lour it with a tincture of saffron, and pour it into a hog's 
 bladder, and boil it hard on a slow fire, hanging the blad- 
 der in the air afterwards, when it hardens, so that you 
 may form what you will ; set it in the shade and it will 
 have the hardness of a stone. 
 
 To iynitate Jasper. 
 
 Take quick-lime ; mix it with the white of eggs, and 
 roll it up in balls ; (this will serve for the white :) for red, 
 mix along with it, lake or vermilion ; for blue, add indigo 
 or Prussian blue : for green, use verdigrise. 
 
 When you have made many different sorts of coloured 
 balls, of the consistence of a dough, then flat them with 
 a rolling-pin, as you would do pie-crust ; lay them one 
 upon another, and with a thin knife-blade, cut it in long 
 pieces, and mix them confusedly in a mortar together ; 
 
 then? 
 
STAINING OF MARBLE. 3i3 
 
 then, with a trowel, spread it over a tabic, pilasters, &c 
 very smooth and even: when dry, pour boiling hot oil 
 upon it, and, spreading it all over, it will soak in ; then 
 set it in a shady place to dry. 
 
 You may, if you will, mix your quick-lime and your 
 colours with drying oil at first, and then there will be no 
 occasion to oil it afterwards. 
 
 I low to clean Alabaster, or White Marble. 
 
 Beat pumice stones to an impalpable powder, and mix 
 yp with verjuice; let it stand for two hours; then dip 
 into it a spunge, and rub the marble, or alabaster ; wash 
 it with a linen cloth and fresh water, and dry it with clean 
 linen rags. 
 
 To stain Alabaster-Images of all Sorts of Colours. 
 
 Take quick-lime, alum, sal-ammoniac, of each one 
 pound, pour upon it, after you have pounded and mixt it, 
 of stale urine of a boy one pound, and spirit of wine one 
 pound ; put it into an alembic ; and the spirit of wine and 
 urine will distil from it without lire ; but, when you per- 
 ceive that it comes low, put a slow 7 fire under it, to distil 
 the rest. When done, put it up in a phial and stop it 
 close. This spirit extracts from all the drugs their natural 
 colour, as out of Brasil-wood a fine red ; out of Orleans 
 a fine yellow ; out of turnsol a purple ; out of cochineal a 
 fine crimson ; out of litmus a fine blue ; out of verdigrise 
 a green ; out of turmeric an orange colour, he. 
 
 To imitate Marble, in Sulphur. 
 
 To do this, you must provide yourself with a flat and 
 smooth piece of marble, on which make a border or wall, 
 
 to 
 
344- THE LABORATORY. 
 
 to encompass either a square or oval table, which you may 
 do either with wax or clay. When this is done, provide, 
 and have in readiness, several sorts of colours, each sepa- 
 rately reduced to a fine powder ; as for example ; white 
 lead, vermilion, lake, orpiment, masticot, smalt, Prussian 
 blue, and such like colours. After you are provided with 
 them, melt, on a slow fire, in several glazed pipkins, some 
 sulphur ; put, in each, one particular sort of colour, and 
 stir it well together ; then, having before oiled the marble 
 all over within the border, drop with one colour, quickly, 
 spots upon it, of larger and less sizes ; then take another 
 colour, and do as before ; and so on, till the stone is 
 covered with spots of all the colours you design to use : 
 then you must conclude what colour the mass or ground of 
 your table is to be ; if you would have it of a grey colour, 
 then take fine sifted ashes, and mix it up with melted sul- 
 phur ; or of red, with English red ochre ; if white, with 
 white lead ; if black, with lamp black, or ivory black. 
 Your sulphur for the ground must be pretty hot, so that 
 the drops upon the stone may unite and incorporate to- 
 gether ; when you have poured your ground even all over, 
 then, if you will, put a thin wainscot board upon it ; this 
 must be done whilst the sulphur is hot, making also the 
 board hot, which must be thoroughly dry, in order to 
 cause the sulphur to stick the better to it ; and when it is 
 cold, polish it with oil and a cloth, and it will look very 
 beautiful. 
 
 To imitate Prophyry, on a Glass. 
 
 Take red ochre and lake ; grind them in a solution of 
 gum-tragacanth ; then sprinkle, with a brush or feather, 
 the glass all over with that colour ; when dry take brown- 
 red, or if that is too red, add some umber, or soot to it ; 
 mix it up with the gum-tragacanth to the consistence of a 
 
 paste, 
 
STAINING OF MARBLE. 345 
 
 paste, and lay it on the glass, over the sprinkled colours, 
 as thick as you please ; then let it dry. If you proceed 
 after the same manner on a polished marble, or any other 
 stone that is fiat and smooth, and lay a thick coat of the 
 brown-red on the spots of lake, letting it dry in the shade, 
 and then polish it, you will have a beautiful imitation of 
 prophyry, without the glass. Observe to anoint the stone 
 first with a little oil, before you sprinkle your lake, so as 
 to make it come off easy when the work is done. 
 
 IIoni to make Fret-work Ceilings. 
 
 Take pebbles; pound them fine in an iron mortar; 
 sift them through a fine hair sieve ; then take of powdered 
 lime one part, of the pebble powder two parts, and mix 
 them together with water ; then take the mixture, and lay 
 it all over the ceiling very smooth ; carve on it what you 
 please, or lay to it ornamented moulds cut in smooth 
 wood, or cast in lead ; fill the mould with the mixture, 
 press it to the ceiling, and it will stick and come clean out 
 of the mould ; let it dry ; when dry, and you perceive that 
 it is not every where of a good white, then, with a clean 
 pencil-brush and clear water, strike it over, and it whitens 
 of itself. It will in time grow as hard as stone. 
 
 MOSAIC-WORK : 
 
 IIoio to perform it skilfully. 
 
 Under the name of mosaic-work are included such 
 performances as relate to inlaid work ; as tablatures of 
 stone, wood, metals, &c. What I am now treating upon 
 is that which represents not only all manner of figures, in 
 
 then- 
 
3*6 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 their proper colours, attitudes and shapes, as large as those 
 that are lasting ornaments in churches, and other public 
 edifices, but also in small, and fit to grace the cabinets of 
 the great and curious, and imitate a picture painted in 
 miniature. 
 
 The antients, who practised this art with much skill and 
 exactness, have left a variety of their performances, which 
 are found not only in Italy, Spain, -Sec. but also here in 
 England. Those remaining at Rome are the finest, in the 
 temple of Bacchus, now that of St. Agnes ; and there are 
 also curious pieces to be seen at Venice, Pisa, Florence, 
 and other places. 
 
 The modern artists have improved very much in this per- 
 formance, and whatever traveller has been at St. Peter's 
 and the palace of Borghese at Rome, St. Mark's at Ve- 
 nice, and the church of St. Felicia at Florence, will con- 
 fess they have seen wonders. 
 
 Such figures are composed, joined and cemented toge- 
 ther of various coloured stones ; but since nature has 
 scarcely, at least not sufficiently, supplied the proper shades 
 requisite for a masterly performance, that defect has been 
 made up by counterfeiting those colours, by art, in glass j 
 which is done in the following manner : 
 
 The glass materials are put in the crucibles or melting 
 pots, and being in fusion, such a colour is added as vou 
 would make vour shades with, in the manner you have 
 been before directed, in the art of making artificial gems ; 
 beginning with the lightest. Having mixed it well, and 
 taken out the quantity you think proper with an iron ladle, 
 put it on a smooth marble, flatting it with another to a pro- 
 per thickness ; then cut it quickly into small pieces, laying 
 them, when cold, in a box for use : add more colour, and 
 proceed as before, repeating it till you come to the deepest 
 shade. If you would gild them, wet them on one side 
 with gum-water, and lay leaf gold upon them ; and in an 
 
 iron 
 
STAINING OF MARBLE. 347 
 
 iron shovel, covered with pieces of other glass, heat them 
 red hot in the mouth of a furnace ; then lake them out, 
 and when cold, the gold will be so fixed and firm that 
 nothing can hurt it. 
 
 When you begin to work, lay a thick ground against the 
 ceiling or wall, with plaster, and having your design ready 
 4rawn and painted on blue or brown paper, clap part of 
 it upon the wet plaster, and with a pair of small plyers, 
 Jtake up the small stones, and press them in their proper 
 places ; forming the figures and shades in their respective 
 colours, as you are directed by your painted model. In 
 this manner is done the history of " Our Saviour's 
 walking with Peter on the sea" in St. Peter's churcfy at 
 Rome. 
 
 PART 
 
548 
 
 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 PART X. 
 
 
 PLAIN INSTRUCTION'S FOR 
 
 PAINTING IN WATER-COLOURS; 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE ART OF DRAWING IN 
 PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 Of the Colours generally used in the Art 
 
 {White Lead 
 Flake White 
 Muscle-shell silver 
 
 flndigo 
 j Smalt 
 Blue <J Ultramarine 
 j Litmus 
 ^ Prussian Blue 
 
 fYermilion 
 j Red-Lead 
 Red <! Red Ochre 
 I Lake 
 LCarmine 
 
 {Sap Green 
 Verdigrise 
 Terra Vert 
 
 Yellow < 
 
 Yellow Ochre 
 Masticot 
 Dutch Pink 
 Gamboge 
 Naples Yellow 
 Shell Gold 
 
 C Brown Ochre 
 | Wood-Soot, or 
 Brown <J Bister 
 
 ! Cologne Earth 
 Lumber 
 
 fLamp Black 
 
 Blackly B1 f* 
 
 j Sea-Loal Black 
 
 (.Indian Ink. 
 
 Out 
 
WATER-COLOUR PAINTING. 349 
 
 Out of these colours you may form all the rest which 
 your work may require. 
 
 Some colours are to be washed and ground ; as, for in- 
 stance, white lead ; brown ochre ; Dutch pink ; umber ; 
 Cologne earth ; ivory black. 
 
 Some are only to be washed, which are, red-lead, mas- 
 ticot, smalt, ultramarine, and vermilion. 
 
 Others are only steeped in fair water; as, gamboge, 
 sap-green, and litmus. 
 
 And others again are only ground, viz. flake-white, in- 
 digo, lake, and verdigrise. 
 
 Grind all your colours with fair water, on a hard stone* 
 or on a piece of looking-glass, fixed with white pitch and. 
 resin upon a fiat board, having also a muller of glass. 
 
 Of the colours, (after you have ground them very fine) 
 you may take as much as will serve your present occasion, 
 and temper them in a gallipot, or shell, with gum-water, 
 in which you have also dissolved some sugar-candy. You 
 must observe, that colours which are very dry, require 
 a stronger gum-water; in others, it must be used very 
 sparingly. 
 
 If your colours wont stick, or the paper or print be 
 greasy, mix a very little ear-wax, or a little drop of fish or 
 ox-gall amongst your colour ; you may dry your fish or 
 ox-gall, and dilute it when you have occasion for it, with a 
 little brandy. If your paper or paint sinks, then with 
 clean size and a spunge wipe it over, after you have fas- 
 tened the edges round upon a board, and let it dry. 
 
 You should be provided with phials containing the 
 following liquids, which are very necessary and useful in 
 painting or colouring with water-colours ; viz. 
 
 1. A phial with water in which alum has been dissolved. 
 This you use in wiping over your table, parchment, or 
 paper, before you begin to lay on your colours ; it will 
 cause them to lie smooth, and w T ith a greater lustre. 
 
 2. A phial 
 
350 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 2. A phial with lime-water.- Dissolve or slacken some 
 quick-lime in fair water ; then take the water from off 
 the settled lime, and put it up for use : this is of great 
 use in tempering of sap-green and litmus, which colours, 
 being apt to turn yellow, are preserved by this means. 
 
 3. A phial with gum-water; made of gum-arabic dis- 
 solved in fair water : if you add a little white sugar-candy 
 to it, it will keep the colours from cracking and rlying off 
 the parchment or paper. 
 
 4. A phial with ox-gali7~or the galls of eels, boiled up 
 in a little water, and scum'd; this is of great use in paint- 
 ing of water-colours, where the parchment or paper hap- 
 pens to be greasy, by touching the point of your pencil 
 to wet it, and to temper it with your colour. 
 
 5. A phial with white-wine vinegar: this is of use in 
 grinding oi distilled verdigrise, preserving that colour from 
 changing upon the yellow. 
 
 6. A phial of spirits of hartshorn, a little drop of which 
 mixt among the carmine adds to its beauty. 
 
 You must get pencils of several sizes, agreeable to the 
 work they are for ; as, for laying on a ground, sky or clouds, 
 get a larger size than for drapery, trees, &c. The hair-pen- 
 cils which, after you have wetted them between your 
 lips, and turned them upon your hand, keep close toge- 
 ther, are the best. 
 
 To paint or colour a clear Sky. 
 
 Take clear blue verditer, mixed with a little white ; 
 with this begin at the top of your landscape or picture, 
 and, having laid on the blue for some space, break it with 
 a little lake or purple, working, with a clean pencil, one 
 colour imperceptibly into another ; apply more white and 
 masticot, in order to make it fainter and fainter towards 
 the horizon, working, ail the while, the colours imper- 
 ceptibly one into another, from the horizon to the blue 
 
 sky; 
 
WATER-COLOUR PAINTING. 351 
 
 sky ; after which you may lay some stronger strokes of 
 purple over the light, so as to make them appear like 
 clouds at a distance. 
 
 For a fiery red sky, use red lead and a little white, in- 
 stead of the purple streaks or clouds, working them, ac- 
 cording to art, imperceptibly one into another. 
 
 Clouds you are to lay on with white, and black, some- 
 times a little purple ; but the best and surest direction you 
 can have is from nature herself. 
 
 To lay a Ground on the Walls of Chambers, Halls, S(c. 
 
 You must use, for a common wall, which is of a reddish 
 hue, brown, red, and white, and temper your colour ac- 
 cording as it is old or new ; shade it with brown-red, mixed 
 with a little bister or soot. 
 
 Other walls lay on with black and white, and shade with 
 the same colours ; sometimes mix a little purple with it, 
 and then shade it with black and lake. 
 
 For wainscoting that is embellished with carved mould- 
 ings and figures, you must use one colour for both plain 
 and carved work, shading and heightening it with judg- 
 ment and care. 
 
 To paint a fore-ground in imitation of sand or clay, lay 
 on the darker parts with brown ochre ; to the distance, add 
 a little white, and so on in proportion, shading it with 
 brown ochre, and the strong shades with scot. 
 
 Of Carnation or Flesh-colour. 
 
 In a carnation or flesh-colour, use, for young women 
 and children, flake white, burnt ochre, and a little ver- 
 milion : some add a little lake, but that must be but 
 sparingly : having laid on the colour for the carnation, 
 shade the lips, cheeks, chin, knees, and toes, with fine 
 
 lake 
 
352 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 lake and vermilion, and the naked parts, with sea-coat 
 and a little lake, or brown-red, or with brown ochre and 
 lake, or with Indian ink, or lake : for a brownish com- 
 plexion, mix a little brown ochre among the carnation 
 colour. 
 
 Some artists lay the dead colouring of the carnation 
 for young women with white, then shade it with paper- 
 black, and bring in the carnation colour where it is re- 
 quired. The 
 
 Paper-llack> 
 
 Is made in the following manner : take the paper in 
 which leaves of gold have lain ; burn them quick, one 
 after another, and let them drop into a bason of clean 
 water ; then take them out, and grind them on a stone to 
 a fine paste ; form it into little tents, and let it dry ; when 
 you use it, temper it with gum- water as you see fit. 
 
 For old people, use vermilion, brown-ochre and white ; 
 shade it with bister and lake. 
 
 A dead corpse of a young person paint with flake-white, 
 brown-ochre and a little indigo, or sea-coal ; and shade it 
 with bister, or sea-coal. 
 
 For an old dead corpse, leave out the indigo, but shade 
 it as before. 
 
 For dead bones, take white-lead mixed with a little bister 
 or chimney soot ; with which shade it, and heighten it with 
 white lead. 
 
 For the hair of young women and children, lay them 
 with light ochre, shade them with deep ochre, and heighten 
 them with masticot and white. 
 
 Grey hairs lay on with black and white ; shade them 
 with black, and heighten them with white ; and thus pro- 
 ceed in painting any other coloured hair. 
 
 Drops of blood lay on with red lead ; shade it behind, 
 where light falls, with carmine and lake. 
 
 Trees 
 
.WATER-COLOUR PAINTING. 353 
 
 Trees are laid on, some with white, black, and bister, 
 shaded with brown ochre, and heightened with the same 
 colour, with more white in it. Those that stand at a 
 distance are laid on with indigo-blue, brown-ochre and 
 while, and shaded with indigo and brown-ochre. Those 
 that are further distant, lay on faint, and shadow them but 
 slightly ; winch order you must observe in colouring of 
 ships, houses, and other buildings. 
 
 In thatched houses, paint the thatch or straw, whennew, 
 with Dutch pink, and shade it with brown-ochre ; and to 
 heighten the straw, use masticot and white. Old straw lay 
 on with brown-ochre, sometimes mixed with black and 
 white ; heighten the straw with brown-ochre, and white. 
 
 In colouring cities, castles, or ruins, you must observe 
 nature, for no rules can be well given ; however, to give a 
 little light to a young practitioner, it must be observed that 
 those houses which lie nearest the fore-ground are co- 
 loured with vermilion, white, and a little brown-ochre; 
 shading with that and some bister : the heightenings are 
 done with vermilion and white. 
 
 Houses further distant are laid on with lake, and a little 
 blue and white, shaded with blue and lake, and heightened 
 with adding more white. 
 
 Such buildings as are still further, lay on with a faint 
 purple and a little blue, shaded softly with blue, and 
 heightened with white ; and the further they are off, the 
 fainter and slighter must be your colour. 
 
 Flames and smoke are laid on with a pale yellow ; shade 
 the smoke with paper-black, or soot ; the flames shade 
 with red-lead or vermilion, and heighten them with Na- 
 ples yellow. 
 
 In colouring of rocks, hills, &c. that are at a great 
 distance, observe the same rule. Such as lie nearer the 
 fore-ground you are to imitate according to nature. Trees 
 that are upon the fore-ground, you paint with several sorts 
 of greens, the better to distinguish one from the „ other ; 
 ' vol. i. a a such 
 
354 THE LABOR.ATORY. 
 
 such as arc on distant hills, must be done with the same 
 colour as the hills. 
 
 How to paint or colour Cattle. 
 
 Horses of ehesnut colour you are to lay on with 
 brown-red, shaded with brown, red, and black, and 
 heightened with brown, red, white and yellow ; the manes 
 and tails of horses you may make white, as also the lower 
 part of their feet. 
 
 You are to lay one of an ash-colour on with black and 
 white ; shade it with a bluish black, and heighten it with 
 white. 
 
 Lay on a black horse with all black ; shade it with a 
 deep black, and heighten it with black and white. 
 
 Lay a white horse on with white-lead, just tinted or 
 broke with a little red ; shade it with black and white, and 
 heighten it with pure white. 
 
 Spotted horses must be done according as nature directs ; 
 and by these directions you will govern yourself in paint- 
 ing or colouring any other sort of cattle. 
 
 Lay sheep on with white, broke with a little bister ; use 
 in the shadows a little black. 
 
 Lay on hogs or pigs with brown ochre and yellow ochre, 
 and shade it with bister. 
 
 A bear is laid on with brown ochre, black and brown 
 red, shaded with bister and black, and heightened with 
 brown ochre and white. 
 
 A leopard is laid on with yellow ochre, and shaded with 
 bister ; the spots are laid on w r ith bister and black ; the 
 mouth with black and white. 
 
 An ass is commonly of a grizly colour, and laid on with 
 black and white, broke with a little ochre. 
 
 An elephant is laid on with black and white and a little 
 bister. 
 
 A monkey 
 
WATER-COLOUR PAINTING. 355 
 
 A monkey is laid on with Dutch pink, bister and black ; 
 the hair is heightened with mastieot, white, and a little 
 bister ; the paws must be shaded off with black and brown- 
 red, with a little white. 
 
 A hart is laid on with brown ochre and English red, and 
 shaded on the back ; and, where it is requisite, with bister 
 and brown-red : a streak of white must be below the neck, 
 and the belly and breast of a white colour. 
 
 A hare is laid on with brown-ochre, which loses itself by 
 degrees into white under the belly ; the back is shaded 
 with bister, and the hair is heightened with ochre and 
 white. 
 
 A rabbit is laid on with white, black, and bister ; the 
 belly is white : these creatures are of various colours, 
 which may be imitated after nature. 
 
 Of Birds. 
 
 A falcon is laid on with brown ochre, black and white, 
 shaded with a pale black ; the feathers must be displayed 
 and shaded with black ; the breast is white, the legs yel- 
 low, and shaded with brown-ochre and bister. 
 
 A turkey-cock or hen, is laid on with black and white, and 
 shaded with black, working the colours lighter and lighter 
 towards the belly, which must be all white ; the legs are 
 laid on with indigo and white, and shaded with blue ; 
 when they are irritated, the substance about their bill 
 must be laid on with vermilion and lake, deepening it 
 with stronger lake ; otherwise, when they are calm, that 
 part is a little upon the purple. 
 
 A swan is laid on with white, with a little bister, and 
 heightened, where the feathers seem to rise, with pure 
 white ; the feet are blackish, and the bill red, with a black 
 rising at the upper end. 
 
 Pigeons, drakes, hens, &c. are of so many various co- 
 lours, that there would be no end to give proper lessons 
 a a 2 for 
 
356 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 for every one : and thus it is with many other birds, which 
 an artist ought to copy after nature. 
 
 Of Fruit. 
 
 Apples are laid on with tine masticot mixed with a little 
 verdigrise ; or a little white French-berry yellow, and ver- 
 digrise ; shade it with brown-ochre and verdigrise, or lake; 
 heighten it with masticot and white, and the strongest light 
 with white alone } but you must regulate yourself accord- 
 ing to the colour of the apples ; so also pears. 
 
 Cherries are laid on with vermilion and lake, shaded 
 with pure lake, and heightened with vermilion, or ver- 
 milion and a little white. 
 
 White-heart cherries are laid on in the middle with ver- 
 milion, lake and white ; working it to a yellow towards the 
 stalk, and with lake towards the top. 
 
 Morello's are laid oh with lake and a little black, sha- 
 dowed with black, and heightened with vermilion, lake and 
 black : this must be intermixed, that the colours mav seem 
 all of one piece. 
 
 Mulberries are laid on with lake and bister, shadowed 
 with black, and heightened with vermilion ; on the highest 
 lights give little dots with lake and white. 
 
 Strawberries are laid on with a yellowish while, then 
 shaded with lake and vermilion ; heighten the knobs with 
 white and vermilion. 
 
 Grapes ; the black ones are laid on with purple, shaded 
 with blue yerditer and indigo, heightened with, white. 
 
 White grapes are laid on with pale verdigrise, a little 
 masticot, and white ; the blue bloom is very gently, with 
 a blunt pencil, touched with blue verditer. 
 
 Peaches and apricots arc laid on with white masticot, or 
 French-berry yellow and white, shaded with red-ochre and 
 yellow; if there be a bloom upon them, do it with lake, 
 and heighten it with white as you do the grapes ;.some 
 
 of 
 
WATER-COLOUR PAINTING. SS^ 
 
 of a greener colour than others, wherein you are to copy- 
 nature as it lies before you. 
 
 Radishes and turnips are laid on with white, shaded with 
 Indian-ink, and at the top with lake ; working it down 
 faint into white towards the bottom. The top is laid on 
 with verdigrise and sap-green, shaded with sap-green and 
 indigo, and heightened with masticot. 
 
 Carrots are laid on with yellow-ochre, and, if they are 
 of a high colour, it is mixed with red-lead ; they are 
 shaded with brown-ochre, yellow-ochre and bister, and 
 heightened with masticot. For the rest, let the practi-? 
 {.ioner follow nature. 
 
 Of Flowers. 
 
 Roses are laid on with a pale carmine and white, 
 shadowed with carmine and less white, and the deepest 
 with carmine by itself; make the heart always darker' 
 than the rest. The seed in full blown roses is yellow. 
 
 Tulips are of various kinds, colours, and shapes ; it is 
 impossible to give certain rules for colouring them. 
 
 Some are done with lake and carmine on white, mixed 
 together; others with purple, laid on with ultramarine, 
 carmine and lake ; sometimes bluer and sometimes redder : 
 these colours must be streaked according to nature. Those 
 of one colour, as yellow, red, &c. are laid on with such 
 colours ; and, if there appear any streaks, you must make 
 your coiour either lighter or darker, as nature directs. 
 
 Anemonies are of several sorts ; some arc laid on witli 
 lake and white, and finished with the same: others with 
 vermilion, and shadowed with that colour, carmine, and 
 lake. Yellow ones are laid on with masticot, shadowed 
 with that and vermilion ; sometimes with brown-red. 
 
 Red lilies are laid on with red-lead, shaded with v.er- 
 ixulion, and carmine. 
 
 The 
 
358 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 The peony is laid on with lake and white, and shaded 
 with the same colour, and less white. 
 
 Yellow cowslips are laid on with masticot, and shaded 
 with gamboge and umber. Purple ones are laid on with 
 ultramarine, carmine and white, and shaded with less 
 white. 
 
 Carnations and pinks are managed like anemonies and 
 tuiips. 
 
 Some pinks are of a pale flesh-colour, streaked with 
 another that is a little higher ; this is done with vermilion, 
 lake and white, and streaked without white. 
 
 The blue hyacinth is laid on with ultramarine and white, 
 and shaded with less white. 
 
 The red hyacinth or grideline, is laid on with lake and 
 white, and a little ultramarine ; and finished with less 
 white. 
 
 The white sort is laid on with white, and shadowed 
 with black and white. 
 
 Crocuses are of two sorts, viz. yellow and purple. The 
 yellow is laid on with masticot, and shaded with gall-stone 
 or gamboge ; after which, upon each leaf on the outside, 
 are made three separate streaks with bister and lake. The 
 purple ones are laid on with carmine, ultramarine and 
 white, and tinished with less white ; the streaks must be 
 very dark on the outside of the leaves. The seed of 
 both is yellow. 
 
 Of Metals. 
 
 Gold is laid on with red-lead, saffron, and yellow 
 ochre, shadowed with lake and bister ; in the deepest 
 places with bister, lake, and black ; then heightened with 
 shell-gold. 
 
 Silver is laid on with white, shadowed with black and 
 blue, and heightened with shell-silver. 
 
 Tin 
 
WATER-COLOUR PAINTING. 359 
 
 Tin or pewter is clone the same way, only it is laid on 
 with white, mixt with a little indigo. 
 
 Iron is done like tin. 
 
 Brass is done in the same manner as gold, only the 
 shades must not be so strong. 
 
 Copper is laid on with brown-red and white, shadowed 
 with brown-red, lake, and bister, heightened with browiv- 
 red and white. 
 
 These directions will be sufficient to guide young practi- 
 tioners to nature, which is the best school they can go to. 
 
 A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE ART OF DRAWING 
 IN PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 Perspective is the art of drawing on a plane, or flat 
 surface, the real resemblances of such objects as are seen 
 by the eye from any distance or situation. 
 
 To understand the ground-work and principles of this 
 art, it will be proper to consider the object that is viewed, 
 as if seen through a transparent window, interposed be- 
 tween it and the eye. Suppose, for instance, a person at 
 a window looks through an upright pane of glass at an ob- 
 ject beyond it, and draws the object steadily upon the 
 glass, as if the point of the pencil touched the very object 
 itself; jf he were to cut out the glass afterwards, and lay 
 it flat upon a table, it will represent the object he has seen 
 and drawn, just as it ought to appear upon a sheet of 
 white paper, without having first drawn it upon the up- 
 right pane of the window. 
 
 This art, therefore, furnishes the rules whereby every 
 object may be delineated on a fiat surface, with equal 
 truth and certainty as if we could carry such an upright 
 pane, or window, with us wherever we had occasion. 
 
 By 
 
360 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 By proper attention to the few following rules, a more 
 extended notion of the powers of perspective may be 
 gained, previous to a fuller knowledge of the study, to 
 which this professes only to be an introduction* 7 . 
 
 To raise a perpendicular Line. 
 
 Draw a line, which, with your compass, divide at A, 
 fig. 2. then from the ends of this line C D. make the 
 arches, which divide themselves in B ; then draw a line 
 from A to B. If the perpendicular is to reach below the 
 Jine given, you proceed in the same manner as above 
 the line. See plate 7. 
 
 To divide a given Line into any Number of equal Parts. 
 
 Let A B, fig. 3. plate 7, be the given line. From 
 the point A draw a right line A K, at pleasure ; from the 
 point B draw a right line B P parallel to A K; set off 
 along A K and B P, from the points A and B, as many 
 equal parts A E, EF, FG, &c. andBK, KL, LM, MN, 
 &c. towards K and P respectively, as are one less than 
 the number into which you intend the given line to be di- 
 vided : join the last point in AK, with the first in B P, 
 and also join the other points I L, G N, F O, &c. and the 
 right lines K K, I L, H M, G N, &c. will divide A B into 
 the desired nua»ber of equal parts at the points, k, /, 
 h, *, txc. 
 
 :: - Many excellent treatises have been written on the subject 
 of perspective, but the one which gives the most valuable and va- 
 ried examples, though it be unjustly neglected and overlooked, is 
 printed in quarto, by D. Foamier, an ingenious foreigner, who acted 
 the several parts of poet, painter, cook, machinist, and fiddler, 
 within the city of Westminster. 
 
 To 
 
PERSPECTIVE. S61 
 
 To draw a parallel, as Q R, parallel to O P, fig. 4, you 
 must draw equal semi-circles, and make the line Q R, 
 touch their extremities. See plate 7. 
 
 The horizontal line is no other than a parallel to the 
 base. 
 
 The diagonal line is drawn from one angle to another, 
 as ST, fig. 5. pi. 7. 
 
 An equilateral triangle is raised upon a given right line 
 A B, by setting the compasses at C, and at the distance 
 D describing the arch E D ; also from D, at the distance 
 C, describing the arch E C, and drawing right lines from 
 E, to C and D respectively ; raising the triangle C D E, 
 fig. 6. pi. 7. 
 
 Ichnography is the dimension of a platform or plane, 
 upon which any thing is to be raised, as A B C D is the 
 ichnography or plane of a square body. See fig. 7. pi. 7. 
 
 Orthography describes or represents the face or fore 
 part of the object, as of a building, or a body of anv 
 thing opposite to one's eye, so as EFGH, which is the 
 orthography of the forepart or front of a cube, or a build- 
 ing, fig. 8. pi. 7. 
 
 Scenography represents the object wholly elevated, with 
 all its dimensions of the front, sides and top which mav be 
 seen • as I K L M N O P is a perfect cube. See fig. 9. pi. 7. 
 
 Of the visual Rays. 
 
 The visual ray is that from the object to the centre 
 of the eye ; it is the strongest of all others ; it divides 
 the horizontal line and gives the point of sight. If the 
 object be a point, then there is but one visual ray, which 
 is called central, a b, fig. 1. pi. 8. If the object be a right 
 line, as a b, fig. 2, the visual rays make a triangle, whereof 
 the line ab Is the base, and the two lines, c d, the rays on 
 the outside, which come 4 from the eye e, and make the 
 
 triangle 
 
362 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 triangle e, a, b. If the object is a square superficies, the 
 visual rays will make a pyramid, as fig. 3, of which a is 
 the central and strongest, 
 
 Of the Horizon. 
 
 The horizon, in perspective, is a line which gives the 
 height of our eye, and bears always the points of sight 
 and distance ; or rather, a line which separates the heaven 
 from the earth, and which limits the sight ; for one cannot 
 see any thing above the horizon which does not surpass 
 the height of the eye : thus a tree or mountain may have 
 its top above the horizon, but the foot of it is a good deal 
 below it ; as, for example, A B, fig. 4, are two pillars be- 
 low the horizon C, because the eye is elevated. In fig. 5. 
 they are even with the horizon C, because the eye is with 
 them at an equal height : in fig. 6. they are much above 
 the horizon C, because the eye is lower. Thus, accord- 
 ing to different stations of taking the horizon, the subject 
 before us will be either higher or lower than the horizontal 
 line. See plate 8. 
 
 Of the Point of Sight, the Base, the Point of Distance t 
 and the Point Accidental. 
 
 The point of sight A, is that which makes the central 
 ray on the horizontal line, to which all the other visual 
 rays, as D D, are to join themselves. See plate (10) fig. 1. 
 
 The base, or plane B B, is the line on which the objects 
 stand ; for every object has its own plane, which is always 
 parallel to the horizontal line. 
 
 The points of distance C C, fig, 2, plate (10) are points 
 set at an equal distance on each side of the point of sight 
 A, and is always within the horizontal line, a b. A the 
 point of sight ; D D the visual rays ; C C the points of 
 
 distance ; 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 363 
 
 distance ; B B the plane or base ; EE the abridgments of 
 the square, of which D D are the sides ; F F the diagonal 
 lines, which go to the points of distance C C. 
 
 Points accidental, are certain points where the objects 
 end ; these may be cast negligently, because they are not 
 drawn to the points of sight, nor distance, but meet each 
 other in the horizontal line ; for example, two pieces of 
 square timber, G and H, fig. 3, plate (10), make the 
 points 1 1 1 1 on the horizon, and go not to the point of 
 sight K, nor to the point of distance C C : these acciden- 
 tal points serve likewise for casements, openings of doors, 
 windows, tables, chairs, &c. 
 
 Of the Point Direct, or Front. 
 
 This is when the object is wholly before you, having 
 neither one side nor the other in your view, but shewing 
 only the fore part or front, when elevated ; (if it be not a 
 polygon). 
 
 The Oblique Point of Sight 
 
 Is when the object is seen sideways, with the corner of 
 the eye : while the eye is always opposite the point of 
 sight, the visual rays, drawn as usual to that point, will 
 make tire object appear athwart. 
 
 Of the Diagonals and their Sections. 
 
 A geometrical plane, where the lines are perpen- 
 dicular and parallel to the base, are always, in perspective, 
 to be drawn from the base to the point of sight ; for in- 
 stance : suppose one gives a shorter or longer line for the 
 perspective than what is in the plane, as for instance, fig. 
 1. plate (11), the long line AB (which must have the 
 same number of divisions as that of the plane C) : from 
 
 all 
 
364 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 ah which divisions you draw lines to the point of sight D. 
 The diagonals FF are drawn for the dimensions of the 
 squares ; and wherever the diagonals cut the outer rays 
 AD, B D, there is the abridgment of the square, as G G. 
 Now, to^place lines according to their true vanishing dis- 
 tances, only draw a line from each of the divisions on the 
 line (as in H. fig. 2.) to the point of distance E, and 
 so successively from I to E, K to E, L to E, &c. and you 
 have one side properly divided. The other side is divided 
 in the same manner, beginning from O to E ; next from 
 N to Ej and so on. See plate 11. 
 
 Deep sinking In drawing of Perspective. 
 
 This is done by means of drawing from each side of 
 
 the base H II to the point of sight I, and likewise from 
 
 the same sides to the point of distance K K, and where 
 
 the latter divide the former, as in L L, that is the first 
 
 abridgment : then drawing from L L to the points of dis-r 
 
 tance, you will at M M find the second distance, and 
 
 so on, see fig. 3 and 4, plate (11). If the abridgment 
 
 is to be oblique, you mark the point of sight. Thus 
 
 may draw any plane or pavement, garden plats,. 
 
 o:c. as for example, fig. 2, plate (11), you divide the 
 
 b i&e A B equal to the number of squares in the breadth 
 
 of a pavement ; then draw, from these divisions, the 
 
 lines to the point of sight D ; after which, draw the 
 
 :ai lines ; and where they divide the lines to the point 
 
 lit, there draw lines parallel to the base. 
 
 Of Elevation in Perspective, or Stenography. 
 
 This is the art of bringing any thing elevated, to a true 
 
 jrtion, at the distance they are standing : for which 
 
 .purpose you draw a line perpendicular to one side of the 
 
 plane or base, on which you, mark out the height of the 
 
 first 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 365 
 
 first object, and from that height you draw a line to the 
 point of sight, which you may place any where on the 
 horizon ; and whatever you draw perpendicular between 
 them, will describe the true proportion each elevation is 
 to have (if they are of an equal height) ; if any thing ap- 
 pears above the horizon, which interferes with those ele- 
 vations of equal height, it must be drawn according to 
 the measure of its height, as you will be directed. 
 
 Hence it follows, that when two triangles are joined to- 
 gether they will produce four ; the two original ones will 
 serve for top and bottom, and the two occasional ones, for 
 the sides : for all the four together will close at the centre 
 A, which is the point of sight where all the visual rays 
 meet together ; and according to the distance of the ob- 
 jects, those above the base, those below raise themselves, 
 and those of the sides close themselves, as you see in fig. 
 1, plate (9). 
 
 The trees are produced by the same cause, and bring 
 Forth the same effect, where one triangle comprizes the 
 air, another the earth, and the two side-ones the trees, as 
 fig. 2, plate (9). 
 
 If the horizon be even with the elevation A, you draw a 
 line from the foot of that elevation a, to the point of sight 
 B ; and all the figures which are at the distance must re- 
 ceive their proportionable height from the perpendicular 
 C I drawn from the horizon, between the first figure and 
 the visual ray, or line of sight; see fig. 1, plate (12)* 
 
 If the elevation be above the horizon, you proceed in 
 this manner : having drawn the horizontal line, you mark 
 thereon the point of sight F ; suppose the first elevation 
 E to be half its height above the horizon, or let it be a 
 quarter ; then you draw from the bottom and the top of 
 that elevation to the point of sight F, and between these 
 lines you draw perpendiculars for the elevation of the 
 figures G H which are at some distance. See f g. 2, plate 
 (12). 
 
 When 
 
Z66 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 When the horizon is high, we must from the first figure 
 I, fig. 3, plate (12), draw its height to any place of the 
 horizon, which is here to the point K ; all the heights of 
 the other figures must be placed between the triangle 
 K L M, which will determine their height at their respec- 
 tive distances, as is shewn in fig. 3, plate (12), at N N N, 
 
 ooo. 
 
 Figures that have their feet on the horizon are propor- 
 tioned according to the height of the first or principal figure 
 by drawing a line from the head, or a measure of its 
 height, to any part of the horizon, the perpendiculars B C 
 between both, will give the heights required. Painters or 
 engravers ought to make the principal figure strongest, and 
 the most finished. See fig. 1, plate (13). 
 
 Figures raised upon pedestals must have the same height 
 as though they stood upon the plane, in which you pro- 
 ceed as in fig. 2, where A has the same height as B, and 
 C is equal in height to D, and E is equal to that of F. 
 See fig. 2, plate (13). 
 
 The same rule is to be observed in figures which stand 
 lower than the base or plane, as you see in fig. 3, wher 
 G is equal in height to H, and I to J\. ' 
 
 The height of figures seen far beyond a hill, or any 
 other eminence, are found by drawing the natural height 
 of a man, horse, &c. from the foot of the mountain A, 
 fig. 1, to the point of sight B: proceed as has been di- 
 rected, observing that the figures C and D elevated on 
 the hiil and post must be of the same dimension and 
 height with A, as must any other figure that stands 
 upon an eminence on the same ground with the first 
 figure. Supposing the hill to be twenty-five feet high ; 
 the first figure we will say is five feet, the second 
 figure standing twenty feet high, reaches up to the top of 
 the hill and meets the horizon. The figure on the hill be- 
 ing of the same height as the two former, has his feet 
 upon the horizon. The little figures beyond the hill are 
 
 drawn 
 
PERSPECTIVE. 367 
 
 drawn according to the perpendiculars, as a to a, b to b, 
 and c to c. 
 
 Beasts are done by the same rule as men and other 
 figures, as for example fig. 2, plate 14, having drawn 
 the first horse A, and from his height to the point of sight, 
 the perpendiculars will be marks for the proportion of those 
 at a distance, as b to b, and c to c. 
 
 Birds flying in the air must be drawn from the ends of 
 the wings of the first bird A, to the point of sight on the 
 horizon, B ; and the parallels, between the first bird and 
 the point of sight, will give a due proportion to the rest, 
 as a to a and b to b, fig. 2. plate (14). The same of 
 horses, &c. see fig. 3. 
 
 If you draw chairs, tables, boxes, &c. in perspective, 
 you must observe the rules of scenography. See fig. 9, 
 plate 7. Doors, windows, window-shutters, &e. describe 
 either a part, or the whole, of a semi-circle, according as 
 their opening is more or less ; which, from the plane of 
 squares, you may easily bring into perspective by the same 
 rules. 
 
 PART 
 
363 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 PART XI. 
 
 COSMETICS, ODORIFEROUS-WATERS, 
 OILS, &c. 
 
 How to beautify the Skin. 
 
 TAKE rye bran, sift it through a fine sieve, and re- 
 peat it till it is clear from all the flour ; then soak it 
 for three or four hours in white-wine vinegar ; put in some 
 yolks of eggs ; stir it together, and distil it in balnco marine ; 
 the water thus drawn off is an excellent cleanser and beau- 
 tifier of the skin. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Take parsley, nettle seed, peach-kernels, of each an 
 equal quantity, boil them in fair water, with which wash 
 your hands or face. Or, 
 
 Take lemons and hard boiled eggs, cut them in slices, 
 and lay them one over the other in a still, the bottom of 
 which you are first to cover with well-washed turpentine. 
 The water that is distilled from it, preserve for use. Or, 
 
 Boil 
 

 COSMETICS, &c. 369 
 
 Boil the blossoms of rosemary, alum and tartar in wine, 
 with which wash your hands and face. Or, 
 
 Take slices of lemons and dried beans ; let them soak 
 in wine ; add some honey, eggs, and goat's milk ; then 
 distil it. 
 
 A fine Water for beautifying the Face. 
 
 Take a couple of calves feet, and boil them in eighteen 
 quarts of river water, to half the quantity ; then put in of 
 rice and crumbs of fine bread steeped in milk, two pounds ; 
 fresh butter two pounds, and the white of ten new laid 
 eggs ; mix all together and distil ; put into the distilled 
 water a little camphor and alum, and you will have a fine 
 beautifying wash. 
 
 An Odoriferous Water. 
 
 Take of fresh rosemary-flowers two pounds; amber 
 one scruple ; orange, lemon, and citron-water three pints ; 
 set these in a well closed glass vessel for ten days ; then 
 distil it in balneo marine, and keep the water for use. Or, 
 
 Take orange peel and green-lemon peel, of each half 
 an ounce ; cloves one scruple ; fresh lavender blossoms six 
 ounces ; mix all these things together, with three quarts 
 of damask rose-water, and let it stand covered up for some 
 days ; then distil it in balneo maria, and the water will 
 be excellent. 
 
 To prepare the Cloth of the Levant, for Ladies to colour 
 their Faces with. 
 
 Take shavings of scarlet cloth, and boil them for some 
 time, in water wherein quick-lime has been dissolved ; 
 then strain it, and, to the quantity of a quart, put an 
 
 vol. i. b b ounce 
 
370 THE LABORATORY, 
 
 ounce of roach alum, and the same weight of vcrdigrise, 
 together with one quarter of an ounce of gum-arabic : 
 having boiled it for the space of half an hour, take an old 
 piece of linen cloth, of what size you please, and put it 
 into the decoction, or red colour : cover the pan, and let 
 the liquid cool for the space of a day ; then take out the 
 cloth you have dyed ; dry it in the shade ; and keep it in 
 a box, among odoriferous and sweet-scented things, and 
 use it when there is occasion. 
 
 To prepare Oil of Benjamin, or Benzoin. 
 
 Take an earthen pot that is high and narrow, with a 
 little border round it ; put into it three or four ounces ot 
 clean benjamin, grosly powdered ; cover the pot with a 
 pyramidal paper cover, and tie it round under the border ; 
 set the pot into hot ashes, and when the benjamin is 
 heated the flowers will sublime ; take off the cover every 
 two hours, and fix another in its place ; stop up, quickly, 
 in a glass, the flowers you find in the covers ; and when 
 those which afterwards sublime, begin to appear yellow, 
 take the pot off the fire, and let it cool. You will find a 
 black and shining matter cleaving to the bottom of the pot, 
 which is taken off frith a warm spatula ; it is light, easily 
 broken, and of a strong smell, if it comes near the fire ; 
 pulverize the same, grosly, and put it into a retort of a 
 sufficient bigness, and fill it only a third part ; place it 
 upon the sand ; and, having fitted a receiver, lute the 
 joints, and make a small fire underneath, in order to heat 
 the retort, and distil an oil, part of which will become 
 thick in the receiver : continue the small fire till nothing 
 more distils ; keep this red oil in a glass bottle ; the odour 
 is agreeable, and its taste sharp and pungent. 
 
 Oil 
 
COSMETICS, Sec. 371 
 
 Oil of Roses. 
 
 Take the seeds of melons, well cleansed, and stamp 
 them in a stone mortar ; lay them in rows, or beds, toge- 
 ther with rose-leaves, for the space of eight days ; then 
 take a little linen bag, wet it in rose-water, and put into it 
 the melon seeds and rose-leaves : having tied it close, put 
 it between a press, and press out the oil. This oil is very 
 fine, and therefore carefully close it up in a phial. 
 
 Oil of Cloves. 
 
 Take sweet almonds, scrape and cleanse them with a 
 knife, break them in pieces, and steep them in rose-water ; 
 stamp also cloves ; temper and steep them likewise in rose- 
 water, so long till it has extracted the virtue of the cloves ; 
 then put the almonds, cloves, and the waters of each to- 
 gether, and leave them till you find them swelled ; then 
 take them out ; dry them in the sun ; and put them again 
 into the water to swell ; repeat this five or six times : then 
 put them into a press, and press out the oil ; which keep 
 in a phial, stopped close. In this manner you may make 
 oil of musk, amber, cinnamon, mace, nutmegs. 
 
 Queen of Hungary's Water. 
 
 Fill a glass, or earthen cucurbit, half full of rosemary 
 flowers, gathered when in their prime ; infuse them in 
 spirits of wine ; set it in a water-bath ; join it to its head, 
 luting the junctures well ; give a digesting fire for three 
 days ; after which, unlute them, and pour what has been 
 distilled into the cucurbit ; refit, and increase the fire 
 strong enough to make the liquid distil, so as one drop 
 may immediately follow another ; when you have drawn 
 two-thirds of it, and put out the fire, let the vessels cool, 
 
 B b 2 and 
 
372. THE LABORATORY. 
 
 and unlute them, and you will find in the receiver a very 
 good Hungary water ; keep it in a phial well stopt ; it is 
 good in palpitations and swooning ; in the palsy, lethargy 
 and hysterical diseases ; the dose is from one drachm to 
 two. Outwardly it is used for inflammation, tumours, 
 pains, palsy, and in reviving the spirits. 
 
 Ladies use it to beautify their complexion, by mixing 
 half an ounce with six ounces of lily-water, or bean-flower- 
 watcr; washing their faces with it. 
 
 To make Balls for taking out Spots of Oil or Grease. 
 
 Take soft soap, incorporate it with ashes of vines, 
 finely sifted, of both an equal quantity : then add to it 
 roach alum burnt, and tartar, well beat into powder, in- 
 corporate all together and form thereof little round balls, 
 and lay them by for use when occasion requires to make 
 use of them. 
 
 To prepare a Leather Strap. 
 
 ProcuPvE a piece of leather, very smooth on the flesh 
 side, and about two inches broad •, glue it to a thin board 
 of the same breadth ; when dry, smear it all over with 
 tallow candle, and then hold it a little over the fire, till 
 the grease is penetrated through the pores of the leather : 
 repeat this three times, and afterwards pour over it a little 
 tripoli, washed clean, which, with the grease, work into 
 the leather, so long till the grease becomes warm ; then 
 pour on fresh tripoli ; repeating this operation four or five 
 times, till the leather is fit for use. Or, 
 
 Take finely powdered emery ; steep it in fair water, and 
 pour a good deal more upon -it, stirring it. well together. 
 Let it stand a while to settle ; pour off" the water, and put 
 one end of a linen or woollen rag to the bottom- of the 
 settled emery ; mid let the other hang out, in order to 
 
 draw 
 
COSMETICS, &£. 373 
 
 draw off all the water from it, which being become dry, 
 rub it into the greased leather, in the same manner as you 
 did the tripoly ; only work in the emery with a piece of 
 smooth ivory, or with a burnisher ; after this, stroke your 
 razor softly over it, and the effect will be, that razors 
 thrown aside as useless are so recovered, as to be fit for 
 shaving. Now, as one razor is softer than another, you 
 must pass a soft one on a strap prepared with tripoly ; 
 and a hard one upon a strap prepared with emery. 
 
 To make the Hair gfb'Ji'. 
 
 Take the tops of hemp, as soon as the plant begins to 
 appear above ground, and infuse them in a small portion 
 of water for twenty-four hours. Dip the teeth of your 
 comb in the above, and it will quicken the growth of the 
 hair. — Or, dip the teeth of your comb in the expressed 
 iuice of nettles, and repeat -it frequently. 
 
 A Liniment, for the same Purpose. 
 
 Take six drachms of labdanum, two ounces of bear's 
 grease, half an ounce of honey, three drachms of pow- 
 dered southernwood, a drachm and a half of the ashes of the 
 root of calamus aromaticus, three drachms of balsam' of 
 Peru, and a little oil of sweet almonds. Make a li- 
 niment, 
 
 A compound Oil, for the same. 
 
 Take half a pound of the leaves of green southern- 
 wood ; boil them in a pint and a half of sweet oil, and 
 half a pint of red wine : when sufficiently boiled, remove 
 it from the fire, and strain off the liquor through a linen 
 bag. Repeat mis operation, with fresh southernwood to 
 
 the 
 
314 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the strained liquor ; and to the last strained liquor, add 
 two ounces of bear's grease. 
 
 A Remedy for Corns. 
 
 Roast a clove of garlic, or a small onion ; cut it open 
 whilst hot, and apply it immediately to the corn. Soak 
 the foot the next day in warm water ; roast another clove 
 of garlic, as before, and proceed thus, daily, till the corn 
 is removed, which will seldom exceed a week. Some 
 people have recoiamended a leaf of ivy which grows 
 against walls to be steeped in vinegar, and applied to the 
 corn with a fillet over it, changing it daily, and soaking 
 the foot at each operation. 
 
 An excellent Tooth-powder. 
 
 Take of the soft part of the cuttle-fish bone, and of the 
 finest prepared chalk, each half an ounce ; Peruvian bark, 
 and Florentine orris root, each two drachms : reduce the 
 whole into a fine powder, and mix them intimately, by 
 sifting them through a drum-shaped lawn sieve. This may 
 be coloured with a little rose-pink, and scented with a few 
 drops of oil of cinnamon. 
 
 Another Dentifrice. 
 
 Take prepared pumice-stone, sealed earth, and red 
 coral prepared, of each one ounce ; dragon's-blood, half 
 an ounce; cream of tartar, an ounce and a half; cin- 
 namon a quaiter of an ounce; and of cloves, a scruple: 
 beat, powder, mix and sift them. 
 
 Imperial 
 
COSMETICS, &G. 375 
 
 Imperial Water. 
 
 Take two quarts of the best proof spirits, and dissolve in 
 it one ounce of frankincence, mastich, benjamin, and 
 gum-arabic ; and half an ounce of cloves and nutmeg : 
 add an ounce and a half of pine-nut kernels (to be had at 
 the seed-shops), and the same of sweet-almonds ; also, 
 three grains of musk. Bruise the above articles in a mar- 
 ble mortar, and distil in a water-bath ; and keep the water 
 that is drawn off, in a bottle well stopped. This water 
 removes wrinkles, and renders the skin uncommonly deli- 
 cate ; it also whitens the teeth, abates the tooth-ache, 
 sweetens the breath, and strengthens the gums. — Foreign 
 ladies set a high value upon it, 
 
 Venetian Water, to clear a Sun-burnt Complexion. 
 
 Take a pint of cow's milk, in May ; a pint of water 
 that distils from the vine when wounded, or the expressed 
 juice of the tendrils bruised; eight lemons, and four Se- 
 ville oranges, cut in slices ; two ounces of sugar candy ; 
 half an ounce of borax, in powder ; and four narcissus 
 roots, beaten to a paste. Mix the above ingredients, and 
 distil in a vapour-bath. Re-distil, and keep it in a close 
 vessel, for use. 
 
 To preserve Flowers, 
 
 Take the finest river sand, called drift-sand, free from 
 all adhering earthy particles. Dry it well ; and put a 
 thin layer at the bottom of a dry earthen pan. Hold 
 the flower you intend to preserve, upright, and carefully 
 lay the sand around it, without disturbing the leaves or 
 blossoms : set the pan in the sun, but free from rain and 
 
 moisture, 
 
316 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 moisture, and your flower will be very little inferior to the 
 fresh one. Thus you may preserve roses, all the year 
 round : if you wish to keep tulips, cut out the triangular 
 top which grows in the middle of the cup, previously. 
 
 A Liniment to destroy Vermin. 
 
 Take an ounce of vinegar, and an ounce of powdered 
 staves-acre ; half an ounce of honey, and half an ounce 
 of flowers of sulphur. Make them into a liniment, with 
 two ounces of salad-oil. 
 
 A fine Varnish for the Skin. 
 
 Take equal parts of lemon-juice, and whites of new 
 laid eggs ; beat them well together in a glazed earthen 
 vessel. Put the pan on a slow fire, and keep stirring the 
 mixture with a wooden spatula or stick, till it is thick as 
 butter. Keep it for use. When you mean to use any, 
 add a few drops, to the part you use, of any distilled 
 water. Wash the face first very clean, and then apply the 
 varnish. 
 
 A Remedy for Whitloes. 
 
 . Take pellitory of the wall ; cut it as small as possible, 
 and mix it with hog's lard, in an equal proportion. Wrap 
 it up in several papers, one over the other, and place it 
 in warm wood-ashes, not hot enough to burn the paper, 
 but sufficient to incorporate the inclosed materials. Apply 
 this liniment, spread thick upon brown paper, to the whit- 
 loe, twice or thrice a dav. 
 
 Fine 
 
COSMETICS, See. 377 
 
 Fine -perfumed Powder, for the Hair. 
 
 Take a pound of Florentine orris-root, in fine pow- 
 der; two ounces of powdered gum-benjamin and storax ; 
 yellow saunders a pound and a half; cloves, two drachms ; 
 some powdered dried lemon-peel. Mix the above, well 
 powdered, and sift them through a lawn sieve, with twenty 
 pounds of powdered starch, or common hair-powder. 
 
 Almond Paste, for the Skin. 
 
 Beat any quantity you please, of sweet and bitter al- 
 monds, previously blanched, or deprived of their skins, in 
 a marble mortar : while beating them, pour on a few drops 
 of vinegar to keep them from turning oily. After the 
 paste is formed, add of powdered storax two drachms, 
 two ounces of whitish honey, and two yolks of hard 
 boiled eggs. Make the whole into a paste. 
 
 Cold Cream, for the Complexion. 
 
 Take white wax and spermaceti, of each a drachm ; 
 oil of sweet almonds, two ounces ; spring-water, an ounce 
 and a half : melt the wax and spermaceti together in the 
 oil of almonds, in a glazed earthen pipkin, over hot ashes, 
 or in a water-bath. Pour the solution into a marble 
 mortar, and stir it about (but not with any thing me- 
 tallic) till it is cold and. smooth ; add the water gradually. 
 By agitation, this pomade closely resembles cream, whence 
 its name. Some add rose water, or orange-flower water, 
 in preparing it; or a few drops of essence of lemons, 
 &c. &tc. It prevents the pits of small-pox from mark- 
 ing, and is an excellent article for the skin. Keep it in a 
 gallipot, tied over with bladder, and leather. 
 
 Lip 
 
S73 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Lip Sake. 
 
 Take three ounces of oil of almonds ; three quarters 
 of an ounce of spermaceti; and a quarter of an ounce of 
 white wax : melt them together over a slow fire, mixing 
 in a little powdered alkanet root. Stir it till it is cold, and 
 add a few drops of oil of rhodium. 
 
 While Pomatum. 
 
 Take an ounce of Florentine orris-root ; half an ounce 
 of calomus aromaticus, and the same of gum-benjamin ; 
 a quarter of an ounce of rose-wood, and a quarter of an 
 ounce of cloves. Bruise the whole into a gross-powder, 
 tie it up in a linen bag, and simmer it in a water-bath 
 with two pounds and a half of hog's lard well washed : add 
 a couple of pippins pared and cut into small bits, four 
 ounces of rose-water, and two ounces of orange-flower 
 water. Simmer them together a few minutes longer ; 
 strain off, and stand by till cold ; then tie it up close in 
 a gallipot, for use. 
 
 A Pomatum to remoie Wrinkles. 
 
 Take the juice of white garden lily-roots and fine 
 honey, of each two ounces • melted white wax, one 
 ounce ; incorporate the whole, and make a pomatum. 
 Applv it over night, and leave it -on till the morning. 
 
 A Pomatum for the Skin. 
 
 Take oil of white poppy-seeds, four gills; sperma- 
 ceti, three quarters of an ounce ; white wax, an ounce ; 
 mix them into a pomatum, utter the manner of the rest. 
 
 Method 
 
 
COSMETICS, &c. 379 
 
 Method of scenting Pomatum. 
 
 Spread your pomatum about an inch thick upon se- 
 veral dishes or plates, strewing the herbs or liowers 
 whose scent you like upon each. Set one upon the 
 other, changing the herbs or flowers every twelve hours. 
 Scrape off the pomatum ; gently melt the whole toge- 
 ther in a large covered pan, set in a water-bath, and 
 it is completed. Tie a bladder over it, in gallipots, and 
 keep it for use. 
 
 Common scented Powder. 
 
 To every pound of common starch powder, add one 
 ounce of Florentine orris-root, finely powdered, sifted, 
 and blended. 
 
 For the Eyes. 
 
 Take white vitriol and bay salt, equal parts, viz. one 
 ounce. Decrepitate them, i. e. dry them till they crack, 
 in a pan, crucible, or clean fire-shovel ; then add them to 
 a pint of hot water, or rose-water. Stir them together, 
 and let them stand some hours. Skim off the skin which 
 will appear on the surface, and put the clear liquor into a 
 clean bottle, to be well stopped. 
 
 Balls to take out Spots of Oil or Grease. 
 
 Take soft soap, and incorporate it with the ashes of 
 burnt twigs and tendrils of the vine, equal parts : add 
 a small portion of burnt alum and tartar in powder. 
 Mix the whole, and form the mass into balls, with which 
 spots may be removed from garments. 
 
 Cosmetic 
 
J50 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Cosmetic Lotion, resembling the celebrated Gotland's Lo~ 
 Hon in its Effects, Smell, and Properties. 
 
 Blanch two ounces of bitter almonds : beat them into 
 a paste, taking care to add a few drops of distilled water 
 during the pounding, that the mass may not turn oily : 
 add to the paste, a pint of distilled water in which six 
 grains of hydrargyrus muriatus have been dissolved, and 
 shake them together. Apply the lotion, night and morning. 
 
 PART XII. 
 
 DYING SILK, WORSTED, COTTON, fcfc. 
 
 OF VARIOUS COLOURS. 
 
 THE art of dying, in the sense in which it is usually 
 employed, is, the tinging of silk, worsted, cotton, 
 and linen, with different colours, in the manner practised 
 by those who do not meddle with any other branches, such 
 as the staining of leather, he. 
 
 On the theory of dying there are a variety of opinions, 
 some of which arc so contradictory to each other, and 
 founded so much on speculation, as to bewilder rather 
 than to enlighten. However, it is the professed object of 
 
 this 
 
 k 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 381 
 
 this work to forego all attempts of the kind, and to con- 
 fine its pages to the detail of such manual operations as 
 have been hitherto successfully employed. No doubt a 
 multitude of matter might be added to the receipts here 
 given, but the nature and extent of the undertaking will 
 not allow of a complete treatise, which would alone oc- 
 cupy volumes, such as the literary world can furnish to 
 those whose leisure and fortune enable them to enjoy and 
 read them. 
 
 Hozd to dye Silk, or Worsted, of a fine Carnation Colour. 
 
 First take, to each pound of silk, four handfuls of 
 wheaten bran ; put it into two pails of water ; boil it ; pour 
 it into a tub, and let it stand all night ; then take half the 
 quantity of that water, and put into it half a pound of 
 alum, a quarter of a pound of red tartar, beaten to a fine 
 powder, and half an ounce of finely powdered turmeric ; 
 boil them together, and stir them well about with a stick ; 
 after they have boiled for a quarter of an hour, take the 
 kettle off the fire ; put in the silk, and cover the kettle 
 close, to prevent the steam from riving out ; leave it thus 
 for three hours ; then rinse your siik in cold water, beat 
 and wring it on a wooden pin, and hang it up to dry. 
 
 Then take a quarter of a pound of gall-nuts ; beat them 
 fine, and put the powder into a pail of river-water ; boil 
 it, for one hour ; then take off the kettle, and when vou 
 can bear your hand in it, put in your silk, and let it lay an 
 hour ; then take it out, and hang it up to dry. When the 
 silk is dry, and you would dye it of a crimson colour, 
 weigh, to each pound of silk, three quarters of an ounce 
 of cochineal, beat to a fine powder, and sifted through a- 
 fine hair sieve ; then put it in the pail with the remaining 
 lye, and having mixed it well, pour it into a kettle ; when 
 it boils, cover it well, to prevent any dust coming to it. 
 After you have put in three quarters of a pound, and two 
 
 ounces 
 
38^ THE LABORATORY, 
 
 ounces and a half, of tartar, both finely powdered, let it 
 boil for a quarter of an hour ; then take it off the fire ; let 
 it cool a little, and put in the silk ; stir it well with a stick, 
 to prevent its being clouded ; and, when cool, wring it out. 
 If the colour is not deep enough, hang the kettle again 
 over the fire ; and when it has boiled, and is grown luke- 
 warm again, repeat the stirring in of the silk ; then hang 
 it upon a wooden pin fastened in a post, and wring and 
 beat it with a stick ; after this, rinse the dyed silk in hot 
 lye, wherein, to one pound of silk, dissolve half an ounce 
 of Newcastle soap ; afterwards rinse it in cold water. 
 Hang the skeins of silk on a wooden pin, putting a little 
 hand-stick to the bottom part, and thus having worked it, 
 wrung it and beat it round, you must hang it to dry. 
 
 Another Method to dye Silk of a Crimson Red. 
 
 Take of good Roman alum half an ounce, tartar one 
 ounce, acid of vitriol a quarter of an ounce ; put them, 
 pulverized, into a pewter kettle, and pour as much water 
 on them as is sufficient for half an ounce of the silk you 
 purpose to dye ; when it is ready to boil, put in the silk, 
 which before you must boil in bran ; boil it for an hour, or 
 more ; then wring it out, and put to the liquor half an 
 ounce of cochineal, finely powdered, and sixty drops of acid 
 of vitriol ; when ready to boil, put in the silk again, and let 
 it soak for four hours • then take clean water ; drop into it 
 a little acid of vitriol; rinse therein the silk ; take it out 
 again, and dry it on sticks, in the shade. This will be 
 a high colour ; but, if you would have it of a deep crim- 
 son, take, instead of acid of vitriol, spirit of sal-ammo- 
 niac to rinse your silk in. 
 
 ; General 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 33J 
 
 General Observations in dying Crimson, Scarlet, or 
 Purple. 
 
 1. Your boiler or kettle must be of good pewter, quite 
 clean, and free from any soil or grease. 
 
 2. The prepared tartar must be put in when the water 
 is lake-warm. 
 
 3. If you intend to dye woollen or worsted yarn, you 
 may put it in the first boiling, and let it boil for two 
 hours. 
 
 4. When boiled, take it out, rinse it, clean the kettle, 
 and put in the water for the second boiling. 
 
 5. This second boiling is performed in the same manner 
 as the first ; then put in cochineal, finely powdered ; when 
 it boils, stir it well about. 
 
 6. Now the silk, which before has been washed and 
 cleansed in the first lye, is to be put in, on a winch, which 
 is continually turned about, in order to prevent the colours 
 from fixing in clouds. 
 
 7. When the colour is to your mind, take it out ; rinse it 
 clean, and hang it up in a room, or a shady place, where it 
 may be free from dust. 
 
 8. When the acid is put into the second boiling, it 
 causes a coarse froth to swim at top, which you must 
 carefully take off. 
 
 How to dissolve Pewter, for an Article called " Dyer's 
 aqua-fort is.''' 
 
 Take fine pewter ; put it into a glass vessel ; a little 
 clear water over it, and then pour on nitrous acid, which 
 will dissolve it : the solution is of a whey, or milk colour : 
 add more acid, till it is clear. The common proportion is, 
 to one ounce of acid, a quarter of an ounce of pewter. 
 
 To 
 
38 •{> THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To dye a Crimson with Archil. 
 
 Put clean water into the kettle, and to each pound of 
 silk take twelve ounces of archil ; in this, turn your silk, 
 and wring it out ; then dissolve, to each pound of silk a 
 quarter of a pound of alum, and as much white arsenic ; 
 in this liquor put the silk all night, to soak ; then wring it 
 out ; this done, take to each pound of silk, two ounces of 
 cochineal, two ounces of galls, two ounces of gum, with a 
 little turmeric : in this boil the silk for two hours : let it 
 soak all night, and in the morning rinse it out. 
 
 To dj/e a Violet Colour. 
 
 First boil your silk in bran and alum, as has been 
 shewn above ; then clean your kettle ; and, to clean water, 
 put, to each pound of silk, one ounce of galls, one ounce 
 and a half of cochineal, finely powdered, and one ounce 
 of gum-arabic : boil it together, like the crimson red ; 
 leave it all night, and the next morning take out your 
 silk, and rinse it in fair water. 
 
 To dye Worsted, -Stuff, or Tarn of a Crimson Colour. 
 
 Take, to each pound of worsted, two ounces of alum, 
 two ounces of white tartar, two ounces of nitrous acid, 
 half an ounce of pewter, quarter of a pound of madder, 
 and a quarter of a pound of logwood ; put them together 
 in fair water, boiling the worsted therein for a considerable 
 time ; then take it out, and when cpol, rinse it in clean 
 water : then boil it again, and put, to each pound of 
 worsted, a quarter of a pound of logwood. 
 
 Another 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take, to eight pounds of worsted, six gallons of water, 
 and eight handfuls of wheaten bran ; let them stand all 
 night to settle ; in the morning, pour it clear off, and filter 
 it ; take thereof half the quantity, adding as much clear 
 water to it ; boil it up, and put into it one pound of alum, 
 and half a pound of tartar ; then put in the worsted, and 
 let it boil for two hours, stirring it up and down, all the 
 while it is boiling, with a stick. Then boil the other half 
 part of your bran-water, mixing it with .the same quantity 
 of fair water as before ; when it boils, put into it four 
 ounces of cochineal, two ounces of finelv powdered tartar ; 
 stir it well about, and when it has boiled for a little while, put 
 in your stuffs : keep stirring it from one end of the kettle 
 to the other with a stick, or turn it on a winch, till you 
 see the colour is to vour mind ; then take it out of the 
 kettle j let it cool ; and rinse it in fair water. 
 
 Another, for Silk, 
 
 Take, to each pound of silk, a quarter of a pound of 
 powdered Brasil-wood ; boil it up, and strain it through a 
 sieve into a tub, and pour water to it, till it is just luke*- 
 warm : in this, turn your silk, which before has been pre- 
 pared as has been directed ; and when all the strength is 
 drawn out, rinse, wring, and dry it. 
 
 Another fine Carnation. 
 
 Take, to each pound of silk, after it is rinsed and 
 dried, four pounds of safflower j put the safflower in a bag, 
 and wash it in clean water, till the water comes clear from 
 it ; then take the safflower out of the bag, press it be- 
 
 yol. i. c c twccn 
 
386 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 tween your hands, and rub it asunder in a clean tub ; take 
 to each pound of silk, four ounces of pot-ash ; work it 
 well together with the safflower ; divide it into two parts ; 
 pour one part thereof into a close sack, that will keep the 
 pot-ash from coming out, otherwise it will make the 
 silk speckled ; pour clear water over, to draw the strength 
 out of the safflower ; then take, to each pound of silk, a 
 quarter of a pint of lemon juice ; divide that also into two 
 parts, and put each to the two quantities of safflower ; 
 hang your silk well dried on clean sticks, and dip it in the 
 first part of the liquor, continually, for an hour ; then 
 wring it well out, and hang it again on sticks : having pre- 
 pared the other part of the safflower as you did the first, 
 dip it therein, as before, for the space of an hour, then 
 wring it well, and hang it up to dry in the shade, and you 
 will have a fine colour. 
 
 A Carnation, for Woollen. 
 
 Take four ounces of ceruss, three ounces and a half of 
 arsenic, one pound of burnt tartar, one pound of alum ; 
 boil your stuffs with these ingredients, for two hours ; 
 then take them out, and hang them up ; the next morning, 
 make a dye of two pounds of good madder, two ounces 
 of turmeric, and three ounces of aqua-fortis. 
 
 To dj/e a Carnation, on Silk, or Cotton. 
 
 Take three pounds of alum, three ounces of arsenic, 
 and four ounces of ceruss ; boil your silk, or cotton, there- 
 in for an hour ; then take it out, and rinse it in fair water ; 
 after which, make a lye of eight pounds of madder, and. 
 two ounces of sal-ammoniac ; soak the silk, or cotton, 
 therein all night ; then boil it a little in fair water, and put 
 into it one ounce of pot-ash ; then pour in some of the 
 
 lycj 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C 387 
 
 lye ; and every time you pour, the colour will grow the 
 deeper, so that you may bring it to what degree you please. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take, to one pound of silk, cotton, or yarn, one ounce 
 of tartar, and half an ounce of white starch ; boil them 
 together in fair water ; then put in one quarter of an ounce 
 of cochineal, a quarter of an ounce of starch, and a quarter 
 of an ounce of pewter dissolved in half an ounce of aqua- 
 fortis, and mixed with fair water ; when the water with the 
 starch and tartar has boiled for some time, supply it with 
 the cochineal and the above aqua-fortis ; put in your silk, 
 or whatever you have a mind to .dye, and you will have 
 it of a fine colour. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take one ounce of tartar ; starch and lemon juice, of 
 each half an ounce ; cream of tartar a quarter of an ounce ; 
 boil them together in fair water, adding a quarter of an 
 ounce of turmeric : put in half an ounce of cochineal, and, 
 a little while after, one ounce of aqua-fortis, in which 
 you have dissolved a quarter of an ounce of pewter ; then 
 put in your silk. 
 
 To dj/e Yam, or Linen, of a lasting Violet Colour. 
 
 Take one pound of tartar, half a pound of alum, two 
 ounces of Brasil-wood, and half an ounce Qf nitre ; boil 
 them together ; then let them cool a little, and put in 
 your yarn ; let it soak for four hours, keeping the dye hot, 
 but not boiling ; after which, rinse and dry it. 
 
 9c 2 Hon) 
 
383 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 How to prepare, or set, a blue Vat, for dying. 
 
 Heat soft water in a kettle ; fling four or five handfuls 
 of wheaten bran, together with four pounds ot pot-ash, 
 into it ; when that is dissolved, boil it for an hour, and 
 add four pounds of madder , with this boil it for an hour 
 longer ; then pour the water into the vat ; fill it not full, 
 by the height of a Foot, and cover your vat; then set it, 
 with indigo and woad, of each six pounds, and two pounds 
 of pot-ash ; put this into a small kettle in warm water, 
 set it on a slow fire, and let it boil gently for half an hour, 
 stirring it all the while ; then pour that to the other liquors 
 already in the vat. 
 
 To set a vat with indigo only, you must boil the first lye 
 with pot-ash, four or five handfuls of bran, and half, 
 or three quarters of a pound of madder ; this boil a quar- 
 ter of an hour, and, w r hen settled, it will be fit for use. 
 Then grind vour indigo in a bowl, with an iron smooth 
 ball, very fine, pouring on some of the lye, and mixing it 
 together; when settled, pour the clear into the blue vat; 
 and, on the sediment of the indigo, pour again some of 
 the lye ; this vou should repeat, till you see the blue tinc- 
 ture is extracted clearly from it. 
 
 It is to be observed, that the madder must be but sparingly 
 used, for it only alters the colour, and makes it of a violet 
 blue, which, if you design to have, cochineal is the fitter 
 for. The mixed colours in blue are the following: dark 
 blue, deep blue, high blue, sky blue, pale blue, dead blue, 
 and whitish blue. 
 
 By mixing of blue and crimson, is produced purple, co- 
 lumbine, amaranth, and violet colours; also from those 
 mixtures may be drawn the pearl, silver, gridelii), &c. co- 
 lours. 
 
 From 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 389 
 
 From a middling blue and crimson are produced the fol- 
 lowing colours, viz. the pansy, brown grey, and deep 
 brown. 
 
 Care must be taken that in setting the blue vat, you do 
 not overboil the lye, by which the colour becomes muddy 
 and changeable ; be also sparing with the pot-ash, for too 
 much gives the blue a greenish and false hue ; but experi- 
 ence is the best instructor in this. 
 
 Another Direction how to set a Blue Vat ; together with 
 several Observations in the Management, both for Silk 
 and Worsted. 
 
 Take half a bushel of clean beech-ashes, well sifted; 
 of this make a lye with three pails of river or rain-water ; 
 pour it into a tub, and put in two handfuls of wheaten 
 bran, two ounces of madder, two ounces of white tartar, 
 finely powdered, one pound of pot-ash, half a pound of 
 indigo, pounded ; stir it all well together, once every twelve 
 hours, for fourteen days successively, till the liquid appears 
 green on your fingers, and it is fit for dying; however, when 
 ready, stir it every morning, and when you have done, 
 cover it. 
 
 When vou are going to dye silk, first wash the silk in a 
 fresh warm lve ; wring it out, and dip it into the vat. You 
 may dye it of what shade you please, by holding it longer or 
 shorter in the dye. 
 
 When the colour is to your mind, wring the silk ; and 
 having another tub ready at hand, with a clear lye, rinse 
 your silk ; then wash and beat it in fair water, and hang 
 it up to dry. 
 
 When the vat is wasted, fill it with the lye ; but if it 
 grows too weak, supply it with half a pound of pot-ash, 
 half a pound of madder, one handful of wheat-bran, and 
 half an handful of white tartar; let it stand for eight 
 
 days, 
 
390 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 days, stirring it every twelve hours, and it will be again 
 fit for use. 
 
 Another Method, for Woollen. 
 
 Fill a kettle with water : boil it up, and put pot-ash 
 into it ; after it has boiled with that a little, put in two or 
 three handfuls of bran ; let it boil for a quarter of an hour, 
 and then cover it ; take it off the fire, and let it settle. 
 
 Pound indigo as fine as flour ; then pour the above lye 
 to it ; stir, and let it settle, and pour the clear lye into the 
 vat ; then pour more lye to the sediment, stir it, and when 
 settled, pour that into the vat also 5 repeat this till the in- 
 digo is wasted. Or, 
 
 Take to a quarter of a pound of indigo half a pound of 
 pot-ash, a quarter of a pound of madder, three handfuls 
 of borax ; let them boil for half an hour, and then settle ; 
 with this lye grind your indigo in a copper bowl ; put this in 
 an old vat of indigo, or on a new one of woad, and it 
 will make it fit for use in twenty-four hours. 
 
 To dj/e Silk of a Straw Vellon*. 
 
 Take alum and rinse your silk well, as has been di- 
 rected before ; then take and boil, to each pound of 
 silk, one pound of fustic, and let them stand for a quar- 
 ter of an hour ; then put into a tub, large enough for 
 the quantity of the silk, a sufficient quantity of that lye, 
 and fair water ; in this rinse the silk ; fill the kettle again 
 with water, and let it boil for an hour, and having wrung 
 the silk out of the first liquor, and hung it on sticks, pre- 
 pare a stronger lye than the first , in this dip your silk, till 
 the colour is to your mind. 
 
 Another 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &TC. 291 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Put into a clean kettle, to each pound of silk, two 
 pounds of fustic, let it boil for an hour ; then put in six 
 ounces of gall; let them boil together half an hour longer. 
 The silk, being alumed and rinsed, is turned about in this 
 colour ; then take it out of the kettle, and wring it j dip it 
 in pot-ash lye, and wring it out again ; then put it into the 
 kettle ; let it soak a whole night, and in the morning, rinse, 
 beat it out, and hang it up to dry. 
 
 Of dying Silk, S(c. of different Green Colours. 
 
 The middling colour of blue and yellow produces a 
 light green, grass-green, laurel-green, sea-green, &c. 
 
 All olive colours, from the deepest to the lightest, are 
 nothing else but green colours, which, by walnut-tree 
 root, fustic, or soot of chimneys, are changed to what 
 shade you please. 
 
 A fine Green for Dying Silk. 
 
 Take, to one pound of silk, a quarter of a pound of 
 alum, and two ounces of white tartar; put them to- 
 gether in hot water to dissolve ; then put in your silk, and 
 let it soak all night ; take it out the next morning, and 
 hang it up to dry; then take one pound of fustic, and boil 
 it in four gallons of water, for an hour ; take out the fustic, 
 fling it away, and put into the kettle half an ounce of fine 
 beaten verdigrise ; stir it about for a quarter of an hour, 
 draw it off into a tub, and let it cool ; then put into that 
 colour an ounce of pot-ash ; stir it together- with a stick ; 
 dip into it your silk, till you think it ycliow enough ; 
 then rinse it in fair water, and hang it up to dry ; then dip 
 
 it 
 
31>2 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 it in the blue vat, till you think it enough ; rinse it again, 
 and beat it over the pin, and hang it up to dry ; thus you 
 may change the shades of your green, by dipping either 
 more or iess, in the blue or yellow. 
 
 For the green, take, to one pound of silk, three ounces 
 of verdigrise, beaten to a fine powder ; infuse it in a pint 
 of wine vinegar for a night ; then put it on the fire ; when 
 hot, stir it with a stick, and keep it from boiling ; .in this 
 put your silk, two or three hours, or, it you would have 
 it of a light colour, let it soak but for half an hour ; then 
 take scalding hot water, and in a trough, with Newcastle 
 soap, beat and work up a clear lather; in this rinse your 
 silk ; then hang it up to dry ; rinse it again in river- 
 water ; beat it well; and when it is well clean, and 
 dried, dress it. 
 
 HoW to dye Linen of a Green Colour. 
 
 Soak your linen over night, in strong alum water ; then 
 take it out and dry it : take woad, boil it for an hour; 
 take out the woad, and put in one ounce of powdered 
 verdigrise, according to the quantity you have to dye, more 
 or less ; stir it, together with the linen, briskly about ; then 
 put in a piece of pot-ash, the bigness of an hen's-egg, and 
 you will have your linen of a yellow colour, which, when 
 dried a iittle, and put into a blue vat, will turn green. 
 
 To dye Yarn of a Yellow Colour. 
 
 In a kettle of strong lye, put a bundle of woad, and let 
 it boil; then pour off the lye, and take, to one pound 
 and a half of yarn, half an ounce of verdigrise, and half 
 an ounce of alum ; put it into a quart of brown Brasil- 
 wood liquor, boiled with lye ; stir it well together, and 
 pour it in, and mix it with the woad-lye ; in this soak your 
 yarn over night, and it will be of a good yellow. 
 
 T» 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 'S'J'i 
 
 To dye Green Yarn, or Linen, Black. 
 
 Take a sharp lye; put in three pounds of brown Brasil, 
 and let it boil for some time ; then pour off the colour 
 from the chips, into a tub; add to it one ounce of gum 
 arable, one ounce»of alum, one ounce of verdigrise ; in 
 this lay • your yarn, or linen, to soak over night, and it 
 wili be of a good black. 
 
 To dye Silk an Orange Colour. 
 
 After you have cleaned your kettle well, fill it with 
 clean rain water, and take, to each pound of silk, four 
 ounces of pot-ash, and four ounces of Orleans-yellow ; 
 ■ sift it through a sieve into the kettle; when it is well 
 melted, and you have taken care not to let any of the in- 
 gredients stick about the kettle, put in your silk, which 
 before you have prepared and alumed as has been directed ; 
 turn it round on the winch, and let it boil up ; then take 
 and wring it out ; beat it, and rinse it ; then prepare ano- 
 ther kettle, and take, to each pound of silk, twelve ounces 
 of gall-nuts ; let the gall-nuts boil for two hours ; then 
 cool for the same space of time ; after which put in 
 the silk, for three or four hours ; then wring it out ; 
 rinse, beat, and dry it. 
 
 Another Orange Colour. 
 
 Soak the white silk in alum water, as you do in dying 
 of yellow : then take two ounces of Orleans-yellow, put 
 it over night in water, together with one ounce of pot-ash : 
 boil it up; add to it, after it has boiled half an hour, one 
 ounce of powdered turmeric ; stir it with a stick, and, after 
 a liitle while, put your alumed silk into it, for two or three 
 
 hours, 
 
394 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 hours, according to what height you would have your co- 
 lour ; then rinse it out in soap-suds, till it looks clear , af- 
 terwards clear it in fair water, and dress it according to art, 
 
 A fine Brimstone Yellow for Worsted. 
 
 Take three pounds of alum, one pound of tartar, 
 and three ounces of salt ; boil the cloth with these 
 materials for one hour ; then pour off that water, and 
 pour fresh into the kettle; make a lye of shart and 
 pot-ash ; let it boil well ; then turn the cloth, twice 
 or thrice, quickly, upon the winch* and it will have a 
 fine brimstone colour. 
 
 A Lemon Colour. 
 
 Take three pounds of alum, three ounces of ceruss, 
 and three ounces of arsenic ; with these ingredients boil 
 the cloth for an hour and a half; then pour off that 
 water, and make a lye of sixteen pounds of yellow 
 flowers, three ounces of turmeric ; then draw, or winch, 
 your cloth through, quickly, and you will have it of a 
 fine lemon-colour. 
 
 To dye an Olive Colour. 
 
 To dye this colour, observe the first directions for 
 dying a brimstone colour ; then make a lye of gall-nuts 
 and vitriol, but not too strong; draw your stuff quickly 
 through, three or four times, according as you would have 
 it, either deeper or lighter. 
 
 To dye a Gold Colour. 
 
 Having first dyed your silk, worsted, cotton or linen 
 of a yellow colour, take, to each pound of the commo- 
 dity, 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 395 
 
 dity, one ounce of yellow chips, and of pot-ash the quan- 
 tity of a bean ; boil for half an hour ; then put in your 
 silk, and turn it till the colour is to your liking. 
 
 The Dutch Manner of dying Scarlet. 
 
 Boil the cloth in water with alum, tartar, rock-salt, 
 aqua-fortis, and pea-flowers, in a pewter kettle ; then put 
 into the same kettle, starch, tartar, and cochineal, finely 
 powdered, stirring or turning the cloth well about ; thus 
 you may, by adding more or less cochineal, raise the 
 colour to what height you please. 
 
 General Observations for dying Cloth of a Red or Scarlet 
 
 Colour. 
 
 1. The cloth must be well soaked in a lye made of alum 
 and tartar ; this is commonly done with two parts of alum, 
 and one part of tartar. 
 
 2. For strengthening the red colour, prepare a water of 
 bran, or starch : bran water is thus prepared ; take five or 
 six quarts of wheaten bran ; boil it over a slow fire in rain- 
 water for a quarter of an hour, and then put it, with some 
 cold water, into a small vessel, mixing it up with a hand- 
 ful of leaven (the sourer it is made, the better it is) ; this 
 causes the water to be soft, and the cloth to become mel- 
 low : it is commonly used in the first boiling, and mixed 
 with, the alum-water. 
 
 3. Agaric, is an ingredient used in dying of reds, but 
 Jew dyers can give any reason for its virtue: as it is of a 
 dry and spungy nature, it may reasonably be supposed, 
 that it contracts the greasiness which may happen to be in 
 the dye. 
 
 4. The use of arsenic is a very dangerous ingredient ; 
 iqua-fortis, or marine acid may supply its place as well. 
 
 4 5. Scarlet 
 
396 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 5. Scarlet is nothing else than a sort of crimson colour : 
 the aqua-fortis is the chief ingredient in the change ; this 
 may be tried in a wine glass, wherein a deep crimson co- 
 lour is put; by adding drops of aqua-fortis to it, it will be 
 changed into a scarlet. 
 
 6. Observe that you always take one part of tartar to 
 two parts of alum ; most dyers prefer the white to the red 
 tartar ; but, however, in crimson colours, and others that 
 turn upon the brown, the red tartar is chose by many as 
 preferable to the white. 
 
 To prepare the Cloth for dying of Scarlet. 
 
 First take, to one pound of cloth, one part of bran- 
 water, and two parts of river-water ; then put into it two 
 ounces of alum, and one ounce of tartar ; when it boils 
 and froths, scum it. and put in the cloth ; turn it therein 
 for an hour, and take it out and rinse it. 
 
 To dye Cloth of a common Red. 
 
 Take, to twenty yards of cloth, three pounds of alum, 
 one pound and a half of tartar, and one-third of a pound 
 of chalk ; put them in a kettle with water, and boil them ; 
 then take six pounds of good madder, and a wine-glassful 
 of vinegar ; let them be warmed together ; put in the 
 cloth, and turn it round upon the winch, till you observe 
 it red enough ; then rinse it out, and it will be of a fine 
 red. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take four pounds of alum, two pounds of tartar, four 
 ounces of white lead, and half a bushel of wheat bran ; 
 put these ingredients, together with the cloth, into a ket- 
 tle ; let it boil for an hour and half, and leave it to soak all 
 
 night ; 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &X. 397 
 
 r.ight ; then rinse it, and take, for the dye, one pound of 
 good madder, two ounces of Orleans'-yellow, one ounce 
 and a half of turmeric, and two ounces of aqua-fortis ; 
 boil them ; turn the cloth, with a winch, for three quar- 
 ters of an hour, and it will be of a good red. 
 
 To dj/e a Brozvn Colour. 
 
 Brown colours are produced by the root, bark, and 
 leaves of walnut-trees, and also by walnut-shells ; china- 
 root might also be used for brown colours, but it being of 
 a disagreeable scent, it should only be used for hair colours 
 in stuffs, for which, and the olive colours, it is of more 
 use : the best browns are dyed with woad and walnut-tree 
 root. 
 
 A Nutmeg Colour y on Stuffs. 
 
 Take three pounds of alum, and half a pound of tar- 
 tar ; put this into a kettle of water, and boil your stuff for 
 an hour and a half, and take it out to cool. Then take 
 one pound and a half of fiset-wood, or yellow flowers, 
 three pounds of madder, one pound of gali-nuts ; put 
 them, together with the stuff, into a kettle ; boil and 
 turn it with a*winch, till it is red enough, and take it out 
 to coo! ; then take two pounds of vitriol, which before is 
 -dissolved in warm water, put it in the kettle, and turn 
 the stuff till the colour is to your mind ; then rinse it out. 
 Or, 
 
 Take half a bushel of green walnut-shells, or walnut- 
 tree-root, to a kettle of water ; and when it begins to boil, 
 put in the stuff, over a winch ; turn it about three or four 
 times; then take it out, and let it cool ; after it is cold, 
 boil the liquor again, and put the stuff in ; turn it for half 
 ?.n hour, and take it out and let it cool ; then put one 
 pound of gali-nuts, three pounds of madder, together 
 with the stuffs, into the kettle ; let it boil for an hour ; 
 
 take 
 
39S THE LABORATORY. 
 
 take it out and let it cool again ; take one pound of vitriol, 
 put it in, stir it well about, then put in again the stufis, 
 over the winch ; turn and boil it till you perceive your co- 
 lour deep enough ; then take it out, and rinse it. 
 
 How to make Flax Soft and Mellow. 
 
 Make a strong lye of wood or pot-ashes, and unslacked 
 lime, in which soak your flax for twenty-four hours ; then 
 put it, together with the lye, into a copper, and let it boil, 
 and it will be as soft as silk, After this, rinse it in clean 
 water ; wring out the water, and put the flax again into a 
 strong lye ; repeat this thrice ; then rinse it out, dry it, 
 and it will answer your purpose. Some prefer cow-dung, 
 with which the flax is daubed all over ; or soak it in a lye 
 of cow-dung, for twenty -four, hours, then rinse and dry it. 
 
 An excellent Water for taking out Spots in Cloth, 
 Stuff, jjftr. 
 
 Take two pounds of spring water, put in it a little pot- 
 ash (about the quantity of a walnut) and a lemon cut in 
 small slices ; mix this well together, and let it stand for 
 twenty-four hours in the sun ; then strain it through a 
 cloth, and put the clear liquid up for use ; this water takes 
 out all spots, whether pitch, grease, or oil, as well in hats, 
 as cloth, stuffs, silk, cotton, and linen, immediately. As 
 soon as the spot is taken off, wash the place with water \ 
 and, when dry, you will see nothing. 
 
 To dye Woollen Stuffs of a Black Colour. 
 
 Fine cloths, and such stuffs as will bear the price, must 
 be first dyed of a deep blue, in a fresh vat of pure indigo ; 
 after which, boil the stuffs in alum and tartar ; then dye 
 in madder ; and lastly with galls of Aleppo, vitriol, and 
 
 Sumach, 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 399 
 
 Sumach, dye it black. To prevent the colour soiling when, 
 the cloths are made up, they must, before they are sent to 
 the dye-house, be well scowered in a scowering mill. 
 
 Middling stuffs, after they have been prepared by scow- 
 ering and drawn through a blue vat, are dyed black with 
 gall-nuts and vitriol. 
 
 For ordinary wool, or woollen stuffs, take of walnut-tree 
 branches and shells, a sufficient quantity ; with this boil 
 your stuff to a brown colour ; then draw it through the 
 black dye, made with the bark of elder, iron, or copper 
 filings, and Indian-wood. 
 
 To dye Linen of a Black Colour. 
 
 Take filings of iron, wash them, and add to them the 
 bark of elder-tree ; boil them up together, and dip your 
 linen therein. 
 
 To dye Woollen of a good Black, 
 
 1. Take two pounds of gall-nuts, two pounds of the 
 bark of elder-tree, one pound and a half of yellow chips, 
 boil them for three hours ; then put in your stuff, turn it 
 well with the winch, and when you perceive it black 
 enough, take it out and cool it. 
 
 2. Take one ounce and a half of sal-ammoniac, with 
 this boil your stuff gently for an hour long, turning it all 
 the while with the winch ; then take it out again and let it 
 cool. 
 
 3. Take two pounds and a half of vitriol, a quarter of 
 a pound of Sumach ; boil your stuff therein for an hour , 
 then cool and rinse it, and it will be of a good black. 
 
 Another Black Colour for Woollen. 
 
 For the first boiling take two pounds of gall-nuts, half 
 
 a pound 
 
400 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 a pound of Brasii-w^od, two pounds and a half of mad- 
 der ; boil your cloth with these ingredients for three hours, 
 then take it out to cool ; for the second boiling, take one 
 ounce and a half of sal-ammoniac ; and, for the third, 
 two ounces and a half of vitriol, three quarters of a pound 
 of Brasil, and a quarter of a pound of tailow. 
 
 Another Black Colour, for Plush, 
 
 Put the following ingredients into a large vessel, viz. 
 eight pounds of elder bark, eight pounds of Sumach, 
 twelve pounds of oaken chips, nine pounds of vitriol, two 
 pounds of wild marjoram, six pounds of tile-dust, some 
 waste of a grind-stone, six pounds of walnut-leaves, half 
 a pound of burnt tartar, two pounds of salt, four pounds 
 of woad , on these pour boiling water till your vessel is 
 full : your plush, after it is well boiled and cleansed, must 
 be well galled, by boiling it in one pound and a half of 
 Sumach, eight ounces of madder, two ounces and a half 
 of burnt nitre, half an ounce of sal-ammoniac, one ounce 
 and a half of vitriol, half an ounce of burnt tartar ; then 
 take it out, and let it dry, without rinsing it. 
 
 Then fill the kettle with the above liquor, and boil and 
 dye your plush in the manner as you do other stuffs, turn- 
 ing it round with the winch ; when the colour is to your 
 mind, take out the plush, let it cool, and rinse and hang 
 it up to dry. 
 
 To dye Silk of a good Black. 
 
 In a kettle containing six pails of water, put two pounds 
 of beaten gall-nuts, four pounds of Sumach, a quarter of 
 a pound of madder, half a pound of antimony finely pow- 
 dered, four ox galls, four .ounces of gum tragacanth dis- 
 solved in fair water, fine beaten elder-bark two ounces, 
 and one ounce and a half of iron file-dust ; put these in- 
 gredients 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 401 
 
 gredienis into the water, and let them boii for two hours ; 
 then till it up with a paiiful of barley-water, and let it 
 boil for an hour longer ; then put in your silk, and boil it 
 for half an hour, slowly : then take it out and rinse it in a 
 tub, with clean water, and pour that again into the kettle ; 
 the silk vou rinse quite clean in a running water, then 
 hang it up, and when it is dry, put it in the copper again 5 
 boil it slowly for half an hour, as before ; then rinse it in 
 a tub, and again in rain-water ; when dry, take good lye, 
 put into it two ounces of pot-ash, and when they are dis- 
 solved, rinse the silk therein quickly, then in running 
 water ; this done, hang it to dry, and order it as you do 
 other coloured silks. 
 
 This colour will also dye all sorts of manufactured wool- 
 len stuffs. 
 
 To give the black silk a fine gloss, you must, before the 
 last dipping, put in, for each pound, one ounce of isin- 
 glass dissolved in water. 
 
 Another Manner for dying Silk. 
 
 In a kettle of three pails of water put two ounces of 
 borax, half a pound of agaric, a quarter of a pound of 
 litharge, four ounces of madder, one quartern of brandy, 
 four ounces of verdigrise ; let them boil together for an 
 hour ; then cover the kettle and let the liquid rest for four- 
 teen days ; when you design to use it, take two pounds 
 of senna leaves, two pounds of gentian, one pound ot 
 agaric, two pounds of pomegranate shells ; let them boii 
 together for two hours, and then put it to the other liquor 
 settled in the kettle : this colour will keep good for many 
 years, and the longer you dye therein the better it will 
 grow : you must be careful to keep it free from soap, which 
 would spoil it, so as not to be recovered by any means ; 
 and in case by accident some tallow should happen to drop 
 from your candle into it, forbear meddling with it till it is 
 
 vol- i; t> d cole; 
 
402 THE LAISQRATORY. 
 
 cold ; when so, take it off carefully, or heat your poker 
 red hot and sweep it over the surface, which will take off 
 the greasiness ; then take two or three little bags of canvas, 
 tilled with bran ; hang them in the colour for two or three 
 hours, whilst heating ; then clap whited-brown paper on 
 the surface of the colour, which will take off all the ere a- 
 siness that might remain : after that, begin to dye. 
 
 Silk that is to be dyed must be first boiled in bran, and 
 then galled ; to each pound of silk, take twelve ounces of 
 gall-nuts ; boil the gall-nuts for two hours, before you put 
 the silk into it, which must soak therein for thirty hours. 
 
 To dye a Grey Colour. 
 
 Grey is a middle colour, between black and white. 
 which, beginning with a white grey, approaches by de- 
 grees to a black grey : it may be observed, that if the 
 black colour was to be prepared only of gall-nuts and vi- 
 triol, it would procure but an indifferent grey, but if to 
 these ordinary ingredients for dying of stuffs, you add 
 some Indian-wood, you may procure white grey, pearl 
 colour, lead colour, whitish grey, iron grey, black grey, 
 brown grey, &cc. Some of these colours require a little 
 tincture of woad. 
 
 To dye a Brown-red Colour either on Silk or Worsted. 
 
 First, after you have prepared your silk or worsted, in 
 the manner directed for dying of red colours, boil it in 
 madder ; then slacken the fire, and add to the madder 
 liquor some black colour, prepared as has been shewn ; 
 then stir the fire, and when the dye is hot, work the com- 
 modities you have to dye therein, till you see them dark 
 enough. 
 
 But the best way to dye this colour is in a blue vat ; 
 therefore choose one eithei lighter or darker, according as 
 
 you 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 403 
 
 you would have your colour ; then alum and rinse your 
 silk in fair water ; this done, work it in the kettle with 
 madder, till you find it answer your purpose. 
 
 Another. 
 
 Put into a kettle of hot water a handful of madder; 
 stir it together, and let it stand a little ; then take the 
 woollen stuff; wet it first; then let it run over the winch 
 into the kettle, turning it constantly ; if you see it dees 
 not make the colour high enough, add a handful more of 
 madder, rinsing the stuff or silk sometimes, to see whether 
 it is to your liking. 
 
 Then put some black colour into the kettle ; mix it well 
 together ; and when hot, turn your silks or stuffs with the 
 winch, and dye it either of a blacker hue, by adding 
 more black, or a redder, by putting in less. 
 
 Of Madder, and its Use in dying of Silk, Worsted, 
 Cotton, S(c. 
 
 Madder, is a red colour, the best grows in Holland, 
 though the colour of that which grows in Flanders exceeds 
 it ; each sort of madder is marked with a particular mark, 
 to know what country it comes from. The only sign of 
 the real goodness of madder, is the bright colour, which, 
 when ground to a fine powder, and put on a blue or brown 
 paper, sticks to it : it must be kept close from the air, 
 otherwise it will lose the strength and beauty of its co- 
 lour. 
 
 The madder which comes from Silesia, under the name 
 of Breslaw red, resembles more a red earth than a root ; 
 it has not so bright a colour as that w T hich comes from Hol- 
 land. To manure and cultivate the ground for the growth 
 of madder, it must be observed, that it requires a good 
 mould, which is neither too damp nor dry ; it must he 
 
 d d 2 plowed 
 
f<8 I THE LABORATORY, 
 
 plowed pretty deep, and be well dunged before the winter 
 season. It is sown in the month of March, after the 
 land has been well cleared of weeds. 
 
 About eight months after the madder is sown they be- 
 gin to pull up the larger roots, which is done to hinder 
 them from drawing the strength and nourishment of the 
 younger sprouts ; this is commonly done in the month of 
 September, when the seed is ripe for gathering. The 
 remaining roots are then well covered with mould, till the 
 next year, when the larger roots are again gathered ; thus 
 it is managed eight or ten years together ; after which, the 
 spot of ground may be cultivated for the growth of corn, 
 and a new plantation fixed upon in another place. 
 
 The roots of madder which grow in Flanders and Zea- 
 land, when pulled out, are dried in the sun ; but in hot 
 countries they are dried in shady places, in order to pre- 
 serve their colour and strength : after that, they are ground 
 in mills, to a powder, and packed up close, in casks, or 
 in double bags. 
 
 The fresh madder yields a lively colour ; that of a year 
 old a more lively one ; but after tfpt time, the older it is, 
 the more it loses both its strength and beauty. 
 
 Concerning the dying with Madder. 
 
 It has been a common rule to take, to eight pounds of 
 madder, one pound of tartar. Alum and tartar are used 
 for preparing the commodities, for attracting and preserv- 
 ing the colour. 
 
 Pot-ash heightens the colour very much, as does bran- 
 water ; brandy is of peculiar use ; it attracts the colour, 
 m kes it look clear and line, and frees the subtilest parti- 
 cles from its dregs and impurities. Some dyers, and in- 
 deed most, ascribe the same virtue to urine ; but although 
 it may be of some use when fresh, it is highly prejudicial 
 to light colours when stale, for it causes the colour to be 
 
 of 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON", &C. 405 
 
 of a heavy and unpleasant hue : this ought therefore to be 
 a caution to such as would dye light and tender colours. 
 The experiment may be tried in a glass of clean water, in 
 which litmus, being first dissolved and filtered, is poured 
 in : if to this liquid, which is blue, you pour some muri- 
 atic acid, it will turn red ; and mixing it with some dis- 
 solved alkali, it will resume its former colour: if you pour 
 too much of the latter, the liquid will turn green ; and 
 thus you may change the colour, by adding more or less 
 of either the one or the other ingredient to it. 
 
 To dye Silk of a Madder Colour. 
 
 Prepare it as has been directed under the article of 
 dying silk " a crimson colour." This done, put a pailful 
 of river water into a kettle, together with half a pound 
 of madder ; boil it for an hour, and take care it boils not 
 over ; then let it run off clear into another vessel, stirring 
 into it one ounce of turmeric ; then put in your silk, let it 
 lay therein till cold, then wring it out and beat it ; this 
 done, take half a pound of good Brasil-wood, boil it in 
 bran-water for an hour, clear it off in another vessel, and 
 put in your silk ; rinse it out in soap-lye, and then- in run*- 
 ning water ; after which, dry and dress it. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 After you have prepared your silk for dying, hang it 
 on sticks, and to each pound of silk take eleven ounces 
 of madder, and four ounces of nut-galls ; put these into 
 a kettle with clean rain water ; hang in your silk, and aug- 
 ment the heat till it is ready to boil ; then turn your silk 
 in it for half an hour, and prevent its boiling, by lessen- 
 ing the fire ; after this, rinse and beat it out ; hang it again 
 on sticks, in a tub with cold water, in which you have 
 put some pot-ash ; this gives it beauty ; then rinse and 
 
 dry 
 
406 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 dry it. How this madder is made use of for dying of 
 worsted or stuffs, has been shewn already. 
 
 Of Cochineal, and its Usefulness in dying. 
 
 Cochineal, which is a costly fine red colour, is pro- 
 duced by small insects, which when brought into a powder 
 and boiied, yield a beautiful colour : they are used by 
 scarlet dyers, for dying of silks, worsted, cotton, &c. — 
 They are imported from the Spanish West-Indies, the in- 
 sect feeding on a fruit which has red juice. The Indians 
 spread a cloth under those trees, and shake them, and by 
 this means catch the insects : this is cochineal. 
 
 Of Kermes, and its Use in dying. 
 
 This grain, by some called scarlet berry, on account 
 of its containing that choice colour, scarlet, grows in Po- 
 land and Bohemia, on small shrubs ; they are about the 
 bigness of a pepper-corn ; the best comes from Spain ; it 
 is also found in Fiance, especially in Languedoc, and is 
 gathered in the latter end of May, and in the beginning - 
 of June. la Germany these berries are among the vulgar 
 called St. John's Blood, because of their being found on 
 the shrubs about Midsummer, or the feast of St. John 
 the Baptist. 
 
 The Poles call it purple grain ; they grow very plenti- 
 fully in that country, and that people first discovered its 
 virtue for dying of crimson and purple, by a hen picking 
 those berries, and discharging her excrements of a crimson 
 colour. The district about Warsaw affords great quanti- 
 ties. In the Ukraine they are still more plentiful ; and on 
 the borders of the sandy deserts of Arabia, they are gather- 
 ed with gre ,t pains by the poor people, whence, it is 
 thought, t e,- retain the Arabian name of Kermes : the 
 berries or grains, when ripe, contain an insect of a crimson 
 
 red, 
 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C 401 
 
 red, which, if not timely gathered, will disengage itself 
 from the shell and fly away ; wherefore the people watch 
 carefully the time for gathering ; when they roll them to- 
 gether in their hands into balls, and dry and sell them to 
 the European and Turkish merchants. The Dutch mix 
 them among the cochineal, because they cause that colour 
 to have a higher and liner hue. 
 
 Of Indigo. 
 
 Indigo is a dry and hard blue colour, which is brought 
 to us in lumps of different sizes ; it is an Indian plant 
 which, at certain times of the year, is cut down and. 
 laid in heaps till it is rotten : then the Indians carry it to 
 the mills, which are built in great numbers, where it is 
 ground, boiled, and pressed : when it is drie.:, they cut it 
 in pieces, pack it in chests, and send it abroad. 
 
 There are several sorts of indigo ; its goodness is known 
 when in breaking it appears of a high blue, and not sandy ; 
 however that with a deep gloss is not amiss. 
 
 Turmeric 
 
 Is a foreign root, in the shape of ginger, of a saffron 
 colour ; it is brought to us from the Indies, where it is 
 made use of as a spice, and as a dye. 
 
 It is called the Indian crocus ; the best is that which is 
 heavy, and in large pieces, without dust: there is no fitter 
 ingredient to be found for heightening the scarlet to a } el- 
 low hue, and it is frequently used by colour-dyers in tem- 
 pering their reds, be they dyed with kermes, cochineal, or 
 madder; aqua-fortis will do the same, but turmeric adds a. 
 greater life, especially to scarlet. 
 
 Brasil* 
 
408 THE LABORATORY 
 
 Brasil-wood. 
 
 This comes from the Brasils. It is cut out of a tree 
 called, by the inhabitants, Arbontan ; which, with its stem 
 and branches, is not much unlike an oak-tree, only 
 thicker ; some will measure twenty-four feet round the 
 stem ; the leaves resemble those of box-trees : the finest 
 Brasihwood is cut about Fernambuca, a town in the coun- 
 try of Brasii ; this exceeds in colour all the other kinds of 
 Brasil-wood, and is therefore sold at a dearer rate : this 
 wood produces in dying of silks, &c. a fine colour, but it 
 is very fading. It is best for black-dyers, who by using it 
 with gall-nuts, sumach, vitriol, and verdigrise, dye a good 
 black or grey with it. 
 
 Archil. 
 
 Archil is prepared from a small moss which grows on 
 rocks and cliffs ; the chief ingredients for its preparation 
 are chalk and urine ; and, although the colour it produces 
 in dying of silks, &c. is fading, yet, whilst fresh, it is 
 exceedingly beautiful. 
 
 Orleans'' Yellow 
 
 Comes from the West-Indies, either in square pieces 
 like Newcastle soap, or in round lumps, or small cakes 
 (the size of a crown-piece) which last is reckoned to be 
 the finest, and has a fragrant smell of violets ; it is a tinc- 
 ture pressed from a seed, and, when dried, of a dark-red 
 yellow colour. The druggists sell two sorts, the one is 
 like a dough, and is very cheap ; the other is dry, and 
 very valuable. The dyers use it for dying of brown-y el- 
 lovvs, orange-colours, &c. 
 
 Gall- 
 
DYING OF SILK, COTTON, &C. 409 
 
 Gall-nuts, or Galls. 
 
 Galls are of various sorts; some are small, others 
 large, blue and white, smooth and knotty; they grow- 
 on high oak-trees, and by merchants are imported from 
 Smyrna, Tripoli, Turky and Aleppo ; the heaviest are 
 counted the best, especially when blue and knotty. 
 
 PART XIII. 
 
 STENOGRAPHY; 
 
 OR 
 
 THE ART OF SHORT-HAND WRITING. 
 
 PREVIOUS to entering upon the immediate subject of 
 Short-hand Writing, it will be proper here to class a 
 very useful and valuable invention, partaking in some mea- 
 sure of the nature of symbolical characters, and there- 
 fore affording a neat introduction to that important art. 
 
 The nature of the plan alluded to may be thoroughly 
 comprehended by its name, which includes a complicated 
 range of accompts, in a way the most simple, convenient 
 and intelligible : — it is termed 
 
 3 THE 
 
410 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 THE 
 
 UNIVERSAL REGULATOR OF WORK AND WORKMEN". 
 
 Those who have the direction of many servants, or 
 of various sorts of workmen, viz. stewards, builders, trades- 
 men, and >the overseers of workmen, find themselves liable 
 to mistakes and inconveniences ; for which reason they 
 should adopt a regular and uniform method of keeping 
 their accompts. Gentlemen also should be able to avoid 
 a great deal of perplexity, which daily arises from a want 
 of arrangement in their accompts, among the labourers, 
 gardeners, hay-makers, and others whom they must ne- 
 cessarily employ in their rural and agricultural improve- 
 ments. 
 
 The whole scheme is so simple, that the mere inspec- 
 tion of plate 15, will completely exemplify the plan. By 
 means of a circle and a cross, disposed in ruled columns, 
 properly arranged, all the names of the workmen, and the 
 length of time they severally worked, in each day, toge- 
 ther with the money due to them on the completion of the 
 week, and the good or bad qualities of the work and the 
 workman, are to be seen at one view. 
 
 The next article will contain a short, easy, and effectual 
 system of 
 
 SHORT-HAND WRITING. 
 
 This art was known and practised by the Egyptians, who 
 were distinguished for learning at an early period, as may 
 be learned by their hieroglyphics. But the moderns have 
 simplified the art, and have brought it to a degree of per- 
 fection, which has rendered it highly useful, and within 
 the sphere of the meanest capacity. 
 
 A variety 
 

 ART OF SHORT-HAND WRITING. 4li 
 
 A variety of systems have been from time to time pub- 
 lished, differing in the shapes and forms of their charac- 
 ters, but maintaining one general principle, viz. the sub- 
 stitution of symbols and contractions, expressive of letters, 
 and even whole words, in lieu of the ordinary alphabet^ 
 which is too prolix and difficult of swift-writing. If one 
 system be preferable to another, that should be adopted 
 which admits of most contraction, with easy and rapid exe- 
 cution, and with legibility without perplexity. Such a 
 system is perhaps best attained by leaving the more nice 
 and subtle parts to the opinion of each practidoner, to sup- 
 ply or reject what may suit his ideas and his penmanship : 
 a few piain rules, therefore, will be here set down, with a 
 list of such characters or svmbols as appear simple in their 
 structure, and admit of convenient junction ; together with 
 such abbreviations or contractions as, on further practice, 
 may be received. 
 
 Rule 1. Leave out all unnecessary vowels, without which 
 the words would be too long to allow of copying 
 a rapid speech; thus JDvd for David, &c. 
 
 Rule 2. Every word should be finished without taking off 
 the pen ; otherwise great confusion will arise by 
 the symbols being occasionally scrambled out of 
 their places. 
 
 Rule 3. Use no more letters in spelling a word than will 
 be sufficient to sound it : the proper mode of 
 spelling may be adopted when it is transcribed 
 into long-hand. 
 
 Rule 4. Few stops are required, except to divide one com- 
 plete sentence from another, as is practised 
 constantly in legal instruments : for this, a cross 
 may be adopted. 
 
 Rule 5. Change any letter for another, where conve- 
 nient; thus, F may be substituted for V, and 
 the contrary, they being so much alike in sound ; 
 so may F for Ph. 
 
 Rule 
 
413 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 liule 6. Omit useless consonants ; thus, G may be dropped 
 before n as in Gnat ; and b may be dropped 
 after m, as in lamb, comb. So may other con- 
 sonants be omitted, provided the sense be not 
 obscured. 
 
 When the above rules are observed, and perfectly ac- 
 quired, together with the simple characters and their join- 
 ings, the learner may begin to employ contractions. These 
 admit of much latitude ; and being used for his convenience, 
 they may be of his own invention, thereby rendering his 
 own writing legible only to himself, and cutting off the 
 source of all impertinent curiosity. Among the va- 
 riety that may be adopted, some, or all, of those on plate 
 18, may be found useful and intelligible. 
 
 Plate 16. Represents the substitute characters, in which 
 the learner must be very perfect before he 
 proceeds further. 
 
 Plate 17. Contains " A table of the manner of joining 
 the substitute characters" 
 
 Plate 1 8. Exhibits many approved contractions and abbre- 
 viations, which may be received, or rejected, 
 or even added to, at the option of the prac- 
 titioner. 
 
 P 'ate 19. Furnishes a lesson, whereby the learner may 
 the more readily see the force and applica- 
 tion of the several rules. 
 
 N. B. The letter r may be made as usual, when it 
 stands alone , but it is easiest made after the manner ex- 
 emplified in plate 17, where r and d are shewn joined to- 
 gether. In running-hand, m may be joined with the loop 
 uppermost. In the plural number, ing may be made into 
 ings, and tion and sion into tions and sions, by placing the 
 abbreviating mark under the last letter of words, instead of 
 
 at the end, as in the singular. 
 
 Few 
 
ART OF SHORT-HAND WRITING. 413 
 
 Few arts are so useful as the one we are now treating of, 
 or can be compared to it for simplicity both in the inven- 
 tion and execution ; and, indeed, when the short space of 
 a week's practice is sufficient to make any ordinary writer 
 a proficient, it will be rejecting utility altogether to forego 
 the consequences. 
 
 A quick and ready mode of committing either our own 
 thoughts, or those of others, to the safeguard of manu- 
 script, is surely worth all the care we can bestow on it ! 
 A thousand thoughts which daily strike us may be pre- 
 served from destruction, to the probable benefit of our- 
 selves and our posterity ; and if the first ideas be crude 
 and undigested, they will have the advantage of time to 
 correct and improve them. They will, moreover, have the 
 valuable property of secrecy, whereby the scrutiny of the 
 critic will be effectually prevented, till mature deliberation 
 shall have fitted them for publication. 
 
 But for this elegant and useful accomplishment, the 
 speeches of our best orators would have been long since 
 forgotten, and none but those who had the happiness to 
 be the auditors could ever attain to a knowledge of their 
 excellence. 
 
 PART 
 
4l£ THE LAEORAT0S.Y. 
 
 PART XIV. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 OF SNUFF-MAKING. 
 
 SNUFF is a powder applied to the internal membrane of 
 the nose, either in a medicinal point of view, or as a 
 pleasurable custom. 
 
 It is composed principally of a foreign herb called to- 
 bacco, the use of which is too well known to need any de- 
 scription. 
 
 Although tobacco is the usual basis of snuff, yet other 
 matters are sometimes added, to give it an agreeable fla- 
 vour and scent, to suit the peculiar palates and fancies of 
 the several takers. Infinite are the names which the ven- 
 ders of this article have invented ; and, perhaps, the suc- 
 cession of days is adding to the catalogue. 
 
 It will be sufficient therefore to say, that there are three 
 classes of snuffs, under which all the rest may be placed, 
 viz. {.granulated; 2. an impalpable powder; 3. the bran, 
 or coarse parts remaining after the second sort has been 
 sifted. 
 
 Lord Stanhope has made a calculation of the time wasted 
 by professed snuff-takers, which, as it is both curious and 
 amusing, shall be here inserted. 
 
 " Every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker," 
 says his Lordship, " at a moderate computation, takes one 
 
 " pinch 
 
SNUFF-MAKING. 415 
 
 " pinch in ten minutes. Every pinch, with the agreeable 
 " ceremony of blowing and wiping the nose, and other 
 " incidental circumstances, consumes a minute and a half. 
 " One minute and a half out of every ten, allowing six- 
 " teen hours to a snuff-taking day, amounts to two hours 
 " and twenty-four minutes out of every natural day ; or 
 " one day out of every ten. One day out of every ten, 
 " amounts to thirty-six days and a half within the year. 
 <; Hence if we suppose the practice to be persisted in forty 
 " years, two entire years of the snuff-taker's life will be 
 " dedicated to tickling his nose, and two more to blowing 
 "it, The expence of snuff, snuff-boxes, and handker- 
 " chiefs arc not here insisted on, though they would make 
 " a separate essay by themselves ; in which it might be 
 " made to appear, that this luxury encroaches as much on 
 " the income of the snufF-taker as it does on his time ; and 
 £i that by a proper application of the time and money thus 
 " lost to the public, a fund might be constituted for the dis- 
 " charge of the national debt." 
 
 Whimsical, however, as the above observations un- 
 doubtedly are, yet it may be ascertained that the snuff- 
 taker is by no means a useless member of society ; for, if 
 the consumption of tobacco be duly estimated, which pays 
 no small duty to the state, and the wear and tear of apparel 
 be added to the accompt, something is rather gained than 
 lost by the public. Nor will the individual snuff-taker be 
 injured ; as his Lordship assumes a term of forty years to 
 his reckoning, as if life were even prolonged by the ope- 
 ration. 
 
 Among all the productions of foreign climes introduced 
 into this kingdom, scarcely any has been held in higher 
 estimation than tobacco. In the countries of which it is a 
 native, it is considered by the Indians as the most valuable 
 offering that can be made to the beings they wqrship. 
 They use it in all their civil and religious ceremonies. 
 When once the spiral wreaths of its smoke ascend from 
 5 the 
 
416 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the feathered pipe of peace, the compact that has been 
 just made, is considered as sacred and inviolable. Like- 
 wise, when they address their Great Father, or his guardian 
 spirits, residing, as they believe, in every extraordinary 
 production of nature, they make liberal offerings to them 
 of this valuable plant, not doubting but that they are thus 
 secure of protection. 
 
 Tobacco is made up into rolls by the inhabitants of the 
 interior parts of America, by means of a machine called a 
 tobacco-wheel. With this machine they spin the leaves, 
 after they are cured, into a twist of any size they think fit ; 
 and having folded it into rolls of about twenty pounds each, 
 they lay it by for use. In this state it will keep for several 
 years, and be continually improving, as it always grows 
 milder. The Illinois Indians usually form it into the shape 
 of carrots ; which is done by laying a number of leaves on 
 each other, after it has been cured, and the ribs taken out, 
 and then rolling them round with packthread till they be- 
 come cemented together. The rolls generally measure 
 about eighteen or twenty inches in length, and nine round, 
 in the middle part. 
 
 It has been supposed that Sir Walter Raleigh first intro- 
 duced tobacco into England, about the year 15S5, and that 
 he taught his countrymen how to smoke it. Dr. Cotton 
 Mather, however, (in his Christian Philosopher) says, 
 that in the above year, one Mr. Lane was the first who 
 brought some over from Virginia to Europe. Consider- 
 able quantities of this plant are cultivated in the Levant, on 
 the coasts of Greece and the Archipelago, in Italy, and in 
 the island of Malta. America also annually grows immense 
 quantities, where the plant was discovered by the Spaniards 
 in 1560, and by them regularly imported into Europe. It 
 had been used by the inhabitants of America long before ; 
 and was called by those of the islands yoli, and by the in- 
 habitants of the continent pactum. Into Spain it went from 
 
 Tobacot 
 
SNUFF-MAKING. 417 
 
 Tobaco, a province of Yucatan, where it was originally dis- 
 covered, and whence its name. 
 
 How to reduce Tobacco into Powder. 
 
 Uncord the tobacco, and spread the leaves on a carpet, 
 to dry in the sun. Then pound them in a mortar, and sift 
 through a coarse sieve to get the coarsest powder out of it. 
 As for sifting, you must observe to do it in due proportion 
 as you pound it, and not to pound much at a time. You 
 may also take another method, that of grinding it in one 
 of those small mills which are made on purpose for grind- 
 ing tobacco. By these means you may, without much 
 trouble, make it as coarse and as fine as you like, by 
 screwing the nut tighter or slacker. 
 
 How to purge Snujf, and prepare it for admitting of 
 Odours. 
 
 Have a small tub pierced with a hole at bottom, which 
 you stop and unstop with a cork as you want it. In this 
 tub put a very thick and close woven cloth, which turn 
 over the rim of the tub, and fix there by the outside. Put 
 your snuff in it, and pour water over it. After it shall 
 have soaked thus twenty-four hours, unstop the hole of 
 the tub and let the water drain awav, wringing the cloth in 
 which it is, to help the expression of the water. Repeat 
 this operation three different times, to purge it the better. 
 When this operation is performed, set the snuff to dry in 
 the sun. When dry, put it again in the tub, in the same 
 manner as before, and soak it again, no more with common 
 water, but with some smelling ones, such as for example 
 orange-flower water, cau-d'ange, &c. Twenty-four hours 
 after, let the water run off and drain ; then set it in the sun 
 to dry as before. In the mean while, stir and mix it again 
 now and then with sniel ling-water. Such is the indispen- 
 
 vol. i. e e sible 
 
41# THE LABORATORY. 
 
 sible preparation requisite to dispose snuff to receive the 
 odour of flowers. If you do not care to have it so per- 
 fectly nice, and should not like to waste so much of it, 
 you may give it but one wash of the common water. 
 This moderate purgation will do pretty well, especially if, 
 while it is a drying in the sun, you knead it the more often 
 in proportion with your fragrant waters, and let it dry each. 
 time between. 
 
 IFoiu to perfume Snuff with Flozverf. 
 
 The tuberose, the jessamine, the orange flower, are those- 
 which communicate the more easily their fragrancy to 
 the snuff. To produce this, have a box lined with white 
 paper, perfectly dry, in which make a bed of snuff of the 
 thickness of an inch ; then one of flowers, another of snuff, 
 and another of flowers again ; continuing so to do, till you 
 have employed all your snuff. After having let this stratifica- 
 tion subsist for twenty-four hours, separate the flowers from 
 the snuff, by means of the sieve, and renew the same strati- 
 fication again, as before, with new flowers. Continue thus 
 to do, till you find that your snuff has acquired a sufficient 
 fragrancy from the flowers : then put it in lead boxes, to 
 keep. 
 
 Another Way to do the same. 
 
 There are people who make the stratification another 
 way. They inclose their flowers between sheets of white 
 paper filled with pin-holes as thick as possible ; this bed 
 they lay between two of snuff; and, as for the small 
 quantity which may have got in the papers through these 
 holes, you sift it out by means of a sheer horse-hair sieve. 
 The flowers must be renewed four or five times. This me- 
 thod seems the less troublesome ; and the snuff catches 
 the odour nearly as well. 
 
 Another 
 
Snuff-making. 419 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 A preparation of snuff may be made of an ex- 
 cessive nice fragrancy with buds of roses. The process is 
 this. Rob those buds of their green cup and the pistilium 
 which is in the middle ; instead of which last, you are skil- 
 fully to introduce a clove, without damaging and breaking, 
 or loosening the rose-leaves which are closely wrapped up 
 one in another. Such buds, thus prepared, put into a glass 
 vessel well covered over with a bladder, and a leather be- 
 sides, and expose them for a month in the sun j after which 
 term, you make use of these buds as before directed 
 for the other flowers. 
 
 Snuff of Mille-fleur. 
 
 This mille-fleur snuff, of snuff of a thousand flowers, is 
 made by mixing together a number of various odorous 
 flowers, managing the quantity of each of them accord- 
 ing to the greater or lesser degree of fragrancy they are 
 empowered with, so that none be found to have a predo- 
 minancy over the others. When that is executed, you 
 proceed, as before directed, to the alternative stratification 
 of this mixture and of the snuff-powder. 
 
 Snuff, after the Method practised at Rome. 
 
 Take the snuff after being perfumed with flowers, and 
 put it in a large bowl, or other proper vessel. Pour over it 
 some white wine, with an addition, if you chuse, of es- 
 sences of musk and amber, or any other such like odours. 
 Then stir your snuff, and rub it all between your hands. 
 In this manner you may have snuff of whatever odour you 
 desire, which, to distinguish from each other, you put into 
 separate lead boxes, with a particular mark- 
 
 e e 2 The 
 

 HIE LABORATORY. 
 
 The Snuff with the Odour of Ci'Jet. 
 
 Take a little civet in your hand vviih a little snuff; 
 spread that civet, more a;id more, by bruising with your 
 fingers, and an addition of snuff. After having mixed and 
 remixed it thus in your hand with the whole quantity of 
 snuff, put all again together in its box as before. You may 
 do the same with respect to other odours. 
 
 Amber-snuff. 
 
 As for the amber-snuff, you had better heat the bottom 
 of a mortar, and pound in it twenty grains of amber, add- 
 ing by degrees one pound of snuff to it, which you handle, 
 rub, and mix afterwards with your hands, to introduce the 
 odour the better among: it. 
 
 Snuff, Malthese fashion. 
 
 Take a snuff ready prepared with orange flower-water 
 (as directed in this chapter, art. 2.) then perfume it with 
 amber as we have just said ; after which, with ten grains 
 of civet, which pound with a little sugar in a mortar, you 
 introduce again your snuff bv degrees to the quantity of 
 one pound for these ten grains, increasing either the snuff 
 or the odours in the same proportion to eacn other. 
 
 The true Malthese Method cf preparing Snuff. 
 
 Take rose-tree and liquorice roots, which you peel. 
 Reduce them into powder and sift it ; then give it what 
 odour you like, adding white wine, brandy or spirit of 
 wine, and mix your snuff w T ell with this. Such is the true 
 Malthese method of preparing snuff. 
 
 The 
 
SNUFF-MAKING. 421 
 
 The Spanish Method of preparing perfumed Snuff. 
 
 1. Pound in a small mortar twenty grains of musk, 
 With a little sugar. Add by degrees as much as one pound 
 of snuff to it: then pound ten grains of civet, and intro- 
 duce your pound of musked snuff to it, in a gradual man- 
 ner, as you did before, and rub all together between your 
 hands. . 
 
 2. The Seville-snuff is the same with only an addition 
 of twenty grains of vanilla, an ingredient which enters in 
 the composition of chocolate. 
 
 3. They who are fond of a milder and sweeter odour in 
 their snuff, may increase the quantity of snuff for the pre- 
 scribed doses of odours, or diminish the doses of odours 
 prescribed for the quantity of snuff. You must take great 
 care not to let odorous snuff be uncovered in the air, but to 
 keep it very close, for fear it should lose its fragrancy. 
 
 4. As the Spanish snuff is excessively fine, and drawing 
 towards a reddish hue, to imitate it in the above prescrip- 
 tion, you must chuse fine Holland, well purged, reddened 
 and granulated ; pound and sift it through a very fine silk 
 sieve. Then you give it whatever odour you like, after 
 having purged it in the manner we prescribed in this 
 chapter, art. 2. 
 
 5. There is no inconveniency in taking a snuff already 
 prepared with flowers, to give it afterwards, when you 
 like an odour, musk, amber, or other perfume. On the 
 contrary, such a. snuff is the readier to take the other 
 odours, and preserve them so much the longer. 
 
 To give a Red or Yellow Colour to Snuff. 
 
 Take tbe bulk of one or two nuts of red or yellow 
 ochre, with which mix a little white chalk, to temperate 
 
 the 
 
422 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the above colours at your pleasure. Grind either of these 
 ochres, with three drachms of oil of almonds ; then, con- 
 tinuing to grind it on the stone, add, by little at a time, 
 some water to it, till you see the paste admits of it freely, 
 and becomes very smooth and equal. Now take some 
 gum-tragacanth water, and introduce it likewise to the 
 above paste, stirring and grinding continually, all the while. 
 At last, gather it out of the stone in a large glazed bowl, 
 and dilute it with about one quart of common water, or 
 thereabouts. Then take your snuff, well purged and pre- 
 pared as in Art. 2. and throw it in this bowl, wherein handle 
 and rub it well, to make it take the colour more regularly 
 and equally. When it is thus made all into a lump, let it 
 rest twenty-four hours before putting it to drv in the sun, 
 which, immediately after that time, you are to do, spread- 
 ing it on a dry cloth, and turning it now and then to help 
 its drying the faster. Then you gum it again, by aspersion 
 with gum-tragacanth pulverized and dissolved in some 
 smelling water : or you may again dip your hands into 
 that water, and rub your snuff between your hands thus 
 wetted ; which last method is preferable, as it gums the 
 snuff infinitely more regular. Lastly, dry it again in the 
 sun ; and, when perfectly drv, sift it through the finest 
 sieve you can find ; and then it will be ready to admit of 
 whatever odour you please to impregnate it with. 
 
 SECRETS ENTERTAINING AND USEFUL. 
 
 To whiten Wax. 
 
 Melt it in a pipkin, without boiling. Then take a 
 wooden pestle, which steep in the wax two fingers deep, 
 and plunge immediately into cold water to loosen the wax 
 from it, which will come off* like sheets of paper. When 
 
 y °" 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. *2f 
 
 vou have thus got all your wax out of the pipkin, and 
 made it into flakes, put it on a clean towel, and expose it 
 in the air, on the grass, till it is white. Then melt it again, 
 and strain it through muslin, to take all the dirt out of it, 
 if there be any. 
 
 Another JVaj/ of whitening JVar, in large Manufactories. 
 
 I. Melt your wax in a large copper, such as those 
 brewing or washing coppers which are fixed in mortar. 
 Near to the copper, have a kind of trough, made of oak 
 or deal, and six or seven feet long, at the farther end of 
 which let a cock of cold water be placed in the wall to 
 fill it, and at the other, towards the copper, a tub laid upon 
 it, to receive the wax from the copper. Let that tub have 
 also a cock at four lingers' breadth from the bottom, and 
 in that tub pour, with a wooden bowl, the melted hot wax 
 from the copper. Cover it with a blanket in four doublets, 
 to make it retain its heat, and let it rest thus a couple of 
 hours to give time to the dirt and nastiness, which may 
 happen to be in it, to settle at the bottom of the tub. 
 When that is done, fill your trough with cold water ; then 
 have a kind of tin basket to fit the width of the trough 
 so as to sit upon its edges, and bored at bottom with twelve 
 or sixteen small holes, at equal and regular distances, and 
 which you place so as to receive the melted wax from the 
 cock of the tub, and render it in the trough through the 
 said small holes of its bottom, while, with a polished 
 wooden stick or roller, under the tub, and armed at both 
 ends with iron in the form of a spit, and half of the thicks 
 ness of which enters into the water, while the other keeps 
 above it, you keep continually turning equally and regu- 
 larly. This process will make the wax flake in the water 
 into small ribbons as thin as silver paper. Now, in fine 
 clean hampers, or hand baskets, made of white peeled 
 wjilow twigs, take your wax from the trough with a 
 
 wooden. 
 
424 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 shovel, and carry it to an open field, where lay it thick 
 upon a thin coarse cloth in the sun, and turn it every 
 other day once, for two weeks running, after which time 
 it will be of a perfect whiteness. 
 
 2. Now clean well your copper, and put in alum water 
 to warm, in which throw your whitened wax, and stir well/ 
 When melted, renew the operation as before, and carry it 
 again to the open field to expose it in the sun. In a week's 
 time it will have its whiteness in the highest degree it can 
 be carried to. 
 
 3. Melt it then for the third and last time, and put it in 
 small round cakes, which is done by casting it in small 
 moulds carved purposely on several boards. 
 
 How to multiply Wax. 
 
 Take bullock's suet, which pound well, and put a soak- 
 ing for seventy-two hours, in the strongest French wine- 
 vinegar, then boil afterwards for forty-eight hours, keeping 
 perpetually skimming, as long as there appears any scum 
 upon it. When that is done, let it cool a while, and 
 throw it afterwards into a tub of cold water, wherein beat 
 and stir it till it resumes its wonted consistence and firm- 
 ness. Then put it again into other fresh vinegar, and re- 
 peat the very same process all through and exactly, for 
 three different times. Next to that, gather the tops of 
 rosemary, sage, bay, and mint, which pound and boil 
 well in water, then strain through a double flannel bag. In 
 this water, boil for the last time your prepared suet as be- 
 fore, and after it shall have boiled there one hour, it will 
 have no more any bad smell. To colour it, you must put 
 one drachm of saffron to each pound of suet, and melt it 
 afterwards with an equal quantity of real bees wax, then it 
 will be impossible to discover the mixture- 
 
 To 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 425 
 
 To make Mutton-Suet Candles, in imitation of Wax 
 Candles. 
 
 1. Throw quick-lime in melted mutton suet; the lime 
 will fail to the bottom, and carry along with it all the 
 nastiness of the suet, so as to leave it as pure and fine as 
 wax itself. 
 
 2. Now, if with one part of that suet, you mix three of 
 real wax, •■ ol will have very fine boug e . or real wax can- 
 dles, in which nobody will ever be able to find out the 
 mixture, not even in the moulding and casting way for 
 figures or ornaments. 
 
 To make Soap. 
 
 They generally make three sorts of soap, white, black, 
 and marbled. The white, or, as it is called, the Genoa 
 soap, is made with wood-ashes, Alicant kali, lime and 
 olive oil. The black is made of the same materials, with 
 this exception however, that it is made with the faces and 
 tartar of the oils. The marbled is made with Aiicant kali, 
 lourde, and lime ; and, when it is almost done, they take 
 some red earth, which they call cinnabar, with copperas ; 
 they boil these together, and throw it in the copper where- 
 in the soap is. It occasions a blue marbling, as long as 
 the copperas keeps the better of the two ingredients ; but 
 as soon as the cinnabar has at last absorbed the vitriol, this 
 blue hue subsides entirely, and the red alone predomi- 
 nates. In order, therefore, to form the soap, the me- 
 thod is to make different lyes with all these sorts of mat- 
 ters ; and, when they are sufFxiently charged (which be- 
 ginners know by their carrying an egg swimming, without 
 its sinking to the bottom, and experienced soap-boilers are 
 judges of by degustation, and the time they have been at 
 work) they put ail these lyes in proper coppers, and pour 
 
 at 
 
426 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 at the same time, in Provence and Languedoc, oil of olive ; 
 in Germany, grease ; and in England, oil offish. That 
 done they boil all together with a great blasting fire ; and, 
 eighteen or twenty days afterwards, these oils have so well 
 imbibed all the salts of the lye, that this is left quite flat and 
 untasty. Then by the cocks which are at the bottom of 
 the coppers, the water or lye is let out, and the lump of 
 soap taken out and placed to dry in drying-houses built 
 on purpose, to make it take a sufficient consistence, and 
 such as we know it to have. 
 
 To prevent any Thing from burning in the Fire. 
 
 Pound into powder cherry-tree gum and alum in equal 
 quantities, and imbibe that powder with strong wine-vine- 
 gar, which leave thus a digesting on warm ashes, for the 
 space of twenty-four hours. If with this composition 
 you rub any thing and throw it in the fire, it will not 
 be consumed by it. 
 
 To prevent burning one's. Fingers in melted Lead. 
 
 Take two ounces of bole armenie, one of quicksilver, 
 half a one of camphor, and two of brandy. Mix all 
 together with the pestle in a brass mortar, and rub your 
 hands with this composition, before steeping them into a 
 pot of melted lead, and this will have no effect upon them. 
 
 A Fire which cannot be extinguished bj/ Water. 
 
 Take five ounces of gun-powder ; nitre, three ; sul- 
 phur, two ; camphor, resin, and turpentine, one of 
 each. Mix all together, and imbibe it with rectified oil of 
 resiny fir-tree. If you fill balls with- this composition, and 
 throw them thirty feet deep in the water, they will burn 
 still, even if you cover them entirely with mould. 
 
 To 
 
MISCELLANEOUS, 427 
 
 To prevent the Oil of a Lamp from smoking. 
 
 Distil some onions, and put of the distilled liquor at 
 the bottom of the lamp, and the oil over it, then you will 
 see the oil will give no offensive smoke, 
 
 Another Receipt for the same Purpose. 
 
 Melt some May butter on the fire, without frying or 
 boiling it, and throw common exsiccated salt in it. That 
 salt will go to the bottom, and carry along with it the 
 watery and earthen particles of the butter, so that this will 
 turn into a very fine, clear, and limpid oil, which, when 
 burnt in the lamp, will render no smoke. 
 
 To make an incombustible Wick. 
 
 Take a long piece of feathered alum, which cut of 
 what size you like, and bore in its length several holes 
 with a large needle ; then put this wick in the lamp ; the 
 oil will ascend through these holes, and if you light it, you 
 will see the effect of it. 
 
 A Stone which is inflammable with Water. 
 
 Take quick-lime, refined nitre, Alexandrian tutty, 
 and lapis calaminaris, in equal quantities, with sulphur 
 and camphor, of each two parts. Put all into subtile 
 powder, and sift it through the finest sieve. Then put 
 all into a new piece of cloth, and tie it very close and 
 tight. Put this knot into a crucible, which cover with 
 another crucible, and lute well with greasy clay. Let 
 the lute and ail be set in the sun, or over a baker's 
 oven, to dry. After which time place these crucibles in 
 a brick-kiln, and do not take them out before the bricks 
 
 3 are 
 

 42S THE LABORATORY, 
 
 baked. Then you will find a stone, which the least drop 
 of water will inflame, so as to light a mutch if you put it 
 to it. To put it out, you only blow upon it. 
 
 SECRETS RELATIVE TO WINE. 
 
 To make Wine to have the Taste and Flavour of French 
 Muscat. 
 
 You have only to put in the cask a little bag of elder 
 flowers when the wine is just done pressing ; and while it 
 boiis still'. Then, a fortnight after, take out the bag. 
 
 To make the Vin-doux. 
 
 When ycu cask the wine, put in at the bottom of the 
 cask half a pound of mustard-seed, or a pound, if the 
 cask be doable the common size. 
 
 To make Vin-bourru, of an excellent Taste. 
 
 Take two quarts of wheat, which boil in two quarts of 
 water till it is perfectly bursted. Stir it well, then strain it 
 through a fine cloth, squeezing a little the whole to get the 
 creamy part out. Put two quarts of this liquor in a hog- 
 shead of white wine, while it is still a boiling, or in fer- 
 mentation, with the addition of a little bag of dried elder- 
 flowers. 
 
 To imitate Malvoisie. 
 
 Take of the best galangal, cloves and ginger, each one 
 
 dr if hm. Bruise them coarsely, and infuse for twenty-four 
 
 hours, with brandy, in a well closed vessel. Then take 
 
 5 these 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 429 
 
 these drugs out, and having tied them in a linen bag, let 
 them hang in the cask by the bung-hole. Three or 
 four days after, your wine will taste as good and as 
 strong as natural Malvoisie. 
 
 To change Red Wine into White, and White into Red. 
 
 If you want to make red your white-wine, throw into 
 the cask a bag of black vine-wood ashes ; and to whiten 
 the red wine, you must put a bag of white vine-wood 
 ashes. Forty days after, take out the bag, shake the cask, 
 and let it settle again ; then you will see the effect. 
 
 To prevent Wine from /listing, otherwise tasting of the 
 Cask, and to give it both a Taste and Flavour quite 
 agreeable. 
 
 Stick a lemon with cloves as thick as it can hold ; hang 
 it by the bung-hole in a bag over the wine in the cask for 
 three or four days, and stop it very carefully, for fear of its 
 turning dead, if it should get air. 
 
 To make a Vine produce sweet Wine. 
 
 One month before gathering the grapes, you must twist 
 such branches as are loaded with them, so as to interrupt 
 the circulation of the sap : then strip the leaves off entirely, 
 that the sun may act with all its power on the grains, and, 
 by dissipating their superfluous moisture, procure a sweet- 
 ness to the liquor contained in them when they come 
 to be pressed. 
 
 To make a sweet Wine of a very agreeable Flavour, and 
 besides very wholesome. 
 
 Gather the grapes, and expose them for three whole 
 days in the sun. On the fourth day, at noon, put them under 
 
 the 
 
4/30 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 the press, and receive the first drops which run of themselves' 
 before pressing. When these virgin-drops shall have boiled, 
 or fermented, put to every fifty quarts of it one ounce 
 of Florentine-orrice in subtile powder. A few days after, 
 take it out clear from its lye, and then bottle it. 
 
 To clarify ', in two Days, new Wine when muddy* 
 
 Take a discretionable quantity of fine and thin beech 
 shavings, which put into a bag, and hang by the bung- 
 hole, in the cask. Two days after, take out the bag j and 
 if from red you want to make it white, you may do it by 
 putting in the cask a quart of very clear whey. 
 
 To make the Wine keep moid, or unfermented, for Twelve 
 Months. 
 
 Take the first, or virgin wine, which runs of itself from 
 the grapes before pressing ; cask and stop it well, then 
 smear the cask all over with tar, so that water could not 
 penetrate through any part of the wood into the wine- 
 Plunge these casks into a pond deep enough to cover them 
 entirely with water, and leave them there for forty days. 
 After which term you may take them out, and the wine 
 contained in them will keep new for twelve months. 
 
 To make Wine turn Black. 
 
 Place in the vat, wherein the wine is a fermenting. 
 two pewter pots, and it will turn black. 
 
 To clarify Wine which is turned. 
 
 Take clean rcch-alum in powder, half a pound: sugar 
 of roses, as much ; honey whether skimmed or not eight 
 pounds, and a quart of good wine. Mix all well, and 
 
 put 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 4.31 
 
 pat it in a cask of wine, stirring all as you pour it in. Take 
 the bung off till the next day, then put it on again. Two 
 or three days aftef this it will be quite clear. 
 
 To correct a bad Flavour in JVinc. 
 
 Put in a bag a handful of garden parsley, and let it 
 hang by the bung-hole in the cask, for one week at least. 
 Then take it out 
 
 To prevent Wine from spoiling and turning. 
 
 Mix in the cask a tenth part of brandy, or half an 
 ounce of oil of sulphur. 
 
 To prevent Thunder and Lightning from hurting Wine. 
 
 Put on the bung a handful of steel filings and another 
 fif salt, tied up in a bag. 
 
 To prevent Wine from corrupting. 
 
 Put to infuse in the cask a handful of gentian-root, tied 
 in a bag. 
 
 To restore a Wine turned sour or sharp. 
 
 Fill a bag with leek-seed, or of leaves and twisters 
 of vine, and put either of them to infuse in the cask. 
 
 To restore a Wine corrupted and glairy. 
 
 Put in the wine cow's milk a little saltish ; or else the 
 rinds and shells of almonds, tied up in a bag : or again* 
 pine kernels. 
 
 Jo 
 
432 THE lAEORATORY. 
 
 To prevent Wine from growing Sour, and turning into" 
 
 Vinegar. 
 
 Hang by the bung-hole, in the cask, a piece of bacon, 
 of about one pound and a half, and replace the bung. Or 
 else throw into the wine a little bagful of ashes of virgin 
 vine. 
 
 To make a new Wine taste as an old Wine. 
 
 Take one ounce of melilot, and three of each of the 
 following drugs,, viz. liquorish, and celtic-nard, with two 
 of hepatic aloes ; grind, and mix all well together, put it 
 in a bag, and hang it in the wine. 
 
 To restore a Wine turned. 
 
 Draw a pailful of it ; or, take the same quantity of ano- 
 ther good sort, which you boil, and throw quite boiling 
 hot over that which is spoiled and stinking ; then stop the 
 cask quickly with its bung. A fortnight after taste it, and 
 you will find it as good as ever it was, or can be. 
 
 To restore a Wine fust ed, or tasting of the Cask. 
 
 Draw that wine entirely out of its own lye, and put it 
 in another cask over a good lye. Then, through the 
 bung-hole, hangup a bag with four ounces of laurel berries 
 in powder, and a sufficient quantity of steel filings, at the 
 bottom of the bag, to prevent its swimming on the top of 
 the wine. And, in proportion as you draw a certain quan- 
 tity of liquor, let down the bag. 
 
 To prevent Wine from pricking. 
 
 Put in the cask half a pound of spirit of tartar. Or, 
 
 else, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 433 
 
 else, when the wine is still new and mout, throw in two 
 ounces of common alum for every hogshead. 
 
 To ynakc Wine keep. 
 
 Extract the salt from the best vine branches; and of 
 this put three ounces in every hogshead at Martinmas 
 when the casks are bunged up. 
 
 To clarify Wine easily. 
 
 Put in the cask two quarts of boiling milk after having 
 well skimmed it. 
 
 To prevent Wine from turning. 
 Put in the cask one pound of hare's-shot. 
 
 To correct a musty Taste in Wine. 
 
 Knead a dough of the best wheat-flour, and make it 
 ill the form of a rolling pin, or a short thick stick. Half 
 bake it in the oven, and stick it all over with cloves. Re- 
 place it in the oven to finish baking it quite. Suspend it 
 in the cask over the wine without touching it, and let it re- 
 main there : or else let it plunge in the wine for a few days, 
 and take it quite out afterwards. It will correct any bad 
 flavour the wine might have acquired. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take very ripe medlars, and open them in four quar- 
 ters, without parting them asunder. Then tye them with 
 a thread, and fix them to the bung, so that by putting it 
 in again they may hang and soak in the wine. One month 
 afterwards take them out, and they will carry off all the 
 bad taste of the wine. 
 
 vol. i. f£ To 
 
434 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 To correct a sour* or bitter Taste in Wine. 
 
 Boil a quartern of barlev in four quarts of water to the 
 reduction of two. Strain what remains through a cloth, 
 and pour it in the cask, stirring all together with a stick 
 without touching the lye. 
 
 To restore spoiled Wine. 
 
 Change the wine from its own lye, upon that of good 
 wine. Pulverize three or four nutmegs, and as many dry 
 orange peels, and throw them in. Stop well the bung, and 
 let it ferment one fortnight. x\fter that term is over you 
 will find it better than ever. This method has gone through 
 many experiments. 
 
 To sweeten a tart Wine. 
 
 Put in a hogshead of such a wine, a quarter of a pint 
 of good wine vinegar saturated with litherage : and it 
 will soon lose its tartness. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Boil a quantity of honey in order to get all the waxy 
 part out of it, and strain it through a double cloth. Of 
 such a honey thus prepared put two quarts to half a 
 hogshead of tart wine, and it will render it perfectly agree- 
 able. If in the summer, and there be any danger of its 
 turning, throw in a stone of quick lime. 
 
 To prevent Tartness in Wine. 
 
 Take, in the month of March, two basonfuls of river 
 sand ; and, after having dried it in the sun, or in the oven, 
 throw it in the cask. 
 
 3 To 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 433 
 
 7b heighten a Wine in Liquor, and give it an agreeable 
 Flavour. 
 Take two dozen or thereabouts of myrtle berries, very 
 ripe. Bruise them coarsely, after having dried them per- 
 fectly, and put them in a bag, which suspend in the mid- 
 dle of the cask. Then stop this well with its bung. A 
 fortnight afterwards take off the bag, and you will have 
 a very agreeable wine. 
 
 To give Wine a ynost agreeable Flavour. 
 
 Take a pailful of viout, which boil and evaporate to the 
 consistence of honey. Then mix with it one ounce of 
 Florentine orrice, cut in small bits, and one drachm of 
 costus. Put all into a bag, and let it down in the cask by 
 the bung-hole, after having previously drawn out a suffi- 
 cient quantity of wine to prevent the bag from coming at 
 it. This bag being thus suspended by a string which will 
 hang out of the bung-hole, stop it well, and there will 
 drop from the bag into the wine a liquor which will give 
 it a most agreeable taste. 
 
 How to find out whether or not there be Water mixed in a 
 Cask of Wine. 
 
 Throw in the cask one wild pear, or apple. If either 
 of these two fruits swim, it is a proof there is no water in 
 the wine : for, if there be any, it will sink. 
 
 To separate the Water from Wine. 
 
 Put into the cask a wick of cotton, which should soak 
 in the wine by one end, and come out of the cask at the 
 bung-hole by the other : and every drop of water which 
 
 f f 2 may 
 
450 THE LABORATORY. 
 
 may happen to be mixed with the wine, will still out by 
 that wick or filter. 
 
 You may again put some of this wine into a cup made 
 of ivy-wood : and, then the water will perspire through 
 the pores of the cup, and the wine remain. 
 
 To ungrease Wine in less than iteenty-four Hours. 
 
 Take common salt, gum-arabic, and vine-brush ashes, 
 of each half an ounce. Tie all in a bag, and fix it to a 
 hazel-tree stick ; then by the bung-hole stir well the wine 
 for one quarter of an hour, after which take it out, and 
 stop the cask : the next day the wine will be as sound as 
 ever. 
 
 To restore a Wine. 
 
 Put in the cask one pound of Paris plaster. Then 
 make a piece of steel red-hot in the fire ; and, by means 
 of a wire fixed to one of its ends, introduce it by the 
 bung-hole into the wine. Repeat this operation for five or 
 six days running, as many times each day. Then, finally, 
 throw into the wine a stick of brimstone tied in a bag, 
 which you take off two days after ; and the wine will be 
 perfectly well restored. 
 
 To correct a bad Taste and sourness in Wine. 
 
 Put in a bag a root of wild horse-radish cut in bits. 
 Let it down in the wine, and leave it there two days : take 
 this out, and put another, repeating the same till the wine 
 is perfectly restored. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Fill a bag with wheat, and let it down in the- wine; 
 it will have the same effect. 
 
 5 Another 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 437 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Put a-drying in the oven, as soon as it is heated, one 
 dozen of old walnuts ; and, having taken them out along 
 with the bread, thread them with a string, and hang them 
 in the wine, till it is restored to its good taste j then take 
 them out again. 
 
 To cure those wfyo are too much addicted to drink Wine. 
 
 Put, in a sufficient quantity of wine, three or four large 
 eels, which leave there till quite dead. Give that wine to 
 drink to the person you want to reform, and he or she will 
 be so much disgusted of wine, that though they formerly 
 made much use of it, they will now have an aversion to it. 
 
 Another Method, not less certain. 
 
 Cut, in the spring, a branch of vine, in the time when 
 the sap ascends most strongly : and receive in a cup the li- 
 quor which runs from that branch. If you mix some of 
 this liquor with wine, and give it to a man already drunk, 
 he will never relish wine afterwards. 
 
 To prevent one from getting intoxicated "with drinking. 
 
 Take white cabbage's, and sour pomegranate's juices, 
 two ounces of each, with one of vinegar. Boil all toge- 
 ther for some time to the consistence of a syrup. Take 
 one ounce of this before you are going to drink, and drink 
 afterwards as much, and as long, as you please. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Eat five or six bitter almonds fasting : this will have the 
 same effect. 
 
 Another 
 
4-3$ THE LABORATORY. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 It is affirmed, that if you eat mutton or goat's lungs 
 roasted ; cabbage, or any seed ; or worm-wood, it will ab- 
 solutely prevent the bad effects which result from the ex- 
 cess of drinking. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 You may undoubtedly prevent the accidents resulting 
 from hard drinking, if before dinner you eat, in sallad, 
 four or five tops of raw cabbages. 
 
 Another Method. 
 
 Take some swallows' beaks, and burn them in a cru- 
 cible. When perfectly calcined, grind them on a stone, 
 and put some of that powder in a glass of wine, and drink 
 it. Whatever wine you may drink to excess afterwards, it 
 will have no effect upon you. 
 
 The whole body of the swallow, prepared in the same 
 manner, will have the same effect. 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Pound in a mortar the leaves of a peach-tree, and 
 squeeze the juice of them in a bason. Then, fasting, drink 
 a full glass of that liquor, and take whatever excess of wine 
 you will on that day, you will not be intoxicated. 
 
 A Method of making People drunk, without endangering 
 their Health. 
 
 Infuse some aloe-wood, which comes from India, i-n a 
 glass of wine, and give it to drink. The person who drinks 
 it will soon give signs of his intoxication. 
 
 Another 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 439 
 
 Another Way. 
 
 Boil in water some mandrake's bark, to a perfect redness 
 of the water in which it is a boiling. Of that liquor, if you 
 put in the wine, whoever diinks it will soon be drunk. 
 
 To recover a Person from Intoxication. 
 
 Make such a person drink a glass of vinegar, or some 
 cabbage-juice, otherwise give him some honey. You may 
 likewise meet with success by giving the patient a glass of 
 wine quite warm to drink, or a dish of strong coffee, without 
 milk or sugar, adding to it a large tea-spoonful of salt. 
 
 To prevent the Breath from smelling of Wine. 
 
 Chew a root of to, and no one can discover, by your 
 breath, whether you have been drinking wine or not. 
 
 To preserve Wine good to the last. 
 
 Take a pint of the best spirit of wine, and put in it 
 the bulk of vour two lists of the second peel of the elder- 
 tree, which is green. After it has infused three days, or 
 thereabouts, strain the liquor through a cloth, and pour 
 it into a hogshead of wine. That wine will keep good foi 
 ten years, if you want it. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 Printed by C. Whittinjham, Dean Street, Fetter*ane, London. 
 
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