Part 154

«Cucumber Creams.»—

I.—White wax 3 ounces Spermaceti 3 ounces Benzoinated lard 8 ounces Cucumbers 3 ounces

Melt together the wax, spermaceti, and lard, and infuse in the liquid the cucumbers previously grated. Allow to cool, stirring well; let stand a day, remelt, strain and again stir the “cream” until cold.

II.—Benzoinated lard 5 ounces Suet 3 ounces Cucumber juice 10 ounces Proceed as in making cold cream.

«Glycerine Creams.»—

I.—Oil of sweet almonds 100 parts White wax 13 parts Glycerine, pure 25 parts Add a sufficient quantity of any suitable perfume.

Melt, on the water bath, the oil, wax, and glycerine together, remove and as the mass cools down add the perfume in sufficient quantity to make a creamy mass. {238}

II.—Quince seed 1 ounce Boric acid 16 grains Starch 1 ounce Glycerine 16 ounces Carbolic acid 30 minims Alcohol 12 ounces Oil of lavender 30 minims Oil of rose 10 drops Extract of white rose 1 ounce Water enough to make 64 ounces

Dissolve the boric acid in a quart of water and in this solution macerate the quince seed for 3 hours; then strain. Heat together the starch and the glycerine until the starch granules are broken, and mix with this the carbolic acid. Dissolve the oils and the extract of rose in the alcohol, and add to the quince-seed mucilage; then mix all together, strain, and add water enough to make the product weigh 64 ounces.

III.—Glycerine 1 ounce Borax 2 drachms Boracic acid 1 drachm Oil rose geranium 30 drops Oil bitter almond 15 drops Milk 1 gallon

Heat the milk until it curdles and allow it to stand 12 hours. Strain it through cheese cloth and allow it to stand again for 12 hours. Mix in the salts and glycerine and triturate in a mortar, finally adding the odors and coloring if wanted. The curdled milk must be entirely free from water to avoid separation. If the milk will not curdle fast enough the addition of 1 ounce of water ammonia to a gallon will hasten it. Take a gallon of milk, add 1 ounce ammonia water, heat (not boil), allow to stand 24 hours, and no trouble will be found in forming a good base for the cream.

IV.—This is offered as a substitute for cucumber cream for toilet uses. Melt 15 parts, by weight, of gelatin in hot water containing 15 parts, by weight, of boracic acid as well as 150 parts, by weight, of glycerine; the total amount of water used should not exceed 300 parts, by weight. It may be perfumed or not.

«Lanolin Creams.»—

I.—Anhydrous lanolin 650 parts Peach-kernel oil 200 parts Water 150 parts

Perfume with about 15 drops of ionone or 20 drops of synthetic ylang-ylang.

II.—Lanolin 40 parts Olive oil 15 parts Paraffine ointment 10 parts Aqua naphæ 10 parts Distilled water 15 parts Glycerine 5 parts Boric acid 4 parts Borax 4 parts Geranium oil, sufficient. Extract, triple, of ylang-ylang, quantity sufficient.

III.—Anhydrous lanolin 650 drachms Almond oil 200 drachms Water 150 drachms Oil of ylang-ylang 5 drops

Preparations which have been introduced years ago for the care of the skin and complexion are the glycerine gelées, which have the advantage over lanolin that they go further, but present the drawback of not being so quickly absorbed by the skin. These products are filled either into glasses or into tubes. The latter way is preferable and is more and more adopted, owing to the convenience of handling.

A good recipe for such a gelée is the following:

Moisten white tragacanth powder, 50 parts, with glycerine, 200 parts, and spirit of wine, 100 parts, and shake with a suitable amount of perfume; then quickly mix and shake with warm distilled water, 650 parts.

A transparent slime will form immediately which can be drawn off at once.

«Mucilage Creams.»—

I.—Starch 30 parts Carrageen mucilage 480 parts Boric acid 15 parts Glycerine 240 parts Cologne water 240 parts

Boil the starch in the carrageen mucilage, add the boric acid and the glycerine. Let cool, and add the cologne water.

II.—Linseed mucilage 240 parts Boric acid 2 parts Salicylic acid 1.3 parts Glycerine 60 parts Cologne water 120 parts Rose water 120 parts

Instead of the cologne water any extracts may be used. Lilac and ylang-ylang are recommended.

«Witch-Hazel Creams.»—

I.—Quince seed 90 grains Boric acid 8 grains Glycerine 4 fluidounces Alcohol 6 fluidounces Carbolic acid 6 drachms Cologne water 4 fluidounces Oil lavender flowers 40 drops {239} Glycerite starch 4 av. ounces Distilled witch-hazel extract enough to make 32 fluidounces.