Part 160

«TOILET WATERS:»

«“Beauty Water.”»—

Fresh egg albumen 500 parts Alcohol 125 parts Lemon oil 2 parts Lavender oil 2 parts Oil of thyme 2 parts

Mix the ingredients well together. When first mixed the liquid becomes flocculent, but after standing for 2 or 3 days clears up—sometimes becomes perfectly clear, and may be decanted. It forms a light, amber-colored liquid that remains clear for months.

At night, before retiring, pour about a teaspoonful of the water in the palm of the hand, and rub it over the face and neck, letting it dry on. In the morning, about an hour before the bath, repeat the operation, also letting the liquid dry on the skin. The regular use of this preparation for 4 weeks will give the skin an extraordinary fineness, clearness, and freshness.

«Rottmanner’s Beauty Water.»—Koller says that this preparation consists of 1 part of camphor, 5 parts of milk of sulphur, and 50 parts of rose water.

«Birch Waters.»—Birch water, which has many cosmetic applications, especially as a hair wash, or an ingredient in hair washes, may be prepared as follows:

I.—Alcohol, 96 per cent 3,500 parts Water 700 parts Potash soap 200 parts Glycerine 150 parts Oil of birch buds 50 parts Essence of spring flowers 100 parts Chlorophyll, quantity sufficient to color.

Mix the water with 700 parts of the alcohol, and in the mixture dissolve the soap. Add the essence of spring flowers and birch oil to the remainder of the alcohol, mix well, and to the mixture add, little by little, and with constant agitation, the soap mixture. Finally, add the glycerine, mix thoroughly, and set aside for 8 days, filter and color the filtrate with chlorophyll, to which is added a little tincture of saffron. To use, add an equal volume of water to produce a lather.

II.—Alcohol, 96 per cent 2,000 parts Water 500 parts Tincture of cantharides 25 parts Salicylic acid 25 parts Glycerine 100 parts Oil of birch buds 40 parts Bergamot oil 30 parts Geranium oil 5 parts

Dissolve the oils in the alcohol, add the acid and tincture of cantharides; mix the water and glycerine and add, and, finally, color as before.

III.—Alcohol 30,000 parts Birch juice 3,000 parts Glycerine 1,000 parts Bergamot oil 90 parts Vanillin 10 parts Geranium oil 50 parts Water 14,000 parts

IV.—Alcohol 40,000 parts Oil of birch 150 parts Bergamot oil 100 parts Lemon oil 50 parts {245} Palmarosa oil 100 parts Glycerine 2,000 parts Borax 150 parts Water 20,000 parts

«Violet Ammonia Water.»—Most preparations of this character consist of either coarsely powdered ammonium carbonate, with or without the addition of ammonia water, or of a coarsely powdered mixture, which slowly evolves the odor of ammonia, the whole being perfumed by the addition of volatile oil, pomade essences, or handkerchief extract. The following are typical formulas:

I.—Moisten coarsely powdered ammonium carbonate, contained in a suitable bottle, with a mixture of concentrated tincture of orris root, 2 1⁠/⁠2 ounces; aromatic spirit of ammonia, 1 drachm; violet extract, 3 drachms.

II.—Fill suitable bottles with coarsely powdered ammonium carbonate and add to the salt as much of the following solution as it will absorb: Oil of orris, 5 minims; oil of lavender flowers, 10 minims; violet extract, 30 minims; stronger water of ammonia, 2 fluidounces.

III.—The following is a formula for a liquid preparation: Extract violet, 8 fluidrachms; extract cassia, 8 fluidrachms; spirit of rose, 4 fluidrachms; tincture of orris, 4 fluidrachms; cologne spirit, 1 pint; spirit of ammonia, 1 ounce. Spirit of ionone may be used instead of extract of violet.

«Violet Witch-Hazel.»—

Spirit of ionone 1⁠/⁠2 drachm Rose water 6 ounces Distilled extract of witch-hazel enough to make 16 ounces

«Cotton»

«BLEACHING OF COTTON:»

I.—Bleaching by Steaming.—The singed and washed cotton goods are passed through hydrochloric acid of 2° Bé. Leave them in heaps during 1 hour, wash, pass through sodium hypochlorite of 10° Bé. diluted with 10 times the volume of water. Let the pieces lie in heaps for 1 hour, wash, pass through caustic soda lye of 38° Bé. diluted with 8 times its volume of water, steam, put again through sodium chloride, wash, acidulate slightly with hydrochloric acid, wash and dry. Should the whiteness not be sufficient, repeat the operations.

II.—Bleaching with Calcium Sulphite.—The cotton goods are impregnated with 1 part, by weight, of water, 1 part of caustic lime, and 1⁠/⁠2 part of bisulphite of 40° Bé.; next steamed during 1–2 hours at a pressure of 1⁠/⁠2 atmosphere, washed, acidulated, washed and dried. The result is as white a fabric as by the old method with caustic lime, soda, and calcium chloride. The bisulphite may also be replaced by calcium hydrosulphite, and, instead of steaming, the fabric may be boiled for several hours with calcium sulphite.

III.—Bleaching of Vegetable Fibers with Hydrogen Peroxide.—Pass the pieces through a solution containing caustic soda, soap, hydrogen peroxide, and burnt magnesia. The pieces are piled in heaps on carriages; the latter are shoved into the well-known apparatus of Mather & Platt (kier), and the liquid is pumped on for 6 hours, at a pressure of 2⁠/⁠3 atmosphere. Next wash, acidulate, wash and dry. The bleaching may also be done on an ordinary reeling vat. For 5 pieces are needed about 1,000 parts, by weight, of water; 10 parts, by weight, of solid caustic soda; 1 part of burnt magnesia; 30 parts, by weight, of hydrogen peroxide. After 3–4 hours’ boiling, wash, acidulate, wash and dry. The bleaching may also be performed by passing through barium peroxide, then through sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid, and next through soda lye. It is practicable also to commence with the latter and finally give a treatment with hydrogen peroxide.

The whiteness obtained by the above process is handsomer than that produced by the old method with hypochlorites, and the fabric is weakened to a less extent.

«TESTS FOR COTTON.»

I.—Cotton, when freed from extraneous matter by boiling with potash, and afterwards with hydrochloric acid, yields pure cellulose or absorbent cotton, which, according to the U. S. P., is soluble in copper ammonium sulphate solution. The B. P. is more specific and states that cotton is soluble in a concentrated solution of copper ammonium sulphate. The standard test solution (B. P.) is made by dissolving 10 parts of copper sulphate in 160 parts of distilled water, and cautiously adding solution of ammonia to the liquid until the precipitate first formed is nearly dissolved. The product is then filtered and the filtrate made up to 200 parts with distilled {246} water. The concentrated solution is prepared by using a smaller quantity of distilled water.

II.—Schweitzer’s reagent for textile fibers and cellulose is made by dissolving 10 parts of copper sulphate in 100 parts of water and adding a solution of 5 parts of potassium hydrate in 50 parts of water; then wash the precipitate and dissolve in 20 per cent ammonia until saturated. This solution dissolves cotton, linen, and silk, but not wool. The reagent is said to be especially useful in microscopy, as it rapidly dissolves cellulose, but has no action on lignin.