Part 414

«Garment-Cleaning Soap.»—The following is excellent:

I.—White soap, rasped or shaved 12 parts Ammonia water 3 parts Boiling water 18 parts

Dissolve the soap in the water and when it cools down somewhat, add to the solution the ammonia water. Pour the solution into a flask of sufficient capacity (or holding about three times as much as the mixture) and add enough water to fill it about three-quarters full. Shake and add, a little at a time, under active agitation, enough benzine to make 100 parts. This constitutes the stock {646} bottle. To make up the mass or paste put a teaspoonful in an 8-ounce bottle and add, a little at a time, with constant agitation, benzine to about fill the bottle. This preparation is a rapid cleaner and does not injure the most delicate colors.

II.—Good bar soap, shaved up 165 parts Ammonia water 45 parts Benzine 190 parts Water sufficient to make 1,000 parts

Dissolve the soap in 600 parts of water by heating on the water bath, remove, and add the ammonia under constant stirring. Finally add the benzine, and stir until homogeneous, and quite cold. The directions to go with this paste are: Rub the soap well into the spot and lay the garment aside for a half hour. Then using a stiff brush, rub with warm water and rinse. This is especially useful in spots made by rosins, oils, grease, etc. Should the spot be only partially removed by the first application, repeat.

«Glycerine Soaps.»—Dr. Sarg’s liquid glycerine soap consists of 334 parts of potash soda soap, and 666 parts of glycerine free from lime, the mixture being scented with Turkish rose oil and orange blossom oil in equal proportions, the actual amount used being varied according to taste. The soap should be perfectly free from alkali; but as this is a condition difficult of attainment in the case of ordinary potash soaps, it is presupposed that the soap used has been salted out with potassium chloride, this being the only way to obtain a soap free from alkali.

Another variety of liquid glycerine soap is prepared from purified medicinal soft soap, 300 parts; glycerine free from lime, 300 parts; white sugar syrup, 300 parts; doubly rectified spirit (96 per cent), 300 parts. The mixture is scented with oil of cinnamon, 1 part; oil of sassafras, 2 parts; oil of citronella, 1⁠/⁠2 part; oil of wintergreen, 1 part; African geranium oil, 1 part; clove oil, 1⁠/⁠2 part; oil of bergamot, 3 parts; pure tincture of musk, 1⁠/⁠2 part. These oils are dissolved in spirit, and shaken up with the other ingredients; then left for 8 days with frequent shaking, and 3 days in absolute quiet, after which the whole is filtered, and is then ready for packing.

«Iodine Soaps.»—In British hospitals, preference is given to oleic acid over alcoholic preparations for iodine soaps, as the former do not stain and can be washed off with soap and water. The following formula is given:

I.—Iodine 1 av. ounce Oleic acid 1 fluidounce Alcohol 6 fluidrachms Stronger water of ammonia 2 fluidrachms

This makes a soapy paste soluble in all liquids, except fixed oils.

II.—Iodine 1 av. ounce Oleic acid 2 fluidounces Stronger water of ammonia 3 fluidrachms Paraffine oil, colorless, to make 20 fluidounces

III.—Iodine 1 av. ounce Alcohol 5 fluidounces Solution of ammonium oleate 1 fluidounce Glycerine to make 20 fluidounces

The solution of ammonium oleate is made from oleic acid and spirit of ammonia.

«Liquid Soaps.»—Liquid soaps, or, as they are sometimes called, soap essences, are made from pure olive-oil soap by dissolving it in alcohol and adding some potassium carbonate. Tallow or lard soaps cannot be used, as they will not make a transparent preparation. The soap is finely shaved and placed with the alcohol and potassium carbonate in a vessel over a water bath, the temperature slowly and gradually raised, while the mixture is kept in constant agitation by stirring. The soap should be of a pure white color and the alcohol gives the best product when it is about 80 per cent strength. After about three-quarters of an hour to one hour, solution will be complete and a perfectly transparent article obtained. This can be scented as desired by adding the proper essential oil as soon as the mixture is removed from the water bath.

If an antiseptic soap is wanted the addition of a small amount of benzoic acid, formaldehyde, or corrosive sublimate will give the desired product. Liquid soaps should contain from 20 to 40 per cent of genuine white castile soap and about 2 to 2 1⁠/⁠4 per cent of potassium carbonate.

This is a common formula:

By weight I.—Olive or cottonseed oil 60 parts Caustic potash, U.S.P. 15 parts Alcohol and water, sufficient of each.

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Dissolve the potash in 1 ounce of water, heat the oil on a water bath, add the solution of potash previously warmed, and stir briskly. Continue the heat until saponification is complete. If oil globules separate out and refuse to saponify, the potash is not of proper strength, and more must be added—1 or 2 parts dissolved in water. If desired transparent add a little alcohol, and continue the heat without stirring until a drop placed in cold water first solidifies and then dissolves.

Commercial potash may be used, but the strength must be ascertained and adjusted by experiment. The soap thus made will be like jelly; it is dissolved in alcohol, 4 to 6 ounces of soap to 2 of alcohol, and after standing a day or two is filtered and perfumed as desired. A rancid oil would be easier to saponify, but the soap would likely be rancid or not as good.

II.—Ammonium sulphoichthyolate, 10 parts; distilled water, 15 parts; hebra’s soap spirit (a solution of potash soap, 120 parts, in 90 per cent spirit, 60 parts; and spirit of lavender, 5 parts), 75 parts.

«MEDICATED SOAPS.»

First make up a suitable soap body and afterwards add the medicament. For instance, carbolic soaps may be made as follows:

I.—Cocoanut oil 20 pounds Tallow 4 pounds Soda lye (38° to 40°B.) 12 pounds Phenol 1 pound

Prepare the body soap by stirring the liquefied fat into the lye at 113° F., and when combination has set in, incorporate the phenol and quickly pour into molds. Cover the latter well. Instead of the phenol 2 pounds of sulphur may be used, and a sulphur soap made.

Parts by weight II.—Cotton oil 200 Alcohol, 91 per cent 300 Water 325 Caustic soda 45 Potassium carbonate 10 Ether 15 Carbolic acid 25

The oil is mixed in a large bottle with water, 100 parts; alcohol, 200 parts; and caustic soda, 45 parts, and after saponification the remaining alcohol and the potassium carbonate dissolved in the rest of the water, and finally the carbolic acid and the ether are added and the whole well shaken. The mixture is filled in tightly closed bottles and stored at medium temperature. The preparation may be scented as desired, and the carbolic acid replaced with other antiseptics.

«Liquid Tar Soap.»—Mix 200 parts of tar with 400 parts of oleic acid, warm lightly and filter. In this way the aqueous content produces no trouble. Now warm the filtrate on the water bath, neutralize by stirring in an alcoholic potash solution. To the soap thus produced, add 100 parts of alcohol, and further a little olive oil, in order to avoid a separation of any overplus of alkaline matter. Finally, bring up to 1,000 parts with glycerine. This soap, containing 22 per cent of tar, answers all possible demands that may be made upon it. Mixed with 2 parts of distilled water it leaves no deposit on the walls of the container.