When glass vessels are exposed to damp, the best mode of writing on them is to prepare an ink for the purpose, by mixing the common cheap varnish, called Brunswick black, with half its weight of oil of turpentine, or what is the same thing, in a purer state, camphine; this should be kept in a closely corked bottle, and used with a broad nibbed quill pen; it soon dries, and though pale, is very distinct, and almost imperishable. If it is required much darker, about a quarter of an hour after it has been done, a little lamp-black should be rubbed over it, with cotton or wadding, when it immediately becomes as black as common ink, and resists damp, and rubbing or wiping with either wet or dry cloths for a very long time; the same ink is equally advantageous for use with white earthenware; and although we have never had occasion to use such a mixture, there is no doubt that a little whiting mixed thin, with any common varnish, would furnish an equally useful ink for writing on black bottles. III. DECANTING, STRAINING, AND FILTERING OF LIQUIDS. The decanting of liquids is, under ordinary circumstances, an operation sufficiently simple to require no explanation; but the ease and certainty with which it can be performed, depend entirely upon the form of the vessel from which the liquid is poured; the adhesion existing between liquids and solids giving rise to the tendency in the former to run down the outside of the vessel; and, if the latter is nearly full, or very large in circumference, or the sides approach the perpendicular direction, this accident almost always occurs. The difficulty of returning a glass of wine to the decanter, or of pouring from one full tumbler into another, are well-known examples of this inconvenience. Advantage may, however, be taken of the adhesion of liquids to solids, and by it the former may be led into the required direction. This cannot be better illustrated than by a description of the means by which a glass of wine may be returned, without spilling, to the decanter. If a tea-spoon is dipped into the wine, so as to become wetted with it, and held perpendicularly with the bowl downwards, and the point over, but not touching the entrance into the decanter, and the edge of the glass be made to touch the back of the spoon, it will be found, on inclining the former, that the wine, having a perpendicular solid body to adhere to and run down, will do so in preference to trickling along the oblique outer surface of the wine-glass; and in this mode a liquid may be poured steadily out of any similar vessel with so little disturbance as not to agitate any sediment that may exist in it. In the laboratory of the chemist, a piece of glass rod is usually employed for this purpose; but a spoon, or pencil, or any similar substance having a surface capable of being wetted by the liquid, answers equally well.