Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million: Containing Four Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-five Receipts, Facts, Directions, etc. in the Useful, Ornamental, and Domestic Arts
John Stuart Mill · en
568. _To make Jessamine Butter._--Hog's lard melted, and well washed
in fair water, laid an inch thick in a dish, and strewed over with
jessamine flowers, will imbibe the scent, and make a very fragrant
pomatum.
569. _Rowland's Macassar Oil._--This is made by boiling castor oil,
scenting it with oil of roses, and coloring it, while warm, with
alkanet root.
570. _Macassar Oil._--Common oil, three quarts; spirits of wine, half
a pint; cinnamon powder, three ounces; bergamot, two ounces: heat
them together in a large pipkin, then remove it from the fire, and
add four small pieces of alkanet root, keeping it closely covered for
several hours. Let it then be filtered through a funnel lined with
filtering paper.
571. _Wash for the Skin._--Four ounces of potash, four ounces of
rose-water, two ounces of pure brandy, and two ounces of lemon-juice;
put all these into two quarts of water, and when you wash, put a
table-spoonful or two of the mixture into the basin of water you
intend washing in.
572. _To make Milk of Roses._--To one pint of rose-water, add one
ounce of oil of almonds and ten drops of the oil of tartar.
N. B.--Let the oil of tartar be poured in last.
573. _Almond Paste._--Blanch half a pound of sweet almonds and a
quarter of a pound of bitter almonds, and beat them to powder in a
mortar with half a pound of loaf sugar; then beat them into a paste
with orange-flower water.
574. _Almond Powder._--Blanch six pounds of bitter almonds, dry and
beat them, and press from them one pint of oil; then beat them in an
iron mortar, and pass the powder through a sieve. Keep it from air
and moisture in a glass jar. Used instead of soap for washing the
hands, it imparts a singular delicacy to their appearance.
575. _Violet Powder._--This preparation is universally applied for
drying the skin after washing, especially at the joints, which,
if left even damp, produces chaps and chafing, often followed, if
neglected, by inflammation. Violet powder is best prepared by mixing
three parts of the best wheat starch with one of finely-ground
orris-root; the latter adds to the drying power of the starch,
and imparts, at the same time, an agreeable odor like that of
violet--hence the name of the mixture. It is also prepared by
perfuming starch with essential oils, without the addition of
orris-root: but, though the scent of the powder is stronger, and
to some more tempting to use, it is far less beneficial in its
application. The scent, acting as a stimulant to the skin, increases
rather than abates any tendency to redness. Unperfumed powder is,
therefore, the best to use, dusted over the part with a little brush
made of swan's-down, called a puff.
576. _Another Powder for Chaps, &c._--Take dry hemlock bark, powder
it, by rubbing on a fine grater; then sift this powder through gauze
or muslin, and sprinkle it lightly on the part chapped. It is a safe
and certain curative.