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
339. _Fumigating Pastilles._--Pound and mix gum benjamin and
frankincense in powder, of each two drachms; gum myrrh, storax,
cascarilla bark, and nitre, of each, powdered, one ounce and a half;
and charcoal powder, one ounce: moisten, and shape into pastilles
with gum-water, and a very little turpentine.
The stalks of dried lavender, if burnt, have an agreeable scent, and
form a substitute for pastilles; they may be cut small, and burnt in
little vessels.
340. _To use Chloride of Lime._--This preventive of contagion may be
used as follows: stir one pound of the chloride of lime into four
gallons of water; allow it to settle for a short time, pour off the
clear solution, and keep it in well-corked bottles.
In houses infected, sprinkle the rooms morning and evening with the
above liquid; and pour some of it into shallow dishes or basins.
Sprinkle it about the room and bed-linen occasionally, and admit
fresh air. Infected linen should be dipped in the mixture about five
minutes, and then in common water, before it is sent to the wash.
A wine-glassful added to the water of a night-chair or bed-pan, will
prevent any smell. To destroy the effluvia from drains, sewers,
cesspools, &c., pour into them a quart of the mixture, with a pail of
water.
Meat sprinkled with, or dipped in the mixture, and hung in the air,
will not be attacked by flies, nor be tainted, for some time.
Water in cisterns may be purified, and its animalcula killed, by
putting about a pint of the mixture to one hundred gallons of water.
This mixture will also destroy bugs, if the joints and crevices of
bedsteads be washed with it. It will likewise remove the smell of
paint in a day, if the newly painted room be sprinkled with it, and
if some be placed there in dishes or saucers.
341. _Disinfecting Liquid._--In a wine-bottle full of cold water
dissolve two ounces of sugar of lead, and add two ounces of
aqua-fortis. Shake the mixture well. A very small quantity of the
liquid in its strongest form should be used for cleansing all chamber
utensils. To remove offensive odors, dilute the liquid with eight
or ten parts of water, moisten clean cloths thoroughly with it, and
hang them in various parts of the room. The offensive gases are
neutralized by chemical action. Fumigation is merely substituting one
odor for another. In all practicable cases, _fresh air_, and plenty
of it, is far the best disinfectant.
342. _To prevent Abrasions of the Skin in persons confined to their
beds; a very valuable recipe._--Apply occasionally to the tender
parts of the body, with a feather, this mixture. Beat to a strong
froth the white of an egg, then drop in gradually, while beating it,
two tea-spoonfuls of spirits of wine. Bottle it for use.