ten on with common ink, or printed with printer's ink, it will experience no alteration.

To take Spots out of Cloths, Stuffs, Silk, Cotton, and Linen.---Take two quarts of spring water, put in it a little fine white potass, about the quantity of a walnut, and a lemon cut in slices; mix these well together, and let it stand for twenty-four hours in the sun; then strain it off, and put the clear liquid up for use. This water takes out all spots, whether pitch, grease, or oil, as well in hats, as cloths and stuffs, silk or cotton, and linen. As soon as the spot is taken out, wash the place with fair water; for cloths of a deep colour, add to a spoonful of the mixture as much fair water as to weaken it.

Grease spots in cloth may be removed by using soap and water with a tooth or nail brush, and afterwards wiping off the lather with the wet corner of a towel. Essence of lemon, or pure spirit of turpentine, will remove pitch from cloth, &c.

In woollen cloth, an easier method is to scrape off the hard tallow with the edge of a tea-spoon, then rub the part briskly with a clean woollen rag, shifting the rag as the part becomes dirty; or, place some blotting paper on the spot, press it with a hot iron, occasionally moving the paper.

Remedy against the Effects of Ink, when just spilled.--If the ink be spilled on a ruffle, or apron, &c. while you have it on, let one hold the spotted part between his two hands over a bason and rub it, while another pours water gradually from a decanter upon it, and let a whole pitcher-full be used if necessary; or if the ruffle, apron, &c. be at liberty, let it be dipped into a bason filled with water, and there squeezed and dipped in again, taking care to change the water in abundance every two or three squeezes. If the ink be spilled on a green table carpet, it may immediately be taken out with a tea-spoon so entirely, that scarcely any water at all shall be wanted afterwards, provided it was only that instant spilled, as the down of the cloth prevents the immediate soaking in of the ink, or of any other liquor (except oil); but if it have lain some time, be the time ever so long, provided the place be still wet, by pouring on it fresh clean water by little and little at a time, and gathering it up again each time with a spoon, pressing hard to squeeze it out of the cloth into the spoon, you will at last bring it to its natural colour, as if no such accident had happened.....

CHAP. XIX.

STAINING WOOD.

To Stain Wood Yellow.---Take any white wood, and brush it over several times with the tincture of turmeric root, made by putting an ounce of turmeric, ground to powder, to a pint of spirit, and after they have stood for some days, straining off the tincture. If the yel low colour be desired to have a reddish cast, a little dragon's blood must be added,

A cheaper, but less strong and bright yellow, is by the tincture of French berries made boiling hot.

Wood may also be stained yellow by means of aquafortis, which will sometimes produce a very beautiful yellow colour, but at other times a browner. Care must be taken, however, that the aquafortis be not too strong, otherwise a blackish colour will be the result.

To stain Wood Red.-For a bright red stain for wood, make a strong infusion of Brazil-wood in stale urine, or water impregnated with pearl-ashes, in the proportion of an ounce to a gallon; to a gallon of either of which, the proportion of Brazil wood must be a pound, which being put to them, they must stand together for two or three days, often stiring the mixture. With this infusion strained, and made boiling hot, brush over the wood to be stained till it appear strongly coloured; then, while yet wet, brush it over with alum water made in the proportion of two ounces of alum to a quart of water.

For a less bright red, dissolve an ounce of dragon's blood in a pint of spirits of wine, and brush over the wood with the tincture till the stain appear to be as strong as is desired; but this is, in fact, rather lacquering than staining.

For a pink or rose red, add to a gallon of the above infusion of Brazil-wood two additional ounces of the pearl-ashes, and use it as was before directed: but it is necessary, in this case, to brush the wood over with the alum water. By increasing the proportion of pearlashes, the red may be rendered yet paler; but it is proper, when more than this quantity is added, to make the alum water stronger.

To stain Wood Blue.---Wood may be stained blue by means either of copper or indigo.

The method of staining blue with copper is as follows: Make a solution of copper in aquafortis, and brush it while hot several times over the wood; then make a solution of pearl-ashes in the proportion of two ounces to a pint of water, and brush it hot over the wood stained with the solution of copper, till it be of a perfectly blue colour.

To stain Wood Green.-Dissolve verdigrise in vinegar, or crystals of verdigrise in water, and with the hot solution brush over the wood till it be duly stained.

To stain Wood Purple.--Brush the wood to be stained several times with a strong decoction of logwood and Brazil, made in the proportion of one pound of the logwood, and a quarter of a pound of the Brazil, to a gallon of water, and boiled for an hour or more. When the wood has been brushed over till there be a sufficient body of colour, let it dry, and then be slightly passed over by a solution of one drachm of pearlashes in a quart of water. This solution must be carefully used, as it will gradually change the colour from a brown red, which it will be originally found to be, to a dark blue purple, and therefore its effect must be restrained to the due point for producing the colour desired.

To stain Wood a Mahogany Colour.The substances used for staining mahogany colour are madder, Brazil-wood, and logwood; each of which produce reddish brown stains, and they must be mixed together in such proportions as will produce the tint required.

To stain Wood Black.-Brush the wood several times over with a hot decoction of logwood. Then having prepared an infusion of galls by putting a quarter of a pound of powdered galls to two quarts of water, and setting them in the sunshine, or any other gentle heat, for

three or four days, brush the wood over three or four times with it, and it will be of a beautiful black. It may be polished with a hard brush and shoeinakers' black wax.

CHAP. XX.

PYROTECHNY,

OR THE ART OF PREPARING ALL KINDS OF FIRE WORKS.

Of Ingredients and Compositions.

SALTPETRE being the principal ingredient in fire-works, and a volatile body by reason of its aqueous and aerial parts, is easily rarefied by fire, but not so soon when foul and gross as when purified from its crude and earthy parts, which greatly retard its velocity. When any quantity, therefore, of fire-works are to be made, it should be examined; for if it is not well cleansed, and of a good sort, your works will not have their proper effect; neither will the nitre agree with the required proportions. Therefore,

To refine Saltpetre.-Put in a copper or any other vessel, 100lb. of the rough salt, with 14 gallons of clean water, let it boil gently half an hour, and as it boils take off the scum: then stir it, and before it settles put it into your filtering bags, which must be hung on a rack, with glazed earthen pans under them, in which must be sticks laid across for the crystals to adhere to; it must stand in the pans two or three days to shoot; then take out the crystals, and let them dry. The water that remains in the pans boil again an hour, and strain it into the pans as before, and the saltpetre will be quite clear and transparent; if not, it wants more refining; to do which proceed as usual, till it is well cleansed of all its earthy parts. Those who do not choose to procure their saltpetre by the above method, may buy it ready made.

To pulverise Saltpetre.---Take a copper kettle, whose bottom must be spherical, and put into it 14lb. of refined saltpetre, with two quarts or five pints of clean water: then put the kettle on a slow fire; and when the saltpetre is dissolved, if any impurities arise, skim them off, and keep constantly stirring with two large spatulas, till all the water exhales; and, when done enough, it will appear like white sand, and as fine as flour; but, if it should boil too fast, take the kettle off the fire, and set it on some wet sand, which will prevent the mitre from sticking to the kettle. When you have pulverised a quantity of saltpetre, be careful to keep it in a dry place.

To extract Saltpetre from damaged Gunpowder.---Have some filtering bags hung on a rack, with glazed earthen pans under them, in the same manner as those for refining saltpetre; then take any quantity of damaged powder, and put it into a copper, with as much clean wa

ter as will cover it: when it begins to boil, take off the scum; and, after it has boiled a few minutes, stir it up: then take it out of the copper with a small hand-kettle for that purpose, and put some into each bag, beginning at one end of the rack, so that by the time you have got to the last bag, the first will be ready for more. Continue thus till all the bags are full: then take the liquor out of the pans; which boil and filter as before, two or three times, till the water run quite clear, which you must let stand in the pan some time, and the saltpetre will appear at top. To get the saltpetre entirely out of the powder, take the water from that already extracted, to which add some fresh, and the dregs of the powder that remain in the bags, and put them in a vessel, to stand as long as you please: and, when you want to extract the nitre, you must proceed with this mixture as with the powder at first, by which means you will draw out all the saltpetre; but this process must be boiled longer than the first.

Sulphur, or Brimstone.-Sulphur is one of the principal ingredients in gunpowder, and almost in all compositions of fire-works; and therefore great care must be taken, of its being good, and brought to the highest perfection. To know when sulphur is good, you are to observe that it is of a high yellow; and if, when held in one's hand, it crackles and bounces, it is a sign that it is fresh and good: but, as the method of reducing brimstone to a powder is very troublesome, it is better to buy the flour ready made, which is done in large quantities, and in great perfection; though when a grand collection of fire-works is to be made, the strongest and best sulphur is the lump brimstone ground in the manner directed farther on.

Charcoal Charcoal is a preservative by which the saltpetre and brimstone are made into gunpowder, by preventing the sulphur from suffocating the strong and windy exhalation of the nitre. Charcoal for fire-works must always be scft and well burnt, which may be bought ready done.

Gunpowder.-Take four ounces of refined saltpetre, an ounce of brimstone, and six drams of small-coal; reduce these to a fine powder, and continue beating them for some time in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle, wetting the mixture between whiles with water, so as to form the whole in an uniform paste, which is reduced to grains by passing it through a wire sieve fit for the purpose and in this form being carefully dried, it becomes the common gunpowder. For making great quantities mills are built, by means of which more work may be done in one day than a man can do in a hundred.

Camphor.This may be had in the shops; and is of two kinds, differing in regard to the degree of their purity, and distinguished by the name of rough and refined. Refined camphor must be chosen of a porfectly clean white colour, very bright and pellucid, of the same smell and taste with the rough, but more acrid and pungent. It is so volatile, that merchants usually inclose it in lintseed, that the viscosity of that grain may keep its particles together.

Benjamin.-This is a resin found of different sorts; and distinguished 'by their colours, viz. yellow, grey, and brown; but the best is that which is easy to break, and full of white spots. It is one of the ingredients in odoriferous fire-works, when reduced to a fine fiour; which may be done by putting into a deep and narrow earthen pot 3 or 4 oz. of benjamin grossly pounded; cover the pot with paper, which tie very

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close round the edge; then set the pot on a slow fire, and once in an hour take off the paper, and you will find some flour sticking to it, which return again into the pot; this you must continue till the flour appear white and fine. There is also an oil of benjamin, which is sometimes drawn from the dregs of the flour; it affords a very good scent, and may be used in wet compositions.

Spur Fire. This fire is the most beautiful and curious of any yet known; and was invented by the Chinese, but now is in greater perfection in England than in China. As it requires great trouble to make it to perfection, it will be necessary that beginners should have full instructions; therefore care should be taken that all the ingredients are of the best; that the lamp-black is not damp and clodded, that the saltpetre and brimstone are thoroughly refined. This composition is generally rammed in 1 or 2 oz. cases about 5 or 6 inches long, but not driven very hard; and the cases must have their concave stroke struck very smooth, and the choak or vent not quite so large as the usual proportion; this charge, when driven and kept a few months, will be much better than when rammed; and will not spoil, if kept dry, in

many years.

As the beauty of this composition cannot be seen at so great a distance as brilliant fire, it has a better effect in a room than in the open air, and may be fired in a chamber without any danger: it is of so innocent a nature, that, though with an improper phrase, it may be called a cold fire; and so extraordinary is the fire produced from this composition, that, if well made, the sparks will not burn a handkerchief when held in the midst of them. You may hold them in your hand while burning with as much safety as a candle; and if you put your hand within a foot of the mouth of the case, you will feel the sparks drop like drops of rain. When any of these spur-fires are fired singly, they are called artificial flower-pots; but some of them placed round a transparent pyramid of paper, and fired in a large room, make a very pretty appearance.

The composition consists of saltpetre 4 lb. 8 oz. sulphur 2 lb. and lamp-black 1 lb. 8 oz. ; or saltpetre 1 lb. sulphur lb. and lamp-black 4 quarts. This composition is very difficult to mix. The saltpetre and brimstone must be first sifted together, and then put into a marble mortar, and the lamp-black with them, which you work down by degrees with a wooden pestle, till all the ingredients appear of one colour, which will be something greyish, but very near black: then drive a little into a case for trial, and fire it in a dark place; and if the sparks, which are called stars or pinks, come out in clusters, and afterwards spread well without any other sparks, it is a sign of its being good, otherwise not; for if any drossy sparks appear, and the stars not full, it is then not mixed enough; but if the pinks are very small, and soon break, it is a sign that you have rubbed it too much.

This mixture, when rubbed too much, will be too fierce, and hardly shew any stars; and, on the contrary, when not mixed enough, will be too weak, and throw out an obscure smoke, and lumps of dross, without any stars. The reason of this charge being called the spurfire is, because the sparks it yields have a great resemblance to the rowel of a spur, from whence it takes its name.