A CYCLOPÆDIA OF PRACTICAL RECEIPTS, PROCESSES, AND COLLATERAL INFORMATION (continued 40)

The late Mr Braidwood classes the causes of fires under the following heads:—1. Inattention in the use of fires and lights. 2. Improper construction of buildings, &c. 3. Furnaces or close fires, for heating buildings, or for mechanical purposes. 4. Spontaneous ignition. 5. Incendiarism.

Amongst many other causes of fire, too numerous to specify, may be noticed—incautiously approaching window- and bed-curtains with a candle or lamp, airing linen before the fire, allowing children to play with fire, women’s dresses taking fire, and taking off the burning coals from a fire and laying them on the hearth. Another very common cause of fire is covering up a fire-place when not in use with wood, or paper and canvas, &c. The soot falls either from the flue itself or an adjoining one into the grate; a neighbouring chimney takes fire, a spark from this falls down the blocked-up flue, ignites the soot in the grate, which smoulders until the covering is burnt through, and thus sets the building on fire.

Another cause of fire, and one which cannot be too strongly condemned, is the dangerous practice of reading in bed by candle-light. A very serious annual loss of property is also caused by want of proper care in hanging up or removing the goods in linendrapers’ shop windows when the gas is burning. Another frequent cause of fire is the employment of young children in lighting fires, from their propensity to play with flame.

The employment of close fires with brick flues is also a frequent source of danger. Frequently, from various causes, the furnace almost always cracks, thus giving egress to smoke and flame. When this occurs no time should be lost in thoroughly repairing the defect, or building a new furnace; merely plastering over the surface will be found an ineffective and dangerous remedy.

To guard against the dangers arising from the ignition of wearing apparel many methods have been suggested for rendering fabrics flame proof, all of them consisting in soaking the dress in a weak solution of a non-inflammable substance, such as chloride of zinc, alum, tungstate of sodium, sulphate of ammonia, &c. Of these alum has the advantage of greatly improving the appearance of the fabrics, especially if they be coloured.

Fire-guards, particularly where there are children, ought to be adopted much more generally than they appear to be.

Prev. This consists of the exercise of those ordinary precautions which the good sense of every careful and trustworthy man, be he taskmaster or servant, cannot fail to suggest. It would be useless to enumerate them.

Immediately on the fire being discovered, secure an alarm being given to the nearest of the fire escape stations, not delaying an instant; do not wait “to see if it is wanted.” Life is more valuable than property, and events have often proved how fatal even a moment’s hesitation is in sending for the fire-escape.[307]

The late Mr Braidwood’s advice was, “that if the fire appears at all serious, and there are fire-engines within a reasonable distance, that it is best to wait until they arrive; many buildings have been destroyed from opening doors, and trying to extinguish fires with insufficient means. If no engines are within reach it is advisable to keep a hand-pump. If that is not to be had, the next best thing is to collect as many buckets outside the room on fire as can be obtained, keeping the door shut; then to creep into the room on hands and knees (if the heat and smoke are considerable), and throw the water as nearly in the direction of the fire as possible, keeping the door shut while more water is being collected.

“The police of the metropolis understand shutting up fires so well, that they have in many instances kept fires two or three miles distant from the engine-stations, shut up till the fireman arrived in time to extinguish them.”

Fires might often be readily extinguished when first discovered by the timely application of a few buckets of water. When an apartment is found to be on fire, the door, chimney, and windows should be immediately closed, if possible, and only opened for the purpose of projecting water on the flames. By this means the supply of air will be cut off, and rapid combustion prevented. The same applies to the lower doors and windows of a house (especially the shop window), which are often injudiciously kept open or removed, under the pretence of rendering assistance. The neglect of this precaution has often caused a mere smouldering fire, that might have been easily put out, to burst into an unextinguishable mass of flame.

It has been proposed at various times to make certain additions to the water used for the purpose of extinguishing fires, in order to render its action more certain and effective. It is found that sal ammoniac (5 oz. to the gall.) exerts this property in a remarkable degree. Several other articles, as common salt, pearlash, and kitchen soda, act in the same way, though less effectively. A few buckets of such water will speedily arrest the progress of a fire before it has much extended itself. Such a plan is easily applied, by adding the saline matter to the buckets of water, which are either used by hand, or to feed the engine for the first few minutes of its working. When, however, a fire has made much progress, the action of such substances becomes scarcely perceptible.

Chimneys on fire are readily extinguished in several ways, without having recourse to throwing water down them from the top, by which much damage is frequently done to the furniture in the rooms. One of the simplest methods is, to cautiously scatter a handful of flowers of sulphur over the dullest part of the burning coals; the sulphurous vapours, being incapable of supporting combustion, rapidly extinguish the flames. Another method is, to shut the doors and windows, and to stop up the bottom of the chimney with a piece of wet carpet or blanket, throwing a little water or flowers of sulphur, or even common salt, on the fire immediately before doing so. By this means the draught is stopped, and the burning soot extinguished for want of air. In many of the first-class houses recently erected, ‘fire-place shutters’ are provided, which, when partly drawn down, act as powerful bellows or ‘blowers’ and which, when wholly drawn down, so as to touch the hearth-stone, entirely close up the fireplace, and instantly extinguish the combustion of the fuel in the grate, or that of the soot in the chimney. This simple arrangement, the advantages of which were pointed out in an early edition of this work, renders fires in chimneys of little moment, as it is only necessary to draw down the shutter to put them out. If a chimney is stopped at top, instead of at the bottom, the whole of the smoke must, of necessity, be driven into the apartment.

In France, M. Marateuh has successfully applied the principle of Davy’s safety lamp for the prevention of fires in chimneys. He places fire-frames of iron work near the base of the chimney, one above the other, about one foot apart; no flame passes through them, whilst the draught in the chimney is not interfered with, the result being that no fire can happen in the chimney.

Escape from apartments on fire may be best effected by creeping on the hands and knees. In this way the window or door may be reached. It is found that the atmosphere of a room so full of smoke as to produce suffocation to a person standing upright, may generally be safely breathed on nearly a level with the floor. A damp cloth, or handkerchief, tied over the mouth and nostrils, or, still better, over the whole face and head, will enable a person to effect a passage through the densest smoke, and, in many cases, to escape from buildings on fire, when otherwise it would be impracticable. Should descent by the staircase be found impossible, then the window should be immediately sought, and a ladder or fire-escape waited for. In the absence of either, if the danger is imminent, a rope should be made by tying the sheets and blankets of the bed together, one end of which should be firmly secured to a chair or table, or preferably to one of the bed-posts, and with this apparatus descent should be cautiously attempted. Jumping out of the window should be avoided, as persons who have not been brought up as clowns, or harlequins, run just as much danger in performing such an exploit as they do by remaining in the burning building. When it is impossible to escape from a burning building by the stairs or windows, retreat may be sometimes secured by a trap door opening on to the roof, or by a skylight, when, unless it be an isolated house, the roof of one of the adjoining buildings may probably be gained with safety.

Fire-escapes of various kinds have been employed of late years in the metropolis, and have proved of the greatest value in rescuing persons from burning buildings.

It is said that there is no instance on record of a person being burnt to death in a dwelling-house in Edinburgh, where the houses are usually high; yet in London, where fire-engines and fire-escapes are provided in greater numbers, deaths are very frequent from this cause. The reason of this difference is, that in the former city the stairs are all made of stone, by which means a road of escape is secured.

The clothes of females and children, when on fire, may be most readily extinguished by rolling the sufferer in the carpet, hearth-rug, table-cover, a great-coat, cloak, or any other woollen article at hand. If this be expertly done, the flames may be rapidly put out, unless the skirts of the dress be distended by hoops or crinoline, when there is great difficulty in staying the progress of the flames. Should assistance not be at hand, the person whose clothes are on fire should throw herself on the ground, and roll the carpet round her, as before described; or if such a thing is not in the room, she should endeavour to extinguish the flames with her hands, and by rapidly rolling over and over on the floor. In this way the fire will be stifled, or at least the combustion will proceed so slowly that less personal injury will be experienced before assistance arrives. The advantage of assuming the horizontal position is manifest from the fact that nine times out of ten it is the lower parts of the dresses of females that first catch fire.[308]

The extinction of fires on board ships by means of carbonic-acid gas was some years since suggested to the Admiralty by Mr J. R. Hancorn. He proposes that a simple and economical apparatus should be attached to every decked vessel capable of supplying this gas, which is a well-known non-supporter of combustion, and will extinguish fire at the very instant of coming in contact with the burning matter. Chalk with sulphuric acid diluted with water (vinegar with any other acid will do) yields 44% of the gas; hence, a ton of chalk, and a fourth part of that quantity of sulphuric acid, will be found sufficient to extinguish any fire on board a ship. Mr Hancorn also proposed this as a method of destroying vermin in ships, such as rats and cockroaches, for which purpose it is more easily applied and more effectual than that usually adopted. This plan was rejected by the Admiralty, from a fear that the destructive action of the gas might extend to the crew as well as the fire. But “it surely is possible by mechanical means to expel the gas before again entering the ship’s hold. At any rate, the grand point would be obtained of extinguishing the fire, though the crew might have only the deck to stand on.”

Precautions to be taken against a Fire amongst Farming Stock.—The following are the suggestions of Mr Beaumont, the secretary of the County Fire Office:—

“Forbid your men to use lucifer matches, to smoke or light pipes or cigars, destroy wasp nests, or fire off guns in or near the rickyard, or to throw hot cinders into or against any wooden out-building on the farm, on pain of instant dismissal.

“Place your ricks in a single line, and as far distant from each other as you conveniently can. Place hayricks and cornstacks alternately; the hayrick will check the progress of the fire. Keep the rickyard, and especially the spaces between the stacks and ricks, clear of all loose straw, and in all respects in a neat and clean state. The loose straw is more frequently the means of firing than the stack itself. Have a pond close to the rickyard, although there may be a bad supply of water. When a steam thrashing machine is to be used, place it on the lee-side of the stack or barn, so that the wind may blow the sparks away from the stacks. Let the engine be placed as far from the machine as the length of the strap will allow. Have the loose straw continually cleared away from the engine; see that two or three pails of water are kept close to the ashpan, and that the pan itself is kept constantly full of water.”

It is often difficult to get horses out of buildings on fire, but it is said that they will readily come out if, after being blindfolded, the saddle and bridle, or the harness, &c., to which they are accustomed, are thrown over them as usual.

We learn from the last report issued by Captain Shaw that the actual number of fires in the year 1877 in London was 1533. Of these fires 1374, or 90 per cent., were slight, no persons being endangered, and no considerable destruction of property taking place. The number of really serious conflagrations was 150; in 88 of these life was endangered, and in 24 cases there was loss of life. The actual number of persons whose lives were in danger was 165; but of these 136 were saved, and the lives eventually lost amounted only to 29. The smallness of the loss is due in great degree to the courage of the members of the Brigade, seven of whom have been commended for special efforts for saving life during the year. Even of the twenty-nine persons who perished fourteen were taken alive out of the burning buildings, and died in hospital of their wounds. It is very satisfactory in view of the vast height of buildings used in business, and the flimsy character of so many London houses, that the risk of death from fire should be so small. It is one of the very slightest risks to which we are exposed in modern London. The fire-escapes must of course be credited with much of this security. There are now 108 stations of these useful machines; and instances of their utility in rescuing the inmates of burning houses are constantly occurring.

The various tables which Captain Shaw appends to his report give some very curious details as to the character of London fires. The hours at which they most commonly break out are by no means those which are popularly supposed to be the most dangerous. No considerable proportion occur after people have gone to bed. From seven o’clock in the evening till eleven o’clock there are more alarms of fire than in an equal portion of the twenty-four hours. Not a third of the number which occur in these evening hours take place in the small hours of the morning, which are in fact less destructive than the same period in the afternoon. There are, moreover, in the detailed list of fires some curious statistics, illustrating the comparative security of private houses over places of business. A very large part of the half million houses in London must come under the description of private dwellings, yet the alarms of fire in this class of buildings were only 316 in the year, and only in five of those were there serious conflagrations. In the lists of business premises nearly every trade in the metropolis is mentioned; and next to houses let out in lodgings, public-houses seem to suffer most. The causes of fires tell the old story of carelessness. They were instances of the almost inconceivable folly of seeking for an escape of gas with a lighted candle. The throwing down of lights is responsible for a considerable number of fires. Ordinary cases of chimneys on fire are not included in Captain Shaw’s summary; but they give the brigade a good deal of work. The number of calls of this kind was 3744, of which 1256 proved to be false alarms. The number of these false alarms will probably be reduced when the stations at which men with hose are situated are more numerous.

Fire Anni′hilator (Phillips’s). This is essentially a gaseous fire engine, which at any moment can be made to discharge a stream of mixed gases and vapours having the power of checking combustion. When first introduced it was generally regarded as a most important invention, but it has not proved an effective substitute for the common water engine. For extinguishing fires on board ship and in close apartments it is undoubtedly well adapted, but as a street engine it is comparatively useless, owing to the unmanageable nature of its fire-annihilating vapours.

The composition with which the ‘Fire Annihilator’ is charged is a mixture of dried ferrocyanide of potassium, sugar, and chlorate of potassa. It is set in action by a blow on a glass vessel containing oil of vitriol, which, being fractured, permits the acid to flow over the ‘charge,’ when the anti-combustion gas is liberated, and rushes forth with great impetuosity.

Fire-damp. See Hydrogen (Light Carburetted).

Fire-engine. The common fire-engine is a compound forcing-pump, consisting of two ‘forcing-pumps’ placed on opposite sides of an ‘air-vessel,’ with which both communicate. The ‘fulcrum’ of the ‘lever’ by which both pumps are worked is placed midway between them; consequently they act alternately in charging the air-vessel. In order to obtain a very forcible jet it is necessary to prevent the escape of any portion of the contents of the air-vessel until the confined air is considerably compressed. The lever is connected with handrails on each side of the engine, and these are alternately raised and depressed by the workers. Engines worked by steam power are now common in London and most of our large towns.

Fire-Extinguishing Powder (Feuerloschpulver), Bucher Leipzig. Nitre, 59 parts; sulphur, 36 parts; coal, 4 parts; iron oxide, 1 part. (Wittstein.)

Fire, how to light a. In a close stove the first thing is to empty the fireplace. Take out the larger cinders and half-burnt coal with your fingers, and lay them on one side for lighting the fire; then rake out all the ashes (this can be done with the lids on, then it will not make so much dust). Next take off all the lids, and sweep all the soot carefully out; once or twice a week the flue pipe must be taken off and cleared out, also the flues under the oven. The soot should be carried away at once, as it blows about. Then blacklead the stove; put in a few cinders, lay on them a piece of paper and a few sticks crossing each other; on these lay very lightly some pieces of half-burnt coal and a few cinders, leaving space for the draught.

Do not fill the grate full; put the lids on, draw out the damper, light the fire, and shut the front door. An open fire is lighted in much the same way. There are no flues to clean out; but the chimney, as high as one can reach and behind the register door, should be cleared from soot daily.[309]

Fire-proofing. See Incombustibility, &c.

Fireworks. See Pyrotechny, and below.

FIRES. (In pyrotechny.) Coloured fires may be termed, not inaptly, the chefs-d’œuvre of the pyrotechnist’s art, since on their excellence the attractions of most other varieties of fireworks depend. The following forms, under judicious management, yield fires of remarkable beauty.

Blue Fire. Prep. 1. From metallic antimony, 1 part; sulphur, 2 parts; nitre, 5 parts.

2. From realgar, 2 parts; charcoal, 3 parts; chlorate of potassa, 5 parts; sulphur, 13 parts; nitrate of baryta, 77 parts.

3. (Mr A. Bird.) Charcoal and orpiment, of each 1 part; black sulphuret of antimony, 16 parts; nitre, 48 parts; sulphur, 64 parts.

4. (Fownes.) Tersulphuret of antimony, a part; sulphur, 2 parts; dry nitre, 6 parts. This is the composition used for the Bengal or blue signal light employed at sea.

5. (Prof. Marchand.) Sulphur, sulphate of potassa, and ammonio-sulphate of copper, of each 15 parts; nitre, 27 parts; chlorate of potassa, 28 parts. For theatrical illuminations. This may be rendered either lighter or darker coloured by lessening or increasing the quantities of the sulphate of potassa and ammonio-sulphate of copper.

6. (Light blue—Marchand.) Sulphur, 16 parts; calcined alum, 23 parts; chlorate of potassa, 61 parts.

7. (Dark blue—Marchand.) Calcined alum and carbonate of copper, of each 12 parts; sulphur, 16 parts; chlorate of potassa, 60 parts.

8. (Marsh.) Sulphate of copper, 7 parts; sulphur, 24 parts; chlorate of potassa, 69 parts.

9. (Ruggieri.) Nitre, 2 parts; sulphur and zinc, of each 3 parts; gunpowder, 4 parts.

10. From sulphur, 1 part; dried verdigris, 2 parts; chlorate of potassa, 9 parts.

Fire, Crimson. Prep. 1. (Marsh.) Chlorate of potassa, 4¹⁄₄ parts; charcoal (alder or willow), 5³⁄₄ parts; sulphur, 22¹⁄₂ parts; nitrate of strontia, 67¹⁄₂ parts. For pots.

2. (Marsh.) Charcoal, 4¹⁄₄ parts; sulphuret of antimony, 5¹⁄₂ parts; chlorate of potassa, 17¹⁄₄ parts; sulphur, 18 parts; nitrate of strontia, 55 parts. For boxes and stars.

3. (Marchand.) Sulphur, 16 parts; chalk (dry), 23 parts; chlorate of potassa, 61 parts. Turns on the purple. See Red Fire (below).

Fire, Green. Prep. 1. Nitrate of baryta, 77 parts; chlorate of potassa, 8 parts; fine charcoal, 3 parts; sulphur, 13 parts.

2. From metallic arsenic, 2 parts; charcoal, 3 parts; chlorate of potassa, 5 parts; sulphur, 13 parts; nitrate of baryta, 77 parts. Very beautiful, particularly when burnt before a reflector.

3. (Mr A. Bird.) Charcoal and black sulphuret of antimony, of each 2 parts; chlorate of potassa, 5 parts; sulphur, 6 parts; nitrate of baryta, 80 parts.

4. (Fownes.) Lampblack, 1 part; chlorate of potassa, 4 parts; sulphur, 6 parts; dry nitrate of baryta, 18 parts.

5. (Marchand.) Boracic acid, 10 parts; sulphur, 17 parts; chlorate of potassa, 73 parts. Very beautiful.

6. (Marchand.) Chlorate of potassa, 18 parts; sulphur, 22 parts; nitrate of baryta, 60 parts. For theatrical illuminations.

7. (Light green—Marchand.) Sulphur, 16 parts; carbonate of baryta, 24 parts; chlorate of potassa, 60 parts. Extremely delicate.

8. (Marsh.) Charcoal and sulphuret of arsenic, of each 1³⁄₄ parts; sulphur, 10¹⁄₂ parts; chlorate of potassa, 23¹⁄₄ parts; nitrate of baryta, 62¹⁄₂ parts. For pots or stars.

Fire, Lilac. Prep. 1. (Marsh.) Black oxide of copper, 6 parts; dry chalk, 20 parts; sulphur, 25 parts; chlorate of potassa, 49 parts. For pans.

2. (Marsh.) From black oxide of copper, 3 parts; dried chalk, 22 parts; sulphur, 25 parts; chlorate of potassa, 50 parts. For stars.

Fire, Orange. See Red Fire, No. 8 (below).

Fire, Pink. Prep. (Marchand.) Charcoal, 1 part; chalk and sulphur, of each 20 parts; chlorate of potassa, 27 parts; nitre, 32 parts. For theatrical illuminations. See Red Fire, No. 10 (below).

Fire, Purple. Prep. 1. From lampblack, realgar, and nitre, of each 1 part; sulphur, 2 parts; chlorate of potassa, 5 parts; fused nitrate of strontia, 16 parts.

2. (Marsh.) Sulphuret of antimony, 2³⁄₄ parts; black oxide of copper, 10 parts; sulphur and nitrate of potassa, of each 22³⁄₄ parts; chlorate of potassa, 42 parts. For pans.

3. (Marsh.) Sulphate of copper, 9³⁄₄ parts; sulphur, 13 parts; chlorate of potassa, 77¹⁄₄ parts. For stars.

4. From sulphur, 12 parts; black oxide of copper, 12 parts; chlorate of potassa, 30 parts. See Crimson Fire, No. 3 (above), and Red Fire, No. 9 (below).

Fire, Red. Prep. 1. From sulphur, sulphuret of antimony, and nitre, of each 1 part; dried nitrate of strontia, 5 parts.

2. (Mr A. Bird.) Charcoal, 1 part; black sulphuret of antimony, 4 parts; chlorate of potassa, 5 parts; sulphur, 13 parts; dried nitrate of strontia, 40 parts.

3. (Fownes.) Lampblack, 2 parts; chlorate of potassa, 8 parts; sulphur, 9 parts; dried nitrate of strontia, 32 parts.

4. (Marchand.) Sulphur, 16 parts; carbonate of strontia, 23 parts; chlorate of potassa, 61 parts.

5. (Marchand.) Chlorate of potassa, 20 parts; sulphur, 24 parts; nitrate of strontia, 56 parts. For theatrical illuminations.

6. (Marsh.) Coaldust, 2 parts; gunpowder, 6 parts; sulphur, 20 parts; dried nitrate of strontia, 72 parts.

7. (Ruggieri.) Sulphuret of antimony, 4 parts; chlorate of potassa, 5 parts; sulphur, 13 parts; fused nitrate of strontia, 40 parts. A little charcoal or lampblack makes it burn quicker.

8. (Orange red—Marchand.) Sulphur, 14 parts; chalk, 34 parts; chlorate of potassa, 52 parts.

9. (Purple red—Marchand.) Sulphur, 16 parts; chalk, 23 parts; chloride of potassa, 61 parts.

10. (Rose-red—Marchand.) Sulphur, 16 parts; dried chloride of calcium, 23 parts; chlorate of potassa, 61 parts. See Pink Fire.

11. From charcoal, 2 parts; chlorate of potassa, 6 parts; sulphur, 13 parts; dried nitrate of strontia, 40 parts.

Fire, Violet. Prep. 1. From charcoal, 8 parts; sulphur, 10 parts; metallic copper, 15 parts; chlorate of potassa, 30 parts.

2. (Dark violet—Marchand.) Alum and carbonate of potassa, of each 12 parts; sulphur, 16 parts; chlorate of potassa, 60 parts.

3. (Pale violet—Marchand.) Sulphur, 14 parts; alum and carbonate of potassa, 16 parts; chlorate of potassa, 54 parts.

Fire, White. Prep. 1. From nitre, 60 parts; sulphur, 20 parts; black antimony, 10 parts; meal powder, 6 parts; powdered camphor, 4 parts. For either pans or stars.

2. (Mr A. Bird.) White arsenic, 1 part; charcoal, 2 parts; black antimony, 16 parts; nitre, 48 parts; sulphur, 64 parts.

3. (Marchand.) Charcoal, 2 parts; sulphur, 22 parts; nitre, 76 parts. For theatrical illuminations.

4. (Marchand.) Gunpowder, 15 parts; sulphur, 21 parts; nitre, 64 parts. As the last.

5. (Marsh.) Gunpowder, 12¹⁄₂ parts; zinc filings, 18 parts; sulphur, 23 parts; nitre, 46¹⁄₂ parts. For pans.

6. (Marsh.) Zinc dust or filings, 15 parts; sulphur, 28 parts; nitre, 57 parts. For stars.

7. (Ruggieri.) Sulphur, 13¹⁄₄ parts; sulphuret of antimony, 17¹⁄₄ parts; nitre, 48 parts.

8. (Ruggieri.) From realgar, 2 parts; sulphur, 7 parts; nitre, 24 parts.

9. (Ruggieri.) Charcoal, 1 part; sulphur, 24 parts; nitre, 75 parts.

10. (Ruggieri.) Iron or zinc borings, 25 parts; gunpowder, 100 parts.

Fire, Yellow. Prep. 1. From sulphur, 16 parts; dried carbonate of soda, 23 parts; chlorate of potassa, 61 parts.

2. (Marchand.) Gunpowder, 14 parts; sulphur, 16 parts; dried soda, 20 parts; nitre, 50 parts.

3. (Marchand.) Charcoal, 1¹⁄₂ parts; sulphur, 17¹⁄₂ parts; dried soda, 20 parts; nitre, 61 parts.

Green-coloured Fires.[310]

No.Potassium Chlorate, per cent.Barium Nitrate, per cent.Sulphur, per cent.

1364024

2294823

3245323

4215722

5186022

6166222

7146422

8136621

9126721

10116821

11106921

129·569·521

1397021

148·570·521

1587121

Red-coloured Fires.

No.Potassium Chlorate, per cent.Strontium Nitrate, per cent.Sulphur, per cent.Carbon Powder, per cent.

14039183

23246192

32751202

42355202

5205820·51·5

61860211

71661·621·21·2

81563211

91364221

101265221

111166221

121067221

131067·25220·75

149·2568220·75

15968·35220·65

Violet-coloured Fires.

No.Potassium Chlorate, per cent.Calcium Carbonate, per cent.Malachite powdered, per cent.Sulphur, per cent.

15229415

25228515

35226715

45224915

552231015

652211315

751201415

851181615

951161815

1051151915

1151132115

1251112315

1351102415

145182615

155162815

4. (Marsh.) Charcoal, 6 parts; sulphur, 19¹⁄₂ parts. For pans. Very beautiful.

In preparing coloured fires for fireworks according to the usual formulæ given in manuals of pyrotechny, it is often important to know the speed at which they burn; as in some cases, such as decorations and lances, they should burn slowly; whereas in others, such as wheels, stars for rockets, and Roman candles, they ought to burn quicker. The foregoing tables are so arranged that every formula with a higher number yields a slower burning mixture than one with a lower number. Thus No. 5 burns quicker than No. 6, and slower than No. 4.

Obs. The ingredients in the above compounds are to be separately reduced to powder and sifted through lawn, after which they should be kept in well-corked wide-mouthed bottles until the time of mixing them for use. The chlorate of potassa, more especially, must be separately treated and cautiously handled, in order to prevent the possibility of explosion from friction whilst it is in contact with combustible matter. The requisite quantity of each of the ingredients being weighed out and placed on a clean sheet of white paper, the whole is to be thoroughly but carefully mixed together with a light hand, by means of a bone or wooden knife. The compound is next lightly packed into small cups or pans for illuminations, or into small pill-boxes for stars and trains, a little priming and quick-match being lastly attached to each. To ensure success the several ingredients must be dry and commercially pure; and though reduced to the state of a uniform powder, care must be taken that they are not absolutely ‘dusty,’ or too finely pulverised. The nitrate of strontia, alum, saltpetre, carbonate of soda, &c., before being weighed, require to be gently heated in an iron pot or pan until they fall to powder, and lose their hygrometric moisture, or water of crystallisation. To ensure the perfect admixture of the ingredients, the whole, after they have been stirred together on paper, as before directed, may be passed through a hair or perforated zinc or brass sieve. Further, as coloured fires rapidly deteriorate by keeping, and even sometimes inflame spontaneously, to prevent disappointment and accidents they should not be prepared long before they will be required for use, and should be stored in some situation in which their spontaneous combustion would be productive of no disastrous consequences.

Of the above formulæ, those bearing the name of the late Mr Marsh, of Woolwich, more especially deserve the attention of the pyrotechnist. To guard against the danger sometimes arising from the spontaneous combustion of coloured fires containing sulphur and chlorate of potash, Mr Saunders recommends intimately mixing 120 grains of bicarbonate of potash with each pound of sulphur before using it in the manufacture of any composition into which chlorates enter. See Flame, Pyrotechny, &c.

FISH. Syn. Pisces, L. Fishes form the fourth class of vertebrate animals (VERTEBRATA) in the Cuvierian arrangement of the animal kingdom, and in the variety of their genera and species are second only to the INSECTA, whilst in prolificness and number they probably exceed all other animated beings that reach a size equal to that of even the smallest member of their prodigious race. Besides their value to man as food, they furnish him with oil, isinglass, and various other articles of utility and luxury, and provide, either directly or indirectly, an inexhaustible supply of manure for the fertilisation of his fields. As food fish are undoubtedly wholesome and nutritious, although less so than the flesh of animals or the grains of the cereals. Of all the various substances used as aliments by man, fish are, however, the most liable to run into a state of putrefaction, and should therefore be only eaten when perfectly fresh or, if not recently taken, then only when their perfect preservation has been ensured by any of the ordinary methods employed for the purpose. Those that are the whitest and most flaky when cooked, as cod, flounders, haddock, hake, soles, turbot, whiting, &c., are the most easily digested; and those abounding in oily matter, as eels, herrings, mackerel, salmon, &c., are most nutritious, though the most likely to offend the stomach. Salt-water fish have been said to be more wholesome than river fish, but without sufficient reason. Salted fish are hard of digestion, unless when carefully cooked and well masticated. Skin diseases are said to be more common among those who live continually on fish than among those who abstain from it; but this probably arises from their use being unaccompanied by a proper quantity of fresh vegetables or fruit, both of which are scarcer on the sea-coast than further inland. As one of the components of a mixed diet, the value of fish is indisputable. Acid sauces and pickles are the proper additions to fish, from their power of retarding the progress of putrefaction, and of correcting the relaxing tendency of large quantities of oil and butter.

Artificial Propagation. The fecundity of fish is positively marvellous. According to the recent observations of Mr Frank T. Buckland, salmon yield about 1000 ova or eggs to every lb. of their weight; a trout weighing 1 lb. produced upwards of 1000; a mackerel (1 lb.), 86,120; a herring (¹⁄₂ lb.), 19,840; a sole (1 lb.), 134,466; a turbot (8 lbs.), 385,200; and a cod (20 lbs.), 4,872,000. The ova here spoken of form what is commonly called the ‘hard roe’ of the female fish; the ‘soft roe’ is ‘the milt’ of the male fish. To protect the spawn, and the fry, when hatched, is the object of the art of fish culture, which has made great progress during late years. When the spawn is not artificially protected, the greater portion is always wasted, being swept away by the stream, and devoured by fish, birds, and insects. The natural enemies of the newly hatched fish are, again, so numerous, that it is really surprising that any should escape destruction. According to given data and accurate calculations of the returns of fisheries made by Messrs Ashworth and Buist, only one salmon egg out of every thousand deposited ever becomes a fish fit for human food. Other fish, both fresh and salt water, suffer in proportion. The hatching of fish by artificial means has been carried out on a large scale in France, and has been commenced in Scotland and Ireland, and on a small scale in England. The spawning fish, having been caught by a net, is made to deposit her eggs by gently pressing on the abdomen; these are impregnated by ‘milt’ expressed from the male fish in a similar manner, and mixed with them in a shallow tub or other vessel prepared for the purpose. The impregnated eggs are placed in long shallow boxes, bottomed with gravel and pebbles, and so arranged that a small stream of water from a reservoir may flow from one to another. The time of hatching depends entirely upon the temperature of the water; from 40° to 45° Fahr. seems to be the healthiest temperature. After about 50 days (in the case of salmon), when all goes well, the young fish makes its appearance as a misshapen creature about an inch long, with a bag containing the yolk of the egg attached to its abdomen. At 3 days old the fry is about 2 gr. in weight; at 16 months it has increased to 2 oz. To preserve the young fish in health, the boxes must be covered with shades of slate or zinc. The French fish-breeders generally feed the young fry with boiled frogs powdered fine. The Scotch give boiled liver. Mr Buckland prescribes a diet of roe of sole, or plaice, or whiting. As to the age at which it is advisable to turn the young fish out of the nursery, there is much difference of opinion. Some breeders recommend turning them out as soon as the ‘umbilical bag’ is absorbed; others think they should be taken care of till they are older and stronger, and better able to defend themselves or escape from attack. For full details respecting the artificial propagation of fish, the reader is referred to Mr Buckland’s recent work, entitled ‘Fish-Hatching.’

Nutritive Value of Fish.—The white varieties of fish, such as whiting, cod, haddock, sole, plaice, flounder, and turbot, according to Letheby, contain only about twenty-two per cent. of solid matter, of which eighteen is nitrogenous. To increase their nutritive value, therefore, these fish should be eaten with butter.

According to the same authority mackerel, eels, and salmon are richer in fat than the above kinds; mackerel containing about seven per cent., and salmon about six, whilst the oily matter of eels amount to nearly fourteen per cent. The same is the case with the sprat, the herring, and the pilchard, as well as with most of our fresh-water fish.

As regards shell-fish, all the different varieties of them afford about the same amount of nutrition. They contain about thirteen per cent. of solid matter, which in composition is similar to that of white fish. Shell-fish vary in digestibility; mussels, limpets, and whelks being rather difficult of digestion, whilst scallops, cockles, periwinkles, lobsters, and crabs are a trifle more easy of digestion, and oysters still more so. All shell-fish are unsuited for delicate stomachs; although they are largely eaten by the poorer dwellers on the coast.

On the Continent, vineyard snails, and in China, slugs, are eaten, and are said to possess a delicate flavour and nutritive properties.[311]

Choice, &c. “The flesh of any fish is always in the highest perfection, or in season, as it is called, during the period of the ripening of the milt and roe. After the fish has deposited the spawn, the flesh becomes soft, and loses a great deal of its peculiar flavour. This is owing to the disappearance of the oil or fat from the flesh, it having been expended in the function of reproduction.” (Fleming’s ‘Phil. Zoology.’) Fish should be dressed as soon after being caught as possible, as much of their peculiar delicacy and flavour is lost by keeping, even for a few hours. Turbot and salmon are said by the fishmongers to be improved in flavour when 2 or 3 days old, but this is surely a mistake, as the former, when dressed immediately after being caught, possesses a fine creamy taste, which it afterwards loses; whilst the latter, by the loss of a single tide, loses a portion of the fine white curd which is previously found between the flakes, and by longer keeping, this curd, with the larger flakes, disappear altogether. In the eyes of some epicures the richness, is however, increased by this change. Mackerel, and some other fish suffer so much from keeping only a few hours, that they become quite unwholesome. Herrings offer a remarkable example of the advantage of dressing fish as fresh as possible. When cooked soon after being caught, they possess considerable delicacy and flavour, but after being kept for only a few hours, the oil separates from the flesh, and they become soft, greasy, and strong-flavoured.

In the choice of every kind of fish, stiffness, brightness of the eyes, and redness of the gills, may be regarded as invariable signs of freshness. A peculiar elasticity will also be perceived in fish recently caught, little or no permanent impression being made by the ordinary pressure of the fingers, from the flesh immediately rising when the pressure is withdrawn. Fresh fish also lie in a partly curled position, and never quite straight, as in the case when they have been kept for some time. Thickness and fleshiness are deemed marks of the good condition of all fish.

Cleaning, dressing, &c. On the proper cleaning of fish preparatory to dressing it, depends much of its delicacy and flavour. Ordinary cooks seldom do this well, from not slitting the fish sufficiently open to permit the inside to be thoroughly washed, and seldom using sufficient water. The superior flavour of fish cleaned by the fishmongers arises from their performing the operation more completely, and from the large quantity of water they employ about them. The flavour of all fish is improved by adding a little salt or vinegar to the last water in which they are washed. The sound, milt, and roe, should be carefully cleaned and preserved.

Fish is preferably ‘dressed’ by simple boiling, broiling, or frying; in fact, the finer kinds of fish are often injured by the excessive interference of the cook. When boiled, “all large fish, with the skin whole, must be placed on the fire in cold water; if crimped, or cut into slices or pieces, in boiling water; if whole, it must not be covered with more than two or three inches of water, or the skin will crack, and not only spoil the appearance of the fish, but will diminish the gelatine and gluten it contains, and instead of eating firm and full of flavour, it will be soft and woolly, especially if over-boiled.” (Soyer.) As soon as a scum rises from boiling, it should be removed by the skimmer. The addition of a little salt or vinegar to the water improves the flavour of most fish, and renders the flesh firmer. The proportions should be “two teaspoonfuls of salt to every quart of water.” “If the fish be whole, as soon as it begins to boil remove the cover on one side, and let it simmer gently until done. (Soyer.) A fish is known to be sufficiently dressed by the flesh in the thicker parts separating easily from the bone. “If a large fish I generally try it by gently pushing a wooden skewer through the thickest part; if it goes in easily it is done.” (Soyer.) When this is the case it should be removed from the kettle, as by soaking in the water fish loses its firmness, and becomes soddened. Sole, skate, and mackerel, are usually put into boiling water, whether whole or sliced. Fish for broiling should be well washed in strong vinegar, wiped dry with a towel, and floured before placing them on the gridiron; and the bars of the latter should be hot, and well buttered. (Rundell.) Fish for frying should be prepared as for broiling, and the butter, oil, or lard should be allowed to boil for a minute or two before putting them into the frying-pan. The latter should be perfectly smooth and bright, and the butter or oil in abundance, to prevent the fish sticking to it and burning. As the fish are cooked solely by the heat of the melted fat, to fry them in the highest perfection there should be enough of it to cover them. Butter or oil is the best for the purpose. To avoid loss, the contents of the frying-pan, after the fish is removed, should be poured into a clean jelly-jar or basin, and reserved for another occasion. The fish being removed from the pan, the superfluous fat should be drained from them preparatory to ‘serving’ them. When fish is divided into fillets or cutlets before being cooked, it is usual to take out the bones, and to dress it with force-meat, &c.

In serving fish of the finer kinds, no other additions are required than melted butter and the ordinary fish sauces and pickles. The dishes are commonly garnished with raw parsley, for the sake of appearance, but boiled parsley, chopped small, should accompany it. All kinds of fish should be served on a napkin.

Caution. It sometimes happens that a fishbone accidentally swallowed remains in the œsophagus, and occasions serious inconvenience; in fact, instances have been known where so much irritation has arisen that death has followed. In such cases it is advisable, as soon as possible, to take of tartar emetic, 4 gr., dissolved in warm water, ¹⁄₂ pint; and immediately afterwards the whites of six eggs. The coagulated mass will not remain in the stomach more than two or three minutes, and the remedy has been known to “remove no less than 24 pins at once.”

FISH GLUE. See Glue and Isinglass.

FISH POISONING. See Accidents.

FISH SKIN. Syn. Shark skin. The skin of the spotted dog-fish or rough hound (chien de mer, Fr.), stretched and dried. Used for polishing wood and ivory. Several other varieties of fish skin are employed in the arts. The dressed skin of the ‘rousette’ (peau de rousette, F.), is transparent, and very beautiful. Cemented on green paper, and rubbed down and polished, it is used as veneer for fancy boxes. The skins of several varieties of Squalus are also used for both the above purposes. See Shagreen.

FIVE HERBS. See Species.

FIX′ATURE Syn. Bandoline, Clysphitique, Eau collante, Fixateur, Fr. This consists of any of the simple vegetable mucilages, combined with a little spirit, to preserve it, and with a little perfume, to render it more agreeable.

Prep. 1. From carrageen, Irish, or pearl moss, soaked in cold water for an hour or two, and after being drained, and pressed dry in a clean napkin, dissolved by boiling in soft water, q. s. The decoction is strained through cambric, and when nearly cold is mixed with about ¹⁄₃rd or ¹⁄₄th of its volume of eau de Cologne or other scented spirit, with the further addition of a few drops (5 or 6) of oil of cloves. Sometimes a little brandy is added to the mucilage, and when it is intended for present use, as is common with home manufactures, the spirit is frequently omitted altogether. ¹⁄₄ oz. of the prepared moss is fully enough for ³⁄₄ pint of strained decoction, if rightly managed.

2. From quince seed boiled in water, as the last. ¹⁄₄ oz. yields nearly ³⁄₄ pint of strained decoction.

3. Pale gum arabic (picked), 1¹⁄₂ oz.; rose water, 2 fl. oz.; pure water, 3 fl. oz.; dissolve.

4. Gum arabic, 3¹⁄₄ oz.; water, ¹⁄₂ pint; dissolve, and drop in eau de Cologne, gradually, until the cloudiness at first occasioned ceases to be removed by agitation; the next day decant the clear portion. All of the above are very superior, and keep well.

5. (Redwood.) Gum tragacanth, 1¹⁄₂ dr.; water, 7 oz.; proof spirit, 3 oz.; otto of roses, 10 drops; macerate 24 hours, and strain.

6. Malt, 7 oz.; hot water (that will barely permit the finger to be held in it without pain), ¹⁄₂ pint; infuse in a covered jug or basin, gently press out the liquid, and as soon as cold add of proof spirit (or brandy or Cologne water), 2¹⁄₂ fl. oz. and strain.

Obs. Bandoline is used by ladies and by hairdressers for stiffening the hair, and to make it curl firmly and remain in place. It is applied either by moistening the fingers and passing the hair through them, or by means of a small sponge. See Pommade.

FIXED AIR. See Carbonic Acid.

FIXED OILS. See Fat and Oils.

FLAKE WHITE. See White Pigments.

FLAME. Gas or vapour in an incandescent state. The light emitted from pure flame is exceedingly feeble; illuminating power being almost entirely dependent upon the presence of solid matter. See Illumination, and below.

Flame Colours. The vapours of metallic compounds communicate colours to flames. The characteristic colours of some metals are very beautiful, and their exhibition forms a favorite experiment of chemical lecturers. The coloured flames are generally produced by the combustion of alcohol or rectified spirit upon certain salts in fine powder. In this way a GREEN colour is communicated by boracic acid or chloride of copper; a RED one by the nitrates of iron, lime, or strontia; a VIOLET, by potassa and its salts; and a YELLOW, by nitrate of soda. Messrs Church and Crookes have recently described a mode of exhibiting the characteristic flames of the metals which is admirably adapted for the lecture-table.[312] ‘Gun-paper,’ made in the same way as ‘gun-cotton,’ is to be soaked in solutions of the chlorates of the different metals, dried with care, and kept dry. A good ‘gun-paper’ for the purpose is prepared by soaking strips of Swedish filtering-paper for ten minutes in a mixture of 4 parts oil of vitriol with 5 parts strong nitric acid, both by measure. The strips, when taken out of the acid, should be washed first with cold, and then with hot rain or distilled water, till the washings are no longer sour to the taste. The solutions of the metallic salts need not be very strong; but if they are warm, the strips of ‘gun-paper’ will be more easily and completely saturated with them. Since some of the chlorates attract moisture from the air, it is better to dry the papers prepared with them before the fire previous to lighting them. They are shown to best advantage when a strip is loosely crumpled up into a pellet, lighted quickly at one corner, and thrown up into the air against a dark back ground. They leave after burning, if properly prepared, no ash whatever. Paper prepared with the salt of potassa gives a flash of VIOLET flame, that prepared with the soda salt the characteristic YELLOW flame, and that with chlorate of baryta a very beautiful GREEN light. The chlorates of strontium, lithium, and calcium, when thus ignited, give intense colours. The VIOLET-BLUE flame of copper is well seen, even with the chloride of that metal, while paper soaked in nitrate of potassa shows the potassium flame better than if the chlorate be used. ‘Gun-paper’ prepared with a very weak solution of chloride or chlorate of thallium shows the characteristic SPRIG-GREEN flame of that metal with great distinctness. Chlorate of barium, being an article of commerce, may be employed for the preparation of the other chlorates, it being merely necessary to add to this salt in solution an exactly equivalent quantity of the sulphate or carbonate of the metal whose chlorate is desired. For instance, in order to make ‘chlorate of copper,’ 15·1 gr. of chlorate of barium being dissolved in hot distilled water, a boiling solution containing 12·5 gr. of pure crystallised sulphate of copper is to be added to it. Insoluble white ‘sulphate of baryta’ falls, while the solution, filtered and evaporated, yields the new chlorate in crystals. See Fires, Pyrotechny, &c.

FLAN′NEL. It has been shown by the experiments of Count Rumford that the conducting power of the different materials employed for clothing varies considerably. A thermometer surrounded with cotton wool, and heated by immersion in boiling water, took 1046 seconds to lose 135° Fahr., when plunged into a bath of melting ice; but, under the same circumstances, when sheep’s wool was employed, 1118 seconds elapsed before a like sinking of the thermometer took place (‘Phil. Trans.,’ 1792); thus showing the greater conducting power of the former, and consequently the superiority of the latter substance for the manufacture of warm clothing. But the chief advantage of wool, as an article of underclothing, depends less upon its actual power of conducting heat than its peculiar texture. Flannel acts as a gentle stimulus on the skin, and exercises the most beneficial action, by keeping the pores clean, and in a state most favorable to perspiration. This action is a species of friction similar in character, although inferior in degree, to that of the common flesh-brush or horse-hair glove, so long employed as a skin stimulant. Flannel has also the advantage of absorbing the perspiration as soon as emitted, and allowing its watery portion to pass off into the atmosphere almost as soon as formed, but this is not the case with cotton and linen fabrics. The different effects of flannel and linen are particularly susceptible during brisk exercise. When the body is covered with the former, though perspiration be necessarily increased, the perspired matter freely passes off through the flannel, and the skin remains dry and warm. If the same exercise be taken in linen shirts, perspiration, as in the former case, is indeed also increased, but the perspired matter, instead of being dispersed into the atmosphere, remains upon the linen, and not only clogs the pores of the skin, but gives a disagreeable sensation. From this property of flannel, persons who wear it next the skin seldom catch cold from changes of temperature, even though perspiring profusely; but in similar cases, when linen or calico shirts are worn, chilliness immediately comes on, followed by sniffling, sneezing, and cough, and all the other symptoms of severe catarrh.

The common objections raised against the use of flannel are founded on vulgar prejudices, ignorance, obstinacy, or bravado, and are undeserving of the notice of sensible people. In a fickle and moist climate like that of England, every person should wear a robe of flannel next the skin, or at all events a waistcoat of flannel reaching below the loins; and this should not be discarded as soon as the cold weather has passed, but its use should be continued all the year round; for in reality flannel is, if possible, even more required in summer than in winter, because persons perspire more freely in hot than in cold weather, and are consequently more susceptible of cold, while at that period of the year their clothing is less capable of protecting them from the effects of sudden changes of temperature and draughts of cold air, moisture, &c. Females, children, persons of delicate constitutions, and all others who from their habits of body or life perspire freely, or are much exposed, should wear flannel.

In washing flannels it is recommended that they should only be put into warm water, by which method their colour will be preserved, and they will be prevented from shrinking.

FLASH. Prep. From burnt-sugar colouring, 1 gall.; fluid extract of capsicum or essence of Cayenne, ³⁄₄ pint, or enough to give a strong fiery taste. Used to colour spirits, and to give them a false strength. It is made by the brewers’ druggists, and labelled ‘ISINGLASS AND BURNT SUGAR,’

FLASKS. The late lamented and ingenious Mr Fownes suggested the employment of Florence oil-flasks as cheap substitutes for retorts, receivers, digesters, and some other vessels used for chemical purposes. His plan was to cut the neck smoothly round with a hot iron, and softening it in the flame of a good argand gas-lamp, to turn over the edge so as to form a lip, or border. The neck will then bear a tight-fitting cork without splitting.

FLATULENCE. Syn. Flatulency, Wind. In pathology, a morbid collection of gas in the stomach and bowels. Its most common cause is indigestion. When the natural fluids of the stomach are secreted in a healthy state, they exercise an antiseptic and digestive action on the food, by which it is speedily reduced to a magma that is little liable to spontaneous change whilst in the body; but when the reverse is the case, fermentation soon commences, and the stomach and associated viscera become distended with gas, and all the well-known symptoms of flatulency are developed in rapid succession. The quantity of gas thus accumulated in the ‘primæ viæ’ is often enormous. An ordinary apple during fermentation yields about 600 times its bulk of gas, and many vegetables yield much more. (Dr Hales.) It is, therefore, not at all surprising that so much inconvenience should be felt when the food, instead of being digested and assimilated, runs into the state of active fermentation.

The treatment of flatulency consists mainly in the selection of proper articles of food. Oleraceous vegetables, peas, beans, under-dressed potatoes, and indigestible fruits should be especially avoided, as well as the use of large quantities of weak or warm liquids. The diet should consist principally of animal food, carefully but not over-cooked, with a sufficient quantity of good mealy potatoes (mashed, not whole), and good wheaten meal-bread, moderately seasoned with common salt and spices. The most suitable beverages are toast-and-water, and a little good brandy largely diluted with water. The healthy tone of the stomach may be re-established by the proper use of tonics, bitters, and mild aperients.

To relieve the fit of flatulency, carminatives and aromatics, as black pepper, mustard, peppermint, ginger, cinnamon, lavender, and most spices, may be had recourse to. A glass of peppermint cordial, or of brandy strongly flavoured with peppermint or ginger, is a popular and efficient remedy. A few drops (15 to 30) of ether, with a little tincture of capsicum or spirit of sal volatile, seldom fail to give relief. See Dyspepsia.

FLAVOURING SUBSTANCES. See Essence, Oil (Volatile), Spice, Wine, &c.

FLAX. See Linen, Linseed, and Oil.

FLEA. This troublesome little animal is the Pulex irritans of Linnæus, and belongs to the Suctoria, or fourth order of the Insecta. Its favorite haunts are our warm underclothing, and its most productive breeding-places are in the ‘flue’ which careless servants allow to accumulate underneath our beds. Cold, light, perfumes, and ventilation, are inimical to its propagation.

FLECHTENKAPSELN (Tetter Capsules, or Dr Berkeley’s Antiherpetic Capsules for Skin Diseases, Tetter, &c.) Capsules filled with tar. (Hager.)

FLECHTENMITTEL—Tetter Cure. (Paris). 1. A Washing Fluid.—Common water, containing 1¹⁄₂ per cent. sulphuric acid. 2. A Salve. A mixture of lard and spermaceti, with ¹⁄₂₄ of their weight of calomel. (X. Schmidt.)

FLECHTENPULVER—Tetter Powder (St Lube’s, France). Nitre, 100; antimony chloride, 10; antimony oxide, 200, 1·5 grammes for a dose. (Wittstein.)

FLECHTENSALBE—Tetter Salve (Fontaine, Paris). For all skin diseases. Olive oil and white wax, with ¹⁄₁₆ of white precipitate. (Wittstein.)

Flechtensalbe (Bruno Reichel, Apolda). A mixture of wax and lard coloured green. (Schädler.)

Flechtensalbe (F. Schwarzlose, Berlin, and S. G. Schwartz, Breslau). For salt-flux, tetters, and similar skin diseases. Peru balsam, 1; carbolic acid, 2; yellow wax, 10; lard, 30. (Schädler.)

Flechtensalbe (Surbi, Paris). For all kinds of skin diseases. A mixture of beef tallow, 30; olive oil, 10; zinc oxide, 2; steatite, 2. (Wittstein.)

FLECHTENSEIFE, Tetter Soap (Dr Berkeley). Ordinary tar soap. (Hager.)

FLECHTENWASSER. The wonderful wholesome mineral vegetable tetter-water (Dr A. von S.). Corrosive sublimate, ·25 grammes; water, 180 grammes; benzoin tincture, 6 grammes. (Weber.)

FLECKENWASSER (Bronner). Cleansing fluid (literally spot or stain water) for the removal of grease and dirt spots. Benzine only.

Fleckenwasser, Englisches (English cleansing fluid for removing acid, resin, wax, tar, and grease spots.) A mixture of 95 per cent. alcohol, 100 grammes; liq. ammon., sp. gr. ·875, 30 grammes; benzine, 4 grammes. (Artus.)

FLEISCH-EXTRACT-LIQUEUR (Eau de Vie Alimenteuse—Extract of Meat Liqueur—Aqua Vitæ Incarnativa) (A. Hensel, Berlin). A beautiful red spicy liquor, leaving, when distilled, 32 per cent. of solid matter. This residue contains in 100 parts (besides anilin-red), resin and extractive (partly from ginger and partly from cinnamon), 3¹⁄₄; sugar, 27¹⁄₂; extract of meat, 1¹⁄₄. (Hager.)

Fleisch-Extract-Syrup (Syrup of Extract of Meat) (Meyer, Berk). Blood-serum made into a syrup with sugar. (Hager.)

FLEISCHFASER-ZWIEBACK FÜR HUNDE—Fibrin Dog Biscuits (New York). Said to be made of pure meal, fibrin, dates, and other ingredients, and recommended as an excellent food for dogs. According to the prospectus its use makes all other foods unnecessary, as it gives the animals peculiar endurance, strong muscles, and sound bones. The directions for use say that it is most advantageously given in its unprepared form, as dry, heavy, hard cakes, and only in case it is refused should it be softened for a short time in cold water. According to the analysis performed in the laboratory of the Poppelsdorf Agricultural Academy the proportion of nitrogenous to non-nitrogenous ingredients is 1 to 3·70. Microscopic analysis detects the presence of dried fibrin, and also a considerable admixture of structureless hyaline cartilaginous matter. From this it follows that the nitrogen revealed by analysis does not all represent protein or fibrin, and that the proportion which arises from indigestible gelatinous matter will be of smaller value. (Dr E. Kern.)

FLESH. Syn. Caro, L. The muscular substances of animals; the softer, solid portions of the body, as distinguished from the bones and fluids. See Fibrin, Food, &c.

Flesh-brush. This simple instrument is used for exciting the cutaneous circulation. Those which have the bristles set on a leather back are esteemed the best. The flesh-glove or hair flesh-rubber is a useful modification of the common flesh-brush. Those manufactured by Messrs Savory and Moore, in imitation of the Indian kheesah or mitten, are superior to all others. In the absence of both flesh-brush and glove, a rough towel wound round the hand is no bad substitute. See Friction.

FLIEGENPAPIER, GIFTFREIES—Non-Poisonous Fly Papers (Bergmann & Co., Rochlitz). Contains abundance of arsenious acid. (Hager.)

FLIEGENPULVER—Fly Powder (Baumann, now Markel, Austria). 93 to 94 per cent. of dry sandy ferruginous clay (ordinary loam) saturated with a decoction of some bitter substance, as quassia or gentian. (Hager.)

FLIES. See Fly.

FLIP. See Egg Flip.

FLÖHEMITTEL—Flea Powder (Leipsic). Powdered soap. (Fischer.)

FLÖHEWASSER—Flea Water (Koch, veterinary surgeon, Vienna). 7 brandy, 1 benzine, 1 black soap. (Hager.)

FLORILINE—Vegetable Tooth Paste made by John Yates (Albin Müller, Brünn). It is contained in a quadrangular china pot, and is a red, dry, rather hard mass made from prepared chalk, 20 grammes; starch powder, 10 grammes; glycerin, 8 grammes; pellitory tincture, 3 grammes; peppermint oil, 10 drops; and water q. s., coloured with Florentine lac. (Hager.)

FLOUN′DER. A flat fish, very like the plaice, but smaller, and of more obscure colour. It is very common about the British coast, and is found in the Northern, Baltic, and Mediterranean seas. Its flesh is very wholesome.

FLOUR. Syn. Farina, L. The finely ground and ‘dressed’ meal of bread corn, and of the seeds of some of the leguminosæ. That known specifically as ‘flour’ in this country is obtained from spring varieties of Triticum vulgare (the common wheat).

Var., &c. Of varieties of flour there are several, depending chiefly on the amount of bran which they contain, and the relative fineness of the sieves through which they are passed:—

Fine wheat flour, Pastry flour; Farina, F. tritici, F. seminis tritici. The finest flour, obtained from the meal produced in the first grinding of wheat between sharp stones, by means of a sieve of 64 wires to the inch. Used for pastry.

Middlings. The remainder of the flour of the first grinding, obtained by means of a slightly coarser sieve. Used for making household bread, but is mostly reground for the next variety.

Seconds. The finest part of the flour, obtained by regrinding ‘middlings’ between blunt stones. Used by the bakers for their finest wheaten bread.

Pollard. The coarse flour, from which the seconds has been sifted. Used for making sea biscuits and gingerbread, and to fatten poultry and hogs.

Country household flour. This is usually ground only once, and sifted to ⁴⁄₅ths of the weight of the wheat.

Ammunition flour is ground and sifted to nearly ⁵⁄₆ths the weight of the wheat.

According to Mr Accum, thirty-two pecks of wheat in the London mills yield, of flour 38¹⁄₂ parts; pollard, 8 parts; and bran (furfur tritici), 12 parts; the bulk of the wheat being doubled by grinding.

According to Mr Hard, miller, of Dartford, quoted by Dr Pereira, the wheat having been ground in the usual way, is allowed to remain in the state of meal for some time before ‘dressing,’ which removes the heat caused by the process, and enables the miller to obtain more flour, and the baker a better quality, than if ‘dressed’ immediately it is ground.

“The process of dressing is by a wire cylinder containing a certain number of sheets of different texture or fineness, which cylinder contains eight hair brushes attached to a spindle passing through the centre of the cylinder, and laid out so as to gently touch the wire. This cylinder is fed by a ‘shoe’ with the meal; then the ‘flour’ and ‘offal,’ after passing through the wire in this way, are divided by wooden partitions fixed close to the outside of the cylinder.” “The produce of the wheat-meal dressed through the wire machine consists of—1, Flour;—2, White Stuff, or Boxings, or Sharps;—3, Fine Pollard;—4, Coarse Pollard, or Horse Pollard;—5, Bran. The 2nd product (i. e. the white stuff) is then submitted to another ‘dressing’ through a fine cloth machine, and produces—1, Fine Middlings, for biscuits;—2, Toppings, or Specks;—3, Dustings;—4, Best Pollard, Turkey Middlings, or Coarse Middlings.

Table of the Produce of One Quarter of Wheat (= 504 lbs.) By Mr Hard.

Flour392lbs.

Biscuit or fine middlings10”

Toppings or specks8”

Best pollard, Turkey p., or twenty-penny15”

Fine pollard18”

Bran and coarse pollard50”

Loss by evaporation and waste11”

——

504”

——

Analysis of Flour.

Peligot. Mean of 14 Analyses.Letheby.Payen.Wanklyn. Fine Wheaten Flour.

Per cent.Per cent.Per cent.Per cent.

Water14·015·014·2216·5

Fat1·22·01·251·2

Nitrogenous matters, gluten, &c.12·810·814·4512·0

Ditto, soluble in water1·8———

Non-nitrogenised substances, dextrin, sugar, &c.7·270·568·4869·6

Starch59·7

Cellulose1·7

Salts (ash)1·61·71·60·74

According to Vauquelin, French wheat flour contains about 10% of water, 11% of gluten, 71% of starch, 5% of sugar, and 3% of gum; and the water of the dough amounts to about 50%. The quantity of the bran in wheat ranges under 2%.

Pur. This article of food is very frequently adulterated both by the miller and the baker, as has been before alluded to in the article on bread. The principal physical characteristics of wheat flour of good quality are the following—it has a dull white colour, somewhat inclining to yellow;—it exhibits no trace of bran, even when pressed smooth with the hand, or with a polished surface;—its cohesiveness is so great that, on being squeezed in the hand, the lump is some time before it loses its shape;—it has a homogeneous appearance, and does not lose more than from 6% to 12% by being carefully dried in a stove. The smaller the loss in this way the finer is the quality, other matters being equal, and the more economical in use.[313] (See below.)

Tests. 1. Solution of ammonia turns pure wheat flour yellow; but if any other corn has been ground with it, pale brown; or if peas or beans have been ground with it, a still darker brown.

2. Solution of potassa, containing about 12% of caustic alkali, dissolves pure wheat-flour almost completely; but when it is adulterated with the flour of the leguminous seeds (beans, peas, &c.), the cellulosæ of these substances remains undissolved, and its hexagonal tissue is readily identified under the microscope. Mineral substances (chalk, plaster of Paris, bone dust, &c.) are also insoluble in this test, and appear as a heavy white sediment.

3. Boiling water poured on the sample causes the evolution of the peculiar odour of pea or bean flour when these substances are present. Bread made with such flour evolves a like odour on being toasted.

4. Pure hydrochloric acid poured on potato flour, or on wheat flour adulterated with it, develops a smell of rushes; it also dissolves starch, but changes the colour of pure wheat-flour to a deep violet.

5. Nitric acid turns wheat flour of an orange-yellow colour, but forms a stiff and tenacious jelly with potato fecula, the colour of which it does not alter.

6. A portion of the suspected sample submitted to dry distillation in a stoneware retort, and the distillate collected in a receiver containing a little water, the latter is found to remain perfectly neutral if the wheat flour is pure, but acquires a distinctly alkaline reaction when beans, pulse, or pea meal is present. (Rodrigues.)

7. Triturate 300 gr. of the sample with an equal weight of clean siliceous sand, and after five minutes form a homogeneous paste with water; afterwards further adding more water, until about 2 fl. oz. have been used. The filtered liquid, treated with an equal quantity of a strong and pure aqueous solution of iodine, develops a pink colour, which gradually disappears when the specimen examined consists of pure wheat flour; but assumes a deep-purple colour, which disappears much more slowly, if the flour is adulterated with even 10% of fecula or potato flour. This test succeeds, not only with flour and meal, but also with macaroni, vermicelli, &c. (M. Chevallier.)

8. The milky liquid holding the starch in suspension (see Anal., page 749) is poured into a small conical glass, and left at rest for some time; the clear liquid is then decanted, and any remaining water carefully sucked up with a pipette, and the whole left for some time, in order that the deposit may harden. The upper gray layer is next removed with a teaspoon, and the harder and stiffer second layer left undisturbed until it becomes quite solid by drying. When in this state, it may be upset in the form of a cone, upon a lump of dry plaster. The fecula or potato starch (if any is present), being heavier than that of wheat, forms the apex of the cone, and its quantity may be estimated in the following manner:—The operator cuts from the apex of the little cone above mentioned a slice, which he triturates only for a short time in an agate mortar (one of glass, or porcelain, or wedgwood-ware, will not do), and he tests that with aqueous solution of iodine. If it turns blue, it is fecula. Another slice is treated in the same manner, until the operator comes to the wheat starch, which, in the present instance, is not affected by the aqueous solution of iodine. This difference of behaviour of the two species of starch with iodine is due to the friction of the pestle and mortar, which is sufficient to divide or tear the envelopes of the particles of the potato starch, which then become blue when treated by solution of iodine. The particles of wheat starch, on the contrary, are not disaggregated by that treatment, and being therefore protected by their envelope, are not acted upon by the solution of iodine, or, at most, assume only a brown tinge. (M. Robine.)

9. Wheat flour adulterated with plaster of Paris, ground bones, chalk, and potato flour, has a higher specific gravity than a sample of the pure flour. This may be readily ascertained by any person by filling a small vessel with some pure flour, and then with the given sample. “A vessel which will contain 1 lb. of wheat flour will contain 1¹⁄₂ lb. of fecula” (potato flour), and hence “the proportion of this adulteration may be easily estimated.” (Ure.)

10. If to a sample of wheat flour is added a solution of potassa, containing about 1³⁄₄% of the pure alkali, the granules of potato farina, or of bean meal, or pea meal, present (if any), will acquire 4 or 5 times their original volume, while those of the pure wheat starch will be scarcely affected by it. This change is very perceptible under a microscope of small power. 2 parts of liquor of potassa (Ph. L.) and 5 parts of distilled water form a mixture that answers for the above purpose.

11. By means of the microscope the admixture of the cheaper feculas and meals with wheat flour is readily detected by the characteristic appearance of the starch grains; and when the adulteration exceeds 9% or 10%, its extent may be readily estimated with considerable accuracy. As the range of adulteration is generally from 12% to 27%, this method is applicable in the greater number of cases.

Analysis. The value of wheat flour as an aliment depends upon the quantity of gluten, sugar, starch, and phosphate of lime, which it contains; and its superiority over the flour of the grains of the other cereals is referred to its containing a larger proportion of the first and last of these substances than they do. The quantitative analysis of flour is very simple, and may be easily made by persons unacquainted with chemistry, by attending to the instructions below:—

a. Make 1000 gr. of the sample into a dough with a little water, let it rest an hour and then gently knead it in successive water, until the starchy particles are perfectly removed. Collect the portion (GLUTEN) left in the hand, drain off the water, place it on a piece of filtering or blotting paper, several times doubled, and set it aside.

b. Mix the several waters employed in the preceding process, and set them aside in a tall vessel, to deposit the suspended portion (STARCH). After a sufficient time pour off the clear liquid, and throw the whole of the sediment on a weighed paper filter, placed in a funnel, observing to remove the portion adhering to the bottom of the vessel by means of a little clean water, that none may be lost.

c. Evaporate the decanted liquid, as well as what runs from the filter, until it becomes curdy, then filter it through a piece of weighed blotting paper, and preserve the sediment (ALBUMEN); next evaporate the residuum to the consistence of a syrup, agitate it with 10 times its weight of alcohol, and filter, observing to wash the paper filter clean with a little alcohol after the solution has passed through it. The substance on the paper is PHOSPHATE OF LIME and GUM, and must be set aside. By subsequent digestion in water, filtration, and evaporation, the two may be obtained separately.

d. Evaporate or distil off the spirit from the solution and washings, as above; the residuum is SUGAR.

e. Dry the substances educed as above, by a gentle heat, and weigh them. The weight of the albumen may be taken with that of the gluten, as it possesses about the same nutritive value, and also because it has been asserted by some persons that the former substance is in reality gluten, and not albumen. By dividing the given weights by 10, the per-centage value of the sample is obtained. The pieces of filtering paper employed should be carefully dried and weighed before using them, and the same degree of heat should be employed for this purpose as that to which they will be afterwards exposed in the drying of the substances resulting from the operations.

Obs. The above method of ascertaining the actual value of any sample of flour as an article of food, though not strictly accurate, approximates sufficiently to the truth for all practical purposes, and is well adapted to the wants of the baker and large purchaser. In many cases it will only be necessary to perform the first part of the process (a), which will give the per-centage of the most important constituent of the flour; the rest being of minor consequence.

In addition to what has been already stated in the article on Bread, it may be useful to mention that a pound of the best flour, from thoroughly dried wheat, will take 10 fl. oz. of water to form it into ordinary dough, or 9 fl. oz. to form it into bread dough. Under the old parliamentary acts, a sack of flour (280 lbs.) was presumed to produce 80 loaves (quartern or quarter-peck), the weight of which, within 48 hours after being baked, was to be 4 lbs. 5¹⁄₂ oz. each. At the present time fully 92 loaves, weighing 4 lbs. each, are produced by the London bakers from one sack of flour, when honest weight is given; but as the latter is rarely the case, and the bread is frequently ‘slack’ or ‘under-baked,’ and thus contains more water than good bread ought to do, a much larger product is commonly obtained. The dough loses about ¹⁄₇th of its weight in baking, if in batches; but fully ¹⁄₆th, if baked in small loaves, and placed in the oven separately. The best bread contains about ¹⁄₄-¹⁄₆th of its weight of added water; and common bread, often much more than ¹⁄₄th. The proportion of water in the London bread has greatly increased during the last few years, owing to the introduction of the fraudulent plan of making the dough with rice jelly or moss jelly. This is the reason why the bread of some bakers suffers such a loss of weight in a few hours after being taken from the oven. A 4 lbs. loaf of bread purchased from a baker at Lambeth, after remaining on the sideboard of a sitting-room for 24 hours, was found to have lost no less than 6¹⁄₂ oz. by evaporation, and in two days longer its interior cells were covered with green mould, and the whole was unfit for food. The bakers, aware of these facts, are particularly careful not to bake more bread than they can dispose of whilst ‘new,’ and are in the habit of refusing to weigh their bread before selling it, when it is more than 10 or 12 hours old, although they are liable to be ‘fined’ for such a refusal. See Bread, Cakes, Farina, &c., also below.

Flour, Baked. Syn. Farina tosta, F. tritici tosta, L. Prep. From wheat flour, carefully baked in a ‘slack’ oven, until it acquires a pale-buff hue. Astringent; used to make food for infants troubled with diarrhœa. See Farina.

Flour, Barley (Prepared). Syn. Farina hordei preparata, L. Prep. (Ph. Bor.) From barley flour, compressed into a tin cylinder until the vessel is 2-3rds full, which is then suspended at the upper part of a still 2-3rds filled with water, and after the ‘head’ is fitted on, the water is kept boiling for 30 hours (2 days of 15 hours each). Lastly, the upper layer being removed, the rest is reduced to powder, and kept in a dry place.

Flour, Boiled. Syn. Triticina, Farina Preparata, L. Prep. From fine flour, tied up in a linen cloth as tight as possible, and after it has been frequently dipped into cold water, the outside of the cloth is dredged over with flour, until a crust is formed round it, to prevent the water soaking into it whilst boiling; it is then boiled for a long time, and when cold, it is divided into small oblong pieces. For use, it is reduced to powder, either by grinding or grating it, and is then prepared like arrow-root. It forms a good diet for children, in diarrhœa, &c.; and as it may be easily prepared at home, it has the advantage of being free from adulteration.

Flour, Jones’s Patent. Prep. From kiln-dried flour, 1 cwt.; tartaric acid, 10¹⁄₂ oz.; mix thoroughly; after 2 or 3 days, add, of bicarbonate of soda, 12 oz.; lump sugar, ¹⁄₂ lb.; common salt, 1¹⁄₂ lb.; mix, and pass the compound through the ‘dressing-machine.’ It is necessary that the whole of the ingredients should be perfectly dry, and separately reduced to fine powder before adding them to the flour. By simply mixing it with cold water, and at once baking it, it produces light, porous bread.

Obs. We have already had occasion to pay a passing tribute to the excellence and usefulness of Jones’s Patent Flour.[314] It is, indeed, invaluable to every household, as furnishing the means of producing, with great economy, and extemporaneously, not merely cakes, puddings, pastry, and fancy bread, but the ‘staff of life’ itself, household bread, of a purity, flavour, and lightness, seldom, if ever, met with in that purchased of the bakers.

Flour, Sewell’s Patent. a. (No. 1.) Flour, 1 sack (280 lbs.); hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1·14), 45 oz.; mix, by adding the acid in a ‘spray,’—b. (No. 2.) To the last, add (expertly) bicarbonate of soda, 39 oz.; mix thoroughly, and pass the whole through a sieve or ‘dressing machine.’

Obs. This flour is used as the last, to which, however, it is inferior in quality. No. 1 will keep 5 weeks. No. 2 will keep a month. Jones’s flour will keep good in a dry place for years. If No. 1 is alone employed for the dough, to each pound of the flour, 65 gr. of bicarbonate of soda, with salt q. s., must be added. The patentee claims for his invention the merit of the soda and acid being converted into culinary salt in the process of making up the flour and baking the dough.[314]

FLOWER DEW (F. J. Weber, successor of Rau, Bamberg). A flat bottle with the name of Rau moulded on it; its gross weight is more than 80 grammes, but it contains scarcely 22 grammes of a nearly colourless but slightly yellow fluid, consisting of a pleasant aromatic solution of oils of bergamot, lemon, orange flowers, and rose in strong spirit.

FLOWERS. Syn. Flores, L. These beautiful and fragrant ornaments of our gardens and our dwellings are too highly esteemed by all classes of the community to require anything in favour of their cultivation to be said here. Our remarks will, therefore, chiefly refer to their collection, improvement, and preservation.

‘Full’ or ‘double flowers,’ or those in which the internal organs become petals, are so much more beautiful than the ‘single flowers’ of the corresponding species and varieties, that their production, with tolerable ease and certainty, has long been a desideratum with both the professional and amateur florist. Various plans have been proposed having this object in view, among which are the following:—1. The use of the best seed only, but not before it is at least 3 or 4 years old. 2. The selection of the outer row of seed only, and its careful preservation intact for at least 2 seasons before sowing it. We are assured that this method is particularly successful with dahlias. 3. The removal of the plants to a shady situation as soon as the flower-buds begin to develop themselves, and stinting them with water and nourishment for a few weeks. In this method a few only of the buds are permitted to mature; the rest being snipped off with a pair of scissors as early as possible. 4. The use of small pots and a scanty supply of water until the flowers are partly developed, when water is supplied in abundance, with or without the addition of a little liquid manure.

To hasten the blooming of flowers, it is a common practice with some gardeners to grow them in as small pots as is consistent with their healthy existence, and carefully to avoid transplanting them to larger pots, for several weeks before their usual time of blossoming. A plant on the point of flowering, if transferred to a larger pot and a richer soil, immediately commences making roots and leaves, whilst the embryo flowers either wholly decay, or their development is checked until the usual season of their production has passed over.

The following liquid has been used with great advantage to promote the vigorous growth and the early flowering of plants:—Sulphate or nitrate of ammonia, 4 oz.; nitrate of potassa, 2 oz.; sugar, 1 oz.; hot water, 1 pint; dissolve and keep it in a well-corked bottle. For use, put 8 or 10 drops of this liquid into the water of a hyacinth glass or jar, for bulbous-rooted plants, changing the water every 10 or 12 days. For flowering plants in pots, a few drops must be added to the water employed for them. The preference should be given to rain water for this purpose. The fluid sold under the name of liquid guano may be used in the same manner.

Flowers may be preserved in a fresh state for a considerable time, by keeping them in a moist atmosphere. When growing on the parent stem, the large amount of evaporation from the surface of their leaves is compensated for by an equivalent proportion of moisture supplied by the roots; but when they are plucked, the evaporation from the surface continues, while the supply of moisture is cut off. To supply, in part, this loss of moisture by evaporation, has arisen the almost universal practice of placing flowers in water; but their mutilated stems possess a far inferior power of sucking up fluids to that of the roots, and thus their decay is only deferred for a time. To preserve them more effectually, or at least to render their existence less ephemeral, we may surround them with a moist atmosphere, by which the loss of water from the surface of their leaves will be reduced to the smallest possible amount. “It is now eighteen years ago since we first saw, in the drawing-room of a gentleman, in the hot dry weather of the dog-days, flowers preserved day after day in all their freshness by the following simple contrivance—A flat dish of porcelain had water poured into it. In the water a vase of flowers was set; over the whole a bell-glass was placed, with its rim in the water. This was a ‘Ward’s case’ in principle, although different in its construction. The air that surrounded the flowers being confined beneath the bell-glass, was kept constantly moist with the water that rose into it in the form of vapour. As fast as the water was condensed it ran down the sides of the bell glass back into the dish; and if means had been taken to inclose the water on the outside of the bell-glass, so as to prevent its evaporating into the air of the sitting-room, the atmosphere around the flowers would have remained continually damp. We recommend those who love to see plenty of fresh flowers in their sitting-rooms in dry weather to adopt this method. The experiment can be tried by inverting a tumbler over a rose-bud in a saucer of water.” (‘Gardener’s Chron.’)

Another method by which some flowers may be preserved for many months is to carefully dip them, as soon as gathered, in perfectly limpid gum water, and after allowing them to drain for 2 or 3 minutes, to set them upright, or arrange them in the usual manner in an empty vase. The gum gradually forms a transparent coating on the surface of the petals and stems, and preserves their figure and colour long after they have become dry and crisp.

Yet another method (given in the ‘Pharmaceutical Journal’) is as follows:—“A vessel with a movable cover is provided, and having removed the cover from it, a piece of metallic gauze of moderate fineness is fixed over it, and the cover replaced. A quantity of sand is then taken sufficient to fill the vessel, and passed through a sieve into an iron pot, where it is heated with the addition of a small quantity of stearin, carefully stirred so as to thoroughly mix the ingredients.

“The quantity of stearin to be added is at the rate of half a part to 100 parts of sand. Care must be taken not to add too much, as it would sink to the bottom and injure the flowers. The vessel with its cover on and the gauze beneath it is then turned upside down, and the bottom being removed, the flowers to be operated upon are carefully placed on the gauze and the sand gently poured in, so as to cover the flowers entirely, the leaves being thus prevented from touching each other. The vessel is then put in a hot place, such, for instance, as the top of a baker’s oven, where it is left for 48 hours. The flowers thus become dried, and they retain their natural colours. The vessel still remaining bottom upwards, the lid is taken off, and the sand runs away through the gauze, leaving the flowers uninjured.

Faded flowers may be generally more or less restored by immersing them half-way up their stems in very hot water, and allowing them to remain in it until it cools, or they have recovered. The coddled portion of the stems must then be cut off, and the flowers placed in clean cold water. In this way a great number of faded flowers may be restored, but there are some of the more fugacious kinds on which it proves useless.

Flowers may be produced in winter by taking up the plants, trees, or shrubs in the spring, at the time when they are about to bud, with some of their own soil carefully preserved around the roots, and placing them upright in a cellar till Michaelmas; when, with the addition of fresh earth, they are to be put into proper tubs or vessels, and placed in a stove or hot-house, when they must be treated in the usual manner. By this method, in the month of February, fruits or roses will appear. Flowers sown in pots about Michaelmas may thus be made to bloom at Christmas.

The apparently instantaneous flowering of plants, exhibited a few years ago by M. Herbert to an astonished audience, was, we believe, effected by the heat generated by fragments of quicklime concealed in the mould close to, but not in immediate contact with, the roots. The plants selected by M. Herbert—a group of geraniums and a rose tree—were planted in two rather deep boxes of garden mould, and were covered with glass shades. The operator commenced by pouring over the roots, from a small watering-pot, a liquid which, uniting to the ingredients already in the earth, caused a great heat, as was shown by an intense steam or vapour, which was evolved within the shades, and allowed, to some extent, to escape through a small hole in the top, which at first was kept closed. The effect upon the geraniums was certainly almost instantaneous; the buds beginning to burst in about five or six minutes, and the plants being in full bloom within ten minutes, when the blossoms were gathered by M. Herbert, and distributed amongst the ladies present. With the rose tree the exhibitor was less fortunate. The invention may prove useful where ladies require to decorate their drawing-rooms or boudoirs with the beauties of the floral world somewhat earlier in the season than they can otherwise be obtained. It must not, however, be forgotten that the plants are, as it were, parboiled during the process, and die after a few days.

As regards the sanitary value of flowers, Mantegazza, of Pavia, states that ozone is generated in larger quantities by certain plants possessing spicy aromatic odours, than by the action of electricity upon the air. He says that in some plants this ozone is developed by the direct rays of the sun, whilst in others the action, once begun in solar light, is continued in darkness; and that cherry-laurel, clove, lavender, mint, lemon, fennel, narcissus, heliotrope, hyacinth, mignonette, &c., all produce ozone largely on exposure to the rays of the sun.[315] He also finds that whilst the ozonigenic properties of flowers reside mainly in their perfumes, the most odoriferous yielding the largest amount of ozone, certain others possessing no particular perfume, have extraordinary ozonigenic power; as, for instance, the sunflower, broad belts of which were planted by the late Commodore Maury around the grounds of the national observatory at Washington, to the effect of which he attributed the after immunity of his family from intermittent fevers.[316]

The collection and preservation of flowers for medicinal purposes and distillation, will be found noticed under Vegetables.

Flowers, Artificial. The beauty and value of these pleasing articles of personal decoration mainly depend upon the taste and ingenuity of the maker. The delicate fingers of woman, and her ready powers of imitation and invention, combined with her natural affection for the chaste and beautiful, have enabled her the more especially to excel in this manufacture. The productions of the female artificial florists of the French capital are justly admired everywhere.

The French employ velvet, kid, and fine cambric for the petals, and taffeta for the leaves. Very recently thin plates of bleached whalebone have been used with great success for some portions of artificial flowers.

As colours and stains, the following are employed in Paris:—

Blue. Indigo dissolved in oil of vitriol, and the acid partly neutralised with salt of tartar or whiting.

Green. A solution of distilled verdigris.

Lilac. Liquid archil.

Red. Carmine dissolved in a solution of salt of tartar, or in spirits of hartshorn.

Violet. Liquid archil, mixed with a little salt of tartar.

Yellow. Tincture of turmeric.

The above colours are usually applied to the petals with the fingers.

Flowers. Syn. Flores, L. Among chemists, this term is applied to various pulverulent substances obtained by sublimation, as flowers of antimony, benzoin, zinc, sulphur, &c. The term has been discarded from modern chemical nomenclature, but is still commonly employed in familiar language and trade.

FLUID CAM′PHOR. Prep. (Sir J. Murray.) From camphor (in powder), 1 dr.; freshly precipitated carbonate of magnesia, 2 dr.; cold distilled water, 1 pint; the solution is effected by forcing in carbonic acid gas under pressure. Each fl. oz. contains 3 gr. of camphor, and 6 gr. of carbonate of magnesia. See Essence of Camphor.

FLUID MAGNE′SIA. Syn. Liquor Magnesiæ carbonatis, L. M. BICARBONATIS, L. The preparations sold under this name are mere solutions of freshly precipitated carbonate of magnesia in water, formed by means of carbonic acid gas, under powerful pressure, and long agitation. Those best known are Sir J. Murray’s and Mr Dinneford’s, each fl. oz. of which is said to contain about 17¹⁄₂ gr. of the carbonate, but their actual richness in the latter seldom exceeds 10 or 12 gr., and by the time they reach the consumer is often as low as 5 or 6 gr. Recently precipitated carbonate of magnesia placed in a bottle or other suitable vessel, which is then filled by means of a soda-water apparatus with water fully charged with carbonic acid gas, readily dissolves on slight and cautious agitation, and the aërated water becomes saturated with magnesia. A scruple of carbonate of magnesia put into a soda-water bottle, and thus treated, is all taken up in from 20 minutes to half an hour, and the beverage continues beautifully clear.

FLUID-OZON (J. Krohn, Munich, with a certificate from Justus von Liebig). A mouth wash and toilet water. An aqueous solution of permanganate of soda, 1 in 9, contaminated with traces of sodium sulphate and chloride. (Wittstein.)

FLUM′MERY. A species of thick hasty-pudding made with oatmeal or rice, flavoured with milk, cream, almonds, orange flowers, lemons, &c., according to fancy.

Prep. 1. (Dutch flummery.) From blancmange and eggs, flavoured with lemon peel and sweetened with sugar.

2. (French flummery.) From equal parts of blancmange and cream, sweetened, and flavoured. The above are poured into forms, and served cold, to eat with wine, spirit, cider, &c.

3. (A. T. Thomson.) Take oatmeal or groats, 1 quart; rub it for a considerable time with hot water, 2 quarts; and let the mixture stand until it becomes sour; then add another quart of hot water, and strain through a hair sieve. Let stand till a white sediment is deposited, decant the fluid portion, and wash the sediment with cold water. This is now to be boiled with fresh water, until it forms a mucilage, stirring the whole time. A light and nutritious food, during early convalescence.

FLUOBORIC ACID. Syn. Borofluoric acid. This may be easily prepared by saturating hydrofluoric acid with boracic acid, keeping the mixture cool, and then concentrating it in platinum vessels till dense fumes arise.

FLUOHYDRIC ACID. See Fluoride of hydrogen.

FLU′ORIDE OF HYDROGEN. HF. Syn. Fluohydric acid; Hydrofluoric acid; A. hydrofluoricum, L. An acid composed of hydrogen and fluorine. It was discovered by Scheele, but was first obtained in a pure state by Gay-Lussac and Thénard, in 1810.

Prep. Pour concentrated sulphuric acid on half its weight of fluor spar, carefully separated from siliceous earth, and reduced to fine powder. The mixture must be made in a capacious leaden retort, and a gentle heat only applied, and the evolved gas must be collected in a leaden receiver, surrounded by ice.

Prop., &c. A colourless fluid below 59° Fahr., which speedily evaporates in dense white fumes when exposed to the air. Its affinity for water exceeds that of sulphuric acid, and its combination with that fluid is accompanied with a hissing noise, and a considerable increase of its sp. gr. up to a certain point. It attacks glass and silica, for which reason it cannot be preserved in glass vessels. Bottles of lead, silver, platinum, or pure gutta percha, are used to keep it in. It is highly corrosive, instantaneously destroying the skin on contact, and producing deep and serious ulcerations; its vapour is pungent, irritating, irrespirable, and poisonous. With the bases it unites to form FLUORIDES.

In the arts, hydrofluoric acid is used for etching on glass.

FLU′ORIDES. Compounds of fluorine with metals and other basic radicals. The fluorides of the metals are, with the exception of those of the alkaline metals, insoluble in water, while the fluorides of hydrogen, boron, and silicon, are gaseous, condensing at a low temperature to volatile liquids.