ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL RECEIPTS AND PROCESSES. CONTAINING OVER 6400 RECEIPTS, EMERACING THOROUGH INFORMATION, IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, APPLICABLE TO ALMOST EVERY HARVARD NOTE. To find any special receipt contained in this work, always refer to the INDEX at the end of the book, noting carefully the directions given on page 565. The index numbers refer to the number affixed to each receipt. The TABLE OF CONTENTS on pages 7 and 8 serves only as a guide to receipts classified as far as practicable under specific headings, designated by page numbers. Copyright 1872 by DICK & FITZGERALD. Copyright 1900 by WILLIAM B. DICK. PREFACE. The original design of the compiler of this work was to prepare a collection of popular and domestic receipts, to contain only those whose practical utility had been established, either by actual trial or by the guaranty of undoubted authorities, thus excluding the mass of untried, and, consequently, unreliable information to be found in Receipt Books, compiled with a view to quantity rather than quality. As the work progressed, it was found, in many cases, no easy matter to draw a line between the simple or practical and the artistic or scientific. To meet this difficulty, it was determined to enlarge its scope, increasing the usefulness of the former by the additional light of scientific research, and rendering the latter easy of application by reducing the formulæ and technicalities of scientific writers to plain language, so as to be understood by the uninitiated. To carry out this idea intelligibly, the plan has been adopted of classifying the various subjects treated of in the Encyclopedia, so that each should be presented in a compact form of completeness unattainable by any other method; omitting only, in order to save repetition, such information as could be found in connection with some other subject in another part of the work, but easily reached by the introduction of reference numbers, or by the aid of the Index. The result of this change of scheme in the preparation of the Encyclopedia is twofold: first, an amount of information on popular and household matters rarely, it is believed, to be found in one volume; secondly, a condensed digest of all the practical information, bearing on the various branches of the industrial arts, that is contained in the best scientific works of modern times, many of which are costly and technical in style, and some of them rarely to be found in this country. This has necessarily involved an almost incredible amount of patient and persistent labor, rendered unavoidable in order to separate and extract the practical matter from theoretical propositions and speculative deductions, of great value to the expert, but entirely beyond the scope of a popular work; this will be fully corroborated by the annexed list of authorities, which have been quoted or consulted in the preparation of the Encyclopedia. In accomplishing this the compiler has been assisted by a gentleman whose knowledge of languages, and other attainments, have aided him materially in his undertaking. The various processes and formulæ connected with the Practical Arts form, therefore, a distinguishing feature of the work, of the highest utility both in the laboratory and the workshop. They are further explained, where it has been deemed necessary, with neatly executed illustrations and diagrams, thus giving the |