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COOLEY'S CYCLOPAEDIA OF PRACTICAL RECEIPTS AND COLLATERAL INFORMATION IN THE ARTS, MANUFACTURES, PROFESSIONS, AND TRADES INCLUDING

Medicine, Pharmacy, Hygiene, and Domestic Economy

DESIGNED AS A COMPREHENSIVE

SUPPLEMENT TO THE PHARMACOPOEIA

AND

GENERAL BOOK OF REFERENCE

FOR THE MANUFACTURER, TRADESMAN, AMATEUR, AND HEADS OF FAMILIES

REVISED AND GREATLY ENLARGED BY

PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE; FORMERLY LECTURER ON CHEMISTRY AT THE CHARING CROSS HOSPITAL.

VOL. I

LONDON

J. & A. CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET

PRINTED BY ADLARD AND SON BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.

Some one has said that "when a book reaches a fifth edition it scarcely requires a preface." If such be true of a fifth, it is probably still truer of a sixth edition, and therefore this issue of 'Cooley's Cyclopaedia' might fairly be sent forth to the public without any prefatory remarks whatever. It is, however, desirable to point out that the present edition is larger than the last by about six hundred pages; that much greater space than hitherto is devoted to Hygi?ne as well as to the Arts, Pharmacy, Manufacturing Chemistry, and other subjects of importance to those for whom the work is intended.

The articles on what is commonly termed 'Household Medicine' have been amplified and numerically increased.

Short accounts of the more common diseases, their causes, symptoms, and treatment, affecting the domesticated animals have been introduced. "Here, however, it may be useful to repeat the cautions given in other parts of this volume, as to the impropriety of unnecessarily meddling with the healing art or neglecting a prompt application" "to a duly qualified practitioner in all cases demanding medical or surgical aid." These remarks of Mr Cooley are as applicable to cases of Veterinary as to those of Human Medicine.

The laborious task of preparing a sixth edition of 'Cooley' having been accomplished, it is hoped that, due consideration being given to the magnitude of the work and to the great variety of the subjects treated, it will be found to be practically free from important errors, and that it will meet with, at least, the same gratifying reception as that accorded to its predecessors.

PREFACE

The design of the present work is briefly, but not completely expressed in its title-page. Independently of a reliable and comprehensive collection of formulae and processes in nearly all the industrial and useful arts, it contains a description of the leading properties and applications of the substances referred to, together with ample directions, hints, data, and allied information, calculated to facilitate the development of the practical value of the book in the shop, the laboratory, the factory, and the household. Notices of the substances embraced in the Materia Medica of our national pharmacopoeias, in addition to the whole of their preparations, and numerous other animal and vegetable substances employed in medicine, as well as most of those used for food, clothing, and fuel, with their economic applications, have been included in the work. The synonymes and references are other additions which will prove invaluable to the reader. Lastly, there have been appended to all the principal articles referred to brief, but clear, directions for determining their purity and commercial value, and for detecting their presence and proportions in compounds.

The sources from which I have derived the vast mass of materials forming this volume are such as to render it deserving the utmost confidence. I have invariably resorted to the best and latest authorities, and have consulted almost innumerable volumes, both British and foreign, during its compilation. Secondary channels of information have been scarcely ever relied on when original authorities were within my reach. A large portion of the work has been derived from my personal experience and observations in the departments of applied chemistry and hygiene, and from the processes of various laboratories and manufactories, many of which I can the more confidently recommend from having either inspected or witnessed their employment on an extensive scale. The indiscriminate adoption of matter, without examination, has been uniformly avoided, and in no instance has any formula or process been admitted into this work, unless it rested on some well-known fact of science, had been sanctioned by usage, or come recommended by some respectable authority. The settlement of doubtful or disputed points has often occupied me a greater number of hours, and not unfrequently a greater number of days, than that of the lines of letter-press which convey the results to the public. In all cases precedence has been given to the standard formulae of our national pharmacopoeias, and to those processes which long experience, or well-conducted experiments, have shown to be the most successful, profitable, and trustworthy. In general, the sources of information have been indicated, for the purpose of enabling the reader to form a better estimation of their value. Whenever this is not the case, in reference to borrowed formulae and data, the omission has arisen from the impossibility of determining to whom the merit is justly due.

Under the names of most of the leading diseases that could be profitably noticed in the present work, such explanations and directions have been given as accord with the prevailing opinions and practice of the faculty at the present day. These, when judiciously applied, will prove invaluable to emigrants, travellers, voyagers, and other parties beyond the reach of legitimate medical assistance; and, under opposite circumstances, will, in general, enable those who have the care of the sick the better to second and carry out the instructions and efforts of the physician for the benefit of their charge. Here, however, it may be useful to repeat the cautions given in other parts of this volume, as to the impropriety of unnecessarily meddling with the healing art, or neglecting a prompt application to a duly qualified practitioner, in all cases demanding either medical or surgical aid. It is an indubitable fact that the best efforts of the inexperienced and uninitiated in the mysteries of medical science must be always enormously behind those of parties whose whole lives and study have been devoted to the subject.

As heretofore, I beg to solicit my readers to apprise me of any inaccuracies or omissions in this volume which may come beneath their notice. I shall also thankfully receive any hints or suggestions tending to the improvement of future editions of this work. Such communications, to be useful, must, however be written on only one side of the paper. Parties who may thus kindly afford me assistance will, in due course, have their services publicly acknowledged; and their names and addresses, unless when otherwise requested, will be published in full.

I have endeavoured to render the present volume as self-explanatory as possible, and, in general, have appended ample directions to the several formulae and processes that seemed to me likely to cause embarrassment to those inexpert in chemical manipulation; but should any party find it otherwise, I shall be happy to reply, gratuitously, to any reasonable questions tending to elucidate the difficulty.

In conclusion, I may add that, having now for nearly a quarter of a century devoted my attention to the applications of chemistry in most of the useful arts and manufactures, both British and foreign, and in sanitation, I am in possession of many valuable processes and formulae, hitherto wholly unknown, or but partially developed, with various improved plans of factories, laboratories, ventilation, &c., which the limits of this work will not permit me to describe in its pages, but on which I should be happy to communicate with parties interested in the same. Persons desirous of establishing any new branch of manufacture, or of improving an existing one, or of determining the purity or value of articles of food, wines, liqueurs, medicines, &c., or of obtaining formulae or processes which are not contained in this work, may, in like manner, have their wishes complied with, by enclosing to me samples, or the requisite information.

ARNOLD J. COOLEY.

NAMES OF THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO, OR ASSISTED IN THE REVISION OF, THIS EDITION

E. CANTON, F.R.C.S., Surgeon to Charing Cross Hospital.

SPENCER COBBOLD, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Parasitology and Botany in the Royal Veterinary College.

STEPHEN DARBY, F.C.S.

DR DE VRIJ, of the Hague.

WILLIAM PRITCHARD, Professor of Anatomy in the Royal Veterinary College.

A. E. SANSOM, M.D. Lond., M.R.C.P., Physician to the Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest.

J. B. SIMONDS, Principal of, and Professor of Pathology in, the Royal Veterinary College.

JOHN STENHOUSE, LL.D., F.R.S., formerly Lecturer on chemistry in St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

ABBREVIATIONS, ETC., USED IN THIS WORK

?? that the following consonant coalesces with the preceding letter in utterance.

A CYCLOPAEDIA OF PRACTICAL RECEIPTS, PROCESSES, AND COLLATERAL INFORMATION

See FORMULA, PRESCRIPTIONS, SYMBOLS, &c.

The occasional use of these medicines seldom fails to prove highly beneficial to the plethoric, bilious, and dyspeptic. In ordinary cases of constipation, headache, &c., arising from deranged stomach or liver, wherein the administration of mercurials is not contra-indicated, they will be found of great service. It need scarcely be added that these medicines are named after Mr Abernethy, the celebrated surgeon, who is said to have frequently employed them in his practice.

Absorption and consequent adherence in porous moulds, as those of plaster, are usually prevented by thoroughly saturating the pores of the mould with melted tallow, or a mixture of tallow and bees' wax; or for delicate objects or the electrotype, with white wax. The 'dry moulds' are either heated before the application of these substances, or they are boiled in them; any portion that may finally remain unabsorbed, being carefully removed with cotton-wool or a soft rag. Another method is to wash the moulds over two or three times with drying oil, or to boil them in it; after which they must be exposed to the air for some days, to dry and harden. Before being used for plaster, composition, &c., the surface of these prepared moulds require to be slightly moistened with sweet oil.

The adherence of wax or mixtures containing it, and of gutta percha, is best prevented by moistening the surface of the mould , immediately before use, with soft soap reduced to the consistence of thin cream with water. See CASTS, MOULDS, ELECTROTYPE, &c.

The following absorbent mixtures are taken from Dr Kirby's valuable work, 'Selected Remedies':

The irritation of the skin, caused by these vermin, may be relieved by a lotion of equal parts of sal volatile and water; and they may be destroyed by tobacco water, or a lotion or ointment of stavesacre. See ITCH, MANGE, PARASITES, PEDICULI, SCAB, &c.

Now and then a single acarus may occasionally be found in good flour, but even one should be regarded with suspicion, and the flour should afterwards be frequently examined to see if they are increasing.

Most of the brown sugars of commerce are infested by this pest, which is of a size sufficiently large to be visible to the naked eye. The following method of proceeding will lead to its detection:

Dissolve 2 or 3 teaspoonfuls of sugar in a large wineglass of tepid water, and let the solution remain for an hour or so, at the expiration of which time the acari may be found, some on the surface of the liquid, some attaching themselves to the sides of the glass, and some at the bottom, mixed up with the copious and dark sediment, made up of fragments of cane, woody fibre, grit, dirt, and starch granules, which usually subside on dissolving even a small quantity of sugar in hot water. When first hatched this acarus is hardly visible.

Dr Hassall, in seventy-two samples of sugar which he examined, found sixty-nine containing them.

It has no eyes; but when disturbed it quickly draws in its head and feet, and then somewhat resembles the tortoise in appearance, its march being precisely the same. It usually lays sixteen eggs, which are carefully deposited in furrows under the skin, and ranged in pairs; these are hatched in about ten days.

"To find the itch-insect," says Mr Jabez Hogg, "the operator must carefully examine the parts surrounding each pustule; he will then see a red line or spot communicating with it; this part, and not the pustule, must be probed with a fine-pointed instrument. The operator must not be disappointed by repeated failures."

Never, therefore, if overtaken by a storm of thunder and lightning fly to the dangerous cover of a tree, pillar, hay-rick, wall, or hedge, but seek shelter in the nearest dwelling; or if this is not at hand, get to a part of the road or field where there is no object to attract the lightning, and there remain till the storm has expended itself. Also avoid particularly the proximity of iron gates, palisades, bronze statues, bell wires, iron railings, and such like. When in the house, do not sit or stand near the windows, doors, or walls, but place yourself in the middle of the room, unless there should be a lamp or chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Franklin recommends persons to keep away from the neighbourhood of fireplaces.

Under all circumstances, however, medical aid should be sought as expeditiously as possible, since many of the antidotes themselves being of a dangerous, if not poisonous, character, should only be administered under medical supervision. Pending the arrival of the doctor, no time should be lost in giving an emetic, consisting of a teaspoonful of flour of mustard in half a pint of warm water, supplemented by copious draughts of warm water, and tickling the throat with the finger if necessary.

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