11. (Various.) Borax, tartar, nitre, sal-ammoniac, common salt, limestone,
glass, fluor spar, and several other substances, are used as fluxes in
_metallurgy_.
_Obs._ On the large scale, crude tartar is employed in the preparation of
fluxes; on the small scale, commercial cream of tartar or bitartrate of
potassa.
=FLY.= The common house-fly (_Musca domestica_) causes considerable
annoyance to the person in hot weather, as well as damage to handsome
furniture, especially to picture frames, gilding, and the like. The best
way to exterminate them is to expose on a plate one or other of the
mixtures given under FLY POISON (_below_). The blow-fly (_Musca
vomitoria_), and other insects, may be kept from attacking meat by dusting
it over with black pepper, powdered ginger, or any other spice, or by
skewering a piece of paper to it on which a drop or two of creasote has
been poured. The spices may be readily washed off with water before
dressing the meat.
It is a fact not generally known, that flies will not pass through a
netting made of fine silk, thread, or wire, even though the meshes may be
an inch apart, unless there is a window or light behind it. This affords
us a ready means of excluding these insects from all our apartments which
have windows only on one side of them, without keeping the latter closed.
It is merely necessary to have an ornamental netting stretched across the
opening, when, although flies may abound on the outside, none will venture
into the room so protected. If, however, there is a window on the other
side of the room, they will fly through the netting immediately. See
_below_.
=Fly-blow in Sheep.= Oil of turpentine, 3 oz.; oil of amber, 1 oz.;
corrosive sublimate, 1 dr. The sublimate must be first dissolved in a pint
of whey, and then mixed with the oils.
=Fly Papers.= Those papers which, a few years ago, were sold about the
streets of London by harsh-voiced cries of "Catch 'em alive-oh!" and which
might be seen in many shop-windows covered with dead and dying flies, were
prepared by rubbing factitious birdlime over sheets of paper. It would be
difficult to conceive a more cruel or more offensive mode of catching
flies than that of glueing their living bodies to an adhesive surface. A
preferable kind of fly-paper is that called 'PAPIER MOURE,' which contains
a large quantity of arsenic in its substance.[317] This paper is kept wet
when in use, and the flies, by sipping the moisture, are poisoned.
[Footnote 317: Mr Plowman, in a letter to the 'Pharm. Journ.,' June 22nd,
1878, says that in a specimen of "Papier Moure" examined by him he failed
to detect the least trace of arsenic.]
=Fly Poison.= _Prep._ 1. A strong solution of white arsenic (say 1 dr. to
the pint), sweetened with moist sugar, treacle, or honey. Sold under the
name of 'FLY WATER,'
2. Treacle, honey, or moist sugar, mixed with about 1/12th their weight of
King's yellow or orpiment.
_Obs._ Both the above are dangerous preparations, and should never be
employed where there are children.
3. (Redwood.) Quassia chips (small), 1/4 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil 10
minutes, strain, and add of treacle, 4 oz. "Flies will drink this with
avidity, and are soon destroyed by it."
4. Black pepper, 1 teaspoonful; brown sugar, 2 teaspoonfuls; cream, 4
teaspoonfuls. See _below_.
=Fly Powder.= The dark grey-coloured powder (so-called 'sub-oxide')
obtained by the free exposure of metallic arsenic to the air. Mixed with
sweets, it is used to kill flies.
=Fly Water.= See FLY POISON (_above_).
=FOG.= The influence of very intense foggy weather upon the death-rate is
well illustrated by a reference to the Registrar-General's returns for
1873. From the 8th to the 12th of December of that year an unprecedently
thick fog prevailed in London. The mortality in the metropolis for the
week ending December 6th was twenty-three persons per thousand; in the
week following, during which the fog occurred, the death-rate rose to
twenty-seven; and in the week after that, when the full effects of the fog
could be estimated, the deaths were found to be thirty-eight in the
thousand. In the same periods the deaths from phthisis and diseases of the
respiratory organs were respectively 520, 764, and 1112. That this
increased death-rate was not the result of the inclement weather by which
the fog was accompanied is evidenced by the circumstance that in large
provincial towns, where the weather was equally severe, but in which no
fog occurred, the increase in the mortality, when compared to London, was
slight.
The mean of the deaths registered in London, in the two weeks ending
December 20th, showed an increase of 41 per cent. upon the number returned
in the first week of the month; whilst during the same date the deaths in
seventeen large English towns were only 8 per cent. This fatal fog
occurred during the London cattle-show week, and killed a great number of
the animals sent for exhibition.
In a specimen of the air of Manchester, obtained during the visitation of
that city by a very dense fog, Dr Angus Smith discovered it contained a
diminished amount of oxygen when compared with a favorable sample of air.
=FOILS.= These are thin leaves of polished metal, placed under precious
stones and pastes, to heighten their brilliancy, or to vary the effect.
Foils were formerly made of copper, tinned copper, tin, and silvered
copper, but the last is the one wholly used for superior work at the
present day.
Foils are of two descriptions:--white, for diamonds and mock diamonds,
and--coloured, for the coloured gems. The latter are prepared by
varnishing or lacquering the former. By their judicious use the colour of
a stone may often be modified and improved. Thus, by placing a yellow foil
under a green stone that turns too much on the blue, or a red one under a
stone turning too much on the crimson, the hues will be brightened and
enriched in proportion.
_Prep._ 1. (CRYSTAL, DIAMOND, or WHITE FOIL.)--_a._ This is made by
coating a plate of copper with a layer of silver, and then rolling it into
sheets in the flatting mill. The foil is then highly polished, or covered
with crystal varnish.
_b._ The inside of the socket in which the stone or paste is to be set is
covered with tin foil, by means of a little stiff gum or size; when dry,
the surface is polished and the socket heated, and whilst it is warm,
filled with quicksilver; after repose for two or three minutes the fluid
metal is poured out, and the stone gently fitted in its place; lastly, the
work is well fitted round the stone, to prevent the alloy being shaken
out.
_c._ The bottom of the stone is coated with a film of real silver, by
precipitating it from a solution of the nitrate in spirit of ammonia, by
means of the oils of cassia and cloves.[318] This method vastly increases
the brilliancy both of real and factitious gems, and the work is very
permanent.
[Footnote 318: See SILVERING.]
2. (COLOURED FOILS.) The following formulæ produce beautiful coloured
effects, when judiciously employed:--
_a._ (Amethyst.) Lake and Prussian blue, finely ground in pale drying oil.
_b._ (Blue.) Prussian blue (preferably Turnbull's), ground with pale,
quick-drying oil. Used to deepen the colour of sapphires.
_c._ (Eagle marine.) Verdigris tempered in shell-lac varnish (alcoholic),
with a little Prussian blue.
_d._ (Garnet.) Dragon's blood dissolved in rectified spirit of wine.
_e._ (Vinegar garnet.) Orange lake finely tempered with shell-lac varnish.
_f._ (Green.)--[Greek: a]. From pale shell-lac, dissolved in alcohol
(lacquer), and tinged green by dissolving verdigris or acetate of copper
in it.
[Greek: b]. From sesquiferrocyanide of iron and bichromate of potassa, of
each 1/2 oz.; ground to an impalpable powder, first alone, and then with
gum mastic (clean and also in fine powder), 2 oz.; a little pyroxilic
spirit is next added, gradually, and the whole again ground until the mass
becomes homogeneous and of a fine transparent green. The beauty increases
with the length of the grinding. The predominance of the bichromate turns
it on the yellowish green; that of the salt of iron on the bluish green.
For use it is to be thinned with pyroxilic spirit. ('Chem.,' iii, 231.)
Used for emeralds.
_g._ (Red.) Carmine, dissolved in spirit of hartshorn, or in a weak
solution of salt of tartar, and a little gum (dissolved) added.
_h._ (Ruby.)--[Greek: a]. From lake or carmine, ground in isinglass.
[Greek: b]. Lake ground in shell-lac varnish. Both are used when the
colour turns on the purple.
[Greek: g]. From bright lake ground in oil. Used when the colour turns on
the scarlet or orange.
_i._ (Yellow.)--[Greek: a]. Various shades of yellow may be produced by
tinging a weak alcoholic solution of shell-lac or mastic, by digesting
turmeric, annotta, saffron, or socotrine aloes in it. The former is the
brightest, and is used for topazes.
[Greek: b]. From hay saffron digested in 5 or 6 times its weight of
boiling water until the latter becomes sufficiently coloured, and a little
solution of gum or isinglass added to the filtered liquor. When dry, a
coating of spirit varnish is applied.
_Obs._ By the skilful use of the above varnishes, good imitations of the
gems may be cheaply made from transparent white glass or paste; and by
applying them to foils set under coloured pastes (FACTITIOUS GEMS), a
superior effect may be produced. The pigments employed must be reduced to
the finest state possible by patient grinding, as without this precaution
transparent and beautiful shades cannot be formed. The palest and cleanest
mastic and lac, dissolved in alcohol, and also the palest and quickest
drying oil should alone be used when these substances are ordered. In
every case the colour must be laid on the foil with a broad soft brush;
and the operation should be performed, if possible, at once, as no part
should be crossed, or twice gone over, whilst wet. If the colour turns out
too pale, a second coat may be given when the first one has become quite
dry, but this practice should be avoided if possible.
=FOMENTA'TION.= _Syn._ FOMENTATIO, FOMENTUM, FOTUS, L. A liquid, either
simple or medicated, used for local bathing. Fomentations are
distinguished from lotions chiefly in being applied in a heated state, and
in larger quantities, and for a longer period at a time.
Fomentations are chiefly employed to allay pain or irritation, or to
promote suppuration or the healthy action of the parts. As the intention
is to convey heat, combined with moisture, to the part fomented, the
utmost care must be taken to manage the application so as to promote the
object in view as much as possible. Flannel cloths wrung out of the hot or
boiling liquid, by means of two sticks, turned in opposite directions,
form the best vehicles for fomentations. If they are shaken up, and laid
lightly over the part, they involve a considerable quantity of air, which,
being a bad conductor, retains the heat in them for a considerable time.
"In every process of fomenting there should be two flannels, each (say)
three yards long, with the ends sewed together, to admit of the boiling
water being wrung out of them; and the one flannel should be got ready
whilst the other is applied. The fineness or the coarseness of the flannel
is not a matter of indifference. The coarser it is the less readily does
it conduct heat, and the longer it retains its warmth; therefore it is
more efficient for fomenting. White flannel also retains the heat longer
than coloured flannel." (Dr R. E. Griffith.) More harm than good is
frequently done by allowing the patient to become chilled during the
application. "If only one (flannel) is used, the skin becomes chilled
during the time occupied in removing the flannel, soaking it in the water,
wringing it out, and reapplying it; but if two are used, one of them is
ready, and can be applied the moment the other is taken off, by which
means the part is never exposed to the air, no matter how long the
fomentation is continued. In some diseases (rheumatism, peritonitis, &c.),
the patient is scarcely conscious of a degree of heat which scalds the
nurse's hands. In this case the fomenting flannels should be put in a
towel, by which means they may be wrung out without being handled by the
nurse, and may be applied far hotter than can be done by any other
method." (Dr J. B. Nevins.)
The quantity of liquid forming a fomentation, as well as the size of the
cloths employed, must entirely depend upon circumstances. In some cases
(as in slight affections of the face, &c.) the application may be
effectually made by holding the part in the steam of the hot liquid, and
bathing it continually by means of a sponge or cloth. In some instances
1/2 pint to a pint of liquid may be found a sufficient quantity; whilst in
others several quarts will be required. Under all circumstances, care must
be taken to keep the fomentation as near as possible at the temperature
ordered, during the whole time of its application; and, as soon as the
operation is finished, to quickly wipe the part dry, and to cover it with
ample clothing, in order that the reaction set up may not be prematurely
checked.
Fomentations usually consist of simple water, or the decoction of some
simple vegetable substance, as chamomiles, elder flowers or mallows; but,
occasionally, the leaves and flowers of aromatic and narcotic plants, and
saline matter, are employed under this form. The following formulæ are
given as examples:--
=Fomentation, Acetic.= _Syn._ FOTUS ACETICUS (Paris Codex). Fomentations
of vinegar are sometimes prepared with white, with rose, or with aromatic
vinegar (Paris Codex) in the proportion of one of vinegar to four of
water.
=Fomentation, An'odyne.= _Syn._ FOTUS ANODYNUS, FOMENTATIO ANODYNA,
FOMENTUM ANODYNUM, L. _Prep._ 1. Simple decoction of poppy-heads.
2. (Hosp. F.) Poppy-heads (without the seeds), 1-1/2 oz.; water, 3-1/2
pints; boil to 2-1/2 pints; add of elder flowers, 3/4 oz.; boil to a quart
and strain. Used to allay pain.
3. (Pierquin.) Opium, 1 oz.; wine, 1 quart; boil to a pint and strain.
Used in severe gouty, rheumatic, neuralgic, and syphilitic pains.
4. Opium, 1 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to 3/4 pint, add pyroligneous acid,
2 fl. oz.; boil for 10 minutes longer, then further add of sherry wine,
3/4 pint; and as soon as the whole again boils, strain it for use.
Superior to the last, and cheaper.
=Fomentation, Antineural'gic.= _Syn._ FOMENTATIO ANTINEURALGICA, L.
_Prep._ 1. (Mialhe.) Acetate of morphia, 2 gr.; acetic acid, 2 or 3 drops;
eau de Cologne, 2 or 3 dr.; dissolve. In facial neuralgia.
2. (Trousseau and Reveil.) Cyanide of potassium, 1 dr.; distilled water, 6
fl. oz.; dissolve and keep it in a well-closed bottle in the dark. Used in
neuralgia, especially in that of the face (tic douloureux). A compress of
lint or soft linen is dipped in it and applied to the part. It must not be
used internally or applied to a wounded surface, as it is very poisonous.
See FOMENTATIONS, ANODYNE, Nos. 3 and 4 (above), also FOMENTATION,
STIMULANT.
=Fomentation, Antiseptic.= _Syn._ FOMENTATIO ANTISEPTICA, L. _Prep._ 1.
Decoction of mallows, 4 pints; sal ammoniac, 2 oz.; dissolve, and add of
disulphate of quinine, 20 gr., dissolved in camphorated spirit, 4 fl. oz.
2. (Hosp. F.) Decoction of bark, 1 quart; infusion of chamomile, 1 pint;
camphorated spirit, 2 fl. oz.; hydrochloric acid, 1 fl. dr. Both are used
when there is a tendency to gangrene or putrescence.
=Fomentation of Ar'nica.= _Syn._ FOMENTATIO ARNICÆ, L. _Prep._ 1. Flowers
of arnica, 1 oz.; water, 3 pints; boil to a quart, and strain. Used in
contusions.
2. (Graefe.) Flowers of arnica, 2 oz.; rue (leaves), 1 oz.; boiling water,
q. s. to strain 12 fl. oz. of infusion after an hour's maceration at
nearly the boiling temperature. Used in contusions and extravasations,
especially as an application to black eyes.
3. (Radius.) Flowers of arnica, 1/2 oz.; boiling vinegar, q. s. to strain
6 fl. oz. of infusion, in which dissolve of carbonate of ammonia, 2 dr.
Used in [oe]dema of the scrotum.
=Fomentation, Aromat'ic.= _Syn._ FOMENTATIO AROMATICA, FOTUS AROMATICUS,
L. _Prep._ 1. Sea wormwood, southernwood, and chamomiles, of each 1 oz.;
laurel leaves, 1/2 oz.; water 5 pints; boil to half gall., and strain. In
rheumatism, cutaneous affections, colic, &c.
2. (Augustin.) Rosemary, 1/2 oz.; red wine, and water, of each 3 fl. oz.;
infuse and strain with expression. In contusions, especially black eyes.
3. (Hosp. F.) Cloves and mace, of each 1 oz.; opium, 20 gr.; red wine
(boiling), 1 pint; digest at near boiling for 1 hour, and strain. Used as
both the last.
4. (Rideau.) Bay leaves, rosemary, southernwood, and wormwood, of each 1
oz.; water, 2 quarts; boil 5 minutes, and strain. As No. 1.
=Fomentation, Astrin'gent.= _Syn._ FOTUS ASTRINGENS, F. ROBORANS, L.
_Prep._ 1. Decoction of oak bark.