Castile soap

“ Castile soap is pure soda soap, and the blueish or red mottled appearance is produced by stirring in some sulphate of iron (green vitriol) ; when new it is of a blueish color, but gets red by exposure to the air.
Oils and fats combine with the oxides of several of the metals, and a combination of oxide of lead with olive oil forms a firm solid substance, or plaister, which, with the addition of a little resin, is used in surgery, and when spread upon linen or calico, forms the common adhesive plaister. ”

“ The precedent of the use of Castile soap (containing oxide of iron) renders it likely that when prejudice has passed away, such soaps will find a place in the pharmacopœias. The discovery of the solubility, under certain conditions, of the active alkaloids, quinine, morphia, &c., in oil, by Mr. W. Bastick, greatly favors the supposition of analogous compounds in soap. ”

“ Two tons of tallow should yield three tons of white soap. In making the same quantity of common brown or yellow soap, twelve hundred weight less is required, on account of the substitution of that amount of yellow rosin.
17. The mottled appearance of some soaps is caused by dispersing the ley through it, towards the close of the operation, or by adding a quantity of sulphate of iron, indigo, or the oxide of manganese. Castile soap, now manufactured in the greatest perfection at Marseilles, in France, receives its beautifully marbled appearance from the sulphate of iron. ”

“ Marseilles is the centre of the soap industry of the world, situated as it is in the very heart of the region of the olive, which makes not only the olive-oil of commerce but the best of common soaps as well, including the famous Castile soap, which has deserted Castile for Marseilles. One hundred and twenty-one million kilos of soap are made here every year, of which a fifth part, at least, is exported to all corners of the globe, the bulk being taken by the French colonies. ”

“ The solution of such a mixture if boiled down would give us soft soap.
If oil or fat became mixed with the ashes of soda plants, it would produce hard soap. Such a mixture would most easily be formed accidentally in regions where the olive flourishes near the coast, as in Italy and Spain for example, and this mixture would be Castile soap, which is still largely made by combining refuse or inferior olive oil with the soda obtained from the ashes of seaweed. ”

“ Stir 1/4 of a pound of Castile soap, and place it in a jar near the fire, pour over it 1/2 pint of alcohol; when the soap is dissolved and mixed with the spirit, add 1 ounce of glycerine, the same of oil of almonds, with a few drops of essence of violets, or ottar of roses, then pour it into moulds to cool for use. 2. A wineglassful of eau-de-cologne, and one of lemon-juice, two cakes of broken Windsor soap, mixed well together, when hard, will form an excellent substance. ”

“ A cheaper and better plan is to substitute the ‘soft soap’ of the Ph. L. (‘soap made with olive oil and potassa’) for the Castile soap ordered by the College. The soft soap of commerce imparts to the liniment an unpleasant smell. The following formula, one of those commonly adopted by the wholesale druggists, produces a very good article, though much weaker than that of the Pharmacopœia.
6. (Wholesale.) Camphor (cut small) , 11⁄2 lb.; soft soap, 7 lbs.; oil of rosemary, 3 fl. oz.; rectified spirit of wine and water, of each 31⁄2 galls.; digest with occasional agitation for a week, and filter. ”

“ When a fence is required, a hedge of aloe is usually started.
Spanish children chew sugar-cane as American children munch candy. The cane is brought from Cuba and is sold everywhere; carried about by venders in big bundles of handy lengths, to capture all stray centimos.
Not so well patronized is the street dealer in soap—“old Castile” soap—for this business is recognized to be a form of beggary, and though bargains are made and money paid, the soap is seldom carried away by the purchaser. ”

“ Curd Soap.—This variety is manufactured by boiling the fat with alkali and removing the unused lye, which is afterwards worked up for glycerin. The oil mixture used differs in the several manufacturing countries, and the commercial name of the product is correspondingly varied. In Germany tallow is the principal fat; in France olive oil occupies the chief place and the product is known as Marseilles or Castile soap ”

“ It will be necessary to use soap—Castile soap being the best for the purpose—it being less irritating to the skin than the ordinary soap. Care should be taken that it does not get into the eyes, as it may produce either inflammation or smarting of those organs.
If the skin be delicate, or if there be any excoriation or “breaking-out” on the skin, then Glycerin soap, instead of the Castile soap, ought to be used.
4. At what age do you recommend a mother to commence washing her infant in the tub or in the nursery-basin? ”

“ Let the whole stand in the sun, stirring it frequently. In the course of the week, fill the barrel with weak ley.
Genuine Erasive Soap.—Two pounds of good castile soap; half a pound of carbonate of potash; dissolve in half a pint of hot water. Cut the soap in thin slices, and boil the soap with the potash until it is thick enough to mould in cakes; also add alcohol, half an ounce; camphor, half an ounce; hartshorn, half an ounce; color with half an ounce of pulverized charcoal. ”

“ Shave the soap into ribbons, beat it into a paste with a little water, and add first the prepared chalk and lastly the thymol and wintergreen oil dissolved in a little water.
Saponaceous tooth-wash.—White Castile soap 3 ozs., oil of orange peel 10 drops, oil of cinnamon 5 drops, water 4 ozs., alcohol 12 ozs.
Shave the soap into ribbons; melt with the water in a water-bath, adding the alcohol while still warm. Continue the heat if necessary, until solution is effected. When cold, dissolve the oils in the liquid. ”

“ Aside from all sanitary questions, in a matter so intimate as the bath, there is something repulsive in the thought of having your toilet articles used by any one else.
A pure Castile soap is one of the best that can be used. All cheap scented soaps should be avoided, as they are apt to contain impure materials that will actually injure the skin. If the skin is rough, rubbing it with a good sand-soap, and rubbing the same on the flesh-brush, will remove many of the scales and leave the skin much smoother and softer. Medicated soaps should never be used except by the direction of a physician. ”

“ Castile soap makes the best shampoo in the world, especially when a little piece is dissolved in warm water and a tiny bit of ammonia or alcohol added, although for dry hair neither the alcohol nor ammonia is at all necessary. If a tonic is needed, then use the sage tea, which, however, must not be put on light, blond tresses. Common kerosene, if one can endure the odor, is an unsurpassed remedy for falling hair. ”

“ One part of fresh Castile soap is dissolved in forty parts of warm water; when cool, three parts of the solution are mixed with two parts FIG. 15of glycerine. The mixture is cooled to a temperature of 3° or 4° C., and filtered. A soap film is formed by dipping into the solution a short piece of wide glass tubing. Removing the tube and placing it so that the film is vertical, a series of beautifully colored bands appear, the colors being deeper at the top and gradually fading into barely perceptible alternations of pink and green near the bottom. ”

“ Some persons clean their teeth every morning with soap; if soap be used it ought to be Castile soap, and if the teeth be not white and clear, Castile soap is an excellent cleanser of the teeth, and may be used in lieu of the tooth-powder as before recommended. ”

“ In regard to the use of soap for bathing purposes, the finest, purest soaps should be used, and these alone. It is generally supposed that pure, white castile soap is the best. Various soaps are widely advertised, while some that claim to be of the very best are not always up to the requisite standard. ”

“ From Castile soap (in powder) , 11 oz.; chloride of lime (dry and good) , 1 oz.; mix, beat them to a mass with rectified spirit, q. s.; (holding in solution) oil of verbena or of ginger grass, 1⁄4 oz.; lastly, form the mass into flat tablets, and wrap these in thin sheet gutta percha. A most excellent detergent and stimulant soap in various affections, admirably adapted for hospital use, and for removing stains from the skin and rendering it white. It is the most powerful known agent against infection from contagious diseases communicable by contact.
Soap, Cod-Liver Oil. Syn. ”

“ The only thing which will render it easy of removal is soap, as by its action it softens the oily material and dislodges it from the skin. Soap has acquired an evil reputation which it certainly does not deserve, and if it disagrees it is either due to the fact of its being an inferior article, or else the skin itself must be at fault. The best soap to use is the white, not the mottled, Castile, as it is made from pure olive oil. By the proper and judicious use of soap the skin is kept soft and natural, and the complexion is maintained in the hue of health. ”

“ If we gather together scrapings of lard, butter, bits of tallow from burned-out candles, scraps of waste fat, or any other sort of grease, and pour a strong solution of lye over the mass, a soft soapy substance is formed. In colonial times, every family made its own supply of soap, utilizing, for that purpose, household scraps often regarded by the housekeeper of to-day as worthless. Grease and fat were boiled with water and hardwood ashes, which are rich in lye, and from the mixture came the soft soap used by our ancestors. ”

“ At its best there is either a considerable excess of free fat which later exhibits itself in producing rancidity or uncombined caustic, which produces an unpleasant effect on the skin when the soap is consumed for washing. ”

“ Through the acid properties of the fats, the oleine, stearine, margarine, etc., which they contain, combine with the alkali to produce the saponified compound.
Hard soap is made with soda; soft soap with potash. The more oleine in the fat, the softer the soap; the more stearine the harder. Rosin is also largely used, sometimes to the extent of one-third the weight of the soap. It increases its hardness, makes it dissolve easier in water and forms a more copious lather.
The Most Economical Soap. Soap may be two-thirds water and still remain solid. Even dry, hard soap contains 20 or 25 per cent. ”

“ Unless a soap-ley be rendered caustic, or deprived of its fixed air, it can have no natural attraction for vegetable or animal subtsances, such as oil, tallow, or grease of any kind, so as to convert them into a soap. For the sole purpose, therefore, of extracting the fixed air from the leys, do soapmakers use quicklime. Depriving the mild alkali of its fixed air, renders it caustic, or of a burning, corroding quality, and of that peculiar nature that instantly attach themselves to all greasy substances, and converts them into soap. ”

“ In boiling together a fat and a lye, the former is resolved into its component parts, a fatty acid and glycerine. The {651} acid unites with the soda lye, forming a salt, which is regarded as soap. By the addition of sodium chloride, this (the soap) is separated and swims on the residual liquid as “kern,” or granulated soap. Good soaps were formerly made only from animal fats, but some of the vegetable oils or fats have been found to also make excellent soap. Among them the best is cacao butter. ”

“ Tallow soaps are so slowly soluble that they are not applicable to the scouring of silk.
The dyer of silk requires soap, which is neutral and of a pleasant odour. The preference is given to neutral olive-oil soft soap, but hard soaps (made from olive oil, oleine, or palm oil) are used chiefly on account of cheapness. It is essential, however, that the soap [Pg 94] should be free from rosin on account of its frequent use and consequent decomposition in the acid dye bath, when any liberated rosin acids would cling to the silk fibres and produce disagreeable results. ”

“ The oil in this composition, being dissolved by the lime, wholly disappears; and, uniting with the whole of the other ingredients, forms a kind of calcareous soap. In putting in the Spanish white, you must be careful that it is finely powdered and strewed gently over the surface of the mixture. It then, by degrees, imbibes the liquid and sinks to the bottom. Milk skimmed in summer is often found to be curdled; but this is of no consequence in the present preparation, as its combining with the lime soon restores it to its fluid state. But it must on no account be sour ”

“ And for the better preventing the elandestine making of soap, without payment of the duties for the same; be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the said 20th day of September 1784, it shall be lawful for any officer or officers of Excise to take an account from time to time, as often as he or they shall think fit, by gauging, weighing, or otherwise, as to him or them shall seem most proper and convenient, of all tallow, oil, rosin, and grease of every kind, and of all materials for making soap, which any maker of soap shall at any time have in his possession ”