Black powder

“ It is a heavy, insoluble, black powder. It is frequently met with imperfectly prepared, and sometimes adulterated. It is said to be a mixture of mercurous sulphide and sulphur, in variable proportions depending on the length of the trituration. On the large scale it is generally made by melting the ingredients together, and afterwards reducing the mass to a fine powder in a mill or mortar. It is said to be vermifuge and alterative, and has been used in some cutaneous and glandular diseases, but appears to be nearly inert.—Dose, 5 to 30 gr. ”

“ When this black Mineral is purged from all gross impurity, and reduced into a most white and delicate Colour, and is in the form of a most delicate, fine, bright, and very ponderous Powder, it may be used with notable benefit about the curing of the most grievous diseases. It casts forth out of the Body of Man all hurtfull things, and that both by a visible and invisible operation, freeing and purging it of all hurtfull and ill humours, beyond all other Medicaments, what name soever distinguish’t by. ”

“ Notwithstanding the repeated trials and experiments made by the greatest artists, to add to the strength of gun-powder, all have proved without success, and most of them have agreed that the present powder will not admit of a fourth ingredient; therefore it is evident, that any thing being mixed with the present composition of gun-powder, would rather reduce it’s strength than add to it; consequently coloured powder must be weaker than black; so that the making of powder of different colours, is only a fancy that serves to please the curious, without any other effect. ”

“ The products of combustion of smokeless powder are not only practically all gaseous, but also they are much hotter than the products of combustion of the old, smoky, black powder. Owing to this fact, smokeless powder may be considered about four times as powerful as the old black powder. ”

“ Carbonised bones reduced to powder. That of commerce is usually the residuum of the distillation of bone-spirit. Inferior to true ivory-black; having a slight, but peculiar reddish tinge, from which the latter is quite free. Besides its use as a pigment, it is extensively employed in making blacking, as a material for the moulds of founders, as a clarifier and bleacher of liquids, &c. See Ivory-black and Charcoal, Animal. ”

“ A handsome but costly brown is obtained when crude spirits of wine are heated with fuming sulphuric acid. Equal volumes of alcohol and sulphuric acid are used; the mixture is heated in a retort connected to a condenser, which is required on account of the combustible vapours evolved from the mixture. When the mass is quite black the heat is withdrawn; the residue is diluted with water, and soda solution added so long as effervescence occurs. On filtering a very soft brown powder is left, which forms a very handsome and durable pigment. ”

“ The white powder you sent me is something very different from the drug you prescribed; it is the powder from which the wine of the Sabbath, the Vinum Sabbati was prepared. No doubt you have read of the Witches' Sabbath, and have laughed at the tales which terrified our ancestors; the black cats, and the broomsticks, and dooms pronounced against some old woman's cow. Since I have known the truth I have often reflected that it is on the whole a happy thing that such burlesque as this is believed, for it serves to conceal much that it is better should not be known generally. ”

“ Black-lead—or, as we term it, graphite—of which I have several specimens here—is simply carbon—an allotrope of carbon—the same elementary substance, notwithstanding, as the diamond. This black-lead (understand black-lead, as it is called, contains no metallic lead) is used largely for making lead-pencils. The manufacture of lead-pencils, by the bye, is a very interesting subject. Formerly they cut little pieces of black-lead out of lumps of the natural black-lead such as you see there; but now-a-days they powder the black-lead, and then compress the very fine powder into a block. ”

“ Up to a certain pressure, hardness, density, and size of grain of a powder have an effect on the rate of burning and therefore on pressure. Glazing or polishing powder grains, also exerts a slight retarding action on burning and enables the powders to resist atmospheric moisture better. Excess of moisture in gunpowder has a marked effect in reducing the explosiveness. All powders are liable to absorb moisture, the quality and kind of charcoal being the main determinant in this respect; hard burnt black charcoal is least absorbent. ”

“ It fades in the course of one season, but it is very little trouble to re-color with it. It merely requires to be steeped and strained. Perhaps a small piece of alum might serve to set the color, in some degree. In earthen or tin.
1327. To color Black.—Logwood and cider, boiled together, in iron—add water for the evaporation—makes a good and durable black. Rusty nails, or any bits of rusty iron, boiled in vinegar, with a small piece of copperas, will also dye black; so will ink-powder, if boiled with vinegar. In all cases, black must be set with copperas. ”

“ Good. A commoner article of liquid blacking does not sell.
4. (Bryant and James’s India-rubber Liquid Blacking. Patent dated 1836.) Take of india rubber (in small pieces) , 18 oz.; hot308 rape oil, 9 lbs. (say 1 gall.) ; dissolve; to the solution add of ivory-black (in very fine powder) , 60 lbs.; treacle, 45 lbs.; mix thoroughly; further add of gum-arabic, 1 lb., dissolved in vinegar (No. 24) , 20 galls.; reduce the whole to a perfect state of smoothness and admixture by trituration in a paint-mill; throw the compound into a wooden vessel, and add, very gradually, of sulphuric acid, 12 lbs. ”

“ Modern smokeless powders are certainly less noisy than the black powders, mainly because of the absence of metallic salts which although they may be gaseous whilst in the gun are certainly ejected as solids or become solids at the moment of contact with air. ”

“ For example, camphor powders more easily when a few drops of spirits of wine are added to it; mace, nutmegs, and such oily aromatic substances are better for the addition of a little white sugar; resins and gum-resins should be powdered in a cold place, and if they are intended to be dissolved, a little fine well-washed white sand mixed with them assists the process of powdering. Tough roots, like gentian and calumba, should be cut into thin slices; and fibrous roots, like ginger, cut slanting, otherwise the powder will be full of small fibres. ”

“ The high-grade powder used in warfare in these days is known in this country as "brown powder," because of its color. In Europe such powder has a dozen or more names, generally called after the men who have invented each kind. There are only two places in this country where the powder used in our big guns is made. ”

“ The gum sandarac and lac render this varnish durable; it may be coloured with a little saffron or dragon’s blood.
TO MAKE BLACKING.
Take of ivory-black and treacle, each 12 oz.
spermaceti oil, 4 oz.
white wine vinegar, 4 pints.
Mix.
This blacking, (recommended by Mr. Gray, lecturer on the materia medica,) is superior in giving leather a finer polish than any of those that are advertised, as they all contain sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol,) which is necessary, to give it the polishing quality, but it renders leather rotten and very liable to crack. ”

“ With the addition of a few drops of carbolic acid and a good cork the gum solution will keep for months.
The selection of the pigments is not such a serious matter as some of the writers would lead us to believe. Tube water colors are convenient and save the trouble of grinding, but the cheap colors in powder take a better grip and give richer images. The best prints are made with mixtures of common lampblack, red ocher, sienna, umber, and Vandyke brown, the only objection to their employment being the necessity of rather carefully grinding. ”

“ The vitriol, however, greatly contributes to promote309 the shining properties of the blacking; and, in small quantities, or in the proper proportion, is not so injurious to the leather as some persons have represented; as it wholly unites itself to the lime of the bone-phosphate contained in the ivory-black, and is thus neutralised, insoluble sulphate of lime, and an acid phosphate or superphosphate, being formed. It is the latter that gives the acidity to a well-made sample of blacking, and not the sulphuric acid originally added to it. ”

“ If this metal be dissolved in aquafortis (30) , and water be poured into the solution, a white powder precipitates, which is an oxide of bismuth, and which, after being well washed, is used as a pigment, under the name of pearl-white. From its beautiful appearance, 219this powder is sometimes employed by ladies for painting their skin; a practice which cannot be too much condemned, both on account of the danger with which it is attended, and from its soon injuring both the texture and natural colour of the skin. ”

“ The pure salt may be prepared artificially for use as a pigment, by adding dilute sulphuric acid to a solution of chloride of baryta, when a white precipitate is formed; this is well washed and dried. It is a heavy, white powder, insoluble in water and nearly insoluble in all other menstrua. It may also be prepared by heating the native [171] mineral, grinding it to powder, and well washing it, first in dilute sulphuric acid, in order to remove any traces of iron, and afterwards in water ”

“ To make a good blacking, one that is of a black in color, either use purified bone black, or a mineral acid (sulphuric or hydrochloric acid) with crude bone black. The residual acid is entirely neutralized by the sodium carbonate and has no bad effect on the leather. The following formula contains no acid and makes a good paste:
Mix and boil together with occasional stirring until a smooth, homogeneous paste is obtained, then add, a little at a time, and under constant stirring, the following: {632}
Stir until homogeneous, then pour, while still hot, into boxes. ”

“ The powders usually sold by druggists are injurious to the complexion, owing to harmful ingredients. If a powder is perfectly pure, a moderate use of it will not harm the complexion, but if it is impure it soon causes the face to turn sallow and yellow. The following is perfectly pure, and is a splendid article, giving a lovely, refined complexion:—
Boston Burnet Powder for the Face.—Five cents' worth of bay rum, five cents' worth of magnesia snowflake, five cents' worth of bergamot, five cents' worth oil of lemon; mix in a pint bottle and fill up with rain water. ”

“ Blacks are dyed by immersing the goods alternately in solutions of logwood and iron, or a one-solution method is used, consisting of a mixture of these two, with, in either case, varying additions of lactic acid and sumach, copper salts, potassium bichromate, &c.; the time of immersion varies from hours to days. After striking, the goods are exposed to the air for some hours in order to oxidize to a good black ”

“ Patti, said it was impossible to overestimate the importance of keeping the skin well fed with oils and cream.
Know That You Use a Reliable Complexion Powder
Beware of powders that create dryness of the skin. The purity of a face powder is more important than many realize. The presence of bismuth, arsenic, white lead and other mineral or alkaline substances make many powders unfit for use on the skin. A good, pure complexion powder is beneficial to the skin, in protecting it from dirt, wind and sun. ”

“ I tell you, it is not what I ordered; and what that stuff in the bottle really is remains to be seen."
He undid the wrapper, and cautiously tilted a few grains of the white powder on to a piece of paper, and peered curiously at it.
"Yes," he said, "it is like the sulphate of quinine, as you say; it is flaky. But smell it."
He held the bottle to me, and I bent over it. It was a strange sickly smell, vaporous and overpowering, like some strong anæsthetic.
"I shall have it analyzed," said Haberden. "I have a friend who has devoted his whole life to chemistry as a science. ”

“ The remaining solution can be crystallized by evaporation, so that ferrous sulphate (green vitriol) or ferric chloride can be obtained, or it can be treated to form red oxide of iron.
Tin In Powder Form.—To obtain tin in powder form the metal is first melted; next pour it into a box whose sides, etc., are coated with powdered chalk. Agitate the box vigorously and without discontinuing, until the metal is entirely cold. Now pass this powder through a sieve and keep in a closed flask. This tin powder is eligible for various uses and makes a handsome effect, especially in bronzing. ”

“ After the addition of the bleaching powder solution to the bluish-white precipitate, it is acidified with hydrochloric acid, which develops the blue. When the whole has settled, the supernatant liquor is drawn off, and the blue powder is well washed and strained on a filter, then placed in pans and dried very gradually indeed in the dark, at a tempera [67] ture never exceeding 130° F. The slower the drying the better is the gloss of the pigment. ”

“ Blacking Pastes.—While shellac is not soluble in water alone, it is soluble in water carrying borax, the alkaline carbonates, etc. In paste blacking the object of the sulphuric acid is to remove from the bone black the residual calcium phosphate. The ordinary bone black of commerce consists of only about 10 per cent of carbon, the residue being chiefly calcium phosphate. This is the reason that we cannot obtain a pure black color from it, but a dirty brown. ”

“ Exposure or desiccation destroys most of its best qualities.
The present annual value of the blacking consumed in the United Kingdom is estimated at 562,500l., or about 41⁄2d. per head for the whole population; while the collective yearly value of that exported is about 35,000l.
[See Balls, Blacking, Bone-black, Boots and Shoes, Leather, Sulphuric Acid, &c.; also below.] 310
Blacking, Automat′ic. Syn. Self-shi′′ning blacking, Span′ish Japan, &c. Prep. 1. Gum-arabic, 4 oz.; treacle or coarse moist sugar, 11⁄2oz.; good black ink, 1⁄4 pint; strong vinegar, 2 oz. ”