MEDICATED SOAP Soaps are frequently used as the vehicle for various remedial agents, as sulphur, iodine, tar, and the like, for diseases of the skin. Also for disinfectants, as carbolic acid, chlo rine, and others. Any neutral white hard soap may be medicated by being dissolved in water. The following are especially recommended: Sulphur Soap.—Shave 2 ounces of soft soap and add ounce of flowers of sulphur and 2 fluid drams of proof spirits, which may be per fumed and colored according to taste. Mix the ingredients thoroughly in an earthenware bowl or marble mor tar. Sulphur is a valuable remedy in itch and other diseases of the skin.
Iodine Soap.—Dissolve 1 pound of white eastile soap shaved fine in 3 fluid ounces of distilled water or rose water. Add 1 ounce of iodide of potassium. Put in a double boiler, melt, and mix by stirring. Iodine is a valuable remedy in scrofula and other diseases of the skin.
Juniper - tar Soap. — Dissolve 4 ounces of tar of the juniper tree in 1 pound of almond oil or olive oil. Put on the fire in a double boiler, and add gradually weak soda lye, stirring constantly until saponifica tion takes place. Tar is a valuable remedy in all kinds of skin diseases. This soap is really an ointment. It should be applied at night and washed away next morning.
Carbolic - acid Soap. — Take 5 pounds of fresh cocoanut oil or ma rine soap, melt, and add 5 ounces of alcohol, 3 ounces of carbolic acid, 1 ounce of caustic potash, and ounce of almond oil. Stir until the ingre dients are thoroughly incorporated, and cool in molds.
Soap with Chlorine. — Shave 11 ounces of castile soap, dry in warm oven, and reduce to a powder. Add 1 ounce of fresh dry chloride of lime. Add a sufficient quantity of proof spirits to cut this mixture and reduce it to the consistency of dough. This soap must be kept from the air, which may be done by packing it in glass fruit jars with tight metal caps. It is especially valuable in the sick room and for nurses in contagious diseases. It also has the property of removing stains from the skin and making it white.
Soap with Arsenic.— This is a
paste made by mixing 12 ounces of carbonate of potash with 4 ounces each of white arsenic, white soap, and air-slaked lime, with sufficient water to reduce to the required con sistency. Powdered camphor, ounce, may also be added with advan tage.
Or mix white soap, 8 ounces; pow dered lime, 2 ounces; arsenious acid, 8 ounces; carbonate of potassa, 3 ounces, and gum camphor, 1 ounces. Reduce the ingredients separately to powder and mix. These two arseni cal soaps are poisonous, and should be labeled accordingly and kept out of the way of children and household pets. They are used as preservatives in preparing the skins of birds and other animals, and to keep them free from the attacks of insects.
Bayberry Soap, or Myrtle Soap.— Dissolve 3i ounces of white potash in 1 pint of water, and add 1 pound of melted myrtle wax or bayberry tal low. Boil slowly and stir until the mixture saponifies. Add 2 table spoonfuls of cold water containing a pinch of salt, and boil 5 or 6 minutes longer. Remove from the fire and when it is cool, but before it sets, perfume by adding 5 or 6 drops of any essential oil or oils, according to taste. This soap is valuable for all toilet purposes, for shaving, chaps, and all diseased conditions of the skin. It should not be used until it is thoroughly seasoned. The longer it is allowed to dry and season the better it becomes.
Transparent Soap. — Any good white neutral soap may be rendered transparent by reducing it to shav ings, adding one half its volume of alcohol, and setting the mixture in a warm place until the soap is dis solved, When allowed to cool it has somewhat the appearance of rock candy. It may be perfumed and scented according to taste.
Or shave 24 ounces of good hard yellow soap and add 1 pint of alco hol. Simmer with gentle heat until dissolved. Remove from the fire, add 1 ounce of almond or other essence, and stir vigorously with an egg beater to make a complete emulsion.
Pour into molds to cool. This gives a very cheap, pure soap of good pearance, as it is nearly transparent.