To Use Oxalic Acid.—Make a weak solution of oxalic acid and water, and apply with a brush or rag. Take care this does not get into any sores and cuts, as it will inflame them. On healthy skin its action is as mild as lemon juice.
Or dampen the stain and hold it over the fumes of an old-fashioned sulphur match, freshly lighted. Or burn a small piece of sulphur out of doors and hold the stain in the fumes. Care' must, of course, be taken not to burn the flesh or inhale the fumes of burning sulphur.
The above are specially useful for fruit stains.
To Remove Stubborn Stains.—Mix oxalic acid and cream of tartar in equal proportions, and keep the mix ture in an old paper box among toilet articles. This box should be marked " Poison," and kept out of the reach of children. Wet the stain with warm water and sprinkle with this preparation, rubbing until the stain disappears. Then wash the hands with soap and rinse well. This will remove the most stubborn ink and dye stains.
To Soften the Hands.—Keep on the toilet stand near the soap a dish of oatmeal, and rub it freely on the hands after washing. This will cleanse and soften the skin.
Or use corn meal in the same man ner.
Or keep at hand a quantity of clean white sand. The artificial sort, made by crushing quartz or flint stone and sold for filters, is pref erable to sea sand or ordinary sand, since it has sharper edges. Mix a handful of sand with hot soapsuds, and wash and rub the hands with this mixture for several minutes. The sand may be cleansed by pour ing fresh water over it and draining through a filter. It can be used again and again. This method sof tens and removes the calluses caused by housework. The hands may after wards be rubbed with oatmeal or corn meal, as above, and treated with cold cream or some other simple lotion.
Or a pair of white kid gloves may be turned inside out and brushed over with cold cream or any melted mixture of wax, oil, lard, or other unguent. These gloves may then be drawn on the hands and worn at night.
Or the hands may be rubbed at night with cold cream, mutton tallow, or honey, and a large pair of gloves drawn on. In the morning the hands should be thoroughly washed with some good toilet soap, and rubbed with oatmeal or corn meal and any simple lotion. The following mix tures are recommended to use with gloves at night to soften and whiten the hands: Put in a quart glass fruit jar pound of grated or shaved castile soap. Pour over this / pint of alco
hol, and let stand in a warm place, shaking frequently until the soap is dissolved. Add 1 ounce of glycerin and oil of almonds, perfume with a few drops of any essential oil, and seal tightly.
Or put / pound of grated castile or other hard white soap in a dou ble boiler; pour over it 1 gill of olive oil, and dissolve with gentle heat. Add 1 I ounces of mutton tallow, mix thoroughly, remove from the fire, and add 2 fluid ounces of alcohol and a few drops of any essential oil as perfume.
Or shave together in a flat glass dish or on a marble slab 1 ounce of spermaceti, 1 ounce of white wax, and 1 ounce of gum camphor. Mix with olive oil to a stiff paste.
Or mix 1 ounce of glycerin and ounce of ammonia with I ounce of rose water.
Chapped Hands.—Substances rec ommended for chapped hands may be distinguished as follows: solid un guents, such as spermaceti and other forms of wax, lard, unsalted butter, mutton suet, tallow, and the like; liquid unguents, such as glycerin,• yolk of egg, honey, almond oil, lin seed oil, and olive oil; various sub stances which have specific soothing properties, as borax, bitter almonds, bran (decoction of), balsam of fir, camphor, sal soda, carbolic acid, quince seed, raisins, oatmeal; various flavoring and coloring extracts and perfumes.
The objects sought in using these substances are as follows: The solid and liquid unguents are employed to hold the specific reme dial agent in suspension, and to give consistency to the mass so as to make it easier to apply them; also to pre vent their speedy evaporation. The various remedial agents are selected according to their several properties and the results desired. These vary in their effects with different indi viduals and also according to the condition of the skin. A little expe rience will indicate which to employ under given conditions. Coloring ex tracts and perfume may, of course, be used according to taste. With these thoughts in mind it is an easy matter to prepare a stock of emolli ents suited to one's ideas and expe rience, based upon a solid unguent if a paste or salve is desired, or upon a liquid unguent if a lotion is pre ferred, and containing such remedial agents, coloring matter, etc., as are desired.