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A PHYSICIAN'S MEMORANDA. 49
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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• ¦ » The Physician's Note-Book Contains...
although , the candle was held at a distance of four or five inches . Clearly a liquid containing volatile matter capable of ignition with
such facility would be unsuited for any purposes of domestic economy . Having ourselves invested a few shillings in . the
purchase of a lamp and a quart of paraffine oil , it evidently became necessary either to sacrifice the purchase-money , or to acquire the
security that the compound sold to us was not of so explosive a characteror in fact explosive at all . We are happy to inform our
, readers that we were not reduced to the first alternative , and our lamp continues nightly to give the light of half a dozen wax candles
In a nursery previously but scantily illuminated by a solitary tallow candle .
Now paraffine is itself not an explosive substance , and doubtless as there is a probability of its coming into more and more general
use , we shall soon hear that all persons who sell any liquid under that name will guard themselves and their customers by not selling
any spurious article under that name . Until , however , the public have that security , it will be well that every new supply of paraffine ,
or paraffine oil , brought to a house be tested . For this purpose nothing is wanted but a plate , a spell , and a
little common sense . Let a tea-spoonful of the liquid be poured into the plateand a lighted spell applied to it . You will not be able to
, set fire to the liquid if it is the right article , much less cause it to explode ; or if you dip a knitting needle into the liquid and pass
it through the flame of a candle , it will not ignite unless you hold it for some time in the flame . The good paraffine will not bum
unless coaxed up a wick , and treated with the same deference that we show to our carcel or moderator lamps .
There is this great convenience attached to the paraffine lamps , that they are devoid of all complicated mechanismthat they
re-, quire little trimming or cleaning , and that they are replenished with a minimum of trouble . We may mention for the benefit of those
who care for our example that we ourselves burn Young ' s paraffine oil . But though we have good authority for believing it perfectly
safe , we think it our duty as Paterfamilias to insure a _joroper investigation of every fresh supply that is brought to the house .
To these memoranda the Editors desire to add a reprint of a letter which appeared in the Times of Feb . 1 st , from an eminent
professor of chemistry ; the subject being one which was treated of in the _En-gklish Woman's Journal for last July , by a lady who
had witnessed in workshops the fatal effects of emerald green . Our article created much sympathy at the time , but the London season _,
was approaching its close , and no practical machinery appeared to be at hand for putting an end to the cruel evil it exposed ; though
we received various letters from ladies in different parts of England asking for particularsand in one case offering moneyif money
, , were , waiited . Early in the winter , the inquest which , appeared in .
_TOIi . IX . E
A Physician's Memoranda. 49
A PHYSICIAN ' S MEMORANDA . 49
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1862, page 49, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031862/page/49/
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