Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Practical Everyday Chemistry - H. Bennett

BromicAcid - 3-3-2013 at 19:12

Someone at work recently loaned me this work after having them borrow Mr. Gergel's memoirs. The book was very interesting to say the least. SO interesting that I picked up a copy of my own. Amusingly enough print on demand strikes again:

Two Thousand Formulas, Recipes and Trade Secrets: The Classic "Do-It-Yourself" Book of Practical Everyday Chemistry

This reprint sells for $313 new and $132 used however an original copy can be had for only $10 or so.

Anyway, getting to the content. The book, printed in 1934 covers, as the reprint title suggests "Two Thousand Formulas, Recipes and Trade Secrets". What amuses me though is that the descriptions are at ends with one another, they describe the preparations as being done in ones home however the scales are very large. For example:
Quote:
Field Mouse Poison
Whole Wheat - 125 lb.
Thallium Sulphate 1 1/2 lb.
Hot Water 6 qt.
Starch, Dry 1/2 lb.
Glycerin 1/2 pt.

The thallium sulphate is dissolved in the hot water, and to this is added the starch, previously mixed with a little cold water. The clear starch paste thus made is boiled for 2 to 3 minutes, the glycerin is added and the mixture boiled for a short time and then incorporated with the wheat.


Does not 128 lbs sound like a suitable batch size for mouse poison? How about removing tattoo marks?
Quote:
Apply a highly concentrated tannin solution to the tattooed place and treat them with a tattooing needle as the tattooer does. Next vigorously rub the places with a lunar caustic stick and allow the silver nitrate to act for some time until the tattooed portions have turned entirely black.... a scuff ensues, which comes off after fourteen or sixteen days leaving behind a reddish scar.


Such diverse preparations are covered as embalming fluid, cheese, feminine hygiene gel, explosives, enamel, rubber (for tires), concrete, alloys of gold, the list goes on and on and on and on. It's an amazing book and what's more amazing is the prevalence of sugar of lead, corrosive sublimate, and and lunar caustic in all sorts of things, even those intended for human consumption.

A quick search doesn't reveal any scan of the book though it wouldn't surprise me if one did exist. Nevertheless, this is a very interesting book with a few formula that I will be giving a try.

One final note of interest, the copy loaned to me had a small hand written note on the inside cover saying that several pages were missing. In my own copy however those pages were there. The first copy was an ex-library book and those missing pages were the ones that covered the preparation of explosives and pyrotechnic compounds :)

[Edited on 3/4/2013 by BromicAcid]

Gearhead_Shem_Tov - 4-3-2013 at 02:47

I bought my copy several years ago, I think through Lindsay Books (of beloved memory...). It was published by Feral House Press, Los Angeles, 2004. It says $14.95 on the back cover.

-Bobby

watson.fawkes - 4-3-2013 at 07:18

H. Bennett was also the editor of a series called The Chemical Formulary, which is much in the same spirit, but a bit more oriented to small-scale manufacturers. The first 11 volumes are out of copyright, and accordingly are available as scans.

Steve_hi - 7-3-2013 at 04:35

This book can be had at abe books.com for 6.72$

CaptainOfSmug - 7-3-2013 at 10:41

Any chance of an upload?:D

Steve_hi - 14-3-2013 at 10:16

Yesterday I reciieved my copy I paid $9.34 with delivery today I went back to the same place and there over a hundred dollars and look at this one
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Two+Thousan...

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Dr.Bob - 15-3-2013 at 06:36

You should list yours for sale at $100. Another cheap one will show up eventually, as some book sellers seem determined to undermine the value of used books, just as some others seem to think that every old book is worth $1000. A book like that should be worth about $10-20 used. It would be nice if it were available electronically for a reasonable price.

CaptainOfSmug - 3-4-2013 at 20:20

My copy of this book came today. I'm pretty amused by what all it has to offer. However, it is a little disheartening that most of the ingredients are some name brand item which tells very little about what the solution actually is. Still, I'm sure their are a few "money savers" in here which I am excited to try out!

IrC - 4-4-2013 at 01:13

Quote: Originally posted by CaptainOfSmug  
My copy of this book came today. I'm pretty amused by what all it has to offer. However, it is a little disheartening that most of the ingredients are some name brand item which tells very little about what the solution actually is. Still, I'm sure their are a few "money savers" in here which I am excited to try out!


Don't know about old brand names but many old chemical names are easily crossed to modern names.

http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/nomenclature.html

http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/archema.html

http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/papers.html

Last but not least the old (yet free) standby, Henleys' twentieth century book of recipes, formulas and processes; containing nearly ten thousand selected scientific, chemical, technical and household recipes, formulas and processes for use in the laboratory, the office, the workshop and in the home

http://archive.org/details/henleystwentiet00hiscgoog


[Edited on 4-4-2013 by IrC]

Random - 6-4-2013 at 17:45

Edit: wrong topic

[Edited on 7-4-2013 by Random]