HENLEY’STWENTIETH CENTURYRECIPES, FORMULAS AND PROCESSES
PREFACE
In compiling this book of formulas, recipes and processes, the Editorhas endeavored to meet the practical requirements of the home andworkshop—the mechanic, the manufacturer, the artisan, the housewife,and the general home worker.
In addition to exercising the utmost care in selecting his materialsfrom competent sources, the Editor has also modified formulas whichwere obviously ill adapted for his needs, but were valuable if altered.Processes of questionable merit he has discarded. By adhering to thisplan the Editor trusts that he has succeeded in preparing a repositoryof useful knowledge representing the experience of experts inevery branch of practical achievement. Much of the matter has beenspecially translated for this work from foreign technological periodicalsand books. In this way the Editor has embodied much practicalinformation otherwise inaccessible to most English-speaking people.
Each recipe is to be regarded as a basis of experiment, to be modifiedto suit the particular purpose in hand, or the peculiar conditionswhich may affect the experimenter. Chemicals are not always of uniformrelative purity and strength; heat or cold may markedly influencethe result obtained, and lack of skill in the handling of utensils andinstruments may sometimes cause failure. Inasmuch as a particularformula may not always be applicable, the Editor has thought it advisableto give as many recipes as his space would allow under eachheading. In some instances a series of formulas is given which apparently