Excerpt from History of the Discovery and Mode of Application of the Liquid Adhesive Plaster, or Ethereal Solution of Prepared CottonWhile attending the medical lectures in Boston the winter before the last, Mr. Bigelow showed me a liquid which he was using as a varnish, and informed me, that it was made by dissolving gun-cotton in sulphuric ether, and that he obtained the directions for making it from Dr. Charles T. Jackson. Having at this time occa sion to use some varnish for a purpose to which the com mon varnishes of the shops were found by experiment not to be applicable, and noticing that this gun-cotton varnish dried suddenly, and became hard, transparent and glossy, it occurred to me that it'might answer the purpose I had in view. I therefore requested Mr. Bigelow to furnish me with a small quantity of the liquid. The quantity he kindly gave me. I made experiments with it as a varnish, but soon discovered that it would not answer the object I had in view. For instead of improv~ ing and protecting the gilded surface, as I had hoped it would, it destroyed it, probably by the action of the acid it contained. While making this application of the var nish, my fingers became covered with it, and I noticed that my index and middle fingers were so firmly glued together by the varnish, that it required a considerable degree of force to separate them.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.