Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Eau-de-luce

EAU-DE-LUCE, a kind of liquid volatile soap, of a strong pungent smell, which is prepared in the following manner: Ten or twelve grains of white soap are dissolved in four ounces of rectified spirit of wine; after which the solution is strained. A dram of rectified oil of amber is then added, and the whole filtrated: with this solution should be mixed such a proportion of the strongest volatile spirit of sal-ammoniac, in a crystal glass bottle, as will, when sufficiently shaken, produce a beautiful milk-white liquor. If a kind of cream should settle on the surface, it will be requisite to add a small quantity of the spirituous solution of the soap.—Those who may wish to have this liquor perfumed, may employ lavender, or Hungary water, instead of the spirit of wine.

This celebrated composition is, however, seldom obtained in a genuine state, when purchased at the shops. Its use, as an external remedy, is very extensive; for it has not only been employed for curing the bites of vipers, wasps, bees, gnats, ants, and other insects, but also for burns, and even the bite of a mad dog, though not always with uniform success. Besides, it affords one of the safest stimulants in cases of suffocation from mephitic vapours, and in that state of apoplexy (which see) termed serous, as likewise after excessive intoxication, and in all those paralytic complaints, where the vessels of the skin, or the muscular fibre, require to be excited into action. Nevertheless, it ought to be used with due precaution.