Re: Volcanoes and Gold, the Metal

From: donald j haarmann (donald-haarmann_at_worldnet.att.net)
Date: 08/28/04 

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 23:12:44 GMT

"hanson" <hanson@quick.net>
> Good show, Don, thanks.
> Do you or does anybody else know details about another
> delightful tidbit of making ultra-thin Gold Leaf (for the use
> in Danziger Goldwasser, etc) by semi-thin Gold Sheets that
> laid on tanned skin from Bulls' Balls Scrotal Sack being
> pounded with a hammer. What was the hammer made of?
> Why was specifically leather from Bull's Ballsacks used only?
>

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Bulls balls ........ No. They do make walking canes out of bull's YAHOO's! And the
Africans made whips from rhino OOOOO- NOOOO's!!

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GOLD-BEATERS SKIN. This skin is prepared from the external or peritoneal
coat of the cæcum or blind gut of neat cattle. [From whom is obtained “neat’s foot
oil”. /djh/] The workman separates and turns over the portion which encircles the
junction of this pouch with the rest of the intestines, and draws it off inverted form
the other coats to the length of 25 or 30 inches. It is then immersed a short time
in a weak solution of potash, and is cleaned by straying upon a board with a
knife. When thus well cleaned and by soaking in water, the piece is stretched
upon a kind of frame from 40 to 50 inches in length and 11 inches wide, and
made up of two uprights held together by two cross-pieces having longitudinal
groves two and a half line in width. The surface of the membrane which was
outside in the animal, is placed in contact with the upper part of the frame ; it is
stretched in every direction, and is glued to its rim. Another membrane is then
stretched above the first, with its external surfaced placed upwards, and is
attached to it by glueing around the edges. When dry, the membranes are
separated by running a sharp knife along the groves. Each strip is then glued up
a frame similar to the first one, but without a grove, and is washed over with a
solution composed of alum 1 ounce ; water, 2 quarts.

When the surface is dried, a sponge dipped in a concentrated solution of fish-
glue in white wine, rendered aromatic by cloves, nutmegs, or camphor, is passed
over it. When this coating is dried, it is covered with a coat of white of eggs, and
the strip is cut into pieces 5 ½ inches square, which are then smoothed out under
a press, and make up into leaves.

A body is given to the pieces of gut ; that is, they are moistened with an infusion
of cinnamon, nutmeg, or other warm and aromatic ingredients, in order to
preserve them ; an operation repeated after they have been dried in the air .
When the leaves of the skin are dry, they are put into a press, and are ready for
use. After the parchment, velum, and gut-membrane have been a good deal
hammered, they become unfit for work, till they are restored to proper flexibility,
by being placed leaf by leaf, between leaves of white paper, moistened
sometimes with vinegar, at others with white wine. They are left in this condition
for three or four hours, under compression of a plank loaded with weights. When
they have imbibed the proper humidity, they are put between leaves of
parchment 12 inches square, and beat in that situation for a whole day. The are
then rubbed over with fine calcined gypsum, as the vellum was originally. The
gut-skin is apt to contract damp in standing and therefore dried before being
used.

GOLD-BEATING……. 2 pages.

Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines: Containing A Clear
Exposition of their Principles and Practices.
By Robert Hunt, F.R.S.
Longman’s, Green, and Co. 1878
Volume 2, p. 727-728.

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Cæcum?! Brings to mind.....

Extracted from:—
Fireworks and other things that go boom in the Night.
Donald James Haarmann is The WiZ
October 1988

=============
Colonic Perforation due to Oral Mannitol
Journal of the American Medical Association, 5 August 1988.

To the Editor. -- Oral mannitol has been used as a colonic cleaning agent to
prepare patients for surgery and for roentgenographic and endoscopic procedures
and as a hyperosmotic agent to treat constipation. The following case report
describes the previously unreported hazard of pneumatic explosion of the colon
following the use of oral mannitol as a cathartic agent.

Report of a case. -- A 52 year-old man was admitted for evaluation of chronic
low-back pain and modification of analgesic usage. Constipation requiring over-
the-counter laxatives was incidentally noted. *** He was initially treated for
constipation with fleet enemas, oral mineral oil, milk of magnesia, bisacodyl
tablets, with minimal results. *** On day 7, the patient was given 500 ml of a 20%
mannitol solution (1 g) in 150 ml of fruit juice. Four and a half hours later, the
patient complained of an audible pop in his abdomen and progressive abdominal
pain. A roentgenogram showed a cecal diameter of 15 cm and the patient
underwent emergency laparotomy. On entering the peritoneal cavity, gas under
pressure was released. The transverse colon was perforated and gross fecal
contamination was present. Disseminated intravascular coagulation and
hypotension developed, leading to death the following morning.

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Bull's balls .... how 'bout bull's blood!

The Lancet
July 2, 1892

Fatal thirst

An old way of poisoning criminals used to be to compel them to swallow large
quantities of bull's blood and it is interesting to note how this acted as a means of
causing death. Bull's blood is not a poison at all in the ordinary sense of the word, but
when it enters the stomach it form a coagulum, and instead of the organ being filled
with liquid which might be ejected by vomiting, it is filled with a solid mass. This mass
presses upwards upon the heart and displaces it. The pressure upwards upon the lungs
interferes with the respiration and the pressure backwards upon the aorta, vena cava
and the solar plexus would probably be sufficient to cause death. ... A case was
recently reported in the newspapers of an Irishman who had eaten largely of potatoes
and milk and who died suddenly. . * . He was apparently healthy, except that his
stomach was distended, and no doubt he died in exactly the same way as the criminals
who were compelled to drink bull's blood. Generally death cannot be brought about by
the simple drinking of fluids, because the stomach is able to eject them. Apparently,
however, this is not always the case. In one of the lay papers a few days ago there was
nonce of three Frenchmen who laid a wager as to who would drink most water and all
three of them died in a comparatively short time. The death in this case might have
been partly due to the distension of the stomach and partly to the effect of the water on
the blood after its absorption. It very rarely happens in a healthy person that enough
water can be absorbed to cause any alteration in the blood, because it is excreted as
rapidly as it is absorbed and the composition of the blood is kept nearly constant. Death
from the action of water on the blood may occur after profuse haemorrhage when thirst
is extremely urgent.... In these cases it is always advisable not to give pure water to
quench the thirst, for it is not only an irritant to living tissue, but it is also destructive to
the blood. The risk of injury is considerably lessened by adding a little salt to the water,
making it of the strength of the physiological normal saline solution.

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Hammer? Several different size/weights are used during the process. Ure does not note
the material of their construction, only their sizes/shapes of their heads/handle lengths. 

-- 
Donald J Haarmann
-------------------------------
AURELIAN (Lucius Domitius Aurelianus), ca. 215-275
A single instance will serve to display the rigour, and even cruelty
of Aurelian. One of his soldiers had seduced the wife of his host.
The guilty wretch was fastened to two trees forcible drawn toward
each other, and his limbs were torn asunder by their sudden separation.
A few such examples impressed a salutary consternation.
The punishment of Aurelain were terrible; but he had seldom occasion
to  punish more than once for the same offence.
Edward Gibbion, The History Of The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire.