PRESCRIPTIONS AND CURES

Poultices are better for the addition of a little sweet or castor oil and a few drops of laudanum.

Swelled Neck — Wash the part with brine, and drink it also twrice a day until cured.

Bee or Wasp Stings — Wet saleratus and tie on instantly.

Snake Bites — Roll plantain leaves and bruise them ; tie them on the bite and drink a quantity of whisky.

A Nail Run into the Foot — Fresh beet thoroughly pounded ; apply to the part frequently. Mothers with barefoot boys take heed.

To Stop the Flow of Blood — Bind the cut with cobwebs and brown sugar, pressed on like lint ; or, if you cannot procure these, with the fine dust of tea.

To Remove Substances from the Eye — Make a loop of a bristle or horse hair, insert it under the lid, and then withdraw slowly and care- fully. This is said to be never- failing.

272 MEDICAL.

Asthma — Soak blotting or tissue paper in strong saltpetre water. Dry and burn at night in the bedroom.

In Casec of Sunstroke remove the patient to the shade, lay him down full length, apply cold water to his head and lips, and keep his lower limbs warm.

Proud Flesh — Pulverize loaf sugar very fine and apply it to the part afflicted. This is a new and easy remedy, and is said to remove it with- out pain ; or burnt alum pulverized and applied is an old and reliable remedy.

Felons — As soon as the parts begin to swell get the tincture of lobelia and wrap the part affected with a cloth ; saturate it thoroughly with the tincture and the felon will soon die, poisoned. This never fails if tried in season.

Mustard Plaster — By using syrup or molasses for mustard plasters, they will keep soft and flexible, and not dry up and become hard, as when mixed with water. A thin paper, or fine cloth should come between the plaster and the skin. The strength of the plaster is varied by the addition of more or less flour.

To Prevent Choking — Break an t.%% into a cup and give it to the per- son choking, to swallow. The white of the ^^g seems to catch around the obstacle and remove it. If one t.^^ does not answer the purpose try another. The white is all that is necessary. This will also remove fish bones.

Colic — For the violent internal agony termed colic, .take a teaspoonful of salt in a pint of cold water ; drink it and go to bed. It is one of the speediest remedies known. The same will revive a person who seems almost dead from a heavy fall.^

For Toothache caused by cold, a woolen cloth of several thicknesses wet with vinegar and put over a hot brick or stone, with something thrown over the head to keep in all the steam ; or, put a piece of cotton dipped in collodion into the tooth. When hardened it will adhere strongly, and stop the pain.

Salt Rheum — Get 12 grains arseniate of soda; dissolve in 12 ounces of water and take a teaspoonful three times a day. Also use an oint- ment composed of citrine (mercurial) ointment and lard equal parts. Should the eyes become swollen decrease the dose of arseniate of soda.

Croup can be cured in a minute by administering a teaspoonful of powdered alum in twice that quantity of sugar to make it palatable ; almost instantaneous relief will follow. A towel or flannel cloth wrung out of hot vinegar in which a little salt has been added, and placed upon the chest and throat, changing every ten minutes, with a dry towel thoroughly covering it, often materially assists in relieving an attack of croup.'

Canker Sore Mouth — Use common craneshill root steeped and

PRESCRIPTIONS AND CURES. 273

sweetened with honey, as a mouth wash. Use frequently ; or wash the mouth with a tea made from the fruit of the staghorn sumach (rhus typhina), at the same time take a teaspoonful internally. Repeat every few hours until a cure is effected.

Hydrophobia — Take the root of common upland ash, generally called black ash, peel off the bark, and boil it to a strong decoction. Take one gill three times a day for eight or ten days.

If bitten by a mad dog, the wound should be cut out as soon as pos- sible, thoroughly washed with aqua-ammonia, or, for want of that, in a solution of potash or common salt.

The bite of the rattlesnake and most common bites and stings may be cured in this way.

Rheumatism — Take ten grains of salicylic acid three times a day for three days, and if very severe, take the same amount four or five times a day; take in a little cold water. This is also good for neuralgia. Inflammatory rheumatism is relieved by steeping wormwood in vinegar, wringing a flannel out of the decoction, applying while hot and renew- ing often.

Warts — Cut a slice from a raw potato and rub the hand each night ; let the water dry on the hand. It will need but few applications ; or, get five cents worth of spirits of salts and apply frequently to the warts and they will sooii disappear. The milk of milkweed is also good.

Neuralgia — Two drops laudanum in half a teaspoonful of warm water and dropped into the ears ; it will give immediate relief ; or tliis, squeeze the juice of a lemon into a small cup of strong coffee. This will usually afford immediate relief in neuralgic headache. Tea ordin- arily increases neuralgic pain, and ought not to be used by persons affected with it.

Run Rounds — Bathe freely and frequently in turpentine, and bind on a cloth well saturated in it ; or take a piece of common soap about the size of a hickory nut, one teaspoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt and water enough to melt the whole ; thicken with oatmeal, and boil ten minutes ; apply as a poultice.

Sprains— There is nothing better than a strong decoction of worm- wood and vinegar. A flannel cloth wrung out of the above just as hot as the patient will bear, and bound on the affected part will give imme- diate relief. The pain of a sprained limb is quickly removed by ice- cold water. - The terrible pangs of whitlow or felon are cut short by intense heat. A large proportion of all cramp and spasms can be relieved by water of proper temperature and intelligently applied.

Czits or Bruises — Tobacco, wet with spirits or water, bound on a

fresh cut or bruise will save much pain and soreness. The tobacco

should be kept moist by occasionally wetting the bandage with warm

water. Fresh tobacco should be applied every day till the soreness is

274 MEDICAL.

gone ; then remove it and put a piece of court plaster over the wound, so as to exclude the air, and it will soon heal without further trouble.

G?/i^^— Take two teaspoonfuls of water, one of molasses and one of pain killer ; sip down and cover warmly. It is well to bathe the chest also with the pain killer. A very bad cold may be broken up directly with this careful treatment.

Gargle for Sore Throat. — Take one teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, one teaspoonful of salt, one pint of water, two tablespoonfuls of vine- gar ; sweeten to taste with honey or loaf sugar. Mix together and bot- tle.

Ctire for Hoarseness — Take the whites of two eggs and beat them with two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, grate in a little nutmeg, then add a pint of lukewarm water ; stir well, drink often and it will cure the most obstinate case of hoarseness in a short time. Or, at night, before going to bed, have ready a pint bowl into which you have squeezed tli,e juice of half a lemon, add to this one teaspoonful of glycerine and one or two tablespoonfuls of good whisky or best brandy, pour over boiling water, sweeten well with loaf sugar, and drink very hot.

Diphtheria — Dissolve one tablespoonful of sulphur in a glass of cold water ; gargle the throat six or eight times a day. Cook salt pork in vinegar and bind on the throat ; when the paroxysms come on soak the hands and feet in just as hot water as the patient will bear, with a tablespoonful of baking soda thrown in. Rubbing the limbs and body will assist greatly in throwing off the disease. The simple sulphur rem- edy is very effectual in common sore throat.

Asthma — Take pulverized stramonium leaves one ounce, add one drachm pulverized nitre ; divide this mass into eight parts, to be used as follows, only when symptoms of asthma appear, viz : Heat a shovel, or any flat piece of iron that will hold heat, for ten minutes ; sprinkle one of the eight parts on the hot iron and inhale as much of the smoke as possible. Then bathe the chest thoroughly, with the flat of the hand, with one part each of best olive oil and Jamaica rum (which is a black rum) ; none other is good for an embrocation.

Lockjaw — If any person is threatened or taken with lockjaw from injuries of the arm, hands, legs or feet, do not wait for a doctor, but put the part injured in the following preparation : Put hot wood ashes into water as warm as can be borne ; if the injured part cannot be put into water, then wet thick folded cloths in the water, and apply them to the part as soon as possible, and at the same time bathe the backbone from the neck down with some laxative stimulant — say cayenne pepper and water, or mustard and water (good vinegar is better than water) ; it should be as hot as the patient can bear it. Don't hesitate ; go at work and do it, and don't stop until the jaws will come open. No person need die of lockjaw if these directions are followed.

PRESCRIPTIONS AND CURES. 275

Corns — Apply morning and evening one drop of solution of per- chloride of iron. Soak them in hot alum water as hot as can be borne; alum the size of a walnut in a bowl of water. Take a salve of two tablespoonfuls of lard, one teaspoonful of ammonia and one of cam- phor. Bind this on to the corn and wear it all the time, renewing the salve often and you will have no trouble.

Bunions — Buckskin leather an inch or two across, with a hole cut in the center the size of the corn. Wear it until the corns or bunions cease to pain you. By sewing a narrow band on and slipping it over the toe it will keep the shoe from rubbing it. A strong mixture of carbolic acid and glycerine used in equal portions makes a good application, but must be kept out of the way, for it is a burning poison. Bay rum or vaseline is a soothing application if they are very painful. A weak solution of carbolic acid will heal soft corns between the toes.

Or take a small onion, split it and rub the joint with a fresh half each night and morning. To paint it with the tincture of iodine is also good.

Frosted Feet — One ounce of mutton suet, one ounce of rosin; melt together the rosin and suet ; when nearly cold add the yolk of one ^gg, beating all together thoroughly. It will relieve as soon as applied.

Perspiring Feet — Soak them every night before retiring in warm water, with a tablespoonful of bi-carbonate soda in the bath, and in the morning in cold water, to which has been added a teaspoonful of pow- dered alum. Or wash them in water in which a tablespoonful of ammonia has been put. Woolen stockings will cause perspiration of ihe feet.

Ingrowing Toe Nails — Keep the nails scraped thin on top. Take a little tallow and put it into a spoon and heat it over the lamp until it becomes very hot ; then put it on the sore or granulation. The effect will be almost magical. The operation causes very little pain if the tal- lov/ is perfectly heated. Then take a piece of twine, push it under the toe nail as far as possible, then bring the ends up and tie a hard knot directly on top of the nail, then pass the ends down around the foot or any way that will fasten them so the knot will remain on top the nail. Never cut off the corners, but let the nail grow perfectly square. A notch in the middle sometimes does good.

Chilblains— \xi the evening, before retiring, take salt and vinegar, made as hot as can be borne on the parts affected ; bathe with a small cloth, and do so until cured.

Or slice raw potatoes, with the skins on, and sprinkle over them a lit- tle salt, and as soon as the liquid therefrom .settles in the bottom of the dish, wash with it the chilblains ; one application is all that is neces-^ sary.

This is a severe cure, but effectual : Take a saucer of kerosene oil

276 MEDICAL.

and add a handful of salt, mix thoroughly and apply to chilblains ; then heat the chilblains at a very hot fire ; when the lieat becomes unbear- able, " grit " your teeth and bear a little longer ; as soon as the pain sub- sides a little, repeat the operation. Do this three or four times.

For Cold Sores — Cold cream. Oil of sweet almonds, two and one- half ounces ; spermaceti, one and one-half ounces ; white wax, one-half ounce ; glycerine, one-half ounce ; otter of roses, five drops. Put the perfumery in the glycerine. Melt the ingredients in a shallow earthern dish over hot water, adding the glycerine last ; then after taking from the fire, stir it until white and cold, then put up in something tight.

Li7ne Water — A " handy " thing to have in the house is a jar or bot- tle of lime water. Pour water over unslaked lime (the quantity is not important, as only a certain amount will be slacked), and cork up for. use. A person who needs milk, but whose digestion is so weak as not to manage it, will find no inconvenience if into a glass of the fluid is stirred a wineglass of lime water. The difference in taste is not perceptible.

Sticking-Plaster — An excellent sticking-plaster for fresh cuts or cracked hands is made of three pounds of rosin, a quarter of a pound of beeswax, a quarter of a pound of mutton tallow. When well melted and dissolved together, remove from the fire and keep stirring till it is about as cool as it will pour ; then add one tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine ; then pour the whole into a pail of cold water, and when cool enough take it out and work it as a shoemaker does his wax. When sufficiently worked, roll it out in small sticks. This is equal to any plaster ever bought. Keep the hands greased, to prevent it from sticking to them while working it.

Sand Bags for the Sick Room— ¥or those who suffer with cold hands or feet use a sand bag until they get warm. It does not pay to have cold feet if there is any way to get them warm, and a sand bag is better than a soap-slone or bottle of hot water. Get some clean, fine sand, dry it thoroughly in a kettle on the stove, make a bag about eight inches square of flannel, fill it with the dry sand, sew the opening care- fully together, and cover the bag with cotton or linen cloth. This will prevent the sand from sifting out and will also enable you to heat the bag quickly by placing it in the oven, or even on the top of the stove. It is a good plan to make two or three of the bags and keep them ready for use.