Lip Salve

September 29th, 2015

Dissolve a small lump of white sugar in a table-spoonful of rosewater, (common water will do, but is not as good.) Mix it with a couple of large spoonsful of sweet oil, a piece of spermaceti, of the size of half a butternut. Simmer the whole well together eight or ten minutes, then turn it into a small box.

Source: The American Housewife

Tooth Powder

September 27th, 2015

Take pulverized chalk, and twice as much charcoal; make very fine, and add castile soap suds and spirits of camphor to make a thick paste. Apply with the finger and brush.

Source: The Kansas Home Cook-Book

Onions for a Cold

September 25th, 2015

For a cold on the chest there is no better specific for most persons than well boiled or roasted onions. They may not agree with every one, but to persons with good digestion they will not only be
found to be a most excellent remedy for a cough, and the clogging of the bronchial tubes which is usually the cause of the cough, but if eaten freely at the outset of a cold, they will break up what promised, from the severity of the attack, to have been a serious one.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Bloody Flux

September 23rd, 2015

Apply a suppository of linen dipt in Aqua Vitae.

Or, drink cold water, as largely as possible, taking nothing else till the flux stops.

Or, take a large apple, and at the top pick out all the core, and fill up the place with a piece of honey comb; (the honey being strained out,) roast the apple in embers, and eat it, and this will stop the flux immediately.

Or grated rhubarb, as much as lies on a shilling, with half as much of grated nutmeg, in a glass of white wine, at lying down, every other night. Tried.

Or take four drops of Laudanum, and apply to the belly a poultice of wormwood and red roses boiled in milk.

In a Dysentery, the worst of all fluxes, feed on rice, saloup, sago, and sometimes beef-tea; but no flesh.

To stop it, take a spoonful of suet melted over a slow fire. Do not let blood.

A person was cured in one day, by feeding on rice milk, and sitting a quarter of an hour in a shallow tub, having in it warm water three inches deep.

Source: Primitive Physic: or an easy and natural method of curing most diseases, John Wesley.

Slippery-Elm Bark Tea

September 21st, 2015

Break the bark into bits, pour boiling water over it, cover and let it infuse until cold. Sweeten, ice, and take for summer disorders, or add lemon juice and drink for a bad cold.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

Preservatives against the ravages of Moths

September 19th, 2015

Moths are very apt to eat woollen and fur garments early in the summer. To keep them from the garments, take them late in the spring, when not worn, and put them in a chest, with considerable camphor gum. Cedar chips, or tobacco leaves, are also good for this purpose. When moths get into garments, the best thing to destroy them is to hang the garments in a closet, and make a strong smoke of tobacco leaves under them. In order to do it, have a pan of live coals in the closet, and sprinkle on the tobacco leaves.

Source: The American Housewife

Neuralgia

September 17th, 2015

Heat a new brick, wrap it in flannel, and apply to the part affected.

Source: The Kansas Home Cook-Book

Aromatic Vinegar

September 15th, 2015

Mix with a table-spoonful of vinegar enough powdered chalk to destroy the acidity. Let it settle–then turn off the vinegar from the chalk carefully, and dry it perfectly. Whenever you wish to purify an infected room, put in a few drops of sulphuric acid–the fumes arising from it will purify a room where there has been any infectious disorder. Care is necessary in using it, not to inhale the fumes, or to get any of the acid on your garments, as it will corrode whatever it touches.

Source: The American Housewife

Blackberry and Wine Cordial

September 13th, 2015

It is recommended as a delightful beverage and an infallible specific for diarrhea or ordinary disease of the bowels:

Receipt.- To half a bushel of blackberries well mashed, add a quarter of a pound of allspice, two ounces of cinnamon, two ounces of cloves; pulverize well, mix, and boil slowly until properly done; then strain or squeeze the juice through homespun or flannel, and add to each pint of the juice one pound of loaf sugar; boil again for some time, take it off, and while cooling, add half a gallon of the best Cognac brandy.

Dose.– For an adult, half a gill to a gill; for a child, a teaspoonful or more, according to age.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Expectorant Tincture

September 11th, 2015

Take pulverized lobelia (seed or herb), powdered bloodroot, and powdered rattleroot (black cohosh), of each three ounces; alcohol and good vinegar, of each one pint. Digest for ten days or two weeks, then strain or filter and add four ounces each of wine of ipecac and tincture balsam of tolu and one ounce strong essence of anise. A portion of honey may be added if preferred. Dose: One to two teaspoonfuls repeated as often as circumstances require. Highly useful as an expectorant in coughs, colds, and all affections of the lungs.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information

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    NOTE: these remedies are listed only for information and/or amusement. They are not to be construed as medical advice of any type, nor are they recommended for use. Consult your doctor or other medical professional for any medical advice you require.