Loss of Hair

Hair is preserved by onion-juice and brandy, rubbed in well. Or, take one part cantharides powder, to eight of alcohol, carefully mixed; and well rubbed into the roots of the hair.

Source: Valuable Receipts, J.M. Prescott

Preparation for Rough Skin

A delicate and effective preparation for rough skins, eruptive diseases, cuts or ulcers, is found in a mixture of one ounce of glycerine, half an ounce of rosemary-water, and twenty drops of carbolic acid. In those dreaded irritations of the skin, occurring in summer, such as hives or prickly heat, this wash gives soothing relief. A solution of this acid, say fifty drops to an ounce of the glycerine, applied at night, forms a protection from mosquitoes. Use the pure crystallized form: it is far less overpowering in its fragrance than the common sort, Those who dislike it too much to use at night, will find the sting of the bites almost miraculously cured, and the blotches removed by touching them with the mixture in the morning. Babies and children should be touched with it in a reduced form. Two or three drops of otter of roses in the preparation will improve the smell so as to render it tolerable to human beings though not so to mosquitoes.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Simple Cure for Worms

One spoonful of syrup of peach-blossoms, taken in a glass of the water from the steeped leaves, is a most safe and certain remedy for worms in children.

Source: Valuable Receipts, J.M. Prescott

Grandmother’s Eye-Wash

Take three fresh eggs and break them into one quart of clear, cold rain-water; stir until thoroughly mixed; bring to a boil on a slow fire, stirring often; then add half an ounce of sulphate of zinc (white vitrol); continue the boiling for two minutes, then set it off the fire. Take the curd that settles at the bottom of this and apply to the eye at night with a bandage. It will speedily draw out all fever and soreness. Strain the liquid through a cloth and use for bathing the eyes occasionally. This is the best eye-water ever made for man or beast. I have used it for twenty years without knowing it to fail.

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

A Safe Rat and Mouse Poison

Take two pounds corn meal and one pound Plaster of Paris.

Mix thoroughly and place where they congregate.

The above is very effective and is less dangerous than any other I know of.

Source: Tested Formulas and Useful House and Farm Recipes, T. Kenny

A Mustard Poultice

Into one gill of boiling water stir one tablespoonful of Indian meal; spread the paste thus made upon a cloth and spread over the paste one teaspoonful of mustard flour. If you wish a mild poultice, use a teaspoonful of mustard as it is prepared for the table, instead of the mustard flour.

Equal parts of ground mustard and flour made into a paste with warm water, and spread between two pieces of muslin, form the indispensable mustard plaster.

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

For Severe Sprains

The white of an egg, a tablespoonful of vinegar and a tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine. Mix in a bottle, shake thoroughly, and bathe the sprain as soon as possible after the accident. This was published in Life Secrets, but it is republished by request on account of its great value. It should be remembered by everyone.

An invaluable remedy for a sprain or bruise is wormwood boiled in vinegar and applied hot, with enough cloths wrapped around it to keep the sprain moist.

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

To Destroy Crickets Or Beetles

Put some strong snuff in the cracks and holes from whence they come. The parings of cucumbers will, if strewn about near their holes, drive them away.

Source: Cassell’s Household Guide

To Cleanse Scalp of Dandruff

Chloral Hydrate 1 ounce.

Rain or Snow Water 32 ounces.

Apply every other day till scalp is cleansed, then occasionally to prevent recurrence.

Source: Tested Formulas and Useful House and Farm Recipes, T. Kenny

To Remove Warts

Wash with water saturated with common washing-soda, and let it dry without wiping; repeat frequently until they disappear. Or pass a pin through the wart and hold one end of it over the flame of a candle or lamp until the wart fires by the heat, and it will disappear.

Another treatment of warts is to pare the hard and dry skin from their tops, and then touch them with the smallest drop of strong acetic acid, taking care that the acid does not run off the wart upon the neighboring skin; for if it does it will occasion inflammation and much pain. If this is continued once or twice daily, with regularity, paring the surface of the wart occasionally when it gets hard and dry, the wart will soon be effectually cured.

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