Infusion of Foxglove

Take of

• Dried leaves of foxglove, one drachm;
• Boiling water, eight ounces;
• Spirit of cinnamon, one ounce.

Macerate for four hours, and filter.

This is the infusion so highly recommended by Withering. Half an ounce, or an ounce, of it, may be taken twice a day in dropsical complaints. The spirit of cinnamon is added to improve its flavour, and to counteract its sedative effects.

Source: The Edinburgh New Dispensatory, Andrew Duncan

Cure for a Cough

A patient, who, for nearly two months, could not pass a night in quiet without large doses of laudanum, has been cured of a most harassing cough by suet boiled in milk.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

To Remove Tartar

To remove tartar, use a mixture of sal-ammoniac, common salt, and burnt alum, as a tooth powder, with a strong brush ; and if you cannot thus remove the tartar after using the powder twice a day for a few days, apply to the dentist, for an accumulation of tartar is sure to destroy the teeth. This, however, may usually be prevented by an unstimulating diet, abundant exercise in the air, and the use of good water, observing the rules just given.

Source: Health, Disease and Remedy, George Moore

For Cold

There is no remedy so good as to go to bed and stay there, drinking nothing, not even water, for twenty-four hours, and eating as little as possible. Or, go to bed; put your feet in hot mustard and water; put a bran or oatmeal poultice on the chest ; take ten grains of Dover’s powder, and an hour afterwards a pint of hot gruel ; in the morning rub the body all over with a coarse towel, and take a dose of aperient medicine.

Violet, pennyroyal, or boneset tea are excellent to promote perspiration in case of sudden chill.

Or, take white wine whey. One pint of milk ; two wineglassfuls of white wine ; one teaspoonful of vinegar. Simmer gently; then strain, sweeten, and spice; give hot.

Source: The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper’s Guide, Mrs Washington

The Burning of Sponge, Burnt Sponge

Cut the sponge in pieces, and bruise it, so as to free it from small stones; burn it in a close iron vessel, until it becomes black and friable; afterwards reduce it to a very fine powder.

This medicine has been in use for a considerable time, and employed against scrofulous disorders and cutaneous foulnesses, in doses of a scruple and upwards. Its virtues probably depend on the presence of a little alkali. It also contains charcoal; and its use may be entirely superseded by these substances, which may be obtained in other manners, at a much cheaper rate.

Source: The Edinburgh New Dispensatory, Andrew Duncan

Quince Water

Peel and cut up into quarters two large quinces; pour over them one quart and a half of boiling water ; let it stand all night, then drain, and sweeten. This is very good for colds.

Source: The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper’s Guide, Mrs Washington

Spongy Gums

If the gums become spongy, or detached from the necks of the teeth, your diet is probably defective, and more fresh vegetable is demanded. Lance the gums, however, and let them bleed freely, and
gargle the mouth with alum and water, or strong sage-tea unsweetened ; but the best application to spongy gums, and in case of salivation, is pure tannin, or, as a substitute, tincture of galls.

Source: Health, Disease and Remedy, George Moore

The Snail water excellent for Consumptions

Take a Peck of Snails with the Shells on their Backs, have in a readiness a good fire of Charcoal well kindled, make a hole in the midst of the fire, and cast your Snails into the fire, renew your fire till the Snails are well rosted, then rub them with a clean Cloth, till you have rubbed off all the green which will come off.

Then bruise them in a Mortar, shells and all, then take Clary, Celandine, Burrage, Scabious, Bugloss, five leav’d Grass, and if you find your self hot, put in some Wood-Sorrel, of every one of these one handful, with five tops of Angelica.

These Herbs being all bruised in a Mortar, put them in a sweet earthen Pot with five quarts of white Wine, and two quarts of Ale, steep them all night; then put them into an Alembeck, let the herbs be in the bottom of the Pot, and the Snails upon the Herbs, and upon the Snails put a Pint of Earth-worms slit and clean washed in white Wine, and put upon them four ounces of Anniseeds or Fennel-seeds well bruised, and five great handfuls of Rosemary Flowers well picked, two or three Races of Turmerick thin sliced, Harts-horn and Ivory, of each four ounces, well steeped in a quart of white Wine till it be like a Jelly, then draw it forth with care.

Source: The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet, Hannah Wolley

Almond Ball

Put into an earthen saucepan, set in a pan of boiling water, one ounce of white wax, one ounce of pure spermaceti, and one gill of oil of almonds well stirred in ; add to this, when it begins to grow cool, half a drachm of essential oil of almonds; half a drachm of expressed oil of mace, and half a drachm of balsam of Peru; stir until smooth and perfectly amalgamated; then pour into egg-cups; turn out when hard. These balls passed over the clean and dry skin at bedtime greatly improve the softness of the complexion.

Source: The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper’s Guide, Mrs Washington

Infusion of Catechu, commonly called Japonic Infusion

Take of

• Extract of catechu, two drachms and a half;
• Cinnamon, half a drachm;
• Boiling water, seven ounces;
• Simple syrup, one ounce.

Macerate the extract and cinnamon in the hot water, in a covered vessel, for two hours, then strain it, and add the syrup.

Extract of catechu is almost pure tan[n]in. This infusion is therefore a powerfully astringent solution. The cinnamon and syrup render it a very agreeable medicine, which will be found serviceable in fluxes proceeding from a laxity of the intestines. Its dose is a spoonful or two every other hour. As this preparation will not keep above a day or two, it must always be made extemporaneously. The two hours maceration, therefore, becomes very often extremely inconvenient; but it may be prepared in a few minutes by boiling, without in the least impairing the virtues of the medicine.

Source: The Edinburgh New Dispensatory, Andrew Duncan