Relieve Pain

Take five cents’ worth of beeswax and equal parts of mutton tallow, melted together in a pie pan; then take a coarse piece of new domestic cotton, lay cloth in pan of melted wax and tallow until the cloth is thoroughly saturated; apply as hot as possible to the afflicted part. Same cloth can be used a number of times by reheating the cloth in oven or on top of radiator.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

Soda Cure

This simple rule has cured rheumatic troubles of long standing. Be careful to follow directions:

Dissolve one-half teaspoonful of cooking soda (the best) in one-half cupful of water; nearly hot is better. Take three times a day, one-half hour before eating, for three consecutive days; then skip three days, then take it three days, and so on for six weeks or more, according to the severity of the case. The soda is for excess of acid in the system, the cause of many of our ailments.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

Stewed Prunes for Sickness

Wash the prunes, put them in a stew pan, cover them with water, and to each pound of prunes put a cupful of clear brown sugar. Cover the stew-pan and let them boil slowly, until the syrup is thick and rich.

Source: La Cuisine Creole

For Sleeplessness

If you are troubled with insomnia, bathe feet for about ten minutes in water as hot as possible just before retiring. This will draw the blood from the tired brain. Dread and apprehensions vanish, and you will enjoy a good night’s rest.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

To make Water Gruel of Corn Meal or Oat Meal

Put a quart of water on to boil in a stew-pan. Take a tablespoonful of sweet corn meal, or oatmeal, make it into a batter with milk and salt, stir it in the boiling water and let it boil gently for half an hour. When served it may be sweetened and nutmeg grated over it. If wanted for a strengthening nourishment, a bit of butter and a glass of wine or brandy may be added. This is generally given after a dose of castor oil, or an emetic. Use very little salt.

Source: La Cuisine Creole

Egg Treatment

The whites of six eggs, six tablespoonfuls of vinegar, six tablespoonfuls of spirits of turpentine. Mix and shake thoroughly. Rub thoroughly and then saturate flannel with medicine and wrap around the place affected. Apply often. Keep bottle well corked. An excellent remedy for both rheumatism and sprains.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

For Nausea

Inhalations of vinegar will stop bad cases of nausea and vomiting. Wet a sponge with vinegar and hold it to the nose of the patient.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

Jam

This can be made from almost any kind of ripe fruit. Blackberries, strawberries or raspberries are especially suited for this form of preserve. You must weigh your fruit (say blackberries), and allow three quarters of a pound of good sugar to each pound of fruit. Crush the fruit and sugar, with a biscuit beater, until they are well mashed; add a gill of water to each pound of fruit; boil gently (not rapidly like jelly) until it becomes a jelly-like mass, and when done, put it into glasses, or small earthenware pots and when cold, cover up like jelly. This is an excellent medicine in summer for dysentery; but if intended for invalids, you must spice it, and add a gill of brandy — fourth proof — to each pound of jam.

Source: La Cuisine Creole

Milk Punch as a Restorative

Take a large tumbler (it should hold a pint), half fill it with chopped ice, add to it a large tablespoonful of white sugar, beat it a little with the ice, then pour on it a wineglass of gin, rum or brandy, and fill up with fresh milk. It is generally very acceptable to an invalid who refuses other stimulants.

Source: La Cuisine Creole

Nut Cream

Doctor Fernie recommends the following nut-cream for brain-workers. Pound in a mortar, or mince finely, 3 blanched almonds, 2 walnuts, 2 ounces of pine kernels. Steep overnight in orange or lemon juice.

It should be made fresh daily, and may be used in place of butter.

Source: Food Remedies: Facts About Foods And Their Medicinal Uses, Florence Daniel