For Bruises, Cuts, or Wounds

Keep in the house a bottle containing a mixture of 3/4 oz. of scented trefoil, of rum, and of sweet oil.– Or: have a bottle three parts full of brandy, fill it quite full with the white leaves of the flowers of the garden lily, and cork it close. Lay some of the leaves on the wound, and keep it wet with the liquor. The root of the same lily is used to make strong poultices.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Simple Barley Water

Take two ounces and a half of pearl barley, cleanse it, and boil it ten minutes in half a pint of water. Strain out this water and add two quarts of boiling water, and boil it down to one quart. Then strain it, and flavor it with slices of lemon and sugar, or sugar and nutmeg.

This is very acceptable to the sick in fevers.

Source: Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book, Catherine Beecher

For Chapped Hands

Mix 1/3 pint double distilled rose water, 1/2 oz. oil of almonds and 7 grains salt of tartar.– Or: yolks of 3 eggs, 3 table-spoonsful honey, 4 table-spoonsful brandy, and 4 sweet almonds, pounded. — Or: dissolve a tea-spoonful of pulverised borax in a tea-cupful of boiling soft water, add a tea-spoonful of honey, and mix well together. After washing, wipe the hands very dry, and put the mixture on with a feather.– Oil of Almonds or spermaceti rubbed on at night are soft and healing.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Lip Salve

Dissolve a small lump of white sugar, in a table spoonful of rose water, clear water will do but is not as good. Mix it with a table spoonful of sweet oil, a piece of spermaceti of the size of half a butternut. Simmer the whole together about eight or ten minutes.

Source: The New England Cook Book

Cough Mixture

1lb dark treacle
1d. paregoric
1d. aniseed
1 quart water
1d. laudanum
1d. peppermint
1d. tincture of squills

Simmer the treacle and water until reduced to half the quantity. When nearly cold add the other ingredients. Mix well and bottle.

Dose, 1 teaspoonful when the cough is troublesome.

Source: The Northampton Cookery Book, M.A. Jeffery

Basilicon

Yellow basilicon is made of equal quantities of bees-wax, white rosin, and frankincense. Melt them together over a slow fire, add the same weight of fresh lard, and strain it off while it is warm. This ointment is used for cleansing and healing wounds and ulcers.

Source: The Cook And Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary, Mary Eaton

To Prevent Stains Under The Nails

Dip the ends of the fingers in melted tallow before beginning a task which is likely to stain them.

Source: Fowler’s Household Helps, A.L. Fowler

Pile Ointment

Cut some green shoots of elder early in the spring, clear away the bark, and put two good handfuls into a quart of thick cream. Boil it till it comes to an ointment, and as it rises take it off with a spoon, and be careful to prevent its burning. Strain the ointment through a fine cloth, and keep it for use.

Source: The Cook And Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary, Mary Eaton

Sprains

These generally proceed from some external injury, attended with pain, swelling, and inflammation. A fomentation of vinegar, or camphorated spirits of wine, if applied immediately, will generally be sufficient: if not, a few drops of laudanum should be added. The fomentation should be frequently renewed, and the sprained part kept in a state of rest and relaxation.

Source: The Cook And Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary, Mary Eaton

Stomachic Tincture

Bruise an ounce and a half of Peruvian bark, and one of bitter dried orange peel. Steep it in brandy or proof spirit, for a fortnight, shaking it each day. Let it remain for a couple of days without shaking it, then decant the liquor. A tea spoonful of it in a wine glass of water, is a fine tonic.

Source: The New England Cook Book