Indian Cough Cure
To five cents’ worth of whole flaxseed add three pints of water. Boil fifteen or twenty minutes, strain and add the juice of three lemons, one-half pound of rock candy and one ounce glycerine. Take wine-glass of this three or four times a day and before retiring. It will cure the worst cough in three days.
Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames
A very excellent Receipt against Convulsions which cur’d one had 9 Fitts a Day
Take Race oynions and black pepper of each a little quantity stamp’d pretty small and lay it to ye soals of ye feet keep it on 7 houres, whilst ye party is in ye fitt force them not to take any thing inwardly but anoynt ye wrists on ye inside, ye palmes of ye hands, ye Temples and ye nostrills (if it be a childe) with Methridate (if not) with oyle or spirit of Amber, between ye fitts let it drinke black cherrey water sweetned with syrrop of Cloves & syrrop of Pyonies for a weeks time after ye fitts first and last let them ware a necklace of single pyonie roots alwayes about theire neck, avoid giving syrrop of Violets if you fear fitts, but syrrop of Roses and Succory is good to be given together when costive this may be given to children of any age.
Source: A Book of Simples, H.W. Lewer
To Destroy Cockroaches
A very simple trap can be prepared for these disagreeable pests by cutting four or five strips of paste-board, an inch or more in width, and placing them in a slanting position against the sides of a quart bowl or a common nappy [? – ed.]. Then pour into the basin (taking care not to touch its sides) some molasses and water, or stale beer and molasses, and as cockroaches are very fond of sweets, they will walk up the ladders of paste-board, and find a watery death. Pieces of wood will do as well. Several of these traps can be placed in the kitchen and pantry, night after night, and soon their number will be greatly lessened. Another way is to place pieces of unslacked lime where the cockroaches frequent, and they will be driven away. But care must be taken not to let water drip upon the quicklime, as it would produce combustion.
Still another way is to take quantities of powdered borax, and scatter it all about the shelves and the water pipes. The cockroaches do not like it and will not run over it. A solution of alum in boiling hot water will destroy them at once and also kill their larvae.
These insects always follow the water pipes in houses, but any of these simple remedies will keep them from putting in an appearance.
Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams
Filed under Remedy | Tags: alum, beer, board, borax, cockroach, cockroaches, insect, insects, lime, molasses, pasteboard, pest, pests, quicklime, williams | Comment (0)To Keep Flies Out of a Room
Put a few drops of oil of lavender on a sponge placed in a saucer of hot water. This will give out a scent which flies dislike. If you do not wish to try it in the house, put the sponge on a table on the porch if the flies are troublesome there.
Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames
To Purify Foul Apartments
To one tablespoonful of common salt placed in a tumbler, add a large pinch of manganese, powdered fine. Turn over it a quarter of a wine-glass of strong vitriolic acid. Do this at an interval of a few minutes, four or five times; then place the tumbler on the floor of the room that requires fumigating, and leave it for a day or more, closing all the doors and windows tightly. The vapors formed by it will destroy all the foul odors, and sweeten the most filthy air.
Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams
Good Furniture Polish
Beat up the white of one egg, adding to it one gill of pure sweet oil, half a gill of methylated spirits and half a gill of vinegar. This mixture will be found especially good for reviving leather.
Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames
Cologne Water (Superior)
Oil of lavender two drachms, oil of rosemary one drachm and a half, orange, lemon and bergamot, one drachm each of the oil; also two drachms of the essence of musk, attar of rose ten drops, and a pint of proof spirit. Shake all together thoroughly three times a day for a week.
Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette
A Sure Remedy for Nervous Sleeplessness
Take one or two sugar-coated asafoetida pills before retiring.
Source: Household Hints and Recipes, Henry T. Williams
Cold Cream
Melt one ounce oil of almonds, half ounce spermaceti, one drachm white wax, and then add two ounces of rose-water, and stir it constantly until cold.
Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette