Lotion for Chapped Hands

Soak 1/8 oz gum tragacanth in one pint soft water for three days, or until quite soft, then add to it one gill alcohol, 1 gill glycerine, and 1/4 gill cologne. Shake well and it is ready for use.

Source: Book of Recipes, Daughters of the American Revolution, Genesee Chapter

Cologne Water

No. 1:

1 drachm oil lavender.
1 drachm oil bergamot.
2 drachm oil lemon.
2 drachm oil rosemary.
50 drops tincture of musk.
8 drops oil of cinnamon.
8 drops oil of cloves.
1 pint of alcohol.

No. 2:

60 drops oil of lavender.
60 drops oil of bergamot.
60 drops oil of lemon.
60 drops orange-flower water.
1 pint of alcohol.

Cork and shake well.

Source: Common Sense in the Household, Marion Harland

Piles

Piles are varicose veins at the anus. If small and not ulcerated, opium ointment should be applied. Large piles require medical attention and, if in a very bad condition, surgical removal — quite a small and simple operation. Persons liable to piles should eat moderately and avoid alcohol, keep the bowels open, as straining aggravates the trouble; and be very careful to avoid sitting on damp ground or on stone, whether wet or dry.

Source: The Complete Household Adviser

To Make the Hair Soft and Glossy

Put one ounce of castor oil in one pint of bay rum or alcohol, and color it with a little of the tincture of alkanet root. Apply a little every morning.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Toilet or Face Powder

Take a quarter of a pound of wheat starch pounded fine; sift it through a fine sieve, or a piece of lace; add to it eight drops of oil of rose, oil of lemon thirty drops, oil of bergamot fifteen drops. Rub thoroughly together.

The French throw this powder into alcohol, shaking it, letting it settle, then pouring off the alcohol and drying the powder. In that case, the perfume is added lastly.

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

Stings

Extract sting if it remains imbedded in flesh. Apply household ammonia, diluted with a little water, or solution of bicarbonate of soda (1 tsp. soda to 1 cup water).

Mud, wet salt, slice of onion, arnica, witch hazel, camphor are soothing. If there is much swelling, apply cracked ice. Apply spirit of camphor or alcohol to mosquito bites.

Source: The Mary Frances First Aid Book, Jane Eayre Fryer

Uses of Ammonia

All housekeepers should keep a bottle of liquid ammonia, as it is the most powerful and useful agent for cleaning silks, stuffs and hats, in fact cleans everything it touches. A few drops of ammonia in water will take off grease from dishes, pans, etc., and does not injure the hands as much as the use of soda and strong chemical soaps. A spoonful in a quart of warm water for cleaning paint makes it look like new, and so with everything that needs cleaning.

Spots on towels and hosiery will disappear with little trouble if a little ammonia is put into enough water to soak the articles, and they are left in it an hour or two before washing; and if a cupful is put into the water in which clothes are soaked the night before washing, the ease with which the articles can be washed, and their great whiteness and clearness when dried, will be very gratifying. Remembering the small sum paid for three quarts of ammonia of common strength, one can easily see that no bleaching preparation can be more cheaply obtained.

No articles in kitchen use are so likely to be neglected and abused as the dish-cloth and dish-towels; and in washing these, ammonia, if properly used, is a greater comfort than anywhere else. Put a teaspoonful into the water in which these cloths are, or should be, washed everyday; rub soap on the towels. Put them in the water; let them stand half an hour or so; then rub them out thoroughly, rinse faithfully, and dry outdoors in clear air and sun, and dish-cloths and towels need never look gray and dingy–a perpetual discomfort to all housekeepers.

A dark carpet often looks dusty soon after it has been swept, and you know it does not need sweeping again; so wet a cloth or a sponge, wring it almost dry, and wipe off the dust. A few drops of ammonia in the water will brighten the colors.

For cleaning hair-brushes it is excellent; put a tablespoonful into the water, having it only tepid, and dip up and down until clean; then dry with the brushes down and they will be like new ones.

When employed in washing anything that is not especially soiled, use the waste water afterward for the house plants that are taken down from their usual position and immersed in the tub of water. Ammonia is a fertilizer, and helps to keep healthy the plants it nourishes. In every way, in fact, ammonia is the housekeeper’s friend.

Ammonia is not only useful for cleaning, but as a household medicine. Half a teaspoonful taken in half a tumbler of water is far better for faintness than alcoholic stimulants. In the Temperance Hospital in London, it is used with the best results. It was used freely by Lieutenant Greely’s Arctic party for keeping up circulation. It is a relief in nervousness, headache and heart disturbances.

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

Phalon’s Instantaneous Hair Dye

To one ounce of crystallized nitrate of silver, dissolved in one ounce of concentrated aqua ammonia, add one ounce of gum arabic and six ounces of soft water. Keep in the dark. Remember to remove all grease from the hair before applying the dye.

There is danger in some of the patent hair dyes, and hence the Scientific American offers what is known as the walnut hair dye. The simplest form is the expressed juice of the bark or shell of green walnuts. To preserve the juice a little alcohol is commonly added to it with a few bruised cloves, and the whole digested together, with occasional agitation, for a week or fortnight, when the clear portion is decanted, and, if necessary, filtered. Sometimes a little common salt is added with the same intention. It should be kept in a cool place. The most convenient way of application is by means of a sponge.

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

Prickly Heat

Rash, especially on young children, caused by heat. Wash with warm water and soap. Apply alcohol (one part to three of water). Dust with talcum powder.

Source: The Mary Frances First Aid Book, Jane Eayre Fryer

Sore Throat

At night wrap a cloth wet in alcohol around outside of throat. Gargle with salt and water (1 tsp. to a glass), or borax and water in same proportion, or hot tea, or with the following—

Gargle:

2 tbsp. vinegar,
1 tbsp. salt,
Water to fill a tumbler.

If persistent, see doctor.

Source: The Mary Frances First Aid Book, Jane Eayre Fryer