Bites

Apply vaseline and burnt alum; lemon juice for bee stings ; common bluing for bites of any insect, or vaseline, lard and burnt alum can be applied.

Source: 1001 Household Hints, Ottilie V. Ames

To Kill A Canker

Take 2 spoonfulls of honey and one spoonfull of treacle and half as much rock allum as the quantity of a wallnut beat to fine powder and boyle these together over a cheafen dish of coles till it be pretty thick then take it off and let it coole then anoint the cankers with a cloth tyed upon a stick the oftner you anoint it the better twill be you must keep stiring it as long as it doth boyle, it will be like a sirrup when tis cold.

Source: A Book of Simples, H.W. Lewer

Dye for White or Light Eyebrows

Boil an ounce of walnut bark in a pint of water for an hour. Add a lump of alum the size of a filbert, and when cold, apply with a camel’s-hair brush.

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

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

Nosebleed

Head in upright position. Raise arm on bleeding side. Loosen collar. Apply ice in a cloth to bridge of nose and back of neck. A roll of paper under upper lip. Snuff cold tea up nose, or salt water, 1 tsp. to cup water, or the same of powdered alum.

If bleeding continues, tie a small wad of cotton with thread; dip it into peroxide of hydrogen, and plug nostril by pushing the cotton gently with a pencil. The thread is used to withdraw cotton.

If these means fail, send for doctor.

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

Bleeding of Gums

Rinse mouth with alum water — 1 teaspoon powdered alum in a glass of ice water; or 1 tsp. tincture of myrrh in 1 tbsp. water.

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

Tooth Ache

Take equal parts of alum and salt pulverized together; put on a small piece of cotton and insert in the tooth.

Source: 76: A Cook Book

“Gum Boils” or “Canker Sores”

So-called “gum boils” or “canker sores” are little ulcer-like sores which at times appear in children’s mouths, caused by disarrangement of the stomach. Local applications, such as borax or powdered alum, shrink the sores and give a little relief; but the child should be given a dose of calcined magnesia at night or citrate of magnesia in the morning. (Never give a small dose of citrate of magnesia; a child of twelve years should take a tumblerful.)

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

Death to Insects

Two pounds of alum dissolved in three or four quarts of boiling water and applied to all cracks and crevices, will keep out ants, roaches, spiders, bedbugs, etc., etc.

Source: 76: A Cook Book

Nose Bleed

Snuff powdered alum up the nose. This alum is also good for checking hemorrhage, sometimes caused by extracting teeth. Fill the cavity with the alum. Apply cold salt water to bleeding nose if you haven’t alum.

Source: Civic League Cook Book