Bad Legs

A bad leg should be frequently washed in warm milk, and afterwards dusted with camphor dust, and a cure is the result; or, four ounces of mutton fat, taken from next the kidneys, melted and strained, and when cool mixed with one pennyworth of red precipitate, is one of the best remedies to use as an ointment for bad legs.

Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray

Salve

Four ounces of mutton-tallow, two of beeswax, one of rosin, and one-half ounce of gum camphor. Simmer well together; take off the fire, and then add one gill of alcohol. Good for all kinds of sores and wounds.

Source: The Universal Cookery Book, Gertrude Strohm

Tooth Powder

Sal ammoniac, gum mastic, red coral, and myrrh, of each an equal quantity finely powdered.

Another: 3 oz. camphor, 1 oz. powdered cinchona bark, 1 oz. prepared charcoal, and sufficient spirits of wine to dissolve the camphor. Mix thoroughly, and pass through a fine sieve.

The mixture of chalk and camphor is very good for preserving as well as cleansing teeth.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Piles, Ointment For The

Hog’s lard, four ounces; powdered galls, one ounce; laudanum, half an ounce; and spirits of camphor, two drams. Mix, and apply at bed-time.

Source: Recipes for the Million

Gnat Stings

Wherever gnats abound the following compound should always be kept at hand, as it is useful, not only as a cure, but also as the best preventive against the attack of these insects. Take two ounces of spermaceti, half an ounce of white wax, one ounce of camphor, and two ounces of olive oil. Melt the whole together, stirring frequently the while. Pour into small pots for use.

Source: Recipes for the Million

Chilblains

Make a liniment, of 1 oz. of palma oil, 1 oz. of expressed oil of mace, and 2 drachms of camphor.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Elliman’s Embrocation

One new-laid egg well beaten, add to it by degrees one gill turpentine, one gill vinegar, put in alternately one-half ounce spirits of camphor.

Directions for use. — For rheumatism, lumbago, for sore throat, cold in chest, etc., rub in well with hand, night and morning. A flannel may also be soaked in embrocation and put on, covered with a cloth or flannel. Can be used also as a substitute for mustard plaster, as above.

Source: The Canadian Family Cookbook, Grace E. Denison

Hair Wash

One penny worth of borax, half a pint of olive oil, one pint of boiling water. Pour the boiling water over the borax and oil; let it cool; then put the mixture into a bottle. Shake it before using, and apply it with a flannel. Camphor and borax, dissolved in boiling water and left to cool, make a very good wash for the hair; as also does rosemary water mixed with a little borax. After using any of these washes, when the hair becomes thoroughly dry, a little pomatum or oil should be rubbed in to make it smooth and glossy — that is, if one prefers oil on the hair.

Source: The Canadian Family Cookbook, Grace E. Denison

Preventive Against Chilblains

Rub the toes, or other parts of the feet likely to become affected, every morning and night with a mixture of one part camphorated spirit and three parts vinegar.

Source: Recipes for the Million

Syrup for a Cough

Boil 1 oz. balsam of tolu, very gently, two hours, in a quart of water; add 1 lb. white sugar candy, finely beaten, and boil it half an hour longer. Strain through a flannel bag twice; when cold, bottle it. You may add 2 oz. syrup of red poppies, and the same of raspberry vinegar. A spoonful when the cough is troublesome.

Or: 2 oz. honey, 4 table-spoonsful vinegar, 2 oz. syrup white poppies, and 2 oz. gum arabic: boil gently to the consistency of treacle; a tea-spoonful when the cough is troublesome.

Or: 1 table-spoonful treacle, 1 of honey, 1 of vinegar, 15 drops laudanum, and 15 drops peppermint. Simmer together a quarter of an hour. A dessert-spoonful to be taken at going to bed.

Or: mix together in a phial, 2 drachms of compound tincture of benjamin, 6 drachms ethereal spirits of nitre, 3 drachms of compound tincture of camphor, and 5 drachms of oxymel; a tea-spoonful in a wine-glass of warm water, when the cough is troublesome.

Or: mix 1 oz. gum arabic, 1 oz. sugar candy, and the juice of a lemon; pour on it a pint of boiling water; a little when the cough is troublesome.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett