A Good Hair Oil

Tincture of Spanish fly one ounce;
Oil of rosemary half an ounce;
Oil of thyme half an ounce;
Best castor oil four ounces;
Cologne water two ounces;
Mix well together.

Source: Household Recipes, Constance Hatton Hart

To Destroy a Wart

Wet frequently with strong soda (baking) water. Touched two or three times a day with castor oil will hurry the process.

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

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

To Remove Tape Worm

Let the patient miss two meals. Give two teaspoonfuls powdered Kamala. Should the bowels not move within two-and-a-half hours, give another teaspoonful of the Kamala. You may follow this in two hours by from half to one oz. Castor Oil. This is a positive cure for Tape Worm. It will not make the patient sick. In buying the drug be sure and get Kamala, not Camellea. Kamala is in appearance like quite red brick dust, and is nearly tasteless, whereas Camellea is of a yellowish color.

Source: One Thousand Secrets of Wise and Rich Men Revealed, C. A. Bogardus

Cure for Sore Throat in All Its Different Forms

Two ozs. Cayenne Pepper, one oz. common Salt, one-half pint of Vinegar. Warm over a slow fire and gargle the throat and mouth every hour. Garlic and Onion poultice applied to the outside. Castor Oil, one spoonful to keep the bowels open.

Source: One Thousand Secrets of Wise and Rich Men Revealed, C. A. Bogardus

Macassar Oil for the Hair

Renowned for the past fifty years, is as follows: Take a quarter of an ounce of the chippings of alkanet root, tie this in a bit of coarse muslin and put it in a bottle containing eight ounces of sweet oil; cover it to keep out the dust; let it stand several days; add to this sixty drops of tincture of cantharides, ten drops of oil of rose, neroli and lemon each sixty drops; let it stand one week and you will have one of the most powerful stimulants for the growth of the hair ever known.

Another:–To a pint of strong sage tea, a pint of bay rum and a quarter of an ounce of the tincture of cantharides, add an ounce of castor oil and a teaspoonful of rose, or other perfume. Shake well before applying to the hair, as the oil will not mix.

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

Diarrhea

Usually caused by indigestion, impure water, etc. Home remedies are raw flour and water paste; a raw egg in a cup of hot tea; spiced syrup of rhubarb.

Give a dose of castor oil to clear the digestive tract of the irritating material. If there is much pain, keep abdomen warm with flannel and hot-water bag. If a small child, restrict diet to barley water and white of egg in water.

Give adults milk and other liquid foods. If persistent, see doctor.

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

Biliousness

Give citrate of magnesia, or Epsom or Rochelle salt, or castor oil. Cracked ice slowly melted in the mouth generally relieves sick stomach.

Hot, clear coffee given after any of the above medicines counteracts greatly the nauseating effect.

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

Colds

At the first sign of “taking a cold” — use some simple remedy, such as inhaling camphor from time to time for several hours. Dampen the center of a handkerchief in water, and drop on it some spirit of camphor. Eat a sliced onion.

Take two drops of spirit of camphor on a tsp. sugar.

Or, drop five drops camphor in ½ tumbler of water. Take a tsp. every half hour.

Ginger tea is a much valued old-fashioned remedy. Pour boiling water over a tbsp. bruised ginger root. Let stand two hours. The dose is 1 tbsp. every hour or two.

If the “cold” continues, take a laxative, such as castor oil or rhubarb, and follow the dose with a hot foot bath at night and hot lemonade after getting into bed, to induce perspiration. Keep well covered.

If a cough comes with the cold, lemon juice and sugar syrup make a pleasant cough remedy; or molasses-and-vinegar syrup is liked by children. Mix in the proportion of 1 tbsp. vinegar to 2 tbsp. molasses.

Flaxseed tea will sometimes relieve a “tickling” cough. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over 1 tbsp. whole flaxseeds. Stir; let simmer gently one-half hour. Add juice of half a lemon, and sugar if desired. Take a tbsp. as often as wished.

If the chest is sore, rub it with camphorated oil, or ammonia liniment, which is made by shaking together in a bottle 4 tbsp. olive (sweet) oil and 1 tbsp. household ammonia. This hardens upon standing a few days — so it is best made as needed.

All these are simple home remedies, but if a cold is severe, see a doctor. A neglected cold is dangerous.

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

When A Button Is Swallowed

Children sometimes swallow buttons, fruit stones, thimbles and pennies. When the mother is sure that the child has swallowed a foreign substance the child should be encouraged and even compelled to eat plentifully of mashed potatoes, thick mush and coarse bread. Then follow with syrup of rhubarb or castor oil. Do not give the cathartic immediately on finding out the accident but make sure that much bulky food is taken. Give a child slippery elm to chew when it swallows a penny or button or hard object. This forms a slippery coating on the surface of the penny in the stomach which aids it in passing easily through the intestine and prevents its lodging there and was the remedy applied by a physician when called.

Source: Civic League Cook Book