Care of the Teeth

November 3rd, 2022

The water with which the teeth are cleansed should be what is called lukewarm. They should be well but gently brushed both night and morning; the brush should be neither too hard nor too soft. The best tooth-powders are made from cuttle-fish, prepared chalk, and orris-root commingled together in equal quantities.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness, Florence Hartley

Summer Diseases

April 20th, 2022

The food of children in summer, should be light and nourishing; if of milk, be careful that it is sweet. If you cannot get it fresh as often as you want it, boiling will keep it sweet. Sour milk and improper food sometimes bring on the summer disease, which is easier prevented than cured.

A little rhubarb tea or tincture, with a small quantity of prepared chalk, will sometimes check it in its early stages, but the most effectual medicine that I have tried is called by some apothecaries, “red mixture,” of which I will give a recipe.

Chicken water, slightly salted, is very good; make but a little at a time, and have it fresh.

Rice gruel, sweetened with loaf-sugar, and a little nutmeg, is nourishing. To make a drink of slippery-elm, shave the bark fine and put it in water; strain it, mix it with milk, and sweeten it. Elderberry and blackberry cordials are also good in cases where there is no fever.

The stomach and back should be bathed with spirits, and a little bag of pounded spices, wet with spirits, applied to the stomach, may be used with safety, when not within reach of a physician.

A bark jacket has been used with success in many instances, cut it out of fine muslin, to be double, spread it open, and cover one side with about two ounces of the best Lima bark, and twelve pounded cloves; put on the other side, sew it up, and quilt it across; put on shoulder straps and strings of soft ribbon; sprinkle it with spirits twice a day.

The child should have the benefit of the morning and evening air. If it is not convenient to ride it out, walking will answer, in the arms of a careful nurse, carried on a pillow, with an umbrella to protect its eyes from the light.

When a child is taken sick in a city, removing it to the country often has a beneficial effect. Milk thickened with arrow root is good diet for children. Flour dried in an oven for several hours, and used to thicken milk or water, is also good, sweetened with loaf-sugar, and is nutritious. They should eat but a small portion of any thing at a time.

To cut slices of lean fresh beef or mutton, put it in a bowl, and pour a pint of boiling water on it, and let it set close to the fire for an hour, is very good to give children occasionally, with but little salt; the stomach will sometimes retain this when other things are rejected. As thirst is an attendant on this disease, much salt should be avoided in all their food. Every thing about a sick child should be kept clean, and its clothes well aired before changing them. If it is too ill to carry out of doors, have it changed from one room to another, and the apartment it left well aired.

Children who are afflicted with this disease, sometimes crave fruit. Ripe peaches, fresh from the tree, or ripe apples, baked or roasted before the fire, may he occasionally administered in small quantities with perfect safety.

To make toast-water, the bread should be toasted on both sides very dry, and boiling water poured on it.

Source: Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers, Elizabeth E. Lea

Tooth Powder

March 3rd, 2022

Powdered orris-root, 1/2 an ounce; powdered charcoal, 2 ounces, powdered Peruvian bark, 1 ounce; prepared chalk, 1/2 an ounce; oil of bergamot, or lavender, 20 drops. These ingredients must be well worked up in a mortar, until thoroughly incorporated. This celebrated tooth-powder possesses three essential virtues, giving an odorous breath, cleansing and purifying the gums, and preserving the enamel; the last rarely found in popular tooth-powders.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness, Florence Hartley

Tooth Powder

October 30th, 2021

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

Ointment for Sunburn

January 25th, 2020

Make a stiff paste with white Fuller’s earth, or good French chalk, and elder flower water. Let it remain on the face for a few minutes, then wash it off with hot rain water and apply a little cold cream.

Source: The Dudley Book of Cookery and Household Recipes, Georgiana Dudley

Tooth Powder

January 17th, 2020

A half an ounce of cuttlefish bone; half an ounce of the finest prepared chalk; two drachms of Peruvian bark; two drachms of Florentine orris root. Reduce the whole to a fine powder and mix.

Source: The Kentucky Housewife, Mrs Peter A. White

Burns and Scalds

July 3rd, 2019

The great thing in treating these is to exclude air as quickly as possible from the wounded part. Oily substances are the most useful for the purpose. Carron oil (linseed oil and lime water in equal proportions) and carbolized oil (1 part of carbolic acid to 50 parts of olive oil) are among the best things to apply, and one or other of them should be kept in stock for emergencies. In their absence olive, linseed or castor oil, lard, vaseline, or cornflour will serve for an immediate application. It is better to use at once what is to hand than to waste time in searching for what might be more beneficial. On no account pull away clothing that sticks to the burn: soak it off with tepid water. Blisters are pricked before applying the dressing of strips of lint soaked in carron or carbolized oil, covered with a layer of cottonwool and held in place by bandages. Acid burns — Dust them over with whiting or powdered chalk to neutralize the acid; then wash in clean water and dress with oil. If no whiting, etc., be available, wash at once in water. Alkali burns — Neutralize alkali with vinegar; wash, and dress with oil. Severe burns cause a serious shock to the system, and a tendency to collapse, so the patient should be kept warm while the doctor is fetched.

Source: The Complete Household Adviser

Scalds and Burns

February 21st, 2019

The following facts cannot be too firmly impressed on the mind of the reader, that in either of these accidents the first, best and often the only remedies required, are sheets of wadding, fine wool, or carded cotton, and in the default of these, violet powder, flour, magnesia or chalk. The object for which these several articles are employed is the same in each instance; namely, to exclude the air from injured part; for if the air can be effectually shut out from the raw surface, and care is taken not to expose the tender part till the new cuticle is formed, the cure may be safely left to nature. The moment a person is called to a case of scald or burn, he should cover the part with a sheet, or a portion of a sheet, of wadding, taking care not to break any blister that may have formed, or stay to remove any burnt clothes that may adhere to the surface, but as quickly as possible envelope every part of the injury from all access of the air, laying one or two more pieces of wadding on the first, so as to effectually guard the burn or scald from the irritation of the atmosphere; and if the article used is wool or cotton, the same precaution, of adding more material where the surface is thinly covered, must be adopted; a light bandage finally securing all in their places. Any of the popular remedies recommended below may be employed when neither wool, cotton nor wadding are to be procured, it being always remembered that that article which will best exclude the air from a burn or scald is the best, quickest, and least painful mode of treatment. And in this respect nothing has surpassed cotton loose or attached to paper as in wadding.

If the Skin is Much Injured in burns, spread some linen pretty thickly with chalk ointment, and lay over the part, and give the patient some brandy and water if much exhausted; then send for a medical man. If not much injured, and very painful, use the same ointment, or apply carded cotton dipped in lime water and linseed oil. If you please, you may lay cloths dipped in ether over the parts, or cold lotions. Treat scalds in same manner, or cover with scraped raw potato; but the chalk ointment is the best. In the absence of all these, cover the injured part with treacle, and dust over it plenty of flour.

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

Beer, Restoration of Spoiled

October 16th, 2018

I.—Powdered chalk is poured into the cask and allowed to remain in the beer until completely precipitated.

II.—The liquor of boiled raisins may be poured into the beer, with the result that the sour taste of the beer is disguised.

III.—A small quantity of a solution of potash will remove the sour taste of beer. Too much potash must not be added; otherwise the stomach will suffer. Beer thus restored will not keep long.

IV.—If the beer is not completely spoiled it may be restored by the addition of coarsely powdered charcoal.

V.—If the addition of any of the above-mentioned substances should affect the taste of the beer, a little powdered zingiber may be used to advantage. Syrup or molasses may also be employed.

Source: Henley’s Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes and Processes

Pearl Tooth Powder

December 5th, 2017

Prepared chalk half a pound, powdered myrrh two ounces; camphor two drachms, orris root, powdered, two ounces; moisten the camphor with alcohol and mix well together.

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

  • About

    NOTE: these remedies are listed only for information and/or amusement. They are not to be construed as medical advice of any type, nor are they recommended for use. Consult your doctor or other medical professional for any medical advice you require.