Cure for Chills and Fever
Quinine is the only remedy, and taken in the following manner, will cure successfully : Have twenty grains of quinine put up in five grains powders ; after you have had the chill, and the fever has passed off, take one powder (five grains), then in four or five hours take the same quantity again, and so on until you have taken the twenty grains. You will then escape your chill the third day. Before the seventh day comes around (they come on periodically every seventh day) take the same quantity as before just as if you had had a chill. Keep this treatment up for six or eight weeks, and you will be entirely restored. I think will never have a return of ague.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
Treatment of Croup
Every mother knows those fearful premonitory symptoms of croup, the hoarse sepulchral cough which is so startling. The child should be at once taken up, its throat and chest rubbed thoroughly before a hot fire with lard and camphor melted together, then a wet compress put on, by folding up a cloth of a half dozen thicknesses, (have it about two or three inches in width,) wring it out of cold water, then pin it on to a piece of flannel, allowing the flannel to extend beyond it on either side at least an inch, pin it securely around the neck placing another piece of flannel or a soft towel out side, entirely excluding the air. If the child is very much oppressed give sufficient ipecac (syrup) to vomit it ; these remedies can be used until you have time to secure a physician. If the child continues t© be hoarse, continue giving ipecac all the next day every two hours not enough to vomit it, but sufficient to keep the phlegm loose. Another remedy for croup is alum, about one-half teaspoonful of pulverized alum in a small quantity of molasses, repeat the dose every hour until the patient is relieved ; or alum dissolved in water, and given in small doses every hour. Onion syrup is also very good for hoarseness in children ; put two or three onions in a pan, place them in the oven of the stove, let them get thoroughly baked, then squeeze the juice out into a saucer, and to every spoonful of juice put the same of white sugar, and give the child a teaspoonful every hour or oftener if necessary.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
Remedy for Corns
When corns are troublesome make a shield of buckskin leather an inch or two across, with a hole cut in the center the size of the corn; touch the exposed spot with pyroligneous acid which will eat it away in a few applications. Besides this a strong mixture of carbolic acid, and glycerine is good, say one-half as much acid as glycerine. Turpentine may also be used for corns and bunions. A weaker solution of carbolic acid will heal soft corns between the toes. A French medical journal reports the cure of the most refactory corns by the morning and evening application with a brush of a drop of a solution of the perchloride of iron. It states, that after a fortnight’s continued application, without pain, a patient who had suffered martyrdom for nearly forty years was entirely relieved.”
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
For Cutaneous Eruptions
Those who have the misfortune to contract cutaneous disorders, or from scorbutic affections or the fumes of certain medicines, each and any of which are liable to produce roughness and inflammation of the skin, will be glad of a speedy and certain cure for their affliction. It is a wash of sulphurous acid (not sulphuric) diluted in the proportion of three parts soft water to one of the acid, and used three or four times a day until relieved. Sub-rosa all parasites on furniture, human beings or pets are quickly destroyed by this application.”
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
A Remedy for Moth or Hepatic Spots
They are a sign of deep seated disease of the liver. Taraxacum, the extract of dandelion root, is the standing remedy for this, and the usual prescription is a large pill four nights in a week, some times for months. To this may be added the free use of tomatoes, figs, mustard-seed, and all seedy fruits and vegetables, with light boiled meats, and no bread but that of coarse flour. Pastry, puddings of most sorts, and fried food of all kinds must be dispensed with by persons having a tendency to this disease. It may take six weeks or even months to make any visible impression on either the health or the moth patches, but success will come at last. One-third of a teaspoonful of chlorate of soda in a wine-glass of water, taken in three doses before meals, will aid the recovery by neutralizing morbid matters in the stomach. There is no sure cosmetic that will reach the moth patches. Such treatment as described, such exercise as is tempting in itself, and gay society, will restore one to conditions of health in which the extinction of these blotches is certain.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
Liniment for Sprains
One ounce oil of wormseed, one ounce of hemlock, one ounce of sassafras, one ounce of cedar, one ounce of red pepper, one ounce gum camphor, three pints of alcohol. This liniment Ls good for man or beast.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
To Remove Freckles
Take finely powdered nitre (saltpetre), and apply it to the freckles by the finger moistened with water and dipped in the powder. When perfectly done, and judiciously repeated, it will remove them effectually without trouble. Rough skins from exposure to the wind in riding, rowing or yachting trouble many ladies who will be glad to know that an application of cold cream or glycerine at night, washed off with fine carbolic soap in the morning, will render them presentable at the breakfast-table. Another method is to rub the face, throat and arms well with cold cream or pure almond oil before going out. With this precaution one may come home from a berry party, or a sail without a trace of that ginger-bread effect too apt to follow these pleasures.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
To Make A Mustard Plaster
If you wish it to produce irritation immediately, mix some flour and water together quite stiff, spread this on your cloth and then sprinkle dry mustard on it quite thick, place a thin cloth over this and dampen with hot water. If you do not wish to raise a blister, mix the mustard up with the white of an egg and a little water. A poultice made in this way may be kept on an indefinite time without raising a blister.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
A Splendid Hair Tonic
A strong tincture for the hair is made by adding half an ounce of oil of mace to a pint of deodorized alcohol. Pour a spoonful or two into a saucer; dip a small stiff brush into it, and brush the hair smartly, rubbing the tincture well into the roots. On bald spots, if hair will start at all, it may be stimulated by friction with a piece of flannel until the skin looks red, and rubbing the tincture into the scalp. This process must be repeated three times a day for weeks. When the hair begins to grow, apply the tincture once a day until the growth is well established, bathing the head in cold water every morning, and briskly brushing it to bring the blood to the surface.”
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
A Simple and Harmless Hair Dye
“It is said that the water in which potatoes have been boiled with the skins on forms a speedy and harmless dye for the hair and eyebrows. The pareings of potatoes before cooking may be boiled by themselves, and the water strained off for use. To apply it the shoulders should be covered with cloths to protect the dress and a fine comb dipped in the water drawn through the hair, wetting it at each stroke, until the head is thoroughly soaked. Let the hair dry thoroughly before putting it up. If the result is not satisfactory the first time, repeat the wetting with a sponge, taking care not to discolor the skin of the brow and neck. No hesitation need be felt about trying this, for potato-water is a safe article used in the household in a variety of ways. It relieves chilblains if the feet are soaked in it while the water is hot, and is said to ease rheumatic gout.”
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook