Cure for Felons

Boil up in any iron vessel of sufficient capacity, (say four or six quarts,) enough yellow dock root to make a strong liquor. When sufficiently boiled, and while the liquor is as hot as can be borne by the hand, cover the kettle with a flannel cloth to keep in the heat and steam, hold the hand or finger affected under the cloth, and in the steam, and in five minutes the pain will cease. If it should return, heat the liquor, and do as before.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

To Destroy Moths in Carpets

Wring a coarse towel out of clean water, spread it smoothly over the carpet and iron with a hot iron changing the iron often; repeat on all parts of the carpet suspected of having moths. It is not necessary to press hard. The color of the carpet will not be injured and the moths will be destroyed by the steam from the hot iron.

Source: 76: A Cook Book

Poison Water

Water boiled in galvanized iron becomes poisonous, and cold water passed through zinc-lined iron pipes should never be used for cooking or drinking. Hot water for cooking should never be taken from hot water pipes; keep a supply heated in kettles.

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

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

To Kill Cockroaches

Mix equal parts of red lead, Indian meal and molasses to a paste, put it on iron plates and set it where they congregate.

Source: 76: A Cook Book

To Wash Greasy Tin and Iron

Pour a few drops of ammonia into every greasy roasting-pan, first half-filling with warm water. A bottle of ammonia should always stand near the sink for such uses. Never allow dirty pots or pans to stand and dry; for it doubles the labor of washing. Pour in water, and use ammonia, and the work is half done.

Source: The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking, H. Campbell

English Cure for Drunken[n]ess

This recipe comes into notoriety through the efforts of John Vine Hall, who had fallen into such habitual drunkeness that his most earnest efforts to reclaim himself proved unavailing. He sought the advice of an eminent physician who gave him a prescription which he followed for several months, and at the end of that time had lost all desire for liquor.

The recipe is as follows: Five grains of sulphate of iron, ten grains of magnesia, eleven drachms of peppermint water and one drachm of spirits of nutmeg; to be taken twice a day. This preparation acts as a stimulant and tonic and partially supplies the place of the accustomed liquor, and prevents that absolute physical and moral prostration that follows a sudden breaking off from the use of stimulating drinks.

Source: 76: A Cook Book

Ingredient: Barley

Barley is excellent food for the anæmic and nervous on account of its richness in iron and phosphoric acid. It is also useful in fevers and all inflammatory diseases, on account of its soothing properties. From the earliest times barley water has been the recognised drink of the sick.

Source: Food Remedies: Facts About Foods And Their Medicinal Uses, Florence Daniel

Rye Tooth Powder

Rye contains carbonate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, oxide of iron, manganese, and silica, all suitable for application to the teeth. Therefore, a fine tooth powder is made by burning rye, or rye bread, to ashes, and grinding it to powder by passing the rolling-pin over it. Pass the powder through a sieve, and use.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information

Hair Tonic II

A preparation which is tonic in its properties and is also said to darken gray hair, and which certainly contains nothing injurious, calls for one ounce of sage and a pint of boiling water, allowed to stand twenty-four hours in an iron pot, and then filtered through filtering papers.

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter