Polish for Hard or Stained Wood Floors

Eight ounces of yellow beeswax, two quarts of spirits of turpentine, one quart of Venetian turpentine. Cut the wax in small pieces and pour the spirits over it–it will soon dissolve; then bottle. Apply with a flannel or soft cloth. It keeps the floors in excellent order.

Source: The Golden Age Cook Book, H. L. Dwight

Recipes for Felons

Take common rock salt, as used for salting down pork or beef, dry in an oven, then pound it fine and mix with spirits of turpentine in equal parts; put it in a rag and wrap it around the parts affected; as it gets dry put on more, and in twenty-four hours you are cured. The felon will be dead.

Or purchase the herb of stramonium at the druggist’s; steep it and bind it on the felon; as soon as cold, put on new, warm herbs. It will soon kill it, in a few hours at least.

Or saturate a bit or grated wild turnip, the size of a bean, with spirits of turpentine, and apply it to the affected part. It relieves the pain at once; in twelve hours there will be a hole to the bone, and the felon destroyed; then apply healing salve, and the finger is well.

Another Way to Cure a Felon: Fill a tumbler with equal parts of fine salt and ice; mix well. Sink the finger in the centre, allow it to remain until it is nearly frozen and numb; then withdraw it, and when sensation is restored, renew the operation four or five times, when it will be found the disease is destroyed. This must be done before pus is formed.

A simple remedy for felons, relieving pain at once, no poulticing, no cutting, no “holes to the bone,” no necessity for healing salve, but simple oil of cedar applied a few times at the commencement of the felon, and the work is done.

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

Dysentery

Make a strong tea of sweet gum bark ; to a pint, add a gill of good brandy, half an ounce of laudanum, a little loaf sugar to make it palatable. Take a teaspoonful every hour until the effect of the laudanum is apparent, then at longer intervals, until the disease abates.

A very good and simple remedy, if used when the first symptoms appear, is : Give an adult five drops of spirits of turpentine
in a teaspoonful of sweet milk. Repeat, if necessary. Give a child according to age.

Another remedy : A teacup half full of apple vinegar. Dissolve as much salt in it as it will hold, leaving a little at the bottom. Pour boiling water upon the solution until the cup is three-fourths full. Scald it, and remove the scum. Take a tablespoonful three times a day.

Source: Mrs Hill’s New Cook-Book

Liniment for Chilblains

Spirits of turpentine, three drachms; camphorated oil, nine drachms.

Mix for a liniment. For an adult four drachms of the former and eight of the latter may be used. If the child be young, or if the skin be tender, the camphorated oil may be used without the turpentine.

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

Liniment for Man or Beast

Two ounces of spirits of turpentine, two ounces of spirits of camphor, two ounces of sweet oil and one and a half ounces of cedar oil. Apply twice a day; shake well before using.

Source: 76: A Cook Book

For Severe Sprains

The white of an egg, a tablespoonful of vinegar and a tablespoonful of spirits of turpentine. Mix in a bottle, shake thoroughly, and bathe the sprain as soon as possible after the accident. This was published in Life Secrets, but it is republished by request on account of its great value. It should be remembered by everyone.

An invaluable remedy for a sprain or bruise is wormwood boiled in vinegar and applied hot, with enough cloths wrapped around it to keep the sprain moist.

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

For Burns

Let the clothes be taken off with great care and tenderness, and then apply spirits of turpentine, or lay on a thick plaster of fresh yeast, renewing it as often as it becomes hot or dry; or dash the part with cold water in which some yeast has been stirred, or with vinegar, or with strong brine, or with the liquid which runs from potatoes sliced thin and sprinkled with salt; or cut a large cucumber in slices and lay it on the part.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

For Rheumatism

Take equal parts of the best oil of Juniper and spirits of turpentine, and rub the parts afflicted thoroughly. Particular care should be taken to use only the best oil and spirits.

Source: 76: A Cook Book

Hair Stimulant

One ounce of spirits of turpentine; one ounce of trotter oil; thirty drops of acetic solution of
cantharides.

To be applied three times a week.

Source: The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper’s Guide, Mrs Washington

An Excellent Remedy for Cough

An excellent remedy for cough is made as follows: Take a cup of mutton tallow and two great spoonfuls of spirits of turpentine; put into the turpentine all the camphor gum that it will dissolve, then add to the cup of tallow, melted, mix thoroughly, and keep where you can have it ready to apply to the throat or chest on a cloth when needed, covering warmly. This gives almost instant relief. It is a remedy of one of our best and oldest physicians, who has saved many lives by its use. It is good for any lung trouble, croup, or colds.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts