A Very Useful Liniment

One ounce oil of origanum, two ounces spirits of turpentine, shake up well and apply on soft linen; to some persons this liniment has an unpleasant odor, but it is very efficacious; there is no better for burns, sprains, cuts, etc., in cases where the skin is not broken; pour a little into the hand, and rub well on the parts affected two or three times a day.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

For Gout

For the local treatment of chronic gout the following formula is recommended as being of great utility. Take of ethereal tincture of capsicum, spirits of ammonia, essence of turpentine, linseed-oil, of each one ounce; mix, and apply by rubbing.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Remedy for Chapped Hands

The simplest remedy is the camphor ball, to be obtained of all chemists. Powdered hemlock bark put into a piece of muslin and sprinkled on the chaps is highly recommended. Or, wash with oatmeal, and afterwards rub the hands over with dry oatmeal, so as to remove all dampness. It is a good thing to rub the hands and lips with glycerine before going to bed at night. A good oil is made by simmering: Sweet oil, one pint; Venice turpentine, three ounces; lard, half a pound; beeswax, three ounces. Simmer till the wax is melted. Rub on, or apply with a rag.

Source: The Ladies’ Book Of Useful Information

Flux

Receive the smoke of Turpentine cast on burning coals. This cures also the Bloody Flux and the Falling of the Fundament.

Or put a large brown Toast into three quarts of water, with a drachm of cochineal powdered, and a drachm of salt of wormwood. Drink it all in as short time as you conveniently can. This rarely fails to cure all Fluxes, Cholera Morbus, yea, and inflammations of the bowels. Tried.

Or take a spoonful of Plantane-seed bruised, morning and evening till it stops.

Or ten grains of Ipecacuanha, three mornings successively. It is likewise excellent as a sudorific.

Or boil four ounces of rasped Logwood, or fresh Logwood chips, in three quarts of water to two; strain it, and drink a quarter of a pint, sweetened with loaf-sugar warm, twice a day. It both binds and heals. Or take a small tea-cupful of it every hour.

Or boil the fat of a breast of mutton in a quart of water for an hour. Drink the broth as soon as you can conveniently. This will cure the most inveterate flux. Tried.

Source: Primitive Physic: or an easy and natural method of curing most diseases, John Wesley.

Corns

Corns are of three kinds: callous spots, soft corns, and corns. Callous spots may be rubbed or pared down and rubbed with cocoa butter. Soft corns come between the toes and are very painful. Soak absorbent cotton in a little turpentine and put between the toes; or sprinkle the cotton with powdered alum. These corns are supposed to be due to moisture between the toes and are sometimes cured and often prevented by keeping absorbent cotton between the toes. Prevention saves a lot of suffering. “Just corns” are calloused spots with a hard center; pressure on this causes pain. Soaking in hot water, and shaving off as much of the hardened skin as can be removed with safety, affords relief. The little hard core should be taken out.

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

Rheumatism, Three Simple Ingredient Liniment for

“One pint pure cider vinegar, one pint of turpentine, four fresh eggs, put the egg shells and all in the vinegar, let stand until the vinegar eats the eggs all up, then add the turpentine.” This makes a fine liniment.

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

Bruises, Turpentine to Keep Proud Flesh from

“Rub the injured part with turpentine and keep warm, and you will find this remedy to be one of the best to keep proud flesh out and gangrene that has ever been used. I always have turpentine in my home, and find that I have use for it often. If once used you will never be without it.”

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

Cholera Infantum, First Thing to Do

“The first thing to do is to give a teaspoonful of castor oil, so as to thoroughly clean out the bowels. Then add one tablespoonful of turpentine to one quart of hot water and wring cloths out of this and apply to the bowels to relieve the pain that is always present in this disease. The turpentine is especially good for the bowels when they are bloated and have much gas in them.”

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

Judkins’ Ointment

Linseed-oil 1 pt; sweet oil 1 oz; and boil them in a kettle on coals for nearly 4 hours, as warm as you can; then have pulverized and mixed, borax 1/2 oz; red lead 4 ozs, and sugar of lead 1 1/2 ozs; remove the kettle from the fire and thicken in the powder; continue the stirrying until cooled to blood heat, then stir in 1 oz of spirits of turpentine; and now take out a little, letting it get cold, and if not then sufficiently thick to spread upon thin, soft linen as a salve, you will boil again until this point is reached.

[…] it is good for all kinds of wounds, bruises, sores, burns, white swellings, rheumatisms, ulcers, sore breasts, and even where there are wounds on the inside, it has been used with advantage, by applying a plaster over the part.

Source: Dr Chase’s Recipes, or Information for Everybody, A.W. Chase

Sprains, Old English White Oil

“Alcohol 1/4 pint.
Turpentine 1/4 pint.
Hartshorn 1/2 ounce.
Oil Origanum 1 ounce.

For sprains and rubbing around sores.”

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