More incorrect health advice---including remedies for lockjaw and the New York Sun's cholera mixture---after the jump.
If any person is threatened or taken with lockjaw from injuries of the arms, legs or feet, do not wait for a doctor, but put the part injured in the following preparation: Put hot wood ashes into water as warm as can be borne; if the injured part cannot be put into water, then wet thick folded cloths in the water and apply them to the part as soon as possible, at the same time bathe the backbone from the neck down with some laxative stimulant---say cayenne pepper and water, or mustard and water (good vinegar is better than water); it should be as hot as the patient can bare it. Don't hesitate; go to work and do it, and don't stop until the jaws come open. No person need die of lockjaw if these directions are followed.
Cure for Lockjaw, Said to be Positive.-Let anyone who as an attack of lockjaw take a small quantity of spirits of turpentine, warm it, and pour it in the wound---no matter where the wound is or what its nature is---and relief will follow in less than one minute. Turpentine is also a sovereign remedy for croup. Saturate a piece of flannel with it and place the flannel on the throat and chest---and in very severe cases, three to five drops on a lump of sugar may be taken internally.
{Ed. There are times when this book is no longer funny and some of these "helpful hints" can be called downright fraud. This is one of them.}
Roll up a piece of paper and press it under the upper lip. In obstinate cases, blow a little gum arabic up the nostril through a quill, which will immediately stop the discharge; powdered alum, dissolved in water, is also good. Pressure by the finger over the small artery near the ala (wing) of the nose on the side where the blood is flowing is said to arrest the hemmorhage immediately. Sometimes by wringing a cloth out of very hot water and laying it on the back of the neck, gives relief. Napkins wrung out of cold water must be laid across the forehead and nose, the hands dipped in cold water, and a bottle of hot water applied to the feet.
In most cases a simple and effective cure may be found in one or two grains of flax-seed, which can be placed in the eye without pain or injury. As they dissolve, a glutinous substance is formed, which envelops any foreign body that may be under the lid, and the whole is easily washed out. A dozen of these seeds should constitute a par of every traveler's outfit.
Another remedy for removing objects from the eye: Take a horsehair and double it, leaving a loop. If the object can be seen, lay the loop over it, close the eye, and the mote will come out as the hair is withdrawn. If the irritating object cannot be seen, raise the lid of the eye as high as possible and place the loop as far as you can, close the eye and roll the ball around a few times, draw out the hair, and the substance which caused the pain will be sure to come out with it. This method is practiced by axemakers and other workers in steel.
Montreal Star
The best eye-wash for granulated lids and inflammation of the eyes is composed of camphor, borax and morphine, in the following proportions: To a large wine-glass of camphor water---not spirits---add two grains of morphine and six grains of borax. Pour a few drops into the palm of the hand, and hold the eye in it, opening the lid as much as possible. Do this three or four times in twenty-four hours, and you will receive great relief from pain and smarting soreness. This recipe was received from a celebrated oculist, and has never failed to relieve the most inflamed eyes.
Another remedy said to be reliable: a lump of alum as large as a cranberry boiled in a teacupful of sweet milk and the curn used as a poultice, is excellent for inflammation of the eyes.
Another wash: A cent's worth of pure, refined white copperas dissolved in a pint of water, is also a good lotion; but label it poison, as it should never go near the mouth. Bathe the eyes with the mixture, either with the hands or a small piece of linen cloth, allowing some of the liquid to get under the lids.
Here is another from an eminent oculist: Take half an ounce of rock salt and one ounce of dry sulphate of zinc; simmer in a clean, covered porcelain vessel with three pints of water until all are dissolved; strain through thick muslin; add one ounce of rose-water; bottle and cork it tight. To use it, mix one teaspoonful of rain-water with one of the eye-water, and bathe the eyes frequently. If it smarts too much, add more water.
Wrap a wet cloth bandage over the head; wet another cloth, folded small, square, cover it thickly with salt, and bind it on the back of the neck; apply dry salt behind the ears. Put mustard plasters to the calves of the legs and soles of the feet. This is an effectual remedy.
{Ed.Have you noticed, like I have, that when they try hard to sell you on a remedy, it probably doesn't work? }
Wash with water saturated with common washing-soda, and let it dry without wiping; repeat frequently until they disappear. Or pass a pin through the wart and hold one end of it over the flame of a candle or lamp until the wart fires by the heat, and it will disappear.
Another treatment of warts is to pare the hard and dry skin from their tops, and then touch them with the slightest drop of strong acetic acid, taking care that the acid does not run off the wart upon the neighboring skin; for if it does it will occasion inflammation and much pain. If this is continued once or twice daily, with regularity, paring the surface of the wart occasionally when it gets hard and dry, the wart will soon be effectually cured.
{Ed. Or as my sister ML recommends: Use Zantac 75}
Worm seed, two ounces; valerian, rhubarb, pink root, white agaric, senna, of each one ounce and a half. Boil in sufficient water to yield three quarts of decoction. Now add to it ten drops of the oil of tansy and forty-five drops o fthe oil of cloves, dissolved in a quart of rectified spirit. Dose: one tablespoonful at night.
As best I can guess, this is a recipe for a particular brand of bottled medicine. Sort of a make-your-own dealie-o.
Immediately place the person fainting in the lying position, with head lower than body. In this way consciousness returns immediately, while in the erect position it often ends in death.
The white of an egg, a tablespoonful of vinegar and a tablesooin 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.
Best oil of Lucca, gum camphor. Pound some gum camphor and fill a wide-necked pint bottle one-third full; fill it up with olive oil and set away until the camphor is absorbed. Excellent lotion for sore chest, sore throat, aching limbs, etc.
Spirits of turpentine, three drachms; camphorated oil, nine drachms.
Mix for a liniment. For an adult four drachms of the former and either 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.
More than forty years ago, when it was found that prevention for the Asiatic cholera was easier than cure, the learned doctors of both hemispheres drew up a prescription, which was published (for working people) in The New York Sun, and took the name fo the "The Sun Cholera Mixture." It is found to be the best remedy for looseness of the bowels ever devised. It is to be commended for several reasons. It is not to be mixed with liquor, and therefore will not be used as an alcoholic beverage. Its ingredients are well known among all the common people, and it will have no prejudice to combat; each of the materials is in equal proportions to the others, and it may therefore be compounded without professional skill; and as the dose is so very small, it may be carried in a tiny phial in the waistcoat pocket and be always at hand. It is:---
Take equal parts of tincture of cayenne, tincture of opium, tincture of rhubarb, essence of peppermint and spirits of camphor. Mix well. Dose fifteen to thirty drops in a wine-glass of water, accofing to age and violence of the attack. Repeat every fifteen or twenty minutes until relief is obtained. Even when no cholera is anticipated, it is a valuable remedy to ordinary summer complaints and should always be kept in readiness.
The only pleasant and reliable cathartic in liquid form that can be prescribed.
Each fluid ounce contains: sulp. magnesia one drachm, senna two drachms, seammony six grains, liquorice one drachm, ginger three grains, coriander, five grains, with flavoring ingredients.
Dose.---Child five years old, one or two teaspoonfuls; adult, one or two tablespoonfuls.
This preparation is being used extensively throughout the country. It was originated with the design of furnishing a liquid cathartic remedy that could be prescribed in a palatable form. It will be taken by children with relish.
Cathartic is a nice term for "laxative."
Take half a pound of dry hoarhound herbs, one pod of red pepper, four tablespoonfuls of ginger, boil all in three quarts of water, then strain, and add one teaspoonful of good, fresh tar and a pound of sugar. Boil slowly and stir often, until it is reduced to one quart of syrup. When cool, bottle for use. Take one or two teaspoonfuls four or six times a day.
One pint of alcohol and as much camphor gum as can be dissolved in it, half na ounce of the oil of cedar, one-half ounce of the oil of sassafras, aqua ammonia half an ounce, and the same ounce of the tincture of morphine. Shake well together and apply by the fire; the liniment must not be heated, or come in contact with fire, but the rubbing to be done by the warmth of the fire.
These recipes of Grandmother's are all old, tried medicines, and are more effectual than most of those that are advertised, as they have been thoroughly tried, and proved reliable.
Mandrake root one ounce, dandelion root one ounce, burdock root one ounce, yellow dock root one ounce, prickly ash berries two ounces, marsh mallow one ounce, turkey rhubarb half an ounce, gentian one ounce, English camomile flowers one ounce, red clover tops two ounces.
Wash the herbs and roots; put them in an earthen vessel, pour over two quarts of water that has been boiled and cooled; let it stand over might and soak; in the morning set it on the back of the stove, and steep it five hours; it must not boil, but ne nearly ready to boil. Strain it through a cloth, and add half a pint of good gin. Keep it in a cool place. Half a wine-glass taken as a dose twice a day.
This is better than all the patent blood medicines that are in the market---a superior blood purifier, and will cure almost any malignant sore, by taking according to direction, and washing the sore with a strong tea of red raspberry leaves steeped, first washing the sore with castile soap, then drying with a soft cloth, and washing it with the strong tea of red raspberry leaves.
Take three fresh eggs and break them into one quart of clear, cold rain-water; stir until thoroughly mixed; bring it to a boil on a slow fire, stirring often; then add half an ounce of sulphate of zinc (white vitrol); continue the boiling for two minutes, then set it off the fire. Take the curd that settles at the bottom of this and apply to the eye at night with a bandage. It will speedily draw out all fever and soreness. Strain the liquid through a cloth and use for bathing the eyes occasionally. This is the best eye-wash ever made for man or beast. I have used it for twenty years without knowing it to fail.
These pills can be manufactured at home and are truly reliable, having been sold and used for more than fifty years in Europe. The ingredients may be procured at almost any druggist's. The articles should be all in the powder. Saffron one grain, rue one grain, Scot aloes two grains, savin one grain, cayenne pepper one grain. Mix all into a very thick mass by adding sufficient syrup. Rub some fine starch on teh surface of a platter or large dinner plate, then with your forefinger and thumb nip off a small piece of the mass the size of a pill and roll it in pill form, first dipping your fingers in the starch. Place them as fast as made on the platter, set where they will dry slowly. Put them in a dry bottle or paper box. Dose, one every night and morning as long as occasion requires.
This recipe is worth ten times the price of this book to any female requiring the need of these regulating pills.
Posted by Kathy at January 30, 2006 10:20 PM | TrackBackTinctures of cayenne, opium & rhubarb, essence of peppermint, and spirits of camphor -- now if anything will prevent cholera, that oughta do it. (Call me over-vigilant if you must, but do I believe that mixing this potion in water that's void of any fecal matter might be another reasonable precaution.)
Posted by: Bob at January 31, 2006 11:24 AM