Simple Recipes for Remedies

SIMPLE REMEDIES-10

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The following remedies are for diseases which occur in almost every
family, and have been proved to be useful in a number of instances. As
most old housekeepers have their favorite recipes, it is for the young
and inexperienced these are particularly intended, and may be used with
safety, when a physician is not at hand.

For Rheumatism

Persons are liable to have the rheumatism from taking cold in the
winter. Where the pain is most violent, put on plasters of Burgundy
pitch, spread on leather. Persons that are subject to it, should always
keep pitch in the house to use, as it will give relief; a silk
handkerchief tied round the joint, keeps it warm and relieves stiffness.
If the pain is in the back part of the head, put a blister on the neck,
by all means. When persons have a bad spell of rheumatism, they should
always take medicine, and avoid eating meat for a few days. Equal parts
of rhubarb and castile soap, made into pills, with a little water, is a
valuable medicine for rheumatism, and suits aged persons; the pills
should be taken at night on going to bed. They are easily made, and
should always be at hand: it is valuable as a cathartic in almost every
case where mild medicine is necessary. The use of the shower bath is
also beneficial. Flannel should always be worn next the skin, and the
feet kept dry. Bathing with camphor sometimes relieves the pain, but
there is a danger of driving it to a more vital part. Salt and water is
useful to bathe for the rheumatism, when it is of long-standing.

Deafness, Remarks, &c.

A remarkable case of deafness was cured by the following remedy: (An
aged person, whose hearing had been very good, gradually became so deaf
as not to be able to hear common conversation; after suffering some
months, the patient thought of trying the following remedy:) of honey,
brandy and sweet oil, each a tea-spoonful, warm and mix well together;
sew a soft linen rag to the eye of a strong darning needle; dip this mop
in the mixture while warm, and put it in the ear; hold it in till cold,
when renew and move it gently about; by so doing, wax that had
accumulated, hardened, and stopped the cavity, was discharged, and the
hearing of the patient restored. Wool should be worn in the ears, and an
occasional use of the mixture; also flannel round the head at night. A
young person was relieved by the persevering use of the following
remedies: Put a small blister of Spanish flies behind the ears, very
high up on the hard part, so as to be clear of the leaders (or it will
occasion pain); when drawn, dress them in the usual way, and as soon as
healed renew them; repeat this several times, keeping wool in the ears
dipped in sweet oil, and at night put in small pieces of fat bacon that
has been boiled, and tie a handkerchief around to keep them warm. When
the blisters are healed, the hair should be cut short, to enable the
patient to bathe the head in cold water, which should be poured from a
pitcher; begin with it a little warm and gradually get it colder; this
should be persevered in, even in cold weather; wipe the head and tie it
up till dry. I have been induced to make these remedies public, by
seeing several interesting young persons suffering from deafness, with a
hope that they may be of use.

Remedy for Sick Head-ache.

A table-spoonful of table salt; dissolved in a pint of water, as warm as
you can drink it; take at two doses, and drink freely of luke-warm
water, until it causes vomiting; put a hot brick to the feet, and avoid
the air, which will check the perspiration.

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SIMPLE REMEDIES-8

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The following remedies are for diseases which occur in almost every
family, and have been proved to be useful in a number of instances. As
most old housekeepers have their favorite recipes, it is for the young
and inexperienced these are particularly intended, and may be used with
safety, when a physician is not at hand.

Mustard Whey.

Boil a pint of milk, and the same of water, with an ounce and a half of
bruised mustard seed, until the curd separates--when strain the whey.
This is a most desirable way of administering mustard; it warms and
invigorates the system, promotes the different secretions, and in the
low state of nervous fevers, will often supply the place of wine. It is
also of use in chronic rheumatism, palsy and dropsy.

Red Mixture.

Take sixteen grains of powdered rhubarb, thirty of soda, fifty of
prepared chalk, and two drops of the oil of spearmint, mixed in a vial
with two ounces of water; keep it corked up and shake it before giving a
dose. A child of ten months old should take a tea-spoonful every three
or four hours. If there is much pain, two drops of laudanum may be added
to every other dose. A table-spoonful is a dose for a grown person.

Erysipelas.

The decoction of sarsaparilla has proved useful in cases of erysipelas.
Take two ounces of sarsaparilla, one of sassafras, one of burdock root,
and one of liquorice; boil them slowly in three pints of water, keeping
it covered close, until reduced to one-half. Take two table-spoonsful
four times a day.

While taking medicine for the erysipelas, meat and all strong food
should be avoided, and every thing that has a tendency to inflame the
blood. Dusting the parts affected, with rye or buckwheat flour,
sometimes has a cooling effect, and bathing with camphor or spirits will
allay the irritation.

Nettle rash is very much like erysipelas, and the same treatment is good
for both. Slippery-elm bark, chipped, and let to stand in cold water
till it becomes thick, is a very cooling drink. It may be filled up the
second time. Barley water is also a suitable drink.

Erysipelas is frequently brought on by violent exercise, and the
perspiration being checked too suddenly. Persons that have once had it,
should avoid extremes of heat and cold, and pay strict attention to
diet--not eating any thing that disagrees with them. All acids,
particularly pickles, are improper.

The stomach should be cleansed by emetics. Small and frequent doses of
senna and salts, if taken just at going to bed, will not occasion much
sickness, and tend greatly to relieve the system of this unpleasant
disease. Where the case is slight, the rhubarb pills sometimes give
relief. The pores of those that are subject to it are generally open,
and flannel should be worn all the year, to prevent too sudden a check
of perspiration.

SIMPLE REMEDIES-7

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The following remedies are for diseases which occur in almost every
family, and have been proved to be useful in a number of instances. As
most old housekeepers have their favorite recipes, it is for the young
and inexperienced these are particularly intended, and may be used with
safety, when a physician is not at hand.

Summer Diseases.

The food of children in summer, should be light and nourishing; if of
milk, be careful that it is sweet. If you cannot get it fresh as often
as you want it, boiling will keep it sweet. Sour milk and improper
food sometimes bring on the summer disease, which is easier prevented
than cured.

A little rhubarb tea or tincture, with a small quantity of prepared
chalk, will sometimes check it in its early stages, but the most
effectual medicine that I have tried is called by some apothecaries,
"red mixture," of which I will give a recipe.

Chicken water, slightly salted, is very good; make but a little at a
time, and have it fresh.

Rice gruel, sweetened with loaf-sugar, and a little nutmeg, is
nourishing. To make a drink of slippery-elm, shave the bark fine and put
it in water; strain it, mix it with milk, and sweeten it. Elderberry and
blackberry cordials are also good in cases where there is no fever.

The stomach and back should be bathed with spirits, and a little bag of
pounded spices, wet with spirits, applied to the stomach, may be used
with safety, when not within reach of a physician.

A bark jacket has been used with success in many instances, cut it out
of fine muslin, to be double, spread it open, and cover one side with
about two ounces of the best Lima bark, and twelve pounded cloves; put
on the other side, sew it up, and quilt it across; put on shoulder
straps and strings of soft ribbon; sprinkle it with spirits twice a day.

The child should have the benefit of the morning and evening air. If it
is not convenient to ride it out, walking will answer, in the arms of a
careful nurse, carried on a pillow, with an umbrella to protect its eyes
from the light.

When a child is taken sick in a city, removing it to the country often
has a beneficial effect. Milk thickened with arrow root is good diet for
children. Flour dried in an oven for several hours, and used to thicken
milk or water, is also good, sweetened with loaf-sugar, and is
nutritious. They should eat but a small portion of any thing at a time.

To cut slices of lean fresh beef or mutton, put it in a bowl, and pour a
pint of boiling water on it, and let it set close to the fire for an
hour, is very good to give children occasionally, with but little salt;
the stomach will sometimes retain this when other things are rejected.
As thirst is an attendant on this disease, much salt should be avoided
in all their food. Every thing about a sick child should be kept clean,
and its clothes well aired before changing them. If it is too ill to
carry out of doors, have it changed from one room to another, and the
apartment it left well aired.

Children who are afflicted with this disease, sometimes crave fruit.
Ripe peaches, fresh from the tree, or ripe apples, baked or roasted
before the fire, may he occasionally administered in small quantities
with perfect safety.

To make toast-water, the bread should be toasted on both sides very dry,
and boiling water poured on it.

I hope these hints will be useful to persons that cannot procure a
physician, which is often the case in the country.

SIMPLE REMEDIES-6

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The following remedies are for diseases which occur in almost every
family, and have been proved to be useful in a number of instances. As
most old housekeepers have their favorite recipes, it is for the young
and inexperienced these are particularly intended, and may be used with
safety, when a physician is not at hand.

Infants' Colic, &c.

Tea made of catnip, and sweetened, given to an infant when it appears to
be in pain, is often useful. Sweet marjoram tea also relieves pain, and
has a soothing effect on the nerves.

To put the feet in warm water, and put a warm piece of flannel to the
stomach, is important; but if neither of these relieve the child, put it
in warm water for about ten minutes, and cover it from the air
carefully; wipe it dry, and keep it warm afterwards. A little weak
ginger tea is good for the colic; as also tea made of dried damask rose
leaves; a tea-spoonful of leaves will make a tea-cupful of tea.

Uneasiness is frequently caused by their stomachs being overloaded with
food, and care should be taken in this respect.

Having lately met with some remarks in the "Baltimore American," with
which I am much pleased, I take the liberty of inserting them.
"Narcotics and anodynes cannot be given with too much caution, the
sensitive and nervous system of an infant should never be acted upon by
these powerful drugs unless in extreme cases, and of these, few mothers
should presume to judge. Two drops of laudanum, says the London Medical
Gazette, have been known to kill an infant; and a single drop, it is
said, stole the life of a new born babe.

"The most experienced medical men never administer medicines of this
class to the very young, without exercising the utmost caution, and
making the most accurate calculations.

"In the present day, the more general diffusion of correct facts in
physiology and pathology has caused a large class of young mothers to
reject the old system of giving narcotic drugs to infants. In carrying
out this salutary reformation like all other reformers, they have a
strong opposition to contend with; old fashioned nurses do much harm in
opposing all nursery reformations, consequently young mothers will have
a hard task to execute.

"Too many have not the steady courage to hold on to the end in mild, but
firm opposition to all erroneous, but well meant interference. But there
are others whose pure and unswerving love for their tender off-spring
keeps them firm to their duty; to these the next generation will owe
much. They are the little band of true-hearted reformers, whose good
example will be like leaven, spreading until its influence is felt
throughout the wide circle of maternal responsibility."

SIMPLE REMEDIES-5

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The following remedies are for diseases which occur in almost every
family, and have been proved to be useful in a number of instances. As
most old housekeepers have their favorite recipes, it is for the young
and inexperienced these are particularly intended, and may be used with
safety, when a physician is not at hand.

For the Croup.

Put the child in warm water, and keep up the temperature by putting in
more hot water; keep it in fifteen or twenty minutes, then wipe it dry
and put it in a warm bed, or wrap a blanket round it and hold it on the
lap; give it an emetic, and put powdered garlic and lard to the throat
and soles of the feet; keep up the perspiration, by giving a few drops
of antimonial wine every half hour. The next morning give it a dose of
rhubarb tea or castor oil, and keep it from the air for several days.

This treatment has been very beneficial when a physician was not at
hand; and nothing had been done till his arrival, perhaps the child
would have been too far gone to recover. In cases of croup, to wet a
piece of flannel with, alcohol, and apply it to the throat as hot as it
can be borne, has often a salutary effect, applied frequently. It is
also good to use for a bad cold, &c.

Molasses stewed with a lump of butter, and a table-spoonful of vinegar,
taken just before you go to bed, and to grease the nose, forehead and
breast with mutton tallow, will sometimes cure a child without any thing
else.

To pound garlic in a rag and squeeze out the juice, mix it with
molasses, and give a tea-spoonful at a time, has given relief when a
child was very ill. Sliced onions, or garlic stewed with sugar and
water, or molasses, is very good to take for a cold. Where children are
subject to the croup, you should always have a pot of water over the
fire, and light-wood near, to heat it as quick as possible. Children
that are subject to these attacks should have their feet kept warm and
dry, and always wear flannel next to the skin.

It is the duty of parents to make use of the most simple remedies, which
may always be in readiness, and, if applied in time, may prevent the
necessity of giving strong medicines, which injure the constitutions of
young children. The least symptom of the disease should be attended to.

Lobelia is a certain remedy for croup. If the case is light, a few drops
of the tincture, increasing the dose according to the age of the child,
given at short intervals, will cause it to vomit and prevent danger; but
if the attack is a severe one, you should give the "third preparation of
lobelia;" for a child of ten years, ten drops, and so on in proportion;
mix it with sugar and water. Every mother should keep lobelia at hand,
as it has been known to give certain relief in many cases.

A child of twelve months, may take of the tincture ten drops every
fifteen or twenty minutes, till it acts as an emetic, or relieves by
perspiration; one of two or three years may take twenty or thirty drops.
The third preparation is of much greater strength than the tincture.

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