MEDICINAL AND OTHER RECIPES

426.—Barley-water for the Sick Chamber

Mix smoothly a teaspoonful of Robinson’s patent barley and a tablespoonful of cold spring water into a smooth paste, and gradually add a quart of boiling water; boil it gently for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, and strain when cold.

427.—To Cure the Sting of a Wasp

Oil of tartar or solution of potash applied to the part affected will give instant relief.

428.—To Cure Deafness from Deficient Secretion of Wax

Mix half a drachm of oil of turpentine and two drachms of olive oil. Put two drops into the ear at bedtime.

429.—Cure for Cramp in the Legs

Stretch out the heels and draw up the toes as far as possible. This will often stop a fit of the cramp after it has commenced.

430.—Emetic Draught

Mix one grain of emetic tartar, fifteen grains of powder of ipecacuanha, and an ounce and a half of water. This is commonly employed for unloading the stomach on the accession of fevers, and in ordinary cases.

431.—Another Recipe

Mix ten grains of blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) and two ounces of distilled water.

432.—Another Recipe

For a draught to be taken directly, mix a scruple of subcarbonate of ammonia, half a drachm of ipecacuanha in powder, three ounces of peppermint water, and two drachms of tincture of cayenne pepper. In case of poisoning, this is said to be more certain and effectual in arousing the action of the stomach than either of the preceding draughts.

433.—Cure for Tic-doloreux or Neuralgia

Mix half a pint of rose-water and two teaspoonfuls of white vinegar. Apply it to the part affected three or four times a day: fresh linen should be used at each application. This will, in two or three days, gradually take the pain away.

At least three hundred “infallible cures” for tic-doloreux have been discovered, but the disease arises from such various causes that no remedy can be relied upon. Carbonate of iron cures one; quinine, another; upon a third neither has any effect. The remedy above suggested, although safe and simple, takes time to afford relief. Ten to twenty drops of Collis Browne’s chlorodyne have been found from repeated experience to afford nearly instantaneous relief, and in some cases subject to periodical return to have effected almost perfect cures.

434.—To Cure Hiccough or Hiccup

This spasm is caused by flatulency, indigestion, and acidity. It may generally be relieved by a sudden fright or surprise, or the application of cold, also by swallowing two or three mouthfuls of cold water or a teaspoonful of vinegar, or by eating a small piece of ice, taking a punch of snuff, or anything that excites coughing.

435.—Cure for Colds

Total abstinence from liquid food of any kind for a day or two (known as the dry system) has been known to cure coughs and colds where it has been persevered in.

436.—Mixture for Recent Coughs

Mix five ounces of honey, a quarter of a pound of treacle, and seven ounces of best vinegar, and simmer in a common pipkin for fifteen minutes; remove it from the fire, and when the mixture has become lukewarm, add two drachms of ipecacuanha wine. The dose is a tablespoonful every four hours for adults. This is one of the best mixtures known for recent cough, and, on account of its pleasant taste, is particularly eligible for children and infants.

437.—Emulsion for Recent Coughs

Mix an ounce of oil of sweet almonds, the yolk of one egg, five ounces of orange-flower water, half an ounce of mucilage of gum Arabic, a drachm and a half of ipecacuanha wine, and half an ounce of syrup of marshmellows. The dose is a tablespoonful when the cough is troublesome. Half this quantity may be given to young children.

438.—Emulsion for Old Coughs

Rub well two drachms of gum ammoniac, gradually adding half a pint of water; when they are thoroughly mixed, strain them through linen. This is a useful expectorant in old coughs and asthmas, when no inflammatory symptoms are present. The dose is from one to two tablespoonfuls, united with an equal quantity of almond emulsion.

439.—Cure for Hooping-cough

Dissolve a scruple of salts of tartar in a quarter of a pint of water; add ten grains of cochineal, and sweeten with sugar. Give to an infant the fourth part of a tablespoonful four times a day; two years old, half a spoonful; from four years, a tablespoonful.

440.—Roche’s Embrocation for Hooping-cough

Mix eight ounces of olive oil, four ounces of oil of amber, and a sufficient quantity of oil of cloves to scent it strongly. This is the same as the famous embrocation of Roche. When rubbed on the chest, it stimulates the skin gently, and is sometimes serviceable in hooping-cough and the other coughs of children. In hooping-cough it should not be used for the first ten days of the disease.

441.—Valuable Lotion for Hooping-cough, &c.

Dissolve one drachm of emetic tartar in two ounces of common water, and add half an ounce of tincture of Spanish fly. This is a valuable lotion in the advanced stages of hooping-cough, and is of much service in all other coughs, both of adults and children. It is often very useful in removing the distressing cough and oppression of the chest left after the hoop has quitted the patient. After it has been rubbed into the chest night and morning for about a week, it will create a redness, and bring out some small pustules; it should then be applied only once a day, and if the part becomes very sore, it may be laid aside altogether, and the pustules anointed twice a day with simple white ointment. In very severe cases, however, it will be necessary to continue the use of this lotion until a large number of pustules appear; and if they are kept discharging freely by an occasional use of it, the relief will be more striking and permanent.

442.—Warm Plaster

Melt together with a moderate heat one part of blistering plaster and fourteen of Burgundy pitch, and mix them so as to form a plaster. This will be stimulant, and create a slight irritation on the part to which it is applied. It is used with advantage in common cough, hooping-cough, sciatica, and local pain.

443.—Gargle for Irritation and Inflammation in the Throat

Mix two drachms of purified nitre, seven ounces of barley-water, and seven drachms of acetate of honey. Use frequently.

444.—Another Recipe

Mix half a drachm of muriatic acid and seven ounces of decoction of black-current leaves or barley-water. This and the preceding gargle should be used when the object is to reduce the inflammation in the throat without its proceeding to suppuration. They are likewise useful in relaxed sore throat. This gargle possesses cleansing qualities, and should be used when the fauces are clogged with viscid mucus. It may be made still more detergent, if necessary, by increasing a little the quantity of acid.

445.—A Good Gargle for Sore Throats

Mix two drachms of tincture of myrrh, four ounces of water, and half an ounce of vinegar.

446.—Excellent Domestic Gargle

Mix together, in a half-pint tumbler, three teaspoonfuls of vinegar, two of tincture of myrrh, two of honey, and about one-fourth of a tumbler of port wine; then fill up the tumbler with lukewarm water, and the gargle will be fit for use. This is both pleasant and efficacious in all cases of sore throat. If a decoction of black-currant leaves be used instead of lukewarm water, it will be much improved.

447.—Remedy for Sprains

Mix together one ounce each of camphorated spirit, common vinegar, and spirits of turpentine.

448.—Another Recipe

Put the white of an egg into a saucer, and stir it with a piece of alum, about the size of a walnut, until it becomes a thick jelly; apply a portion of it on a piece of lint or two large enough to cover the sprain, changing it for a fresh one as often as it gets warm or dry, and keep the limb in a horizontal position.

449.—Embrocation for Sprains and Bruises

Mix together an ounce and a half of compound liniment of camphor and half an ounce of tincture of opium. This is a very useful application to sprains and bruises, after all inflammation has disappeared, and for rheumatic pains. Warmed and rubbed over the surface of the abdomen, it is of much service in allaying the pain of colic unattended by inflammation.

450.—Another Recipe

Mix an ounce of solution of acetate of ammonia and an ounce of soap liniment. This is useful when the bruises or sprains are accompanied with inflammation.

451.—Lime Liniment for Burns, Scalds, &c.

Mix together equal parts of linseed or common olive oil and lime-water. Well shake the liniment every time it is used.

452.—Spermaceti Ointment for Dressing Blisters

Melt an ounce of white wax and a quarter of an ounce of spermaceti in two ounces of olive oil, and stir the mixture till it becomes cold.

453.—To Prevent Galling in Persons confined to their Beds

Beat the white of an egg to a strong froth, and gradually drop in two teaspoonfuls of spirits of wine; put the mixture into a bottle, and apply occasionally with a feather.

454.—Anodyne Fomentation

Boil three ounces of white poppy-heads, half an ounce of elder-flowers, and three pints of water till one pint is evaporated; then strain out the liquor. This fomentation is used to relax spasm and relieve acute pain. Sometimes it may be advisable to add three teaspoonfuls of tincture of opium to it.

455.—Common Fomentation

Boil an ounce of dried mallows, half an ounce of dried camomile-flowers, and a pint of water for a quarter of an hour, and strain. This is a very good fomentation for all common occasions.

456.—Nitric Acid Lotion

Mix together two drachms of diluted nitric acid and a pint of water. This lotion is stimulating and detergent, and is very serviceable when applied to foul foetid ulcers attended with a thin ichorous discharge. It is also useful in caries of the bone, and when there is an impending mortification. It is a favourite lotion in unhealthy ulcerations, which require the application of a mild stimulant.

457.—Cure for Bowel Complaint

Mix half a drachm of rhubarb powder, a drachm of calcined magnesia, an ounce of paregoric elixir, and half a pint of peppermint water. Shake up, and take two tablespoonfuls every three hours till relieved.

458.—Another Recipe

The following is a better prescription for the same purpose:—Mix eight ounces of chalk mixture, a drachm of aromatic confection, three drachms of compound tincture of camphor, and three or four drops of oil of caraways. Take two tablespoonfuls every three hours, or oftener if the pain and purging be urgent; a teaspoonful is a dose for young children, and one tablespoonful for those of ten or twelve years of age.

459.—Compound Infusion of Senna

Macerate for an hour in a pint of boiling water, in a lightly covered vessel, an ounce and a half of senna-leaves and a drachm of sliced ginger-root, and strain the liquor. This is a useful purging infusion, in common use among medical men. It is usually given in conjunction with a little Epsom or Glauber’s salts, and forms a purging mixture of great service in all acute diseases.

460.—Warm Purgative Tincture

Put three ounces of senna-leaves, three drachms of bruised caraway-seeds, a drachm of cardamom-seeds, and four ounces of stoned raisins into two pints of best brandy; macerate for fourteen days in a gentle heat, and filter. This is quite equal to the celebrated Daffy’s elixir, and is similar to the tincture of senna sold at the shops. It is stomachic and purgative, and is beneficially employed in flatulency, pains in the bowels, gouty habits, and as an opening medicine for those whose bowels have been weakened by intemperance. The dose is one, two, or three tablespoonfuls, in any agreeable vehicle.

461.—Tonic Aperient Mixture

Mix three ounces and a half each of decoction of bark and infusion of senna, three drachms of sulphate of potash, and half an ounce of compound tincture of bark. Take three tablespoonfuls once or twice a day, so as to keep the bowels regular; or it may be used only occasionally, when an aperient is required.

462.—Mild Aperient Pills

Beat into a mass and divide into twelve pills half a drachm of compound extract of colocynth, a scruple of compound rhubarb pill, ten grains of Castille soap, and five drops of oil of juniper. These are excellent aperient pills for occasional use in costiveness, bilious affections, and on all ordinary occasions, and are suited to the relief of these complaints in children as well as in adults. One pill taken at bedtime is generally sufficient, but some persons may require two.

463.—Digestive Aperient Pills

Well rub thirty-six or forty grains of socotrine aloes with eighteen grains of gum mastic, and add twenty-four grains each of compound extract of gentian and compound galbanum pill, and a sufficient quantity of oil of aniseed to make twenty pills. Take two or three, an hour before dinner, or at night. They are stomachic and aperient, containing an antispasmodic, and producing usually a full feculent evacuation. They are very suitable to persons who have no vital energy to spare, and require a medicine which will operate mildly, surely, and safely.

464.—Worm Powder

Rub well together two or three grains of calomel and ten grains of compound powder of scammony. This is an efficacious powder for the expulsion of worms from children and adults, and may be given twice a week, or oftener, till the object be accomplished.

465.—Infallible Cure for Tapeworm

Take of the plant Gisekia pharmaceoides, in its green, fresh state, leaves, stalks, seeds, and seed-capsules (if the plant be in seed or forming its seed-vessels) indiscriminately one pound, and grind it down with sufficient water to render it liquid. It should be administered to the patient after twelve hours of fasting, and repeated on the fourth and eighth days. As a precautionary measure, to destroy any latent germs, repeat the dose in eight days more. The Gisekia is free of every poisonous quality: it simply possesses an acrid volatile principle, fatal alone to the tapeworm, and is in no way distressing to the stomach or digestive organs. The plant flourishes most luxuriantly in the jungles at Ferozepore, cis-Sutlej territories, Cawnpore, Seharunpore, Egypt, Coromandel, the banks of the Irrawaddie, in Burmah, and throughout Oude. As a specific it was first brought to European notice by a fakeer at Ferozepore, about the year 1856.

N.B.—The dried plant is useless.

466.—Cure for Ringworm

The parts should be washed twice a day with soft soap and warm water; when dry, rub them with a piece of linen rag dipped in ammonia from gas tar; the patient should take a little sulphur and treacle, or some other gentle aperient, every morning; brushes and combs should be washed every day, and the ammonia kept tightly corked.

467.—Quinine Draught

For dyspepsia and hepatic derangement mix two grains of sulphate of quinine, two drops of diluted sulphuric acid, one drachm of spirit of nutmegs, and ten drachms of distilled water, and take daily at midday.

468.—Seidlitz Powders

Two drachms of tartarized soda and two scruples of bicarbonate of soda for the blue paper; thirty grains of tartaric acid for the white paper.

469.—Ginger-beer Powders

Half a drachm of bicarbonate of soda, with a grain or two of powdered ginger and a quarter of an ounce of sugar, for the blue paper; twenty-five grains of tartaric acid for the white paper.

470.—Lemonade Powders

Omit the ginger powder from the above, and to the water add a little essence of lemon or lemon-juice.