Sickness may occur in every family, when the services of a physician cannot be had immediately; something must be done in the meantime, while waiting for the doctor. I trust some of these recipes will answer the purpose of temporary relief, while waiting for the doctor. Much sickness can be relieved without the aid of a physician by simple remedies, if taken in time. Experience and judgment must be exercised in the administration.
Caution in visiting the sick.—Do not visit a contagious sick room with an empty stomach, or when you feel fatigued, or when you are overcome with the heat and are perspiring, as in that state you are more liable to catch the disease, or impart it to others. When the disease is very contagious, take the side nearest the window, and wait till the room has been aired. When you leave the patient, take some food and change your clothing. Smoking is an excellent preventive to keep off the malaria.
For a bad smell in a sick room nothing is better than to burn green coffee. Fill a shovel with lighted coals, throw a handful of coffee on it, and pass it all over the room. Chloride of lime is also very good.
FAINTING.—Let the patient lay in a horizontal position, and have plenty of air; do not crowd around the patient in this condition; bathe the face with cold water and spirits of camphor; apply some stimulant to the nose, and loosen all the clothing; put mustard plasters on the extremities, if the patient does not revive quickly.
To relieve insensibility from a fall or blow on the head, bathe the head with hot vinegar, and apply a mustard poultice on the extremities.
FOR CONVULSIONS OR SPASMS.—Give some ipecac to cause vomiting; rub spirits of turpentine on the stomach; if from costiveness, give an injection of castor oil in water; if from teething, give paregoric and magnesia mixed, about half a teaspoonful. Mustard plasters on the spine and extremities may be applied; bathe the body in warm water; throw cold water on the head.
DIPHTHERIA, No. 1.—In the early stages of the symptoms, accompanied by soreness and swelling of the throat, use a solution of salt and water, and gargle every ten minutes; have a large piece of flannel, double, wet it well with hot salt and water, and put salt between the folds of the flannel; bind this around the throat, and put a dry cloth outside; if the patient is much prostrated, use a stimulant, but do not lose any time before calling in a doctor.
DIPHTHEEIA, No. 2.—Half a pint of strong sage tea, half a teaspoonful of alum, half a teaspoonful of pulverized borax, one tablespoonful of brewers' yeast, three tablespoonfuls of honey; then mix all together; for an adult, gargle; but for a child, let a small swab be made on a pencil or stick, pass it up and down the throat with care, so that it does not choke the child; be sure to have a clean swab each time it is applied, it can be made of linen; apply on the throat a piece of old rusty salt pork, and changed as often as possible.
SORE THROAT.—Make a gargle of salt and vinegar, it is good for a common sore throat.
One large spoonful of cayenne pepper, a teaspoonful of salt, and a pint of boiling water or half vinegar; pour on the water first, then add the vinegar; let it settle, and then gargle the throat every half hour. This is good for a putrid sore throat.
Bind on the throat a piece of salt pork, cut very thin, and if it is very bad keep it on two or three days; it will do it good.
A mustard poultice is also good.
Either of these are good for ulcerated sore throats.
Black currant jelly is a good remedy for sore throat or quinsy.
FOR CROUP. (From a good Physician.)—The whites of an egg beaten up with loaf sugar; give it to the child as often as possible.
CHILLS AND FEVER.—Take one blue pill before going to bed at night, a tablespoonful of castor oil in the morning; at least two hours before the attack comes on, take a strong tea of boneset and red pepper; keep the feet warm; a tea of corn shucks with morphine will sometimes prevent an attack. This remedy is much more preferable than quinine, as quinine will cause deafness by taking an over dose.
SCARLET FEVER.—As soon as the nature of the disease is known, rub the patient with fat bacon, night and morning, over every part of the body but the head; do it carefully.
LOCK JAW.—If caused by a wound, wash it well with arnica, diluted with water; bind a grated beet on it; rub around the wound, but not on it, with turpentine; give ipecac in large doses to vomit, as this will relax the nerves; if the patient cannot take medicine, give an injection made of ipecac and laudanum, use a larger quantity than if it were taken in the mouth. Do not loose time to procure a doctor.
A GOOD AND SURE CURE FOR MEASLES.—When a doctor cannot be had in a hurry, take a peck of bran, put it into a wash kettle, and let it boil; make it like a thick poultice; put it into a washtub or bath; set the child in it as warm as it can bear it; then have ready another bath, with a quarter of a pound of saleratus in hot water; put the child immediately into it, and bathe it well; after which take it out quickly, and roll it in a woollen blanket; put it into bed, and keep it as warm as possible. Give to the child a drink of strong sage and saffron tea; the measles will be all out in twenty-four hours. Be sure to take care the child does not take cold, although the saleratus will prevent that.
HOW TO RELIEVE A COUGH.—Bathe the feet, before going to bed, with water as warm as can be borne, with a handful of salt and mustard in it; then take from three to five grains of quinine, and twenty drops of laudanum, in a tablespoonful of ginger tea. If the first dose does not relieve, repeat the next night. Two doses generally relieve an obstructed cold.
FOR COUGH AND COLDS.—One ounce of syrup, one of paregoric, and one of sweet spirits of nitre; boil some flaxseed, flavor it by boiling a lemon in it; sweeten with loaf sugar; if preferred, put a tablespoonful of the mixture into a wineglass, and take it when going to bed. Give it every three hours until relieved.
RERESHING DRINK FOR A COUGH.—Beat a new laid egg, and mix with it a quarter of a pint of new milk, warmed, a large spoonful of capillaire, the same of rose water, and a little scraped nutmeg. Do not warm it after the egg is put in. Take it morning and evening.
AN EXCELLENT RECIPE FOR RHEUMATISM.—Take a pint of the best alcohol, and about two ounces of camphor; mix them both together, and let it stand closely corked for a week, then apply to the parts affected; it may be improved by adding one ounce of laudanum; it is also good for neuralgia. This remedy has never been known to fail.
CHOLERA MORBUS.—Take one teaspoonful of soda, one of cinnamon, and one of cloves; pour on them a pint of boiling water, and when nearly cold, add a large cupful of brandy, and sweeten with loaf sugar. Give a spoonful every half hour. If the disease is severe, give injections of castor oil and barley water.
A GOOD CURE FOR CHOLERA MORBUS.—Put two ounces of peppermint, two of spirits of camphor, two of laudanum, two of Hoffman's anodyne, one of extract of ginger, and two of red pepper. Mix all together, and take a tablespoonful every half hour.
USE OF GERMAN TEA.—This must be purchased at the German apothecaries, in packages; take two tablespoonfuls; let it steep in a teapot with a pint of boiling water, and stand on a stove for two hours. Dose: half a teacupful in the morning, fasting, and at bed time. It is good for costiveness, the blood, liver complaint, and bilious headache.
A PERFECT CURE FOR A FELON.—Soak the finger in weak lye; put it in cold, and sit near the fire till it scalds; make a poultice of the following: the yolk of an egg, six drops of turpentine, a few beet leaves, a little soap, a teaspoonful of burnt salt, and one of Indian meal. This is a sure remedy, if applied in time.
GOOD EFFECTS OF HOT WATER IN BRUISES.—Bathing the part with hot water prevents stiffness and black and blue marks; it is also good for removing pain. It must be applied as soon as possible, and as hot as it can be borne.
Soaking in hot water will cure a whitlow, if applied when the pain is first felt.
TREATMENT OF COLDS.—Bathe the feet in warm water; if feverish, take a glass of hot milk with a tablespoonful of the best whiskey and a tablespoonful of lime water, sweetened with sugar; and in the morning, fasting, one tablespoonful of castor oil in milk. Be careful about exposure next day.
ASTHMA.—Dip a sheet of brown paper in dissolved saltpetre, dry the paper, then burn a piece in a small room, and let the patient inhale the fumes.
CATARRH IN THE HEAD.—Snuff up fresh water ever night and morning; make a snuff of gum arabic, gum myrrh and bloodroot, pulverized. Wash the head and neck frequently. This disease sometimes ends in consumption.
A CURE FOR NAILS GROWING INTO THE FLESH.—Melt some tallow, and drop some between the nail and outside flesh. Be sure to see that the fat goes into all the parts under the nail. Do it often, if necessary.
TO CURE CORNS, No. 1—Pare a lemon and cut it in thin slices, and place it on the corn for five or six nights, then in the morning soak the corn in strong common washing soda, the core then can be picked out.
TO CURE CORNS, No. 2.—Corns are caused by a tight shoe rubbing against the flesh. Put some sweet oil on it or them, after you have pared them with the tip of the finger, on getting up in the morning or on going to bed at night; the pain will diminish in a few days.
HOW TO CHECK BUNIONS.—When they first make their appearance rub on a bit of adhesive plaster, and keep it on as long as it feels painful; if it is inflamed, poultice it with bread and milk, and a little laudanum; easy shoes must be worn, or a piece cut out over the bunion; lard or spermacetti ointment should be rubbed on gently, two or three times a day.
FOR A COLD.—Make a good mustard poultice and apply to the chest, between two rags; put the feet in warm water, and wrap up in flannel; take a tumblerful of milk, a tablespoonful of good brandy or whiskey, a tablespoonful of lime water and some loaf sugar; take it when going to bed.
FROST-BITTEN LIMBS.—Bathe them immediately in cold water, and rub them until the circulation of the blood returns; do not warm them by the fire, as the sinews will draw up.
FOR FROSTED FEET.—Before they become open wounds, rub them every night with onion and salt, which allays the itching, or with lemon and salt.
FOE CHAPPED HANDS.—Rub them with lemon juice, or use glycerine.
CRAMP IN THE LEGS.—Stretch out the heel as far as possible, and at the same time draw the toes as much as possible towards the leg; it will give relief.
A GOOD REMEDY FOR SHORTNESS OF BREATH.—A teaspoonful of mustard in warm water; drink the water off; then take a teaspoonful of tincture of valerian every hour, until relieved, and apply a mustard poultice on the chest and back; soak the feet in warm water, lay in bed and keep warm. A little of Hoffman's drops may be used beneficially.
ASSAFŒTIDA.—This is an extremely useful medicine in flatulent nervous diseases, or to any one subject to hysteria, dyspepsia, or colic; to be given in doses of small pills, from the solid gum, in twenty grains. It must not be taken if there are any symptoms of in flammation. Families should never be without it in the house.
FOR A CUT.—To stop the blood apply some salt on the wound, hold the parts close together, and tie it up tightly; or pour in some good arnica or balsam, which good housekeepers should never be without.
SMELL OF THE BREATH BY ONIONS.—To prevent this eat the leaves of parsley dipped in vinegar.
BOILS.—They should be brought to a head by poulticing with warm onion root and poppy seeds, and fomentations of hot water; when ripe they should be opened with a needle, or the doctors' lance.
Milk of sulphur and molasses is very good to take, or Hamberger tea and sea bathing.
SALVE FOR BOILS.—The white of an egg, mixed with flour and honey.
HOW TO EXTINGUISH FIRE ON A PERSON.—If the clothes catch fire, put it out by wrapping woollen cloths around the person; take the rug or anything that is nearest, and smother it out. Never rush into the air. It may be extinguished by the persons throwing themselves on the floor and rolling over it.
FOR BLEEDING AT THE LUNGS.—Drink freely of strong salt and water every two or three minutes.
A CURE FOR CHILBLAINS OR FROSTED FEET.—Take five pounds of oak bark, and half a gallon of water; boil to a pint, and bathe the feet night and morning, in a wash bowl.
FOR MOSQUITO BITES.—Put into a glass or basin of cold water, one ounce of alum, a good handful of salt, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar; rub it on at night, and let it dry in the flesh.