Croup requires instant attention. It arises from colds and shows itself in lightness of the breast, difficult breathing and fever. Immediately soak the feet in warm water, bathe the throat and breast with goosegrease, to which hartshorn may be added. Give a tea-spoonful of Hive Syrup to a child two or three years old, and again in 15 minutes, until it causes vomiting. If very bad, and no Hive Syrup at hand, then use, 1. Lamp Oil. 2. Goosegrease and Molasses, with Onion Juice. 3. Wine and Molasses. 4. Apply a plaster of Yellow Snuff mixed with Lard to the breast: each are good. After the symptoms are abated, give some mild purgative. These remedies, promptly applied, can be relied on where the physician is not at band.
Piles.–1 oz. Cream Tartar, 1 oz. Salts Nitre, 1 oz. Jalap, 2 oz. Linitive Electuary. Mix stiff in molasses. Dose, 4 or 5 pills size of a pea.
Vinegar (good) is useful in inflammatory and putrid disorders; in weakness, faintings, or other hysteric affections, bathe, smell, or drink: it cools the blood, quenches thirst, extracts the fragrance from flowers, &c. That made from cider or wine is beat.
Children allowed to sleep with aged people, lose their health and decline. The same is probably also true, where the sick and the healthy habitually lie in the same bed.
Toothache is cured by powdered Alum, 2 drachms; Nitrous Spirit of Ether, 7 drachms: mix. See Brandy and Salt.
Hair is preserved by Onion Juice and Brandy, rubbed well in. Or, Tincture of Cantharides 10 parts, Hog’s Lard 90 parts: to be mingled and rubbed into the roots. Or, one part of Cantharides Powder to eight of alcohol, carefully mixed.
Polypus of the Nostril is cured by the root of the sanguinaria canadensis, or blood root. A decoction is applied to the part.
Rheumatism.–Dissolve half oz. Camphor in pint Spts. Turpentine, and rub well morning and night: then apply flannel. Good also for Burns, Scalds, and Bruises.
Frost-Bitten Feet.–Dissolve half pound Alum in 1 gallon warm water, and soak 15 minutes.
Convulsion Fits have been cured by drinking salt and water two or three times a day.
Vegetable Eating, in promoting health and longevity, has never yet been overrated. It will prolong and render much more comfortable those afflicted with cancer, aneurism, ossificition of the heart, consumption, &c.
Oxalic Acid is neutralized by two ounces of Magnesia; mix quart of water: or, by same quantity of common whiting, thrown into the stomach.
Cough.–Brown Mixture.–Stick Liquorice, 2 oz.; Gum Arabic, 1 oz.; Paregorie, 1 oz.; Antimonial Wine, 1 oz; Rock Candy, 2 oz. Take a table-spoonful 3 or 4 limes a day.
Another.–2 spoonfuls Molasses, 1 do. Sweet Oil, 1 do. good Vinegar, to which may be added a few drops Sweet Spts. Nitre. Take a tea-spoonful occasionally.
Fore Tetter, &c..–1 lb. fresh Butter, without salt, 1 oz. White Precipitate, half oz. good Turpentine: mixed and heat to an ointment.
Friction of the body is one of the most gentle and salutary kinds of exercise, cleaning the skin, dispersing stagnating humours, promoting perspiration, strengthening the fibres, and increasing the warmth and energy of the whole body.
The Complexion can only be preserved in freshness, softness and beauty, by cleanliness, regular exercise, temperance, a plain diet and pure air, and a cheerful temper.
Worms in children are by no means so pernicious as many of the quack medicines which are advertised to expel them.
Long life may safely be insured to all who enjoy good gifts without abusing any.
Brandy and Salt as a Medicine.–It is useful in the reduction of inflammation of fractured limbs or bruises, the alleviation of incurable sores, cure of ringworms, headache, toothache, inflammation in the eyes, ague, colic, pains in the side, chilblains, burns and scalds, cancers, sprains, open sores, asthmas, and complaints of the lungs. Fill a bottle three-quarters full with good Brandy, after which add as much Salt as will fill the bottle for corking; shake it together 20 minutes; let the Salt settle to the bottom, and do not shake it up before using. The clearer it is used the better. A bottle of this preparation should be constantly kept ready for use, as its virtues have been fully tested. When taken inwardly, for asthma, bowel complaints, &c., mix two spoonsful with equal quantity of warm water.
Cancer.–Five out of six cases have been cured by Brandy and Salt, described above. The pain is very severe, but temporary.
Poison, from vines, may be cured by bathing in Whiskey and Cream, and cooling with Rye Flour: if obstinate, use a strong solution of Copperas.
Reading aloud, speaking, and particularly singing, affords a healthful exercise; while wind-instruments are injurious.
Meat is so little necessary, in fact, that millions of the most robust and healthy population in Asia, Europe and other parts of the world, subsist exclusively on such articles as rice, wheat, and vegetables, alone.
Cravats or stocks should not be worn so tight as to compress the many large blood-vessels of the neck, which connect with the brain.
Impure air of theatres, ball-rooms, and other crowded and badly-ventilated buildings and sleeping-rooms, is poison to the lungs.
Eye-Sight is best preserved by a moderate light–too little strain– too much dazzles and injures. Bathing in cold water is of service.
Consumption.–Remedies.–Vigorous, daily, but not violent, exercise, and free exposure to the air, are important. As the great difficulty in medicine is in reaching the seat of this disease, frequently inhaling certain fumes may be a means of healing the lungs. Sitting and sleeping in a room through which the fumes of rosin, turpentine, or other similar gums are moderately diffused, may be of service.
Small Pox is prevented by vaccination, if well done. Never neglect vaccination.
In “training,” an English boxer, to acquire the greatest possible vigour, health, and animal spirits, lakes daily four hours exercise in the air, keeps the body and mind occupied; food of easy digestion and in small quantities; uses do ardent spirits, and sleeps eight hours, observing strict temperance in all things. By these means his appetite and digestion become good, the mind cheerful, lungs strong, and the whole system wonderfully improved.
Bed-rooms heated are pernicious to health.
Water is purified by–1, filtration through gravel, sand, or soft porous stone and charcoal. Or, 2, it may be sweetened and improved by charcoal, coarsely pulverized and thrown into a vessel of water. 3, by boiling and distillation. Water is greatly improved in wells or pumps that are frequently used.
Distilled Water, after being exposed to the air, is the most salubrious of all drinks, and its daily use is of the greatest importance in dyspepsia and similar diseases.
Feather Beds, especially in youth and in warm weather, enervate the system, destroying its vigour and health. Neither should beds be too hard. Sleeping with the head under the clothes is pernicious; so also, confined air caused by curtains.
The floor is the unhealthiest part of a room, from the tendency of impure air to descend.
Ulcers that proceed from a bad state of the body, should never be dried up till the system becomes purified by regimen or medicine.
