EYERY MAN'S DOCTOR FAMILY GUIDE TO HEALTH, CONTAINING A CONDENSED DESCRIPTION iJartotts €ansts anft SjjTnjjtomarjf Wmasts • W^TH. AN APPENDIX, SHOWING THE MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MOST VALUABLE ROOTS AND HERBS fa- TO WHICH IS ADDED 150 RECIPES. Price, 12 1-2 Cents. 1845. X1^ wm* in NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE Bethesda, Maryland «■_ EYERY MAN'S DOCTOR: OR FAMILY GUIDE TO HEALTH, CONTAINING A CONDENSED DESCRIPTION OF THE tterious €au0£0 ana Symptoms of Wwasts WITH AN APPENDIX, SHOWING THE MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MOST VALUABLE ROOTS AND HERBS. TO WHICH IS ADDED 150 RECIPES. NEW YORK: J. K. WELLMAN. 1845. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by J. K. WELLMAN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New tfonc. s CONTENTS Asthma................. 5 Apoplexy................ 7 Bleeding at the Lungs, or Spitting Blood......... Blows and Bruises....... 9 Bronchitis............... 9 Burns................... 10 Cancer................. 11 Canker.................. 12 Chicken Pox............. 12 Catarrh................. 12 Chilblains............... 13 Cholera Morbus.......... 14 Cholera Infantum........ 15 Colds and Coughs........ 15 Colic................... 16 Consumption............ 17 Convulsions, or Fits.....IS Cough, Whooping........ 19 Costiveness.............. 19 Cramp in the Stomach • ■. 20 Croup................... 20 Diarrhoea............... 21 Dropsy...... ---22 Dysentery Dyspepsia Eyes, Weak............29 Fever................... 29 Fever and Ague......... 30 Flatulency, or Wind Colic • 32 Fainting................ 33 Gout................... 33 Gravel, or Stone......... 34 Head-ache..............35 Heartburn............... 35 Hydrophobia............30 Indigestion.............. 37 Inflammation of the Eyes 38 Jaundice................ ^8 Liver Complaint.........39 Lockjaw................ 40 Measles................. 41 Nettle rash.............. 41 Palpitation of the Heart • • 42 Palsy................... 42 Ring-worm.............. 42 Rheumatism............ 43 Rickets................. 44 Salt Rheum............. 45 Scald Head.............45 23 Scarlatina, or Scarlet Fever 46 25 Scalds and Burns........ 48 Erysipelas.............. 27 Scrofula................ 49 Ear-ache................ 2SjScurvy................. 50 4 Sickness of the Stomach- • 50 Sore Throat, and Sore Mouth................ 51 Sprains................. 51 Teething............... 51 Tooth-acne ■ • • • ....... 52 Warts.................. 52 Weak Nerves............ 53 Worms................. 54 Wounds and Cuts........ 54 APPENDIX.—VALUABLE RECIPES. Medical Recipes •................................... 55 Miscellaneous Recipes.............................4 60 Domestic Cookery................................... 64 Sick Cookery....................................... 69 List of the most Common Herbs, with their Medicinal Properties........................................ 70 List of Simples, and Medicinal Preparations to be kept on hand for Family Use................ ........... 72 EVERY MAN'S DOCTOR. INTRODUCTION. The manner of treating diseases, as set forth in the following pages, may be confided in as being perfectly safe and effective. The author has not only brought into requisition his own experience and practice, but he has consulted the very best authorities, and the plan is such as will meet the approbation of the great mass of practitioners of the age, whose opi- nions are entitled to regard. ASTHMA. The asthma is a disease of the lungs, owing to a bad formation of the chest, obstruction of customary evacuations, the striking in of eruptions, as the small- pox, measles, &c. It is sometimes occasioned by in- flammation of the liver. In this latter case, accumu- lations of blood, bile, &c, take place, causing the blood-vessels of the liver to distend, and the liver to enlarge or swell. The liver being attached to the diaphragm, its enlargement presses that up, and thus lessens the cavity of the chest which contains the heart and lungs. The lungs become crowded or op- pressed, thus giving rise to asthma, phthisic, short breath, &c. In a permanent enlargement of the liver, the result is a continued asthmatic affection. 1* 6 SYMPTOMS. The asthma is known by a quick laborious breath- ing, attended with a sort of wheezing noise. Persons are liable to it especially after being exposed to damp, cold, easterly winds. It is ushered in with listless- ness, want of sleep, hoarseness, cough, belching of wind, heaviness about the breast, to which succeed headache, nausea, palpitation of the heart, bilious vomitings, &c. DIET AND REGDVCBN. The food should be light, and of easy digestion. All windy food, and such as is apt to swell in the stomach, should be avoided, as well as strong liquors of all kinds. Eat boiled meats in preference to roast- ed, and be careful to avoid hearty suppers. Let the feet be kept warm. Thick shoes and flannel worn next the skin, will be of great benefit. MEDICINE, In the moist asthma, which is attended with spit- ting, such things as promote expectoration must be used. Syrup of squills, in small doses, is perhaps as simple as anything. In the dry, or convulsive asthma, anti-spasmodics, and bracing medicines, are most proper. The patient may take a teaspoonful of paregoric twjce a day or so, or a teaspoonful of peruvian bark in powder, in a wine-glass of milk, before eating, once a day. Milk, drank warm from the cow, in the morning, will prove beneficial. Se- tons and issues are recommended as having a good effect in asthma. They should be made in the back or side. In the botanic practice, lobelia is found to be a specific for this complaint. It is also highly recommended by the medical faculty To promote 7 expectoration, and to relieve the tightness, give every 15 or 20 minutes a teaspoonful of the tinc- ture To vomit, give half or two-thirds of a wine- glassful, which may be repeated, if it does not ope- rate in 30 minutes or so ; drinking plentifully during the operation of some warming tea, as pennyroyal, and the like. Let persons subject to this complaint, enjoy as far as possible, pure* and moderately warm air; and take as much exercise as they can bear, either on foot, horseback, or in a carriage, in order to assist digestion, and the preparation of blood : the action of the lungs being greatly impeded in asth- matic cases APOPLEXY. This is a disease which suddenly deprives the patient of the use of all his senses, and checks instantly the motion of all parts of the body, except the heart and lungs. Aged people are most subject to it. It generally proves fatal, the second or third attack. CAUSES. A rushing of blood to the head—violent exercise —a rich and luxurious diet—a wound or bruise upon the head. SYMPTOMS. Falling down without sense or motion—pain and swimming of the head—hard breathing and irregular —drowsiness—loss of memory—noise in the ears, and distressing night-mare. REMEDY. The first thing to be done is to check the flow of 8 blood to the head. To this end the patient should be immediately bled, and a blister applied between the shoulders, or a poultice of ground mustard is equally as good. A dose of some active physic should be gi^ten, and the feet of the patient be soaked in warm water. Give plentifully of balm or green tea, so as to produce a profuse sweating. When the feet are taken from the water, apply strong mustard poultices. Let the diet be very spare. The bleed- ing will not be required except in severe cases ; it should always be dispensed with, when it can be done with safety. BLEEDING AT THE LUNGS, OR SPITTING BLOOD. This disease generally attacks those who are of a slender make, who have long necks, a narrow, straight and flat chest. CAUSES. Excess of blood—running—wrestling—loud speak- ing or singing ; it is often the effect of a hard cough. Spitting of blood is not always a dangerous disease. I have been troubled with it for more than ten years, and yet for the most part enjoy a comfortable state of health. REMEDY. To check the bleeding, let the patient eat freely of raw table salt. Loaf sugar and rosin, equal parts powdered, take a tea-spoonful four or five times a day; it will be found of great use. A tea made of Yarfow, is very useful in this complaint. Choose a light diet, chiefly of milk and vegetables, and avoid all hot and stimulating drinks. A plaster 9 tc npounded of tar and hemlock gum should be worn upon the side and breast, if the patient suffers pain. BLOWS AND BRUIS^. An ointment made of fresh winter-green (checker- berry) leaves,' simmered in lard, and a little turpen- tine added to it, is excellent for blows and bruises. Wormwood, macerated in boiling water, and repeat- edly applied, will speedily remove pain, prevent swelling, discoloration, &c. Likewise, a poultice made of elder flowers and crumbs of bread, boiled in equal parts of vinegar and water, and renewed in its application twice a day, will be found an excellent remedy. The above ointment may be used after discontinuing the use of poultices. BRONCHITIS. This is a complaint which has of late years become very common among ministers, lawyers, statesmen, and vocalists. It prevails most extensively during the winter months. CAUSES. An exposure to the cold or damp atmosphere- - public speaking, especially in the open air—reading aloud—singing—blowing wind instruments, &c. SYMPTOMS. Soreness, apparently in the lower part of the throat—hoarseness, sometimes a hacking cough—fre • quently an expectoration of mucus or purulent mat- ter—slight pains in the chest. 10 REMEDY. Avoid exposure to cold or damp air ; refrain from reading aloud, public speaking, singing or blowing instruments ; keep clear of stimulants, and use a diet of milk and^vegetables ; take some soothing syrup to allay the irritation ; wear no cravat or other band- age about the neck, a light ribbon is sufficient; let the neck have plenty of fresh air, and apply cold water to it every morning when you wash. BURNS. Green tea has been highly recommend by a regu- lar physician, as a cure for burns and scalds. A poultice is to be made of Indian meal, and then co- vered over with young hyson, or any other green tea, softened with hot water, and laid on hot as can be borne. When the burn or scald is so situated that a poultice cannot be applied, the part may be kept constantly wet with a very strong infusion of the tea. Another remedy is to take common alum, pound and sift it, beat it with the white of an egg to a curd, anoint the place with a feather, and it will soon heal. For an ointment, the fresh leaves of apple peru, simmered in lard, is good. An excellent lini- ment may be made with equal parts of linseed or olive oil. It is a very soothing application. The Thomsonians recommend a continual application of cold water to the parts. Cloths of several thick- nesses are to be wet with it, and to be kept wet until the fire is extracted ; and if the skin comes off, dress afterwards with some simple healing ointment. 11 CANCER. A cancer is a humor, or collection of humors, usu- ally seated in some of the glands, as the breasts, arm- pits, &c. It is first like a small kernel, which after a while extends itself by means of little fibres or roots. Its name, cancer, arises from a fancied re- semblance between these fibres and the claws of a crab. It is,attended with heat, and with a burning, gnawing, darting pain. The tumor at first is of a red color, then purple, livid, and at last turns black, when the skin gives way, and a thin sharp ichor be- gins to flow, corroding the surrounding parts till it comes to a large and fetid ulcer. DIET AND REGIMEN. This should be light and nourishing, avoiding all strong liquors, and high seasoned and salted provi- sions. The parts should be kept warm with fur or soft flannel, and the patient should take as much ex- ercise as possible in the open air. MEDICINE, The best application, says an experienced physi- cian, is the use of the carrot poultice. It is to be grated to a pulp, and made into a poultice with water, and applied to the sore, to be renewed twice a day. It cleanses the sore, ea§es the pain, and re- moves the disagreeable smell. The strength of the patient should be kept up by taking four or five times a day, a glass of good wine with half a teaspoon- ful of peruvian bark in it. Another remedy is to take pipsissewa, or prince's pine, boil out the strength, strain, then boil down as thick as molasses ; 12 then to prevent its burning, place it over a stove, or in a hot sun, stirring it often, till it comes to the con- sistence of a plaster. Wear it on the cancer; at the same time drink freely of a tea of the same plant. Or make a strong decoction of it, and while hot turn it upon pounded brimstone. Keep the cancer con- tinually wet with the decoction, and drink freely ot it. The wife of Gen. Varnum, of Dracut, Mass., and several others, have been cured of bad running cancers, by practising the last method. A low diet is here of importance. Another person was cured by bathing the cancer with brandy and salt, even after he had had it twice cut out, and spent more than seven hundred dollars in various other remedies to no effect. Pressure, in consequence of tight dressing, is said to be the frequent cause of this complaint, especially among females, although it may sometimes be occasioned by the stoppage of custo- mary evacuations. CANKER. A tea made* of equal parts of the inside of hemlock bark, sumach bark or the berries, raspberry leaves and bayberry bark, is very useful in this complaint. It maybe drank at pleasure. Either of these arti- cles taken separately is very good CHICKEN POX. SYMPTOMS. Restlessness — pain in different sections of the body, followed by a crop of pimples on the back ; 13 the second day they change to blisters, and by the fifth day they disappear. REMEDY. Let the patient be confined to the bed — kept cool, and take a dose of salts. A little saffron tea may be given. This will generally remove the symptoms. CATARRH. The symptoms of catarrh are red and swollen eyes, a dull heavy pain in the head, and the drop- ping of a thin mucus or water from the nose, attended with hoarseness, cough, and feverishness. It is owing to cold, and obstructions of the pores of the head. MEDICDm Hoarhound and thoroughwort tea, taken freely, are good. Or take a pinch occasionally of barberry snuff, to clear the head. The influenza is an aggra- vated form of catarrh, and is to be cured in the same way. For the cough, take paregoric, half an ounce, syrup of squills, one ounce, antimonial wine, two drachms, water, six ounces. Dose, two teaspoon- fuls every 15 minutes till the cough abates. Tinc- ture of lobelia in small doses, is also a good remedy for cough. An emetic of the same should be taken when the case is bad. CHILBLAINS. This is a disease that needs no description : it is one of those common complaints that are generally understood. 2 14 REMEDY. Common copal varnish will be found most effica- cious, by applying it to the part affected. If this fail, make use of pig's foot oil ; this will effect an immediate cure. CHOLERA MORBUS. The Cholera Morbus is a violent vomiting and purging of bile, attended also with severe pain in the stomach and bowels. It is .a dangerous disease, resulting in death frequently in a few hours. CAUSES. Cold — food that sours on the stomach, such as rancid bacon, cucumbers, melons, and other cold fruits. SYMPTOMS. Vomiting and purging of green or yellow bile— griping pains in the bowels—thirst—cold sweat, &c. Hiccuping and fainting fits in this disease are gener- ally soon followed by death. REMEDY. Apply flannel cloths, wrung out in hot water or spirits, over the whole surface of the stomach. Im- merse the feet in warm water, or, if the patient be in bed, bottles filled with hot water, and kept to the feet, will answer. Drink freely of warm pennyroyal tea and composition powders. If these means fail, give 60 drops of paregoric, and put a strong poulticp of mustard upon the stomach. When the pain sub- sides, give a dose of castor oil, to carry off the remaining bile. Those subject to this disease should always wear a flannel next their body, be cautious 15 of their diet, and avoid exposure to the damp, cold air. CHtLERA INFANTUM. This disease prevails during the summer, and at- tacks children from a week after birth till two or three years old. It is attended with vomiting— purging of green or yellow matter, of slime, or of blood—attended with pain, swelling of the belly, and heat of the skin, growing worse towards even- ing. It is generally attributed to hot weather, and it is aggravated by teething, or excessive use of fruit. In this disease the stomach and bowels must be evacuated, and afterwards give charcoal and magne- sia, or the latter alone. When there is much irrita- bility, clysters of flaxseed tea, mutton broth, and starch, with a little laudanum in them, will give ease. Fomentations to the bowels and abdomen are useful. After the violence of the symptoms is over, give the peruvian bark in powder or decoction, adding a little nutmeg. Or use a tea of avens, or bayberry root, or the leave* of red raspberry. The removal of children to the country, abstaining from fruit, the use of flannel, and the cold bath, are the means prescribed for prevention. COLDS AND COUGHS. Colds are the effect of obstructed perspiration. The causes and symptoms of this disease are so well un- derstood that little need be said. Oppression of the breast, stuffing of the nose, weariness, pain in the- 16 head, and cough, are the usual attendants. But few diseases are more deserving of attention than this, and yet few are more generally neglected. Many, when they take cold, consider it of no importance, and let it run on, without reflecting a Moment on its consequences. Remember that neglected colds are always dangerous. A cold produces cough, then comes pain in the side, difficulty of breathing, and finally Consumption.—Cold, Cough, COFFIN, are the usual gradations. RE3MEDY. Keep the bowels open by pills or Senna—soak the feet in warm water, and drink freely of herb tea, such as Catmint, or Spearmint. Use for the cough, a syrup of Life Everlasting, and Thoroughwort, boil- ed in molasses. In hard, unyielding coughs, I have found the following recipe of great service. One gill of N. Rum, 1 gill molasses, 2 tea-spoon- fuls of pulverized liquorice, and a piece of alum as large as a walnut. COLIC. Violent pain in the region of the navel, attended with thirst and costiveness. It is brought on by catching cold, eating unripe fruits, windy vegetables, and substances that disagree with the stomach. MEDICOfE, Bathe the feet and legs in warm water, apply warm fomentations over the stomach, take a dose of castor oil, and drink freely of peppermint, to which may be added, when in considerable pain, from 30 to 60 drops of paregoric. Clysters must be given if oil does not move the bowels. Painters and others are 17 subject to a species of colic occasioned by working in lead. To prevent this complaint, they should use considerable fat and oily food, and never go to their work fasting. Wearing a flannel round the waist, and the use 4of ginger tea internally, has proved an excellent preventive of this disorder. In common cases of colic, botanic physicians recommend to give pleurisy root in powder, in tea-spoonful doses, repeat- ing every IS minutes, or hot drops repeatedly given, together with Injections, and the usual sweating process. CONSUMPTION A Consumption is a wasting or decay of the whole body, from a diseased state of the lungs. Most con- sumptive patients date the beginning of their disor- der from wet feet, damp beds, night air, wet clothes, or catching cold suddenly after the body had Deen heated. Still, there are various other causes, as indulging too much in a sitting posture, like tail- ors, shoemakers and others. It may likewise be ow- ing to a scrofulous taint of the system, to the sudden stoppage of evacuations, or to undue evacuations, as sweating, diabetes, nursing too long, &c. REMEDY. If the disease is taken early, much good may be done by a change of climate, a milk diet, exercise on horseback, or a voyage on the salt water. Rice and milk, barley and milk, boiled with a little sugar, is very proper food. Also, ripe fruits roasted or boil- ed ; shell fish, especially oysters eaten raw, drinking the juice with them. Chicken broths, and jellies of calves' feet, and the like, are very nourishing. 2* 18 If the patient coughs much and bleeds at the lungs, decoctions made from mucilaginous plants and seeds will be serviceable, as quince-seed, linseed, marsh mallows, slippery elm, and sarsaparilla. A constant drink of tea made of John's wort, has cured many of this complaint. Inhalations of burning rosin, tar vapor, the vapor from coal pits, &c, have been found beneficial. In many cases, regular courses of Thom- sonian medicines have restored the patient. Lose no time in attending to the disorder in season, carefully guarding against sudden transitions of atmosphere, insufficient clothing, indigestible food, sedentary hab- its, heating liquors and loss of sleep. In consump- tion owing to a diseased liver, removing to a warmer climate would tend to aggravate rather than mitigate the disease, as the liver would suffer thereby. CONVULSIONS, OR FITS. These generally proceed from overloading the stomach and bowels with crude indigestible food. Sometimes they precede an eruption, as chicken pox, measles, &c, and from cutting teeth, or tight cloth- ing. If costive, give the child a clyster, afterwards a gentle vomit, and keep the body open by small doses of magnesia or rhubarb, and give a dose occa- sionally of some warming preparation, as pepper- mint, or anise seeds steeped, and sweetened. If fits proceed from the pain of teething, a little paregoric may be administered, or a tea of valerian, or the scullcap herb. 19 COUGH, WHOOPING This is a disease which is mostly confined to chil- dren, and frequently proves fatal. Its symptoms are so obvious and well understood, that a description is not called for. CURE. The principal danger to be guarded against in this complaint, is an^nflammation of the lungs. It will be proper therefore to give slight emetics frequently, of wine of ipecac, or tincture of lobelia, to keep the lungs free. Let the diet be light and easy of di- gestion, and the drink pennyroyal, or life everlast- ing, steeped, and sweetened with honey or molasses. Keep the bowels open with rhubarb tincture—a tea-spoonful may be given to an infant twice a day, as it may need. Let the feet be rubbed two or three times a day with an ointment made by beating an onion, and mixing it with an equal portion of hog's lard. Apply a strengthening plaster between the shoulders. In pleasant weather let the child have fresh air. A change of air is very desirable. A lit- tle girl of mine was entirely cured of a very bad cough, simply by a ride of 20 miles into the coun- try. COSTIVENESS. By this disease is meant that irregularity and diffi- culty in the natural evacuations with which many people are afflicted. CAUSES. Astringent drinks and over exercise—hot cakes made of fine flour—sedentary habits—and lying too long in bed, &c. 20 REMEDY In this complaint medicines are of very little use, as a habit is soon formed which cannot be broken up. If it must be taken, we would recommend a little rhubarb as the least objectionable, and best adapted to the purpose. The grand remedy is a proper attention to diet : let it be moistening and laxative— such as milk, roasted apples and pears, gruels, broths, &c. The bread should be of wheat and rye, or rye and Indian, which is better. Rise early, use the shower bath, and exercise freely. CRAMP IN THE. STOMACH. This is a violent spasmodic pain in the stomach, so severe as nearly to occasion fainting ; it is a disease that attacks people very suddenly, and as it is very dangerous, it requires immediate attention. REMEDY. The patient, if possible, should be put into a warm bath—at any rate, let cloths dipped in hot water be constantly kept upon the stomach. Take freely the composition powders, hot drops, or of strong spearmint tea. If the pain be very severe, take a dose of paregoric, say 60 drops. An injection of spearmint will be found of great use CROUP. This is a disease peculiar to children, and general- ly attacks them very suddenly in the night, after having been exposed through the lay to cold, damp, easterly winds. Children of short, fat necks, and lax habits, are most subject to it. 21 CAUSES Anything that obstructs the perspiration, such as damp houses, wet feet, wet clothes and thin shoes. SYMPTOMS. Quick and laborious breathing attended with a pe- culiar wheezing noise—voice sharp and shrill, and the pulse quick. j» REMEDY. As this is a aesperate disease, and one which, if neglected, will surely result in death, active measures should be immediately pursued. Let no time be lost in giving an emetic—immerse the feet in warm water, and put a poultice of yellow snuff, mixed with goose oil, upon the stomach. Sweet oil will answer. Apply a number of thicknesses of flannel wet in hot water over the wind-pipe, as hot as it can be borne. Change as often as it cools. Place onion poultices upon the feet when taken from the water. This course, if persevered in, will cure in 99 cases out ot 100 DIARRHOEA By this disease is meant a looseness of the bowels : it ought not to be suddenly checked, as it is often very salutary. REMEDY. Take a dose of rhubarb—and drink freely of bone- set, or thoroughwort tea. Bathe the bowels often with hot drops, and let the diet be a light vegetable food, easy of digestion *22 DROPSY The Dropsy is a swelling of the whole, or some part of the body, occasioned by the collection of a watery humor. It is distinguished by different names, according to the parts affected, as dropsy in chest, belly, brain, &c. „ CAUSES. ' M Drinking ardent spirits, wine, strong beer, fee- want of exercise, copious bleeding, violent purging, but especially the improper use of calomel ; and in short, whatever obstructs the perspiration, and pre- vents a proper flow of the blood. SYMPTOMS. The dropsy begins Dy a swelling of the feet and legs towards night—the part affected, if pressed with the finger, will pit. The swelling gradually ascends as the disease increases. The breathing becomes difficult and is increased by lying down—a feeling of suffocation, torpor, .slow fever, and finally a trouble- some cough ensues. REMEDY. This is a disease exceedingly hard to cure, often seeming to mock the art of man. Yet, where the patient is young, and the disease of short continance, there is a reasonable prospect of recovery. The best mode of treating this disease of which I have any knowledge is the following. Keep the bowels open with the physical powders ; give the lobelia emetic three times a week, together with the vapor bath. Place the patient in bed, and construct a frame so as to keep up the bed clothes. Produce a vapor by burning spirits, and conduct the vapor, by means of a 23* • tube, under the clothes. Let the patient remain in this vapor an hour ; between giving the vapor and the emetic, give an injection of pennyroyal tea—put in a tea-spoonful of lobelia, and as much cayenne. Dr. Sanborn tells us, that by this process he com- pletely cured his wife in two weeks, from a settled case of dropsy. By all means try it :—human life is valuable, but in this disease very precarious. Cream of tartar, dissolved in water, and taken every day, is very useful. Exercise is of the first importance ; the patient should sleep on a hard bed, and in a dry room. Let the body be rubbed morning and night with a coarse cloth, or flesh brush ; wear flannel next the body constantly—abstain as much as possible from drink, and let the food be light, and rather sti- mulating. DYSENTERY.^ A sudden check to perspifation is perhaps the most common cause of this disease. When cold gets the ascendency over the inward heat, it draws all the determining powers inward; the stomach becomes disordered, the digestive powers deranged, the bow- els coated with slimy canker, the food is not digested so as to afford nourishment or heat to the system, and all the juices flow inward and pass off by the common passage. DD3T AND REG-IMEN, The diet in dysentery should be light and digesti- ble. The yolk of eggs,'barley water, rice boiled in milk, arrowroot, tapioca, sago, adding a little cinna- mon, nutmeg, or guiger, to render the diet more pal- 24 atable. The white of eggs, fish of all kinds, broths, fat, butter, oil, and spirituous liquors, should be avoided. Good ripe summer fruits are in general very salutary. Swathing the bowels with a flannel bandage is an excellent method, from its warmth and support; and it will be necessary to wear flannel next the skin. Flour boiled with milk and sugar, is an excellent diet where the bowels are weak and sore ; and lime water and milk will be found valua- ble to prevent the prevailing acidity of the bile. MEDICINE. In the commencement of this disease it is best to give a slight emetic to evacuate the stomach, to be followed by a dose of sweet tincture of rhubarb, or rhubarb and elixir salutis, equal parts, a wine-glass- ful for a dose. Afterwards brace up by taking infu- sions of quassia, columbo, or gentian, combined with a small proportion of rhubarb. Dr. Thomson says, that the best plan of treatment is to carry the patient through a regular course of medicine, repeating it, if occasion requires, every day till relieved. During the operation give chicken broth, and after the dis- ease is checked, give occasionally a little brandy and loaf sugar burned together, and drink freely of pop- lar bark tea. Keep up" the heat of the system by giving occasionally between the courses, cayenne in a tea of bayberry, or hemlock bark, or of raspberry leaves. Steaming, he says, is of great importance in this complaint, and injections often administered. 25 DYSPEPSIA. This disease is owing to a variety of causes, the principal of which are overloading the stomach, indul- gence in alcoholic liquors, want of air and exercise, mental excitement, and a vitiated state of the bile; tnd as Dr. Cullen says, the use of tobacco and snuff! SYMPTOMS. Among these may be enumerated nausea, heart- burn, a sense of fulness, distention, or weight in the stomach, acid eructations, the vomiting a clear liquor of an acid quality, a sensation of sinking or fluttering at the pit of the stomach, and loss of appetite. Some- times the patient complains of giddiness, and pain in the fore or back part of the head, also pain in the back, with costiveness, difficulty of breathing, palpi- tation, weakness, and great depression of spirits, at- tended with a feverish state of the system. DD3T AND REGIMEN. In a weak state of the stomach, it must have little given it to do. Regard, therefore, must be had, in dyspepsia, to the quantity as well as the quality of the food. It should consist in a due mixture of ani- mal and vegetable food, well masticated ; but the former should be eaten but once a day. In general. when the person is disposed to inordinate indulgence^ it will be better to take some food half an hour be- fore the regular meal. Eat slow, and of as few dishes at one meal as possible. Avoid hard, dried, salted, and very fat, fried, and long kept meat, eggs, soups, fat, butter, raw vegetables, hot bread, cakes, and pas- try. Drink but little at a time, as drinks dilute and weaken the gastric liquors, as also the whole system. 3 26 MEDICINE. Give an emetic to free the stomach from the thick and vitiated mucus there, and afterwards a dose of rhubarb, epsom salts, or sweet oil, if the bowels are irritable and weak. In the latter case, clysters have a good effect. Bitters of a tonic nature may be used moderately, where there is little or no feverishness of the system ; but otherwise, mild acid drinks will be more proper. Where there is languor and sinking faintness at the stomach, a little ginger may be taken at meals. Cayenne is also a valuable tonic and stimu- lant, and very excellenttki languid digestion. Ab- sorbents, as lime water, magnesia, and the carbonate of soda, may be combined with other medicines, where there is heart-burn, and acidity. The decoc- tion of dandelion taken freely as a common drink, is useful where there is a deficiency of bile. Dr. Kit- tredge, M.D., of Wiscasset, Me., says, that no good can be done in this complaint without producing a free moisture by the skin. Let the patient soak the feet every night in warm water, and drink freely of hot peppermint tea, till a free moisture is brought on from head to foot. Take a bilious pill every night, and two-thirds of a wine-glassful of the fol- lowing syrup three or four times a day, fasting: Virginia snakeroot, one ounce, life of man root, four ounces, peppermint herb, one ounce, white pine bark, one ounce; boil all together in four quarts to a pint: strain, and add half a pint of Hol- land gin, and half a pint of molasses, then bottle for use. It may be added that pure air, sea bathing;, the shower bath, and free exercise on horseback, in a carriage, or on foot, will tend much to ac celerate a cure. 27 ERYSIPELAS. This disease is ushered in by symptoms of feverish- ness, full and frequent pulse. The functions of the brain become disturbed, and drowsiness or confusion of the head, amounting almost to delirium, accompa- nies the hot stage. On the second or third morning,. redness and swelling appear, very frequently on one side of the nose, spreading rapidly to the rest of the face, neck, and shoulders. There is a distressing tingling and heat in the inflamed surface. After a time blisters arise, containing thin yellow serum,which burst, and leave the skin in that part of a livid color. The eyelids sometimes become so inflamed, as to close up entirely. The disease is owing sometimes to a hereditary predisposition, or a peculiar organization of the skin. It prevails more among females than males. It seldom attacks the robust and plethoric, but those who are debilitated by prev^bus disease, unwholesome diet, or bad air. Sudden cold applied when the body is over heated, as well as intemperance and exposure to strong heat, often give rise to this disorder. It is supposed to be contagious, frequently prevailing in hospitals for the sick. The diseases of the liver are intimately connected with the erysipelas ; and a viti- ated or suspended secretion of the bile will become the exciting cause in the predisposed, as well as a crude, acrid state of the stomach, especially in the case of children. MEDICAL TREATMENT. An eminent regular physician recommends in the above complaint the following course. Take a full portion of salts every other day until the fever and 28 redness of the skin is removed. Put half an ounce of cream of tartar to a quart of cold water, and take a wine-glassful every two hours day after day. Never use poultices, but apply flour dry to the inflamed parts. Keep the skin warm and moist, and one week will cure the fever and restore the skin to its natural color. Those who prefer the botanic practice will adopt the following method, which has been remarkably suc- cessful. Put the patient to bed, and give a sweat by putting hot bricks wrapped in cloths wet in vinegar to the feet, sides, and shoulders. Give a lobelia emetic, taking composition powders night and morning afterwards. Drink plentifully of pennyroyal tea. Pur- sue this course, taking an emetic every other day, till the fever subsides; then give a portion or two of physic. Use no ointments. A plait of wool, or soft flannel, is all that is necessary to lay upon the erup- tion. EAR-ACHE. This is a disease which affects the membrane which lines the inner cavity of the ear. It is a very painful disorder, often producing convulsions, and even delirium. CAUSES. Sudden cold, especially an exposure of the head to the cold, when covered with sweat—a hardening of the wax in the ear, or from any cause which may produce an inflammation. Worms or other insects often get into the ear and cause pain. REMEDY. If the pain be occasioned by any hard substance in 29 the ear, a few drops of olive oil will relax the mem- brane ; if followed soon after by a few drops of sweet oil and paregoric, it will relieve the pain. If the pain be occasioned by a sudden cold, let some warm to- bacco smoke, drawn through a pipe, be infused into the ear. Let the patient's feet be immersed in hot or warm water, and the heart of a roasted onion be placed in the ear, and bound up, and a warm brick be constantly applied. When the feet are taken from the water, bind roasted onions upon the feet. This will seldom fail to give relief. WEAK EYES. Those troubled with weak eyes, should make it a rule to cleanse the bowels thoroughly every fall and spring with epsom salts and sulphur combined, and wash the eyes every morning with pure cold water. An eye water, made by pouring hot water upon the heart of sassafras twigs, is a very useful wash. For a bruised eye, boil a handful of garden hyssop leaves in a little water till they are tender—tie them up in a linen cloth, and bind it on tight to the eye, and let it remain over night; it will generally effect a cure. FEVER. Fever signifies heat. And as there is but one kind of heat in the system, there cannot be a pleuritic heat, putrid heat, hectic heat, yellow heat, spotted heat, or typhus heat. These names can only desig- nate the different stages or symptoms of fever. In a state of health, heat is equally distributed throughout 3* 30 the system, and the action is always from the centre to the surface. In what is called fever, there is a derangement of this general distribution of heat, and the action is inverted, being now from the surface to the centre. There is more heat than should be upon the surface, and less than should be in the internal parts. All that is necessary, therefore, is to attempt a cure by reverting inverted action. To do this, we must first open the pores, drive out the cold, clear the stomach and bowels, and bring a proper balance in the system. Give pukes and physic and warm teas, until the balance of power is restored between the large blood-vessels within, and the small ones that terminate on the surface. By pursuing this course at the commencement of fever, the cause of it may be removed in 24 or 48 hours to the extent, and often short of that time FEVER AND AGUE. This consists of three successive stages, viz. : a hot, a cold and a sweating stage. The most frequent cause of this fever is the effluvia arising from stag- nant water, when acted upon by heat. There are some exceptions to this rule. Sometimes it is brought on by bad water, damp houses, dews, by lying on the ground, watching, over exercise, &c. SYMPTOMS OF THE COLD STAGE. Pain first commences in the head and loins, weari- ness, coldness of the extremities, sometimes sick- ness and vomiting, followed by violent shivering. The time is not generally long before there is a change, and the heat of the body returns ; thence 31 follows a burning heat, much above the standard, the pulse is quick and strong, the tongue is white, and the thirst is great. SWEATING STAGE. The system again becomes waste and the confine- ment of the bowels causes the various functions to be restored. In this state the patient must be supported with nourishing food and drinks, which should be easy of digestion ; he should drink frequently bitter herbs and hoarhound tea, and vegetable powders should be taken at night. Sometimes physic is necessary to take with the powders. Exercise is very important; the first thing to be done in this disease is to take a lobelia emetic after giving the vegetable powders with a little rhubarb in them. This must be done before the cold stage comes on ; hot stones must be put to the feet before the emetic is given. This dis- ease is treated more at length because the sale of this book is probably very large in the western States. To prevent this disease, take the following : Peruvian Bark, 1 oz. Virginia Snake Root, 1 oz. Orange Peel, 1 oz. White Oak Bark, 1 oz. Guard against wet feet and night air, keep a little fire on the hearth, particularly at night: drink occa- sionally of thoroughwort tea, poplar bark, camomile flowers, or tea made of the inner part of white oak; the peruvian bark and quinine are the best popular remedies for the cure of this disease. Dr. Buchanan prescribes. Sulphate of Quinine, 12 grains, Good Madeira Wine, 2 1-2 pints. 32 FLATULENCY.OR WIND COLIC. Flatulency in the stomach and bowels arises chiefly from the want of tone or vigor in these organs. The strong and robust are seldom troubled with this dis- order, unless they overload their stomachs, or drink liquors that are in a fermenting state, while the weak and nervous are generally afflicted with it. In such persons, the bowels are too weak either to prevent the production of elastic air, or to expel it after it is produced. MEDICINE, To remedy this complaint, such medicines as serve to strengthen the. alimentary canal, and thus prevent an accumulation*^ wind there, will be proper. The seeds of anise, caraway, and coriander, steeped and drank in the form of tea, will prove salutary. Es- sence of peppermint with a few drops of laudanum in it, is recommended. Many nervous people find great benefit from eating a dry biscuit, especially when the stomach is empty. The peruvian bark in tincture, with a little nutmeg or ginger added to it, is a good remedy. Also the pleurisy root, in powder, a tea-spoonful at a dose, repeating it occasionally. Dr. Buchan says, that in patients afflicted with wind, he has found the greatest benefit from the elixir of vit- riol, taking 15, 20, or 30 drops, twice or thrice a day, in a glass of water. It expels the wind, strengthens the stomach, and promotes digestion. Exercise, however, is of the greatest importance in this com- plaint. 33 FAINTING. Persons of delicate constitution and weak nerves, are most subject to fainting fits. They are not in general very dangerous. CAUSES. Breathing bad air—fatigue—loss of blood—long fasting—sudden transition from cold to heat—fear— grief, &c. TREATMENT First loosen the patient's clothes, and let him have fresh air. If he can swallow, pour a spoonful or two of vinegar and water into his mouth, and dash or sprinkle his face with the same. Keep him as quiet as possible. If on a bed, let his head lie low, and put a smelling bottle of hartshorn occasionally to his nose. Rub the body with a flannel bathed in hot drops. GOUT. This is a disorder that pays very little heed to medicine ; temperance and exercise are its best pre- ventives. CAUSES. There are many causes for this - complaint, which, however, may be narrowed down to a point: viz., excess and idleness. SYMPTOMS. A fit of the gout is generally preceded by indiges- tion, head-ache—belching of wrind—sickness at the stomach—drowsiness—pain in the limbs, and low spirits. 34 TREATMENT. In this complaint, a perspiration should be kept up by the use of the hot medicines—especially compo- sition and pennyroyal tea, as this will assist nature in expelling the gouty matter. As the seat of the disease is generally in the foot and leg, it should be wrapped in the softest wool, wet in sweet oil, and lightly bandaged. When the fit is over, a dose of the tincture of rhubarb should be given. When the disease attacks the head or lungs, measures should be taken to bring it to the feet. For this purpose, let the feet be bathed in warm water, followed by strong mustard poultices. Those subject to the gout, should be regularly in bed early, and up with the sun. GRAVEL OR STONE. When small stones are lodged in the kidneys, or discharged with the water, the patient is said to have the gravel. If one of these stones should make a lodgment in the bladder, it would accumulate fresh matter, and become too large to pass off with the wa- ter. In this case the patient is said to have the stone. These are occasioned by the use of astrin- gent wines, a sedentary life, the constant use of wa- ter impregnated with earthy particles, and other causes. SYMPTOMS. A stone in the bladder is known from a pain at the time, as well as before and after passing water, and from its stopping suddenly, or corning away by drops. The urine has a white, thick, mucous sedi- ment in it, and is sometimes bloody 35 ' REMEDY. A pint of lime water, drank daily, is recommended. A so gum arabic tea, or decoctions of marsh-mal- lows, parsley, linseed, and other mild mucilaginous vegetables. Wild lettuce and pipsissewa, the tops and roots steeped and drank as a tea, is excellent. Clivers herb is also an excellent remedy. It crumb- les the stone or gravel into a sandy substance, so that it is easily discharged. It should be prepared in cold water, as steeping destroys its virtue. Drink it quite strong, every few hours, for a week or two, in bad cases. At the same time if the stone is in the urethra, put large poultices of garlics or.onions, a lit- tle warm, upon the lower part of the belly, small of the back, and over the kidneys. It will give great relief. The juice of horsemint, and the juice of red onions, are praised for this disorder. An eminent physician recommends to take a large handful of smartweed, make a tea of it, add one gill of Holland gin and take the whole of it in twelve hours. This, he affirms, has discharged a table-spoonful of gravel stones at a time. It is worth trying. HEAD-ACHE. Pain in the head proceeds from various causes, and is generally the symptom of some other disease. In- digestion—foul stomach—an exposure of the head to the hot sun—a rush of blood to the head—are the most common causes. TREATMENT If the pain is occasioned by indigestion, let a pill be taken to open the bowels ; if from a foul stomach, 36- -* take an emetic and sweat, followed by a dose of sen- na or oil; if -from a rush of the' blood to the head, apply leeches, and keep the head cool by laying upon the forehead cloths wet in cold spirit, or vinegar and water. In cases-of the common, or sick head- ache, drink freely of strong thoroughwort tea. HEARTBURN. This is not a disease of the heart, but an uneasy sensation of heat or acrimony about the pit of the stomach, attended with belching, naHsea, and vomit- ing. When occasioned by a sour stomach, a tea- spoonful of magnesia, or carbonate of soda, in a lit- tle water, will relieve. When owing to wind, use anise, coriander, or caraway seeds. When indiges- tion is the cause, a dose of sweet tincture of rhubarb will give relief. When troubled with hot fumes, and vomiting after meals, three parts of saleratus, and one of rhubarb, finely powdered, and a tea-spoonful taken daily, in a tumbler of cold water, sipped up in the course of the day, is pretty certain to give relief. It may be tinctured with peppermint or winter-green. Rhubarb, magnesia, or soda lozenges, are convenient to carry in the pocket for this disorder HYDROPHOBIA. When a person has been bitten by a mad dog, if it be in a fleshy part, and where there is no danger of hurting any large blood-vessel, the parts adjacent to the wound may be cut away. But if this be not done soon after the bite has been received, it will be 37 better to omit it. The wound may be dressed with salt and water, or vinegar and salt, and afterwards dressed twice a day with yellow basilicon mixed wiln, red precipitate of mercury. The blue skull-cap heft) has been regarded as a specific for this disorder. It was long used with great success by a man by the name of°Lewis, in Winchester County, N. Y., who kept it secret for many years, when it was finally made known. About two ounces of the dried herb when reduced to powder, and divided into several portions, is sufficient to cure man or beast if season- ably given. Lewis gave a dose every other day, and on intervening days a portion of sulphur. The course was continued several weeks. Patients were cured by his remedy even after signs of madness be- gan to appear, but then a larger dose was required. See another remedy under the article Lockjaw. INDIGESTION. CAUSES, Excessive indulgence in the use of highly season- ed food—a diseased liver—general debility—-want of exercise, &c. SYMPTOMS. General costiveness and emaciation—pulse small, and slow—pain in the head—heartburn—belching of wind, and- pain in stomach—want of appetite and low spirits. r REMEDY. Medicine should seldom be taken in this disease. A cure depends mainly upon a suitable regimen. If physic be necessary, let it be a dose of rhubarb. The » 38 • diet should be light and nourishing, and easy of di- gestion ; exereise on horse-back should be indulged, and the cold bath made use of daily. Let flannel be worn next the skin, and be sure to rise early, and take the fresh air. INFLAMMATION OF THE EYES. SYMPTOMS. The eye swollen and bloodshot ; attended with pain, shedding tears, fever and intolerance of heat CAUSES. External injuries, such as blows, &c, particles of sand or other bodies getting into them — expo- sure to cold—strong light, &c. Nothing is more certain to occasion inflammation of the eyes, than night watching—continued reading or writing by candle light. If the inflammation is occasioned by any substance getting into the eye, it must first be removed ; a very fine paint brush, or a piece of silk, will do to operate with. A small syringe, filled with warm milk and water, and applied, will often wash it out. This done, reduce the inflammation by keeping the bowels open with epsom salts, and applying leeches near the eye. Let the food be mostly of mild vege- tables, and the drink of balm tea. JAUNDICE. This disease is occasioned by some derangement in the secretions of the liver, obstructions in the tubes or pipes, or by the bile being so thick that it 39 cannot flow freely into the intestines. In this case, the bile not being appropriated to its natural use, is absorbed into the vascular system, and diffused through the mass of blood and humors, giving a yellow tinge to the urine, the skin, and the white of the eye The stools become white or ash-colored, from the deficiency of bile to color them, and the bowels cos- tive, from a lack of their natural stimulus. MEDICINE. No medicines are more beneficial in jaundice than emetics occasionally repeated, followed by gentle purges of rhubarb, or epsom salts. Blood root, in tincture, 30-to 80 drops to a dose, has been highly recommended in this disorder. Dr. Thomson recom- mends giving the composition to raise the internal heat, and emetics of lobelia to cleanse the stomach, and promote perspiration ; then give bitters to regu- late the bile and restore the digestive powers. When the system is much disordered, it will be necessary to go through regular courses of medicine. Patients have often been cured of jaundice by a long journey, after other means had failed LIVER COMPLAINT. This disease may be known by a pain in the right side, below the ribs, by difficulty of lying on the left side, hard breathing, hoarseness, thirst, loathing of food, a pale or yellow color of the skin and eyes, pain in the shoulders, a dry cough, and a dry, husky state of the skin. MEDICINE. For liver complaint, use the syrup recommended 40 for the Dyspepsia, or a strong infusion of Virginia snake root three times a day. It will produce a fine moisture upon the skin, without which effect a liver complaint can never be cured. With a dry, husky skin, a man never was and never will be cured of a liver complaint. Bring on a good moisture, and the liver will return to its natural functions, and will go on well. Dr. Kelley, of Boston, prescribes a con- stant use of elder-blow tea in liver complaints. It acts both upon the water and perspiration. LOCKJAW. Sweating, by means of soaking the feet in warm water, or by hot stones quenched in vinegar, is of the first importance in this complaint. Take one ounce of the seed of lobelia, pounded fine, two ounces of cayenne, half a pint of hot drops, to be kept in a bot- tle for use, to be shaken up when used. This will go through the system like electricity. In pouring a little into the mouth between the teeth and cheek, when the jaws are set, it will relax the spasms as soon as it touches the glands at the roots of the tongue, and the jaws will at once become loosened. Give a dose of it as soon as the spasms have abated, and drink freely of pennyroyal tea. Dr. Thompson says he cured three-dogs with this preparation, under the most violent symptoms of hydrophobia. One of his agents cured a man who had been bitten by a mad dog. I have not the least doubt, he says, of its be- ing a specific for that disease. It should be taken in tea-spoonful doses, and occasionally repeated. 41 \ V. MEASLES. This is a contagious disease, yet it seldom attacks • a person more than once. SYMPTOMS. A watering of the eyes, which itch — running from the nose — dry cough and hoarseness — white tongue — and on the fourth day, small red pimples break out on the face, and gradually pass over the whole surface of the body. On the sixth day the eruption changes from a red to a brownish color, and disappears. REMEDY. The principal point in this disorder is to keep out the eruption upon the surface of the body. Let the patient immerse his feet in warm water two or three times a day, and drink plentifully of thorough- wort tea, taking care to be well wrapped in a com- forter, so as to produce a copious sweat. Saffron is very valuable; let this and thoroughwort be the only drink. Mustard poultices applied to the feet are very useful. Let the bowels be kept gently open with rhubarb. NETTLE-RASH. This is an eruption similar to that caused by the stinging of nettles. On rubbing the skin which itches, it will disappear, and break out in some other place. CURE. Let the patient drink saffron tea, and keep the bowels open with epsom salts — use a light diet, this will remove it. 4* 42 PALPITATION OF THE HEART. This is a sympathetic affection, arising chiefly from sympathy of the heart with a deranged condition of the abdominal viscera, and consequently a frequent symptom of dyspepsia, costiveness, and diseased liver. It is sometimes owing to weakness of the heart's action, and this weakness often produces temporary efforts at more vigorous exertion, and com- monly in a convulsive manner, leaving the person faint and weak. Hence it is that fainting and palpi- tation are often associated together. When the action of the heart is sharp and strong, it produces a throbbing, and when soft and feeble a fluttering sen- sation. TREATMENT. Physicians advise but little medicine in this disor- der. They sometimes direct a sedative, as tincture of stramonium, 10 to 15 drops, three times a day. In a weak and languid circulation, they prescribe tincture of gum guaiacum, a tea-spoonful twice or thrice a day, in a little milk. But the main depend- ence is upon gentle exercise, cheerfulness of mind, and temperate diet. PALSY. The palsy is a loss or diminution in the sense or motion, or of both, in one or more parts of the body. Its occasional or predisposing causes are drunkenness, cold or damp air, working in lead, and whatever greatly relaxes the system, as drinking strong tea and coffee 43 MEDICAL TREATMEN1. The patient should wear flannel near the skin, and if possible remove to a warmer climate. The diet must be warm and invigorating, seasoned with spices and aromatic yegetables. Frictions with the flesh brush must be used, assisted by liniments and embro- cations, as spirits of turpentine, volatile liniment, hot drops, &c. ; warm baths are serviceable, as also is electricity. Vomits should be used where the dis- ease is owing to the poison of lead, mercury or arsenic : and occasional doses of purgatives, as epsom salts, or rhubarb RING-WORM. A ring-worm is an eruption running in curved lines, generally in a circle, that itches when rubbed, or when the body is heated. REMEDY. Take tobacco leaves, and boil them well, then add vinegar and strong ley to the liquor ; wash the erup- tion often with this, and it will infallibly cure RHEUMATISM, This well known disorder is owing to exposure to cold, sleeping in damp beds, working in damp situa- tions, and sometimes it may arise from the effect of other diseases that vitiate the humors, as scrofula, scurvy and the like. MEDICINE This disease is easily cured if taken in season, by the use of such medicines as cause perspiration ami 44 remove obstructions. There is no disease to which the Thomsonian remedies are more appropriate than to rheumatism. In common cases, taking the rheu- matic drops, and bathing with the same, will remove the complaint. But in a severe case, take a full course of medicine, and bathe with the drops, repeat- ing the process till cured, taking in the interim small doses of cayenne, composition, the spice bit- ters, a tea of hemlock boughs, poplar bark, &c, to keep up the heat in the system, and to strengthen the tone of the digestive organs. Smartweed, bruised and warmed in a pan with a little vinegar, and applied as a poultice, mixing a little meal with it, if thought best will often cure, drinking also a tea of the same. RICKETS. The rickets generally appear about two years after birth. They are known by an unusual large head and projecting forehead, swelling of the wrists, ankles and knees. The spine becomes deformed, and the legs and arms grow crooked. The teeth come slowly, and often rot and fall out. The disease is generally attributed to bad nursing, and want of air and suffi- cient exercise. When taken from the breast, the child is crammed with all manner of indigestible food, kept confined in a small and ill-ventilated room, and its body perhaps never washed as it should be with cold water, or at least with water moderately warm. Such a course results in a constitutional disturbance, and in the end often produces rickets. Commence a cure by plenty of out-door exercise, cold bathing in summer, and tepid in winter, with the 45 use also of friction. Let the diet be nourishing, and if necessary, give gentle vomits, and mild purges, to keep the stomach and bowels in a healthy state. Tonic, or bracing medicines should be administered, such as the peruvian bark in a little milk, avens root made into a tea, or raspberry leaves, which make a pleasant drink. The following will be found an ex- cellent medicine in weakness. Take boneset, or thoroughwort herb, pulverized, one ounce—cloves do., one drachm—port wine one quart, digested sev- eral days, then strain. Give a table-spoonful two or three times a day. SALT RHEUM. To cure this disease, cover the part affecte d with a plaster made of rosin and white turpentine ; on the plaster sprinkle some powder made of equal parts of burnt alum and rosin, made fine, and mixed well together; change the plaster the third day and renew it; and after that renew it once a day for three days, and let the last plaster remain on as long as it will. This, it is said, will effect a permanent cure. SCALD HEAD. This is a species of erysipelas, and is easily com- municated from one person to another, by means of a hat, or comb, previously used by one so diseased. It is supposed to have its origin in a want of clean- liness. REMEDY. An ointment of sulphur and soft soap, equal parts, tar, and sulphur ointment, charcoal ointmani^ 46 or lime water and sweet oil, in equal parts, are re- commended. Common brown soap, boiled with oatmeal, and applied as a poultice, will speedily remove the scabs. The head should be frequently washed with castile soap and warm water. SCARLATINA OR SCARLET FEVER. This disease is of modern origin. It was first in- troduced into this country by contagion. It begins like other fevers,'with langour, chills, and alternate fits of heat, attended with heat, dry skin, nausea and vomiting. It bears a semblance to the measles, but the patient does not have a cough, running at the nose, sneezing and watery eyes, as in that disorder. The measles always break out in the face or eyes first, but the scarlatina shows itself first on the ex- tremities, and rarely affects the face, except in violent cases. CAUSE. The cause of this malady is some peculiar miasma, which enters the system, and vitiates and exhausts the blood, or essence of vitality. It usually settles upon the membranes lining the mouth, throat, wind- pipe, and upon the glands about these parts, where, if not removed, it does the work of death in a short time. Persons are liable to a second attack of this disorder. MEDICAL TREATMENT. The following course, of treatment we shall give from the practice of Dr. D. F. Nardin, of Charleston, S. C, with whom it has been wonderfully successful, not losing a single patient in the very worst stages of the disorder, and in cases that had been given up 47 by others as incurable. When the patient is first taken, if the symptoms are mild, give powders com- posed of two parts of composition, two of golden seal, two of poplar bark, one of val&rian, and one of cay- enne, a tea-spoonful every two or three hours. If made into a tea, give in the same proportion. The powders should be taken in a half tea-cupful of warm water sweetened. When the attack is severe and sudden, give the third preparation of lobelia, frequent- ly, in small doses, till the symptoms subside, and the eruption comes out upon the skin,when the above pow- ders or tea may be given alone, and continued till the fever disappears. A full course of medicine in the onset would be of great benefit, and is indispensable after the time has elapsed when the fever ought to have subsided, especially if there be any signs of dropsical swellings following the complaint. If there be any embarrassment in the bowels, give injections of slippery elm, mullen, or marsh mallows, till the bowels are brought to their proper order. When the tonsils are much affected and painful, apply a poultice of onions roasted in ashes, as hot as the patient can bear. They are recommended in the first stages of the disorder, as they afford great relief, and calm the nerves irritated by the miasmatic influence. Bathe the parts with hot drops as often as the onions are removed, which should be as soon as they get cold. If the mouth and throat be much affected, use a gar- gle, or infusion of golden seal, to which add a little cayenne or hot drops. By pursuing the above course, ninety-nine out of a hundred will recover. Dr. Nar- din attended one patient, a boy nine years old, who, about the tenth day of his illness, complained of vio- lent pains in his knees. These were poulticed with 48 ground mallows, mullen, flax-seed and valerian, and by the next day he could use his knees. He after- wards had him bathed in a bath of weak ley. In a few days he got well by the use of this bath, and tak- ing the tea-powders already mentioned. His pains were excruciating, and the soreness so great that he could not bear to be touched, but he soon recovered his usual health. If the above rules are faithfully observed, says Dr Nardin, I am certain that the scarlet fever will lose the greatest part of the terror it carries with it, and it will be found as tractable as any other disease to which the human family is subject. Dr. Griffin, who has had much experience in this disease, makes great use of the common tincture of lobelia in nauseating doses, to vomit and relieve the stomach and lungs from the burden of canker thrown upon them and the mucous membranes, which are overloaded with the morbid matter, that soon destroys them if not remov- ed. Dr. Nardin approves this course for small children, but in violent cases prefers the third prepa- ration, being more powerful and equally harmless as the former. SCALDS AND BURNS. One of the best remedies for burns is cotton wool, wet in sweet oil and applied to the part af- fected ; the inflammation will generally be subdued in ten hours — in slight burns, in much less time. Give a few drops of paregoric to quiet the patient. Vinegar and water, with a little brandy, mixed to gether, is also very useful to bathe a burn with When the sores are dressed, let finely powdered 49 chalk be sprinkled upon them ; it will absorb the matter and facilitate the healing. Lard and soot make a very valuable ointment for burns. SCROFULA. This disease affects chiefly the glands of the neck, occasioning small knots to appear under the chin, or behind the ears, which increase till they form one large tumor. The complaint is often hereditary, or communicated by a scrofulous nurse. Whatever tends to corrupt the humors, paves the way for the scrofula, as bad air, unwholesome diet, the neglect of cleanliness, &c. MEDICAL TREATMENT. Sea bathing, or bathing in warm sea water, and drinking the water from the sea, has often cured the disorder. The various mineral waters have also been of much benefit. Carbonate of soda, and a drink of lime water, has been advised. To soften and discuss a scrofulous tumor, pound garlic to a soft pulp, add a few drops of cream, and apply it as a poultice night and morning. If the tumor breaks, dress it with a strong decoction of cherry bark mixed with lime water, applied with lint, kept wet with the same, and covered so as to exclude the air. Bayberry tea applied in the same way is also good, drinking a tea-cupful of the same four times a day. Tar boiled hard enough to make into pills, and three or four taken night and morning, is said to be a certain cure for scrofula. 5 50 SCURVY. This is a disease which prevails mostly among sailors upon long voyages, yet landsmen are not wholly exempt from it. CAUSES. Neglect of cleanliness — confined air — unwhole- some food, such as salted or dried and smoked meat, &c, &c. SYMPTOMS. Bleeding of gums — loose teeth — spots of violet color on the skin. At length the joints swell, and the blood bursts out from the different parts of the body. TREATMENT, Remove the patient to a dry, airy place, and let him eat freely of vegetables, and fresh animal food. Oranges, lemons, &c, are useful; this change of air and diet will usually effect a cure. The throat should be frequently gargled with cayenne pepper and vinegar, and the system kept warm by a free use of the composition powders. As fresh vegeta- bles cannot be kept at sea, sailors should never ven- ture upon a voyage without a large jar of pickled onions, beets, carrots, lettuce, scurvy grass, &c. SICKNESS AT THE STOMACH. Drink spearmint tea, and it will soon check it 51 SORE THROAT AND SORE MOUTH. Dr. Rush recommends the following : Cayenne pepper six ounces, common salt four drachms, boil- ing water a pint and a half. Let it remain in a close vessel for an hour, then strain it through a fine cloth. Take a table-spoonful every hour or two. Or take a tea-spoonful of cayenne, put it to two table-spoonsful of hot vinegar, stir it awhile, then strain, and sweeten with honey, molasses or sugar. Take a tea-spoonful every half hour till relieved. A draught of cayenne pepper sauce will often cure the disorder. Crane's bill root chewed, or made into a tea, is excellent for the above complaints. White pond-lily is nearly as good. SPRAINS. Sprains are often more dangerous than broken bones, because they are generally neglected, until it is too late to restore soundness. REMEDY. Let the sprained limb be immediately immersed in cold water, and kept in 15 minutes. Then bind on bruised wormwood and hot drops: The follow- ing compound is very valuable in sprains. Take a spoonful of honey, the same of salt, and the white of an egg — beat the whole together for an hour — let it stand two hours, and then anoint the sprained .imb with oil which will be produced from the anixture. This is an Indian remedy 52 TEETHING. It is supposed that not less than one-tenth of the infant race die in teething. SYMPTOMS. Fever — difficult breathing — gripes — inflamed gums — disturbed sleep — convulsions, &c. TREATMENT. Use castor oil to keep the bowels open, and feed with balm tea. When the pain is severe, relieve the little sufferer by a few drops of paregoric. A pitch plaster should be kept constantly between the shoulders and renewed once in two weeks. Rub the gums with honey three or four times a day. Let the child have pure air, and wash it every day with cold water. TOOTH-ACHE. Cotton wool, wet with paregoric or spirits of tur- pentine, and placed upon the tooth, will often give relief. Bathe the face with hot drops, and hold some in the mouth ; if this does not succeed, soak the feet in warm water, and put a mustard poultice upon the back of the neck. Wrap up in cloths, and drink composition, until a copious sweat is pro- duced. WARTS. Wash the warts with the juice of milk-weed, or celandine. Caustic applied will effect a cure more speedily. 53 WEAK NERVES. Whatever tends to relax the body, as indolence, excessive evacuations, intense study, griefs and dis- appointments, disposes to nervous weakness. The nerves suffer also in a thick state of the blood, which cannot be absorbed by them sufficient for their nutri- ment, like a spear of grass dying for a want of moist- ure. The constant use of tobacco and snuff greatly injures the nerves. DD3T AND REGIMEN. Banish alcoholic drinks, tea and coffee, fat meats and rich sauces. The food should be nourishing, but easy of digestion. Drink water, balm tea, penny- royal, or raspberry. A constant drink of avens root, or chocolate root, is very bracing to feeble nerves. Take plenty of exercise in the open air, use the cold bath, or flesh brush, and in winter wear flannel next the skin, to keep an equal perspiration, and defend the body from sudden changes of weather. A sea voyage will be beneficial; and the patient should never lie upon a feather bed, nor lie too late in bed, but rise early. MEDICINE, Avoid all strong purgatives. When the body is costive take a little rhubarb, or senna and rhubarb infused in brandy. Take occasionally some tonic or strengthening bitters, and, if troubled with wind, use aniseed tea, or a tea of golden rod. Where there is trembling and agitation of the nerves, nothing is bet- ter than a tea made of the blue scullcap herb, to be taken on going to bed. An ounce of the herb may be put to a quart of boiling water, strain it after steeping a while, sweeten with loaf sugar, and drink freely of it. 54 WORMS. The presence of worms may be known by a gnaw- ing sensation about the stomach, disturbed sleep, grinding of the teeth, dry sympathetic cough, offensive breath, nausea, itching about the anus, and slimy stools. It is supposed that a weak state of the diges- tive organs is that which leads to their production. They may frequently be prevented by taking a simple bitter, as wormwood, or wormseed, the juice dropped on sugar, or the powdered seeds mixed with molasses. Sulphur taken at night, and salt water in the morning, is said to be effectual. Attention must be given to the digestion in this difficulty, pursuing a similar course as for the dyspepsia. A regular action of the bowels to be kept up, and accumulations prevented, by small doses of rhubarb, followed by a drink of ca- momile tea. Above all, have exercise and pure air. WOUNDS AND CUTS. The wounded part should be immediately immersed in cold water,where it should remain for half an hour, or till the wound becomes white. The pain and bleeding may be stopped by elevating the wounded part higher than the rest of the body, which will re- lieve the pressure. Where the wound cannot be im- mersed, cold water should be poured upon the part. The edges of the wound may be brought together and kept closed by a few stiches, or a sticking plas- ter, or what is best, by the India-rubber court plas- ter.—Where there is any inflammation, cloths or linl wet with cold water may be applied over the plaster. If the flesh be much bruised or lacerated, apply & poultice of wormwood, macerated in boiling water. APPENDIX. VALUABLE RECIPE S. s -- MEDICAL, RECIPES. 1. FOR THE RHEUMATISM. Take a table-spoonful of pitch from a white pine log, the same quantity of sulphur, and a spoonful of honey. Add these to two quarts of the best fourth proof brandy, and shake till it is dissolved. Cork it up tight for use. Take a table- spoonful three times a day, before eating, and bathe the part affected in salt, and some of the same brandy, as hot as you can bear it. 2. VALUABLE REMEDY FOR THE BILIOUS COLIC. Take one gill of West India molasses, one gill of West India rum, one gill of hog's lard, and the urine of a beast one gill. Simmer these well together. This will seldom, if ever, fail of performing a cure. • 3. FOR A WEAK STOMACH. Make boiled rye your constant diet, eaten as you would eat rice. Take no other kind of food till you are satisfied you can bear it. Drink a tea of white pine bark and slip- pery elm. 4. HOT DROPS. This is made by adding three-fourths of a pound of best gum myrrh, pulverized, and one ounce of African cayenne, to one gallon of alcohol or fourth proof brandy. 5. COMPOSITION. Take one pound of bayberry bark, eight ounces of ginger, two ounces of cloves, two ounces of cayenne, and mix them well together. 56 6. CURE FOR THiS GRAVEL Sweeten your tea with honey. 7. TO MAKE CASTOR OIL PALATABLE. Boil castor oil with an equal quantity of milk, sweeten it with a little sugar, stir it well, and let it cool. 8. SWALLOWING POISON. If poison should be swallowed accidentally, take two table- spoonsful of ground mustard, mixed in warm water. It will operate as an instantaneous emetic. 13. EXCELLENT FAMILY PILLS. Take the inner bark of the butternut tree, scraped down; balm of Gilead and white ash bark. Boil them in watei until all the strength is out. Take out the bark, and con ■ tinue to boil it down until you can work it into pills. 14. OINTMENT FOR WEAK JOINTS. Boil together sweet apple-tree and white-oaV. bark with a piece of codfish skin till you obtain an exti *«t. Make a plaster of this, and wear it on the affected pari It seldom fails of a cure. 16. CHOLERA MORBUS. Drink plentifully of wormwood tea,—it rarely fails of ef- fecting a cure. 17. A BEER FOR CANCERS. Take the tops and roots of the whortleberry bush, sarsa- parilla roots, and hop roots, one pound of each; three ounces of blood root, three ounces of unicorn roots, and half a peck of barley malt. Make of these ingredients seven gallons of beer. Take half a gill for a dose, three times a day. 18. FOR FITS CAUSED BY WORMS. Take cream sweetened with molasses, and pour it down the throat of the child; it will immediately give relief, and turn the worms. 19. NIGHT SWEATS. Drink plentifully of cold sage tea This is almost an in fallible remedy. 57 20. CURE FOR A CANCER. Take the bark of red oak and burn it to ashes. Apply this to the cancer till it is eaten out. 21. SALVE FOR A BURN. Take the green of elder bark, wild lavender, camomile, and parsley; simmer them in fresh butter; strain it, and add to it rosin and beeswax in equal parts. This is one of the best salves for a burn known. 22 AN EXCELLENT WASH FOR SORE MOUTH, OR CANKER. Take plantain, honeysuckle, sage, and rosemary, equal parts, and boil them in sour wine; add thereto a little honey and alum. Wash the mouth with this as often as necessary. 23. A CURE FOR BLEEDING AT THE STOMACH. Take one pound of yellow dock root, dry it thoroughly and pound it fine; boil this in a quart of milk and strain it off Use one gill three times a day, also one pill a day, made of turpentine from the end of a white pine log, and honey equal parts. 24. FOR CHILDREN TROUBLED WITH WORMS. Take the leaves of sage, powdered fine and mixed with a little honey, tea-spoonful for a dose; or flour of sulphur mixed with honey, is good for worms. Sweetened milk, with a little alum added to it, is good to turn worms. 25. FOR A STRAINED STOMACH. Take one-third of a pound of white pine pitch, the same quantity of sulphur, and half a pound of honey; simmer well together. Take two pills of this every day before eating. 26. FOR URINARY OBSTRUCTIONS. Take good ripe pumpkin seeds, dry them and pound them as well as you can conveniently; add one quart of good gin to one gill of the pounded seeds. Keep it in some warm place till the gin is tolerably well tinctured with the seeds. Drink a wineglass of this three times a day before eating. This will be found to answer your most sanguine expecta- tions. 58 27. OINTMENT FOR THE PILES Take sweet elder, the inner bark, and simmer it in sweet cream, the juice of camomile pounded and pressed out, and mix a table-spoonful of this with a gill of the above, and use it night and morning constantly. A good cure. 28. FOR A FELON. Take a handful of wild turnip roots, and as much blue flag- root ; stew them both in halt a pint of hog's lard; strain it, and then add four spoonsful of tar ; simmer them together Apply this till the felon breaks. Add rosin and beeswax to the ointment for a salve to dress it with after it is broken. This is a cure without losing the joint. 29. FOR A BURN, IF VERY OBSTINATE. Take the inner sole of an old shoe, burn it to ashes, sift the ashes, and sprinkle this on the sore. This will dry it up directly. Take the bark of sumach root, simmer it in cream, and anoint the part affected with this often. It is an excel- lent cure. 30. TO CURE CANKER IN THE MOUTH, IF EVER N SO VIOLENT. Take the scrapings of blackberry root, a few sumach ber- ries, a little saffron, a little sage, and some gold thread. Put with these a little alum, some vinegar, and honey; simmer this on hot ashes with a little water. Wet the mouth often. It seldom fails of a cure. 31. FOR CHILDREN TROUBLED WITH PIN WORMS. Take the tops and blows of Canada thistles, and boil them in spring water until the strength is out. Strain off the liquor, and simmer it down until it becomes quite thick; add the same quantity of molasses you have of syrup. Give a child half a wine-glass every hour until it operates, which rarely fails of clearing the patient of those troublesome crea- tures. 32. TINCTURE OF LOBELIA. This is made by putting two ounces of the dried herb and seeds together, in a pint of common gin. Let it stand a week, when it will be fit for use. For children, from one to two tea- spoonfuls is a dose : and for adults, from a half to a whole 59 wineglass full, always repeating the dose every fifteen or twenty minutes, till it vomits. A little warm saleratus water will promote the operation of it, whenever desired. 33. SWEET TINCTURE OF RHUBARB. Rhubarb, in coarse powder, two ounces; liquorice root one ounce; anise seed, bruised, one ounce ; fine white sugar two ounces ; new rum, three pints. Digest in a warm place one week, then strain. Dose for an adult, from a half to a whole wineglass full. 34. FOR CONSUMPTION. Take chloride of lime, dissolved in hot water, add a little vinegar to it, and inhale the gaseous perfume by dipping a rag or sponge in it, and applying it to the nose. 35. NERVE OINTMENT. Neatsfoot oil a gill, spirits of turpentine one ounce, beef *s fall one ounce, brandy half a pint, simmer till mixed, and ottle for use. It is excellent for rheumatism, and perishing or contracted limbs. 36. VEGETABLE POULTICES. To make a poultice of any herb or root, first chop the ar- ticle small, and boil in water almost to a jelly; then add bar- ley or any other meal, a little oil or suet, and apply to the part affected. 37. TINCTURE OF BLOODROOT. One pound of the green root is to be steeped in a quart of spirit for a week. A table-spoonful of this tincture operates as a very mild and easy emetic, especially in the case of" croup and other disorders of children, repeating the dose as need may be every 15 minutes. 38. GOLDTHREAD OINTMENT. An ointment made of goldthread and camomile simmered in lard, is excellent for sore lips, chopped hands, and chilblains. 39. TINCTURE OF GOLDTHREAD. Made by putting half an ounce of the dried root bruised into a pint of new rum; makes an excellent tonic bitter for dyspeptics and convalescents generally, taking a tea-spoonful three times a day. It strengthens the stomach and promotes digestion. 60 MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. 40. Shaving Soap. Take four pounds white bar soap, one quart rain water, one half pint beef's gall, one gill spirits of turpentine. Cut the soap into thin slices, and boil five minutes after the soap is dissolved, stir while boiling, color it with one half paper of vermilion, scent with what you like ; use the oil instead of essence. 41. Oil of Soap, for removing Paint, Grease Spots, fyc. Take one half pint "spirits of hartshorn, one half pint of alcohol, one half pint of urine, and a table-spoonful of salt. Put it into a bottle, and shake it well; apply with a sponge. 42. Composition for Grafting. Take one part tallow, two parts beeswax, and four parts rosin ; melt it together, turn it into water and mix it as shoemakers do wax. 43. Furniture Varnish. White wax two oz., oil of turpen- tine one gill; melt the wax, and gradually mix in the tur- pentine. 44. Good Blacking. Take ivory black and molasses each twelve oz., spermaceti oil four oz., white wine vinegar two quarts, mix together. 45. Water-proof Blacking. Take three ounces spermaceti, melt it in an earthen vessel over a slow fire ; add six drachms India-rubber, c ut into thin slices, let it dissolve; then add eight ounces tallow, two ounces hog's lard, and four ounces amber varnish; mix, and it will be fit for use. 46. Durable Whitewash. Throw some salt into the water you mix your lime with; it will prevent it from cracking. 47. To Preserve Bees from Worms and Insects. About the first of May raise the hive up, and strew some fine salt under the edges. g 48. To prevent Mould in Books, Paste, Ink, and Leather. A few drops of oil of lavender will save a library from mould; a single drop will save a pint of ink: paste and leather may also be preserved. 61 49. To Make the Teeth White. Rub them with a mixture of honey and pure charcoal. 50. Iron Cement. Common wood ashes and salt, made imo a paste with a little water. With this mixture, an aperture through which the fire or smoke penetrates, maybe closed in a moment. Its effect is equally certain whether the stove be hot or cold. 51. To Restore a Faded Carpet. Dip the carpet in strong salt and water. Blue factory cotton or silk handkerchiefs will not fade if dipped in salt water while they are new. 52. To Take White Spots out of Furniture. Hold a warming pan, or a shovel full of coals over the furniture, and rub ii while warm with a piece of flannel. 53. To Make Colors Fast If a calico is likely to fade, wash it in a gallon of warm water, to which is added a large spoon ful of beef's gall; wash it without soap. This will take out spots from bombazine, bombazett, &c. It will set any colo silk, cotton, or woollen. 54. To Remove Grease Spots. Rub magnesia on the spot, and cover it with clean paper, and apply above it a warm flat-iron. Repeat until the spot is removed. 55. To Clean Silver or Britannia. Use simple whiting, finely powdered, and moistened with alcohol. 56. Blue Ink. Dissolve one ounce of gum arabic in a pint of water. In a part of this gum-water grind a small quantity of Prussian blue; you may thus bring it to any depth of color you wish. Indigo will answer, though not so nicp 57. Lemon Syrup. Take one pound of Havana sugar, boil It in water down to a quart; drop in the white of an egg, and strain it; add one quarter of an ounce of tartaric acid— let it stand two days ; shake it often. Four drops of oil of lemon will much improve it. 58. Sarsaparilla Mead. One pound Spanish sarsapaiilia- boil five hours, so as to strain off two gallons; add sixteen pounds of ougar, and ten ounces of tartaric acid. One-halt wineglass of syrup to one-half pint tumbler of water, and one-half tea-spoonful of soda powder, is a fair proportion foi a drink. 59. Essences. An ounce of oil to one pint of alcohol is 6 62 about a fair proportion. Let them be well shaken together. If you wish to color it red, steep a little redwood in alcohol; if you wish yellow, steep kirkam root in alcohol. 60. Red Color. Balm blossoms in water, in earthen or tin. Add a little alum to set the color. 61. Straw Color. Saffron steeped in earthen, makes a straw color. Add a little alum. 62. Purple Color. The purple paper which comes on loaf sugar, boiled in vinegar with a small piece of alum, makes a good purple color. Steep in iron. 63. Nankin Color. A pailful of ley, and a piece of copperas half as big as a hen's egg, boiled in brass or tin, makes nan- kin color which will never wash out. 64. Slate Color. Tea-grounds boiled in iron, set with cop- peras, makes a good slate color. 65. Black Color. Logwood boiled in cider or vinegar, set with copperas, makes a good black color. Black ink made the same way. 66. Another. Boil one pound of logwood in about a pailful or more of water, then add one ounce of blue vitriol, pounded, to it, to set the color. 67. To Restore Colors Taken Out by Acids. Sal volatile or hartshorn will restore colors taken out by acid. It may be dropped upon any garment without doing harm., ' 68. To Use Frosted Potatoes. If much frozen, lay them in cold water, and to each peck of potatoes take one quarter of an ounce of saltpetre dissolved in water, which mix with the fluid in which they are boiled. 69. To Boil Potatoes Mealy. When the water nearly boils, . pour it out and put in cold salted water; it makes them mealy without cracking them. 70. To make Hop Beer. For a half barrel of beer, take half a p >nnd of hops and a teacupful of ginger; boil it in a pailful and a half of water. When brewed, put it warm into a clean cask, with two quarts of molass^ shake it well, and fill the cask with water, leaving the bun^open. Fill the cask when it works over. 63 71. Cement for Broken Glass or Crockery. Take the white of an egg, and very tine quick-lime. 72. Another. Quick-lime, pulverized fine and mixed with linseed oil. A transparent cement may be made by dis- solving isinglass in alcohol, and adding a portion of gum ammoniac. 73. To Preserve Eggs. Eggs will keep good for years, pre- pared as follows :—One pint of coarse salt, and one pint of unslacked lime, to a pail of water. Keep in a cool place. 74. To Perfume Clothes. Take cloves, cedar, and rhubarb, each one ounce; pulverize, and sprinkle it in the chest or drawer. It will create a beautiful scent, and prevent moths. 75. To separate Wax from the Comb. Tie the comb up in a linen or woollen bag; place it in a kettle of cold water, and hang it over the fire. As the water heats, the wax melts and rises to the surface, while all the impurities remain in the bag. It is well to put a few pebbles in the bag, to keep it from floating. 76. To Prevent Ink from Freezing. Instead of water use brandy, and it will never freeze. 77. Substitute for Tea. The leaves of the red raspberry, gathered and dried in the shade, are not inferior to the ordi- nary teas of China, and much more healthy. Gather them in September and October. 78. Another. Take young leaves of the common currant- bush, and dry them on tin. It can hardly be distinguished from green tea. 79. To Destroy Rats and Mice. Take equal quantities of rye raeal and unslacked lime, mix them, without adding any water. Put small quantities in places infested by the rats; they will devour it, become thirsty—and the water they will drink slackens the lime and destroys them. 80. To Avoid Injury from Bees. If bees swarm upon the head, smoke tobacco, and hold an empty hive over the head, and they will enter it. 64 DOMESTIC COOKERY. 71. To make Good Brown Bread. Take one quart of Indian meal, and three pints of rye meal; put it into a pan, turn about a half cupful of molasses and two tea-spoonsful of ginger into it. Take some saleratus, and dissolve it in warm water, enough to mix the meal rather soft; let it remain in the pari to rise over night. When light enough put it in pans and bake it. Bread made so will not sour so quick as when yeast is put into it. 72. Another. Scald two quarts of Indian meal—take three pints of rye meal, three spoonsful of molasses, a little salt and half a teacup of yeast; mix it rather soft, let it rise about three hours; put it in deep pans, and let it stand in the oven over night. Put saleratus into the yeast. 73. Apple Bread. Take two parts of flour to one part of apples stewed; stir them quite warm into the flour; put in a little yeast—knead it without water, the fruit being quite sufficient. Let it remain in the pan to rise for twelve hours then put it into small pans and bake it. It makes verv light and palatable bread. J ° 74. Dyspepsy Bread. Three quarts of unboiled wheat meal oue quart of soft water, one gill of yeast, one gill of molasses,' and a tea-spoonful of saleratus. 75. Superior Brotvn Bread Cake. Take one pint of Indian meal, two pints of rye meal, and put into a pan—turn two- thirdsof a cupful of molasses and one table-spoonful of ginger into it; then add one tea-spoonful of dissolved saleratus to a sufficient quantity of sour milk to make a soft paste. This will make two cakes. Pour it into buttered tins, and bake forty minutes m a hot oven. 76. Superior Indian Cake. Take two cups of Indian meal one table-spoonful of molasses, two cups of sweet milk, a little salt, a handful of flour, and a little saleratus. 77. Sour Milk Cake. Take one quart of flour, sweeten your milk or buttermilk with saleratus, add a little salt: mix it soft, and pour it into a pan and bake it. 65 78. Milk Biscuit. Take four pounas of flour, two pounas of lard and butter rolled well; mix it with milk—add a little salt 79. Coffee Cakes. Take some rice that has been boiled soft, twice as much flour as rice, a little fine Indian meal, and a little yeast—mix it with cold water, and let it rise over night. This will make very fine biscuit for breakfast. SO. Indian Flapjacks. Scald a quart of Indian meal; when lukewarm stir in a half pint of flour, half teacup of yeast, and a little salt. Fry them in just fat enough to prevent them from sticking to the pan. 81. Griddle Cakes. Rub three ounces of butter into a pound of (lour, with a little salt; moisten it with sweet buttermilk to make it into a paste ; roll it out, cut the cakes with the cover of your dredging-box, and put them upon a griddle to bake. 82. Newton Biscuits. Make a pound of flour, the yolk of an egg, and some milk, into a very stiff paste; beat it well, knead it till smooth, roll it thin, and cut it into biscuits. Prick, and bake them in a slow oven till dry and crisp. 83. Johnny Cake. Three pints of Indian meal, one egg, a spoonful of sugar, and mix it with milk or water; spread it upon a tin and bake it. 84. Nut Cake. Take one pound of flour, one quarter of a pound of butter, same of sugar, five eggs, and spice to your taste. 85. Wedding Cake. Take four pounds of flour, three of butter, three of sugar, four of currants, two of raisins, two dozen of eggs, one ounce of mace and three nutmegs; a little citron and molasses improves it. Bake about three hours. 86. Cup Cake. Take one cup of butter; two of sugar, three of flour, four eggs well beat together. Bake in pans or cups. 87. Loaf Cake. Take two pounds of flour, half a pound of sugar, a quarter of a pound of butter, three eggs, one gill of milk, one half teacupful of sweet yeast, cloves and nut- meg for spice. &S. Pound Cake. One pound of flour, one pound of sugar, one pound of butter, ten eggs, rose water and nutmeg. 6* 66 89. Tea Cake. Take four cups of flour, three of sugar, one of butter, three eggs, one cup of milk, one spoonful of sale- ratus. 90. Election Cake. Take four pounds of flour, three quar- ters of a pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one pound of currants or raisins, four eggs, half a pint of yeast—wet it with milk, and let it remain in the pan to rise over night. Mould it on a board,and put it in deep plates to bake. 91. Seed Cake. One teacup of butter, two cups of sugar, tubbed into four cups of flour: mix with milk hard enough to roll; half a tea-spoonful of saleratus—seeds to your taste. 92. Minute Cake. One pound of flour, one pound of sugar three quarters of a pound of butter, half a pint of cider, and two tea-spoonsful of saleratus. 93. Alice Cake. Take five cups of flour, one of sugar, one of butter, half a cup of molasses, four eggs, a tea-spoonful of cloves, and one of saleratus. 94. Jumbles. Take four eggs, three cups of sugar, a little nutmeg, a tea-spoonful of saleratus, a cup of butter—stir in the flour till ii will roll; cut in rounds, with a hole in the centre. Roll them in sugar. 95. Hard Molasses Gingerbread. To a pint of molasses put half a teacup of melted butter, a table-spoonful of ginger, and a quart of flour. Dissolve a tea-spoonful of saleratus in a half pint of water, and stir it in, together with flour suffi- cient to enable you to roll it out. Bake it in a moderate oven. 96. Balcers'1 Gingerbread. Three-fourths of a pound of flour, one quart of molasses, one-fourth of a pound of butter, one ounce of saleratus, and one ounce of ginger. 97. Sago Pudding. A large table-spoonful of sago boiled in one quart of milk, the peel of a lemon, a little nutmeg, and four eggs. Bake. ' 98. Baked Indian Pudding. Scald a quart of milk (skim- med milk will do), and stir in seven table-spoonsful of Indian meal, a tea-spoonful of salt, a tea-cupful of molasses, and a table-spoonful of ginger or cinnamon. Bake three or four hours. If you want whey, you must pour in. a little cold milk after it is all mixed. 67 99. Baked Rice Pudding. Swell a coftee-cup of rice, and a quart of nice milk, sweeten it with brown sugar, and bake it about an hour in a quick oven. 100. Fruit Rice Pudding. Swell the rice with milk over the fire, then mix fruit of any kind, with it—currants, goose- berries, or quartered apples—put one egg to bind the rice. Boil it well, and serve it with sugar. 101. Minute Pudding. Put a pint and a half of milk on the fire; mix five large spoonsful of flour with half a pint of milk, a little salt, and nutmeg. When the milk boils, stir in the mixed flour and milk. Let the whole boil for one minute, stirring it constantly. Take it from the fire—let it set luke- warm, then add three beaten eggs. Let it bake on the fire, and stir it constantly until it thickens. Take it from the fire as soon as it boils. To be eaten with nice sauce. 102. Plum Pudding. Pound six crackers, and soak them over night in milk enough to cover them ; then add three pints of milk, four or five eggs, one half pound of raisins, and spice it with nutmeg; sweeten it with sugar and molasses. Bake about two hours. 103. Starch Pudding. To one quart of milk, boiling hot, put four table-spoonsful of potato starch, and three eggs. Take the milk from the fire, and having your eggs and starch well mixed and beaten together, pour them to the boiling milk and your pudding is made. To be served up with rich sauce. 104. Lemon Custards. Put the juice of three lemons, with three ounces of pounded loaf sugar, into a deep dish. Boil the grated peel of one lemon and two ounces of pounded loaf sugar in a quart of cream, and pour it over the juice and sugar. It will keep four days. 105. Egg Mince Pie. Boil six eggs hard, shred them small, take double the quantity of suet; sweeten and spice to your taste. Make a light paste for them. 106. Icing for Tarts. Beat the yolk of an egg and some melted butter well together. Wash the tarts with a feather, and sift sugar over as you put them in the oven. 107. Frosting for Cake. Take the whites of eight eggs, two poinds of loaf sugar, half an ounce of white starch, half an 68 ounce of gum arabic, beaten till it looks white and thick. Dry it in a cool oven. 108. To Preserve Citron. Pare and cut open the citron, clean all out except the rind, boil till soft. To a pound of citron, add one pound of sugar and a lemon; to each pound put the sugar and lemon together, and boil it till it becomes a syrup, skimming it well; then put the syrup and citron together and boil it an hour. 109. Preserve Apples. Weigh equal quantities of good brown sugar and of apples; peel, core, and mince them small. Boil the sugar, allowing to every three pounds a pint of water; skim it well, and boil it pretty thick; then add the apples, the grated peel of one or two lemons, and two or three pieces of white ginger if you have it; boil till the apples fall and look clear and yellow. This preserve will last for years. 110. Preserves. A pound of fruit to a pound of sugar, is the rule for all preserves. 111. Lemon Pie. Take one lemon, a teacup of molasses, half teacup of water, sprinkle in a little flour, grate the peel for spice, throw aside the white rind, and cut the rest in thin slices. 112. Tomato Pickles. Take one peck of tomatos gathered green, and one-third as many peppers; soak them in cold water twenty-four hours ; cold sharp vinegar enough to cover, with one ounce of bruised cloves to a gallon of vinegar. Tomatos picked in this way will keep one year. 113. Yeast. Boil potatoes soft, then peel them, and as you mash them, add as much boiling water as will make them of the consistency of common yeast; put in a half teacup of molasses and two table-spoonfuls of yeast while the potatoes are a little warm ; keep it warm and allow a large space for fermentation. When it is done fermenting, it is fit for use 69 SICK COOKERY. 114. Beef Tea. Cut a pouad of good beef into thin slices; simmer it with a quart of water twenty minutes, after it has once boiled, and been skimmed; season it if you wish, and add a little salt. 115. Broth. Take two pounds of lean beef, five quarts of water, simmer down to three quarts ; add half a cup of rice and a little salt. Veal or mutton prepared the same way. 116. Eggs. Weak persons may take eggs in the following manner: Beat an egg very fine, add some sugar and nut- meg, pour upon it a gill of boiling water and drink it imme- diately. 117. GnteL Take one cracker and pound it fine; then pour one pint of boiling water to it, add a little sugar and salt. Grate some nutmeg upon it. 118. Rice Caudle. Mix some ground rice smooth with a little cold water, then put it into boiling water; when it be- comes sufficiently thick, add a bit of lemon peel, or cinna- mon, and sugar to taste. 119. Milk Porridge. Put a quart of water in a kettle, add- ing a little salt, and while heating, mix a gill of flour in a bowl of water, made thick, and when the water is boiling hot, drop this into it with a spoon ; let it be well boiled, then add half a pint c£ milk. 70 " There are nerbs to cure all diseases, though not everywheie known."—Dr. Ray. A LIST OF THE MOST COMMON HERBS AND THE lit MEDICINAL. PROPERTIES. Alder. This is an astringent, useful in bleeding at the lungs, or as a wash for ulcers. 11 unlock. This is a cathartic; it will produce perspira- tion. The leaves- are good in fevers, to bind upon the head and feet. Blackberry. This is astringent;—very valuable in the dysentery. BlUCflag* Useful in fevers, or to expel humors from the system. Dose—half tea-spoonful three times a day. tatllip. Valuable for injections. In fevers it pro- motes perspiration without raising the heat of the body. Comfrcy. This is mucilaginous; valuable in coughs and all consumptive complaints. GoldenthreadThis is useful in bitters; simmered in lard it makes a good ointment for sore lips, hands, &c. Golddl Seal. This corrects the bile, restores the organs of digestion, and promotes a discharge of urine. Uardhack. T&s 's astringent; useful in the diarrhcea, and dysentery. HoarllOUIld. This is valuable, combined with Thorough- wort, for coughs, colds, and all lung com- plaints. Life Ever- Tnis .is the most efficacious of all herbs, in lasting breaking up a long standing cough, drank in M„.,„4„-r' tne f°rm oi tea ana sweetened with molasses. Mountain _T Cranberry. ^ use"" m Weeding at the lungs. Motherwort. This will ease the pain in the nervous head ache. Mullen. This is physical; good, simmered; in lard foi the piles. 71 Peppermint. Valuable for the colic; to prevent sickness at fHe stomach, &c. Plantain. Good, combined with lard, for the salt rheum ; its juice will cure the bite of snakes. Pennyroyal. This is a stimulant; it should always be given to assist the operation of the Lobelia emetic. Poplar Bark.This is tonic; used in bitters. Skuilk Cab- Promotes expectoration, quiets the nerves, ba^e. very USCIU1 m asthma. Sassafras. Steeped in water, it is an excellent wash for all kinds of humors. SagC. Useful in fevers and for worms in children. Saffron. Makes a valuable tea fpr children afflicted with the measles, chicken-pox, and all erup- tive diseases. Thorough- This herb is both physical and emetic ; very wort valuable in fevers, colds, coughs, &c.; good in bitters. ^ Valerian. Good in all nervous complaints; a swallow or two taken occasionally will produce the same effect as paregoric, and is every way preferable to it. ^ Wormwood. Valuable in sprains and bruises;, drank as a tea, it will cleanse the stomach, and create an appetite. Wiutergreen.This is cleansing to the blood; may be taken as a tea or as a syrup. YellOW Dock.This is physical and bracing; valuable in the piles ; it will purify the blood, and expel bad humors from the system. YlirroW. This is useful in blood-spitting, dysentery, piles, &c. Most roots should be collected either late in the fall, or early in the spring. Herbs should be gathered while m blossom. Iney should be dried in the shade and packed up in paper as soon 33 they are drv. Herb tea, to do any good, should be made very strong. A LIST OF SIMPLES, AND OF SUCH MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS As every family oughl to keep ou hand, ready for private use. CASTOR OIL— fjose—for child a year old, a tea-spoonful; for an adult, a table-spoonful SWEET OIL. SYRUP SQUILLS— Dose—for child, half tea-spoonful. PAREGORIC— Dose—for a child, from 5 to 20 drops. WINE IPECAC— Dose—to act as an emetic, 15 drops, repeated every fifteen minutes till it operates; for an adult, a tea-spoonful repeated as above. SENNA— Dose—for an adult, a table-spoonful of the leaves steeped. CAMPHOR COMPOSITION— Dose—Adult, a tea-spoonful HOT DROPS— Dose—Adult—a tea-spoonful. GROUND MUSTARD. RHUBARB— Dose—Adult—a tea-spoonful of the powder SAGE. THOROUGHWORT. CATNP. SPEARMINT. HORSE-RADISH LEAVES PENNYROYAL. VALERIAN. LOBELIA— "-» Dose—Adult—a tea-spoonful once in fifteen minutes, till it operates. BURDOCK LEAVES. HOARHOUND. YARROW. 7 *>0O4c*o«O9o$o5O0oftc^)«oeooo*jeo«oOo«o