Barkham Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information Part 26

HOW TO DESTROY BED-BUGS.--1. When they have made a lodgement in the wall, fill all the apertures with a mixture of soft soap and scotch snuff. Take the bedstead to pieces, and treat that in the same way. 2.

A strong decoction of red pepper applied to bedsteads will either kill the bugs or drive them away. 3. Put the bedstead into a close room and set fire to the following composition, placed in an iron pot upon the hearth, having previously closed up the chimney, then shut the door, let them remain a day: sulphur nine parts; saltpetre, powdered, one part. Mix. Be sure to open the door of the room five or six hours before you venture to go into it a second time. 4. Rub the bedstead well with lampoil; this alone is good, but to make it more effectual, get ten cents worth of quicksilver and add to it. Put it into all the cracks around the bed, and they will soon disappear. The bedsteads should first be scalded and wiped dry, then put on with a feather. 5.

Corrosive sublimate, one ounce; muriatic acid, two ounces; water, four ounces; dissolve, then add turpentine, one pint; decoction of tobacco, one pint. Mix. For the decoction of tobacco boil one ounce of tobacco in a 1/2 pint of water. The mixture must be applied with a paint brush. This wash is deadly poison. 6. Rub the bedsteads in the joints with equal parts of spirits of turpentine and kerosene oil, and the cracks of the surbase in rooms where there are many. Filling up all the cracks with hard soap is an excellent remedy.

March and April are the months when bedsteads should be examined to kill all the eggs. 7. Mix together two ounces spirits of turpentine, one ounce corrosive sublimate, and one pint alcohol. 8. Distilled vinegar, or diluted good vinegar, a pint; camphor one-half ounce; dissolve. 9. White a.r.s.enic, two ounces; lard, thirteen ounces; corrosive sublimate, one-fourth ounce; venetian red, one-fourth ounce.

(deadly poison.) 10. Strong mercurial ointment one ounce; soft soap one ounce; oil of turpentine, a pint 11. Gasoline and coaloil are both excellent adjuncts, with cleanliness, in ridding a bed or house of these pests.

HOW TO DESTROY CATERPILLARS.--Boil together a quant.i.ty of rue, wormwood, and any cheap tobacco (equal parts) in common water. The liquid should be very strong. Sprinkle it on the leaves and young branches every morning and evening during the time the fruit is ripening.

HOW TO DESTROY c.o.c.kROACHES AND BEETLES.--1. Strew the roots of black h.e.l.lebore, at night, in the places infested by these vermin, and they will be found in the morning dead or dying. Black h.e.l.lebore grows in marshy grounds, and may be had at the herb shops. 2. Put about a quart of water sweetened with mola.s.ses in a tin wash basin or smooth glazed china bowl. Set it at evening in a place frequented by the bugs.

Around the basin put an old piece of carpet that the bugs can have easy access to the top. They will go down in the water, and stay till you come. 3. Take pulverized borax, 4 parts, flour 1 part, mix intimately and distribute the mixture in cupboards which are frequented by the roaches, or blow it, by means of a bellows, into the holes or cracks that are infested by them. 4. By scattering a handful of fresh cuc.u.mber parings about the house. 5. Take carbonic acid and powdered camphor in equal parts; put them in a bottle; they will become fluid. With a painter's brush of the size called a sash-tool, put the mixture on the cracks or places where the roaches hide; they will come out at once. Then kill. 6. Mix up a quant.i.ty of fresh burned plaster of paris (gypsum, such as is used for making molds and ornaments), with wheat flour and a little sugar, and distribute on shallow plates and box boards, and place in the corners of the kitchen and pantry where they frequent. In the darkness they will feast themselves on it. Whether it interferes with their digestion or not, is difficult to ascertain, but after three or four nights renewal of the preparation, no c.o.c.kroaches will be found on the premises.

HOW TO DESTROY CRICKETS.--Sprinkle a little quick lime near to the cracks through which they enter the room. The lime may be laid down overnight, and swept away in the morning. In a few days they will most likely all be destroyed. But care must be taken that the children do not meddle with the lime, as a very small portion of it getting into the eye, would prove exceedingly hurtful. In case of such an accident the best thing to do would be to wash the eye with vinegar and water.

HOW TO GET RID OF FLEAS.--Much of the largest number of fleas are brought into our family circles by pet dogs and cats. The oil of pennyroyal will drive these insects off: but a cheaper method, where the herb flourishes, is to throw your cats and dogs into a decoction of it once a week. When the herb cannot be got, the oil can be procured. In this case, saturate strings with it and tie them around the necks of the dogs and cats. These applications should be repeated every twelve or fifteen days. Mint freshly cut, and hung round a bedstead, or on the furniture, will prevent annoyance from bed insects; a few drops of essential oil of lavender will be more efficacious.

HOW TO DESTROY FLIES.--1. Take an infusion of qua.s.sia, one pint; brown sugar, four ounces, ground pepper, two ounces. To be well mixed together, and put in small shallow dishes where required. 2. Black pepper (powdered), one drachm; brown sugar, one drachm; milk or cream, two drachms. Mix, and place it on a plate or saucer where the flies are most troublesome. 3. Pour a little simple oxymel (an article to be obtained at the druggists), into a common tumbler gla.s.s, and place in the gla.s.s a piece of cap paper, made into the shape of the upper part of a funnel, with a hole at the bottom to admit the flies. Attracted by the smell, they readily enter the trap in swarms, and by the thousands soon collected prove that they have not the wit or the disposition to return. 4. Take some jars, mugs, or tumblers, fill them half full with soapy water; cover them as jam-pots are covered, with a piece of paper, either tied down or tucked under the rim. Let this paper be rubbed inside with wet sugar, mola.s.ses, honey, or jam, or any thing sweet; cut a small hole in the center, large enough for a fly to enter. The flies settle on the top, attracted by the smell of the bait; they then crawl through the hole, to feed upon the sweets beneath. Meanwhile the warmth of the weather causes the soapy water to ferment, and produces a gas which overpowers the flies, and they drop down into the vessel. Thousands may be destroyed this way, and the traps last a long time.

FLY PAPER.--Melt resin, and add thereto while soft, sufficient sweet oil, lard, or lamp oil to make it, when cold about the consistency of honey. Spread on writing paper, and place in a convenient spot. It will soon be filled with ants, flies, and other vermin.

HOW TO EXPEL INSECTS.--All insects dread pennyroyal: the smell of it destroys some, and drives others away. At the time that fresh pennyroyal cannot be gathered, get oil of pennyroyal; pour some into a saucer, and steep in it small pieces of wadding or raw cotton, and place them in corners, closet-shelves, bureau drawers, boxes, etc., and the c.o.c.kroaches, ants, or other insects will soon disappear. It is also well to place some between the mattresses, and around the bed. It is also a splendid thing for brus.h.i.+ng off that terrible little insect, the seed tick.

HOW TO DESTROY MICE.--1. Use tartar emetic mingled with some favorite food. The mice will leave the premises.

2. Take one part calomel, five parts of wheat flour, one part sugar, and one-tenth of a part of ultramarine. Mix together in a fine powder and place it in a dish.

This is a most efficient poison for mice.

3. Any one desirous of keeping seeds from the depredations of mice can do so by mixing pieces of camphor gum in with the seeds. Camphor placed in drawers or trunks will prevent mice from doing them injury.

The little animal objects to the odor and keeps a good distance from it. He will seek food elsewhere.

4. Gather all kinds of mint and scatter about your shelves, and they will forsake the premises.

HOW TO DRIVE AWAY MOSQUITOES.--1. A camphor bag hung up in an open cas.e.m.e.nt will prove an effectual barrier to their entrance.

Camphorated spirits applied as perfume to the face and hands will prove an effectual preventive; but when bitten by them, aromatic vinegar is the beat antidote.

2. A small amount of oil of pennyroyal sprinkled around the room will drive away the mosquitoes. This is an excellent recipe.

3. Take of gum camphor a piece about half the size of an egg, and evaporate it by placing it in a tin vessel and holding it over a lamp or candle, taking care that it does not ignite. The smoke will soon fill the room and expel the mosquitoes.

HOW TO PRESERVE CLOTHING FROM MOTHS.--1. Procure shavings of cedar wood and enclose in muslin bags, which should be distributed freely among clothes. 2. Procure shavings of camphor wood, and enclose in bags. 3. Sprinkle pimento (allspice) berries among the clothes. 4.

Sprinkle the clothes with the seeds of the musk plant. 5. An ounce of gum camphor and one of the powdered sh.e.l.l of red pepper are macerated in eight ounces of strong alcohol for several days, then strained.

With this tincture the furs or cloths are sprinkled over, and rolled up in sheets. 6. Carefully shake and brush woolens early in the spring, so as to be certain that no eggs are in them; then sew them up in cotton or linen wrappers, putting a piece of camphor gum, tied up in a bit of muslin, into each bundle, or into the chests and closets where the articles are to lie. No moth will approach while the smell of the camphor continues. When the gum is evaporated, it must be renewed. Enclose them in a moth-proof box with camphor, no matter whether made of white paper or white pine, before any eggs are laid on them by early spring moths. The notion of having a trunk made of some particular kind of wood for this purpose, is nonsense. Furs or woolens, put away in spring time, before moth eggs are laid, into boxes, trunks, drawers, or closets even, where moths cannot enter, will be safe from the ravages of moth-worms, provided none were in them that were laid late in the autumn, for they are not of spontaneous production.

HOW TO KILL MOTHS IN CARPETS.--Wring a coa.r.s.e crash towel out of clear water, spread it smoothly on the carpet, iron it dry with a good hot iron, repeating the operation on all parts of the carpet suspected of being infected with moths. No need to press hard, and neither the pile nor color of the carpet will he injured, and the moths will be destroyed by the heat and steam.

HOW TO DESTROY RATS.--1. When a house is invested with rats which refuse to be caught by cheese and other baits, a few drops of the highly-scented oil of rhodium poured on the bottom of the cage will be an attraction which they cannot refuse. 2. Place on the floor near where their holes are supposed to be a thin layer of moist caustic potash. When the rats travel on this, it will cause their feet to become sore, which they lick, and their tongues become likewise sore.

The consequence is, that they shun this locality, and seem to inform all the neighboring rats about it, and the result is that they soon abandon a house that has such mean floors. 3. Cut some corks as thin as wafers, and fry, roast, or stew them in grease, and place the same in their track; or a dried sponge fried or dipped in mola.s.ses or honey, with a small quant.i.ty of bird lime or oil of rhodium, will fasten to their fur and cause them to depart. 4. If a live rat can be caught and smeared over with tar or train oil, and afterwards allowed to escape in the holes of other rats, he will cause all soon to take their departure. 5. If a live rat be caught, and a small bell be fastened around his neck, and allowed to escape, all of his brother rats as well as himself will very soon go to some other neighbor's house. 6. Take a pan, about twelve inches deep, and half fill it with water; then sprinkle some bran on the water and set the pan in a place where the rats most frequent. In the morning you will find several rats in the pan. 7. Flour, three parts; sugar, one-half part; sulphur, two parts, and phosphorus, two parts. Smear on meat, and place near where the rats are most troublesome. 8. Squills are an excellent poison for rats. The powder should be mixed with some fatty substance, and spread upon slices of bread. The pulp of onions is also very good. Rats are very fond of either. 9. Take two ounces of carbonate of barytes, and mix with one pound of suet or tallow, place a portion of this within their holes and about their haunts. It is greedily eaten, produces great thirst, and death ensues after drinking. This is a very effectual poison, because it is both tasteless and odorless. 10. Take one ounce of finely powdered a.r.s.enic, one ounce of lard; mix these into a paste with meal, put it about the haunts of rats. They will eat of it greedily. 11. Make a paste of one ounce of flour, one-half gill of water, one drachm of phosphorus, and one ounce of flour. Or, one ounce of flour, two ounces of powdered cheese crumbs, and one-half drachm of phosphorus; add to each of these mixtures a few drops of the oil of rhodium, and spread this on thin pieces of bread like b.u.t.ter; the rats will eat of this greedily, and it is a sure poison. 12. Mix some ground plaster of paris with some sugar and indian meal. Set it about on plates, and leave beside each plate a saucer of water. When the rats have eaten the mixture they will drink the water and die. To attract them toward it, you may sprinkle on the edges of the plates a little of the oil of rhodium. Another method of getting rid of rats is, to strew pounded potash on their holes. The potash gets into their coats and irritates the skin, and the rats desert the place. 13. The dutch method: this is said to be used successfully in holland; we have, however, never tried it. A number of rats are left together to themselves in a very large trap or cage, with no food whatever; their craving hunger will, at last, cause them to fight and the weakest will be eaten by the others; after a short time the fight is renewed, and the next weakest is the victim, and so it goes on till one strong rat is left. When this one has eaten the last remains of any of the others, it is set loose; the animal has now acquired such a taste for rat-flesh that he is the terror of ratdom, going round seeking what rat he may devour. In an incredibly short time the premises are abandoned by all other rats, which will not come back before the cannibal rat has left or has died. 14. Catch a rat and smear him over with a mixture of phosphorus and lard, and then let him loose. The house will soon be emptied of these pests.

VERMIN, IN WATER.--Go to the river or pond, and with a small net (a piece of old mosquito bar will do) collect a dozen or more of the small fishes known as minnows, and put them in your cistern, and in a short time you will have clear water, the wiggle-tails and reddish-colored bugs or lice being gobbled up by the fishes.

[ILl.u.s.tRATION: ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES AND HOW TO MEET THEM.]

ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES

AND HOW TO MEET THEM

As accidents are constantly liable to occur, the importance of knowing how best to meet the various emergencies that may arise can hardly be over-estimated. In all cases, and under all circ.u.mstances, the best help to a.s.sist a party in this trying moment is _presence of mind_.

HARVEST BUG-BITES.--The best remedy is the use of benzine, which immediately kills the insect. A small drop of tincture of iodine has the same effect.

BITES AND STINGS OF INSECTS.--Such as bees, wasps, hornets, etc., although generally painful, and ofttimes causing much disturbance, yet are rarely attended with fatal results. The pain and swelling may generally be promptly arrested by bathing freely with a strong solution of equal parts of common salt and baking soda, in warm water; or by the application of spirits of hartshorn; or of volatile liniment (one part of spirits of hartshorn and two of olive oil). In the absence of the other articles, warm oil may be used; or, if this is not at hand, apply a paste made from fresh clay-earth. If the sting of the insect is left in the wound, as is frequently the case, it should always be extracted. If there is faintness, give some stimulant; as, a tablespoonful or two of brandy and water, or brandy and ammonia.

MAD DOG BITES.--1. Take immediately warm vinegar or tepid water; wash the wound clean therewith and then dry it; pour upon the wound, then, ten or twelve drops of muriatic acid. Mineral acids destroy the poison of the saliva, by which means the evil effects of the latter are neutralized. 2. Many think that the only sure preventive of evil following the bite of a rabid dog is to suck the wound immediately, before the poison has had time to circulate with the blood. If the person bit cannot get to the wound to suck it, he must persuade or pay another to do it for him. There is no fear of any harm following this, for the poison entering by the stomach cannot hurt a person.

A spoonful of the poison might be swallowed with impunity, but the person who sucks the place should have no wound on the lip or tongue, or it might be dangerous. The precaution alluded to is a most important one, and should never be omitted prior to an excision and the application of lunar caustic in every part, especially the interior and deep-seated portions. No injury need be antic.i.p.ated if this treatment is adopted promptly and effectively. The poison of hydrophobia remains latent on an average six weeks; the part heals over, but there is a pimple or wound, more or less irritable; it then becomes painful; and the germ, whatever it is, ripe for dissemination into the system, and then all hope is gone. Nevertheless, between the time of the bite and the activity of the wound previous to dissemination, the caustic of nitrate of silver is a sure preventive; after that it is as useless as all the other means. The best mode of application of the nitrate of silver is by introducing it solidly into the wound.

SERPENTS BITES.--The poison inserted by the stings and bites of many venomous reptiles is so rapidly absorbed, and of so fatal a description, as frequently to occasion death before any remedy or antidote can be applied; and they are rendered yet more dangerous from the fact that these wounds are inflicted in parts of the country and world where precautionary measures are seldom thought of, and generally at times when people are least prepared to meet them. 1. In absence of any remedies, the first best plan to adopt on being bitten by any of the poisonous snakes is to do as recommended above in Mad Dog Bites--viz., to wash off the place immediately; if possible get the mouth to the spot, and forcibly suck out all the poison, first applying a ligature above the wound as tightly as can be borne. 2. A remedy promulgated by the Smithsonian Inst.i.tute is to take 30 grs. iodide pota.s.sium, 30 grs.

iodine, 1 oz. water, to be applied externally to the wound by saturating lint or batting--the same to be kept moist with the antidote until the cure be effected, which will be in one hour, and sometimes instantly. 3.

An Australian physician has tried and recommends carbolic acid, diluted and administered internally every few minutes until recovery is certain.

4. Another Australian Physician, Professor Halford, of Melbourne University, has discovered that if a proper amount of dilute ammonia be injected into the circulation of a patient suffering from snake-bite, the curative effect is usually sudden and startling, so that, in many cases, men have thus been brought back, as it were, by magic, from the very shadow of death.

BLEEDING AT THE NOSE.--1. Roll up a piece of paper, and press it under the upper lip. 2. In obstinate cases blow a little gum Arabic up the nostrils through a quill, which will immediately stop the discharge; powdered alum is also good. 3. Pressure by the finger over the small artery near the ala (wing) of the nose, on the side where the blood is flowing, is said to arrest the hemorrhage immediately.

BLEEDING FROM THE LUNGS.--A NEW York physician has related a case in which inhalation of very dry persulphate of iron, reduced to a palpable powder, entirely arrested bleeding from the lungs, after all the usual remedies, lead, opium, etc., had failed. A small quant.i.ty was administered by drawing into the lungs every hour during part of the night and following day.

BLEEDING FROM THE BOWELS.--The most common cause of this, when not a complication of some disease, is hemorrhoids or piles. Should serious hemorrhage occur, rest and quiet, and cold water poured slowly over the lower portion of the belly, or cloths wet with cold water, or better, with ice water applied over the belly and thighs, and to the lower end of the bowels, will ordinarily arrest it. In some cases it may be necessary to use injections of cold water, or even put small pieces of ice in the r.e.c.t.u.m.

BLEEDING FROM THE MOUTH.--This is generally caused by some injury to the cheeks, gums or tongue, but it sometimes occurs without any direct cause of this kind, and no small alarm may be caused by mistaking it for bleeding from the lungs. Except when an artery of some size is injured, bleeding from the mouth can generally be controlled by gargling and was.h.i.+ng the mouth with cold water, salt and water, or alum and water, or some persulphate of iron may be applied to the bleeding surface. Sometimes obstinate or even alarming bleeding may follow the pulling of a tooth. The best remedy for this is to plug the cavity with lint or cotton wet with the solution of persulphate of iron, and apply a compress which may be kept in place by closing the teeth on it.

BLEEDING FROM THE STOMACH.--_Vomiting blood_.--Hemorrhage from the stomach is seldom so serious as to endanger life; but as it may be a symptom of some dangerous affection, it is always best to consult a physician concerning it. In the meantime, as in all other varieties of hemorrhage, perfect quiet should be preserved. A little salt, or vinegar, or lemon juice, should be taken at intervals, in a small gla.s.s of fresh cool water, or ice-water, as ice may be swallowed in small pieces, and cloths wet with ice-water, or pounded ice applied over the stomach.

BLEEDING FROM VARICOSE VEINS.--Serious and even fatal hemorrhage may occur from the bursting of a large varicose or "broken" vein. Should such an accident occur, the bleeding may be best controlled, until proper medical aid can be procured, by a tight bandage; or a "stick tourniquet," remembering that the blood comes toward the heart in the veins, and from it in the arteries. The best thing to prevent the rupture of varicose or broken veins is to support the limb by wearing elastic stockings, or a carefully applied bandage.

BURNS AND SCALDS.--There is no cla.s.s of accidents that cause such an amount of agony, and none which are followed with more disastrous results.

1. By putting the burned part under cold water, milk, or other bland fluid, instantaneous and perfect relief from all pain will be experienced. On withdrawal, the burn should be perfectly covered with half an inch or more of common wheaten flour, put on with a dredging-box, or in any other way, and allowed to remain until a cure is effected, when the dry, caked flour will fall off, or can be softened with water, disclosing a beautiful, new and healthy skin, in all cases where the burns have been superficial. 2. Dissolve white lead in flaxseed oil to the consistency of milk, and apply over the entire burn or scald every five minutes. It can be applied with a soft feather. This is said to give relief sooner, and to be more permanent in its effects, than any other application. 3. Make a saturated solution of alum (four ounces to a quart of hot water). Dip a cotton cloth in this solution and apply immediately on the burn. As soon as it becomes hot or dry, replace it by another, and continue doing so as often as the cloth dries, which at first will be every few minutes.

The pain will immediately cease, and after twenty-four hours of this treatment the burn will be healed; especially if commenced before blisters are formed. The astringent and drying qualities of the alum will entirely prevent their formation. 4. Glycerine, five ounces; white of egg, four ounces; tincture of arnica, three ounces. Mix the glycerine and white of egg thoroughly in a mortar, and gradually add the arnica. Apply freely on linen rags night, and morning, was.h.i.+ng previously with warm castile soap-suds. 5. Take one drachm of finely powdered alum, and mix thoroughly with the white of two eggs and one teacup of fresh lard; spread on a cloth, and apply to the parts burnt.

it gives almost instant relief from pain, and, by excluding the air, prevents excessive inflammatory action. The application should be changed at least once a day. 6. M. Joel, of the Children's Hospital, Lausanne, finds that a tepid bath, containing a couple of pinches of sulphate of iron, gives immediate relief to young children who have been extensively burned. In a case of a child four years old, a bath repeated twice a day--twenty minutes each bath--the suppuration decreased, lost its odor, and the little sufferer was soon convalescent. 7. For severe scalding, carbolic acid has recently been used with marked benefit. It is to be mixed with thirty parts of the ordinary oil of lime water to one part of the acid. Linen rags satured in the carbolic emulsion are to be spread on the scalded parts, and kept moist by frequently smearing with the feather dipped in the liquid. Two advantages of this mode of treatment are, the exclusion of air, and the rapid healing by a natural restorative action without the formation of pus, thus preserving unmarred and personal appearance of the patient--a matter of no small importance to some people.

CHOKING.--In case of Choking, a violent slap with the open hand between the shoulders of the sufferer will often effect a dislodgment.

In case the accident occurs with a child, and the slapping process does not afford instant relief, it should be grasped by the feet, and placed head downwards, and the slapping between the shoulders renewed;

but in case this induced violent suffocative paroxysms it must not be repeated. If the substance, whatever it maybe, has entered the windpipe, and the coughing and inverting the body fails to dislodge it, it is probable that nothing but cutting open the windpipe will be of any avail; and for this the services of a surgeon should always be procured. If food has stuck in the throat or gullet, the forefinger should be immediately introduced; and if lodged at the entrance of the gullet, the substance may be reached and extracted, possibly, with the forefinger alone, or may be seized with a pair of pincers, if at hand, or a curling tongs, or anything of the kind. This procedure may be facilitated by directing the person to put the tongue well out, in which position it may be retained by the individual himself, or a bystander by grasping it, covered with a handkerchief or towel. Should this fail, an effort should be made to excite retching or vomiting by pa.s.sing the finger to the root of the tongue, in hopes that the offending substance may in this way be dislodged; or it may possibly be effected by suddenly and unexpectedly das.h.i.+ng in the face a basin of cold water, the shock suddenly relaxing the muscular spasm present, and the involuntary gasp at the same time may move it up or down. If this cannot be done, as each instant's delay is of vital importance to a choking man, seize a fork, a spoon, a penholder, pencil, quill, or anything suitable at hand, and endeavor to push the article down the throat. If it be low down the gullet, and other means fail, its dislodgment may sometimes be effected by das.h.i.+ng cold water on the spine, or vomiting may be induced by an emetic of sulphate of zinc (twenty grains in a couple of tablespoonfuls of warm water), or of common salt and mustard in like manner, or it may be pushed into the stomach by extemporizing a probang, by fastening a small sponge to the end of a stiff strip of whalebone. If this cannot he done, a surgical operation will be necessary. Fish bones or other sharp substances, when they cannot be removed by the finger or forceps, may sometimes be dislodged by swallowing some pulpy ma.s.s, as masticated bread, etc. Irregularly shaped substances, a plate with artificial teeth for instance, can ordinarily be removed only by surgical interference.

COLIC.--Use a hot fomentation over the abdomen, and a small quant.i.ty of ginger, pepermint or common tea. If not relieved in a few minutes, then give an injection of a quart of warm water with twenty or thirty drops of laudanum, and repeat it if necessary. A half teaspoonful of chloroform, in a tablespoonful of sweetened water, with or without a few drops of spirits of lavender or essence of peppermint, will often give prompt relief.

CONVULSIONS.--In small children convulsions frequently happen from teething, sometimes from worms or from some irritating substance within the stomach or bowels, and sometimes from some affection of the brain.