Barkham Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information Part 31

HOW TO SOFTEN HANDS.--After cleansing the hands with soap, rub them well with oatmeal while wet.

HOW TO REMOVE STAINS FROM HANDS.--Damp the hands first in water, then rub them with tartaric acid, or salt of lemons, as you would with soap; rinse them and rub them dry. Tartaric acid, or salt of lemons, will quickly remove stains from white muslin or linen. Put less than half a teaspoonful of salt or acid into a tablespoonful of water; wet the stain with it, and lay it in the sun for an hour; wet it once or twice with cold water during the time; if this does not quite remove it, repeat the acid water, and lay it in the sun.

HOW TO WHITEN HANDS.--1. Stir 1/4 of a pound of Castile soap, and place it in a jar near the fire, pour over it 1/2 pint of alcohol; when the soap is dissolved and mixed with the spirit, add 1 ounce of glycerine, the same of oil of almonds, with a few drops of essence of violets, or ottar of roses, then pour it into moulds to cool for use.

2. A winegla.s.sful of eau-de-cologne, and one of lemon-juice, two cakes of broken Windsor soap, mixed well together, when hard, will form an excellent substance.

HOW TO CURE SCURF IN THE HEAD.--A simple and effectual remedy. Into a pint of water drop a lump of fresh quick lime, the size of a walnut; let it stand all night, then pour the water off clear from the sediment or deposit, add 1/4 of a pint of the best vinegar, and wash the head with the mixture. Perfectly harmless; only wet the roots of the hair.

HOW TO CURE CHAPPED LIPS.--Take 2 ounces of white wax, 1 ounce of spermaceti, 4 ounces of oil of almonds, 2 ounces of honey, 1/4 of an ounce of essence of bergamot, or any other scent. Melt the wax and spermaceti; then add the honey, and melt all together, and when hot add the almond oil by degrees, stirring till cold. 2. Take oil of almonds 3 ounces; spermaceti 1/2 ounce; virgin rice, 1/2 ounce. Melt these together over a slow fire, mixing with them a little powder of alkane root to color it. Keep stirring till cold, and then add a few drops of the oil of rhodium. 3. Take oil of almonds, spermaceti, white wax, and white sugar candy, equal parts. These form a good, white lip salve.

HOW TO REMOVE MOTH PATCHES.--Wash the patches with solution of common bicarbonate of soda and water several times during the day for two days, or until the patches are removed, which will usually be in forty-eight hours. After the process wash with some nice toilet soap, and the skin will be left nice, smooth and clear of patches. HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THE NAILS.--The nails should be kept clean by the daily use of the nail brush and soap and water. After wiping the hands, but while they are still soft from the action of the water, gently push back the skin which is apt to grow over the nails, which will not only preserve them neatly rounded, but will prevent the skin from cracking around their roots (nail springs), and becoming sore. The points of the nail should be pared at least once a week; biting them should be avoided.

HOW TO CURE HICCOUGH.--A convulsive motion of the diaphragm and parts adjacent. The common causes are flatuency, indigestion, acidity and worms. It may usually be removed by the exhibition of warm carminatives, cordials, cold wafer, weak spirits, camphor julep, or spirits of sal volatile. A sudden fright or surprise will often produce the like effect. An instance is recorded of a delicate young lady that was troubled with hiccough for some months, and who was reduced to a state of extreme debility from the loss of sleep occasioned thereby, who was cured by a fright, after medicines and topical applications had failed. A pinch of snuff, a gla.s.s of cold soda-water, or an ice-cream, will also frequently remove this complaint.

HOW TO CURE HOa.r.s.eNESS.--Make a strong tea of horse-radish and yellow dock root, sweetened with honey and drink freely.

REMEDIES FOR HOa.r.s.eNESS.--Take one drachm of freshly sc.r.a.ped horse-radish root, to be infused with four ounces of water in a close vessel for three hours, and made into a syrup, with double its quant.i.ty of vinegar. A teaspoonful has often proved effectual.

HOW TO CURE HUMORS.--Take equal parts of saffron and seneca snake root, make a strong tea, drink one half-pint a day, and this will drive out all humors from the system.

HOW TO CURE HYSTERICS.--Take the leaves of motherwort and thoroughwort, and the bark of poplar root; equal parts. Mix them in mola.s.ses, and take four of them when the first symptoms of disorder are felt, and they will effectually check it.

HOW TO CURE BARBER'S ITCH.--Moisten the parts affected with saliva (spittle) and rub it over thoroughly three times a day with the ashes of a good Havana cigar. This is a simple remedy, yet it has cured the most obstinate cases.

ITCH OINTMENT.--1. Take lard, one pound; suet, one pound; sugar of lead, eight ounces; vermillion, two ounces. Mix. Scent with a little bergamot. 2. Take b.i.+.c.hloride of mercury, one ounce; lard, one pound; suet, one pound; hydrochloride acid, one and a half ounces. Melt and well mix, and when perfectly cold, stir in essence of lemon, four drachms; essence of bergamot, one drachm. 3. Take powdered chloride of lime, one ounce; lard, one pound. Mix well, then add essence of lemon, two drachms. 4. Take b.i.+.c.hloride of mercury, one part; lard, fifteen parts. Mix well together. 5. Take white precipitate, one part; lard, twelve parts. Mix. A portion of either of these ointments must be well rubbed on the parts affected, night and morning.

HOW TO CURE SEVEN-YEAR ITCH.--1. Use plenty of castile soap and water, and then apply freely iodide of sulphur ointment; or take any given quant.i.ty of simple sulphur ointment and color it to a light brown or chocolate color with the subcarbonate of iron, and then perfume it.

Apply this freely, and if the case should be a severe one, administer mild alteratives in conjunction with the outward application. 2.

The sulphur bath is a good remedy for itch or any other kind of skin diseases. Leprosy (the most obstinate of all) has been completely cured by it, and the common itch only requires two or three applications to completely eradicate it from the system. 3. Benzine, it is said, will effect a complete cure for scabies in the course of half to three-quarters of an hour, after which the patient should take a warm bath from twenty to thirty minutes.

HOW TO CURE JAUNDICE.--1. Take the whites of two hen's eggs, beat them up well in a gill of water; take of this a little every morning; it will soon do good. It also creates an appet.i.te, and strengthens the stomach. 2. Take of black cherry-tree bark, two ounces; blood root and gold thread, each half an ounce; put in a pint of brandy. Dose, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful morning and night.

HOW TO CURE STIFFENED JOINTS.--Take of the bark of white oak and sweet apple trees, equal parts; boil them down to a thick substance,

and then add the same quant.i.ty of goose-grease or oil, simmer all together, and then rub it on the parts warm.

HOW TO CURE KIDNEY DISEASE.--Equal parts of the oil of red cedar and the oil of spearmint.

HOW TO CURE LAME BACK.--Take the berries of red cedar and allow them to simmer in neatsfoot oil, and use as an ointment.

HOW TO KILL LICE.--All kinds of lice and their nits may be got rid of by was.h.i.+ng with a simple decoction of stavesacre (_Delphinium staphisagria_), or with a lotion made with the bruised seed in vinegar, or with the tincture, or by rubbing in a salve made with the seeds and four times their weight of lard very carefully beaten together. The acetic solution and the tincture are the cleanliest and most agreeable preparations, but all are equally efficacious in destroying both the creatures and their eggs, and even in relieving the intolerable itching which their casual presence leaves behind on many sensitive skins. The alkaloid delphinia may also be employed, but possesses no advantage except in the preparation of an ointment, when from any reason that form of application should be preferred.

RHEUMATIC LINIMENT.--Olive oil, spirits of camphor and chloroform, of each two ounces; sa.s.safras oil, 1 drachm. Add the oil of sa.s.safras to the olive oil, then the spirits of camphor, and shake well before putting in the chloroform; shake when used, and keep it corked, as the chloroform evaporates very fast if it is left open. Apply three or four times daily, rubbing in well, and always toward the body.

SORE THROAT LINIMENT.--Gum camphor, two ounces; castile soap, shaved fine, one drachm; oil of turpentine and oil of origanum, each one-half ounce; opium, one-fourth of an ounce; alcohol, one pint. In a week or ten days they will be fit for use. Bathe the parts freely two or three times daily until relief is obtained.

A WONDERFUL LINIMENT.--Two ounces oil of spike, two ounces origanum, two ounces hemlock, two ounces wormwood, four ounces sweet oil, two ounces spirit of ammonia, two ounces gum camphor, two ounces spirits turpentine. Add one quart strong alcohol. Mix well together, and bottle tight. This is an unequaled horse liniment, and of the best ever made for human ailments such as rheumatism, sprains, etc.

HOW TO CURE SORE LIPS.--Wash the lips with a strong tea, made from the bark of the white oak.

LIVER COMPLAINT.--Make a strong tea of syrup of burdock, wormwood and dandelion, equal parts, and drink freely.

LOCK JAW.--It is said that the application of warm lye, made of ashes as strong as possible, to a wounded part, will prevent a locked jaw; if a foot or hand, immerse in it; if another part of the body, bathe with flannels wrung out of the warm lye.

MUMPS.--This disease, most common among children, begins with soreness and stiffness in the side of the neck. Soon a swelling of the parotid gland takes place, which is painful, and continues to increase for four or five days, sometimes making it difficult to swallow, or open the mouth. The swelling sometimes comes on one side at a time, but commonly upon both. There is often heat, and sometimes fever, with a dry skin, quick pulse, furred tongue, constipated bowls, and scanty and high-colored urine. The disease is contagious. The treatment is very simple--a mild diet, gentle laxative, occasional hot fomentations, and wearing a piece of flannel round the throat.

HOW TO PREVENT INGROWING NAILS.--If the nail of your toe be hard, and apt to grow round, and into the corners of your toe, take a piece of broken gla.s.s and sc.r.a.pe the top very thin; do this whenever you cut your nails, and by constant use it makes the corners fly up and grow flat, so that it is impossible they should give you any pain.

HOW TO WHITEN NAILS.--The best wash for whitening the nails is two drachms of diluted sulphuric acid, one drachm of tincture of myrrh, added to four ounces of spring water; first cleanse the hands, and then apply the wash.

SURE CURE FOR NEURALGIA.--1. Fill a tight-top thimble with cotton wool, and drop on it a few drops of strong spirits of hartshorn. The open mouth of the thimble is then applied over the seat of pain for a minute or two, until the skin is blistered. The skin is then rubbed off, and upon the denuded surface a small quant.i.ty of morphia (one-fourth grain) is applied. This affords almost instant relief. A second application of the morphia, if required, is to be preceded by first rubbing off the new formation that has sprung up over the former blistered surface.

2. Dr. J. Knox Hodge recommends the following as an application which will relieve facial or any other neuralgia almost instantaneously: Alb.u.men of egg, one drachm; rhigolene, four ounces; oil of peppermint, two ounces; colodion and chloroform, each one ounce. Mix. Agitate occasionally for twenty-four hours, and by gelatinization a beautiful and semi-solidified, opodeldoc-looking compound results, which will retain its consistency and hold the ingredients intimately blended for months. Apply by smart friction with the hand, or gently with a soft brush or mop along the course of the nerve involved.

3. Mix one and one-half drachms iodide of potash, fifteen grains of quinine and one ounce ginger syrup, and two and a half ounces water.

Dose, a tablespoonful every three hours.

4. OF THE STOMACH.--Take of distilled water of cherry laurel, five parts; muriate of morphia, one-tenth part. Mix and dissolve. One drop on a lump of sugar immediately before meals.

OINTMENT FOR SORE NIPPLES.--Glycerine, rose water and tannin, equal weights, rubbed together into an ointment, is very highly recommended for sore or cracked nipples.

GLYCERINE OINTMENT.--Melt together spermaceti, two drachms; white wax, one-half drachm; oil of sweet almonds, two ounces, and then add glycerine, one ounce, and stir briskly until cool. An admirable application for chapped hands, etc.

OINTMENT FOR ITCH.--White precipitate, fifteen grains; saltpetre, one-half drachm; flour of sulphur, one drachm; Mix well with lard, two ounces. Long celebrated for the cure of itch.

SULPHUR OINTMENT.--Flour of sulphur, eight ounces; oil of bergamot, two drachms; lard, one pound. Rub freely three times a day, for itch.

OINTMENT FOR PILES.--Tannin, two drachms; water, two fluid drachms; triturate together, and add lard, one and a half drachms. An excellent application for piles.

OINTMENT FOR HEMORRHOIDS.--Sulphate of morphia, three grains; extract of stramonia, thirty grains; olive oil, one drachm; carbonate of lead, sixty grains; lard, three drachms.

PAINS.--1. Steep marigold in good cider vinegar and frequently wash the affected parts. This will afford speedy relief.

2. Take half a pound of tar and the same quant.i.ty of tobacco, and boil them down separately to a thick substance; then simmer them together.

Spread a plaster and apply it to the affected parts, and it will afford immediate relief.

PAINTERS' COLIC.--Make of tartaric acid a syrup similar to that of lemon syrup; add a sufficient quant.i.ty of water, and drink two or three gla.s.ses a day.

INSTANTANEOUS PAIN-KILLER.--Another and even more instant cure of pain is made as follows: Take aqua-ammonia, sulphuric ether and alcohol, equal parts, and apply over the pain.

HOW TO CURE PIMPLES.--Take a teaspoonful of the tincture of gum guaiac.u.m and one teaspoonful of vinegar; mix well and apply to the affected parts.

POOR MAN'S PLASTER.--Melt together beeswax, one ounce; tar, three ounces; resin, three ounces, and spread on paper or muslin.

RHEUMATIC PLASTER.--One-fourth pound of resin and one-fourth pound of sulphur; melt by a slow fire, and add one ounce of Cayenne pepper and one-fourth of an ounce of camphor gum; stir well till mixed, and temper with neatsfoot oil.

STRENGTHENING PLASTER.--Litharge plasters, twenty-four parts; white resin, six parts; yellow wax and olive oil, of each three parts, and red oxide of iron, eight parts. Let the oxide be rubbed with the oil, and the other ingredients added melted, and mix the whole well together. The plaster, after being spread over the leather, should be cut into strips two inches wide and strapped firmly around the joint.