alder bark and buds, burdock roots and leaves, sarsaparilla, striped
maple, and half as much bloodroot;. a handful of each, to which add one
gallon of water. Drink a teacup full three times a day, before eating.
FEVERS.--Marigolds are good to put on the stomach, in all cases of
fevers, inflammation, &c.
GOITRE, OR ADAM’S APPLE.--Take a teaspoonful nettle seed, pulverized,
morning and noon; at night take a teaspoonful of a mixture of one ounce
cream tartar, one ounce sulphur, and half ounce Turkey rhubarb. This is
good for corpulent people and for spitting blood.
TONIC.--Red rose willow is an excellent tonic.
CHRONIC RHEUMATISM.--Unicorn root (aletois farinasa), is good with
prickly ash bark; add a small quantity bloodroot; it is necessary in
some cases to add spirits, for flatulency, colic or hysterics. Take a
teaspoonful in warm water.
TINCTURE OF SOAP ANODYNE.--Take two ounces hard soap, shaved, one
ounce opium, one ounce camphor, half ounce of rosemary, two pounds
alcohol; let the soap and opium stand three days; shake often, then
add the camphor and oil. This is good for sprains, and pains of all
descriptions.
But one thing I would remark; that is, where opium is used frequently,
it will debilitate; but from three to five times will not injure, but
will allay pains for the time being.
RHEUMATISM.--Take one ounce mandrake, two ounces Epsom salts, put into
one quart metheglin wine--wine glass twice a day; an anodyne at night,
say a cup of strong hop tea; rub the parts affected with the following
ointment: boil skunk cabbage in water, make a strong decoction, then
add hog’s lard, simmer all the water away, and add sulphur. This is an
excellent anti-rheumatic ointment. It must be rubbed near the fire.
FOR HUMORS.--Make a very strong decoction of boiled oats, to one pint
of which add one ounce saltpeter; this is good for swellings. For
carbuncles, mix equal parts of bloodroot, beth root and honey; purge
with anti-bilious pills.
RHEUMATISM.--Take bark of sumach roots, and cayenne, if it can be
borne by the patient; boil in rum and bathe the parts; take inwardly
a strong decoction of prickly ash bark. I would recommend salt and
vinegar, with cayenne, for bathing, but in most cases it must be hot,
and applied with cloths.
INDIAN TURNIP, OR WAKE ROBIN.--For chronic, deep-rooted rheumatism,
pains, debilitated habits, loss of appetite, lowness of spirits,
faintness, &c. Take three pounds fine Indian turnip and three pounds
fine loaf sugar; mix them together in a mortar; there must be equal
parts of each, well mixed. Take a teaspoonful three times a day, half
hour before eating; it must be taken dry, if possible. Begin with half
teaspoonful and increase to whole one.
GRAVEL.--Life root is good for the gravel.
DROPSY.--Wild lettuce is good for dropsy, ten or twelve grains a day;
use white cohosh as drink, also cuckles seed mixed with juniper berries.
GALL, &c.--Low centuary, of all herbs, is one of the best for
overflowing of the gall, and, in my opinion, is good in jaundice and
all bilious complaints, and also in cleansing the blood from humors; it
must be used plentifully and for some weeks.
BLOODROOT.--This is good for the rattles; mix with honey and give a
child five years old a teaspoonful.
BONE OINTMENT.--Equal parts small kind mullen, red clover tops, burdock
burs, plantain, sweet alder bark, yarrow, black alder buds and tobacco;
simmer down in hog’s lard and fresh butter. This ointment is likewise
good for all kinds of sores.
STICKING SALVE.--Equal parts catnip tops, horsemint, sarsaparilla,
striped (some call it soft) maple, spikenard, mouse wood, (this wood or
tree grows bushy, and the wood is tender but the bark is tough; use the
wood and bark,) comfrey, young mullen leaves, Solomon’s seal, yellow
dock, princes pine, wormwood; boil down thick, then add one pound and
four ounces mutton tallow; roll, and it is fit for use; all cuts and
sores, with or without swellings, inflammations and wounds, this will
cure, and no proud flesh will be created.
BALSAM OF HONEY.--Take as much balsam of tolu as will dissolve in
alcohol.
OIL SOAP.--Take as much Castile soap as will dissolve in alcohol.
SALVE FOR SCROFULOUS SORES.--Take turpentine, and half a pound
bayberry, and tallow; dissolve and add sweet oil if necessary.
THE BEST SALVE I ever found, in all cases of humors, is composed of raw
linseed oil, beeswax, and mutton tallow, for sore lips, and chapped
hands; if the sore is very bad, sprinkle pulverized bloodroot on it
every morning, then apply salve; a sore need not be washed but once a
day, but dress it three times a day, if bad.
OINTMENT PILLS.--Sweet fern, sweet apple-tree, rose leaves, cats foot,
and cream; simmer on a slow fire. The best I ever found was composed
of hog’s dung and lamp oil, simmered; a little beeswax will be good to
keep it firm.
HOT DROPS.--To one quart alcohol add one ounce hemlock oil, one ounce
gum myrrh, two tablespoonsful cayenne; shake well twice a day for at
least a week. This is good for rheumatism, pains in head and stomach.
Take from ten drops to a teaspoonful, in sugar and water.
TAR SYRUP.--One gill tar, one pint wheat bran, half pound loaf sugar,
and two quarts water. Dose, wine glass full three times per day, for
cough and consumptive complaints.
RUPTURE PLASTER.--One part fresh buckthorn, bruised, and two parts
fresh cranes bill; blend by bruising in a mortar; spread on leather and
apply; wear a truss or bandage; this must be occasionally changed and
worn three months.
INDIAN TURNIP.--Pulverize it fine, two ounces loaf sugar or sugar
candy, half ounce flour sulphur; mix and let the patient take a
teaspoonful three times a day, dry, if possible, if not, in any vehicle
the most palatable, molasses, &c. Use in all lingering, or beginning
of pains of a consumptive nature, such as pain in the breast, weak
appetite, and slow circulation of the blood; where there is any cough,
whether loose or tight, add half ounce pulverized bloodroot. I can
testify by experience that this is good, not only for the young, but
particularly for the aged, it is better than all the tinctures in
the world, as it creates action and warms the blood. Either of the
ingredients can be omitted, if disagreeable.
FOR CONSUMPTIVE PERSONS.--Two ounces aven root, half ounce wild turnip,
one skunk cabbage ball, masterwort and ginseng, half ounce each, and
one ounce sugar candy; mix one tablespoonful, and boil in one quart
water; add one pint new milk; two teacupsful of this chocolate to be
taken night and morning; bathe with cold or tepid water every morning,
if the patient can bear it; walking is the best exercise.
CANCERS.--A cancer under the eye was cured by the patient drinking
one quart of tar water daily, and apply a plaster and mutton tallow,
melted together; this cured a cancer of twenty years standing, in two
months; mix black pepper, burnt alum, and honey, equal parts, and use
as an ointment; the last I would not recommend to be used but a few
times--rather use bloodroot, daily.
DYSENTERY, OR RELAX IN CHILDREN.--Take equal parts good vinegar and
hens’ eggs, and beat them well together; mix in wheat flour, stiff
as common dough; bake this moderately, then pulverize; give one
teaspoonful of the powder three times a day; mix with the above powder,
hens’ gizzards, pulverized.
BATHING WITH OX GALL.--In gout or pains, heat a shovel, mix a little
vinegar and pour on; bathe the parts affected with the steam. In all
pains, never use any local application, without taking some warming
medicine internally, if but a little red pepper; it is not essential
to give alcohol in any form; a little carminative, such as pulverized
mandrakes, or angelica seed, ought always to be on hand.
ANTI-BILIOUS POWDERS.--One pound jalap, two pounds Alexandria senna,
one pound peppermint; let these all be pulverized, then mix, after
sifting fine; for a grown person, a teaspoonful in a cup full of
boiling water; then cool, sweeten it and drink; no harm if two
teaspoonsful are taken. I would advise the patient to take three
anti-bilious pills the night previous. This medicine can be taken at
all times.
TO PROMOTE THE GROWTH OF THE HAIR.--Mix equal parts olive oil, spirits
rosemary, and bloodroot.
WEAKNESS.--Acorns are good for weaknesses; make into coffee.
ANTI-SCROFULOUS PLASTER.--One gill tar, two yolks eggs roasted inside,
and one puff ball; simmer over a slow fire, spread on thin leather, and
apply.
ULCER ON THE LEG.--Wash the ulcer twice a day, night and morning, with
one pint of weak lime water, and apply a poultice over the sore, twice
a day, made of blood root and beth root, finely pulverized and mixed
with honey; in case the leg is swelled, apply a poultice of slippery
elm bark, every night.
Give a wine glass full of my cleansing syrup, morning, noon and at bed
time, and drink, as a common beverage, the following: take a handful
each of cherry bark and princes pine, put them into two quarts boiling
water, and let it steep well; then strain. Abstain from spirituous
liquors and salt meats.
CANCER.--Take the powder of dry yellow dock root, wet with port wine
and put it on the cancer, renewing it three times a day; make your
daily drink a decoction of one handful of yellow dock root, bruised,
and a handful of the bark or buds of black alder, boiled in four quarts
of rain water to the consumption of two quarts.
PROLAPSUS UTERI.--Take one ounce each of white oak bark, beth root,
crowfoot roots, and rose leaves; boil the whole in four quarts of
water, down to two; strain the decoction, to which add a pint of port
wine, and two ounces of powdered alum, while it is warm. The patient
must first take a dose of castor oil, and, after its operation, must
foment the part four or five times a day, with a flannel dipped in the
decoction as warm as it can be held in the hand. In order to prevent a
relapse, the patient must wet the parts twice a day with warm water, in
which a spoonful of salt has been dissolved, and keep the bowels open
by a dose of castor oil once a week, using salt water bath twice a week.
RUPTURE OF THE TESTICLES.--Three years ago, a Canadian, who had been
laboring under a large swelling of the testicles, and been given up as
incurable, made application to me. The surgeons had held consultation
over him, and agreed that he must be castrated, but he would not
comply. Upon examination, I found it to be a sarcocele, or fleshy
tumor of the testicles, and therefore resolved to attempt the cure by
discutients. I first cleansed and purified the blood from humors and
mercury, and applied the following cataplasm, or poultice, over the
scrotum: take every-night two handsful of goose-grass, or cleavers, in
two quarts of cider vinegar; foment the swelling with flannel wet in
the vinegar, for the space of fifteen minutes, then bind the leaves
over the tumor. Anoint it frequently, every day, with the following
ointment: take the scrapings of a powder horn, and the inner bark of
rose willow, pound it fine, and wet it well with brandy; apply through
the day.
HIVES IN CHILDREN.--Dissolve twenty grains of bitter root in six
teaspoonsful of warm water, and give the child, according to age--from
six months to a year old, one to two teaspoonsful of the infusion; if
it does not operate in fifteen minutes, give the child a little warm
camomile tea, in order to cleanse the stomach; after the operation,
give it, according to age, a little poppies of syrup, in catnip tea.
Give the child, until well, the following: take one ounce of dragon’s
claw root, ten grains of bitter root, and a quarter of an ounce of
mandrake root; pour on all these one quart of boiling water, and
let them steep four hours; stir frequently, then strain; give from
a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful every four hours, until well; give
always according to age.
SYRUP FOR WORMS.--Take six ounces of fresh bark of black alder, eight
ounces of dry buck-horn plantain, and three ounces of unicorn root;
boil the ingredients in four quarts of water, down to two; strain the
decoction, to which add two quarts of molasses, and boil it away to
the consistency of syrup. Children from two to four years of age, may
take from three to four teaspoonsful of the syrup, morning and evening,
for three days before both the full and change of the moon, which will
carry away the worms, and stop the fever. Adults may take a wine glass
full, morning and evening, for three days respectively, before both the
full and change of the moon.
TO CREATE AN APPETITE.--Dissolve two tablespoonsful of bay salt in
half pint of warm rain water, and add one ounce of rectified spirits
of salts. Dose--a teaspoonful, in a wine glass of cold water, before
breakfast and dinner. This will excite the appetite, without vomiting,
and increase the urinary discharge.
TO CLEANSE THE BLOOD FROM MERCURY.--Put four ounces, of the powdered
root of may apple into one gallon of metheglin; dissolve four ounces of
Epsom salts in a quart of the liquor, made warm, and mix all together;
shake the vessel frequently, and let it stand for a week. The patient
may take a wine glass full of the above liquor, once or twice a day,
according to its effects.
Take the leaves and roots of skunk cabbage, of each eight ounces,
bruise in a mortar, and boil them in two pounds of hog’s lard, for four
hours; then press it through a hair sieve or canvas, and mix in it one
ounce of pulverized roll brimstone. The parts affected must be rubbed
with this ointment, before the fire, for ten minutes every night and
morning, and covered with flannel, using the warm bath twice a week, in
the spring of the year. After all the pains are removed, the patient
may use tonic medicines, such as fine Columbia root, and ten grains
of the rust of iron, three times a day. Use the salt water bath twice
a week, in the months of June and July, and have moderate exercise on
horse-back, in order to brace the solids.
OINTMENT.--Take pitch pine knots, and saw them into dust; then boil the
dust in water; when well boiled, skim off the turpentine, and strain
the water; then put in equal parts of rue, saffron, sage and camomile;
boil the strength out, strain the liquid, and put in fresh butter.
BLACK JAUNDICE.--Take a handful of the leaves of artichoke, bruise, put
them in an earthen pot, and pour three pints of good ale on them; set
the pot near the fire, for two days; strain the liquor, to which add a
quart of Tenerife wine. The patient, if costive, must take a wine glass
of this syrup every morning, for nine mornings, first taking a dose of
anti-bilious pills.
SEVEN YEARS’ ITCH.--Take four ounces each of white hellebore and yellow
sharp pointed dock root, and two ounces of elecampane root; bruise them
in a mortar, and boil them in four quarts of water, down to two; strain
the decoction, and while warm, dissolve one ounce of cura sal-amoniac
in the wash; wet the parts with a linen rag, dipped in the lotion,
every night at bed time, and take a teaspoonful of cream of tartar and
flour of sulphur, in molasses, twice a day for three days, by which
time the itch will be cured. This is a more cleanly method than using
greasy ointments, and is an infallible and safe cure. Put on clean
linen and sheets the fourth night, to prevent a relapse.
CORNS ON FEET.--To keep the feet in proper condition, they should be
frequently soaked and well washed; at these times, the nails of the
toes should be pared, and prevented from growing into the flesh. Corns
are the most troublesome evils connected with the feet; they are of
two kinds, soft and hard. The soft corns are those which grow between
the toes; they may be easily removed by applying ivy leaf, steeped
in vinegar; if the corn be very painful, change the ivy leaves every
morning; the leaf may be steeped for one or two days before using.
PLEURISY.--Drink freely of soot tea, half a pint of hot tar water every
hour, or a strong tea of nettles, and the leaves pounded and applied as
a poultice, every day; at night, apply the white of an egg, mixed with
sulphur.
WEAKNESS.--Half pound spikenard root, half pound Solomon’s seal,
quarter pound tamarac bark, and quarter pound lungwort; boil in one
gallon rain water ten minutes, then let them steep six hours; strain,
and add half pound loaf sugar and half pint best Holland gin. Take a
wine glass full three times a day.
LOSS OF APPETITE AND DEBILITY.--Take one pint of white pine bark,
tamarac bark, and spikenard root, and one ounce spruce gum; boil all
together in three quarts and a half rain water, fifteen minutes, then
strain and add half pint molasses; boil six minutes, then let it cool.
Drink half a teacup full morning and evening; if there is no heat, add
half pint best brandy.
SMALL POX.--Make a warm tea of saffron and catnip, and give the
patient; immerse the feet in weak ley, and wash the body or surface
three times a day.
Give also the follow ing: take one ounce mandrake, ten grains bitter
root, four grains blood root, ten grains sassafras bark, and half ounce
Turkey rhubarb; put all into one quart boiling water, and let them
steep four hours; stir frequently, then strain. Give a child one year
old, a teaspoonful four or five times a day--to others, according to
age and constitution.
Bathe the head with tepid vinegar and water; if the throat is sore,
gargle with sage and hyssop, sweetened with honey; when excessive
restlessness prevents the rising and filling of the pox, give a
teaspoonful of the syrup of poppies, in a little catnip tea, every five
or six hours; and if purple spots appear among the pox, give yeast
inwardly, and apply strong poultices to the feet.
COUGH OR WHOOPING COUGH.--Take one ounce each colt foot, St. John’s
wort, spikenard, elecampane root, and mullen leaves; let them boil
half an hour slowly, then add half an ounce Indian physic, or American
ipecacuanha, pulverized; stir often, and steep for four hours; then
squeeze, strain, and add one pint of pure honey. Give as often as
required, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful. It will loosen the
phlegm and heal the lungs, is very sudorific, and good for all coughs
or colds.
INJECTIONS.--Take weak thoroughwort tea, one pint milk, half pint
molasses, and half a wine glass full oil--olive oil is generally used,
but hen’s oil is equally as good; for a child, use less. This is
excellent in fevers, inflammations, &c.
ASTHMA.--Ether, tincture of castor, and opium, equal parts; mix all
together, and take a teaspoonful when the symptoms appear, as often as
required.
PLEURISY.--Drink freely of wind root (otherwise called lung root or
pleurisy root), and make a syrup of the following: take one ounce each
wild cherry bark, white ash bark, poplar bark and red ozier bark, and
half ounce each culver root, sassafras bark and mandrake root; put
all in three quarts warm water, boil ten minutes, then steep three
hours; strain, and bottle. Drink a wine glass full mornings, and half a
teacupful at bed time.
SPITTING BLOOD.--Take four ounces fresh comfrey root, the same quantity
fresh burdock root, two ounces red willow bark, one ounce parsley, and
two ounces yarrow tops; boil these ingredients in four quarts water and
one quart new milk, to the consumption of three quarts; strain it, and
take one gill of this decoction, well sweetened with loaf sugar, three
times a day.
It is also beneficial in curing the fluor albus, or whites, in weakly
females. The root of comfrey is good for all fluxes, and a bad smell in
urine. Take four ounces comfrey, and one ounce tormentil root, boil
them in two quarts and a half water, ten minutes; then strain, and add
a gill of best brandy and half pound loaf sugar. A gill or a common
teacup full may be taken by an adult, night and morning, or as often as
necessary; a child may take a tablespoonful, as often as required.
SALT RHEUM.--Take a large handful plain or white clover, red clover,
and common plantain; put them in two quarts of urine and one quart of
beef brine, for six hours--let them be only warm, not hot; then squeeze
them well, strain and put up for use. Wash the parts affected night
and day, with a clean linen rag; drink freely of fishes mouth, or what
is called balmony, and take, twice a week, one teaspoonful of powdered
mandrake root, at bed time.
EPILEPTIC FITS, OR HYSTERICAL AFFECTIONS.--Take ladies’ smock, dry the
leaves, and keep them in a bottle; when wanted, take a teaspoonful
of the leaves, and steep in a half teacup boiling water. Give, when
required, as often as necessary.
AFTER PAINS IN CHILD BIRTH.--To relieve them, take a tablespoonful of
Epsom salts, and put it in half a pint hot water; take half of it, and
in the course of two hours take the remainder, if the patient is very
costive, if not, take less; then take a teaspoonful of devil’s bit
(otherwise called blazing star root), in a little weak tanzy tea; if
faint, put in it some gin or brandy. You can administer this dose every
three hours, if required. It seldom fails of giving instant relief and
is an excellent gargle for a sore mouth, sore throat, or scrofula.
PREGNANT LADIES.--Take one quart of butternuts, when green and so soft
that you can run a needle into them, one ounce ginger root, and three
pints molasses; boil them at least half an hour, slowly. Take one three
times a week, and drink frequently of slippery elm bark, steeped in
water. If this is unpleasant, put in a few sumach berries, a little
black birch bark, or a small quantity of tanzy, merely to give a flavor.
TO REMOVE A FILM ON THE EYE.--Take equal quantities fresh celendine and
ground ivy juice, and set it on warm ashes, in a tin vessel, for an
hour; strain the sediment from the clear juice; take a gill of this,
and put in half a teaspoonful of best loaf sugar; bottle it, and wet
the spot several times a day.
ANOTHER.--Take the gall of an eel, and drop a little in the eye three
times a week; then put in one drop of olive oil, to heal the eye. It
has cured, when all other remedies had failed.
WILD CUCUMBER.--This is a forest tree, similar to the poplar; you will
often find them from seventy to eighty feet high. There are other
species of the cucumber which are evergreen, but the leaves of this are
deciduous, oval, acuminate, and pubescent beneath. It produces a fruit
bearing some resemblance, while green, to a small cucumber; in August,
the fruit turns to a deep red color, and opens; the seeds are red, and
the size of a kernel of corn; they have a bitter taste, and are quite
pungent.
I have used them extensively, and consider them very valuable in
certain forms of diseases, especially where there is a phlegmatic
temperament, or a general relaxed state of the system. In dropsical
affections, I have found the cucumber to be a superior remedy. The bark
of the trunk and root, is also very valuable; it is somewhat similar
to the poplar, yet it is more diuretic and stimulating; it is good
in dyspepsia, or where we want a remedy to increase the tone of the
stomach. I have known and cured many cases of anasarca, and yellow
fever.
Make a tincture of the seeds or bark, and take half a wine glass full
mornings, before dinner, and at bed time. This will cure the chronic
rheumatism. I can safely say it is a very valuable medicine in all
families, as it possesses tonic, stimulant, and diuretic properties.
FOR DROPSICAL PATIENTS--a teaspoonful of the powdered bark or seeds,
mixed with honey, and taken mornings and at bed time, will produce a
cure. Drink plentifully of dwarf elder bark tea, as a common beverage.
FAMILY PILLS.--Take four ounces black root, and half an ounce each
cayenne and mandrake root, pulverized; make an extract of these
together by moderate warmth, straining during the time of preparing,
and bring the substance to the consistency of tar; then add equal parts
of pulverized gum gamboge, and natural extract of lobelia--one tenth as
much as there is of the above compound extract. Previous to making into
pills, work into the mass seven drops of oil of spearmint; then form
your pills with magnesia, to the size of a pea. Take from one to four
or five, night and morning. It would be well to take them nine days in
succession, beginning with less, and increasing if necessary. They can
be relied on, and are excellent to take in the spring and autumn.