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THE LADIES' BOOK
OF
USEFUL INFORMATION.
COMPILED FROM MANY SOURCES.
London, Ont.:
LONDON PRINTING & LITHOGRAPHING CO. (LTD.)
1896.
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
1897, on behalf of the unnamed author, by P. J. Edmunds, at the
Department of Agriculture. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Preface.
To the ladies of America is this little work, "THE LADIES' BOOK OF
USEFUL INFORMATION," dedicated. It is a book written expressly for
women. This book is full from cover to cover of useful and necessary
information for women. Never before has so much knowledge with which
women should be acquainted been printed in one book. It is a perfect
storehouse of useful facts. Almost every lady spends many dollars
every year for cosmetics, medicines, household articles, etc., which
this book would save her.
This is a book which every lady should have, and which every mother
should place in the hands of her daughters as they come to years of
understanding. Every girl of twelve and upwards should read this
valuable work.
Many books costing from three to five dollars do not contain half the
information contained in this work. Everything described in this
preface is taught in this book.
It teaches ladies the secret of Youth, Beauty, Health.
The first chapter teaches all about Personal Beauty.
Every lady desires to be beautiful, and it is the duty of every woman
to be as attractive as possible. All may enhance their charms and be
lovely by following the directions of this book. Few persons know how
to improve their natural looks so as to captivate, charm, and win the
admiration of those whom they meet. This book tells the wonderful
secret--all the ancients ever knew, and all that has been discovered
since. It teaches how to wonderfully improve the person in loveliness.
The real secret of changing an ordinary looking person into one of
great beauty makes this book of great value. Nature does something for
us, but art must make the perfect man or woman.
If you desire bright, melting eyes, a clear, soft, rose-tinted
complexion, beautiful hands and graceful figure, well-developed and
perfect, use the knowledge which you will find in this book.
It teaches how to acquire a beautiful, delicate loveliness which
cannot be surpassed, and which can be retained to a very late age. By
means of this teaching a woman of thirty-five or forty can easily pass
for a girl of twenty-five.
It teaches how to conceal the evidence of age, and how to make the
most stubbornly red and rough hands beautifully soft and white.
Remember that "THE LADIES' BOOK OF USEFUL INFORMATION" does not teach
the use of paint and powder, which is injurious to the skin, but how
to make the _cheek glow_ with health, and the _neck_, _arms_ and
_hands_ to rival the lily in whiteness. It teaches how to cure Greasy
Skin, Freckles, Pimples, Wrinkles, Blackheads, Crow's-feet, Blotches,
Face Grubs, Tan, Sunburn, Chapped Hands, Sore Lips, etc.
It teaches how to cure and prevent redness and roughness, and to make
the skin soft, smooth, white and delicate, producing a perfectly
natural appearance. It teaches how to cure and refine a coarse skin,
so that it will be clear and white.
It tells what has never before been published: How to restore a fair,
rosy complexion to its original freshness, after it has become sallow
and faded. This is a wonderful secret, and is sure in its results. It
will also cause those who have always been pale to have beautiful,
bright, rosy cheeks, and the eyes to be brilliant and sparkling.
It teaches how to have soft, white and attractive hands, even though
compelled to do housework. Every lady desires to have nice hands, and
all may do so by following the directions of this book. The most
coarse, rough, red hands will, by following this teaching, become
beautifully delicate and white, and it causes very little trouble to
care for them.
It teaches how to care for the hair so as to improve the growth and to
have a beautiful and luxuriant head of hair; how to keep the skin of
the scalp healthy, to cure Dandruff, to prevent the hair falling, and
to have it of a nice glossy hue.
It teaches how to have clear and brilliant eyes, with beautiful, long,
drooping lashes; also, how to cure sore and weak eyes.
It teaches how to care for the teeth so as to have them white and
sound, telling how to treat those that are decayed, and how to prevent
the decay of sound ones.
It teaches how to have beautiful ripe red lips, and how to cure sore
and chapped lips.
It teaches how to cure Warts, Corns, Bruises, Sprains, Cold Feet, Bad
Breath, etc.
It teaches how to bleach, purify and whiten the most stubbornly red,
rough skin, so that it will be beautifully clear and white; and a
complexion that is naturally passable will be admired by all who see
it after being treated as here described.
The second chapter teaches: The different human temperaments; how to
tell to which temperament you belong yourself, and also the
temperaments of those whom you meet;
The fortunate and unfortunate days of the month, and their importance
at the hour of birth;
Important advice to females regarding their thirty-first year;
How to know whom you will marry;
The signs of a good genius;
All about Electrical Psychology, or Psychological
Fascination--Mesmerism;
How to make persons at a distance think of you (this is a purely
natural phenomenon);
How to win the affection of the person of the opposite sex whom you
sincerely love. There is no black art about this, but merely
psychological attraction, and by its use you can win the love of the
person whose affection you desire.
When you desire the "love" of any one whom you meet, you can very
readily reach him if you observe the directions here given.
Chapter three is a special chapter for young women, on a special
subject, and contains advice which every young lady should study.
It teaches them: What marriage is, and explains how highly injurious
it is to entertain low ideas regarding it;
How a young lady should act in the presence of young men;
What a girl should do when a prospect of marriage occurs.
It tells some of the most prolific sources of matrimonial
difficulties, and how to remedy them;
What ladies should do who desire that their husbands should be amiable
and kind;
What attentions are due to you _as a lady_.
Cautions against the failing of young ladies making themselves too
cheap.
Tells what "woman" is formed to be.
Warns against indiscretions before marriage, and teaches that under
all circumstance a lady will be looked to to resist any advances, and
maintain her purity and virtue.
Tells what is the nature, naturally, of young women;
How a young woman should act when receiving the attentions of a young
man;
How you will know when the young man whom you _should marry_ presents
himself to you;
What a man needs a wife for, and how to qualify yourself for the
position;
About misunderstandings in early married life;
How a young mother feels towards her first-born.
Tells the good influence of virtuous love;
What young people should know before they become engaged.
Chapter four teaches about Love and Marriage; the attraction of the
sexes for each other; what love is; what causes it; individual loves;
fondness for cousins; different kinds of love; flirtation; the object
of marriage; should marriage be for life.
Chapter five: When to Marry--How to Select a Partner on Right
Principles.
Treats of the proper age to marry; which marriages are the most happy;
which are the most productive of handsome children; how nature assists
art in the choice of partners; the attributes of a handsome couple,
etc.
Chapter six: Sexual Intercourse--Its Laws and Conditions--Its Use and
Abuse.
There is an alarming and increasing prevalence of nervous ailments and
complicated disorders that could be traced to have their sole origin
in the ignorance, which is so universal, of the laws of these organs.
This chapter teaches all about sexual morality; how men and women
should live; the law from the age of puberty to marriage; the law of
marriage; what a man who truly loves a woman will do; a true union;
how women are protected; the false and the true sense of duty; what is
the most powerful restraint from evil.
The above is discussed in a chaste, simple, manner, and should be read
by every lady. There is nothing impure in this book from beginning to
end, but subjects in which women are woefully ignorant are discussed
in a plain, moral manner to which no objection can be raised.
Chapter seven: Marriage.
What marriage is; how far back the marriage tie has existed; polygamy,
what it is; monogamy, what it is; polyandry, and what it is; marriage
customs; the basis of a happy marriage, etc.
Chapter eight: Pregnancy--Labor--Parturition.
Perhaps there is no more eventful period in the history of woman than
that in which she first becomes conscious that the existence of
another being is dependent upon her own, and that she carries about
with her the first tiny rudiments of an immortal soul.
This chapter explains all the signs of pregnancy; the changes that
take place in the face and neck; the suppression of the monthly flow;
changes in the breast, etc.
Then it gives a sure test for the detection of pregnancy. It tells how
a pregnant woman should live during the period of gestation.
Childbirth is not necessarily either painful or dangerous. It can be
accomplished easily and safely and with comparatively no pain by
following the directions given in "THE LADIES' BOOK OF USEFUL
INFORMATION."
Numerous instances are known where ladies who had previously suffered
with severe labor in childbirth have, by attending to the directions
here given, been delivered of fine, healthy children with comparative
ease.
No mother who has attended to the teaching here given but has blessed
the knowledge of it, and it has saved many a young mother much
needless terror.
It tells all about the ailments that almost always torment women
during the trying time of pregnancy, making life itself seem a burden.
These troubles are: Morning Sickness, Toothache, Palpitation of the
Heart, etc. It shows that there is no necessity for women suffering as
they almost invariably do during this time; but that these troubles
may be overcome by simple, safe remedies which are described in this
book, and which may be safely taken by the patient.
It tells all about the medicine which is taken by the Indian women of
North America during the period of gestation. It is well known that
the women of these tribes suffer very little during childbirth, and it
is almost all due to the effects of this wonderful medicine.
The recipe for this medicine, "Parturient Balm," was obtained from an
Indian doctor, and is given in this book, together with instructions
as to how it is to be taken.
This chapter alone is worth the price of the book to any lady. Every
mother, and everyone who ever expects to become a mother, should
carefully study the above chapter, as it may be the means of saving
her much pain and suffering.
The same chapter explains all about a case of labor; the signs that
show when labor has commenced; what to give to help the patient; the
different kinds of pains; the length of time between the pains; the
length of time the pains should last, etc.; the taking of the child
from the mother; how to care for the child; the taking away of the
afterbirth; what to do in case of flooding; how to relieve afterpains,
etc.
It also explains what "Abortion" is; what causes abortion; what causes
premature labor; the difference between the two; symptoms of
threatened abortion, and how to prevent the same if possible; what to
do for miscarriage, and to try and prevent it, etc.
The ninth chapter teaches all about: Menstruation--Change of
Life--Falling of the Womb, etc. Tells the time of life at which the
menses should appear.
Every mother should watch her young daughter as she nears this
critical time. The health for many years to come depends to a great
extent on how a girl passes this period. This chapter tells all the
symptoms of the near approach of the monthly flow. It shows a mother
how to care for her daughter, and to see that she has proper attention
during this time.
It tells the age at which the periodical flow should commence; the
symptoms of its approach; how a girl should be treated at this time;
how to cure Chlorosis, or Green Sickness; how to relieve and cure
painful and suppressed menstruation, etc.
If the instructions of this book are followed in cases like the above,
it will save many young girls much needless suffering.
This chapter also treats on: Whites, or Flour Albus, and Falling of
the Womb.
Many delicate women suffer great agony through these two distressing
complaints. This chapter describes all the symptoms of these
complaints, and gives simple, safe remedies for them. A lady can
easily attend to herself and avoid exposure.
It also treats on Change of Life.
By the phrase "Change of Life," or "The Critical Period," we
understand the final cessation or stoppage of the menses. This chapter
explains all about this trying time, the symptoms of its appearance,
and the ages at which it usually occurs.
With proper care this period may be safely passed, and a happy and
comfortable old age be spent. All the dangers incident to this period
are described, and how to successfully combat them.
Chapter ten: Collection of valuable Medical Compounds.
Any of the formulas in this chapter will be readily filled by your
druggist. Each recipe will give an article which is the _very best_
thing that can be used for the disease which it is recommended to
cure.
The first is "Magic Kidney and Liver Restorer."
Most people are afflicted to some extent with Kidney and Liver
trouble. This medicine is a sure cure.
Do you have: A frequent headache over the eyes;
A susceptibility to chills and fever;
A bitter or oily taste in the mouth;
A sour stomach;
A complexion inclined to be yellow;
A great depression of spirits;
Specks before the eyes, and flushed face;
A done-out, tired feeling;
besides many other symptoms too numerous to mention? If you have, you
are afflicted with Kidney and Liver complaint, and should use "Magic
Kidney and Liver Restorer." This great remedy will do away with all
these disagreeable symptoms, and will make you feel like a new person.
It is a splendid spring medicine, cleansing the blood and purifying
and toning up the system.
Another formula given is "Dyspeptic Ley."
This is a _sure, certain_ cure for dyspepsia. It never fails.
The symptoms of dyspepsia are:
Feeling of weight in the stomach;
Bloated condition after eating;
Belching of wind;
Nausea;
Vomiting of food;
Water brash;
Pain in the stomach;
Heartburn;
Bad taste in the mouth in the morning;
Palpitation of the heart;
Cankered mouth; loss of flesh;
Fickle appetite; depression of spirits;
Lack of energy; headache and constipation.
If you have _any or all_ of the above symptoms, then you are afflicted
with Dyspepsia, and should endeavor to obtain relief. "Dyspeptic Ley"
is a certain cure. It is easily prepared, and should be taken by
everyone who is afflicted with any of the above distressing symptoms.
The same chapter tells how to cure Ague, Intermittent Fever,
Neuralgia, Sick Headache, Neuralgic Headache, Rheumatism, Dysentery,
Epileptic Fits, Hysteria, Bleeding of the Lungs, Coughs, Bowel
Complaint, Scrofula, Worms, Sore Eyes, Cholera, Piles, Warts, Corns,
Deafness, Inverted Toe-nail, etc.
All these diseases are described, together with the best method of
treating them.
Chapter eleven teaches how to Prepare Nourishment for the Sick Room.
Very few people know how to prepare nourishment for the sick. This
chapter teaches how to prepare a great number of nourishing dishes.
Every lady should know how to prepare food for the sick, as at some
time or other there is almost certain to be sickness in every family.
There are over forty recipes given in this chapter for food for the
sick and convalescent.
Chapter twelve describes things Curious and Useful.
It tells: How to get clear of mosquitoes; how to get rid of bedbugs;
to obtain fresh-blown flowers in winter. By this process the buds of
flowers can be gathered in summer and autumn and kept until the
winter, when they can be used as required. The flowers open and are as
beautiful as though fresh plucked from the garden. Any one can
understand the process, as it is very simple.
Also: How to transfer all kinds of pictures on to glass--a very pretty
art; how to prevent horses being teased by flies; how to prevent flies
lighting on to windows, pictures, mirrors, etc.; to render paper
fireproof; to render boots waterproof; how to extract the essential
oil from any flower; how to take leaf photographs; to cure
drunkenness; to make different kinds of perfumes; to write secret
letters, etc.;
To prepare flowers so that their beauty will remain unimpaired for
years. Roses and other flowers can be had to last for years by this
beautiful art. The process is very easy, and the directions are so
simple that a child may follow them.
Chapter thirteen treats of Home Decoration.
It teaches how to arrange a house so as to furnish it cheaply and
harmoniously. It gives complete instructions for every room--Hall,
Parlor, Library, Dining-room, Bedrooms, etc., and attends to every
detail. This is a splendid guide to all who wish to make their home
attractive.
Chapter fourteen teaches all about caring for House Plants. It tells
the right temperature to keep them in; the proper soil for potting;
how to make plants grow luxuriantly; how to have plenty of blossoms;
to keep plants without a fire at night; to destroy bugs and
rose-slugs; to raise plants with the least trouble; the best varieties
of plants to raise, etc.
It tells how to preserve autumn leaves so that they can be bent in any
form desired, and so that they will retain their color.
It tells how to prepare skeleton leaves--a very pretty amusement.
Chapter fifteen is devoted to The Laundry.
It tells: How to make washing fluid; to take out scorch; to make
plain, fine, and coffee starch; to make enamel for shirt bosoms, so
that any housekeeper can do them up as nicely as they do at the
laundry; to clean velvets and ribbons; to take grease out of silks,
woolens, paper, floors, etc.; to take out fruit stains; to take out
iron rust and mildew; to wash woolen goods and blankets so that they
will not shrink, etc.
The sixteenth chapter teaches how to do all kinds of Stamping.
In this chapter are given full instructions for wet and dry stamping;
for making stamping powder; how to mix white paint for dark goods, and
dark paint for light goods; it tells how to prepare all the necessary
articles for stamping; how to prepare transfer paper; how to transfer
any pattern you may see; how to make a distributor; how to enlarge
designs; how to prepare all kinds of stamping powder; how to do French
indelible stamping; what kind of a brush to use; and how to care for
patterns. If the directions here given are followed the stamping will
always be satisfactory.
Chapter seventeen teaches how to do Bronze Work.
Bronzing is the latest improvement in wax work, and if properly made
cannot be detected from the most expensive, artistic bronze. It is
used for table, mantel and bracket ornaments, and may be exposed to
dust and air without sustaining the slightest injury. It can be dusted
like any piece of furniture, and makes a very desirable, inexpensive
ornament. The colors it is made in are Gold, Silver, Copper, Fire, and
Green Bronze. Among the articles described are a vase in bronze, a
motto in bronze, a floral basket in bronze, animals and birds in
bronze, statuary in bronze, flowers and leaves in bronze.
The art of making each of the above articles is carefully described so
that any one can follow the directions.
The art of Decalcomania is also taught in this chapter. This is used
upon almost everything for which ornamentation is required, such as
Crockery, China, Porcelain, Vases, Glass, Bookcases, Folios, Boxes,
Lap desks, Ribbons, etc. It is a very pretty art, and is much admired.
Chapter eighteen gives twelve recipes for articles needed in every
household. It will tell you how to save a large percentage of
household expenses, and also how to have a great many of the articles
you use in your daily housework of a superior quality, vastly better
than the ones you are using at the present time.
It is a fact not generally known, that a great many of the articles
used in daily household work cost little more than one-tenth of the
price the consumer pays. We purpose to show the readers of this book
how to have, in most instances, better articles than those they buy,
for a small percentage of the cost. To do this, we have, by our own
personal investigation, gathered a number of valuable recipes
together, and have paid for the privilege of using them.
We give in "The Ladies' Book of Useful Information" twelve recipes
which have never before been published, and which, if you once
possess, you will never wish to be without, as they are truly valuable
secrets.
The list is as follows: Healing salve; Magnetic croup cure; Worm
elixir; Brilliant self-shining stove polish; Wonderful starch enamel;
Royal washing powder; Magic annihilator; I X L baking powder; Electric
powder; French polish or dressing for leather; Artificial honey.
It also contains a list of all the poisons and their antidotes. It
describes the symptoms of poisoning and how to proceed in each case.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Teaches all about Personal Beauty. Every woman desires to be
beautiful, and every woman may enhance her charms and be lovely by
following the directions of this book. Few persons know how to improve
their natural looks so as to captivate, charm, and win the admiration
of those whom they meet. This book tells this wonderful secret--all
the ancients ever knew, and all that has been discovered since. It
teaches how to wonderfully improve the person in loveliness. The real
_secret_ of changing an ordinary looking person into one of great
beauty makes this book of great value. Nature does something for us,
but art must make the perfect man or woman. If you desire bright,
melting eyes; a clear, soft, rosy-tinted complexion; beautiful hands;
and graceful figure, well-developed and perfect, use the knowledge
which you will find in this book.
It teaches how to conceal the evidence of age; how to make the most
stubbornly red and rough hands beautifully soft and white. Remember
that "The Ladies' Book of Useful Information" does not teach the use
of paint and powder, which is injurious to the skin, but how to make
the cheek glow with health, and the neck, arms, and hands to rival the
lily in whiteness. It teaches how to cure Greasy Skin, Freckles,
Wrinkles, Pimples, Blackheads, Crow's-feet, Blotches, Face Grubs, Tan,
Sunburn, Chapped Hands, Sore Lips, etc. It teaches how to cure and
prevent redness and roughness, and to make the skin soft, smooth,
white and delicate, producing a perfectly healthy and natural
appearance. It teaches how to cure and refine a coarse skin, so that
it will be clear and white.
It teaches how to have soft, white and attractive hands, even though
compelled to do housework. Every lady desires to have nice hands, and
all may do so by following the directions of this chapter.
It teaches how to care for the hair so as to improve the growth and to
have a beautiful and luxuriant head of hair; how to keep the skin of
the scalp healthy; to cure dandruff; to prevent the hair falling, and
to have it of a nice color.
It teaches how to have clear and brilliant eyes, with beautiful, long,
drooping lashes. Also, how to cure sore and weak eyes.
It teaches how to care for the teeth so as to have them white and
sound, telling how to treat those that are decayed, and how to prevent
the decay of sound ones.
It teaches how to have beautiful ripe red lips, and how to cure sore
and chapped lips.
It teaches how to cure Warts, Corns, Bruises, Sprains, Cold Feet, Bad
Breath, etc.
The following formulas for Toilet Preparations are all given in this
book. They are vastly superior to the much-advertised cosmetics which
flood the market. Your druggist will fill any of these recipes for a
very small sum, and you will always have a superior article. Each of
these preparations will do exactly what is claimed for it.
The following is a list of what is given in the first chapter: Lotion
to remove freckles and tan; To expel freckles; Cleopatra's Freckle
Balm; Lemon Cream, for sunburn and freckles; Wash to prevent sunburn;
Grape lotion, for sunburn; Pate Axerasive of Bozin, to soften and
whiten the skin; To remove red pimples; To remove black specks or
flesh-grubs; Preparation for whitening the face and neck (bleaches and
whitens the skin); To cure profuse perspiration; Cleopatra's Enamel
for whitening the hands and arms; To cure freckles, and parched, rough
skin; To purify the breath; To bleach and purify the skin of the face
and neck; To permanently remove black specks or flesh-worms; French
face-wash (purifies and brightens the complexion); To remove pimples;
Kalydor for the complexion--for pimples, freckle-tanned skin, or scurf
on the skin; To improve the skin; Wash a la Marie Antoinette (gives a
beautiful brilliancy to the complexion); Liquid Rouge (harmless), a
perfect imitation of nature; Milk of Roses, a cosmetic; Circassian
Cream; Toilet Vinegar; Bloom Rose; Certain cure for eruptions,
pimples, etc.; To clear the complexion and reduce the size of the
face; To cure and refine a stippled or blotched skin; To cure and
prevent wrinkles; Wash for wrinkles; To remove wrinkles; How to have
brilliant, beautiful eyes; To cure weak eyes; To improve the
eyelashes; To cure weakness of eyes; How to have beautiful eyelashes;
To cure watery and inflamed eyes; To strengthen the sight; What to do
for nearsightedness; How to have a beautiful mouth and lips; To make
lip salve; French lip salve; German lip salve; To care for the teeth;
To cure toothache; Premium tooth powder; Feuchtwanger's tooth paste;
Fine tooth powder; Rye tooth powder; To cure foul breath; To have
white and beautiful teeth; For decayed teeth; To remove yellow color
from teeth; Camphor paste; Powerfully cleansing dentifrice;
Infallible cure for toothache; Mixture for decayed teeth; To whiten
and beautify the teeth.
How to have soft, white and beautiful hands; How to care for the
hands; Bleaching lotion for the hands (renders them beautifully
white); To remove stains from hands; To make the hands white and
delicate; Remedy for chapped hands; To whiten coarse and dark-skinned
hands; To cure red hands; Almond paste for the hands; To care for the
nails.
To cause the skin to become satin-smooth and to smell like violets.
To cause those who have lost the bloom and fairness of early youth to
regain them.
How to care for the hair; How often to wash the hair; To improve the
growth and luxuriance of the hair; To make the hair glossy; To impart
curliness or waviness to the hair when it is naturally straight; On
changing the color of the hair; To have elegant hair; Wild Rose
curling fluid; To cause the hair to grow very thick; Lola Montez hair
coloring; Hair Restorative; For bald heads; Excellent hair wash; To
cure baldness; Stimulants for the hair; The golden hair secret; For
keeping the hair crimped or curled in summer; To bleach the hair; For
improving the hair; Pomade for preserving the hair; To make the hair
grow and to prevent it from falling; To make the hair grow quick; Wash
for scald heads, etc.
Powders and their use: Boston Burnet powder for the face; Queen Bess
complexion wash.
CHAPTER II.
Treats of miscellaneous matters: The human temperaments--How many
there are--What they are; How to tell to which temperament you belong.
The fortunate and unfortunate days of the month; Days of the week, and
their importance at the natal hour.
Important advice to females.
To know whom you will marry.
The signs of a good genius.
Electrical Psychology, or Psychological Fascination.
Mesmerism.
How to make persons at a distance think of you.
How to win the love of the person whom you love.
CHAPTER III.
A special chapter for young women: On marriage; What young women look
forward to; What it is best to do when a prospect of marrying occurs;
What a husband looks for; What marriage affords; On making yourself
cheap; How to protect yourself; About courtship; Care of your
character; How easily men are led astray, and how cautious you should
be; What state of life is most honorable; Important points for your
consideration; To make a husband happy; Nature of young women; On
attracting the attention of young men; Young man's part; Young woman's
part; Parents' wishes; How young men act in female company; Modesty;
Courtship; On near relations marrying; On dress; What men need wives
for; A mother's pleasure at the birth of her first child; How
differently girls and boys are constituted; What young people should
study before they become engaged.
CHAPTER IV.
Love and marriage; The attraction of the sexes for each other; What
love is; What causes love; Individual loves; Fondness for cousins;
Different kinds of love; Flirtation; Monogamy; Polygamy; The special
object of marriage; Should marriage be for life.
CHAPTER V.
When to marry; How to select a partner on right principles; Very early
marriages; The best age to marry; When marriages are most happy; The
attributes of a handsome couple.
CHAPTER VI.
Sexual Intercourse--Its laws and conditions--Its use and abuse: A
prevalent error; The law of sexual morality; What men expect; How men
and women should live; Age of puberty to marriage; The law of
marriage; What a man who truly loves a woman will do; A true union;
Seduction; How women are protected; The false and the true sense of
duty. What is the most powerful restraint from evil.
CHAPTER VII.
Marriage: What marriage is; How far back the marriage tie has existed;
Polygamy--What it is; Monogamy--What it is; Polyandry--What it is;
Marriage customs; The basis of a happy marriage.
CHAPTER VIII.
Pregnancy--Labor--Parturition: The signs of pregnancy; The changes
that take place in the appearance; How soon after conception these
changes take place; The period of gestation; Changes in the breasts;
What causes labor; How labor may be rendered safe and easy; What the
diet should consist of; The period of quickening; How to relieve the
toothache, cramping of the legs, palpitation of the heart, morning
sickness, etc., with which pregnant women are liable to be troubled;
Sure test for the detection of pregnancy; Parturient Balm, a very
important medicine; Abortion; Premature labor; The cause of abortion;
Symptoms of threatened abortion; What to do for a threatened abortion;
What to do for miscarriage; To prevent miscarriage.
CHAPTER IX.
Menstruation: The time of life at which it should appear; Signs of
approaching puberty; Duty of mothers; Delayed and obstructed
menstruation--What to do for it; Chlorosis, or green sickness--What to
do for it--What it is caused by; Too profuse menstruation--How to
treat it; Painful menstruation, or menstrual colic--How to treat it;
Amenorrhoea, or suppressed menstruation--What causes this, and how
to treat it.
Cessation of the menses, or change of life: Very important advice is
given as to the way in which the patient should treat herself, which,
if followed, will be of great benefit.
Falling of the Womb: What causes it, and how the patient should be
treated.
Leucorrhoea--Whites--Flour Albus: What this disease is; What causes
it; How to relieve and cure it.
CHAPTER X.
Collection of valuable Medical Compounds: Magic kidney and liver
restorer; Hop bitters; Alterative or liver powders; Anti-dyspeptic
pills; Dyspeptic ley (sure cure for dyspepsia); Ague pills; Certain
remedy for ague or intermittent fever; Fever powders; Ague drops;
Pills for neuralgia; Sick headache pills; Anodyne headache pills;
Rheumatic pills; Pills for dysentery; Epileptic pills; Pills for
asthma; Hysteric pills; Pills for neuralgia; Cure for bleeding of the
lungs; Cure for consumption; Cough syrup; Soothing cough mixture;
Expectorant tincture; Sure remedy for bowel complaints; Cordial for
summer complaint; Scrofulous syrup; Eyewater; Tincture for rheumatism;
Worm elixir; Dr. Jordan's cholera remedy; Pile ointment (sure cure);
To cure warts and corns; Cure for deafness; Cure for inverted
toe-nail.
CHAPTER XI.
Things for the Sick Room. Tells how to prepare the following articles
for the sick and convalescent: Barley water; Sage tea; Refreshing
drink for fevers; Arrowroot jelly; Irish moss jelly; Isinglass jelly;
Tapioca jelly; Toast; Rice; Bread jelly; Rice gruel; Water gruel;
Arrowroot gruel; Beef liquid; Beef tea; Panado; French milk porridge;
Coffee milk; Drink for dysentery; Crust coffee; Cranberry water; Wine
whey; Mustard whey; Chicken broth; Calves'-foot jelly; Slippery elm
jelly; Nutritive fluids; Gum acacia restorative; Soups for the
convalescent; Eggs; Milk for infants; Water gruel.
CHAPTER XII.
Things Curious and Useful: To get clear of mosquitoes; To get rid of
bedbugs; To obtain fresh-blown flowers in winter; To increase the
laying of eggs in hens; The art of transferring on to glass; To
prevent horses being teased by flies; To prevent flies lighting on
windows, pictures, mirrors, etc.; To make leather wear forever; To
prepare waterproof boots; To render paper fireproof; To cure
drunkenness; To cure laziness; To take leaf photographs; To make lamp
wicks indestructible; To make different kinds of perfumes; To write
secret letters; To preserve flowers.
CHAPTER XIII.
Home Decoration: On furnishing a house; How to furnish the Parlor,
Library, Dining-room, Hall, Chambers, and Kitchen; Telling the proper
way of arranging each room tastefully and economically.
CHAPTER XIV.
How to Care for House Plants: How to succeed with plants; A good
collection of plants; To kill the spider; To start slips; To keep
plants without a fire at night; To kill rose-slugs; On watering
plants.
To prepare autumn leaves and ferns; To prepare skeleton leaves; Pretty
hanging baskets.
CHAPTER XV.
The Laundry: To make washing fluid; Gall soap; For washing woolens and
fine prints; To take out scorch; To make bluing; To make coffee
starch; To make flour starch; To make fine starch; Enamel for shirt
bosoms; To clean articles made of white zephyr; To clean velvet; To
clean ribbons; To take out paint; To remove ink stain; To take out
fruit stains; To remove iron rust; To take out mildew; To wash
flannels in tepid water.
CHAPTER XVI.
How to do your own Stamping and make your own Patterns: The articles
needed for stamping; To make perforated patterns; To enlarge designs;
To stamp; To make blue powder; To do French indelible stamping; To
make paint for stamping; The proper brush to use; To make a
distributor; To care for patterns.
CHAPTER XVII.
Bronze Work: What bronze work is; The articles required for doing
bronze work; The art of making a vase in bronze; A motto; A floral
basket; Copper bronze statuary; The art of making exotic leaves; To
make leaves and flowers, etc.; Decalcomania--The uses to which it may
be put.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A chapter of useful things to know. How to prepare: Healing salve;
Magnetic croup cure; Worm elixir; Brilliant self-shining stove polish;
Wonderful starch enamel; Royal washing powder; Magic annihilator; I X
L baking powder; Electric powder; French polish, or dressing for
leather; Artificial honey. Table of poisons and their antidotes.
THE LADIES' BOOK
OF
USEFUL INFORMATION.
CHAPTER I.
PERSONAL BEAUTY.
Treating of the Care of the Skin, Hair, Teeth, and Eyes,
so as to have each arrive at the highest degree
of beauty of which each is capable.
A great object of importance, of care to every lady, is the care of
her complexion. There is nothing more pleasing to the eye than a
delicate, smooth skin; and besides being pleasing to the eye, is an
evidence of health, and gives additional grace to the most regular
features. The choice of soaps has considerable influence in promoting
and maintaining this desideratum. These should invariably be selected
of the finest kinds, and used sparingly, and never with cold water,
for the alkali which, more or less, mingles in the composition of all
soaps has an undoubted tendency to irritate a delicate skin; warm
water excites a gentle perspiration, thereby assisting the skin to
throw off those natural secretions which, if allowed to remain, are
likely to accumulate below the skin and produce roughness, pimples,
and even eruptions of an obstinate and unpleasant character. Those
soaps which ensure a moderate fairness and flexibility of the skin are
the most desirable for regular use.
Pomades, when properly prepared, contribute in an especial manner to
preserve the softness and elasticity of the skin, their effect being
of an emollient and congenial nature; and, moreover, they can be
applied on retiring to rest, when their effects are not liable to be
disturbed by the action of the atmosphere, muscular exertions or
nervous influences.
The use of paints has been very correctly characterized as "a species
of corporeal hypocrisy as subversive of delicacy of mind as it is of
the natural complexion," and has been, of late years, discarded at the
toilette of every lady.
The use of cosmetics has been common in all ages and in every land.
Scripture itself records the painting of Jezebel; and Ezekiel, the
prophet, speaks of the eye-painting common among the women; and
Jeremiah, of rending the face with painting--a most expressive term
for the destruction of beauty by such means. For the surest destroyers
of real beauty are its simulators. The usurper destroys the rightful
sovereign.
That paint can ever deceive people, or really add beauty for more than
the duration of an acted charade or play, when "distance lends
enchantment to the view," is a delusion; but it is one into which
women of all times and nations have fallen--from the painted Indian
squaw to the rouged and powdered denizen of London or Paris.
Milk was the favorite cosmetic of the ladies of ancient Rome. They
applied plasters of bread and ass's milk to their faces at night, and
washed them off with milk in the morning.
As a cosmetic, milk would be harmless, but we doubt its power of
improving the skin. As a beverage, no doubt, it whitens the complexion
more than any other food.
But before we speak of improving the complexion, it will be well to
explain to our readers the nature and properties of the skin.
This is what an American physician has recently told us about it:--
THE SKIN--ITS BEAUTY, USES, CONSTRUCTION, MANAGEMENT, ETC.
Every person knows what the skin is, its external appearance, and its
general properties; but there are many of my readers who may not be
aware of its peculiar and wonderful construction, its compound
character, and its manifold uses. It not merely acts as an organ of
sense, and a protection to the surface of the body, but it clothes it,
as it were, in a garment of the most delicate texture and of the most
surpassing loveliness. In perfect health it is gifted with exquisite
sensibility, and while it possesses the softness of velvet, and
exhibits the delicate hues of the lily, the carnation, and the rose,
it is nevertheless gifted with extraordinary strength and power of
resisting external injury, and is not only capable of repairing, but
of actually renewing itself. Though unprotected with hair, wool or
fur, or with feathers or scales, as with the brute creation, the human
skin is furnished with innumerable nerves, which endow it with extreme
susceptibility to all the various changes of climate and of weather,
and prompt the mind to provide suitable materials, in the shape of
clothing, to shield it under all the circumstances in which it can be
placed.
The importance of the due exposure of the body to daylight or sunlight
cannot be too strongly insisted on. Light and warmth are powerful
agents in the economy of our being. The former especially is an
operative agent on which health, vigor, and even beauty itself,
depend. Withdraw the light of the sun from the organic world, and all
its various beings and objects would languish and gradually lose those
charms which are now their characteristics. In its absence, the
carnation tint leaves the cheek of beauty, the cherry hue of the lips
changes to a leaden-purple, the eyes become glassy and expressionless,
and the complexion assumes an unnatural, cadaverous appearance that
speaks of sickness, night and death. So powerful is daylight, so
necessary to our well-being, that even its partial exclusion, or its
insufficient admission to our apartments, soon tells its tale in the
feeble health, the liability to the attacks of disease, and the pallid
features (vacant and sunken, or flabby, pendent and uninviting) of
their inmates. Even the aspect of the rooms in which we pass most of
our time, and the number and extent of their windows, is perceptible,
by the trained eye, in the complexion and features of those that
occupy them. So in the vegetable world--the bright and endlessly
varied hues of flowers, and their sweet perfumes--even their very
production--depend on sunlight. In obscure light plants grow lanky and
become pale and feeble. They seldom produce flowers, and uniformly
fail to ripen their seeds. In even partial darkness the green hue of
their foliage gradually pales and disappears, and new growths, when
they appear, are blanched or colorless.
The best method of keeping the skin clean and healthy, by ablution and
baths, may here be alluded to. The use of these, and the washing of
the skin that forms part of the daily duties of the toilet, appear to
be very simple matters, but writers on the subject differ in opinion
as to the methods to be followed to render them perfect cleansers of
the skin. Some of them regard the use of soap and water applied in the
form of lather with the hands, and afterwards thoroughly removed from
the skin by copious affusions, rinsing or sluicing with water, or
immersion in it, as the best method. This is probably the case when
the skin is not materially dirty, or its pores or surface obstructed
or loaded with the residual solid matter of the perspiration or its
own unctuous exudation and exuviae. To remove these completely and
readily, something more than simple friction with the smooth hand is
generally required. In such cases the use of a piece of flannel or
serge, doubled and spread across the hand, or of a mitten of the same
material, will be most ready and effective. Friction with this--first
with soap, and afterwards with water to wash the soap off--will be
found to cleanse the skin more thoroughly and quickly than any other
method, and, by removing the worn-out portion of its surface, to
impart to it a healthy glow and hue that is most refreshing and
agreeable. This effect will be increased by wiping and rubbing the
surface thoroughly dry with a coarse and moderately rough, but not a
stiff, towel, instead of with the fine, smooth diapers which are now
so commonly employed. At the bath, the fleshbrush usually provided
there will supersede the necessity of using the flannel.
The small black spots and marks frequently observed on the skin in hot
weather, particularly on the face, generally arise from the
accumulation of the indurated solid matter of the perspiration in its
pores. When they assume the form of small pimples (_acne punctata_),
and often when otherwise, they may be removed by strong pressure
between the fingers, or between the nails of the opposite fingers,
followed by the use of hot, soapy water.
The subsequent daily application of a weak solution of bichloride of
mercury--as in the form commonly known as Gowland's lotion--or of
sulphate of zinc, will completely remove the swelling, and generally
prevent their re-formation.
=Eruptions= are too well known to need any lengthy description here.
They are usually classified, by writers on the subject, into:
animalcular eruptions, or those due to the presence of animalcula
(minute acari) in the scarfskin, which occasion much irritation, and
of which the itch furnishes a well-marked example; papular eruptions,
or dry pimples; pustular eruptions, or mattery pimples, of which some
forms are popularly known as crusted tetters; scaly eruptions, or dry
tetters; and vesicular eruptions, or watery pimples.
The treatment of all of the above, except the first, in simple cases,
where there is not much constitutional disarrangement, consists mainly
in attention to the general principles of health, cleanliness,
exercise, food, ventilation, and clothing. Occasional doses of mild
saline aperients (Epsom salts, cream of tartar, or phosphate of soda,
or of sulphur combined with cream of tartar) should be taken, and warm
or tepid bathing, preferably in sea-water, or, if not convenient, rain
water, frequently had recourse to. Stimulants of all kinds should be
avoided, and the red meats, ripe fruits, and the antiscorbutic
vegetables should form a considerable portion of the diet. Lemonade,
made by squeezing the juice of a lemon into a half-pint tumbler full
of water, and sweetening with a little sugar, should be frequently and
liberally taken as one of the best beverages in such cases. To relieve
the itching and irritation (except in the pustular, crusted, and
vesicular varieties), brisk friction with a fleshbrush or a fleshglove
may be employed. The parts should also be wetted with an appropriate
lotion after each friction or bath, or the use of soap and water.
In all the scaly eruptions, iodide of potassium internally, and
ioduretted or sulphuretted lotions or baths are invaluable. In many of
them of a malignant or obstinate character, as _Lepra Psoriasis_,
_Lupus_, etc., small doses of solution of arsenite of potassa (liquor
arsenicalis; the dose, from 3 to 5 drops, gradually and cautiously
increased to 7 to 9 drops, twice a day, after a meal) prove highly
serviceable. In the forms of psoriasis popularly called baker's itch,
grocer's itch, and washer-woman's itch, the application of ointment of
nitrate of mercury, diluted with ten or twelve times its weight of
lard, has been highly recommended. A course of sarsaparilla is also in
most cases advantageous.
The small, hard, distinct pimples--"acne, or acne simplex" of medical
writers--that occur on the forehead, and occasionally on the temples
and chin, generally yield to stimulating lotions, consisting of equal
parts of strong vinegar, or spirit, and water, or to weak lotions of
sulphate of zinc, assisted by occasional doses of cooling laxatives,
as the salines, or a mixture of sulphur or cream of tartar.
=Freckles=, or the round or oval-shaped yellowish or brownish-yellow
spots, resembling stains, common on the face and the backs of the
hands of persons with a fair and delicate skin who are much exposed to
the direct rays of the sun in hot weather, are of little importance in
themselves, and have nothing to do with the general health. Ladies who
desire to remove them may have recourse to the frequent application of
dilute spirit, or lemon juice, or a lotion formed by adding acetic,
hydrochloric, nitric, or sulphuric acid, or liquor of potassa, to
water, until it is just strong enough to slightly prick the tongue.
One part of good Jamaica rum to two parts of lemon juice or weak
vinegar is a good form of lotion for the purpose. The effect of all
these lotions is increased by the addition of a little glycerine.
The preceding are also occasionally called "common freckles," "summer
freckles," and "sun freckles." In some cases they are very persistent,
and resist all attempts to remove them while the exposure that
produces them is continued. Their appearance may be prevented by the
greater use of the veil, parasol or sunshade, or avoidance of exposure
to the sun during the heat of the day.
Another variety, popularly known as cold freckles, occur at all
seasons of the year, and usually depend on disordered health or some
disturbance of the natural functions of the skin. Here the only
external application that proves useful is the solution of bichloride
of mercury and glycerine, or Gowland's lotion.
=The Itch=--"psora" and "scabies," of medical authors; the "gale" of the
French,--already referred to, in its common forms is an eruption of
minute vesicles, generally containing animalcula (acari), and of which
the principal seats are between the fingers, bend of the wrist, etc.
It is, accompanied by intense itching of the parts affected, which is
only aggravated by scratching. The usual treatment is with sulphur
ointment (simple or compound) well rubbed in once or twice a day; a
spoonful (more or less) of flowers of sulphur, mixed with treacle or
milk, being taken at the same time, night and morning. Where the
external use of sulphur is objectionable, on account of its smell, a
sulphuretten bath or lotion, or one of chloride of lime, may be used
instead. In all cases extreme cleanliness, with the free use of soap
and water, must be strictly adhered to.
The small, soft discolorations and excrescences of the skin, popularly
called moles, may be removed by touching them every second or third
day with strong acetic or nitric acid, or with lunar caustic. If
covered with hair they should be shaved first.
=Extreme paleness= of the skin, when not symptomatic of any primary
disease, generally arises from debility, or from the languid
circulation of the blood at the surface of the body; often, also, from
insufficient or improper food, want of outdoor exercise, and the like.
The main treatment is evident. Warm baths, friction, and stimulating
lotions and cosmetics may be here employed, together with a course of
some mild chalbeate (as the lactate, protophosphate, or
ammonia-citrate of iron) and hypophosphate of soda.
=Roughness and Coarseness= of the skin, when not depending on any
particular disease, may be removed or greatly lessened by daily
friction with mild unguents or oil, or by moistening the parts, night
and morning, with a weak solution of bichloride of mercury containing
a little glycerine.
=Rashes and redness= of the skin, of a common character, often arise
from very trifling causes, among which indigestion, suppressed
perspiration, irritation, and the like, are the most frequent. Nettle
rash or urticaria, so called from the appearance and tingling
sensations resembling those caused by the sting of nettles, in some
people, is very apt to follow the use of indigestible and unwholesome
food. It is usually of short duration and recurrent. The treatment
consists in the administration of mild saline aperients, and, in
severe cases, of an emetic, particularly when the stomach is still
loaded with indigestible matter. These should be followed by copious
use of lemonade made from the fresh expressed juice. The patient
should be lightly but warmly clothed during the attack, and exposure
to the cold, or to draughts of cold air, should be carefully avoided.
The further treatment may be similar to that noticed under
"eruptions." To prevent the recurrence of the attack, the
objectionable articles of food, and any other known exciting causes,
must be avoided. Red rash, red blotch, or fiery spot, a common
consequence of disordered health, a sudden fit of dyspepsia, and, in
females, of tight lacing, and rose rash, false measles, or roseola,
having commonly a similar origin to the preceding, for the most part
require the same treatment.
=Scurf=--"furfur or furfura"--is a formation depending on the natural
and healthy exfoliation of the skin on every part of the body on which
hair or down grows, but most extensive and observable on the scalp, on
account of the abundance and darker color of the hair there.
Scurfiness, or excessive scurfiness, is the result of morbid action,
and may be treated by the frequent use of the fleshbrush or hairbrush,
ablution with soap and water, and the use of mild stimulating,
astringent, or detergent lotions.
=Scurvy=--"scorbutus" of medical writers--is a disease which, even in
its incipient and early stages, when its presence is often
unsuspected, is most injurious to the skin and complexion. It usually
commences with unnatural sallowness, debility, and low spirits. As it
proceeds, the gums become sore, spongy, and apt to bleed on the
slightest pressure or friction; the teeth loosen, and the breath
acquires a foetid odor; the legs swell, eruptions appear on
different parts of the body, and at length the patient sinks under
general emaciation, diarrhoea, and hemorrhages. Its chief cause is
improper food, or, rather, the absence or insufficient supply of fresh
meat and vegetables in the diet; to which cold, humidity, want of
exercise and fresh air may be added as secondary ones. Hence its
frequent, fatal visitations formerly on shipboard, and its still
occasional occurrence in ill-victualled ships during long voyages. The
treatment mainly consists in adopting a liberal diet of fresh animal
food and green vegetables, with ripe food and an ample allowance of
mild ale or beer, or lemonade made from the fresh expressed juice, as
beverages. In serious cases, tonics, as quinine and steel, should also
be administered.
=Wrinkles= and looseness of the skin depend chiefly on the attenuation
of the cutis or true skin and the reduction in the bulk of the
underlying surfacial portions of the body. They cannot be regarded as
a disease of the skin; but are the result of long continued bad
health, anxiety and study, and of general emaciation and old age.
Cleanliness, nutritious food, vigorous outdoor exercise, agreeable
occupation of the mind, and an equable and happy temper, retard their
formation. Whatever tends to promote the general health and to
increase the bulk of the body, and particularly the disposition of fat
in the cellular tissues, also tends to remove them and to increase the
smoothness and beauty of the skin. The free and frequent use of warm
water and soap, followed by the daily use of mild, stimulating,
cosmetic lotions or fomentations, or friction with warm oil of a like
character, and cod-liver oil internally, is all that art can do for
the purpose.
=Excoriations=, in popular language, are those cases of soreness
produced by chafing under the arms, behind the ears, and in the
wrinkles and folds of the skin generally. They occur chiefly in
infancy, and in stout persons with a delicate skin, who perspire
excessively. Extreme cleanliness, and carefully wiping the parts dry
after washing, with the subsequent use of a little violet powder, or
finely powdered starch, or French chalk scraped or grated very fine,
dusted over the parts once or twice a day, will generally remove them
and prevent their recurrence.
WASHES FOR THE FACE.
We do not approve of face washes, but as some ladies will use them, we
recommend the following as harmless: Dampen with glycerine tempered
with rose-water, then powder with the finest magnesia. It imparts a
charming whiteness.
Less harmless, but more frequently used, is to procure five cents'
worth of bismuth, of flake white, and of powdered chalk; mix with five
cents' worth of rose-water. Great care must be taken to wash off this
preparation before retiring to rest, as the bismuth is of a hurtful
nature.
=To Remove Freckles.=--Freckles are of two kinds: Those occasioned by
exposure to the sunshine, and consequently evanescent, are denominated
"summer freckles"; those which are constitutional and permanent are
called "cold freckles." With regard to the latter, it is impossible to
give any advice which will be of value. They result from causes not to
be affected by mere external applications. Summer freckles are not
difficult to deal with, and with a little care the skin may be kept
free from this cause of disfigurement by using either of the following
lotions:--
First: Scrape horse-radish into a cup of sour milk, let it stand
twelve hours, strain, and apply two or three times a day.
Second: Into half a pint of milk squeeze the juice of a lemon, with a
spoonful of brandy, and boil, skimming well; add a dram of rock alum.
Apply freely.
=Magic Lotion for Removing Freckles.=--Dissolve three grains of borax in
five drams each of rose-water and orange-flower water. A splendid and
harmless remedy is equal parts of pure glycerine and rose-water,
applied every night and allowed to dry on the skin.
=To Remove Freckles and Tan.=--Tincture of benzoin, one pint; tincture
of tolu, one-half pint; oil rosemary, one-half ounce. Put one
teaspoonful of the above mixture in one-quarter pint of water, and
then with a towel thoroughly bathe the face. Do this every night and
morning.
=To Expel Freckles.=--Finely powdered nitre is excellent. Apply it to
the face with the finger moistened with water and dipped in the
powder.
=Cleopatra's Freckle Balm.=--A splendid article. Venice soap, one ounce;
lemon juice, half ounce; oil of bitter almonds, quarter ounce;
deliquidated oil of tartar, quarter ounce; oil of rhodium, three
drops. Dissolve the soap in the lemon juice, then add the two oils,
and put the whole in the sun till it acquires the consistency of
ointment, and then add the oil rhodium. Anoint the freckly face at
night with this balm, and wash in the morning with pure water.
=Lemon Cream for Sunburn and Freckles.=--Put two spoonfuls of sweet
cream into half a pint of new milk, squeeze into it the juice of a
lemon, add half a glass of genuine French brandy, a little alum and
loaf sugar; boil the whole, skim it well, and when cool it is fit for
use.
=Wash to Prevent Sunburn.=--Take two drams of borax, one dram of Roman
alum, one dram of camphor, half an ounce of sugar candy, one pound of
ox-gall. Mix and stir well together, and repeat the stirring three or
four times a day until it becomes transparent; then strain it through
filtering or blotting paper, and it will be fit for use. Wash the face
with the mixture before you go into the sun.
=Grape Lotion for Sunburn.=--Dip a bunch of green grapes in a basin of
water; sprinkle it with powdered alum and salt mixed; wrap the grapes
in paper, and bake them under hot ashes; then express the juice, and
wash the face with the liquid, which will remove either freckles, tan
or sunburn.
=To Soften and Whiten the Skin--Pate Axerasive of Bozin.=--This
celebrated perfume has the distinction of being highly commended by
the French Royal Academy of Medicine. It is better for toilet use than
soaps, which contain alkali.
Take powder of bitter almonds, eight ounces; oil of the same, twelve
ounces; savon vert of the perfumes, eight ounces; spermaceti, four
ounces; soap powder, four ounces; cinnabar, two drams; essence of
rose, one dram. Melt the soap and spermaceti with the oil in a bath
water; add the powder, and mix the whole in a marble mortar. It forms
a paste which softens and whitens the skin better than any soap.
=To Remove Red Pimples.=--Sulphur water, one ounce; acetated liquor of
ammonia, quarter ounce; liquor of potassa, one grain; white wine
vinegar, two ounces; distilled water, two ounces.
=To Remove Black Specks or Flesh-worms.=--Squeeze them by pressing the
skin, and then wash with warm water and rub well with a towel. Then
apply the following lotion: Liquor of potassa, one ounce; cologne, two
ounces.
=Preparation for Whitening the Face and Neck.=--For bleaching and
purifying the skin of the face and neck, making them beautifully
smooth and white: Terebinth of Mecca, three grains; oil of sweet
almonds, four ounces; spermaceti, two drams; flour of zinc, one dram;
white wax, two drams; rose-water, six drams. Mix in a bath water, and
melt together. After washing, before retiring (use water as hot as can
be borne), anoint the face and neck freely with this preparation.
=To Cure Profuse Perspiration.=--Bathe the hands, feet, and parts of the
body where the perspiration is greatest, with a cold infusion of
rosemary and sage, and afterwards dust the stockings and
under-garments with a mixture of two drams of camphor, four ounces of
orris root, and sixteen ounces of starch, the whole reduced to a fine
powder. Put the mixture in a coarse muslin bag, and shake it over the
clothes.
=Cleopatra's Enamel for Whitening the Hands and Arms.=--One ounce of
myrrh, four ounces of honey, two ounces of yellow wax, six ounces of
rose-water. Mix well together the wax, honey and rose-water in a dish
held over boiling water, and add the myrrh while hot. Rub this thickly
over the skin before going to bed.
=To Cure Freckles and Parched or Rough Skin.=--Take one ounce of sweet
almonds, or of pistachia nuts, half a pint of elder or rose-water, and
one ounce of pure glycerine; grate the nuts and put the powder in a
little linen or cotton bag, and squeeze it for several minutes in the
rose-water; then add the glycerine and a little perfume. Use it by
wetting the face two or three times a day. This is a grateful
application for a parched, rough skin, and is good for the removal of
freckles. It should be allowed to dry thoroughly. When it feels pasty
or sticky it may be washed off with a little warm water without soap.
TO PURIFY THE BREATH.
There is nothing more disagreeable to people with whom we associate
than for them to be able to detect a bad odor from our breath when in
their company. Yet a great many are afflicted in this way. The
following will purify and sweeten the breath: Chlorate of lime, seven
drams; vanilla sugar, three drams; gumeratic, five drams. Mix well
with warm water to a stiff paste, and cut into lozenges. Take a
lozenge occasionally.
TO BLEACH AND PURIFY THE SKIN OF THE FACE AND NECK.
A celebrated physician gives the following as a good skin bleacher and
purifier: Half a pint of skim milk; slice into it as much cucumber as
it will cover, and let it stand an hour; then bathe the face, neck,
and hands. Wash them off with clean soft water when the cucumber
extract is dry. If the skin is rough from exposure to the wind, an
application of buttermilk at night, washed off with fine carbolic soap
in the morning, will make the skin smooth and natural.
=To Permanently Remove Black Specks or "Flesh-worms."=--Sometimes little
black specks appear about the base of the nose, or on the forehead, or
in the hollow of the chin, which are called flesh-worms, and are
occasioned by coagulated lymph that obstructs the pores of the skin.
They may be squeezed out by pressing the skin, and ignorant people
suppose them to be little worms. They are permanently removed by
washing with very warm water, and severe friction with a towel and
then applying a little of the following preparation: Liquor of
potassa, one ounce; cologne, two ounces; white brandy, four ounces.
=French Face Wash Purifies and Brightens the Complexion.=--Take equal
parts of the seeds of the melon, pumpkin, gourd, and cucumber, pounded
till they are reduced to powder; add to it sufficient fresh cream to
dilute the flour, and then add milk enough to reduce the whole to a
thick paste. Add a grain of musk and a few drops of the oil of lemon.
Anoint the face with this, leave it on twenty or thirty minutes, or
over night if convenient, and wash off with warm water. It gives a
remarkable purity and brightness to the complexion.
Or, try this; splendid.--Infuse a handful of well-sifted wheat bran
for four hours in white wine vinegar; add to it five yolks of eggs and
two grains of musk, and distill the whole. Bottle it, keep carefully
corked for fifteen days, when it will be fit for use. Apply over
night, and wash in the morning with tepid water.
=To Remove Pimples.=--There are many kinds of pimples, some of which
partake almost of the nature of ulcers, which require medical
treatment; but the small red pimple, which is most common, may be
removed by applying the following twice a day: Sulphur water, one
ounce; acetated liquid of ammonia, one-quarter ounce; liquor of
potassa, one grain; white wine vinegar, two ounces; distilled water,
two ounces. These pimples are sometimes cured by frequent washing in
warm water and prolonged friction with a coarse towel. The cause of
these pimples is obstruction of the skin and imperfect circulation.
=To Remove Tan.=--_Creme de'l Enclos._--New milk, half a pint; lemon
juice, one-quarter ounce; white brandy, half ounce. Boil the whole and
skim it clear from all scum. Use night and morning.
=A Cosmetic Bath.=--Take two pounds of barley or bean flour, eight
pounds of bran, and a few handfuls of Borage leaves. Boil these
ingredients in a sufficient quantity of spring water. This both
cleanses and softens the skin in a superior manner.
=Kalydor for the Complexion.=--For pimples, freckle-tanned skin, or
scurf on the skin. Take emulsion of bitter almonds, one pint;
oxymuriate of quicksilver, two and one-half pints; sal ammoniac, one
dram. To be used moderately by means of a sponge, after washing the
face and hands with pure soap and warm water.
=To Improve the Skin.=--Take two ounces of Venice soap and dissolve it
in two ounces of lemon juice. Add one ounce of the oil of bitter
almonds and a like quantity of the oil of tartar. Mix the whole and
stir it well till it has acquired the consistence of soap, and use it
as such for the hands. The paste of sweet almonds, which contains an
oil fit for keeping the skin soft and elastic and removing
indurations, may be beneficially applied to the hands and arms.
=Wash a la Marie Antoinette.=--Gives a beautiful brilliancy to the
complexion. Take half a dozen lemons and cut them in small pieces, a
small handful of the leaves of white lilies and southernwood, and
infuse them in two quarts of cows milk, with an ounce and a half of
white sugar and an ounce of rock alum. These are to be distilled in
palneum mariae. The face at bedtime is to be rubbed with this liquid,
and it will give a beautiful luster to the complexion. It is a safe
application, and its effects are certain.
=Liquid Rouge.=--Harmless--a perfect imitation of nature. For ladies who
wish to use a little artificial bloom the following is recommended. A
liquid rouge to produce a perfect imitation of the colors of nature is
prepared as follows: Add to a pint of French brandy, half an ounce of
benzoin, an ounce of red sandalwood, half an ounce of Brazil wood and
the same quantity of rock alum. Cork the bottle carefully, shake it
well once a day, and at the end of twelve days it will be fit for use.
The cheeks are to be lightly touched with it.
=Milk of Roses.=--This is a cosmetic. Pound an ounce of almonds in a
mortar very finely; then put in shavings of honey soap in a small
quantity. Add enough rose-water to enable you to work the composition
with the pestle into a fine cream; and in order that it may keep, add
to the whole an ounce of spirits of wine, by slow degrees. Scent with
otto of roses. Strain through muslin. Apply to the face with a sponge
or a piece of lint.
=Circassian Cream.=--This celebrated preparation is made, according to a
published recipe, in this way: Castor oil, one pint; almond oil, four
ounces; liquid potassa, three drams; essence of bergamot, oil of
cloves, and oil of lemon, in equal quantities; and about a dozen drops
of otto of roses.
=Toilet Vinegar.=--Add to the best malt vinegar, half a pint of cognac
and a pint of rose-water. Scent may be added, and if so, it should be
first mixed with the spirit before the other ingredients are put in.
=Bloom Rose.=--This is a preparation of carmine for the face and lips.
Take a quarter of a dram of carmine and place it in a phial with half
a dram of liquid ammonia; keep for a few days, occasionally shaking
the mixture; then dilute with two ounces of rose-water, to which half
a dram of essence of roses has been added. Draw off and keep a week or
ten days, then apply with the corner of a soft handkerchief, taking
care that if the color is too bright it is reduced by means of pure
water.
=Certain Cure for Eruptions, Pimples, Etc.=--Having in numerous
instances seen the good effects of the following prescription, I can
certify to its perfect remedy: Dilute corrosive sublimate with the oil
of almonds, apply it to the face occasionally, and in few days a cure
will be effected.
=To Clear the Complexion, and Reduce the Size.=--It is essential that
the blood should be cleansed. Take a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal,
mixed with water or honey, for three successive nights, then use a
seidlitz powder to remove it from the system. It acts splendidly upon
the system and purifies the blood; but under no circumstances must the
physic be neglected to carry the chemicals from the system; if not,
ill effects are certain to follow.
=To Cure and Refine a Stippled or Blotched Skin.=--A small dose of
teraxacum every other night will most materially aid in refining the
skin. It is a month's or six weeks' job to accomplish the desired
result. You must also wear a mask of quilted cotton, wet in cold
water, over night. Do not get discouraged, for it is worth the
trouble.
TO CURE AND PREVENT WRINKLES.
=Pomade d'Hebe.=--This pomade is used for the removal of wrinkles. To
make: Melt white wax, one ounce, to gentle heat; add juice of lily
bulbs, two ounces; add honey, two ounces; rose-water, two drams; and
otto of roses, a drop or two. Use twice a day.
=Lotion for Wrinkles.=--Beautifies the face, preserves the freshness of
youth, and gives a beautiful brilliancy to the skin. Take the second
water of barley, one pint, and strain through a piece of fine linen;
add a dozen drops of the balm of Mecca; shake it well together until
the balm is thoroughly incorporated with the water, which will be
effected when the water assumes a whitish or turgid appearance. Before
applying, wash the face with soft water. If used once a day, this
lotion will beautify the face, remove wrinkles, preserve the freshness
of youth, and give a surprising brilliancy to the skin.
=Wash for Wrinkles.=--Take two ounces of the juice of onions, two ounces
of the white lily, two ounces of Norboune honey, and one ounce of
white wax; put the whole into a new earthen pipkin until the wax is
melted, then take the pipkin (crock) off the fire, and continue
stirring briskly until the mixture grows cold. This should be applied
on going to bed and allowed to remain on till the morning.
=To Remove Wrinkles.=--To one fluid ounce of tincture of gum benzoin add
seven fluid ounces of distilled rose-water and one-half ounce of
glycerine. Bathe face, neck, and hands with it at night, letting it
dry on. Wash off in the morning with a very little pure white castile
soap and soft water. This is a famous cosmetic, and has been sold
under various names. It is an excellent remedy for tan, freckles, and
sunburn also.
HOW TO HAVE BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL EYES.
Beautiful eyes are the gift of nature; but even those of the greatest
beauty may owe something to the toilet, while those of an indifferent
kind are very susceptible of improvement. We entirely discountenance
any tampering with the eye itself, with a view to giving it luster or
brightness. The sight has often been injured by the use of belladonna,
preparations of the calabar bean, eyebright, and other substances
having a strong effect on the eyes. But without touching the eye
itself, it is possible to give the effect of brightness, softness,
etc., by means of the eyelids and eyelashes. Made-up eyes are by no
means desirable, and to many are singularly displeasing; but the same
may be said of made-up faces generally. Some ladies are, however,
persuaded that it adds to their charms to give the eyes a long, almond
shape--after the Egyptian type--while very many are persuaded that the
eye is not seen to advantage unless its apparent size is increased by
the darkening of the lids. Both these effects are produced by kohl, a
black powder, which may be procured at the chemist's, and is mixed
with rose-water and applied with a camel's-hair brush.
=To Cure Weak Eyes.=--It is well to have on the toilet table a remedy
for inflamed eyes. Spermaceti ointment is simple and well adapted for
the purpose. Apply at night, and wash off with rose-water in the
morning. Golden ointment will serve a like purpose. Or, there is a
simple lotion made by dissolving a very small piece of alum and a
piece of lump sugar of the same size in a quart of water. Put the
ingredients into water cold and let them simmer. Bathe the eyes
frequently with it. Sties in the eyes are irritating and disfiguring.
Foment with warm water; at night apply a bread and milk poultice. When
a white head forms, prick it with a fine needle. Should the
inflammation be obstinate, a little citerine ointment may be applied,
care being taken that it does not get into the eye, and an aperient
should be tried.
=To Improve the Eyelashes.=--Many people speak highly of this secret.
Trim the tiny points slightly, and anoint with this salve: Two drams
of ointment of nitric oxida of mercury, and one dram of lard. Mix the
lard and ointment well, and anoint the edges of the eyelids night and
morning, after each time, with milk and water. This will restore the
lashes when all other remedies fail. It is not known in this country,
and is a valuable secret.
=To Cure Weakness of Eyes.=--Sulphate of copper, fifteen grains;
camphor, four grains; boiling water, four ounces. Mix, strain, and
when cold make up to four pints with water. Bathe the eyes night and
morning with a portion of the mixture.
=How to Have Beautiful Eyelashes.=--The effect of the eyes is greatly
aided by beautiful eyelashes. These may be secured to a certain extent
by a little care, especially if it is taken early in life. The extreme
ends should be cut with a pair of small, sharp scissors, care being
taken to preserve the natural outline, not to leave jagged edges.
Attention to this matter results in the lengthening of the lashes.
Dyeing them is another expedient often resorted to for increasing
their effect. A good permanent black is all that is needed, and for
this use Indian ink. As an impromptu expedient to serve for one night,
a hairpin held for a few seconds in the flame of a candle, and drawn
through the lashes, will serve to color them well, and with sufficient
durability. It need scarcely be added that the hairpin must be
suffered to grow cold before it is used, or the consequence may be
that no eyelash will be left to color. Good eyebrows are not to be
produced artificially. It is possible, however, to prevent those that
are really good from degenerating through neglect. When wiping the
face dry after washing, pass a corner of the towel over the forefinger
and set the eyebrows in the form you wish them to assume. And when
oiling the hair, do not forget to oil the eyebrows also.
=To Cure Watery and Inflamed Eyes.=--Foment frequently with decoction of
poppy heads. When the irritation and inflammation occur, a teaspoonful
of cognac brandy in four ounces of spring water may be used three or
four times in the course of the day as a strengthening lotion.
=General Care of the Eyes.=--The eyes, of all the features, stand
pre-eminent for their beauty and ever-varying powers of expression,
and for being the organs of the most exalted, delicate and useful of
the senses. It is they alone that "reveal the external forms of beauty
to the mind, and enable it to perceive them, even at a distance, with
the speed of light. It is they alone that clothe the whole creation
with the magic charms of color, and fix on every object the identity
of figure. It is the eyes alone, or chiefly, that reveal the emotions
of the mind to others, and that clothe the features with the language
of the soul. Melting with pity, or glowing with hope, or redolent with
love, benevolence, desire, or emulation, they impart to the
countenance those vital fascinations which are the peculiar attributes
of man." "And when the mind is subdued by fear, anxiety or shame, or
overwhelmed by sorrow or despair, the eyes, like faithful chroniclers,
still tell the truthful story of the mental disquietude. And hatred,
anger, envy, pride, and jealousy, ambition, avarice, discontent, and
all the varied passions and emotions that torment, excite or depress
the human soul, and find a resting place in the human breast, obtain
expression in the eyes. At one moment the instruments of receiving and
imparting pleasure, at another the willing or passive instruments of
pain, their influences and changes are as varied and boundless as the
empire of thought itself." Through their silent expressions the mind
reveals its workings to the external world in signs more rapid and as
palpable as those uttered by the tongue. It is "the eyes alone that
stamp the face with the outward symbol of animation and vitality," and
which endue it with the visible "sanctity of reason." The eye is,
indeed, the chief and most speaking feature of the face, and the one
on whose excellence, more than any other, its beauty depends.
Theories have been based on even the peculiar color of the eyes. Thus,
it is said that dark blue eyes are found chiefly in persons of
delicate, refined or effeminate mental character; light blue eyes, and
more particularly gray eyes, in the hardy and active; hazel eyes, in
the masculine, vigorous, and profound; black eyes, in those whose
energy is of a desultory or remittent character, and who exhibit
fickleness in pursuits and affection. Greenish eyes, it is asserted,
have the same general meaning as gray eyes, with the addition of
selfishness or a sinistrous disposition. These statements, however,
though based on some general truths, and supported by popular opinion,
are liable to so many exceptions as to be unreliable and valueless in
their individual applications.
Shakespeare is said to have had hazel eyes; Swift, blue eyes; Milton,
Scott, and Byron, gray eyes. Wellington and Napoleon are also said to
have had gray eyes.
A beautiful eye is one that is full, clear, and brilliant; appropriate
in color to the complexion, and in form to the features, and of which
the connected parts--the eyelids, eyelashes, and eyebrows, which, with
it, in a general view of the subject, collectively form the external
eye--are also beautiful, and in keeping with it.
To increase the beauty and expression of the eyes, various means are
occasionally had recourse to, nearly all of which, except those herein
mentioned in connection with the eyelashes and eyebrows, are not
merely highly objectionable, but even dangerous. Thus, some
fashionable ladies and actresses, to enhance the clearness and
brilliancy of their eyes before appearing in public, are in the habit
of exposing them to air slightly impregnated with the vapor of prussic
acid. This is done by placing a single drop of the dilute acid at the
bottom of an eyecup or eyeglass, and then holding the cup or glass
against the eye for a few seconds, with the head in an inclined
position. It has also been asserted, and I believe correctly, that
certain ladies of the demimonde rub a very small quantity of
belladonna ointment on the brow over each eye, or moisten the same
part with a few drops of tincture of belladonna. This produces
dilation of the pupil, and gives that peculiar fullness and an
expression of languor to the eyes which, by some, is regarded as
exceedingly fascinating. The use of these active medicinals in this
way must be manifestly injurious; and when frequent, or long continued
or carried to excess, must necessarily result in impaired vision, if
not in actual blindness.
The following means of repairing and restoring the sight, which has
for some time been going the round of the press, being based on
scientific principles, may be appropriately inserted here:
For nearsightedness, close the eyes and pass the fingers, very gently,
several times across them outward, from the canthus, or corner next
the nose, towards the temple. This tends slightly to flatten the
corner and lens of the eye, and thus to lengthen or extend the angle
of vision. The operation should be repeated several times a day, or at
least always after making one's toilet, until shortsightedness is
nearly or completely removed. For long sight, loss of sight by age,
weak sight, and generally for all those defects which require the use
of magnifying glasses, gently pass the finger, or napkin, from the
outer angle or corner of the eyes inward, above and below the eyeball,
towards the nose. This tends slightly to "round up" the eyes, and thus
to preserve or to restore the sight. It should be done every time the
eyes are washed, or oftener.
TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH AND LIPS.
The beauty of the human mouth and lips, the delicacy of their
formation and tints, their power of expression, which is only inferior
to that of the eyes, and their elevated position as the media with the
palate, tongue, and teeth, by which we communicate our thoughts to
others in an audible form, need scarcely be dilated on here. The poet
tells us that:
"The lips of woman out of roses take
The tints with which they ever stain themselves.
They are the beautiful, lofty shelves
Where rests the sweetness which the young hours make,
And which the earnest boy, whom we call Love,
Will often sip in sorrow or in play.
Health, when it comes, doth ruddiness approve,
But his strong foe soon flatters it away!
Disease and health for a warm pair of lips,
Like York and Lancaster, wage active strife:
One on his banner front the White rose keeps,
And one the Red; and thus with woman's life,
Her lips are made a battle-field for those
Who struggle for the color of a rose."
A beautiful mouth is one that is moderately small, and has a
well-defined and graceful outline; and beautiful lips are gracefully
molded, neither thick nor thin, nor compressed nor lax, and that are
endowed with expression and are tinted with the hues of health.
The ladies of Eastern nations commonly heighten the hue and freshness
of their lips by means of cosmetics, a practice which in Western
Europe is only adopted on the stage, and occasionally by courtesans
and ladies of the demimonde.
Chapped lips most frequently occur in persons with pale, bluish, moist
lips and a languid circulation, who are much exposed to the wind or
who are continually moving from heated apartments to the external air.
East and north-east winds are those that generally produce them. The
occasional application of a little cold cream, lip salve, spermaceti
ointment, or any other mild unguent, will generally prevent them, and
remove them when they have already formed. A still more elegant and
effective preventive and remedy is glycerine diluted with about twice
its weight of eau-de-rose, or glycerinated lip salve or balsam.
The moist vesicular eruption of the lips, referred to above, may also
generally be prevented by the use of glycerine, or any of the
preparations just mentioned. After its accession, the best treatment
is to freely dust the affected portion of the lips with violet powder,
finely powdered starch, prepared chalk, or French chalk or talc
reduced to an impalpable powder by scraping or grating it.
The following formulas of preparations are all valuable for
beautifying and preserving the beauty of the lips:--
=White Lip Salve--No. 1.=--Take half a pound spermaceti ointment,
liquify it by the heat of warm water, and stir in one-half dram neroli
or essence de petit-grain. In a few minutes pour off the clear portion
from the dregs (if any) and add twenty drops of oil of rose. Lastly,
before it cools, pour it into jars.
=Lip Salve--No. 2.=--This indispensable adjunct to the toilet is made by
melting in a jar, placed in a basin of boiling water, a quarter of an
ounce each of white wax and spermaceti; flour of benzoin, fifteen
grains; and half an ounce of oil of almonds. Stir till the mixture is
cool. Color red with two-penny worth of alkanet root. Splendid for
keeping the lips healthy and of a beautiful crimson color.
=French Lip Salve.=--Lard, twenty-six ounces; white wax, two ounces;
nitre and alum in fine powder, of each one-half ounce; alkanet to
color.
=German Lip Salve.=--Butter of cacao, one-half ounce; oil of almonds,
one-quarter ounce; melt together with a gentle heat, and add six drops
of essence of lemon.
THE CARE OF THE TEETH.
The influence which the teeth are capable of exercising on the
personal appearance is usually known and admitted.
The teeth have formed especial objects of attention, in connection
with the toilet and cosmetic arts, from almost the earliest ages of
the world to the present time. History and tradition, and the
researches of archaeologists among the remains of the prehistoric
nations of the East, show us that even dentistry may trace back its
origin to a date not very long subsequent to the "confusion of
tongues."
We are told that the ancient Welsh took particular care of their
teeth, by frequently rubbing them with a stick of green hazel and a
woollen cloth. To prevent their premature decay, they scrupulously
avoided acid liquids, and invariably abstained from all hot food and
drink.
Europeans pride themselves on teeth of pearly whiteness; but many
Asiatic nations regard them as beautiful only when of a black color.
The Chinese, in order to blacken them, chew what is called "betel" or
"betel nut," a common masticatory in the East. The Siamese and the
Tonquinese do the same, but to a still greater extent, which renders
their teeth as black as ebony, or more so. As the use of the
masticatory is generally not commenced until a certain age, the common
practice is to stain the teeth of the boys and girls with a strong
preparation of it, on the former attaining the age of ten or twelve.
Keeping the lips apart and breathing through the mouth instead of the
nose, and, particularly, sleeping with the mouth open, are habits
which are very prejudicial to the teeth and gums. In this way the
mouth forms a trap to catch the dust and gritty particles floating in
the atmosphere, which soon mechanically injure the enamel of the teeth
by attrition.
On the subject of cleanliness in connection with the teeth and mouth,
it may be said that the mouth cannot be too frequently rinsed during
the day, and that it should be more particularly so treated after each
meal. Pure cold water is the best for the purpose. It not only cleans
the teeth and mouth, but exerts a tonic action on the gums, which warm
water, or even tepid water, is deficient in. When cold water cannot be
tolerated, tepid water may be employed, the temperature being slightly
lowered once every week or ten days until cold water can be borne.
Every one who abhors a foetid breath, rotten teeth, and the
toothache, would do well to thoroughly clean his teeth at bedtime,
observing to well rinse the mouth with cold water on rising in the
morning, and again in the day once, or oftener, as the opportunities
occur. With smokers, the use of the toothbrush the last thing at night
is almost obligatory if they value their teeth and wish to avoid the
unpleasant flavor and sensation which teeth fouled with tobacco smoke
occasion in the mouth on awakening in the morning.
As to tooth powders or pastes to be used with the brush, the simplest
are the best. Plain camphorated chalk, with or without a little finely
powdered pumice stone or burnt hartshorn, is a popular and excellent
tooth powder. It is capable of exerting sufficient friction under the
brush to ensure pearly whiteness of the teeth without injuring the
enamel, whilst the camphor in it tends to destroy the animalcula in
the secretions of the mouth, whose skeletons or remains constitute, as
we shall presently see, the incrassation popularly called "tartar."
Recently-burnt charcoal, in very fine powder, is another excellent
tooth powder, which, without injuring the enamel, is sufficiently
gritty to clean the teeth and remove the tartar from them, and
possesses the advantage of also removing the offensive odor arising
from rotten teeth and from decomposing organic matter. The charcoal of
the heavy hardwoods, as lignum-vitae, boxwood, oak, are the best; and
these, as to quality, range in the order given. Still more valuable as
a dentifrice is areca nut charcoal, which, besides possessing the
properties of the other vegetable charcoals in an eminent degree, has
valuable ones peculiar to itself.
Some dentists, and some persons in imitation of them, in order to
whiten the teeth, rub their surfaces with hydrochloric acid, somewhat
dilute; but the practice is a most dangerous one, which, by a few
repetitions, will sometimes utterly destroy the enamel and lead to the
rapid decay of all the teeth so treated. Should the teeth be much
discolored, and ordinary tooth powder prove ineffective, a little
lemon juice used with the brush will generally render them perfectly
white. It should only be employed occasionally, and the mouth should
be well rinsed with water afterwards. A little of the pulp of an
orange, used in the same way, is also very effective and safe, as are
also ripe strawberries, which may be either rubbed on the teeth with
the fingers or applied with the brush. The last form, perhaps, the
very best natural dentifrice known. Besides possessing singular power
in whitening and cleaning the teeth and rapidly removing tartar, they
destroy the offensive odor of rotten teeth and impart an agreeable
fragrance to the breath.
The importance of a judicious attention to the teeth, in connection
with health, cleanliness, and personal comfort and appearance, cannot
be too often alluded to and enforced.
It is no exaggeration to say that, taking the whole community, there
are few, very few, who clean their teeth, or even wash their mouths,
once a day. With the masses the operation, if performed at all, is
confined to the Sabbath day, or to holidays; whilst refined, educated,
and cleanly persons regard the operation of cleaning the teeth as a
daily duty, as necessary as washing the face and hands. The dirty and
vulgar--the two words are here synonymous--wholly neglect it, and too
often even consider it as unnecessary, effeminate, and absurd. The
consequences of the careless performance, or the neglect, of this
really necessary personal duty are not long in being developed.
Passing over the degradation of the other features, the offensiveness
of the breath, often to a degree which renders the individual
uncompanionable, and the unfavorable impression which, like other
marks of uncleanliness, they convey of the taste and habits of their
possessor, as the immediate effects of habitually neglected and dirty
teeth, let us look at the more distant, but not less certain, ones:--
In cases of ordinary toothache, even severe ones, chewing a small
piece of really good pellitory will often give relief in a few
minutes. Chewing a piece of strong, unbleached Jamaica ginger will
often do the same in light cases. The celebrated John Wesley
recommended a "few whiffs" at a pipe containing a little caraway seed
mixed with tobacco as a simple and ready means of curing the
toothache. I can bear testimony to the fact that in some cases it
succeeds admirably.
Scarcely anything is more disagreeable, and in marked cases, more
disgusting, than foetid breath. It is unpleasant to the person that
has it, and it renders him unfit for the society of others. The cause
of stinking breath may generally be traced to rotten teeth, diseased
stomach, or worms. When the first are the cause, the teeth should be
thoroughly cleansed and then "stopped" in the manner already
indicated; or, when this is impracticable, the offending tooth, or
teeth, may be removed and replaced by artificial ones. When this
cannot be done, or is inconvenient, the evil may be greatly lessened
by the frequent use of an antiseptic tooth powder, areca nut charcoal
or camphorated chalk. Dirty teeth, even when quite sound, always more
or less taint the breath. When a foul or a diseased stomach is the
cause, mild aperients should be administered; and if these do not
succeed, an emetic may be given, scrupulous cleanliness of the teeth
being observed, as in the former case. When worms are the cause, worm
medicine, under medical direction, will be necessary.
=To Cure Foul Breath.=--When bad breath is occasioned by teeth, or any
local cause, use a gargle consisting of a spoonful of solution of
chloride of lime in half a tumbler of water.
=To Have White and Beautiful Teeth.=--An article known as "The Queen's
Tooth Preserver" is made as follows: One ounce of coarsely powdered
Peruvian bark, mixed in half a pint of brandy for twelve days. Gargle
the mouth (teeth and gums) with a teaspoonful of this liquid, diluted
with an equal quantity of rose-water. Always wash off the teeth after
each meal with water. Also, twice a day, wash the teeth with the ashes
of burned bread--bread burned to ashes.
=For Decayed Teeth.=--There is nothing better than two scruples of myrrh
in fine powder, one scruple of juniper gum, and ten grains of alum,
mixed in honey. Apply often to the teeth.
=To Cure Toothache.=--Take equal parts of camphor, sulphuric ether,
ammonia, laudanum, tincture of cayenne, and one-eighth part oil of
cloves. Mix well together. Saturate with the liquid a small piece of
cotton, and apply to the cavity of the diseased tooth, and the pain
will cease immediately.
=Premium Tooth Powder.=--Six ounces prepared chalk, one-half ounce
cassia powder, one ounce orris; mix well.
=Mouth Pastilles for Perfuming the Breath.=--First: Extract of
liquorice, three ounces; oil of cloves, one and a half drams; oil of
cinnamon, fifteen drops. Mix, and divide into one-grain pills.
Second: Catechu, seven drams; orris powder, forty grains; sugar, three
ounces; oil of rosemary (or of cloves, peppermint, or cinnamon), four
drops. Mix, and roll flat on oiled marble slab, and cut into very
small tablets.
=Feuchtwanger's Tooth Paste.=--Powdered myrrh, two ounces; burned alum,
one ounce; cream tartar, one ounce; cuttlefish bone, four ounces; drop
lake, two ounces; honey, half a gallon. Mix. Reduce the proportion for
a small quantity.
=Fine Tooth Powder.=--Powdered orris root, one ounce; Peruvian bark, one
ounce; prepared chalk, one ounce; myrrh, one-half ounce. Mix.
=To Remove Offensive Breath.=--For this purpose, almost the only
substance that should be admitted to the toilet is the concentrated
solution of chloride of soda. From six to ten drops of it in a
wineglassful of spring water, taken immediately after the operations
of the toilet are completed.
In some cases, the odor arising from caries is combined with that of
the stomach. If the mouth be well rinsed with a teaspoonful of the
solution of the chloride in a tumbler of water, the bad odor of the
teeth will be removed.
=Rye Tooth Powder.=--Rye contains carbonate of lime, carbonate of
magnesia, oxide of iron, manganese, and silica, all suitable for
application to the teeth. Therefore, a fine tooth powder is made by
burning rye, or rye bread, to ashes, and grinding it to powder by
passing the rolling-pin over it. Pass the powder through a sieve, and
use.
=Camphorated Chalk.=--This favorite tooth powder is easily made. Take a
pound of prepared chalk, and with this mix two drams of camphor very
finely powdered, and moisten with spirits of wine. Thoroughly mix.
=To Remove the Yellow Color from Teeth.=--Take of dry hypochlorite of
lime, one-half dram; red coral, two drams. Tincturate and mix
thoroughly. This powder is employed in the following manner: A new
brush is slightly moistened, then dipped in the powder and applied to
the teeth. A few days after the use of this powder the teeth will
acquire a beautiful white color.
=Camphor Paste.=--Take one ounce of oil ammoniac, four drams of camphor.
Let the above be very finely powdered, then mix it with sufficient
honey to make it into a smooth paste; triturate it until entirely
smooth. This is a most excellent paste for preserving and beautifying
the teeth.
=Preservative Tincture for the Teeth and Gums.=--Take four drams of
camphor, one ounce of tincture of myrrh, one ounce of tincture of
bark, and one ounce of rectified spirits of wine; mix them, and put 30
or 40 drops in a wineglassful of water. Pour a little of this upon
your brush before you apply it to the powder, and when the teeth are
clean, wash the mouth, teeth, and gums with the remainder. It will in
ordinary cases prevent toothache.
=Powerfully Cleansing Dentifrice.=--Take fine powder of pumice stone,
four drams; fine powder of cuttlefish bone, four drams; add one
scruple of subcarbonate of soda. Mix them well together, color and
scent according to taste, and then pass it through a fine sieve.
=Infallible Cure for Toothache.=--Take alum, reduced to an impalpable
powder, two drams; nitreous spirits of ether, seven drams. Mix, and
apply them to the tooth. This is said to be an infallible cure for all
kinds of toothache, unless the disease is connected with rheumatism.
=Mixture for Decayed Teeth.=--Make a balsam with a sufficient quantity
of honey, two scruples of myrrh in fine powder, a scruple of gum
juniper, and ten grains of rock alum. A portion to be applied
frequently to the decayed tooth.
=To Whiten and Beautify the Teeth.=--Take gum tragacanth, one ounce;
pumice stone, two drams; gum arabic, one ounce; cream of tartar, one
ounce. Dissolve the gums in rose-water, and adding to it the powder,
form the whole into little sticks, which are to be dried slowly in the
shade, and afterwards kept for use. Use on the brush like soap.
HOW TO HAVE SOFT, WHITE AND BEAUTIFUL HANDS.
There are very few beautiful hands, but to make the hands beautiful
rests, with scarcely an exception, with the possessor. Now that
chiromancy has become so fashionable as to be a part of a great many
entertainments, it is very desirable that the hands should present an
attractive appearance. A soft, white, delicate hand, with neatly-kept
nails, forms an important factor in a pleasing personal appearance,
and is something any man or woman may possess themselves of with a
little care. Of course it goes without saying, that requisite is
perfect cleanliness of both the hands and nails. The best and purest
soap should be used, and when soft water cannot be obtained, a few
drops of ammonia, or a little borax, should be added to the water in
which the hands are washed, and they should always be thoroughly
dried. A lotion of one ounce glycerine, one ounce rose-water, ten
drops of carbolic acid, and forty drops of hamamelis, is excellent to
use on the hands before they are dried each time they are washed.
Persons who do housework should wear the India rubber gloves which are
made for the purpose and can be purchased in any size for from $1.00
to $1.25 as they are with or without wrists.
Rubbing the hands once or twice a day in oatmeal tends to whiten them
and make them soft and flexible.
The following bleaches the hands and arms and makes them beautifully
soft and white:--
=Bleaching Lotion.=--Bitter almonds, ten ounces; iris powder, one ounce;
pulverized horse-chestnut, two ounces; essence of bergamot, one dram;
carbonate of potash, two drams; mix. Use on the hands after washing,
and on retiring for the night.
Five grains of chloridated lime in a pint of warm water will whiten
the hands and remove all stains, but as this is not always quite
harmless to a delicate skin, it is perhaps better to remove stains
with a cut of lemon, and use the preparation given above for whitening
them.
Tight lacing and tight sleeves, and even tight shoes, will cause the
hands to be an unsightly red, for which no lotion or care is a remedy.
If, however, all the clothing is worn so as to allow a free
circulation, and the directions which have been given are regularly
and constantly followed, any hand will become white, supple and
delicate--a pleasure to both possessor and beholder; and it is really
worth the care, which after a little time becomes a fixed habit and so
is scarcely noticeable, to have such hands.
=To Make the Hands White and Delicate.=--Should you wish to make your
hands white and delicate, wash them in hot milk and water for a day or
two. On retiring to rest, rub them well over with palm oil, and put on
a pair of woollen gloves. The hands should be thoroughly washed with
hot water and soap the next morning, and a pair of soft leather gloves
worn during the day; they should be frequently rubbed together to
promote circulation. Sunburnt hands should be washed in lime water or
lemon juice. Should they be severely freckled, the following will be
good to use: Take of distilled water, half a pint; sal ammoniac, half
a dram; oxymuriate of quicksilver, four grains; divide the two last in
spirit, and gradually add the water to them; add another half pint of
water, mix well together, and it is ready for use. It should be
applied as often as desirable, with a piece of soft sponge. If
rose-water is substituted for distilled water, the effect is
pleasanter.
=Remedy for Chapped Hands.=--The simplest remedy is the camphor ball, to
be obtained of all chemists. Powdered hemlock bark put into a piece of
muslin and sprinkled on the chaps is highly recommended. Or, wash with
oatmeal, and afterwards rub the hands over with dry oatmeal, so as to
remove all dampness. It is a good thing to rub the hands and lips with
glycerine before going to bed at night. A good oil is made by
simmering: Sweet oil, one pint; Venice turpentine, three ounces; lard,
half a pound; beeswax, three ounces. Simmer till the wax is melted.
Rub on, or apply with a rag.
=To Cure Red Hands.=--Wash them frequently in warm, not hot, water,
using honey soap and soft towel. Dry with violet powder, and again
with a soft, dry handkerchief. Take exercise enough to promote
circulation, and do not wear gloves too tight.
=Almond Paste for the Hands.=--Take one pound of sweet almonds,
one-quarter of a pound of bread crumbs, one half a pint of spring
water, one-half a pint of brandy, and the yolks of two eggs. Pound the
almonds with a few drops of vinegar or water, to prevent them oiling;
add the crumbs of bread, which moisten with the brandy as you mix it
with the almonds and the yolks of eggs. Set this mixture over a slow
fire, and stir it continually or it will adhere to the edges.
=Almond Paste for Chapped Hands= (which will preserve them smooth and
white).--The daily use of the following paste will keep the hands
smooth and white: Mix a quarter of a pound of unsalted hog's lard,
which has been washed in common, and then in rose, water, with the
yolks of two fresh eggs and a large spoonful of honey. Add as much
paste from almonds (well pounded in a mortar) as will work it into a
paste.
=General Remarks.=--The human hand, regarded either with reference to
its ingenious construction and usefulness, or to its beauty, stands
alone, in its superlative excellence, in the whole animal world. In no
species of animal is the hand so wonderfully formed and so perfectly
developed as in man.
To preserve the delicacy and beauty of the hands, some little care,
and more than that which is ordinarily bestowed on them, is required.
Foremost in consideration must be the subject of cleanliness. Dirty
and coarse hands are no less marks of slothfulness and lowbreeding
than clean and delicate hands are of refinement and gentility. To
promote softness and whiteness of the skin, mild emollient soaps, or
those abounding in oil or fat, should alone be adopted for common use;
by which means the tendency to contract chaps and chilblains, and
roughness from drying winds, will also be lessened. The coarse, strong
kinds of soap, those abounding in alkali, should be rejected, as they
tend to render the skin rough, dry and brittle. Rain, or soft, water
is the best natural water for washing the hands, as it cleanses them
more rapidly and completely than ordinary hard water, and with the use
of less soap. It may be advantageously used tepid, or even warm; but
hot water should be avoided. Distilled water, when obtainable, is
preferable to even rain water. In the absence of these, water that
has been boiled and allowed to settle and cool may be employed. With
hard water the hands are cleansed with difficulty, and though it may
be readily softened by the addition of a little soda, such an addition
tends to make the skin of a delicate hand somewhat hard and rough. If
hard water must be used to wash with, the only harmless substance that
can be conveniently added to it is a little good powdered borax. This
will also cause it to exert a genial action on the skin. Oatmeal and
warm water used every night and morning as a wash will whiten and
soften the roughest and darkest hands.
=Coarse, Red, Dark-Skinned Hands= may be whitened by the occasional use
of a few grains of chloride of lime, with warm water, in the manner
mentioned above.
=Roughness of the Hands=, induced by exposure to cold and drying winds,
may, in general, be removed by the use of a little powdered pumice
stone with the soap in washing them. The subsequent application,
particularly at night, of the above lotions, or of two or three drops
of almond or olive oil, well rubbed in, will usually effect the object
completely.
The hands may be preserved dry for delicate work by rubbing a little
club moss (lycopodium), in fine powder, over them. So repellent is
this substance of moisture, that if a small quantity of it be
sprinkled on the surface of a basin of water, the hand, by a little
adroitness, may be plunged to the bottom of the basin without becoming
wet.
Excessive moisture or perspiration of the hands without obvious cause
is generally indicative of debility, or disordered stomach, and
requires corresponding treatment. Frequently washing the hands in
moderately cold water often proves a local remedy for the
inconvenience. The addition of a few grains of alum, sal ammoniac, or
sulphate of zinc, or of a teaspoonful of vinegar, to the water greatly
increases its efficacy. Extremely delicate and susceptible persons
cannot always bear the excessive perspiration of their hands to be
thus suddenly lessened, and therefore some discretion should be
exercised by them in their attempts to check it.
=The Finger Nails= require special attention if we desire to preserve
them in their highest condition of beauty and usefulness. To keep them
clean, the nailbrush and soap and water should be used once or oftener
daily, as circumstances demand. Once a day at least, on wiping the
hands after washing them, and whilst they are still soft from the
action of the water, the free edge of the scarfskin, which, if not
attended to, is apt to grow upward over the nails, should be gently
loosened and pressed back in a neatly rounded form, by which the
occurrence of cracks and sores about their roots (agnails, nail
springs, etc.) will be prevented, and a graceful, oval form, ending in
a crescentlike space of white, will be ensured. The skin, as a rule,
should never be cut, pared, picked or torn off, as is commonly done,
and the less it is meddled with, otherwise than in the way just
mentioned, the better. The ends or points of the nails should be pared
once every week or ten days, according to the rapidity of their
growth, which somewhat varies with the season of the year and the
habit of the individual. This is best done with a sharp penknife or
nail-knife. Scissors are less convenient for the purpose, and have the
disadvantage of straining and distorting the nails during the process.
The length and shape of the nails, both for beauty and use, should
exactly correspond with the tips of the fingers. Nails extending
beyond the ends of the fingers are vulgar, clawlike, and inconvenient;
whilst if shorter, particularly much shorter than the fingers, they
are unsightly and of little use, and cause the tips of the fingers to
become thick and clumsy. Biting the nails should be avoided as a dirty
and disagreeable habit, and one utterly destructive to their beauty,
strength, and usefulness.
To remove stains and discolorations of the nails, a little lemon juice
or vinegar and water is the best application. Should this fail, a few
grains of salt of sorrel, oxalic acid, or chloride of lime, each
diluted with warm water, may be applied, care being taken to
thoroughly rinse the hands in clean water, without soap, afterwards.
Occasionally a little pumice stone, in impalpable powder, or powdered
cuttlefish bone, putty powder (polisher's peroxide of tin), may be
used along with water and a piece of wash-leather, flannel, or the
nailbrush, for the same purpose. The frequent use of any of these
substances is, however, injurious to the healthy growth, strength, and
permanent beauty of the nails. The common practice of scraping the
surface of the nails cannot be too strongly censured, as it causes
them to become weak and distorted. Blows on the nails, and, indeed,
violence to them in any form, also distorts and marks them.
The ladies of Oriental nations commonly dye the nails; and amongst
many savage tribes the same practice is adopted, and is not confined
to the gentler sex. Amongst Western Europeans, and Americans, white
and regularly-formed nails are alone esteemed.
=Chapped Hands= are common among persons with a languid circulation, who
are continually "dabbling" in water during cold weather, and
particularly among those with a scrofulous taint, who, without the
last, expose their ungloved hands to bleak, cold winds. The best
preventives, as well as remedies, are the use of warm gloves out of
doors, and the application, night and morning, of a little glycerine,
diluted with twice its weight of water, or a little cold cream,
spermaceti cerate, salad oil, or any other simple unguent or oil,
which should be well rubbed in, the superfluous portion being removed
with a towel. This treatment will not only preserve the hands from the
effects of cold and damp, but also tend to render them soft and white.
Deep chaps which have degenerated into sores should be kept constantly
covered with a piece of lint wetted with glycerine or spread with
spermaceti ointment, the part being at the same time carefully
preserved from dirt, cold, and wind. It is said that a once favorite
actress, celebrated for the beauty of her hands, even when in the
"sere and yellow leaf," covered them nightly with the flare of a calf
or lamb, with the fat attached, over which was drawn a glove or mitten
of soft leather. The application of a little glycerine or fatty
matter, in the way just indicated, would have been equally effective.
=Warts=, like chilblains, are too well known to require description.
They chiefly attack the hands, and particularly the fingers, but
sometimes occur on other portions of the body. They may be removed by
rubbing or moistening their extremities every day, or every other day,
with lunar caustic, nitric acid, concentrated acetic acid, or aromatic
vinegar, care being taken not to wash the hands for some hours after.
The first is an extremely convenient and manageable substance, from
not being liable to drop or spread; but it produces a black stain,
which remains till the cauterized surface peels off. The second
produces a yellow stain, in depth proportioned to the strength of the
acid employed. This also wears off after the lapse of a few days. The
others scarcely discolor the skin.
=To Cause the Skin to become Satin-smooth, and to Smell like a bunch of
Violets.=--Any one using the following preparation will be noted for
the fair softness of her complexion and the delicate perfume which
emanates from her person. For ladies who like perfume, and care for a
satin-smooth skin, the following is an invaluable toilet
preparation:--
Have your druggist mix for you one ounce tincture of orris, one ounce
tincture of benzoin, ten drops oil of neroli, and ten drops oil of
lemon. To use this perfume, add a tablespoonful of it to about a pint
of warm water. It will turn as white as milk, and the real perfume
will be given off, whereas while in the bottle it has anything but a
pleasing odor. Now, after your bath, just take a soft cloth and go
over yourself with this milk, dry thoroughly, and you will smell like
a bunch of violets. The perfume may be altered to suit you, or you may
add any handkerchief extract, but don't omit the benzoin, for that is
what gives permanence to the perfume and softness and smoothness to
the skin.
=To Cause Those Who have Lost the Bloom and Fairness of Early Youth to
Regain Them.=--Many ladies who as young girls were fair with a lovely
rosy bloom, lose these beauties very early in life; very many do this
at twenty, or very little later, and become sallow and heavy-eyed,
thus losing their principal charm. Now, this is very easily remedied.
Go to your druggist and ask him for some iron pills and for some
simple purgative to take with them. Get from him directions for taking
both, and take strictly according to his directions. In a very short
time you will again be fair and rosy and your eyes bright and
sparkling; in fact, you will seem to have renewed your youth, and,
indeed, you will feel like another person, so light-hearted will you
become, in addition to your return of beauty.
THE HAIR.
=Its Estimation, Structure, Growth, Management, Etc.=--The hair is not
only invaluable as a protective covering of the head, but it gives a
finish and imparts unequalled grace to the features which it
surrounds. Sculptors and painters have bestowed on its representation
their highest skill and care, and its description and praises have
been sung in the sweetest lays by the poets of all ages. Whether in
flowing ringlets, chaste and simple bands, or graceful braids
artistically disposed, it is equally charming, and clothes with
fascination even the simplest forms of beauty.
O wondrous, wondrous, is her hair!
A braided wealth of golden brown,
That drops on neck and temples bare.
If there is one point more than another on which the tastes of mankind
appear to agree, it is that rich, luxuriant, flowing hair is not
merely beautiful in itself, but an important, nay, an essential,
auxiliary to the highest development of the personal charms. Among all
the refined nations of antiquity, as in all time since, the care,
arrangement and decoration of the hair formed a prominent and
generally leading portion of their toilet. The ancient Egyptians and
Assyrians, and other Eastern nations, bestowed on it the most
elaborate attention. The ancient Jews, like their modern descendants,
were noted for the luxuriance and richness of their hair and the care
which they devoted to it. Glossy flowing black hair is represented to
have been the glory of the ancient Jewess, and in her person to have
exhibited charms of the most imposing character; whilst the chasteness
of its arrangement was only equalled by its almost magic beauty. Nor
was this luxuriance, and this attention to the hair, confined to the
gentler sex, for among the pagan Orientals the hair and beards of the
males were not less sedulously attended to. Among the males of Judah
and Israel, long flowing ringlets appear to have been regarded as
highly desirable and attractive. The reputed beauty and the prodigious
length and weight of the hair of Absalom, the son of David, as
recorded in the sacred text, would be sufficient to startle the most
enthusiastic modern dandy that cultivates the crinal ornament of his
person. Solomon the Wise, another son of David, conceived the beauty
of hair sufficiently dignified to express figuratively the graces of
the Church.
The hair, though devoid of sensibility and unsusceptible of expression
under the influence of the will and the ordinary mental feelings, like
the mobile portions of the face, and though it may be popularly
regarded rather in the light of a parasitic growth than as an
essential portion of the body, is capable of being affected by the
stronger emotions and passions, and even of aiding their expression in
the features. Who is there that, at some period or other of his life,
if only in childhood, in a moment of sudden terror or horror, has not
experienced the sensation popularly described as "the hair standing on
end?" Or who is there that, at some time or other, has not witnessed
the partial erection of the hair in children or females under like
violent emotions, or seen the representation of it in sculptures or
paintings? Those passions, so aptly styled by Gray the "vultures of
the mind," frequently affect with wonderful rapidity the health of
both the body and the mind, which wreck the hair soon sympathizes with
and shares. Instances are recorded in which violent grief in a few
weeks has blanched the hair and anticipated the effects of age; and
others in which intense terror or horror has affected the same with
even greater celerity, the change having occurred in a few days or
even in a few hours.
Besides daily attention to the hair, something else is necessary to
insure its cleanliness and beauty and the perfect health of the skin
of the head from which it springs. For this purpose the head should
be occasionally well washed with soap and water, an abundance of water
being used and great care being subsequently taken to thoroughly rinse
out the whole of the soap with the water in which the head has been
washed. The water may be either tepid or cold, according to the
feelings or habit of the person; and if the head or hair be very
scurfy or dirty, or hard water be used, a few grains of soda (not
potash or pearlash) may be advantageously added to the water. This
will increase its detersive qualities. After the hair has been washed,
which should be done quickly, though thoroughly, it should be freed as
much as possible by pressure with the hands and then wiped with a
soft, thick towel, which should be done with care, to avoid entangling
it. After laying it straight, first with the coarse end of the
dressing comb and then with the finer portion, it may be finally
dressed.
In ordinary cases once every two or three weeks is often enough to
wash the hair and head. The extreme length of ladies' hair will
sometimes render the process of washing it very troublesome and
inconvenient. In such cases the patient and assiduous use of a clean,
good hairbrush, followed by washing the partings and the crown of the
head with soap and water, may be substituted.
The occasional washing of the head is absolutely necessary to preserve
the health of the scalp and the luxuriance and beauty of the hair when
much oil, pomatum or other greasy substance is used in dressing it.
Medical writers have frequently pointed out the ill effects of the
free or excessive use of oily or greasy articles for the hair; but
their warnings appear to be unheeded by the mass of mankind. Some
object to their use altogether. There are, however, exceptions to
every rule, and some of these exceptions are noticed elsewhere in this
volume. The ill effects referred to chiefly occur from their being
used when not required, and in excess, and are aggravated by the
neglect of thorough cleanliness.
To improve the growth and luxuriance of the hair, when languid or
defective, the only natural and perfectly safe method that can be
adopted is to promote the healthy action of the scalp by increasing
the vigor of the circulation of the blood through its minute channels.
For this purpose nothing is so simple and effective as gentle
excitation of the skin by frequent continued friction with the
hairbrush, which has the convenience of ease of application and
inexpensiveness. The same object may be further promoted by the
application of any simple cosmetic wash or other preparation that
will gently excite or stimulate the skin or exercise a tonic action on
it without clogging its pores. Strong rosemary water or rosemary tea,
and a weak solution of the essential oil of either rosemary or garden
thyme, are popular articles of this kind. They may be rendered more
stimulating by the addition of a little ammonia or a little spirit, or
both of them. The skin of the head should be moistened with these on
each occasion of dressing the hair, and their diffusion and action
promoted by the use of a clean hairbrush. Aromatized water, to which a
very little tincture or vinegar of cantharides (preferably the former)
has been added, may also be used in the same way, and is in high
repute for the purpose. When the skin is pale, lax, and wrinkled,
astringent washes may be used. Strong black tea is a convenient and
excellent application of this kind. When the skin and hair are dry,
and the latter also stiff and untractable, a little glycerine is an
appropriate addition to each of the preceding washes or lotions. The
occasional use of a little bland oil, strongly scented with oil of
rosemary or of origanum, or with both of them, or with oil of mace, or
very slightly tinctured with cantharides, is also generally very
serviceable when there is poorness and dryness of the hair. When the
hair is unnaturally greasy and lax (a defect that seldom occurs), the
use of the astringent washes just referred to, or of a little simple
oil slightly scented with the essential oil of bitter almonds, will
tend to remove or lessen it.
All the articles named above promote the glossiness and waviness of
the hair, and are also among the simplest, safest, and best
applications that can be employed when the hair is weak and begins to
fall off.
To impart some degree of curliness or waviness to the hair when it is
naturally straight, and to render it more retentive of the curl
imparted to it by papers or by other modes of dressing it, various
methods are often adopted and different cosmetics employed. The first
object appears to be promoted by keeping the hair for a time in a
state intermediate between perfect dryness and humidity, from which
different parts of its structure, being unequally affected in this
respect, will acquire different degrees of relaxation and rigidity,
and thus have a tendency to assume a wavy or slightly curly form,
provided the hair be left loose enough to allow it. For this purpose
nothing is better than washing the hair with soap and water, to which
a few grains of salt of tartar (carbonate of potash) have been added;
or it may be slightly moistened with any of the hair washes mentioned
in the last paragraph, in each half-pint of which a few grains of the
carbonate (say ten or twelve), or a teaspoonful of glycerine, has
been dissolved. The moistened hair, after the application of the
brush, should be finally loosely adjusted as desired with the
dressing-comb. The effect occurs as the hair dries. When oils are
preferable to hair washes, those strongly scented with the oil of
rosemary, to which a few drops of oil of thyme or origanum may be
added, appear to be the most useful.
To cause the hair to retain the position given to it in dressing it,
various methods and cosmetics are commonly employed. When the
arrangement is a natural one and the hair healthy and tractable, the
free use of the hairbrush will usually be sufficient for the purpose.
When this is insufficient, the application of a few drops of oil, or,
better still, moistening the hair with a little simple water, will
effect the object satisfactorily. In very elaborate and unnatural
styles of dressing the hair, and to cause it to remain in curl or to
retain its position during dancing, or violent exercise, bandoline and
cosmetique or hard pomatum are the articles commonly employed in
fashionable life. Mild ale or porter has a similar effect, and is
often substituted for the preceding expensive cosmetics. The frequent
use of any of these articles is objectionable, as they clog up the
pores of the skin and shield both it and the hair from the genial
action of the atmosphere, which is essential to their healthy vigor.
They should, hence, be subsequently removed by carefully washing the
head with a little soap and tepid water. Their use may be tolerated in
dressing for the ballroom, but on no other occasion. Simple water
skillfully employed, as noticed elsewhere, is the best and safest
mixture, and under ordinary circumstances is amply sufficient for the
purpose.
The practice of artificially changing the color of the hair, and
particularly of dyeing it, has descended to us from remote antiquity,
and though not so common in Western Europe as formerly, is still far
from infrequent at the present day. This might be inferred from the
multitude of nostrums for the purpose continually advertised in the
newspapers, and from the number of persons who announce themselves as
practicing the art, even though the keen and experienced eye did not
frequently detect instances of it, as it now does, in the hair and
beards of those we see around us. The recent rage after light auburn
or reddish hair in fashionable life has, unfortunately, greatly
multiplied these instances. The consideration of the subject, however,
in its ethical relations does not come within the province of the
present work, and I shall confine myself to pointing out how the color
of the hair may be changed in the safest and most satisfactory
manner.
To change the color of the hair various methods and preparations are
employed. The principal of these are intended to darken it, but
sometimes the contrary is aimed at. Whichever object is desired, it is
necessary that the article or preparation employed to carry it out be
not of a caustic or irritant nature, capable of injuriously affecting
the delicate skin to which it is applied, or that it may be liable to
come in contact with, as is the case with many of the nostrums vended
for the purpose. Some of the substances that necessarily enter into
the composition of hair strains and hair dyes, or that are used in
connection with them, possess these objectionable properties in a high
degree, and can, therefore, only be safely employed in a state of
proper dilution and combination. If any doubt exists respecting such
an article, it is a wise precaution to regard it with suspicion and to
test its qualities before applying it for the first time. This may be
done by placing some of it on the soft skin of the inner side of the
wrist or fore-arm, and allowing it to remain there as long, and under
the same conditions, as it is ordered to be left in contact with the
hair or skin of the head or face. In this way the injury or loss of
the hair, sores, and other serious consequences that too often follow
the use of advertised and ill-prepared hair dyes may be generally
avoided.
To gradually darken the shade of the hair on these principles,
provided its normal sulphur be still secreted by the hair-bulbs and be
still present in its structure, it will, therefore, generally be
sufficient to occasionally employ a weak solution of any of the milder
salts of iron as a hair wash. The menstruum may be water, to which a
little spirits and a few drops of oil of rosemary to increase its
stimulating qualities have been added. In applying it, the head being
first washed clean, care should be taken to thoroughly moisten the
whole surface of the hair and the skin of the head with the wash; and
its absorption and action should be promoted by the free use of a
clean hairbrush. Wine is the favorite solvent for the iron; ale and
beer are also sometimes so employed. Most of the fashionable
ferruginous hair washes also contain a few grains of acetate of copper
or distilled verdigris, the objections to which have been already
pointed out.
The daily use of oil or pomatum, with which a few grains of carbonate
of lead, lead plaster, or trisnitrate of bismuth, have been blended by
heat and careful trituration, has generally a like effect on the hair
to ferruginous solutions; so also has a leaden comb, but its action is
very uncertain. None of these last are, however, safe for
long-continued use. Atrophy of the scalp, baldness, and even local
paralysis, have sometimes, though rarely, been caused by them.
When the normal sulphur of the hair is absent, or deficient, the
preceding substances fail to darken the hair. In this case the desired
effect may often be produced by also moistening the head, say twice a
week, with water, to which a little sulphuret of potassium or
hydrosulphuret of ammonia has been added.
When it is desired to dye or darken the hair more rapidly, as in a few
hours, or even a few minutes, plumbite of lime, plumbite of potassa,
or nitrate or ammonia--nitrate of silver--is usually employed. The
first is commonly produced by the admixture of quicklime with oxide of
lead (litharge), carbonate of lead, or acetate of lead. These
ingredients should be in appropriate proportions, but very generally
the reverse is the case in those of the shops.
It may be laid down as a rule that when the lime is in greater
proportion than about two to one of the oxide, and to the
corresponding equivalents of the other substances mentioned, or when
the lime has not been prepared in a proper manner, the compound is not
safe, and very likely to prove injurious to the skin and hair-bulbs,
and perhaps to act as a depilatory. The effects of these lead dyes
arise partly in the way previously described and partly by direct
chemical action between the sulphur of the hair and the lead which
they contain, sulphuret of lead being formed in the surfacial portion
of the hair. It is on the last that their more immediate effect
depends. If there be no sulphur in the hair, they will not darken it.
After the necessary period of contact, they should be gently but
thoroughly removed from the hair and skin by rubbing them off with the
fingers, and by the use of the hairbrush, the head being then washed
clean with tepid water. Should the tint imparted by them not be deep
enough, or be too fiery, it may be darkened and turned on the brown or
black by moistening the hair the next day with a very weak solution of
sulphuret of potassium, or of hydrosulphuret of ammonia.
None of the compounds of lead stain the skin, an advantage which has
led to a preference being given to them by many persons who are clumsy
manipulators, and to the more extensive use of them than of other hair
dyes.
The salts of silver above referred to are more rapid in their action
as hair dyes than those containing lead. It is only necessary to wash
the hair quite clean and free from grease, then to moisten it with a
weak solution of one of them, and, lastly, to expose it to the light,
to effect the object in view. Sunlight will fully darken it in a few
minutes, but in diffused daylight it will take two or three hours, or
longer, to acquire the deepest shade. To avoid this delay and
inconvenience, the common practice is, a few minutes after applying
the silver solution, to moisten or wet the hair with a solution of
sulphuret of potassium, or of hydrosulphuret of ammonia. The effect is
immediate, and the full depth of shade which a silver solution of the
strength employed is capable of imparting is at once produced. A few
minutes later and the hair and skin may be rinsed with tepid water,
gently wiped dry, and the hair finally adjusted with the comb. The
effect of its application, its rapid action, and the satisfactory
nature of the effect produced, all tend to render a solution of
nitrate of silver the favorite hair dye of those who have sufficient
skill and steadiness of hand to use it properly.
It will be useful here to inform the inexperienced reader that all
solutions and compounds which contain nitrate of silver stain the skin
as well as the hair, if they be allowed to touch it. These stains may
be removed, when quite recent, by rubbing them with a piece of rag or
sponge wetted with a weak solution of potassium, of hydrosulphuret of
ammonia, or of iodide of potassium; but as this is attended with some
trouble and inconvenience, the best way is to avoid the necessity of
having recourse to it. The hairdressers commonly adopt the plan of
smearing hard pomatum or cosmetique over the skin immediately
surrounding the hair to be operated upon, in order to protect it from
the dye. By very skillful manipulation, and the observance of due
precautions, the hair may be thoroughly moistened with the silver
solution without touching the adjacent skin; but this can only be done
when the hair of the head is under treatment by a second party.
In reference to the tone and shades of color given by the substances
commonly employed to dye the hair, it may be useful to state that the
shades given by preparations of _iron_ and _bismuth_ range from dark
brown to black; those given by the salts of silver, from a fine
natural chestnut to deep brown and black, all of which are rich and
unexceptional. The shades given by lead vary from reddish-brown and
auburn to black; and when pale or when the dye has been badly applied
or compounded, are generally of a sandy, reddish hue, often far from
agreeable. However, this tendency of the lead dyes has recently led to
their extensive use to impart that peculiar tint to the light hair of
ladies and children which is now so fashionable. Other substances,
hereafter referred to, are, however, preferable, as imparting a more
pleasing hue.
The reddish tint produced by lead, as already hinted, may be generally
darkened into a brown, more or less rich, by subsequently moistening
the hair with a weak solution of either sulphuret of potassium or
hydrosulphuret of ammonia.
The favorite compounds for external use in baldness, and, perhaps, the
most convenient and best, are such as owe their stimulating quality to
cantharides or Spanish flies, or to their active principle,
cantharidine. This application of these drugs has received the
sanction of the highest medical authorities, both in Europe and
America. The leading professional hair-restorers now rely almost
exclusively on cantharides, and all the more celebrated advertised
nostrums for restoring the hair contain it as their active ingredient.
Oils and pomades, very strongly impregnated with the essential oil of
garden thyme (origanum) and rosemary, and lotions or liniments
containing ammonia with a like addition of these essential oils,
probably come next in the frequency of their use as popular
restoratives of the hair in actual and incipient baldness.
=To Have Elegant Hair.=--Every girl should have thick, magnificent hair.
It is essential to clip the ends of the hair once a month after a
child is four years of age. Ammonia and warm water is an excellent
wash for the hair and scalp, and gives life and vigor to it when all
other articles fail.
=Wild Rose Curling Fluid.=--Take two drams (avoirdupois) dry salt of
tartar; (carbonate of potassa) powdered cochineal, half dram; liquor
of ammonia and spirit de rose, each one fluid dram; glycerine,
one-fourth ounce; rectified spirit, one and one-half imperial fluid
ounces; distilled water, eighteen ounces; digest with agitation for a
week, and then decant or filter. The hair to be moistened with it, and
then loosely adjusted. The effect occurs as it dries.
=To Cause the Hair to Grow very Thick.=--One of the most powerful
stimulants for the growth of the hair is the following: Take a quarter
of an ounce of the chippings of alkanet root, tie in a scrap of coarse
muslin, and suspend it in a jar containing eight ounces of sweet oil
for a week, covering it from the dust. Add to this sixty drops
tincture of cantharides, ten drops oil of rose, sixty drops of neroli,
and sixty drops oil of lemon. Let this stand twenty days, closely
corked, and you will have one of the greatest hair-invigorators and
hair-growers that this world has ever produced.
=Lola Montez Hair Coloring.=--This celebrated woman published the
following, and claimed that it was as harmless as any preparation that
would really color the hair: Ten grains of gallic acid, one ounce of
acetic acid, one ounce of tincture of sesgurichloride of iron.
Dissolve the gallic acid, sesgurichloride, and add the acetic acid.
Wash the hair with soap and water; when dried, apply the dye by
dipping a fine comb in it and drawing through the hair so as to color
the roots thoroughly. Let it dry, then oil and brush well.
=Hair Restorative.=--Four drams oxide bismuth, four drams spermaceti,
four ounces pure hog's lard. The lard and spermaceti should be melted
together. When nearly cool, stir in the bismuth and perfume. Prevents
the hair from turning gray, and restores gray hair.
=For Bald Heads.=--A most valuable remedy for promoting the growth of
the hair is an application, once or twice a day, of wild indigo and
alcohol. Take four ounces of wild indigo and steep it about a week or
ten days in a pint of alcohol and a pint of hot water, when it will be
ready for use. The head must be thoroughly washed with the liquid,
morning and evening, application being made with a sponge or soft
brush.
Another excellent preparation is composed of three ounces of castor
oil, with just enough alcohol to cut the oil, to which add twenty
drops tincture of cantharides, and perfume to suit. This not only
softens and imparts a gloss to the hair, but also invigorates and
strengthens the roots of the hair.
=Excellent Hair Wash.=--Take one ounce of borax, half an ounce of
camphor; powder these ingredients very fine and dissolve them in one
quart boiling water. When cool the solution will be ready for use.
Dampen the hair frequently. This wash effectually cleanses,
beautifies, and strengthens the hair, preserves the color, and
prevents early baldness. The camphor will form into lumps after being
dissolved, but the water will be sufficiently impregnated.
=To Cure Baldness.=--Cologne water, two ounces; tincture of cantharides,
two drams; oil of lavender or rosemary, of each ten drops. These
applications must be used twice a day for three or four weeks, but if
the scalp becomes sore they may be discontinued for a time or used at
longer intervals.
When the hair falls off, from diminished action of the scalp,
preparations of cantharides are excellent. The following will cause
the hair to grow faster than any other preparation: Beef marrow
(soaked in several waters, melted and strained), half a pound;
tincture cantharides (made by soaking for a week one dram of powdered
cantharides in one ounce of proof spirit), one ounce; oil of bergamot,
twelve drops.
=Stimulants for the Hair.=--Vinegar and water form a good wash for the
roots of the hair. A solution of ammonia is often used with good
effect for the same purpose. For removing scurf, glycerine diluted
with a little rose-water will be found of service. Any preparation of
rosemary forms an agreeable and highly cleansing wash. The yolk of an
egg beaten up in warm water is a most nutritious application to the
scalp. A very good application is made in this way: Take an ounce of
powdered borax and a small piece of camphor and dissolve in a quart of
boiling water. The hair must afterwards be washed in warm water. Many
heads of hair require nothing more in the way of wash than soap and
water. The following recipe will strengthen the hair and prevent its
falling out: Vinegar of cantharides, half an ounce; eau de cologne,
one ounce; rose-water, one ounce. The scalp should be brushed briskly
until it becomes red, and the lotion should then be applied to the
roots of the hair twice a day.
=The Golden Hair Secret.=--The rage for light, gold color, or even red
hair, which has prevailed for some time, has led to various expedients
for procuring it. Many ladies have sacrificed fine heads of hair, and
in place of their own dark tresses have adopted light wigs; but the
prevailing absurdity has been the use of strong alkalies for the
purpose of turning dark hair light. This is the purpose of the
ausicomus fluid, which may be procured of any hairdresser; but we warn
our fair readers that the use of these products is apt to be
disappointing. They certainly will turn black to a brick-dust hue, but
the color is often disagreeable. It is apt to present itself in
patches in different hues, and the effect on the hair is terrible--it
often rots and crumbles away. In place of this absurd practice, we
recommend the following as available for trying the effect for dress
purpose: Procure a packet of gold powder of the hairdresser. Have
ready a very weak solution of gum and water, and one of the small
perfume vaporizers now in use. When the hair has been dressed,
sprinkle it with gum and water by means of the vaporizer and then
shower on the gold powder. It may be put on thick enough to hide the
color of the hair, and owing to the gum it cannot be danced off. The
effect by artificial light is beautiful.
=For Keeping the Hair Crimped or Curled in Summer.=--A quarter of an
ounce of gum tragacanth, one pint rose-water, and five drops of
glycerine; mix and let stand over night. If the tragacanth is not
dissolved, let it remain half a day longer; if it is thick add more
rose-water and let it remain for some hours. If then it is a smooth
solution, nearly as thin as glycerine, it is fit for use. Dampen the
hair before crimping or curling.
=To Bleach the Hair.=--It has been found in the bleaching of hair that
gaseous chlorine is the most effectual. The hair should be cleaned for
that purpose by a warm solution of soda and washed afterwards with
water. While moist it is put into a jar with chlorine gas introduced
until the air in the jar looks greenish. Allow it to remain on for
twenty-four hours, and then, if necessary, repeat the operation.
=A New French Remedy for Baldness.=--Croton oil, one of the best French
remedies for baldness, is employed by simply adding to it oil or
pomade, and stirring or agitating the two together until admixture or
solution is complete. The formula adopted by the eminent French
physician who introduced this remedy, and who speaks in the most
confident and enthusiastic way of the success attending its use, is:
Take croton oil, twelve drops (minims); oil of almonds, four troy
grains. Mix. A little is to be well rubbed on the scalp twice a day.
Soft down, we are assured, appears in three weeks.
=For Improving the Hair.=--_Palma Christi oil for thickening the hair_:
Take one ounce of Palma Christi oil, add oil of lavender or bergamot
to scent it. Let it be well brushed into the hair for two or three
months, particularly applying it to those parts where it may be most
desirable to render the hair luxuriant. This is a simple and valuable
oil, and not in the hands of any monopolist.
=To Dye the Hair Flaxen.=--We have heard the following is effective:
Take a quart of lye prepared from the ashes of vine twigs, briony,
celandine roots, and tumeric, of each half an ounce; saffron and lily
roots, of each two drams; flowers of mullein, yellow stechas, broom,
and St. John's wort, of each a dram. Boil these together and strain
off the liquor clear. Frequently wash the hair with the fluid, and it
will change it, we are told, in a short time to a beautiful flaxen
color.
=A Powder for Preserving the Hair.=--The following powder has the name
of facilitating the regeneration of the hair and strengthening its
roots. Still more valuable properties have been ascribed to it, such
as that of rousing the imagination to vigorous efforts and
strengthening the memory--delightful properties if they could be
realized by such simple means. Take an ounce and a half of red roses;
a small quantity each of calamus aromaticus (sweet-scented flag), and
of the long cyperus; an ounce of benzoin; six drams of aloes (the wood
of); half an ounce of red coral, and the same quantity of amber; four
ounces of bean flour; and eight ounces of the root of Florentine iris.
Let the whole be mixed together and reduced to a very fine powder, to
which add a few grains of musk. This powder is to be sprinkled on the
hair in the same manner as hair powder is generally used, and, having
remained for a time embedded with the hair, to be removed by means of
comb and brush; and to be occasionally applied and removed. It is said
to regenerate the hair and strengthen the roots, and to possess the
properties which are above enumerated.
=To Make the Hair Grow and to Prevent It from Falling.=--The following
recipes are selected from a work published some years ago in Paris,
entitled "Manuel Cosmetique des Plantes":--
Take the roots of young vines, the roots of hemp, and young cabbages,
of each two handfuls. Dry, and then burn them. Make afterwards a lye
with the ashes. Before the head is washed with this lye it must be
rubbed with honey, and continue both for three successive days. This
will not only make the hair grow, but restore it upon bald places,
under certain habits and constitutions of body. Pulverize some parsley
seed, and use it as hair powder for three nights at the commencement
of the year, and it will prevent your hair from falling.
=To Make the Hair Grow Quick.=--Dip, every morning, the teeth of your
comb in the juice of nettles, and comb the hair against the grain.
=Mixture for Shampoo.=--Bay rum, one pint; tincture of cantharides, one
dram; carbonate of ammonia, one half dram; salts tartar, one half
dram. Mix.
=To Prevent the Hair Falling Out.=--Boxwood shavings, six ounces; proof
spirit, twelve ounces; spirits of rosemary, two ounces; spirits of
nutmeg, one half ounce. Mix.
=Wash for Scald Heads.=--Take one half ounce of sulphate of potassa, one
pint of lime water, one ounce of soap liniment. Mix, and apply to the
head two or three times a day.
POWDERS AND THEIR USES.
The powders usually sold by druggists are injurious to the complexion,
owing to harmful ingredients. If a powder is perfectly pure, a
moderate use of it will not harm the complexion, but if it is impure
it soon causes the face to turn sallow and yellow. The following is
perfectly pure, and is a splendid article, giving a lovely, refined
complexion:--
=Boston Burnet Powder for the Face.=--Five cents' worth of bay rum, five
cents' worth of magnesia snowflake, five cents' worth of bergamot,
five cents' worth oil of lemon; mix in a pint bottle and fill up with
rain water. Perfectly harmless, and splendid.
=Queen Bess Complexion Wash.=--Put in a vial one dram of benzoin gum in
powder, one dram nutmeg oil, six drops of orange-blossom tea or apple
blossoms; put in half a pint of rain water, and boiled down to a
spoonful, and strained; one-pint of sherry wine. Bathe the face
morning and night; it will remove all flesh-worms and freckles, and
give a beautiful complexion. Or, put one ounce of powdered gum benzoin
in a pint of whisky. To use: Put in water in washbowl till it is
milky.
FLESH-WORMS--TO CURE.
Black specks on the nose disfigure the face. Remove by washing
thoroughly in tepid water, rubbing with a towel, and applying with a
soft flannel a lotion made of three ounces of cologne and half an
ounce of liquor of potash.
TO WHITEN THE SKIN AND REMOVE FRECKLES AND TAN.
Bathe three times a day in a preparation of three quarts water, one
quart alcohol, two ounces of cologne and one of borax, in proportion
of two teaspoons mixture to two tablespoons soft water.