Tar Water.—One gallon of water, one quart of good tar; shake well for ten minutes, and let it stand four days, then bottle it up; for pleurisy, palsy, scrofula and salt rheum, drink warm every three hours. In fact, it is good for consumptive and debilitated females.
Cleansing and Strengthening Syrup.—Take equal parts of spikenard, spruce, sage, sarsaparilla, tamarac, garden rhubarb, elder roots, the bark of burdock roots, aven roots, wintergreen (such as bears the small red berry and grows low), water cresses, white Solomon’s seed, Johnwort, sweet egrimony, princes feather, swamp brake or plenty root, one pound of raisins, two ounces saffron; put all into an earthen pot, adding four quarts of water, and cover close; let them stand six hours to soak, then add three quarts of water; boil all together, and keep hot nine hours, then strain and add one pound of loaf sugar; boil six minutes, let it cool and then add half a pint of the best brandy. Take a wine glass full morning, noon and at bed time; take it one hour before eating. At the same time drink a tea made from white maple bark, (some call it whistle-wood); drink freely.
Indian Beer.—Take five quarts of spring water, one quart of wheat bran, half pint of good tar, half pint of honey; simmer these three hours over a slow fire, in an earthen pot, and when cool add half pint of emptyings; when worked, drink a wine glass full three times a day, or less, as the patient can bear.
Eye Water.—Take three pints of rain water, to this add one tablespoonful of fine salt; boil lightly three minutes, and put it into bottles without straining; let it stand, and put into the eyes night and morning.
For the Dropsy.—Make a tea of poke root, sliced fine, one ounce and a half; put this into one pint of white wine, add two tablespoonsful of ground mustard seed, and let it stand twenty-four hours. Drink a wine glass full every morning.
Another: Take half an ounce of Indian hemp, and add one quart of boiling water; simmer down to one pint, and add two ounces of cream tartar, half an ounce of ginger, one tablespoonful of brown sugar. Give the patient one tablespoonful every three hours, and increase if the patient can bear it. Use it moderately as it is powerful.
Composition.—Take two pounds bayberry bark, one pound ginger, one pound pulverized hemlock bark, one ounce cayenne pepper, one ounce cloves, all pulverized; mix thoroughly and sift. It is particularly useful as a convenient family medicine in sudden colds, febrile attacks, hoarseness, sore throat, coughs, influenza, toothache, pain in the stomach, bowels, or other parts of the body, rheumatism, cold hands and feet, diarrhœa, dysentery, colic, croup, giddiness, hysteria, mumps, jaundice, worms, nervous disorders, and the various affections of the skin.
Directions.—For a grown persen half a teaspoonful of the powder and add a little loaf sugar, rub them together and add half a pint of boiling water; drink the tea as hot as you can bear it. There is no occasion for swallowing the grounds, as is a common practice, for the strength of the medicine will be extracted by the boiling water, and the sediment can have no other effect than to clog and irritate the stomach. When the tea is taken the patient should be in bed with a warm brick at their feet, or sitting by a fire wrapped in a blanket, to create perspiration.
For a Scald Head.—Take of hops and wood soot, four ounces each, and three pints of water; boil down to half a pint, then strain and add four ounces fresh butter; let it simmer till the water is out; use every day. Or, beef’s gall, dried to the consistence of a salve, spread on linen, and let it remain for five days; then make use of the soot ointment.
For Deafness.—Take a turnip, wrapped in brown paper, and put it in a bed of hot ashes; when cooked take it out and squeeze out the juice, and put it in bottles. Use by putting three drops on a piece of cotton every other day.