Salt Rheum.—Take half pound litharge, one quart sharp vinegar, simmer over the fire till the litharge is dissolved; add one pound hog’s lard, tallow, fresh butter, and the fine dust of guiacum; apply a moderate heat till the vinegar is principally evaporated; stir till cold. Anoint the parts twice a day. This has cured very obstinate cases.
To Cleanse the Blood.—Sarsaparilla, burdock roots, lignumvitæ and spice bush, in tea or syrup, with tar ointment made with mutton tallow.
Indigestion.—Take one quart of Lisbon wine, put in four ounces of Peruvian bark, three ounces of steel dust and one ounce of ginger; take a wine glass full four times a day, morning, noon and night, half an hour before eating; after supper, put two teaspoonsful of magnesia in water, and take before going to bed; to relieve the wind in the stomach, take a teaspoonful of ether in cold water.
Distress in Stomach and Breast.—Inside bark of white pine and tamarac twigs of this year’s growth, a large handful of each, and two large wild turnips; boil in three quarts of water down to three pints; strain and add half a pound loaf sugar and half pint rum; bottle it close. Dose—half a gill three times a day, an hour before you eat.
Fits.—One drachm flowers of pine, one drachm extract of stramonium and fifteen grains assafœtida; make into pills the size of a pea. Take one every night.
Diabetes.—Take equal parts of the roots of Solomon’s seal and comfrey roots, and half as much spikenard; boil twelve hours and sweeten with honey; take sufficient to nauseate the stomach, three times a day; use medical beer with plenty sumach roots in it. Wash the abdomen every day with a wash made of equal parts tincture cantharadus and cinnamon water, mixed.
Plaster.—Four ounces rosin, one ounce beeswax, half ounce each black and red pepper; put the whole into one pint of spirits, and simmer till it becomes thick; when nearly cold, add half ounce sassafras oil and half ounce gum camphor pulverized; spread on leather.
Asthma.—The vegetables which compose these drops, present themselves about the last of July or first of August, and should be procured at that time. Take half pound garden rue, one pound garden colt’s-foot, one pound tops and blows of purple vervain, half pound green tobacco leaves, half pound hyssop, one pound hoarhound, one pound arsmart, half pound oak Jerusalem, half pound elecampane roots and half pound sweet cicely roots.
Pound these ingredients in an iron mortar, boil them twelve hours, then throw out the roots and put half a pound rock weed, called spleenwort; then add four ounces stick licorice, two ounces seneca snake root and two ounces annis seed; boil down to one quart, then strain and boil down to one pint; add one ounce refined licorice, half pound loaf sugar, half pound of honey—bumble bee honey, if it can be procured. These drops must be corked tight in tin vessels; after fermentation, add an ounce of red cedar oil. Take one teaspoonful twice a day.
For Relaxation of the Solids.—Take four drachms each of colt’s-foot and sweet cicely, three ounces hartshorn rasped, two drachms guaiacum, two drachms each comfrey, Solomon’s seal and spikenard roots, and one drachm elecampane; boil or simmer all in a suitable quantity of water to three pints; strain and add one pound of honey; simmer, stir and strain again; when cold, add a pint of Madeira wine and bottle for use. Dose—half a gill three times a day.