Turn a pint of alcohol slowly on to an ounce and a half of the oil of lavender, two drachms of ambergris. Keep the lavender water in a tight-corked bottle—it should be shook up well when first put in.
Mix with a table-spoonful of vinegar enough powdered chalk to destroy the acidity. Let it settle—then turn off the vinegar from the chalk carefully, and dry it perfectly. Whenever you wish to purify an infected room, put in a few drops of sulphuric acid—the fumes arising from it will purify a room where there has been any infectious disorder. Care is necessary in using it, not to inhale the fumes, or to get any of the acid on your garments, as it will corrode whatever it touches.
Boil a couple of ounces of barley, in two quarts of water, till soft—pearl barley is the best, but the common barley answers very well. When soft, strain and mix it with a little currant jelly, to give it a pleasant, acid taste. If the jelly is not liked, turn it, when boiled soft, on to a couple of ounces of figs or raisins, and boil it again, till reduced to one quart, then strain it for use.
Put a large spoonful of unground rice into six gills of boiling water, with a stick of cinnamon or mace. Strain it when boiled soft, and add half a pint of new milk—put in a tea-spoonful of salt, and boil it a few minutes longer. If you wish to make the gruel of rice flour, mix a table-spoonful of it, smoothly, with three of cold water, and stir it into a quart of boiling water. Let it boil, five or six minutes, stirring it constantly. Season it with salt, a little butter, and add, if you like, nutmeg and white sugar to your taste.
Mix a couple of table-spoonsful of Indian meal with one of wheat flour, and sufficient cold water to make a thick batter. If the gruel is liked thick, stir it into a pint of boiling water—if liked thin, more water will be necessary. Season the gruel with salt, and let it boil six or eight minutes, stirring it frequently—then take it from the fire, put in a piece of butter, of the size of a walnut, and pepper to the taste. Turn it on toasted bread, cut in small pieces.