How to Cure Cholera.—Take laudanum, tincture cayenne, compound tincture rhubarb, peppermint, and camphor, of each equal parts. Dose, ten to thirty drops. In plain terms, take equal parts tincture of opium, red pepper, rhubarb, peppermint and camphor, and mix them for use. In case of diarroea, take a dose of ten to twenty drops in three or four teaspoonfuls of water. No one who has this by him, and takes it in time, will ever have the cholera.
Signs of Disease in Children.—In the case of a baby not yet able to talk, it must cry when it is ill. The colic baby cry loud, long, and passionately, and shed tears—stopping for a moment and beginning again.
If the chest is affected, it gives one sharp cry, breaking off immediately, as if crying hurt it.
If the head is affected, it cries in sharp, piercing shrieks, with low moans and wails between. Or there may be quiet dozing, and startings between.
It is easy enough to perceive, where a child is attacked by disease, that there has some change taken place; for either its skin will be dry and hot, its appetite gone; it is stupidly sleepy, or fretful or crying; it is thirsty, or pale and languid, or in some way betrays that something is wrong. When a child vomits, or has a diarrhoea, or is costive and feverish, it is owing to some derangement, and needs attention. But these various symptoms may continue for a day or two before the nature of the disease can be determined. A warm bath, warm drinks, etc., can do no harm, and may help to determine the case. On coming out of the bath, and being well rubbed with the hand, the skin will show symptoms of rash, if it is a skin disease which has commenced. By the appearance of the rash, the nature of the disease can be learned. Measles are in patches, dark red, and come out first about the face. If scarlet fever is impending, the skin will look a deep pink all over the body, though most so about the neck and face. Chicken-pox shows fever, but not so much running at the nose, and appearances of cold, as in measles, nor is there as much of a cough. Besides, the spots are smaller, and do not run much together, and are more diffused over the whole surface of the skin; and enlarge into blisters in a day or two.
How to Cure Consumption.—Take one tablespoonful of tar, and the yolks of three hen's eggs, beat them well together. Dose, one tablespoonful morning, noon and night.
Croup, Remedy for in One Minute.—This remedy is simply alum. Take a knife or grater, and shave or grate off in small particles about a teaspoonful of alum; mix it with about twice its quantity of sugar, to make it palatable, and administer as quickly as possible. Its effects will be truly magical, as almost instantaneous relief will be afforded.
Cholera Remedy, Hartshorne's.—Take of chloroform, tincture of opium, spirits of camphor, and spirits of aromatic ammonia, each one and one-half fluid drachms; creosote, three drops; oil of cinnamon, eight drops; brandy, two fluid drachms. Dilute a teaspoonful with a wine-glass of water, and give two teaspoonfuls every five minutes, followed by a lump of ice.
Cure for Dandruff.—Good mild soap is one of the safest remedies, and is sufficient in ordinary cases; carbonate of potash or soda is too alkaline for the skin. Every application removes a portion of the cuticle, as you may observe by the smoothness of the skin of your hands after washing them with it. Borax is recommended; but this is also soda combined with a weak acid, boracic acid, and may by protracted use also injuriously act on the scalp. Soap is also soda or potash combined with the weak, fatty acids; and when the soap contains an excess of the alkalies or is sharp, it is as injurious as the carbonate of potash. All that injures the scalp injures the growth of the hair. One of the best applications from the vegetable kingdom is the mucilaginous decoction of the root of the burdock, called bardane in French (botanical name, Lappa Minor). In the mineral kingdom the best remedy is a solution of flowers of sulphur in water, which may be made by the addition of a very small portion of sulphide of potassium, say ten or twenty grains to the pint. This solution is shaken up with the sulphur, and the clear liquid remaining on the top is used. This recipe is founded on the fact that sulphur is a poison for inferior vegetable or animal growth, like dandruff, itch, etc., and is not at all a poison for the superior animal like man.
How to Cure Diphtheria.—A French physician expresses his preference for lemon juice, as a local application in diphtheria, to chlorate of potash, nitrate of silver, perchloride of lime water. He uses it by dipping a little plug of cottonwood, twisted around a wire, in the juice, and pressing it against the diseased surface four or five times daily.