The time required to digest different kinds of food:—
| Hours | |
| Roasted pork | 5.15 |
| Salt beef (boil'd) | 4.15 |
| Veal (boiled) | 4.00 |
| Boiled hens | 4.00 |
| Roasted mutton | 3.15 |
| Boiled beef | 3.30 |
| Roasted beef | 3.00 |
| Raw oysters | 2.45 |
| Roasted turkey | 2.30 |
| Boiled milk | 2.00 |
| Boiled codfish | 2.00 |
| Venison steak | 1.35 |
| Trout (broiled) | 1.30 |
| Tripe | 1.00 |
| Pig's feet | 1.00 |
| Eggs (hard boil'd) | 3.30 to 5.30 |
| Eggs (soft boil'd) | 3.00 |
The above is taken from Beaumont's "Experiments on Digestion." Dalton comments on these observations as follows: "These results would not always be precisely the same for different persons, since there are variations in this respect according to age and temperament. Thus, in most instances, mutton would probably be equally digestible with beef, or perhaps more so; and milk, which in some persons is easily digested, in others is disposed of with considerable difficulty. But as a general rule, the comparative digestibility of different substances is no doubt correctly expressed by the above list."
To Ascertain Pure Milk.—Take an extra quart of milk any day from your milkman and put it in a glass jar, an ordinary fruit-jar will do; set it away and await results. The proportion of cream on top shows the richness of the milk. Let it alone until it turns to clabber, and if there is any water in it, it will appear between the cream and the clabber. After fermentation sets in, the water will sink to the bottom. If there has been no water put into the milk, none will show. By trying milk from different milkmen, you can readily see which is the best.
We will add under food that eggs should be kept in oak or porcelain receptacles, not in pine boxes, as they partake of the odor of the pine.
Freckles.—A young lady of St. Louis says: "I accidentally discovered a sovereign remedy a couple of years ago, which costs next to nothing. One day the plumber shut our water off, and I could get none in which to wash my face. I was fearfully soiled, and, looking out of the window just then, I saw a friend approaching to call on me. Glancing about me, I noticed half a water-melon from which the meat had been removed some time before. It was partly filled with juice, and I hastily washed my face in it. The result was so soothing that I repeatedly washed my face in that manner. Judge of my astonishment a few days later on seeing that there was not a freckle left on my face."
Gargle.—An excellent gargle for general use is:—
Chloras Potass., 3 ounces.
Tannin, 2 drachms.
Dissolve one teaspoonful in half a pint of water, which will keep for several days. For bronchial trouble or bleeding at the lungs, gargle the throat often; but for general cleanliness, gargle a little every morning; for catarrh, not only gargle but snuff some up the nose.
Hair.—To prevent hair from falling out, headache, neuralgia, brain fever, etc., the hair should be worn comparatively short by both sexes, washed and dried every day. To preserve the hair this is a good recipe: Take a teaspoonful of dried sage; boil it in a quart of water for twenty minutes. Strain it off and add a piece of borax the size of an English walnut; pulverize the borax. Put the sage tea, when cold, into a quart bottle; add the borax; shake well together and put in a cool place. Brush the hair thoroughly and rub and wash well on the head with the hand; then, after a good hard rubbing, brush the hair well before a fire, so that it will become perfectly dry. Never use a fine-tooth comb, as it irritates the skin, and consequently inflames the roots of the hair.