422. For Diarrhœa.—Fill a tea-cup with dry flour, press it down, and cover it with a buttered cloth, tying it very closely; boil it three hours, when turn it out to cool into a hard mass. Grate a tea or a dessert-spoonful of it into peppermint water for children, or into a glass of port wine for adults.
423. Chalk Mixture.—Mix half an ounce of prepared chalk, the same of lump sugar, and one ounce of powdered gum Arabic, with a pint of water. This is an excellent remedy for diarrhœa.
424. Fig Paste for Constipation.—Cut up small one pound of figs, and mix it with two ounces of senna carefully picked over, and one tea-cupful of molasses; stew it till it becomes thoroughly mixed and firm; then cool it. A piece about half as large as a fig will generally be sufficient.
425. Laxatives.—Infusions of Epsom salts and senna are often taken as laxatives, or opening medicines. It is a well-known fact, that a tea-spoonful of salts in a tumbler of cold water, if drunk before breakfast, is as effectual a dose as the usual ounce. Senna, too, if steeped in cold water, is equally efficacious, and free from the nauseous bitter taste which it has when infused in boiling water.
426. To cure Boils.—Boil in half a pint of milk one table-spoonful of shot; pour it off, and drink it in small doses.