The frequent use of any sea-sickness preventive is, however, attended with danger.
468. Valuable properties of Cherry-tree Gum.—The gum that exudes from the trunk and branches of the cherry-tree is equal to gum-Arabic. Hasselquist relates that, during a siege, more than an hundred men were kept alive for two months nearly, without any other sustenance than a little of this gum taken into the mouth sometimes, and suffered gradually to dissolve.
469. How to get Sleep.—How to get sleep is to many persons a matter of high importance. Nervous persons who are troubled with wakefulness and excitability, usually have a strong tendency of blood on the brain, with cold extremities. The pressure of the blood on the brain keeps it in a stimulated or wakeful state, and the pulsations in the head are often painful. Let such rise and chafe the body and extremities with a brush or towel, or rub smartly with the hands to promote circulation and withdraw the excessive amount of blood from the brain, and you will sleep in a few moments. A cold bath, or a sponge bath and rubbing, or a good run, or a rapid walk in the open air, or going up or down stairs a few times, just before retiring, will aid in equalizing circulation, and promoting sleep. These rules are simple and easy of application in castle or cabin, and minister to the comfort of thousands who would freely expend money for an anodyne to promote "Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep."
470. Remedy for Bad Breath.—Take from five to ten drops of muriatic acid, in an ale-glassful of barley-water, and add a little lemon-juice and lemon-peel to flavor; mix for a draught to be taken three times a day, for a month or six weeks at least, and, if effectual, it may be continued occasionally. Another medicine of this kind, which has often proved beneficial when the stomach has been wrong, and the bowels costive, is the following: Take one drachm of sulphate of magnesia, two drachms of tincture of calumba, one ounce and a half of infusion of roses; make a draught, to be taken every morning, or every other morning, an hour before breakfast, for at least a month.
471. Corpulence.—Those who are afflicted with corpulence should not allow themselves above six hours' sleep in the twenty-four. They should take as much exercise as possible, and avoid cream, malt liquors and soups—at least until they have succeeded in reducing their bulk. Salt provisions are good, having a tendency to promote perspiration, and carry off fat. Soda water is also beneficial. Recipe: Take Castile soap, in the form of pills, or electuary, of from one to four drachms dissolved in a quarter of a pint of soft water, when going to bed. But let not our lovely girls abuse their constitutions by drinking vinegar for this purpose, for consumption has often been produced by that habit.