This was freely employed by the late Dr. Parrish in cholera at its commencement. Taken warm, it produces vomiting, and washes out the stomach.
1369. Essence of Beef.—Put into a porter bottle a sufficient quantity of lean beef, sliced, to fill up its body, cork it with a paper stopple, and place it in a pot of cold water, attaching the neck, by means of a string, to the handle of the vessel. Boil this for three-quarters of an hour, then pour off the liquor, and skim it. To this preparation may be added spices and salt.
1370. A very reviving Odor.—Fill with recently gathered, and dried lavender-flowers, stripped from their stalks, small wide-necked scent-bottles, and just cover them with strong acetic acid. A morsel of camphor, the size of a hazel-nut, may be added, with advantage, to the lavender, in each bottle. Sound, new, and closely fitting corks should be used, to secure the mixture from the air. It is exceedingly refreshing and wholesome, and has often proved very acceptable to invalids. The lavender should be gathered for it before it is quite fully blown.
1371. Easy Method of obtaining Water in almost any situation.—The ground must be perforated by a borer. In the perforation is placed a wooden pipe, which is driven down with a mallet, after which the boring is continued, that the pipe may be driven still farther. In proportion as the cavity of the borer becomes loaded, it is drawn up and emptied; and in time, by the addition of new portions of wooden pipe, the boring is carried to any depth, and water is generally obtained.
1372. Method of Draining Ponds in Level Grounds.—At a certain distance below the surface of the earth, there sometimes is a stratum of loose sand, which freely admits the passage of water. This stratum is at various depths, in different elevations; but it will be generally found, that lands most subject to stagnant ponds have but a shallow stratum of clay over the sand. All that is necessary, therefore, is to dig a pit in the bottom of the pond, till you arrive at this stratum of sand, when the water will be immediately absorbed, and the pond emptied.