THE SICK ROOM AND NURSERY.
Improved Mode of Administering Senna.—Take of senna three drachms; lesser cardamom-seeds, husked and bruised, half a drachm; boiling water, as much as will yield a filtered infusion of six ounces. Digest for an hour, and filter when cold. This is a well-contrived purgative infusion, the aromatic correcting the drastic efforts of the senna. It is of advantage that it should be used freshly prepared, as it is apt to spoil very quickly.
Warm Water.—Warm water is preferable to cold water, as a drink to persons who are subject to dyspeptic and bilious complaints, and it may be taken more freely than cold water, and consequently answers better as a diluent for carrying off bile, and removing obstructions in the urinary secretion in cases of stone and gravel. When water of a temperature equal to that of the human body is used for drink, it proves considerably stimulant, and is particularly suited to dyspeptic, bilious, gouty, and chlorotic subjects.
Barley-water.—To make good barley-water, choose the best pearl-barley, boil it for a few minutes, then throw away the water and add fresh, in the proportion of a pint to an ounce of barley. Boil quickly, and then let it simmer for an hour; strain and sweeten; flavor with lemon, or according to taste. It is a very mucilaginous drink, and beneficial to invalids.
Advantages of Cleanliness.—Health and strength cannot be long continued unless the skin, all the skin, is washed frequently with a sponge or other means. Every morning is best, after which the skin should be rubbed very well with a rough cloth. This is the most certain way of preventing cold, and a little substitute for exercise, as it brings blood to the surface, and causes it to circulate well through the fine capillary vessels. Labor produces this circulation naturally. The insensible perspiration cannot escape well if the skin is not clean, as the pores get choked up. It is said that in health about half the aliment we take passes out through the skin.
Antidote to Arsenic.—Magnesia is an antidote to arsenic, equally efficacious with peroxide of iron, and preferable to it, inasmuch as it is completely innocuous in almost any quantity, and can be procured in any form.
Remedy for Toothache.—Take of alum, in powder, two drachms; spirit of nitre, seven drachms. Mix, and apply it to the teeth.
To Assist the Hearing of Elderly Persons when Suffering from Deafness.—Deafness is usually accompanied with confused sounds, and noises of various kinds in the inside of the ear itself; in such cases, insert a piece of cotton wool, on which a very little oil of cloves or cinnamon has been dropped.
Rheumatic Embrocation.—Take of spirit of turpentine, spirit of hartshorn, liquid opodeldoc, of each one ounce.