How They Did It In the 1870's






<PRE>
by William B. Dick

Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes or How They Did It In the 1870s.
It is 607 pages and has 6,422 entries.

Just an example of the thousands the book supplies.

1188.
Barber's Shampoo Mixture
Shampooing is a term used for cleansing the head and hair.  Salts of tartar
(carbonate of potassa) is the principle article used by barbers for this
purpose.  Dissolve 1 ounce salts of tartar in 1 quart soft water; sprinkle
freely on the head and rub well till a lather is formed; wash off with clean
water.  Bay rum can than be used if desired.

5498. Treatment of Scratches.
Do not neglect them.  Wash them in cold water; close them as much as you
can, and cover with diachylon plaster.  If there is inflammation, apply a
bread poultice, or one of slippery elm.

5500. Treatment of Cuts.
The divided parts should be drawn close together, and held so with small
pieces of strapping or adhesive plaster stretched across the wound, or by
the application of collodion.  If the part be covered with blood, it should
first be wiped off with a sponge.  When the wound is large, and the parts
much exposed, a good method is to sew it up.  The application of a little
creosote will generally stop local bleeding, provided it be applied to the
clean extremities of the wounded vessels.  A good way is to place a piece of
lint, moistened with creosote, on the wound previously wiped clean, or to
pour a drop or two of that liquid upon it.  Friar's balsam, quick-drying
copal varnish, tincture of galls, copperas water, black ink, &c. are popular
remedies applied the same way.  A bit of the fur plucked from a black beaver
hat is an excellent remedy to stop the bleeding from a cut produced by the
razor in shaving.  For light cuts with a knife, or any sharp instrument, the
Riga balsam usually stops bleeding immediately (see Lockjaw.)

5827. Ingrowing Toe Nails.
This most painful of the diseases of the nails is caused by the improper
manner of cutting the nail (generally the great toe), and then wearing a
short, badly-made shoe.  The nail beginning to grow too long, and rather
wide at the corners, is trimmed around the corner, which gives temporary
relief.  But it then begins to grow wider in the side where it was cut off;
and, as the shoe presses the flesh against the corner, the nail cuts more
and more into the raw flesh, which becomes excessively tender and irritable.
If this state continue long the toe becomes more and more painful and
ulcerated, and proud flesh sprouts up from the sorest point.  Walking
greatly increases the suffering, till positive rest becomes indispensable.

5828. Treatment of Ingrowing Toe Nails.
Begin the effort at cure by simple application to tender part of a small
quantity of perchloride of iron.  It is found in drug stores in fluid form,
though sometimes in powder.  There is immediately a moderate sensation of
pain, constriction or burning.  In a few minutes the tender surface is felt
to be dried up, tanned or mummified, and it ceases to be painful.  The
patient, who before could not put his foot on the floor, now finds that he
can walk upon it without pain.  By permitting the hardened, wood-like flesh
to remain for 2 to 3 weeks, it can easily be removed by soaking the foot in
warm water.  A new and healthy structure is found firm and solid, below.  If
thereafter the nails be no more cut around the corners or sides, but always
curved in across the front end, they will in future grow only forwards; and
by wearing a shoe of reasonably good size and shape, all further trouble
will be avoided.

5829. To Prevent the Nail Growing into the Toe.
If the nail of your toes be hard, and apt to grow round, and into the
corners of your toe, take a piece of broken glass and scrape the top very
thin; do this whenever you cut your nails, and, by constant use, it makes
the corners fly up and grow flat, so that it is impossible they should give
you any pain.  Do not fail to try this.

Also we use cloves for a toothache which is like our modern day Jiffy.
There were several entries for toothache, including how to kill the nerve of
a hollow tooth, tooth cement, and how to plug or fill teeth !  Also a few
entries for bad breath [depending on what causes it - including constipation]

5827.  Paste for Toothache.
Take of root-bark of pellitory, 1 drachm; muriate of morphia, 5 grains,
triturate until reduced to fine powder, then add, finest honey, 3 drachms;
oil of cloves (or of cajeput), 20 drops, concentrated tincture of pellitory,
a sufficient quantity to form the whole into a smooth paste.  very effective.

5781. Remedy for Sick Stomach and Vomiting.
Mix 24 drops creosote, 1 drachm each white sugar and gum-arabic, with 3
ounces water.  Administer a tea-spoonful every 2 hours until vomiting ceases.

5490. To Cure Pimples and other Eruptions of the Skin.
Never tamper with any breaking out of the skin; even though it be a single
red spot, do not apply to it so simple a thing as water, hot or cold, but
let it alone, and omit a meal or two; if it does not abate, consult a
physician.  If one is not at hand, then live on half allowance until it disappears.

5784. Precautions Against Nightmare.
Avoid all exciting causes, as too much abstruse thinking, late and heavy
suppers, food difficult of digestion, cold feet, costiveness, and
flatulence.

5816. To Destroy Insects in the Ear.
Insects may be destroyed by pouring a spoonful of warm olive oil, or
camphorated oil, into the ear overnight, retaining it there until the next
morning by means of a piece of cotton wool, when it may be washed out with a
little mild soap and water.

Here are some others.
5809. Taylor's Remedy for Deafness.
Digest 2 ounces bruised garlic in 1 pound oil of almonds for a week, and
strain.  A drop poured into the ear is effective in temporary deafness.

5810. Treatment for Earache.
M. Emile DUVAL say that he has, in person, found relief in severe earache,
after other means had been tried in vain, from the use of a mixture of equal
parts of cholorform and laudanum; a little being introduced on a piece of
cotton.  The first effect produced is a sensation of cold; then there is
numbness, followed by scarcely perceptible pain and refreshing sleep.

5811. Cure for Earache.
Take a small piece of cotton batting or cotton wool, make a depression in
the centre with the finger, and fill it up with as much ground pepper as
will rest on a five-cent piece; gather it into a ball and tie it up; dip the
ball into sweet oil and insert it in the ear, covering the latter with
cotton wool, and use a bandage or cap to retain it in its place.  Almost
instant relief will be experienced, and the application is so gentle that an
infant will not be injured by it, but experience relief, as well as adults.
1 part laudanum and 6 parts sweet oil dropped in the ear is also very effectual.

5812. Simple Cure for Earache.
Take a common tobacco pipe, place a wad of cotton in the bowl, drop upon it
8 or 10 drops of chloroform, and cover with another wad of cotton; place the
stem to the affected ear, then blow into the bowl, and in many cases the
pain will cease almost immediately.

5813. Remedy for Inflammation of the Ear.
Swelling and redness, attended with throbbing indicates it.  If caused by
accumulation of was, syringe the ear forcibly with tepid water.  If by cold,
a poultice of warm hops, soaking the feet.  If the pain is great, 1 drop
laudanum and 2 drops sweet oil of almonds dropped into the ear 3 times a
day, or juice of onions and laudanum.  A slice of onion, toasted and tied on
hot outside the ear, is a good remedy for earache in children, and often
effective with adults.  If very severe, a mustard poultice can be held
behind the ear.  If the stomach is out of order use an emetic.  If no relief
comes, call a physician.

5832. Chilblain.
This is an inflammatory swelling, of a purple or lead color, produced by the
action of cold.  Children, especially those of scrofulous habit, and elderly
persons, are generally most liable to chilblains.  The common cause is
holding the hands or feet to a fire, after exposure to cold.  The sudden
change of temperature partially destroys the vitality, and prevents proper
flow of blood through the part. As chilblain is only another name for
languid circulation in the part affected, indicated by a congested skin, or
a low form of inflammation, the value of most of the following receipts will
be apparent when it is noticed that they are all calculated to act as
stimulants of the blood vessels, and thus promote the motion of the
partially stagnant blood which gives rise to the heat and itching that are
so distressing (see no. 5006)

5006. Compound Gall Ointment.
Rub together 6 drachms very finely powdered gall-nuts, 1 1/2 drachm powdered
opium, and 6 ounces lard.

5833. Remedy for Broken Chilblains.
Mix together 4 fluid ounces collodian, 1 1/2 fluid ounces Venice turpentine,
and1 fluid ounce castor oil.

5834. Zinc Wash for Chilblains.
Dissolve 1 ounce sulphate of zinc in 1 pint water.  Apply several times a day.

5835. Chilblain Lotion.
Dissolve 1 ounce muriate of ammonia in 1/2 pint cider vinegar, and apply
frequently.  1/2 pint alcohol may be added to this lotion with good affects.

5836.  Petroleum Liniment for Chilblains.
Nothing appears of such uniform utility for allaying the inflammatory
irritation, as the ordinary petroleum or kerosene oil.

5837. To Cure Chilblains.
M.W.E. SCHALLER says that the fluid concentrated chloride of iron is an
unfailing remedy for chilblains, its application to them for a single day
effecting the cure.  It may also be used with advantage for frost bite.

There are more.....
some recipes contain ~ warm wax, silver nitrate, olive oil, mutton tallow
and lard, or cucumber rind.

Mimi <a href="mailto:donandmimi@jps.net">donandmimi@jps.net</a>
Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes.
Containing over 6400 Receipts embracing
Thorough Information, in Plain Language, Applicable to Almost Every Possible
Industrial and Domestic Requirement.
or How They Did It In the 1870's
by William B. Dick
(This edition prepared by Leicester and Harriet Handsfield)
Funk & Wagnalls   New York  [no date]

Special Notice
This book is intended solely as an historical record and does not represent
an endorsement of any recipe, formula, process, or other textual material
printed herein, nor do the preparers or publishers vouch for any claims made
within this book.

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