Chapter 291

drachm; digest in a warm place, stir till sufficiently coloured, strain and stir in six drops of otto of roses.

2448. Ventilating Bedrooms.

A sheet of finely perforated zinc, substituted for a pane of glass in one of the upper squares of a chamber window, is the cheapest and best form of ventilator; there should not be a bedroom without it.

2449. A Simple Method of Ventilation.

Get a piece of deal two inches wide and one inch thick, and as long as the width of the sashes of the window in which it is to be used. Care should be taken to ascertain the width of the sashes exactly, which may be done by measuring along the top of the lower sash, from one side of the sash frame to the other. Raise the lower sash--drop in the piece of wood, so that it rests on the bottom part of the window frame, the ends being within the stops on either side, and then close the sash upon it. If properly planed up, no draught can enter between the wood and the bottom of the sash; but the air can enter the room in an upward direction, through the opening between the top of the lower sash and the bottom of the upper sash, any direct draught into the interior of the room being prevented by the position of the lower sash.

[THE QUIET MIND ENJOYS THE SWEETEST REST.]

2450. Bedclothes.

The perfection of dress, for day or night, where warmth is the purpose, is that which confines around the body sufficient of its own warmth, while it allows escape to the exhalations of the skin. Where the body is allowed to bathe protractedly in its own vapours we must expect an unhealthy effect upon the skin. Where there is too little allowance for ventilation, insensible perspiration is checked, and something analogous to fever supervenes; foul tongue, ill taste, and lack of morning appetite betray the evil.

2451. Vapour Baths.

Vapour baths may be made by putting boiling water in a pan, and placing a cane-bottom chair in the pan, the patient sitting upon it, enveloped from head to foot in a blanket covering the bath. Sulphur, spirit, medicinal, herbal, and other baths may be obtained in the same manner. They should not be taken except under medical advice.

2452. Vapour Bath at Home.

Another equally easy but far more effectual method of procuring a vapour bath at home is to attach one end of a piece of gutta-percha tubing to the snout of a kettle on the fire, and to introduce the other end below the chair, on which the person who requires the bath is sitting, enveloped in a blanket as described above.

2453. Hot Water.

In bruises, hot water is the most efficacious, both by means of insertion and fomentation, in removing pain, and totally preventing discoloration and stiffness. It has the same effect after a blow. It should be applied as quickly as possible, and as hot as it can be borne. The efficacy of hot water in preventing the ill effects of fatigue is too well-known to require notice.

2454. Thinning the Blood.

It is desirable to consider the means of thinning the blood, when it has been deprived, by too profuse transpiration in hot, dry winds, of its aqueous particles, and rendered thick and viscid. Water would easily supply this want of fluidity if it were capable of mingling with the blood when in this state; acid matter cannot be ultimately combined with the blood when the body is in this state. In order to find a menstruum by which water may be rendered capable of combining ultimately with the blood, of remaining long in combination with it, and of thinning it, we must mix it with a substance possessing the property of a soap, and consequently fit to dissolve viscous matters, and make them unite with water.

The soap must contain but little salt, that it may not increase the thirst of the parched throat. It must not have a disagreeable taste, that it may be possible to drink a considerable quantity of it: and it must be capable of recruiting the strength without overloading the stomach.

Now all these qualities are to be found in the yolk of egg. No beverage, therefore, is more suitable (whilst it is very agreeable) for hot, dry weather than one composed of the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little sugar according to taste, and mixed with a quart of cool spring or filtered water, half a glass of Moselle or any other Rhenish wine, and some lemon juice. The wine, however, may be omitted, and only the lemon juice be used; in like manner, hartshorn shavings boiled in water may be substituted for the yolk of egg. Equal quantities of beef tea and whey are good for delicate infants.

2455. Beverage for Hot Weather.

The yolk of eggs beaten up, lump sugar (to taste), Rhenish wine or not, citric acid powdered, or tartaric acid (small quantity, exact quantity soon found); one or two drops of essence of lemon on a lump of sugar, to make it mix readily with the water; one quart of water. This is really an excellent, agreeable, and, without the wine, an inexpensive beverage.

[LITTLE COMFORTS BEGET MUCH HAPPINESS.]

2456. To Ascertain the State of the Lungs.

Persons desirous of ascertaining the true state of their lungs should draw in as much breath as they conveniently can, they are then to count as far as they are able, in a slow and audible voice, without drawing in more breath. The number of seconds they can continue counting must be carefully observed; in cases of consumption the time does not exceed ten, and is frequently less than six seconds; in pleurisy and pneumonia it ranges from nine to four seconds. When the lungs are in a sound condition, the time will range as high as from twenty to thirty-five seconds.

2457. To Avoid Catching Cold.

Accustom yourself to the use of sponging with cold water every morning on first getting out of bed. It should be followed by a good deal of rubbing with a wet towel. It has considerable effect in giving tone to the skin, and maintaining a proper action in it, and thus proves a safeguard to the injurious influence of cold and sudden changes of temperature. Sir Astley Cooper said,

"The methods by which I have preserved my own health are --temperance, early rising, and sponging the body every morning with cold water, immediately after getting out of bed,--a practice which I have adopted for thirty years without ever catching cold."

2458. How to Prepare Artificial Sea-Water.

In each gallon of river or rain water dissolve about six ounces of sea-salt, either by stirring it or suspending it in the water in a linen or muslin bag. It dissolves as readily in cold as in hot water. Sea-salt is produced by evaporation of sea-water. Common salt is sometimes supplied in place of it; but the genuine sea-salt, manufactured by well-known firms, which can be procured of any grocer or of most chemists, is specially prepared to enable persons to have a salt-water bath at home.

2459. Change the Water in which Leeches are Kept.

Once a month in winter, and once a week in summer, is sufficiently often, unless the water becomes discoloured or bloody, when it should be changed every day. Either clean pond water or clean rain water should be employed.

2460. Damp Linen.

Few things are attended with more serious consequences than sleeping in damp linen. Persons are frequently assured that the sheets have been at a fire for many hours, but the question is as to what sort of fire, and whether they have been properly turned, so that every part has been exposed to the fire. The fear of creasing the linen, we know, prevents many from unfolding it, so as to be what we consider sufficiently aired: but health is of more importance than appearances; with gentleness there need be no fear of want of neatness.

2461. Improving Camomile Tonic.

Dried orange peel added to camomile flowers, in the proportion of half the quantity of the flowers, improves the tonic.

2462. Gingerbread Aperient.

Gingerbread, made with oatmeal or with barley flour, is a very agreeable aperient for children. Beware of giving children medicines too frequently.

2463. Cod Liver Oil.

This very beneficial drug, formerly so unpopular on account of its rank odour and nauseous taste, has of late years largely increased in consumption through the skilful manipulations of modern science in its preparation, whereby both the smell and the flavour have been almost entirely removed, rendering it capable of being taken by even the most delicate stomach. It is extremely efficacious in cases of consumption and debility, checking the emaciation, regulating the appetite, and restoring vitality. Coffee, new milk, and orange wine, whichever the patient may fancy, are among the best mediums for taking the oil.

[A CUP MUST BE BITTER THAT A SMILE WILL NOT SWEETEN.]

2464. Camomile Flowers.

Camomile flowers should be gathered on a fine day, and dried upon a tray placed in the sun. All herbs for medicinal purposes and uses should be treated in the same manner.

2465. Decoction of Sarsaparilla.

Take four ounces of the root, slice it down, put the slices into four pints of water, and simmer for four hours. Take out the sarsaparilla, and beat it into a mash; put it into the liquor again, and boil down to two pints, then strain and cool the liquor. Dose, a wineglassful three times a day. Use--to purify the blood after a course of mercury; or, indeed, whenever any taint is given to the constitution, vitiating the blood, and producing eruptive affections.

2466. Preston Salts.

Take of sal-ammoniac and salts of tartar of each about two ounces; pound up the sal-ammoniac into small bits, and mix them gently with the salts of tartar. After being well mixed, add a few drops of oil of lavender, sufficient to scent, and also a little musk; stop up in a glass bottle, and when required for use, add a few drops of water, or spirits of hartshorn, when you will immediately have strong smelling salts. The musk being expensive, may be omitted, as the salts will be good without it. Any person can for a few pence obtain these ingredients at any druggist's, and they will make salts, which, to buy prepared, would cost, at the least, eighteen pence.

2467. Destruction of Rats.

The following receipt for the destruction originated with Dr. Ure, and is highly recommended as the best known means of getting rid of these most obnoxious and destructive vermin.

Melt hog's-lard in a bottle plunged in water, heated to about 150 degrees of Fahrenheit; introduce into it half an ounce of phosphorus for every pound of lard; then add a pint of proof spirit, or whisky; cork the bottle firmly after its contents have been heated to 150 degrees, taking it at the same time out of the water, and agitate smartly till the phosphorus becomes uniformly diffused, forming a milky-looking liquid. This liquid, being cooled, will afford a white compound of phosphorus and lard, from which the spirit spontaneously separates, and may be poured off to be used again for the same purpose, but not for drinking, for none of it enters into the combination, but it merely serves to comminute the phosphorus, and diffuse it in very small particles through the lard.

This compound, on being warmed very gently, may be poured out into a mixture of wheat flour and sugar, incorporated therewith, and then flavoured with oil of rhodium, or not, at pleasure. The flavour may be varied with oil of aniseed, &c. This dough, being made into pellets, is to be laid into rat-holes. By its luminousness in the dark, it attracts their notice, and being agreeable to their palates and noses, it is readily eaten, and proves certainly fatal.

2468. To Kill Slugs (1).

Take a quantity of cabbage leaves, and either put them into a warm oven, or heat them before the fire till they get quite soft; then rub them with unsalted butter, or any kind of fresh dripping, and lay them in places infested with slugs. In a few hours the leaves will be found covered with snails and slugs, which may then, of course, be destroyed in any way the gardener may think fit.

2469. To Destroy Slugs (2).

Slugs are very voracious, and their ravages often do considerable damage, not only to the kitchen garden, but to the flower-beds also. If, now and then, a few slices of turnip be put about the beds, on a summer or autumnal evening, the slugs will congregate thereon, and may be destroyed.

2470. To Exterminate Beetles.

i. Place a few lumps of unslaked lime where they frequent.