Part 21

TO CLEAR CLOSETS FROM COCKROACHES.--Remove every article from the closet, scrub the shelves with lye, and then whitewash the closet walls. Next take a sufficiency of _black_ wadding, and soak it in spirits of turpentine or camphor, or a mixture of both. Then with a fork or the point of a knife, stuff it close and hard into every crevice, crack, and hole, however small. United with the copperas dye of the black wadding, the camphor and turpentine will destroy or expel the cockroaches, so that for a long time you will see no more of them. If they return, repeat the remedy; which of course will be as effective if applied to the crevices about the kitchen walls or floors. Let the closet remain empty for several days. Then place on each shelf a small plate with dry chloride of lime to dissipate the smell of the turpentine.

The preparation of phosphorus called Levy’s Exterminator, and which is to be had at the druggists’, is very destructive to cockroaches, rats, and mice. Cover with it a slice of bread and butter, then sprinkle on some brown sugar, and lay it in places where these vermin have been seen.

A mixture in the proportion of three table-spoonfuls of meal, and one table-spoonful of red lead, wetted to a thin paste with West India molasses, if laid on old plates, and set about their haunts, is very efficacious in expelling cockroaches.

These remedies are all good; and if used perseveringly and always resumed, as soon as the cockroaches begin to appear again, there will be but little trouble with these detestable insects. Nothing has yet been found that can banish them from a house so effectually as to preclude all danger of their ever returning. But much comfort is gained by even a temporary relief from them.

If an insect gets into the ear it may be destroyed by pouring in a little sweet oil. They have been sometimes enticed out, by applying to the ear a piece of ripe peach or apple.

SMALL COCKROACHES.--Many houses are much infested with small brown cockroaches, which are especially troublesome and disgusting from their disposition to get into bureaus, wardrobes, trunks, and even band-boxes. They will soon depart, if bunches of pennyroyal (as fresh as you can get it, and frequently renewed) are laid in all the places where they have appeared, or are likely to come. Pennyroyal is to be generally bought in market at the very trifling cost of one cent a bunch. At any season it can be had at the druggists’, and at the garden stores. Rags dipped in oil of pennyroyal, and laid about their haunts, will frequently expel these cockroaches. But every one that is seen should be immediately killed, and not merely brushed off, to run to another place. There is little difficulty in keeping a house free from cockroaches and all other vermin, if the remedies are applied in time, and with perseverance.

The very bad practice of using old bricks for cellar-walls and back-buildings, is the chief cause of new houses becoming immediately infested with cockroaches, &c. They have in this way been introduced at once into some very elegant mansions in Philadelphia, where old bricks have been used for the cellars; these bricks having originally belonged to old almshouses, long since pulled down. To buy such bricks, however cheap, is a miserable economy.

TO DESTROY CRICKETS.--Mix some powdered arsenic with roasted apple, and put it into the cracks and holes whence the crickets issue. It will effectually destroy them. And cockroaches also.

TO EXPEL FLEAS.--Get some pennyroyal. Having stripped the leaves from the stalks, stuff them into little bags, made of muslin or thin calico, and sewed up all round. Lay these bags among the bedding, and the pennyroyal will send away the fleas. If more convenient, sprinkle the bedding with oil or essence of pennyroyal. When travelling, it is well to take with you some little bags of pennyroyal, in case you should have to sleep in a bed infested with fleas.

Camphor is also a good remedy against fleas.

Pennyroyal will generally expel the small brown cockroaches, if bunches of it are kept constantly in the closets, wardrobes, bureaus, &c. It is likewise an excellent remedy against wood-ticks; keeping some of it about you, if obliged to go into places where these intolerable insects abound. When the wood-ticks fasten on the skin, brush them with a bunch of pennyroyal, and they will fall off immediately.

TO DESTROY BED-BUGS.--Among the numerous ways of destroying bugs, there is none better than to wash carefully, with a solution of corrosive sublimate in spirits of wine, all the cracks and crevices of the bedstead, at least once a week; taking care to throw out directly whatever may remain in the bowl or saucer, which should at once be washed clean in hot water. Corrosive sublimate is a most deadly poison, if even a small quantity is swallowed. One of the best remedies for it, is to take _immediately_ a large quantity of sweet oil.

Mercurial ointment, rubbed once a week into all the joints and crevices of the bedstead, is an excellent destroyer of bugs. It can best be rubbed in with the finger. Leave it on the bedstead without wiping off; and do not put on the bedding till evening.

TO DESTROY FLIES.--Get, at a druggist’s, some Egyptian or Fly-killing paper. Lay a piece of it on an old plate, and keep it moist by wetting it frequently with water. It will soon be found covered with dead flies. Shake them off, and wet the paper again.

Or mix together a table-spoonful of powdered black pepper, the same quantity of brown sugar, and as much milk as will make it into a thin paste. Set it about on saucers. It will attract the flies, and they will die on eating it.

TO DESTROY GARDEN ANTS.--Mix together half a pound of flour of brimstone, and four ounces of potash. Put them into an iron pot or pan, and stir it over the fire till they are dissolved, and well incorporated. Then pound them to a powder. Put the powder into a glass jar, with a cover, and keep it for use. Infuse some of this powder in a cup of water, and sprinkle with it the places that are infested by ants. They will soon disappear.

TO EXPEL SMALL ANTS.--Mix a tea-spoonful of tartar emetic in two table-spoonfuls of molasses. Stir this into a small saucer of water, and set it where you have seen the ants. Let it remain all night; and in the morning you will find a great number of ants lying dead on the surface of the water, and the others will have been frightened away. Skim off the dead ants, and set the saucer in any other place where these insects have appeared. This we know, by experience, to be an excellent remedy for the little ants with which so many houses are infested, and which swarm over sweet things.

MICE.--An excellent preparation for expelling mice and rats is Levy’s Exterminator, spread upon bread or cheese, and laid about the places they frequent. It is a preparation of phosphorus; and after one mouse has eaten it and (of course) died, the others will disappear. It is to be had of most druggists; and will also destroy cockroaches, by spreading it on bits of cake or something similar, and laying it at night on the kitchen hearth, and in the closets. We highly recommend it.

If you propose to destroy a mouse by arsenic spread on bread and butter, sprinkle on the arsenic a drop or two of oil of rhodium, and the mouse will unfailingly be attracted to the poison. Place beside it a saucer of water, and as soon as he has eaten of the poisoned bread and butter, he will drink, and then die on the spot.

Oil of aniseed, spread on the bait, will attract them into a trap.

TO DESTROY CATERPILLARS.--Mix together twelve ounces of powdered quick-lime, two ounces of snuff, two ounces of fine salt, and two ounces of powdered sulphur. Strew this mixture over the caterpillars, or dissolve it in five gallons of water; keep it in a convenient vessel, and sprinkle with it places where they abound.

Any garden insects may be destroyed in this manner.

TO DESTROY WORMS IN GARDEN WALKS.--Pour into the worm-holes a strong lye, made of wood-ashes, lime, and water. Or, if more convenient, use, for this purpose, strong salt and water.

TO DESTROY THE BEE-MILLER.--This insect, whose night-visits are so destructive to bees, may be destroyed by mixing a large wine-glass of vinegar with a pint of water, that has been made very sweet with honey. Set it in a bowl on the top of the hive, or beside it. It will attract the miller, and then drown him.

TO MAKE THE HANDS SMOOTH AND SOFT.--For this purpose there is nothing nicer than the beautiful, fragrant, and delicate composition called Almond Cream, (Crême d’Amandes.) This almond cream (which must not be confounded with another preparation called Amandine) is, when fresh, very soft and white, and resembles ice-cream in appearance. To use it--first dip your hands into a basin of water, and then put on one of the palms a very small portion of the almond cream, (not larger than a grain of indian corn,) and with the other hand rub it to a lather. Rub it well into your hands and all over them before you wash it off. We know, by experience, that this is the best of all preparations for keeping the hands in nice order. If used every day, it will effectually prevent the skin from chapping in cold weather; and will remove any roughness caused by incidental employments, or by putting the hands into salt water. We earnestly recommend it. Keep it closely covered. If you live where it can be easily procured, do not get more than one gallicup at a time, as almond cream is always best when freshly made. Exposure to the air hardens and discolours it.

Another very excellent article for the hands is sand-soap, or sand wash-balls,--a preparation of soap mixed with fine sea-sand. There is nothing superior to it for washing the hands of boys, and of all persons whose business obliges them to use much manual exertion. Also, the hands of the most delicate lady will be rendered still softer and smoother by the daily use of sand-soap. Try it--but not for the face or neck.

Sand-soap is made by shaving down and melting some white soap, and then stirring into it, while warm, an equal quantity of fine dry sea-sand. Put it, warm, into square moulds, or roll portions of the mixture between your hands, so as to form balls. Set them in a dark place to dry gradually.

TO REMOVE CORNS FROM BETWEEN THE TOES.--These corns are generally more painful than any others, and are frequently situated as to be almost inaccessible to the usual remedies. Wetting them several times a day with hartshorn will in most cases cure them. Try it.

TO ALLAY PAIN IN THE FEET WHEN CAUSED BY FATIGUE.--If your feet become painful from walking or standing too long, put them as soon as you can into warm salt and water, mixed in the proportion of two large handfuls of salt to a gallon of water. Sea-water made warm is still better, if you can conveniently procure it. Keep your feet and ankles in the salt water till it begins to feel cool, rubbing them well with your hands. Then wipe them dry, and rub them long and hard with a coarse thick towel, or with a hair glove. Where the feet are tender and easily fatigued, it is an excellent practice to go through this process regularly every night, or every morning, or both; also employing it without fail always on coming home from a walk. With perseverance this has cured neuralgia in the feet.

To prevent any roughness that may ensue after taking your hands out of the brine, wash them immediately with soap; or what is still better, with almond cream, first dipping them into cold water, and then rubbing on a little of the above composition till it forms a lather. Almond cream is much used by gentlemen as a shaving soap, but it is also a very pleasant and useful article for a ladies washing-stand, being excellent for smoothing the hands, and preventing their chopping in cold weather. It is well to get but a small box at a time, as exposure to the air somewhat dries and discolours it. It should be kept closely covered.

Chilblains or frost-bitten feet may be cured or prevented by dipping the feet night and morning into _cold_ water. Then taking them out and wiping them dry with a coarse towel. Persevere, and you will find the remedy effectual.

RELIEF FOR RHEUMATIC PAINS.--Bathe the afflicted part at night and morning, and frequently through the day, with warm salt and water, (mixed in the proportion of two handfuls of salt to a quart of water,) rubbing it well into the skin. Do this near the fire, or in a warm room; avoiding exposure to a draught of air. Sea-water heated over the fire will answer the purpose still better.

A table-spoonful of Hopkins’s Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla, taken thrice a day, and persevered in for six or eight weeks, has frequently cured a chronic rheumatism.

Swaim’s Panacea has effected wonderful cures in rheumatism of long standing.

RELIEF FOR A SPRAINED ANKLE.--Wash the ankle very frequently with _cold_ salt and water, which is far better than warm vinegar or decoctions of herbs. Keep your foot as cool as possible to prevent inflammation; and sit with it elevated on a high cushion. Live on very low diet, and take every day some cooling medicine; for instance epsom salts. By observing these directions _only_, a sprained ankle has been cured in a few days.

BATHING THE FEET.--In bathing the feet of a sick person, use at the beginning, tepid or lukewarm water. Have ready in a tea-kettle or covered pitcher, some _hot_ water, of which pour in a little at intervals; so as gradually to increase the temperature of the foot bath, till it becomes as warm as it can be borne with comfort; after which, the feet should be taken out before the water cools. This is a much better way than to put them at first into very warm water, and let it grow cool before they are taken out. Clean stockings, well warmed, should be ready to put on the feet as soon as they are out of the water, and have been rubbed dry with a flannel.

CURE FOR A RUN-ROUND.--That disease of the finger or toe commonly called a _run-round_, may be easily cured by a remedy so simple that persons who have not seen it tried are generally incredulous as to its efficacy. The first symptoms of the complaint are heat, pain, swelling, and redness at the top of the nail. The inflammation, if not checked, will soon go round the whole of the nail, causing intense pain, accompanied by a festering or gathering of yellow matter, and ending in the loss of the nail. To prevent all this, as soon as the first symptoms of swelling and inflammation commence, lay the finger flat on the table, and let the nail be scratched, all over with the sharp point of a pair of scissors, or a penknife. This excoriation must be done first crossways, and then lengthways, so as thoroughly to scratch up the _whole surface_ of the nail, leaving it rough and white. This little operation does not give the slightest pain; and we have never, _in a single instance_, known it fail. By next morning the finger will be well. If done before the festering commences, it is a _certain_ and speedy cure. And it will even succeed at a later stage of the disease, by first opening with a needle that part of the swelling where the yellow matter has begun to appear; and afterwards by scratching up the surface of the nail with scissors or penknife.

Hard horny warts on the hands can be cured _positively_, and without pain, by touching their tops twice a day or more with a clean quill pen, dipped in aquafortis. The wart, after a few applications of the aquafortis, will turn brown, and crumble till it falls off.

For ring-worms there is no remedy so good as mercurial ointment, rubbed on it at night, and not washed off till morning. It causes no pain, and by repetition will _always_ effect a cure.

TO APPLY AN EYE-STONE.--Eye-stones are frequently used to extract motes from the eye, sparks from steam-engines, and other extraneous substances. They are to be procured at the druggists’. They cost but two or three cents a piece; and it is well to get several, that in case one fails you may try another. To give an eye-stone activity, lay it for about five minutes in a saucer of vinegar and water; and if it is a good one it will soon begin to move or swim round in the liquid. Then wipe it dry, and let it be introduced beneath the eye-lid, binding a handkerchief closely round the eye. The eye-stone will make the circuit of the eye, and in its progress take up the mote, which it will bring with it, when on the pain ceasing, the handkerchief is removed. Eye-stones are the eyes of lobsters.

When a mote or spark gets into your eye, immediately pull down the lower eye-lash; and, at the same moment with a handkerchief in your hand, blow your nose violently. This will frequently expel the mote without further trouble. A mote will sometimes come out by merely holding your eye wide open in a cup or glass filled to the brim with clear cold water. Or, take a pin, and wrapping its head in the corner of a soft cambric handkerchief, sweep carefully round the eye with it, above and below, inserting it under the lid. This should be done with a firm and steady hand, and will often bring out the mote. Another way is to take a long clean bristle from a brush, tie the ends together with a bit of thread so as to form a loop, and sweep round the eye with it, so that the loop may catch the mote and bring it out.

A particle of iron or steel, has, _we know_, been extracted from the eye, by holding near it a powerful magnet.

Rail-road sparks, &c., have frequently been removed from the eye by introducing the feather-end of a quill, and sweeping it round beneath the edge of the lid. If done with care and dexterity it will generally succeed.

CURE FOR THE TETTER.--Obtain at a druggist’s an ounce of sulphur_et_ of potash. Be careful to ask for this article _precisely_. It is a preparation of sulphur and potash. Put the sulphuret into a large glass jar; pour on it a quart of cold soft water; and leave it to dissolve, having first corked it tightly. Afterwards add to it a wine-glass of rose-water. It may be more convenient afterwards to transfer it to smaller bottles, taking care to leave them closely corked. Pour into each a table-spoonful or more of rose-water. To use it, pour a little into a saucer, and dipping in a soft sponge, bathe the eruption five or six times a day. Persist, and, in most cases, it will very soon effect a cure. It is, indeed, a safe and most excellent remedy. Should the tetter re-appear with the return of cold weather, immediately resume the use of this solution. A bath in which sulphuret of potash was dissolved in water (in the above proportions) has succeeded in curing the tetter after the eruption had spread all over the body of a child.

CURE FOR EXCORIATED NOSTRILS.--If, after a severe cold in the head, the inside of the nostrils continue sore and inflamed, rub them lightly with a little kreosote ointment, applied to the interior of your nose with the finger. Do this at night, and several times during the day. It will very soon effect a cure; often in twenty-four hours.

FOR A CHAFED UPPER LIP.--For a chafed upper lip and soreness of the end of the nose, such as generally accompanies a cold in the head or influenza, much relief may be found from the homely remedy of greasing the excoriation, at night on going to bed, with a bit of mutton tallow (that of a candle will do) held to the fire to soften. Extend the application over all the nose and even between the eyes. It is well to keep always in the house some nice tallow, prepared by boiling and skimming a sufficient quantity of fresh mutton fat, (there must not be a particle of salt about it,) and then pouring it warm into gallicups, which should be closely covered as soon as the liquid has congealed.

CURE FOR PRICKLY HEAT.--Mix a _large_ portion of wheat bran with either cold or lukewarm water, and use it as a bath twice or thrice a day. Children who are covered with prickly heat in warm weather will be thus effectually relieved from that tormenting eruption. As soon as it begins to appear on the neck, face, or arms, commence using the bran-water on these parts repeatedly through the day, and it may probably spread no farther. If it does, the bran-water bath will certainly cure it, if persisted in.

BROWN MIXTURE FOR A COUGH.--Mix in a large bottle, half an ounce of liquorice; a quarter of an ounce of gum-arabic; two tea-spoonfuls of antimonial wine; sixty drops of laudanum; and half a pint of water. Shake it well, and when the ingredients are thoroughly amalgamated it will be fit for use. For a cold and cough, take a dessert-spoonful three or four times a day, shaking or stirring it first.

RED LIP SALVE.--Mix together equal portions of the best suet and the best lard. There must be no salt about them. Boil slowly, and skim and stir the mixture. Then add a small thin bag of alkanet chips; and when it has coloured the mixture of a fine deep red, take it out. While cooling, stir in, very hard, sufficient rose or orange-flower water to give it a fine perfume. A few drops of oil of rhodium will impart to it a very agreeable rose-scent.

Cold cream for excoriated nostrils, chafed upper lips, or chapped hands may be made nearly as above, but with one-third suet, and two-thirds lard, and no alkanet. When it has boiled thoroughly, remove it from the fire, and stir in, gradually, a large portion of rose-water, or a little oil of rhodium, beating very hard. Put it into small gallicups, with close covers.

MUSTARD PLASTERS.--Mustard plasters are frequently very efficacious in rheumatic or other pains occasioned by cold. It is best to make them entirely of mustard and vinegar without any mixture of flour. They should be spread between two pieces of thin muslin, and bound on the part affected. As soon as the irritation or burning becomes uncomfortable, take off the plaster. They should never remain on longer than twenty minutes; as by that time the beneficial effect will be produced, if at all. When a mustard plaster has been taken off, wash the part tenderly with a sponge and warm water. If the irritation on the skin continues troublesome, apply successive poultices of grated bread-crumbs wetted with lead water.

A mustard plaster behind the ear will often remove a toothache, earache, or a rheumatic pain in the head. Applied to the wrists they will frequently check an ague-fit, if put on as soon as the first symptoms of chill evince themselves.

OPODELDOC.--Take an ounce of gum camphor; half a drachm of oil of rosemary; half a drachm of oil of origanum; two ounces of castile soap cut small; and half a pint of spirits of wine. Boil these all together for half an hour after the boiling has commenced. Let the mixture cool in the vessel, and then bottle it for use. It is a good embrocation for bruises, sprains, stiffness of the neck and shoulder, and for rheumatic pains.

CAMPHOR SPIRITS.--Break up into small bits an ounce of gum camphor, and put it into a pint glass bottle. Then fill up with spirits of wine, cork it, and leave the camphor to dissolve, shaking it occasionally. This will be found quite as good as the camphor spirits obtained at the druggist’s, and the cost will be far less. It is well to keep a bottle of it always in the house. When taken to remove faintness or nervous affections, pour a few drops into a wine-glass of water. Camphor kept for external use is best when dissolved in whisky, as it produces less irritation of the skin than when melted in alcohol.

The pain of a fly-blister will be much alleviated by sprinkling powdered gum camphor thickly over the surface of the plaster before it is put on. This should always be done.

REMEDY FOR ARSENIC.--Dissolve a few scruples of sulphuret of potash in half a pint, or a pint of water, and administer it a little at a time, as the patient can bear it; having first given the white of an egg.