Important: Safety Warning
This page directs the use of hazardous substances — such as benzine, gasoline, lye, or strong acids — for household tasks. These materials are highly flammable, corrosive, or poisonous, and the practices described have caused fires, burns, and poisonings.
In addition, this page presents medical treatment from an era before modern medicine. The remedies described are ineffective against the conditions named, and some of the ingredients or doses are harmful. Do not use them to treat any illness; consult a qualified medical professional.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Home › Medical › TO RELIEVE TOOTHACHE
TO RELIEVE TOOTHACHE
Apply powdered alum, or fill mouth with warm water, and immediately after with cold; or saturate a piece of cotton with a strong solution of ammonia, and apply to the tooth. For toothache and inflamed face caused by it, apply a poultice of pounded slippery-elm bark and cold water.
A GOOD CURE FOR COLDS is to boil two ounces of flaxseed in one quart of water; strain and add two ounces of rock candy, one-half pint of honey, juice of three lemons; mix, and let all boil well; let cool, and bottle. Dose -One cupful before bed, one-half cupful before meals. The hotter you drink it the better.
TAPE WORMS are said to be removed by refraining from supper and breakfast, and at eight o'clock taking one-third part of two hundred minced pumpkin seeds, the shells of which have been removed by hot water; at nine take another third, at ten the remainder, and follow it at eleven with strong dose of castor-oil.