that alcohol precipitates the pepsin of the stomach and interferes
with digestion; hence dyspepsia is a common symptom in habitual
drinkers.
Table Salt an Aperient. — Physicians have for a long time
known that common table salt is an efficient aperient in ordinary cases
of constipation. Each morning on rising a tumblerful of water —
cold, to prevent nauseating — in which was dissolved a teaspoonful of
table salt, should be taken. This simple aperient is successful in
nearly all cases of constipation.
A GOOD DISINFECTANT is made by dissolving a bushel of salt in a
barrel of water, and with the salt-water slack a barrel of lime, which
should be wet enough to form a kind of paste. If used freely about
cellars, gutters, and the like, this home-made chloride of lime is an
excellent disinfectant.
Coffee is a most convenient and effective disinfecter. Burn it in
an open pan.
The juice of ripe tomatoes will remove the stain of walnuts from
the hands without injury to the skin.
One of the most important things to be considered in dress is the
careful covering of the chest and back. Exposing the lungs by in-
adequate shielding of these portions of the body from cold is too
generally practised, especially by ladies. To cover the chest alone
most carefully is not enough : there should be a thick covering be-
tween the shoulders.
For mental headache, coarse brown paper wet with strong cider
vinegar will often prove effective and soothing; and sometimes to
have the eyes bathed with cool water is a relief to the aching head.
The best remedy for a sprained ankle or wrist, until medical aid
arrives, is to bathe the afflicted member in arnica, and if it is not near
at hand, use a strong decoction of vinegar and wormwood. A flan-
nel cloth wrung out of the above just as hot as the patient will bear,
and bound on the affected part, will give immediate relief.
A safe and almost sure remedy for an inflamed eye is to bathe
the afflicted member in lukewarm water, into which a small quantity
THE PHYSICIAN IN THE HOME.
199
of common table salt has been dissolved. Hold the eye open while
bathing, and immediate relief will be experienced. Bathing the eyes
morning and night with cold water is an excellent practice for those
who are obliged to use their eyes to any extent. The water acts
like a tonic, and strengthens and brightens the eye. The eyes
should be kept open as much as possible during the process of
bathing them.
Early Rising. — There is not one man in ten thousand who can
afford to do without seven or eight hours' sleep. All the stuff writ-
ten about great men who sleep only three or four hours at night is
apocryphal. They have been put upon such small allowance oc-
casionally, and prospered ; but no man ever kept healthy in body
and mind for a number of years with less than seven hours' sleep.
If you can get to bed early, then rise early ; if you cannot go to bed
until late, then rise late. It may be as proper for some men to rise
at eight as it is for others to rise at five. Let the rousing bell be rung
at least thirty minutes before the public appearance. Physicians say
that a sudden jump out of bed gives irregular motion to the pulse.
It takes hours to get over a sudden rising.
Page 126
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
that alcohol precipitates the pepsin of the stomach and interferes with digestion; hence dyspepsia is a common symptom in habitual drinkers.
Table Salt an Aperient. — Physicians have for a long time known that common table salt is an efficient aperient in ordinary cases of constipation. Each morning on rising a tumblerful of water — cold, to prevent nauseating — in which was dissolved a teaspoonful of table salt, should be taken. This simple aperient is successful in nearly all cases of constipation.
A GOOD DISINFECTANT is made by dissolving a bushel of salt in a barrel of water, and with the salt-water slack a barrel of lime, which should be wet enough to form a kind of paste. If used freely about cellars, gutters, and the like, this home-made chloride of lime is an excellent disinfectant.
Coffee is a most convenient and effective disinfecter. Burn it in an open pan.
The juice of ripe tomatoes will remove the stain of walnuts from the hands without injury to the skin.
One of the most important things to be considered in dress is the careful covering of the chest and back. Exposing the lungs by inadequate shielding of these portions of the body from cold is too generally practised, especially by ladies. To cover the chest alone most carefully is not enough : there should be a thick covering between the shoulders.
For mental headache, coarse brown paper wet with strong cider vinegar will often prove effective and soothing; and sometimes to have the eyes bathed with cool water is a relief to the aching head.
The best remedy for a sprained ankle or wrist, until medical aid arrives, is to bathe the afflicted member in arnica, and if it is not near at hand, use a strong decoction of vinegar and wormwood. A flannel cloth wrung out of the above just as hot as the patient will bear, and bound on the affected part, will give immediate relief.
A safe and almost sure remedy for an inflamed eye is to bathe the afflicted member in lukewarm water, into which a small quantity
of common table salt has been dissolved. Hold the eye open while bathing, and immediate relief will be experienced. Bathing the eyes morning and night with cold water is an excellent practice for those who are obliged to use their eyes to any extent. The water acts like a tonic, and strengthens and brightens the eye. The eyes should be kept open as much as possible during the process of bathing them.
Early Rising. — There is not one man in ten thousand who can afford to do without seven or eight hours' sleep. All the stuff written about great men who sleep only three or four hours at night is apocryphal. They have been put upon such small allowance occasionally, and prospered ; but no man ever kept healthy in body and mind for a number of years with less than seven hours' sleep. If you can get to bed early, then rise early ; if you cannot go to bed until late, then rise late. It may be as proper for some men to rise at eight as it is for others to rise at five. Let the rousing bell be rung at least thirty minutes before the public appearance. Physicians say that a sudden jump out of bed gives irregular motion to the pulse. It takes hours to get over a sudden rising.