FoodNetArchive

The standard book of recipes and housewife's guide, comprising as complete cook book

1901

Page 190 · 5 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
A mush poultice (of Indian mealMush Poultice) is the warmest kind ; very suitable for application in internal inflammations, as pneumonia, pleurisy, dysentery, etc. It may be made by by using hot mush, prepared just as if it were to be eaten ; spread, applied, and cov- ered in the same way as a flaxseed poultice. In changing or renewing a poultice, be sure to have the fresh one warm, close by the patient, so that the part will not remain for a moment uncovered. Should it do so, the chill caused might more than undo all the good effected by the poultice. A chaj coal poultice is only suitable for a nasty, and especially a mortifying (gan- grenous), part suffering from disease or in- jur^. Finely powdered charcoal should be used ; two parts of it with one part of Indian mushCharcoal Poultice. Warmth is not important for this kind of poultice unless the limb or other part affected is cold at the time. Such poultices need to be changed often. Yeast poultices are sometimes employed, but I am quite doubtful of their beneficial action . Lye (ley) poultices may be made by mix- ing common lye from ashes, or a druggist's solution of potassa, with flaxseed or Indian meal. They are not often used nowadays, being formerly applied to punctured and torn (lacerated) wounds, as a means of pre- venting lock-jaw (tetanus). Better, for this purpose, is laudanum, applied directly to the part. If a lye poulticeLye Poultice is so used, lau- danum should be added to it. Pumpkin Seeds. — These have a de- served reputation, as capable of driving a tapeworm out of the bowels. For such use, an ounce (about two tablespoonfuls) of the fresh seeds should, after removal of their outer skin, be beaten, with a tablespoon ful of sugar, into a paste, then mixed in milk or water, and drunk, either at once or in two draughts half an hour apart. Such a dose should be taken after fasting for from twelve to twenty-four hours, and should be followed in three hours by a tablespoonfyl dose of castor-oil. Quassia.- A bitter wood which is a good, simple stomachic tonic, suitable for dyspepsia. It is best taken in the form of a tea. Half an ounce of it may be boiled for an hour or two in a pint of waterQuassia Tea. Dose, half a wineglassful, two or three times daily. Quinine. — What is commonly so called and used in medicine is the sulphate of quinia. The alkaloid quinia is the most valuable of several obtained from Peruvian bark ; that is, the bark of different species of cinchona tree. Quinine is a bitter tonic, but not a stomach tonic only ; it acts decidedly, also, on the nei-vous system. When this is 519 56 THE FAMILY DOCTOR debilitated, it will do as much good as any medicine, unelss in cases where won or strychnia is suitable, to improve its tone. But the heroic value of quinine is in the treatment of malarial fevers ; that is, intcr- viittcnt^ remittent^ and paiiicwus (or con- gestive) fevers. All of these prevail most in the autumn, although considerably also in the spring of the year. All of them are characterized by periodicity ; that is, more or less regular spells, following each other at inter v^als or periods. Chills occur either once a day, or every other day, or on the first or fourth da3^s ; sometimes, only once in seven days. Each chill, also, is followed by a fever, and that by a sweat. Remittent fever does not go off during the interval, but only remits its violence ; hence its name.