Cut a slice of fine and stale loaf bread, very thin, and let it be carefully toasted on both sides, until browned all over, but not blackened or burned. Put the toast into a deep stone or china jug, and pour over it, from the tea-kettle, as much boiling water as required to make into drink. Cover the jug with a saucer or plate, and let the drink become quite cold; it will then be fit for use. Toast and water is peculiarly grateful to the stomach, and excellent for carrying off the effects of any excess in drinking. It is also a most excellent drink at meals.

Put a large spoonful of oatmeal into a pint of water, stir it well together, and let it boil three or four times, stirring it often. Then strain it through a sieve, put in some salt according to taste, and if necessary add a piece of fresh butter. Stir with a spoon until the butter is melted, when it will be fine and smooth.

Take of pearl-barley, 2 oz.
water, 4 pints.

First wash off the mealy matter which adheres to the barley with some cold water; then extract the colouring matter, by boiling it a little with about half a pint of water. Throw this decoction away; and put the barley thus purified into four pints of boiling water; then boil down to one half and strain the decoction.

Take of the decoction of barley, 2 pints,
raisins, stoned, 2 oz.
figs, sliced, 2 do.
liquorice-root, sliced and bruised, ½ oz.
distilled water, 1 pint.

During the boiling, add the raisins first, and then the figs, and, lastly, the liquorice, a short time before it is finished, when the strained decoction ought to measure two pints.

These liquors are to be used freely, as diluting drinks in fevers and other acute disorders.

Put a blade of mace, a large piece of the crumb of bread, and a quart of water, in a clean saucepan. Let it boil two minutes, then take out the bread, and bruise it very fine in a bason. Mix with it as much of the warm water as it will require, pour away the rest and sweeten it to the taste of the patient. If necessary, put in a piece of butter the size of a walnut, but add no wine. Grate in a little nutmeg, if requisite.

Take off the fat and skin from a pound of lean beef, and cut it into pieces. Then put it into a gallon of water, with the under crust of a penny loaf, and a small portion of salt. Let the whole boil till reduced to two quarts, and strain, when it will be fit for use.

Take the fat off a pound of loin of mutton, and put the lean into a quart of water. Skim it well as it boils, and put in a piece of the upper crust of bread, with a large blade of mace. Having covered it up close, let it boil closely for half an hour, and then pour the broth clear off, without stirring. Season it with a little salt. Turnips should not be boiled with the meat.

This country affords herbs much more wholesome than either tea or coffee, and if they were all imported from a distant region, and sold at a high price, they would, no doubt, be held in great estimation. The following composition is very superior to tea or coffee, inasmuch as the infusion is very agreeable, will strengthen the stomach, and invigorate, instead of debilitate, the nervous system.

A wine-glassful of these mixed herbs is sufficient to make 3 pints of infusion, which is made in the same manner as tea, sugar and milk being added. In London, where herbs are sold at a dearer rate than in the country, it may be obtained at the rate of 2s. per pound.—Either of the above ingredients may be diminished or augmented at pleasure. If too bitter, lessen the quantity of hyssop, and add dried mint leaves.

Put an ounce of isinglass, and a few cloves, into a quart of water. Boil it down to a pint, strain it upon a pound of loaf sugar, and when cold, add a little wine, when it will be fit for use.—A very nourishing beverage may be made by merely boiling the isinglass with milk, and sweetening with lump sugar.

Put a dessert spoonful of the powder of salop, into a pint of boiling water. Keep stirring it till it becomes of the consistence of jelly, and then add white wine and sugar, according to taste.

Put an ounce of hartshorn shavings into a quart of boiling barley-water; boil down to a pint, add two ounces of candid eringo root, and a pint of new milk; boil for a quarter of an hour, when strain for use.

Boil four spoonsful of oatmeal, a blade or two of mace, and a piece of lemon peel, in two quarts of water, for about a quarter of an hour; taking care that it does not boil over. Then strain, and add a quart of good ale that is not bitter. Sweeten it to the palate, and add half a pint of white wine. When no white wine is used the caudle should consist of one half of ale.

Make the gruel as above, and strain through a sieve, but put no ale to it. When to be used, sweeten according to taste, grate in some nutmeg, and add a little white wine. Juice of lemon is sometimes added.

Cut the meat from a leg of veal into small pieces, and break the bone into several bits. Put the meat into a very large jug, and the bones at top, with a bunch of common sweet herbs, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and half a pound of Jordan almonds, finely blanched and beaten. Pour on it four quarts of boiling water, and let it stand all night, covered close by the fire-side. The next day put it into a well-tinned saucepan, and let it boil slowly, till it is reduced to two quarts. Be careful, at the time it is boiling, to skim it, and take off the fat as it rises. Strain into a punch-bowl, and when settled for two hours, pour it into a clean saucepan, clear from the sediment, if any.

Pulverize 1 ounce of citric acid, and divide it into 24 parts; that is, 24 scruples, which are to be put into separate small blue papers. Pulverize, also, 1 ounce of the sub-carbonate of soda, and divide it into 24 like packages, in white paper. When the draught is to be prepared, put the carbonate into a tumbler, half filled with water: in another, dissolve the acid in an equal quantity; throw one into the other, and drink it while effervescing.

A similar preparation may be made by using tartaric acid instead of the citric.

Mix in a plate, a few ounces of pulverized black oxyde of manganese and common salt, which being placed in the house supposed to be infected, sprinkle oil of vitriol upon the mixture, and gas will arise which will render the place perfectly salubrious. The oil of vitriol should be carefully added by a few drops at a time, the face being turned from the mixture.

Dissolve 20 grains of carbonate of potass in a table-spoonful of lemon juice, and three table-spoonsful of water, to which add a small quantity of lump sugar. This draught is very serviceable in sore throats, &c.

Take of Rochelle salt, 1 dram,
carbonate of soda, 25 grains,
tartaric acid, 20 do.

Dissolve the first two in a tumbler of water, then add the latter, and drink without loss of time.

The general characters of good rhubarb are, it having a whitish or clear yellow colour, being dry, solid, and compact; moderately heavy, and brittle; when recently broken appearing marked with yellow or reddish veins, mixed with white; being easily pulverizable; forming a powder of a fine bright yellow, having the peculiar, nauseous, aromatic smell of rhubarb, and a sub-acrid, bitterish, somewhat astringent taste, and when chewed feeling gritty under the teeth, speedily colouring the saliva, and not appearing very mucilaginous.

This fruit very much resembles the nature of prunes, but is more acid, and enters as a useful ingredient into the lenitive electuary. It is found of the highest use in a sore throat, as a powerful cleanser; and, put into boiling water until moderately cold, is a delightful drink to persons parched under the heat of fever, and in the lowest state of putrid fever.

Water-cresses act as a gentle stimulant and diuretic; for these purposes the expressed juice, which contains the peculiar taste and pungency of the herb, may be taken in doses of an ounce or two, and continued for a considerable time. It should be at the same time eaten at breakfast, also at dinner, and for supper, to experience benefit from the virtues of this herb.

Mix 1 dram of powdered spermaceti with the yolks of 2 eggs; then add 1 dram of tincture of opium, and 5 oz., of water.

To be taken in the quantity of a wine-glassful when the cough is troublesome.

Mix together a dessert spoonful of syrup of poppies, and 15 drops of antimonial wine. To be taken at a draught, with or without a little warm water, either at bed-time, or in the middle of the night. Half this quantity may be given to a child under the same circumstances.

Mix together in a wine-glass,
30 drops of laudanum,
4 tea-spoonsful of vinegar, and
6 tea-spoonsful of water, sweetened with a little lump sugar.

Take of sweet almonds, blanched, 1½ oz.
double-refined sugar, ¾ oz.
distilled water, 2½ pints.

Beat the almonds with the sugar; then rubbing them together, add by degrees the water, and strain the liquor.

Almost any quantity may be taken as a frequent drink to soften coughs, and to assuage urinary disorders.

Take of gum-arabic, in powder, 4 oz.
boiling water, 8 oz.

Triturate the gum with a small portion of the water until it be dissolved.

It is necessary to pass the mucilage through linen, in order to free it from pieces of wood and other impurities, which always adhere to the gum: the linen may be placed in a funnel.

Mucilage of gum-arabic is very useful in making up medicines, &c. it also possesses the powers of a mucilaginous demulcent in a high degree; and is frequently given in diarrhœa, dysentery, chin-cough, hoarseness, strangury, &c.

Take of gum-arabic, in powder, 2 drams,
sweet almonds, blanched,
double refined sugar, each ½ dram,
decoction of barley, 1 pint.

Dissolve the gum in the warm decoction; and when it is almost cold, pour it upon the almonds, previously well beaten with the sugar, and at the same time triturate them together, so as to form an emulsion, and then filter.

The almonds are blanched by infusing them in boiling water, and peeling them. The success of the preparation depends upon beating the almonds to a smooth pulp, and triturating them with each portion of the watery fluid, so as to form an uniform mixture before another portion be added.

Take of marshmallow roots, bruised, 4 oz.
sun raisins, stoned, 2 oz.
water, 7 pints.

Boil down to five pints; strain the decoction, and after the grounds have subsided, pour off the clear liquor.

Marshmallow roots contain nothing soluble in water except mucilage, which is very abundant in them. This decoction is therefore to be considered merely as an emollient, rendered more pleasant by the acidulous sweetness of the raisins.

Take of hepatic aloes, 1 oz.
ginger powder, 1 dram,
soap, ½ oz.
essential oil of peppermint, ½ a dram.

Let the aloes and ginger be rubbed well together, then add the soap and the oil so as to form a mass.

These pills may be advantageously used for obviating the habitual costiveness of sedentary persons. The dose is from 10 to 15 grains.

Take of socotrine aloes, 6 drams,
gum mastic, 2 drams.

Reduce to powder separately; make into a mass with syrup of wormwood, and divide into one hundred pills, of which take one every night.

Take of camphor, 1 oz.
soap, 3 oz.
spirit of rosemary, 1 pint.

Digest the soap in the spirit of rosemary until it be dissolved, and add to it the camphor.

Dissolve 2 lbs. of white soap, and 1 lb. of yellow ditto, in 3 pints of water.

Now dissolve 4 oz. of camphor,
1 oz. of oil of rosemary, and
6 drams of oil of origanum, in
3 pints of spirit of wine.

Mix both solutions, and then add 3 oz. of water of ammonia.

This liniment is extensively used to allay the inflammation of bruises, sprains, &c.

Take of almond soap, 2 ounces,
alcohol, 1 pint,
camphor, 1 ounce,
cajeput oil, 2 ounces.

First dissolve the soap and camphor in the alcohol, and when the solution is about to congeal, or becomes nearly cold, add the oil of cajeput: shake them well together, and put it into bottles to congeal.

This composition is a great improvement on the opodeldocs in general use, and in cases of rheumatism, paralytic numbness, chilblains, enlargement of joints, and indolent tumours; where the object is to rouse the action of absorbent vessels, and to stimulate the nerves, it is a very valuable external remedy.

Take of water of ammonia, ½ an ounce,
olive oil, 1½ ounces.

Shake them together in a phial till they are mixed.

In the inflammatory quinsey, a piece of flannel, moistened with this mixture, applied to the throat, and renewed every four or five hours, is one of the most efficacious remedies.

Take of lime water, and olive oil, each three ounces.

Mix them by shaking in a phial.

This solution is thick, of a white colour, and devoid of acrimony. It is very advantageously applied to burns and scalds. The soapy matter separates from the water when it has been made some time, and therefore it is always better to prepare it only when it is wanted.

Dissolve ten or twelve grains of white soap in four ounces of rectified spirit of wine; after which, strain the solution. A dram of rectified oil of amber is then added, and the whole filtered: with this solution should be mixed such a proportion of the strongest volatile spirit of ammonia, in a clear glass bottle, as will, when sufficiently shaken, produce a beautiful milk-white liquor. If a kind of cream should settle on the surface, it will be requisite to add a small quantity of the spirituous solution of soap. Those who may wish to have this liquor perfumed, may employ lavender or Hungary water, instead of the spirit of wine.

It is employed for curing the bites of adders, wasps, bees, gnats, ants, and other insects, and for burns.

Mix together, 4 ounces of spirit of wine,
1 dram of Friar’s balsam,
2 do. of tincture of saffron.

This balsam is used for sprains and bruises.

Fomentations are applied externally, and as warm as the patient can conveniently bear, in the following manner: Two flannel cloths are dipped into the heated liquor, of one which is wrung as dry as the necessary speed will admit then immediately applied to the part affected. The flannel lies on, until the heat begins to go off, and the other is in readiness to apply at the instant in which the first is removed:—thus these flannels are alternately applied, so as to keep the affected part constantly warm. This is continued fifteen or twenty minutes, and repeated two or three times a day, or as often as occasion may require. The degree of heat should never exceed that of producing a pleasing sensation; great heat sometimes produces effects very opposite to that intended by the use of the fomentation.

Take of the leaves of southernwood, dried,
tops of sea-wormwood, do.
camomile flowers, ditto, each 1 oz.
bay leaves, do. ½ oz.
distilled water, 6 pints.

Boil them a little, and strain.

In making these decoctions the aromatic substances should not be added until the decoction is nearly completed, for otherwise their flavour would be entirely dissipated.

Take two poppy heads, boil them in a quart of milk, and use this as a fomentation. It is excellent in inflamed eyes, also to relieve the pain of inflammation from a blister or other cause.

Take of mustard-seed, powdered, ½ lb.
crumb of bread, ½ do.
vinegar, as much as is sufficient.

Mix, and make a cataplasm.

Cataplasms of this kind are employed as stimulants: they often inflame the part, and raise blisters, but not so perfectly as cautharides. They are frequently applied to the soles of the feet, in the low state of acute diseases, for raising the pulse and relieving the head.

Take of olive oil, 5 ounces,
white wax, 2 ounces.

This is an useful emollient ointment for softening the skin.

Take of prepared hog’s lard, 2 lbs.
rose water, 3 oz.

Beat the lard with the rose-water until they be mixed; then melt the mixture with a slow fire, and set it apart that the water may subside; after which, pour off the lard from the water, constantly stirring until it be cold.

This ointment may be used for softening the skin, and healing chaps.

Take of white wax, 4 oz.
spermaceti, 3 oz.
olive oil, 1 pint.

Mix them together over a gentle fire, and then stir them very briskly, without ceasing, till they are cold.

Take of spermaceti, 6 drams,
white wax, 2 do.
olive oil, 3 oz.

Melt all together over a gentle fire, stirring briskly, without intermission, till the ointment becomes cold.

These two ointments are supposed only to supple the parts, and hinder the rag or lint from sticking to the granulating flesh, and they also keep the air from wounds, which is known to irritate them, from the oxygen in the atmosphere; but they have, otherwise, no peculiar healing virtue.

Melt together 2½ oz. of white wax,
3 oz. of spermaceti,
7 oz. of oil of almonds,
1 dram of balsam of Peru, and
1½ oz. of alkanet root, wrapped up in a linen bag.

Pour the salve into small gallipots or boxes, and cover with bladder and white leather.

Bruise a sufficient quantity of isinglass, and let it soak for twenty-four hours in a little warm water; expose it to heat over the fire, to dissipate the greater part of the water, and supply its place by colourless brandy, which will mix the gelatine of the glue. Strain the whole through a piece of open linen: on cooling, it will form a trembling jelly.

Now extend a piece of black silk on a wooden frame, and fix it in that position by means of tacks, or pack-thread. Then, with a brush made of badger’s hair, apply the glue, after it has been exposed to a gentle heat, to render it liquid. When this stratum is dry, which will soon be the case, apply a second, and then a third, if necessary, to give the plaster a certain thickness; as soon as the whole is dry, cover it with two or three strata of a strong tincture of balsam of Tolu.

This is the real English court plaster: it is pliable, and never breaks, characters which distinguish it from so many other preparations sold under the same name.

Application.

This plaster is generally used to cover slight abrasions and excoriations of the skin. When used for small cuts, from sharp instruments, bring the lips of the wound together, and lay over it a piece of goldbeater’s skin; then fix this by means of a piece of court plaster. The wound will generally heal without further trouble.

Take of rhubarb, sliced, 3 oz.
lesser cardamom seeds, bruised, ½ oz.
liquorice root, bruised, ½ oz.
saffron, 2 drams,
proof spirit of wine, 2 pints.

Digest for seven days, and strain. Dose, ½ an oz. as a purge, or 2 dr. as a stomachic.

Take of rhubarb, sliced, 2 oz.
liquorice root, bruised, ½ oz.
ginger, powdered,
saffron, each 2 drams;
distilled water, 1 pint,
proof spirit of wine, 12 oz. by measure.

Digest for 14 days, and strain. Dose, ½ an oz. as an aperient, or 1 oz. in violent diarrhœa.

Take of cinnamon, bruised,
lesser cardamom seeds, each 1 oz.
long pepper, in powder, 2 drams,
diluted alcohol, 2½ lbs.

Digest for seven days, and filter through paper.

A tea-spoonful or two may be taken in wine, or any other convenient vehicle, in languors, weakness of the stomach, flatulencies, and other similar complaints; and in these cases it is often employed with advantage.

Take of senna leaves, 2 oz.
jalap root, 1 oz.
coriander seeds, ½ oz.
proof spirit, 2½ pints.

Digest for seven days, and to the strained liquor add 4 oz. of sugar-candy.

This tincture is an useful carminative and cathartic, especially to those who have accustomed themselves to the use of spirituous liquors; it often relieves flatulent complaints and colics, where the common cordials have little effect: the dose is from 1 to 2 ounces.

Take of senna, 2 lbs.
rhubarb shavings, 2 lbs.
jalap root, 1 lb.
caraway seeds, 1 lb.
aniseeds, 2 lbs.
sugar, 4 lbs.
shavings of red sanders wood, ½ lb.

Digest these in 10 gallons of spirit of wine, for 14 days, and strain for use. This elixir possesses almost the same qualities as the Compound Tincture of Senna. The above quantities may be reduced to as small a scale as may be required.

Dissolve ½ an oz. of opium,
1 dram of oil of sassafras, in
2 ounces of spirit of wine.
Now mix 4 lbs. of treacle, with
1 gallon of boiling water, and when cold, mix both solutions.

This is generally used to soothe the pains of children, &c.

Take of balsam of tolu, 2 oz.
gum storax, 2 drams,
opium, 2 do.
honey, 8 oz.

Dissolve these in a quart of spirit of wine.

This balsam is useful in allaying the irritation of cough.

Dose, 1 or 2 tea-spoonsful in a little tea, or warm water.

Take of balsam of Tolu, 1 oz.
alcohol, 1 pint.

Digest until the balsam be dissolved, and then strain the tincture through paper.

This solution of the balsam of Tolu possesses all the virtues of the balsam itself. It may be taken internally, with the several intentions for which that balsam is proper, to the quantity of a tea-spoonful or two, in any convenient vehicle.

Mixed with simple syrup, it forms an agreeable balsamic syrup.

Take of Peruvian bark, 4 oz.
proof spirit, 2 pints.

Digest for 10 days, and strain.

It may be given from a tea-spoonful to ½ an ounce, or an ounce, according to the different purposes it is intended to answer.

Take of Peruvian bark, powdered, 2 oz.
the peel of Seville oranges, dried, 1½ do.
Virginian snake root, bruised, 3 drams,
saffron, 1 do.
cochineal, powdered, 2 scruples,
proof spirit, 20 oz.

Digest for 14 days, and strain.

As a corroborant and stomachic, it is given in doses of two or three drams; but when employed for the cure of intermittent fevers, it must be taken to a greater extent.

Take of guaiacum, 4 oz.
rectified spirit of wine, 2 pints.

Digest for seven days, and filter.

This solution is a powerful stimulating sudorific, and may be given in doses, of about ½ an ounce, in rheumatic and asthmatic cases.

Take of resin of guaiacum, in powder, 4 oz.
ammoniated alcohol, in powder, 1½ lb.

Digest for seven days, and filter through paper.

In rheumatic cases, a tea, or even table-spoonful, taken every morning and evening, in any convenient vehicle, particularly in milk, has proved of singular service.

Take of benzoin, 3 oz.
purified storax, 2 oz.
balsam of Tolu, 1 oz.
socotrine aloes, ½ oz.
rectified spirit of wine, 2 pints.

Digest for seven days and filter.

The dose is a tea-spoonful in some warm water four times a day, in consumptions and spitting of blood. It is useful, also, when applied on lint, to recent wounds, and serves the purposes of a scab, but must not be soon removed.

Take extract of catechu, 3 oz.
cinnamon, bruised, 2 oz.
diluted alcohol, 2 pints.

Digest for seven days, and strain through paper.

The cinnamon is a very useful addition to the catechu, not only as it warms the stomach, but likewise as it covers its roughness and astringency.

This tincture is of service in all kinds of defluxions, catarrhs, looseness, and other disorders where astringent medicines are indicated. Two or three tea-spoonsful may be taken occasionally.

Take of the root of ipecacuan, bruised, 2 oz.
Spanish white wine, 2 pints.

Digest for ten days and strain.

This wine is a very mild and safe emetic, and nearly equally serviceable in dysenteries, with the ipecacuan in substance; this root yielding nearly all its virtues to the Spanish white wine. The common dose is an ounce, more or less, according to the age and strength of the patient.