The common mode of preparing this, is to put three drams of the essential oil of lavender, and a dram of the essence of ambergris, into 1 pint of spirit of wine.

Take of the fresh tops of rosemary, 1½ lb.
proof spirit, 1 gallon.

Distil off in a water-bath, 5 pints.

Take of aniseed,
angelica-seed, each bruised, ½ lb.
proof-spirit, 1 gallon,
water, sufficient to prevent a bad taste or flavour.

Draw off 1 gallon by distillation.

This compound is often employed with advantage, in cases of flatulent colic.

Take of extract of liquorice,
gum arabic, each 4 oz.
white sugar, 8 oz.

Dissolve them in warm water, and strain; then evaporate the mixture over a gentle fire, till it be of a proper consistence for being formed into lozenges, which are to be cut out of any shape.

Take of fine sugar, 1 lb.
gum arabic, 4 oz.
starch, 1 oz.
flowers of benzoin, ¾ dram.

Having beat them all in a powder, make them into a proper mass with rose-water, so as to form lozenges.

These compositions are calculated for softening acrimonious humours, and allaying the tickling in the throat which provokes coughing.

Take of nitre, purified, 3 oz.
double-refined sugar, 9 oz.

Make them into lozenges with mucilage of gum tragacanth.

This is a very agreeable form for the exhibition of nitre, as a diuretic or febrifuge, though, when the salt is thus taken, without any liquid (if the quantity be considerable), it is apt to occasion uneasiness about the stomach, which can only be prevented by a large dilution with aqueous liquors.

Take of dried red rose-buds, 4 oz.
boiling distilled water, 3 pints,
clarified honey, 5 lbs.

Macerate the rose-leaves in the water for six hours; then mix the honey with the strained liquor, and boil the mixture to the thickness of a syrup.

This preparation is not unfrequently used as a mild, cooling detergent, particularly in gargles for ulcerations and inflammation of the mouth and tonsils.

Take of the heads of white poppies, dried, 3½ lbs.
double-refined sugar, 6 lbs.
distilled water, 8 gallons.

Slice and bruise the heads, then boil them in the water to three gallons, and press out the decoction. Reduce this, by boiling, to about 4 pints, and strain it while hot through a sieve, then through a thin woollen cloth, and set it aside for twelve hours, that the grounds may subside. Boil the liquor poured off from the grounds to three pints, and dissolve the sugar in it, that it may be made a syrup.

This syrup, impregnated with the narcotic matter of the poppy-head, is given to children in doses of two or three drams, and to adults of from half an ounce to one ounce and upwards, for easing pain, procuring rest, and answering the other intentions of mild operations.

Take of fresh flowers of the violet, 1 lb.
boiling distilled water, 3 pints.

Macerate for 25 hours, and strain the liquor through a cloth, without pressing, and add double-refined sugar, to make the syrup.

This is an agreeable laxative medicine for young children.

Take of clarified honey, 3 lbs.
vinegar of squills, 2 pints.

Boil them in a glass vessel, with a slow fire, to the thickness of a syrup.

Oxymel of squills is an useful aperient, detergent, and expectorant, and of great service in humoral asthmas, coughs, and other disorders where thick phlegm abounds. It is given in doses of two or three drachms, along with some aromatic water, as that of cinnamon, to prevent the great nausea which it would otherwise be apt to excite. In large doses it proves emetic.

Take of squills, recently dried, 1 pound,
vinegar, 6 pints,
proof spirit, ½ pint.

Macerate the squills with the vinegar, in a glass vessel, with a gentle heat, for 24 hours; then express the liquor, and set it aside until the fæces subside. To the decanted liquor add the spirit.

Vinegar of squills is a very powerful stimulant; and hence it is frequently used with great success as a diuretic and expectorant. The dose of this medicine is from a dram to half an ounce.

Take of tar, 2 pints;
water, 1 gallon.

Mix, by stirring them with a wooden rod for a quarter of an hour, and, after the tar has subsided, strain the liquor, and keep it in well corked phials.

Tar-water should have the colour of white wine, and an empyreumatic taste. It is, in fact, a solution of empyreumatic oil, effected by means of acetous acid. It acts as a stimulant raising the pulse, and increasing the discharge by the skin and kidneys. It may be drank to the extent of a pint or two in the course of a day.

Take of sarsaparilla root, cut, 6 oz.
distilled water, 8 pints.

After macerating for two hours, with a heat about 195 degrees, then take out the root, and bruise it; add it again to the liquor, and macerate it for two hours longer; then boil down the liquor to 4 pints, and strain it. The dose is from 4 oz. to half a pint, or more, daily.

Take of sarsaparilla root, cut and bruised, 6 oz.
the bark of sassafras root,
the shavings of guaiacum wood,
liquorice root, each 1 oz.
the bark of mezereon root, 3 drams,
distilled water, 10 pints.

Digest with a gentle heat for six hours, then boil down the liquor to one half (or 5 pints) adding the bark of the mezereon root towards the end of boiling. Strain off the liquor. The dose is the same as the last, and for the same purposes.

Take of guaiacum raspings, 3 oz.
raisins, stoned, 2 oz.
sassafras root, sliced,
liquorice root, bruised, each 1 oz.
water, 10 lbs.

Boil the guaiacum and raisins with the water, over a gentle fire, to the consumption of one half, adding, towards the end, the sassafras and liquorice, and strain the decoction without expression.

Take of dried red roses, ½ oz.
diluted vitriolic acid, 3 drams,
boiling distilled water, 2½ pints,
double refined sugar, 1½ oz.

First pour the water on the petals, in a close vessel, then add the diluted vitriolic acid, and macerate for half an hour. Strain the liquor when cold, and add the sugar.

Take of ipecacuan wine, 7 drams,
antimonial wine, 1 do.
syrup of violets, 1 do.
rose-water, 3 do.

Make into a draught to be taken at eight in the evening; or, for an infant, give a tea-spoonful every five minutes until it operates, and half of it for a child of ten or twelve years. It has no taste.

Take senna leaves, an ounce and a half,
ginger, sliced, 1 dram,
boiling water, 1 pint.

Macerate for an hour, and strain the liquor.

Two or three tea-spoonsful of Epsom salts dissolved in a wine-glassful of warm water, with 3 table-spoonsful of the above infusion of senna, and a tea-spoonful of tincture of senna, or cardamoms, will act as a mild aperient. It should be taken early in the morning, and a plentiful supply of tea, afterwards, at breakfast.

Take of manna, 1 oz.
mucilage of gum arabic,
oil of almonds,
syrup of lemons, each 2 drams.

Of this mixture give a tea-spoonful to a child at bed-time.

Take of camphor, 1 dram,
rectified spirit of wine, ten drops,
double-refined sugar, half an ounce,
boiling distilled water, one pint.

Rub the camphor first with the spirit of wine, then with the sugar; lastly, add the water by degrees, and strain the mixture.

In the common form of camphor emulsion the union is effected, by triturating the camphor with a few almonds, the unctuous quality of which serves in a considerable degree to cover the pungency of the camphor without diminishing its activity. Camphor under the present form, as well as that of emulsion, is very useful in fevers, taken to the extent of a table-spoonful every three or four hours.

Take of prepared chalk, 1 oz.
refined sugar, ½ an oz.
mucilage of gum arabic, 2 oz.

Rub them together and then add by degrees,
water, 2 pints,
spirituous cinnamon-water, 2 ounces.

This is a very elegant form of exhibiting chalk, and is a useful remedy in diseases arising from or accompanied with acidity in the stomach, &c. It is frequently employed in diarrhœa proceeding from that cause.

The person ought to be immediately carried into the open air, and the temples should be rubbed with strong vinegar and brandy, and volatile salts or spirits held to the nose. The patient should then be laid on the back with the head low, and have a little wine or other cordial poured into the mouth. If subject to hysteric fits, castor or assafœtida should be applied to the nose, or burnt feathers, horn, or leather.

Dry lint put up the nostrils, pledgets of lint dipped in spirits, or weak solution of blue vitriol, or from ten to twenty drops of oil of turpentine taken in water, generally stop discharges of blood.

Water for a warm bath should be rather more than a blood heat, or from 90 to 100 of the thermometer, and if a portable tin bath is not at command, and a warm bath is suddenly wanted, the quickest mode of making one, is to knock in the head of a beer or wine cask, according to the size of the patient, and every neighbourhood will supply these, as well as sufficient quantities of hot water, clean or dirty.

In cases of substances being stopt between the mouth and the stomach, where they cannot be extracted by the fingers or otherwise, the person should swallow a piece of meat or tow tied to a thread, which should be immediately drawn up again. Emetics are sometimes serviceable, and injections of warm milk and water frequently remove the obstructions. When animation is suspended by noxious vapours, the usual methods in fainting should be employed, and lemonade or vinegar and water given to the patient as soon as he can swallow.

When it proceeds from extreme cold, the part affected should be immersed in cold water, or rubbed with snow till they recover their natural warmth.

Every method should be taken to lessen the circulation of blood towards the head; the patient should be kept easy and cool, the head raised high, and the feet suffered to hang down. The clothes should be loosened and fresh air admitted into the room, and medical assistance procured immediately for bleeding.

Apoplexy is preceded by giddiness, pain, and swimming of the head, loss of memory, &c. and on the symptoms appearing, bleeding, slender diet, and opening medicines are advisable, and often act as preventives.

Most head-aches arise from imperfect digestion, either from acidity, or from accumulations of bile. The first cause may be removed by half a tea-spoonful of carbonate of soda, or by a dessert spoonful of magnesia, in a small tumbler of water. But if the cause is bilious, then two or three antibilious pills, or a pill of from two to five grains of calomel, is the best remedy, and this may be assisted in its operation by half an ounce of salts in a large tumbler of water, in the morning. Washing the head with cold water, is always salutary in habitual head-aches, particularly at rising in the mornings.

One part of red lead, in fine powder, and two parts of hog’s-lard.—Spread on lint, and dress the sore twice a day.

Three drams of prepared natron (which may be obtained for three-pence) in a quart of soft cold water, and take half of it in the course of the day; continue it for a few days, and the complaint will subside. It may be taken at any hour, but it is best after a meal.

A large tea-cupful of linseed, two pennyworth of stick-liquorice, and a quarter of a pound of sun raisins, put to two quarts of soft water, and simmered over a slow fire, till reduced one-third or more; add thereto a quarter of a pound of sugar-candy pounded, a table-spoonful of old rum, and a table-spoonful of white wine vinegar, or lemon-juice. Note—the rum and vinegar should be added only to the quantity which is about to be taken immediately. Drink half a pint at going to bed, or a small quantity at any time when the cough is troublesome.

Take of almond emulsion, 7½ ounces; syrup of white poppies, oxymel of squills, of each two drams; compound powder of gum tragacanth, one dram. Two table-spoonsful to be taken frequently.

Inhale the steam of hot vinegar, through the spout of a tea-pot, or a funnel, for about half an hour just before you go to bed:—also two or three times in the course of the day, and keep at home. A piece of flannel dipped in hartshorn will be serviceable, applied when going to bed. In a relaxed sore throat, a few lumps of sugar dipped in brandy, and gradually dissolved in the mouth, will be very efficacious.

Bathe the legs and feet in warm water at night, and take, going into bed, a drink of hot whey, with 4 grains of nitre.

If a sore throat, tie round it three or four folds of flannel sprinkled with spirits.

This is an excellent remedy in all cases of colds, coughs, hoarseness, pains and head-aches; for in the above-mentioned complaints, inflammation, or undue determination of blood to the part affected, is present. After this operation the patient should instantly go to bed.

One ounce of myrrh, in fine powder, two spoonsful of the best honey, and a little sage, in fine powder, mixed together, with which rub the teeth and gums night and morning.

After having washed your mouth with water, rinse the mouth with a tea-spoonful of lavender water mixed with an equal quantity of warm or cold water, to diminish its activity.

To a table-spoonful of any spirit, and the same quantity of vinegar, add a tea-spoonful of salt. When mixed, hold the liquid in your mouth, so as to enter the cavity of the tooth.

Red spurge destroys warts and corns.

Cut an apple, and rub it for a few minutes over the wart; the juice of the apple will loosen the wart, and in a few days it will drop off. Any strong acid, either vegetable or mineral, has the same tendency.

Mr. Cooper, in his Dictionary of Surgery, gives the following recipe as infallible for the cure of corns:—Take two ounces of gum ammoniac, two ounces of yellow wax, six drams of verdigris, melt them together, and spread the composition on a piece of soft leather or linen; cut away as much of the corn as you can with a knife before you apply the plaster, which must be renewed in a fortnight, if the corn is not by that time gone.

When the blisters are open, dress them with a simple white ointment spread thinly on the smooth side of lint, the first day, and every day after sprinkle a little powder of prepared chalk, and dress it as before. To alleviate the immediate pain, apply any quick evaporating fluid, as æther, spirits of wine, or brandy; or better than all, if at hand, spirits of turpentine, or rags dipped in vinegar and water, and often renewed.

Rub the part burnt every two or three hours with spirits of turpentine, or with vinegar if the skin be not broken, or vinegar and cold water. Half a pound of alum dissolved in a quart of water, likewise makes an admirable wash for a burn or scald; bathe the part with a linen rag dipped in the mixture, then bind the rag upon it with a slip of linen, and keep it moist with the alum water for two or three days, without removing the bandage.

The mischief which arises from this accident is owing to the party standing in an erect position, because flame ascends, and feeds and accumulates in intensity during its ascent. The first remedy is, therefore, to lay the child or other person on the floor, in which position the flames will not only make no progress, but will do little or no harm to the person. The fatal consequences of this accident arise from the ascent of the flame to the throat, head, and sensitive organs, an effect which cannot take place if the body is instantly placed in an horizontal position. Sir Richard Phillips, who first promulgated this treatment, proved its efficacy by taking two strips of muslin, a yard long, and one of them, which was set on fire at the end, and held perpendicularly, burnt out with an intense flame in less than half a minute; but the other piece, laid hollow and horizontally, on being set on fire at the end, burnt even with difficulty, and twenty minutes elapsed before it was entirely consumed; the flame at the same time being inconsiderable and harmless.

After the person on fire has been laid horizontally, the best method of extinguishing the fire, is an immediate covering of any kind, and when every spark has been extinguished, spirits and water, or vinegar and water, should be applied to affected parts till the pain is removed. Adult females, whose clothes take fire, should have the presence of mind instantly to throw themselves on the floor, and in that case, no serious injury can ever arise, and if this precaution were generally known, many families would have been relieved from the unavailing affliction of the loss of dear connexions, and from the heart-rending scenes which, under other circumstances, they have been fated to witness.

Take conserve of red roses and rotten apple in equal quantities, wrap them in a fold of thin cambric, or old linen, and apply it to the eye; it will relieve the bruise and remove the blackness.

Foment it with warm vinegar for five minutes every four hours, wet it afterwards with rectified spirit of wine, and rub it gently. Sit with the foot on a low stool, and occasionally rest upon the ancle, and move it gently backwards and forwards.

A heaped table-spoonful of magnesia, mixed in a middling sized tumbler of water, and drank immediately after oxalic acid has been swallowed, will save life.

Take a spoonful of common salt, add as much water as will make it damp; apply it like a poultice every six hours, and it will be sure to stop the hydrophobia.

Over the spot where the sting has entered, apply the pipe of a key, press it for a minute or two, and the pain and swelling will disappear.

A wasp or bee swallowed, may be killed before it can do harm, by taking a tea-spoonful of common salt dissolved in water. It kills the insect and cures the sting. Salt, at all times, is the best cure for external stings; sweet oil, pounded mallows, or onions, or powdered chalk made into a paste with water, are also efficacious.

If bees swarm upon the head, smoke tobacco, and hold a empty hive over the head, and they will go into it.

Olive oil is an absolute specific for the bite (or sting, as it is erroneously called,) of the adder; the oil should be well rubbed upon the part bitten: in case of violent symptoms a glass or two should be taken inwardly. If olive oil is not at hand, common sweet oil will answer the purpose.

Avoid all rough usage. Do not hold up the body by the feet, or roll it on casks, or rub it with salt, or spirits, or apply tobacco. Lose not a moment, carry the body, the head and shoulders raised, to the nearest house. Place it in a warm room. Let it be instantly stripped, dried, and wrapped in hot blankets, which are to be renewed when necessary. Keep the mouth, nostrils, and the throat free and clean. Apply warm substances to the back, spine, pit of the stomach, arm pits, and soles of the feet. Rub the body with heated flannel, or warm hands.—Attempt to restore breathing, by gently blowing with bellows into one nostril closing the mouth and the other nostril. Keep up the application of heat. Press down the breast carefully with both hands, and then let it rise again, and thus imitate natural breathing. Continue the rubbing, and increase it when life appears, and then give a tea-spoonful of warm water, or of very weak wine or spirits and warm water. Persevere for six hours. Send quickly for medical assistance.