Yet how many persons who would otherwise be attractive are
spoiled by discolored and irregular teeth, as though the mouth out
of which should come sweetness were a lumber room for broken
furniture and never needed cleansing! Rinse your mouth and brush
your teeth every night and morning, if not after each meal. Get rid
at once of offensive teeth, remembering that an empty house is better
than a bad tenant. If you cannot do without teeth and have lost all
your own, the dentist will supply you. Only you must not swallow
them, as they are an expensive diet and not easily digested. Also: do
184 THE hearthstone; or, life at home,
not plaster your hair with pomatum and bear's grease, the bear having
been a pig, but use only a little oil if your hair needs lubrication.
Grease clogs the pores of the skin and engenders headache in con-
sequence of the suppressed perspiration. Cold water is the best tonic
for the head and hair.
Lastly, gentle reader, be regular in your habits as to rising, going
to bed and meal times. Don't fool with your stomach or brain or
nerves, for they are partners in one firm that will stand no fooling,
but will avenge upon you terribly a defiance of their rules. Old saws
are often better than modern instances, so do not forget the nursery
rhyme :
" Early to bed and early to rise
Is the way to be healthy, wealthy and wise."
MEDICINAL AND HYGIENIC RECIPES.
Bruises. — Use warm fomentations, flannel dipped in warm water
laid over the part, or a bread-and-water poultice. If very severe or
near a joint, put on leeches. If near the knee, keep perfectly quiet,
and do not attempt to walk. Keep on fomenting or poulticing till
the swelling goes down and the pain be gone. Some prefer rags
dipped in Goulard lotion (that is, one drachm of Goulard's extract
to six ounces of soft water) to the warm fomentations. Other medi-
cal men of great experience strongly recommend a lotion of tincture
of arnica and water; one part arnica to ten of water✪ Bruises Treatment. Keep the
patient quite quiet.
Cramp. — Put the patient at once into a hot bath, if possible; and
if not, sponge all over in water as hot as he can bear it. Unclasp
his Hhnds, if much contracted. Put smelling bottle to his nose, and
give weak brandy and water, or some stimulant, and put to bed, and
warm the bed, if there is such a thing as a warming-pan in the house.
If the cramp is only local, that is, affects only one limb, such as the
arm or leg, use plenty of friction and extension of the muscles under
spasm.
Fits. — If you are present when a person is first taken with a fit.
THE PHYSICIAN IN THE HOME. 1 85
put, if you can get one, a bottle of smelling salts to his nose, and per-
haps you may ward the fit off. If not, immediately unfasten the
neckcloth, unbutton the waistcoat, and loosen the braces. Give all
the fresh air possible, take the shoes off, and bathe the forehead with
cold water; then put a piece of soft wood, or something to save the
tongue being bitten, between the teeth; a cork even will do. Then,
if possible, put a strong mustard poultice on the back of the neck,
and put the feet into hot water.
Page 116 · 1 recipe record on this page
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
Yet how many persons who would otherwise be attractive are spoiled by discolored and irregular teeth, as though the mouth out of which should come sweetness were a lumber room for broken furniture and never needed cleansing! Rinse your mouth and brush your teeth every night and morning, if not after each meal. Get rid at once of offensive teeth, remembering that an empty house is better than a bad tenant. If you cannot do without teeth and have lost all your own, the dentist will supply you. Only you must not swallow them, as they are an expensive diet and not easily digested. Also: do
184 THE hearthstone; or, life at home,
not plaster your hair with pomatum and bear's grease, the bear having been a pig, but use only a little oil if your hair needs lubrication. Grease clogs the pores of the skin and engenders headache in consequence of the suppressed perspiration. Cold water is the best tonic for the head and hair.
Lastly, gentle reader, be regular in your habits as to rising, going to bed and meal times. Don't fool with your stomach or brain or nerves, for they are partners in one firm that will stand no fooling, but will avenge upon you terribly a defiance of their rules. Old saws are often better than modern instances, so do not forget the nursery rhyme :
" Early to bed and early to rise Is the way to be healthy, wealthy and wise."
MEDICINAL AND HYGIENIC RECIPES.
Bruises. — Use warm fomentations, flannel dipped in warm water laid over the part, or a bread-and-water poultice. If very severe or near a joint, put on leeches. If near the knee, keep perfectly quiet, and do not attempt to walk. Keep on fomenting or poulticing till the swelling goes down and the pain be gone. Some prefer rags dipped in Goulard lotion (that is, one drachm of Goulard's extract to six ounces of soft water) to the warm fomentations. Other medical men of great experience strongly recommend a lotion of tincture of arnica and water; one part arnica to ten of water. Keep the patient quite quiet.
Cramp. — Put the patient at once into a hot bath, if possible; and if not, sponge all over in water as hot as he can bear it. Unclasp his Hhnds, if much contracted. Put smelling bottle to his nose, and give weak brandy and water, or some stimulant, and put to bed, and warm the bed, if there is such a thing as a warming-pan in the house. If the cramp is only local, that is, affects only one limb, such as the arm or leg, use plenty of friction and extension of the muscles under spasm.
Fits. — If you are present when a person is first taken with a fit.
put, if you can get one, a bottle of smelling salts to his nose, and perhaps you may ward the fit off. If not, immediately unfasten the neckcloth, unbutton the waistcoat, and loosen the braces. Give all the fresh air possible, take the shoes off, and bathe the forehead with cold water; then put a piece of soft wood, or something to save the tongue being bitten, between the teeth; a cork even will do. Then, if possible, put a strong mustard poultice on the back of the neck, and put the feet into hot water.
Records on this page
Bruises Treatment