The Ladies Book of Useful Information, Anonymous [rocket ebook reader txt] 📗

parts, and the worms can be removed with a small piece of cloth, after separating the lips.

This disease may be either acute or chronic. The acute form generally results from taking cold, and is simply a catarrhal inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the vagina. The chronic form is but a continuation of the acute, and is generally caused by the acute stage having been neglected or improperly treated. Ulceration of the neck of the womb sometimes results. There are two forms of leucorrhœa: Vaginal leucorrhœa, when the discharge comes from the walls of the vagina; and cervical leucorrhœa, when the discharge proceeds from the neck of the womb.

Causes: Taking cold from sitting on the ground, or exposure of the neck and shoulders; over sexual excitement, and sexual intercourse; tight lacing; piles, miscarriages, and abortions; displacements of the womb; purgatives, improper articles of diet; warm injections, or injections of any kind; late hours, etc. It may also be hereditary.

TREATMENT.

The treatment, to be successful, requires that the patient should first be placed in a favorable condition. Anything which tends to excite the disease must be avoided, as dissipations, late suppers, etc. The diet must be plain and nourishing without being stimulating, and be taken regularly. Exercise, short of fatigue, will be beneficial. The clothing should be warm and worn loosely, especially about the waist. Water is of great importance in the treatment of this trouble. The sitting-bath may be used every day, and injections of cold or tepid water should be used three or four times a day, according to the severity of the discharge.

An injection of weak green tea will be found good in some mild cases, as also sweet cider or a weak solution of alum.

One of the best tonics is the muriated tincture of iron, of which take twenty or twenty-five drops in half a tumbler of water three or four times a day. An excellent injection is made by taking three drams of tannic acid and an ounce of alum, dissolving in a quart of water, and inject one-third three times a day. The bowels should be kept open by Rochelle or Epsom salts, or seidlitz powder. When there is great debility of the organs, or when the disease has been brought on by exposure to cold, pregnancy, abortions, etc., the following will be found very successful:

Tincture of aloes, two ounces; muriated tincture of iron, four drams. Mix. Dose: Thirty-five drops in water three times a day. At the same time use the following injection: Sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), two drams; sugar of lead, two drams. Mix in one quart of water, and use one-fourth for each injection.

CHAPTER X. COLLECTION OF VALUABLE MEDICAL COMPOUNDS. Do you have— A frequent headache over the eyes? A susceptibility to chills and fever? A bitter or oily taste in the mouth? A sour stomach? A complexion inclined to be yellow? A great depression of spirits without known cause? Specks before the eyes, and flushed face? A done out, tired feeling?

Besides many other symptoms too numerous to mention? If you have you are affected in your liver and kidneys, and should do something for it. The following preparation, “Magic Kidney and Liver Restorer,” acts on these organs and, when diseased or out of order, restores them to a healthy state. Everyone should keep a bottle of this preparation in the house, as it is an invaluable medicine. Splendid to take in the spring to tone up the system:

MAGIC KIDNEY AND LIVER RESTORER. Two ounces of alcohol; One and a half ounces of glycerine; One ounce of liverwort; Three hundred and twenty grains of saltpetre; Forty drops of wintergreen.

Steep the liverwort in a quart of water down to half the quantity, then throw in the other ingredients while hot. Dose: One tablespoonful about four times a day.

HOP BITTERS. One ounce mandrake root; One ounce gentian root; One ounce dandelion root; One ounce buchu leaf; One ounce sarsaparilla leaf; One ounce blackberry leaf; One ounce hops.

Infuse in cold water, three quarts, two or three days. Add a pint of whisky, and bottle. Dose: A teaspoonful three times a day.

ALTERATIVE, OR LIVER POWDER.

Take podophyllin and sanguinaria, of each ten grains; leptandrin, twenty grains; white sugar, forty grains. Triturate or rub the whole well together in a mortar and divide into twenty powders, and take one night and morning. If they operate much on the bowels take but one a day.

Uses: Valuable in liver complaint, torpidity of the liver, and as an alterative to act on the secretions of the system generally. A complete substitute for blue pill and free from any danger.

HEPATIC AND ALTERATIVE POWDER.

Take equal parts, say of each half an ounce, of finely powdered blue flag root, bloodroot, May apple root, golden seal root, and bitterroot. Mix all together and pass through a fine sieve. Dose: As an alterative and to act on the liver and secretions, from two to five grains two or three times a day.

CATHARTIC AND LIVER PILLS.

Take podophyllin, sixty grains; leptandrin and sanguinaria, ipecac and pure cayenne, each thirty grains. Make into sixty pills with a little soft extract of mandrake or dandelion. This is the best pill that can be used as a cathartic and liver pill and to act on the secretions generally. As a purgative the dose is from two to four pills for a grown person, and as an alterative and substitute for blue mass and to act on the liver, one pill once a day or every other day.

ANTI-DYSPEPTIC PILLS.

Take Socotrine aloes, two drams; colocynth, gamboge, rhubarb, and castile soap, each one dram; cayenne, thirty grains; oil cloves, thirty drops. Make into one hundred and twenty pills with extract of gentian or dandelion. Dose: For dyspepsia, inactive liver or costiveness, one or two pills once a day; as a cathartic, three to five pills at a dose. This is a splendid pill. It cleanses the stomach, gives tone and energy to the digestive organs, restores the appetite, excites the liver and other secretory organs, without causing any debility.

ANOTHER ANTI-DYSPEPTIC PILL.

Take Quevenne's powdered metallic iron, forty grains; rhubarb, twenty grains; extract of nux vomica, one grain. Triturate well in a small mortar, so as to mix them perfectly, and make into twenty pills with extract of boneset or gentian. Take one pill before each meal. This is one of the best anti-dyspeptic pills known.

DYSPEPTIC LEY.

Take hickory ashes, one pint; soot, three or four ounces; boiling water, two quarts. Pour on in a suitable vessel or crock, stir, and let stand, over night, then pour off clear and bottle. Dose: Half a teacupful three times a day, and if too strong weaken with water until palatable. A sure remedy for dyspepsia.

AGUE PILLS.

Take quinine, twenty grains; piperine, ten grains; Dover's Powder, ten grains; cayenne, ten grains. Mix, pulverize, and make into twenty pills with a little gum arabic or extract of gentian or boneset. To be taken at the rate of one pill an hour when there is no fever, or during intermission, until twelve pills are taken, the balance to be taken on the third day or next well day. Good as a remedy for the chills or fever and ague.

CERTAIN REMEDY FOR THE AGUE OR INTERMITTENT FEVER.

Take quinine, twelve grains; ipecac and cayenne, of each six grains; pulverized opium, three grains. Make into twelve pills with precipitated extract of Peruvian bark, or if you cannot get this, use either extract of dogwood or boneset, sufficient to form into pill mass. Two or three pills to be taken every two or three hours, during the well day or intermission, till all are taken. A very certain and effectual remedy for the ague or intermittent fever.

FEVER POWDER.

Take finely pulverized gum myrrh, bloodroot, and lobelia seed, or ipecac, of each half an ounce; gum camphor and nitre, of each two drams. Pulverize, mix, and rub well together in a mortar, and bottle for use. Dose: Three to five grains every hour of two during fever. Good to allay the excitement, act on the skin and promote perspiration; also a good expectorant powder in coughs, colds, pneumonia, and oppressed breathing.

AGUE DROPS.

Take quinine, twenty grains; water, one ounce; sulphuric acid, twenty drops. Mix in a vial. Dose: A teaspoonful every hour or every two hours during the well day till all is taken. A certain cure for the ague, or chills and fever.

SICK HEADACHE PILLS.

Take Socotrine aloes, gamboge, and castile soap, of each one dram; ipecac and scammony, of each thirty grains; oil of anise, thirty drops. Make into sixty pills with a little mucilage, gum arabic or extract dandelion. Dose: One to three pills. Useful in sick headache, habitual costiveness, dizziness, sour stomach, and indigestion, and may be used whenever a good vegetable cathartic is needed. For an attack of headache, take three pills, and repeat in three hours if the first does not operate. Will invariably give relief.

ANODYNE HEADACHE PILLS.

Take extract of hyoscyamus, thirty grains; extract stramonium, ten grains; quinine, twenty grains; morphine, two grains. Mix well and make into twenty pills, adding a little powdered liquorice root, or any other innocent powder, if necessary, to thicken the mass. The pills are one of the best remedies known for nervous headache, neuralgia in the face or head, toothache and nervous and neuralgic pains in any part of the system, that I have ever used. Dose: One pill, for a grown person, and may be repeated every two or three hours till relief is obtained. The extract of belladonna may be used instead of the stramonium, in the same proportion, with equally good effect.

RHEUMATIC PILLS.

Take jalap, colchicum seeds, and gum guaiac, of each one dram. Pulverize and mix veil, and make into sixty pills with extract of poke root (or berries). The dose is one or two pills three or four times a day. Good in all cases of chronic rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatica, and the like.

ANOTHER FOR SAME.

Take macrotin and pulverized gum guaiac, of each one dram; podophyllin, ten grains. Make into sixty pills with extract of poke root. Dose: One pill two or three times a day. An excellent pill for rheumatism and neuralgia.

PILLS FOR DYSENTERY.

Take rhubarb, ipecac, and castile soap, each thirty grains; pulverized opium, fifteen grains. Make into thirty pills with mucilage, gum arabic, or any other suitable substance. Dose: One pill every three to six hours for diarrhœa and dysentery. After three or four are taken they should not be taken oftener than once in six hours.

ANOTHER FOR SAME.

Take leptandrin, forty grains; rhubarb, twenty grains; morphine, four grains. Mix, and triturate well in a mortar so as to mix perfectly, and make into twenty pills with mucilage of gum arabic. Dose: In dysentery and diarrhœa, one pill every six to twelve hours. Two or three pills are generally sufficient to cure any ordinary case, if given during the early stage. They may be relied on in all cases and stages of bowel diseases, and especially in dysentery. A second pill may be given three hours after the first, a third six hours after the second; after that not oftener than once in twelve hours, and never more than one pill at a time.

EPILEPTIC PILLS.

Take sulphate of zinc, sixty grains; rhubarb and ipecac, each thirty grains; cayenne, sixty grains. Make into sixty pills with extract of hyoscyamus. Dose: One pill night and morning for one week, then leave off for a week, and then resume again, and so on every other week. An important remedy, and has cured many cases of epileptic fits when taken in the early stages.

PILLS FOR ASTHMA.

Take powdered elecampane root, powdered liquorice root, powdered anise seed, and sulphur, of each one dram. Make into ordinary sized pills with a sufficient quantity of tar, and take three or four pills at night on going to bed. This is an admirable remedy for asthma and shortness of breath.

HYSTERIC PILLS.

Take asafœtida and carbonate of ammonia, of each one