UC-NRLF B 3 loa ^^6 ss^-i i'?.'?-- ^^^.%': !\ \ \a^X'^^^ ^''^ I I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 112 ed or bruised part of the tree, mixed with the oil of hen's eggs, for a plaister. Another plasier for the Rhenmalism. Take hemlock bows and white pine bows, in eqaal proportions — boil them till the balsam is off; then skim off the balsam, and boil it down thick enough to spread in a plaster. For a weak Stomach, Take the balsam of a tamarac tree. You will find it by whittling the wood open round the bruised part — take it on sugar or in molasses. For the Dysentery. Take a cork and burn it on coals, draw the tea out of this, and take it — it has wrought a cure v/ht^n the si: ill cf doctors has failed. Cure for sore Eyes. Take w'hite vitriol as big as a white bean, the same quantity ofloaf sugar, and a boiled or roast- ed egg ; take out the yolk ; put the vitriol and sugar into the white of the tgg^ and press them till the juice isall out — apply it to the eyes at night. Cure for Poisoned Sheep and Cattle. Raw cgg^Kj says die American Farmer, gi\*en to sheep or cattle poi ironed by eating laurel or ivy will effect a speedy cure. The dose for a sheep is one egg, for a cow four. When used for this purpose the shell of the egg is broken, and the yolk with as much of the white as is prac- ticah'e is slipped down the animal's throat. For the Horn Ail in Cattle. Tfllce of running' Ivy, by MTtne called Meicuvy, half a pound of vines and voolh ; — Ihis is ihe thip.i:^ that poisons men when they arc mowing — Put it .no a pHil and a half of water, and boil it two thndis uway, or in the same proportion ibr a greater or lesser quan- tity. Do not stand over tlie pot -whilst it is boding. Give the beast 3 or 4;"rik bot'.lesfull at once according to the strcnglli of the crea- ture, and the cure is effected. This s.ime medicine will also cure the Garget, and is good to give creaiures in the spring to prevent dis- frast.s. lialf a pint or more -"^l this tea given to a sheep a few times, tha- Lngered ad refused her rr.cat before and after lambing, bas> been known to cure . DR. JOHN WILLIA3IS' LAST LEGACY, AX7D USEFUZi FAMILY GUIDE. JSTEW'TORK'. 1827. FREFACS. THE author of this little book has a desire to leave something for the good of his fellow creatures, and being sensible of soon retiring from time, and seeing no other opportunity to benefit the rising generation, hopes it will be ^kindly received — being a true and faithful statement of each Medicine and Cure. — It has been carefully min- uted according to his own knowledge, and not from hear- say. He has endeavoured to state the true nature and virtue of each vegetable; and they may be used with the greatest safety and advantage. JOHN WILLIAMS. ADVERTISEMENT. THE Author of this work is a native of New-York,ancl now resides in Washington county, in the easterly part of the state ; he has for the most part of his life been engag- ed in the deepest study for restoring the health, and pre- serving the lives of his fellow creatures. For the attain- ment of this object he has travelled. To this end he has laboured, and for years has applied himself in the wilds of America, among the natives of the forest, where he has undergone all the horrors and deprivations incident to savage life, in order to collect and bring together that knowledge which should be instrumental in saving the Jives and preserving the health of his fellow creatures. Whilst among the Indians, the author was a particular inmate and confident of a native Indian, who had been in- structed in all the arts of civilized life,and had the advan- tages of a liberal education, being a regular bred physi- ^ cian, in the medical department of the Pennsylvania uni- versity, established at Philadelphia, at once the most flourishing and respectable institution of the kind in the United States, and hardly excelled by any in Europe. — While with this Indian, the author of this work had not only an opportunity of learning the Indian method of treat- iing disorders, and the medical virtues of the vegetable kingdom, but likewise of gaining much literary and scien- tific knowledge. It is as clear as the sun at noon day, (and must be seen by all observers') that nature has provided in her miner- als, animals and vegetables, an effectual remedy, if admin- istered in season, for all the disorders incident to the hu- man system. Of the two latter, the author has treated more particularly in his work, omitting mineral substanc- es generally, on account of their poisonous quality — and which he thinks in a great measure ought to be laid aside. Should any recipe in the preceding pages answer the benevolent design of the writer — that of easing pain, curing diseases and prolonging life — the person so benefit- ted will be more than compensated for the price asked for this. iCJ^More than 8000 copies of this work have been sold within the last four months. «r£3| HERBAL. 1 . For the King's Evil. The King's Evil may be cured by a plant called the King's Evil weed. It grows in wild shady land, under al- most all kinds of timber, and in the form of a plantain, but the leaves are smaller, and are spotted green and white — a very beautiful plant. When it goes to seed, there comes up one stalk in the middle of the plant, six or eight inches high, and bears the seed on the top of the stalk in a small round bud. Take this, root and branch, pound it soft, apply it to the tumour for a poultice or salve, and let the patient drink a tea made of the same for constant drink. If the tumour is broken open, simmer the root and leaf in sweet oil and mutton tallow j strain it of, and add to it beeswax and rosin until hard enough for salve. — Wash the sore with Hquor made of the herb, boiled, and apply the salve, and it will not fail a cure. 2. The best remedy for the rattlerin children. Take blood root, powder it, give the patient a small tea-spoonful at a dose; if the first does not break the blad- der in half an hour, repeat again three times. This lias not been known to fail curing. 3. A valuable remedy for the Bilious Colic. Take of West India rum, one gill, of W^est India molas- ses, one gill, of hog's lard, one gill, and the urine of beast one gill; simmer well together. This composition will seldom fail of performing an effectual cure for life, 4. For a Felon. Blue flag root and wild turnip root, a handful of each, stewed in half a pint of hog's lard — strain it off— add to it four spoonfuls of tar, and simmer them together. Ap- ply this ointment to the felon till it breaks. Add bees- wax and rosin to the ointment for a salve to dress it with after it is broken. This is an infallible cure, without los- ing a joint. 5. JFor the Salt Rheum. Take swamp sassafras bark, boil it in water very strong, take some of the water and wash the part affected; to the remainder of the water add hog's lard, simmer it over a moderate fire till the water is gone, Oint the part affect- ed after washing, (continued four days,) never fails of a cure. 6. Salve for a Burn. Take wild lavender, the green of elder bark, cammo- mile, and parsley, and stew them in fresh butter, strain off, and add to it beeswax, rosin, and white diacalon, equal parts. If a burn is of a long time standing, and discharg- es very much, take mutton suet before it is tried, pound it up with chalk to the consistence of salve. This cures the most inveterate old sores of the kind. 7. The best Salve for JVomen^s sore Breasts ever found. Take one pound of tobacco, one pound spikenard, half a pound cumfrey, and boil them in three quarts of cham- ber ley til] almost dry ; squeeze out the juice, add to it pitch and beeswax, and simmer it over a moderate heat to the consistence of salve. Apply it to the part affected. 8. An ointment to supple stiff joints and shrunk sineiys. Take half a pound hog's lard; put into it a small hand- ful of melolet (or Melilot) green, stew it well together, strain it off, add to it one ounce rattle-snake's grease, do. of olive oil, ten drops of oil lavender, mixed well together, Oint three times a day and rub it in well with the hand. 9. A valuable cure for inveterate old sore legs. Take the bark of cavrOn wood or shrub maple, boil it very strong, take part of the liquor and boil it down to a salve, and wash the part affected every time it is dressed. Apply new salve twice a day. Make a tea of the same, and drink three times a day, 10. To cure the bite of a rattle snake. Take green hoarhound tops, pound them fine, press out the juice, let the patient drink a table spoonful of the juice, morn, noon, and night, or three times in twenty-four hours ; apply the pounded herbs to the bite, change the same twice a day. The patient may drink a spoonful of sweet olive oil. This seldom fails curing. 11. A cure for the Itch. Take a half a pound of hog's lard, four ounces spirits turpentine, two ounces flour sulphur, and mix them to- gether cold ; apply it to the ancles, knees, wrists, and elbows, and rub it in the palms of the hands, if there be any raw spots ; apply a little three nights when going to bed. 12. The red salve for swellings information. Take linseed oil one pound, sweet oil, or fresh butter half a pound, red lead one pound, boil them together, stir it while boiling, then slack the heat &add to it two pounds of beeswax, 1 pound rosin, and stir them together till cold. 13. F'oote^s Ointment. Take one pound of hog's lard, one pound of mutton tallow^ half a pound oil of spike, and heat them over a moderate fire until they are united, then add as much beeswax and rosin as will make it to asalve,the renowned Foote's Ointment. This cures all common sores where there is no inflammation. 14. A certain cure for Corns on the feet or toes. Take white pine turpentine, spread a plaster, apply it to the corn, let it stay on till it comes off itself Repeat this three times — never fails curing. 15. A cure for Warts on any pari of^ihe body. Make a strong solution with corrosive sublimate, wet the wart three or four times a day — never fails curing. 16. An excellent family Bilious PiU. This pill made frequent use of, prevents all kinds of fe- vers. Take one pound of sweet rind aloes, four ounces jalap, four ounces pulverized blood root, two ounces cloves, and two ounces saffron, and beat them all to a fine pow- der ; pill them with molasses — mix them well in a mortar. The common way of using them is to take every night one, the bigness of a pea, if you have a bilious habit ; but if you wish them to act as a physic, take four or five on ^oing to bed. They give no pain in the operation. 17. For the tooth achcy if the tooth he hollow. Take gum opium, gum camphor, and spirits of turpeji- A2 tine, equal parts, rub them in a mortar to a paste, dip lint in the paste and put it in the hollow of the tooth every time after eating". Make use of this three or four daj's, and it will generally cure the tooth from ever aching. 18. For the Bilious Colic. Take the above mentioned bilious pill, add to it half the weight in calomel, give four or five pills and repeat the dose, and it is a certain cure for the bilious colic. Or take mandrake roots, dried and pulverized. A large tea spoonful is a dose. This must be repeated several times. 19. A sure cure for the canJcer in the mouth. Take one pound of fresh butter, put it into an earthen vessel well glazed, set it on the fire, let it boil, when boiling add to it four common green frogs, ^ut them in a- Jive, let them stew until the frogs are dry, take them out, ad ) to it a little cammom>ile and parsley, when cold stir in a little burnt alum, pulverized, and if the fever is high, give a little rattlesnake's gall, dried in chalk. This will cure the most inveterate canker in the mouth, throat, or stomach. 20. A medicine to cxtrt inward ulcers. Take sassafras root bark two ounces, coltsfoot root two ounces, blood root one ounce, gum myrrh one ounce, win- ter bark one ounce, suckatrine aloes one ounce ; steep them in two quarts of spirits, and drink a small glass eve- ry morning, fasting. 21. For cramp in the stomach, or any imvard part. Take ten drops of the oil of lavender on sugar or in wine. Repeat the dose once in an hour if required. ♦ 22. A cure for the flying Rheumatism. Take princes pine tops, horse radish roots, elecampane roots, prickly ash^bark, bittersweet bark off the root, wild cherry bark, and mustard seed — a small handful of each ; one gill of tar water into a pint of brandy, or tbe same proportion. Drink a small glass before eating,three times a day. 23. A valuable remedy for ivind colic i7j ivomen and chit' dren. Take equal parts of^iaseng and white root, half as much calamus or angelica seeJsjdry them,pound them very fine, mix them together ; a tea spoonful is a dose for a grown person, for children less, according to their age. Repeat the dose once in half an hour, if required. Very rare it ever fails. 24. For a hectic Cou$:h. Take three yolks of hen's eggs, three spoonfuls of hon- ey, and one of tar, heat them well together, add to them one gill of wine. Take a teaspoonful three times a day before eating. Or a syrup made of barley, and turnips and elecampane ; boil them in fair water, three quarts to one pint of barley, one pound of turnips, four ounces of elecampane; boiled down to one pint, add to it one pound of honey or loaf sugar, and half pint of brandy. A table spoonful is a dose, three times a day. Or wild licorice half a pound, brook liverwort half a pound, elecampane two ounces, Solomon's seal four ounces, spikenard half a pound, gumfire four ounces, boiled in four quarts of wa- ter to one ; add to it two pounds of honey, one pint of old spirits. Haifa glass is a dose before eating. 25. For the Earisiply, or St. Anthomfs Fire. Make e^^ wine rich and good for drinking; drink a part of it, and wash the affected with the other part. This is a valuable remedy. 26. For the Rheumatism in the loins. The oil of sassafras, used internal and external; ten drops on loaf sugar is a dose. Oint the part affected with the same. Repeat it as often as needful. — Or set over hemlock boughs and drink poke berries in Brandy for three weeks every day. Only seat three times — Or shower with cold water, and drink brandy all the time. — Or drink brandy, and bathe the part affected with salt and rum, hot as can be borne by a fire. Repeat it six days. 27. For the Qidncij, Bleed under the tongue in the first stage of it, and sweat the throat and neck with cardis, a thorny herb growing in gardens. Boil it in milk and water, and sweat power- fully three or four times. This has not failed in one in- stance to cure. 8 28. A rcmarkabU Ptusirr to ease the pain offelois, or frov felons, or unij such luniour on the hands orfeetj or else'- 1 ivhere. Get a pitch pine knot from an old lo^, the side next to ] or in the ground; split the knot fine, boil out half a pound ' of pitch; take four ounces of strong tobacco, boil it in wa- ter, strain out the tobacco, boil the liquor until it is thick, then add the pitch to the liquor, simmer it over a moder- ate heat, stir it all the time till it form a salve altogether. If the swelling be on the hand or finger, lay the plaster on the wrist, if on the foot or toe, lay the plaster on the ancle; or wherever it may be, lay it above the next joint. This will take out all the pain in a short time. Dress the sor& with any other salve that is best. This cure is infallible. 29, For the Phthisic. Take four ounces of hen's fat and a seed bowl of skunk cabbage that grows at the bottom of the leaves c^ose to the ground, cut it fine, stew it in the fat till it is dry, strain it off. A tea spoonful is a dose to take three times a day. Make a syrup of white swamp honeysuckle blossoms and queen of the meadow roofs, sweetened with honey; add to a quart of the syrup, half a pint of brandy; 30. To cure a Wen. Take clean linen rags and burn them on a pewter dish, and gather the oiFon the pewter with lint, cover the wen with it twice a day. Continue it for some time, and the wen will drop out without any further trouble-. 31. Ail excellent remedy for the Asthma. Take spikenard root two ounces, sweet flag root two ounces, elecampane root two ounces, common chalk two ounces, beat very fine in a mortar, add to it a pound of honey, and beat it well together, A tea spoonful is a dose three times a day. 32. An excellent Pill for the Hijsterichs. Take a quantity of white root, otherwise called Cana- da root, boil it in fair water, when it is boiled very soft, strain out the roots, and boil the liquor to the consistence of a thick paste, so that it may be pilled. Let the patient take two or three pills at a dose when the disorder is com- ing on. 33. A curt for bleeding at the stomach. Take a pound of yellow dock root, dry it thoroughly, pound it fine, boil it in a quart of sweet milk; strain it off, drink a gill three times a day. Take also a pill of white pine turpentine every day to heal the vessels that leak. 34. For the Dropsy. Take half a pound of blue flag root, half a pound of el- ecampane root, boiled in two gallons of fair water to one quart, sweetened with one pint of molasses. Let the pa- tient take half a gill three times a day before eating, 35. For the Canker Rash. ' White birch root pulverized very fine, given in small doses three or four times a day. Make a tea of the same for constant drink. For the fever give rattle snake's gall^ three grains at a time. 36. For any Hemorrhage of the Blood. Take a handful of blood weed — it grows in old fields, and is called by some, horse tail, or white top — is about waist or shoulder high, one stalk from the bottom, and has a very bushy top; — when it is green^ pound it, and press out the juice, and give the patient a table spooaful at a time, once an hour till it stops; if it be dry boil it strong, and give the tea, very strong, three or four spoonfuls at a time. 37. A cure for the Gravel in the Bladder or Kidneys. Make a strong tea of the herb called heart's ease, drink plenty. — Or take the root of Jacob's ladder, and make a very strong tea, and drink plenty. It is a most certain remedy. — Jacob's ladder is a vine that grows often in rich interval soil, near a wood or bush that stands near grass land. It comes up with one stalk about breast hioh, then springs off into a number of branches covered with green leaves, and the fruit is a large bunch of black ber- ries, when ripe the bunch hangs down under the leaves by a small stem. This is proved to be the best cure that has been found. 38. A valuable remedy for the Piles If the piles are outward, make an ointment of cammo- mile, sage, parsley, and burdoc, the leaves of each — sitn- 10 mer them in fresh butter or hog's lard and sweet oil. A- noint the parts with it, and drink tar water, half a gill three times a day. — But if they are inward, or blind piles, drink tar water twice a day, and essence of fir every night going to bed, half a small glass. This effects a cure in about two months. 39. For the tooth achcy if the tooth be hollow. Put into the hollow a piece of blue vitrol, as much as the hollow will contain. Repeat it for several days and it will kill the marrow. 40. For the common Canker in children or adults. Take canker root, or cold water root, so called, be- cause used with cold water; wash the root, pound it, steep it in cold water, wash the tumour with the water, and drink of it. This root grows in rich soil, in meadows, by fences, stumps, or log-heaps. It comes up with a stalk from the ground a yard or two high and then branches out very large. Its leaf is like clover. The top of the root is yellow as gold, in a bunch, then branches out into many fibres; some like plantain. 41. For the Hooping Cough. A syrup made of elecampane root and honey, four oun- ces of the root to half a pint of honey. Bake it in a well glazed earthen pot in an oven half hot. If the root be green, it needs no water; if dry, add half a pint of wa- ter. A tea spoonful of the syrup for a small child) add a little if older, three times a day. 42. For Rickets in Children — in the bowels. One ounce of Rhubarb powdered in one ounce of En- ceviniris, put into one quart of wine or brandy. — If the child is a year old, it may take a table spoonful at a time, if older take more, to half a gill for an adult. If any part of the body is affected with the disorder, bathe the part with brandy, and drink turkey-root steeped in wine three or four times a day. 43. A sure remedy for women's sore nipples. When the infant stops sucking, apply a plaster of bal- sam fir. It will cure in three or four days. 44. A cure for itching heels or feet, or ribbed heels. Take any kind of tallow and tallow the part affected with it, and rub it in by a hot fire at night going to bed. Repeat it three or four times. 43. A preservative against all sorts of bilious fevers. The fulness of bile is the cause of all sorts of fevers, and jaundice, and bilious colic, and cholera morbus. Phy- sic often with blood root and mandrake roots mixed to- gether, once a quarter, and make small beer with elder roots, spruce boughs, burdock roots, hops, white ash bark, sars^parilla roots and spikenard. Make a bitter with uni- corn roots and bark, of white wood rooti and the yellow dust of hops. If a family will continue this method they will never be troubled with fevers. 46. For convulsion Fits. Take convulsion roots, make a tea of them and drink, oi* powder them and take the powder in small doses. — Con- vulsion root grows in timber land, and comes up in July, with a bunch of white stalks about six or eight inches high, with a little knob on the top. It has no leaves. The top and root are for use. The root is a bunch of small fibres, very numerous, and full of little knobs about the size of mustard seed, and they grow just under the leaves. 47. For the Consumption. Take half a bushel of barley malt, put it into a large tub, take six pails of water, make it boil, pour it on to the malt, let it stand six hours, take half a bushel of white pine bark, one pound spikenard root, one pound Syria grass, boil them in the water that the malt is soaked in, half away, then put it into a keg, add yeast or emptins to it, let it ferment, then bottle it up, and drink one pint a day. 48. For the Quinsy in the throat. Sweat the throat with spotted cardis boiled in milk and water, by holding a pot of it under the throat as hot as can be borne, and hold some of it in the mouth, and when the swelling is gone down, wear a piece of black silk about the neck constantly, and it will prevent quinsy from com' ing again. 49. For swellbigs that come of themselves. An ointment made of alder tags and sugar of lead, simmered in hog's lard, and meiilot and saffron, simm.ered all together. Strain off, and anoint the part affected, it will scatter the swelling if taken in time. Give the pa- tient something to guard the stomach before ointing. 50. An excellent poultice Jor old inveterate sores. Scrape yellow carrots, wilt them on a pan or fire Shov- el, very soft. It takes out the inflammation and the swell- ing, and is an excellent poultice for a sceris breast. 51. An excellent medicine Jhr inward hurts or ulcers. Take elecampane, cumfrey, spikenard, masterwort, an- gelica, and ginseng roots, of each a pound, boughs of fir two pounds, cammomile one pound; put them into a still, with a gallon of rum, and two gallons of water, draw off six quarts, drink a small glass night and morning. 52. Another excellent essence ^ good for all sorts of inward weakness, iiiicard fevers j coughs, or pain in the sidt, stomach or breast. Take twenty pounds of fir boughs, one pound of spike- Dard, four pounds of red clover, put them into a still with ten gallons of cider, draw oii three gallons, drink half a gill night and morning. 5.3. For the Diabetes. Take a weather sheep's bladder, put it into a glass bottle that will hold a quart, fill it up with good Madeira win3, and let it stand forty-eight hours, then drink three or four times a day, about half a gill at a time. A deer's bladder is preferable. 54. For stoppage of water. Take a spoonful of honey bees, as much buds of cur- rant bushes, steep them in hot water very strong, drink two spoonfuls at a time every half hour. 55. For sore eyes. White vitriol one tea spoonful, sugar of lead one do. gun powder two do. to one quart of fair water, mixed and shook well together, six or eight times. Wash the eyes three times a day— an infallible cure. 13 56. For the Dropsy. Sassafras bark of the root one pound, pricklj ash bark one pound, spice wood bush half a pound, three ounces of garlics, four ounces of parsley roots, four ounces of horse radish roots, four ounces of black birch bark — boil all ia three gallons of malt beer. Drink a gill three times a day. 57. To stop a fever sore from coming to a headj and carry it away. Sweat it with flannel cloths dipt in hot brine. The cloths must be changed as often as they are cold, for three hours, then wash it in brandy and wrap it in flannel; re- peat it three or four times. 58. To stop puking. Take gum camphor, pound it, pour on boiling water? Jet the patient drink a spoonful _every ten minutes. It must be sweetened with loaf sugar. Or take a handful of green wheat, or grass, pound it, pour a httle water on it, press out the juice, and let the patient drink a spoonful once in ten minutes. 59. For the Lock Jaw. When any person is taken with the lock jaw, give him five grains of Dover's powders, then set him in a tub of hot water, as hot as he can bear it, bathe his head with camphorated spirits, let him sit or stand in the water as long as he can bear it without fainting, and bleed him if possible. Repeat this three or four times; when out of the water put him in a warm bed, wrapped in flannel. 60. For the Numb Palsy. When a person is taken with the numb palsy_, let blood freely if possible, give a table spoonful of flour of sulphur once an hour, bathe the part affected with spirits of harts- horn, take one pound of roll brimstone, boil it in four quarts of water to one quart, let the patient drink a table spoonful once an hour. If applied early, will finally car- ry it off*. 14 61. To cure vegetable poisorij running tvijy or poison elder j or any other. Take rosemary leaves or blossoms, make a tea of it to drink morn and night, like bohea tea or any other. Or, take wild turnips, if green pound them and press out the juice, if dry boil them in fair water, wash the part af- fected with the clear liquor. Take part of the liquor, add to it a little saffron and camphor, and drink to cleanse the fluids and guard the stomach. 62. For the spinevaniosey thai comes in the breast. Take spikenard root, comfrey root, yellow oak bark, tobacco, boil them in water, strong, take out some of the liquor to wash the tumour, add to the rest hog's lard or mutton tallow, beeswax and rosin, simmer it over a slow fire, stir it constantly until it is salve, apply it to the sore, physic with mandrake roots three or four times. Bleed once. 63. 7h cure inivard Ulcers. Sassafras root bark two ounces, coltsfoot root two ounces, bloodroot two ounces, gum myrrh one ounce, steeped in two quarts of spirits. Drink a small glass ev- ery morning. Live on simple diet as much as possible. For constant drink, make a beer of barley malt,one peck, spikenard root two pounds, comfrey root one pound, burdock roots two pounds, black spruce boughs five pounds, angelica root one pound, fennel seed four ounc- es, for ten gallons of beer. Drink oae quart a day. Let your exercise be light. 64 For the catarrh in the head. Take yellow dock root, split it and dry it in an oven, blood root and scoke root, four ounces of each, cinnamon one ounce, cloves half an ounce, pound them very fine, let the patient use it as snuff eight or ten times a day. Every night smoke a pipe full of cinnamon mixed with a little tobacco, and sweat the head with hemlock, brandy and camphor. Pour a little comphorated spirits and brandy into the hot liquor to sweat. 15 6v5, For an inflammation in the head. Take red beets, pound them very fine, press out some of the juice, let the patient snuff some up into the head, and make a poultice of the beets, and lay it on the mould of the head. For the fever, use rattle snake's gall, cream tartar, and head bitney. Bleed as often as once a day. Physic V. ith deerweed root, or wild mandrake roots, with a little bloodroot. Keep strong drafts to the feet. 66. To take a film from a -person* s eye. Take sujjar of lead, make it very fine, take an oat straw, cut it short, so as to be hollow through, dip the end of the straw in the powder, and blow a little of it into the film moriiins: and ni£;ht. After the film is almost consum- ed, apply to it a drop of hen's fat once a day until it is well. 67. To cure a breach or burst on the body. Take four or five snails that crawl about on old rotten wood ; you may often find them under loose bark that is nioist, or on old logs or stumps. Collect a parcel of them, enough to cover the breach, lay them on a linen cloth, bind them on, and repeat it as often as the snails are dry. Let the patient drink Turkey root, cinnamon, cloves and maize, made in a tea or steeped in wine, three or four times a day. This well attended to will perform a cure. 68. To cure a scirrhous jaw, or swelled face ^ or the scurvy in the mouth or teeth. Take prince pine and scurvy grlss; boil them in water, add to it rum and honey, hold it in the mouth as hot as it can be borne, and boil a Ifirge quantity of the herbs, and sweat the head over it, 69. A receipt to mabe the best Turlington balsam. This balsam of life is a most excellent medicine in con- sumptive complaints,' and also for weakly females in all stages of life. For a fevery stomach let the patient take 13 or 14 drops in a small glass of wine in the morning, fasting. It strengthens the stomach, and kills the fever. It is good for pain in the stomach or side, and nourishes weak lungs, and helps a small hooping cough. This BaU 16 sam of Life is made thus: Gum Benzoin 4 ounces, Gum .Storax Callimtee 3 ounces, Balsam Telue 1 ounce, Gum Aloes Sucatine 1 1-2 ounce, Gum Albanum 1 1-2 ounce, Gum Myrrth 1 1-2 ounce, root of Angelica 2 ounces, tops of Johnswort 2 ounces. Pound all these together, put them into three pints of rectified spirits of wine in a glass bottle, let them stand in the spirits four weeks in a mod- erate heat, shake them once a day, strain it off, it is fit for use; and if the gums are not all dissolved, add a little more spirits to the same, shake it, and let it stand as be- fore. .70. For a relaxation of the gut or fundament in children. Break two or three hen's eggs, part the white from the yolk, take the yolks and put them into a fryingpan wash- ed clean from grease, set them over a slow fire, let them stand a while, then turn them over and squeeze them until the oil comes out. Be careful not to burn them. Col- lect the oil, anoint the gut when it is down, then boil an egg very hard, let it be whole and whilst it is warm wrap it in a linen cloth, and bind it on the fundament after you have put up the ^ut. 7 1 . For the common phthisic in children. Take four ounces of sinical snake root, four ounces of spikenard, four ounces of parsley root, liquorice stick two ounces; boil them altogether in four quarts of water — strain off, sweeten with loaf sugar or honey, let the pa- tient drink a small glass night and morning. ^s. Sfof a mrunfc stneWj or a stttj jdmL Half an ounce of yellow besilicom, half an ounce of green melilot, half an ounce of oil amber, a piece of blue vitrol as big as a chesnut, simmer them together to a salve or ointment, apply it to the part affected, and on the joint above. Repeat it often and it will perform the cure. 73. For the Rheumatism. Take a handful of prince of pine, a handful of horse radish roots, elecampane roots, prickly ash bark, bitter- sweet root bark, wild cherry bark, mustard seed, and a pint of tar water put into two quarts of brandy. Drink a small glass every morning, noon and night, before eating. Bathe the part affected with salt and rum, by a warm fire, 17 74. A reriiedyfor loeakness in the urine vessels, for children that cannot hold their water. For those so troubled, take good red bark two ounces' one quart of wine, steep the bark in the wine !24 hours; let the patient drink a table spoonful if two or three years old, if older, a little more at a time. Or, red beech bark, taken off a green tree, dry it well, pulverize it fine, and use the same way. 75. For the nose bleed. Take the common nettleroots, dry them and carry them in the pocket, and chew them every day. Continue this three weeks. 76. To cw'e a consumptive cough or pain in the breast. Take a spoonful of common tar, three spoonfuls of hon- ey, three yolks of hen's eggs, and half a pint of wine; beat the tar, eggs and honey well together, then add the wine, and beat all well together in a dish, with a knife or spoon. Bottle it up fit for use. A tea spoonful is a dose, morn- ing, noon, and night, before eating. Drink barley tea for constant drink. 77. For iveaklij obstructions in the female sex. Take hearts ease herbs, spikenard roots, with the pith out, a small part of blood root, turkey root, wild liquorice, a few roots of white pond lilies, a good parcel of female jflowers, so cahed. It often grows by the sides of ponds, and has a leaf and blossom some like cowslips — but it grows single, one root or stalk by itSelf, and some smaller than the cowslip; the leaves are green, and the blossom is yellow. This is one of the finest of roots for the female use in the world. Take double the quantity of this, and equal parts of the others, make a syrup of them; boil them in fair water until all the substance is out, strain it off, sweeten it with honey, add as much rum to it as will keep it from souring. Drink half a gill going to bed every night. This will strengthen the system, and throw off all obstructions. It is best for any person so complaining, to wear a thick piece of flannel on the small of the back. 78. For children troubled ivith ivornis. There are many things helpful to children troubled with B2 18 worms. The bark of witch hazel, or spotted alder, steep it in a pewter vessel, let it boil, on a moderate heat very strong; a child of a year old can take a table spoonful, if older, take more, according to the age. Let them take it four or five times in a day for several days. It is sure and safe. — Or take sage, powder it fine, mix it with honey ; a tea spoonful is a dose. —Sweetened milk, with a little alum added to it is very good to turn worms. — Flour sulphur mixed with honey, is very good for worms. — Take a piece of steel, heat it very hot in a smith's fire, then lay on it a roll of brimstone, melt the steel, let it fall oflfinto water, it will be in round lumps ; take them and pound them very fine, mix the dust with molasses; let the child take half a tea spoonful night and morning, fasting. — Wild mandrake roots dried and "powdered mixed with honey; give a child of a year old as much of the powder as will lie on sixpence; take it in the morning fasting, three or four times successively. — If a child is taken with fits by reason of worms, give as much paregorick as the child can bear. It will turn the worms and ease the child." — To prevent children from having worms, let them eat onions raw or cooked, raw is best. — Salt and water is good to turn worms, and give a dose or two of flour sulphur, mixt with molasses or honey, after; brings off the worms with- out any thing else. 79. A curefor the Polypus. Take two ounces of bloodroot, dry it, pound it fine, quarter of an ounce of calix cinnamon, two ounces of Sf'.keroot, snuff it up the nose, it will kill the polypus. Then take a pair of forceps and pull it out, and use the snuff until it is cured. If the nose is so stopped that it cannot be snuffed up, boil the same and gurgle it in the throat, and sweat the head with the hot hquor until it withers so as to use the snuff. 80. For a frog under the tongue. When the frog is first perceived, take weak ley and hold it in the mouth as hot as can be borne, and if it is grown tough, touch it in three or four places with caustic until it is sore, then apply the ley. 19 81. For Childbed fevers. In childbed fevers take rattle snake's gall, five grains malitel, sweet balm tea once an hour until the fever a- bates, and every time the fever rises continue the same. Keep the body loose. 82. Cure for phthisic. Roast three egg shells brown — pulverize rather coars- ]y; mix with half a pint of molasses and take a spoonful morning, noon, and night. The cure is certain, unless the disease is hereditary, descending from the parents. 83. For the Dijsenterij, Half an ounce of promegranate bark, pulverised, and steeped in a pint of wine, or good cider, and taken a gill at a time, before eating. 84. A valuable remedy for the Dysentery and bloody Flux. Take of white pine bark after the ross is off, three pints, of water three pints ; let it simmer down to one quart ; strain it off; add half a pint of West India rum, half a pint, of West India molasses ; the whole composition for a grown person; half for a child. This remedy is simple, but may be depended on as ef- fectual: it will seldom if ever fail. 85. To destroy wortns in a safe and sure way. Take a large tea spoonful of the rust of tin ; mix \i with a table spociful of molasses. This is a valuable rem- edy, it may be given in sickness or health. 20 PROPERTIES AND USES OF VEGETABLES. I ivould wish to i^ive the true nature of all sorts ofvegetc^ bles that I have merdioned in the foregoing work. CATNIP is a warm herb, of a diaphoretic or sweating na- ture. PENNEROYAL is much the same only more powerful. It retains a very powerful pungent oil. SPEARMINT is pungent and hot, but is of an astringent nature. CALAMINT is much the same but not so strong. HOARHOUND is very strengthening to the lungs, and is semewhat of a pectoral. It is excellent in a cough or stoppage in the stomach, EVERLASTING, or Indian poesy, is a very balsamic herb, is very healings and cooling, and excellent in salves or ointments. JOHNS WORT is much the same. PEA BALM is a cooling, sweating herb, and is good in fevers and inflammations. C AMMOMILE is a great restorative to the lungs, and promotes perspiration; it is good in salves and ointments to take away swellings. MAY WEED is of a pectoral nature, and is good for a pain in the side. GARDEN COLTSFOOT is a great restorative to the lungs, and is good in syrups for coughs. MELILOT is good in salves and ointments for swellings and inflammations. It is mollifying and cooling. SAGE is the greatest restorative to human nature of any herb that grows. PARSLEY is very cooling and softening. BLOODROOT is a powerful puke or purge ; steeped in spirits it will serve for a puke, and boiled in fair water it serves as a purge. WILD JENTON is a strong purge boiled. MANDRAKE ROOTS are an excellent physic dried and pounded. CUMFREY and spikenard are so well known that they need no describing. ELECAMPANE is good in coughs, yet it is an astring- ent. 21 CRANESBILL is an astringent, and excellent in Can- kers. WHITEROOT is of a physical nature and is good to re- move wind pent in the stomach, or part of the bowels. SASSAFRAS root is good for the blood. — Likewise Sar- saparilla, Horse Radish, Burdock root, Elder roots, Hop roots, and wild Coltsfoot, are a good pectoral. WHITE Pond Lily roots, and Yellow Lily roots the same. FEVER BUSH. This vegetable is used by the Indians with success in all cases of inflammation, BUTTER NUT. The bark of this tree, rightly prepar- ed, constitutes one of the best and safest physics ever known. WINTER'S BARK. This is the product of one of the largest trees on Terra del Fuego, It is good in dropsy and in scurvy. 1. For the King's Evil. 2. Best remedy for rattles in children. 3. Valuable remedy for the bilious colic. 4. For a Felon. 5. For the salt Rheum. 6. Salve for a Burn. 7. The best salve for Women's sore Breasts ever found. 8. An ointment to supple Stiff Joints and Shrunk Sin- ews. 9. An infallible cure for inveterate old sore legs. 10. To cure the bite of a rattle Snake. 11. An infaUible cure for the Itch. 12. A red Salve for swellings in formation. 13. Foot's Ointment. 14. A certain cure for Corns on the feet or toes. 15. A cure for warts on any part of the body. 16. An excellent family Bilious Pill. 17. For the tooth ache^ if the tooth be hollow. 18. For the Bilious Colic. JV. A suPe cure for the Canker in the mouth. 20. A medicine to cure inward ulcers. 21. For the cramp in the stomach or any inward part. 22. A cure for the flying Rheumatism. 23. An infallible remedy for Wind Colic in Women and Children. 24. For a hectic Cough. 25. For the Earisiply, or St Anthony's Fire. 26. For 'the Rheumatism in the Loins. *- 27. For the Quincy. ^ 28. A remarkable plaster to ease the pain of Felons, or Frog Felons, or any such Tumor on the Hands or feet, or elsewhere. 29. For the Phthisic. 30. To cure a Wen. 31. An excellent remedy for the Asthma. 23 32. An excellent pill for the Hvstericks. 33. An infallible cure for bleeding at the stomach. 34. For the Dropsy. 35. For the Canker Rash. 36. For any hemorrage of the Blood. 37. A cure for the gravel in the Bladder or Kidneys, 38. An infallible cure for the piles. 39. For the Tooth Ache if the Tooth be hollow. 40. For the common Canker in Children or adults. 41. For the Hooping-Cough. 42. For Rickets in children — in the bowels. 43. A sure remedy for Women's sore Nipples. 44. A cure for itching heels or feet, or ribbed heels. 45. A preservative against all sorts of Bilious fevers. 46. For Convulsion Fits. 47. For the Consumption. 48. For the Quincy in the throat. 49. For swellings that come of themselves. 50. An excellent Poultice for old inveterate sores. 51. An excellent medicine for inward hurts or ulcers. 52. Another excellent essence, good for all sorts of in- ward weakness, inward fevers, coughs, or pain in the side, stomach, or breast. 53. For the Diabetes. 54. For stoppage of water. 55. For sore Eyes. 56. For the Dropsy. 57. To stop a Fever Sore from coming to a head, and carry it away, 58. To stop Puking. 59. For the Lock Jaw. 60. For the Numb Palsy. 6 1 . To cure vegetable Poison, running Ivy, or poison El- der, or any other. 62. For the Spinevantosey that comes in the breast, 93. To cure inward Ulcers. 64. For a Catarrh in the head. 65. For an inflammation in the head. €r6. To take a film from a person's Eye. 67. To cure a breach or Burst on the Body. 68. To cure a Schirrous Jaw, or swelled face, or the scur- vy in the mouth or teeth. 69. A recipe to make the best Turlington Balsam. 70. For a relaxation of the fundament or gut in childrcQ. 71. For the common phthisic in children. 24 72. For a shrunk Sinew or Stiff Joint. 73. For the Rheumatism. 74. A remedy for weakness in the Urine vessels, for chil- dren that cannot hold their water. 75. For the Nose Bleed. 76. To cure a consumptive cough, or pain in the Breast. 77. For weakly obstructions in the Female sex. 78. For children troubled with Worms. 79. A cure for the Polypus. 80. For a Frog under the tongue. «1. For Childbed Fevers. 82. Cure for the Phthisick. 83. For the Dysentery. 84. For Dysentery and Bloody Flux. 85. To destroy worms in children. "^ ■■if r ^ ii^% '?*^l(^M? ^ m im mm m^ ^ :''.'^ ^ 4'*'^^^^'^-:^ '•:^%'^-