1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. @(mp + ©xqtgrig^i fn Shelf /jJ~7~7 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. M \1 PEARLS OF WISDOM, GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. COMMON SENSE PRESCRIPTIONS AND PRACTICAL INFORMATION. A SYSTEMATIC TREATMENT IN THE DOMESTIC PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, PAUL BARRINGTON JONES, M. D. COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR. SOLD BY THE AUTHOR AND HIS AGENTS ONLY. ; 3744 m KANSAS CITY : Isaac P. Moore, Printer, 12 W. Missouri Av 1880. 0> &VN PAUL BARRINGTON JONES, M. D., AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER. THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY INESTIMABLE FRIEND, MR. J. J. HUGHES. THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The object of placing this little book before the heads of families, and non-professional persons, is to furnish them with a few useful hints and suggestions for those who may be sick as well as to those who have the care of the sick. In the practice of over twenty years, by the bed-side of the sick and misfortunate, we have long since been impressed with the necessity of some kind of a little cheap book which we might place in the hands of every family, which would not only instruct them how to keep well but give them some useful information that would enable them to properly care for the sick, that thousands of lives might be saved from the grave, especially in the case of little chil- dren. As the doctor visits from house to house we find many persons thrown into the sick room to care for them, who are exceedingly anxious to know more of their duty. This book is not intended to take the place of a doctor when one is really needed, but more especially to instruct you to do many things that are highly necessary for you to know as well as the doctor, together with much other useful information, such as I know will be highly prized by every household. THE AUTHOR. A Good Nurse. We begin this little book with the above caption and commence to talk plainly of the duties and qualifications of the nurse, for we believe that the cure of the patient depends largely upon the quality and in- telligence as well as the adaptation of the nurse ; indeed, the great man Valpau once said, "It is the good nurse that saves the sick." Take this view of the matter, the question of her or his duties and qualifications should not be passed over lightly, but should engage our earnest attention. Some writer has made the statement that "Nurses are like poets and artists— were born, not made." Evidently there are some gifts that are very essential to a good nurse ; but we believe that some qual- ifications may be acquired, and that a little training will often compensate for the lack of natural endowments. The reason that we have so few good nurses is, because the ma- jority know but little about those things which go to make up what a good nurse should be. 1. A nurse should be of middle age. If she is young, she is apt to be thoughtless, wild and heedless; if she or he is old, they may be deaf, or stupid, or in trouble. But a good nurse should be always able to hold herself or himself in subjection, and some old mothers may have all the freshness and acuteness of earlier years. But no matter who the nurse is, she should always wear a cheerful face, no matter how grave the case may be ; she should be gentle, kind and obliging ; she should always keep calm, not get excited ; she must have a pleas- ant voice, a gentle touch, a light step, and a knowledge of cooking for the sick. Such a person is invaluable. 2. She should be honest — honest with the patient and with the physician. 3. Now, if the patient can have no confidence in the nurse, then the sick-room is no place for such a person ; or if the conduct is such as to lead the physician to conclude that his orders have not been 8 PEARLS OF WISDOM, followed, it is certainly a very unfortunate place to occupy ; however, no person should employ a physician unless they have confidence in him, after which they should understand his directions ; then see te it that you faithfully carry out his orders. Some nurses are very self- opinionated, and they fancy that they know far better than the medical man ; and in order to carry out their measures they resort to a species of dishonesty. Such a nurse should be scrupulously avoided, for she- ought to know that under the circumstances the patient is made to suffer and perhaps die. A quackish nurse, who gives medicines not ordered by the physician, is an abomination. 4. A nurse must have sobriety. Every nurse should be cheerful and pleasant. Some people are always in a constant giggle or titter ; the grin of childish levity and thoughtless noise, and roaring laughter,, should be avoided : in short, no person should be allowed in the sick room who cannot control themselves. The next quality should be firmness; every nurse should be resolute but not rude. She is not ex- pected to yield to the patient every request, unless it comes within the bounds of reason and common sense ; everything that is expect- ed to be done she must do cheerfully and kindly, as well as carefully,, then after it is done the patient will have confidence in her and praise her for it, and for the exercise of a good judgement. 5. The next quality is patience. A very large degree of patience is- required, for the reason tkat sick persons are very often irritable and restless, and sometimes well persons get a touch of it; remember that. Have you not often felt yourself a little ashamed of your own irritability sometimes ? I have. Then how would you expect it oth- erwise with those who are compelled to lie in bed and suffer pain for days, and perhaps weeks, and be deprived of their liberty to even walk about the house? Therefore, it does not matter how sorely- tired and worn-out the nurse may be, it does not furnish an excuse for getting out of patience. She slwuld possess gentleness, in case of a broken limb, painful back, or rheumatism, etc., where it becomes necessary to change the cloth- ing. This requires a good deal of gentleness. The patient should not be handled with an unsteady hand ; the holds that secure firmness,, strength and gentleness will secure confidence in the invalid and make him feel secure. If you are to do the work, do it with gentleness and not with jerks and knocks, as if you were mad and did not care. 6. The sixth qualification is cleanliness. The nurse should not only keep herself clean but she should keep the room clean, neat and sweet. Little filthy things about the room, sticking in the corners, so often spoils the appetite of the patient ; never allow the dressings of wounds, GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 9 or burns to remain in the room ; let every vessel be kept empty and clean, ready for use at a moment's warning ; then you can let in a lit- tle fresh air, by opening a window or door. Remember this must be attended to. Bad air is poisonous. The food not eaten should be taken out of sight ; the drinking water should be changed often, as water gathers impurities directly. Be clean in everything you do, and you will be amply rewarded for it. KINDS OF NURSES. Some good-hearted people never become good nurses ; they seem too awkward and tired, hence they are always overwhelmed in difficul- ties. They are good-natured creatures, don't mean anything bad, but they can't help it. Here she comes all loaded down with good things ; both hands are full. She goes up stairways, stepping upon the bottom of her dress until she dropsa plate or two, or spills the tea, or goes down herself. She manages to get up after a while, and spreads the remainder before the patient. She then cuts the bread and butters it with a knife that has previously been used to cut an onion or spread a mustard plas- ter, and says, " Now, dear, I will go go back and make some more tea." The patient asks for a drink of water before she goes. She says " yes, dear," and runs off and gets a glass brim full, puts her hand under the patient's head, bends his or her neck, and turns the water down on the outside all over the breast and clothing. Then she wonders why in the world he don't drink better. She lights the lamp, turns the wick up, takes a bit of paper, makes a flash, throws the paper on the floor and stamps it out with her foot. The fire wants fixing ; she turns on so much fuel that it all runs down and over the floor ; to ter- rify the patient she leaves the stove door open till the house is filled with smoke. The braid of her dress is loose ; she catches that on the chairs and drags them after her. Her fingers are tied up with a rag and rolled with a black string ; they have been scalded by hot water which she undertook to turn into the teapot. She brings another plate of food directly, and declares to the patient that she knows he will die if he don't eat something ; so that the patient is annoyed and gets nervous, fever comes on and he gets no sleep the live-long night. Such a woman is the best in the world, and she does the very best she knows ; but she makes a very poor nurse. 10 PEAKLS OF WISDOM, THE LAZY NURSE. This kind "putters,,' dreams and drawls ; she never begins ; she neA r er ends. She has neither system nor smartness ; no accurate idea of anything ; if you undertake to tell her anything her mind wanders off, and she will begin to talk to you about a dozen different subjects. She starts off, to do something you tell her to do, as if she was in a great hurry, but her intellect seems to have left her, and lo ! she has forgotten what you told her. She feebly moans her monotones, and brings you the wrong article. I feel sorry for this one. THE CRUEL NURSE. This kind will do her duty, but sh,e does it by law and that with- out mercy. She will carry out the doctor's orders, but it lacks the right spirit. She fixes the medicine at the right time, and it must be taken forthwith. She changes the clothes no matter how it hurts. A little tenderness and compassion would improve this kind most won- derfully. THE CARELESS NURSE. This one forgets to give the medicine at the right time ; also for- gets the patient in many particulars. The soiled dishes are scattered around the room, and she lets the food stand for hours at the bedside after the patient has partaken of all he wants. The bed is full of crumbs and seldom made up ; the fire burns low or goes out ; the ashes are strewn all over the hearth. She means well and she does the very best she knows. Still she makes a very poor nurse. THE FUSSY NURSE. Now this one is liable to overdo everything. She intends to have everything just right. She runs in and out every few minutes — here she goes hither and yonder. She tires the patient nearly to death with her interrogations. " Xow how do you feel ? Won't you have a drink ? Can't you eat something? " She raises his head, then tucks the bed- GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 11 clothes in here and there. She pins back the curtains ; then she sweeps the floor. She brings the medicine, fixes the eatables ; always on the go. She is too good to sit still, and yet her very goodness is damaging to the patient. She ought to be more quiet and take things more easy. THE DISHONEST NURSE. The very worst of ail is the dishonest nurse. I have known some such nurses, who would eat all the food and drink all the wine, turn out the medicine, and then try to make me believe the patient took all I had left. But these poor creatures are very few, and we thank the Lord for it- THE TATTLING NURSE. A Tattler is an abomination, a weariness to the flesh. Of all the nurses this one is the first to be shunned. She is a curse and a great damage to all who are around her. She keeps the patient and every- body else in a perfect stew and worry. Xo person under her eye can feel secure. But thank the Lord, for humanity's sake, we seldom see this kind. Every nurse should be a person who has good judgment and a full exercise of his or her senses ; should have : Sight — To read directions, and sometimes to read to amuse the patient. Hearing — To catch the faintest whisper, and to avoid a great effort in speaking. Feeling — To determine the change in temperature in the room, the heat of the body, the moisture or dryness of the skin, and to know when applications are to be made — when they are too cold or too hot see that all drafts are avoided when sponging or bathing the patient. Smelling — To detect all effluvias or impurities that are in the room. To..: — To determine the seasoning of the food. A careful exercise of all the natural faculties, with a study of the principles of nursing, ought to make a competent person to care for the sick. 12 PEARLS OF WISDOM, The Room for the Sick. It is not every family who have a choice of rooms, but under all circumstances we must do the best we can. A room should be selected that is light and cheerful. The head of the bed should be placed to the north, if possible, as the currents of electricity in nature run from north to south. If the patient has some kind of fever or brain dis- order, or some nervous disease, let the room be in some quiet part of the house, away from the family. If it is a bone broken or fracture from the result of some accident, then the patient should be near the rest of the family, for in such cases it is very often amusement for the patient to watch the movements of the rest. Avoid a room that is exposed to any kind of effluvia. Have the windows so that they can be let down at the top. The less furniture in the room the better, es- pecially if the disease be infectious. Before' putting the patient in the room see to it that it has been well aired, warmed and dried. First, light the fire and see that the chimney draws well. The best bed is a hair mattress, but clean straw or husks will answer very well. Remem- ber that feather beds are not healthy ; besides they are inconvenient, especially if the patient has a broken bone or fractured leg, and in wounds and burns — the patient is apt to sink down into holes. When the patient is to be changed and the party cannot get up, you can get the patient on the edge of the bed ; now roll up against the patient all the bed clothes that you intend to change, have your clean sheets and blankets all ready ; now spread them on the bed smooth and straight ; now get your patient to roll over carefully on the clean sheets ; now take off the dirty clothes, and then spread out the other half of the clean change. Now, don't you see, you have it all done nicely. If it is necessary to scour the room to purify it, wash it with hot water, after first adding a few cents' worth of chloride of lime, or some crude carbolic acid. Then dry the room thoroughly and it is ready. «EMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL 13 Food and Drinks for the Sick. It will be necessary for you to know how to prepaie certain kinds of foods which the doctor may order for the patient. It is well that you should understand a few general principles that should govern the administration of food. First, then, solid food is seldom admiss- able, especially during acute diseases of any kind, for the reason that the stomach and digestive organs are not in a condition to furnish the fluids necessary for its comminution ; hence, instead of digesting, it simply lies there and decomposes, which will give rise to irritation, and hence it will produce other serious complications. Second. The more severe the disease the more delicate and lighter the food should be diluted. Thus, in a high grade of fever or inflammation we should give whey, beef tea, extract of beef, milk punch, toast water, mutton broth, tapioca, chicken broth. Third. When there is great exhaustion, then the food should be all the more concentrated, and very nutri- tious. Then let us give the Extract of Beef, or beef essence as it is sometimes called, concentrated chicken or mutton broth, milk and cream. Fourth. In fevers or inflammatory diseases, give the food at the period of the day or night in which there is least vascular and nervous excitement, and never force it upon the patient if suffering from a high grade of fever. Fifth. Never give food in severe pain. Sixth. Then if the tongue is coated with a yellow coat, and bad taste in the mouth, with a feeling of weight and oppression in the stomach, it is better not to give food ; or if given it should always be in a liquid form. Seventh. When the digestion is impaired and it becomes nec- essary to sustain life with food, it should be given in small quantities and at regular intervals, like medicine, every two or three hours. Eighth. In convulsions much care is required in keeping the patient from eating too much. 14 PEARLS OF WISDOM, Recipes for Cooking;, BEEF TEA. Take one pound of nice, tender steak, remove the fat, chop very- fine, put it in a pint of cold water, stir it and let it soak one hour, then boil it ten minutes, strain it and season to suit the taste of the patient or your own judgment in case of great exhaustion and great debility of the digestive organs- EXTRACT OF BEEF. .* ■ Take a Scotch ale stone bottle (it is best), scald it Out so that you know it is clean ; take one pound of nice, tender and fat beef steak ; after removing the fat, chop it up fine, season it with a little salt and pepper, put it in the bottle, cork it up tight, then tie the cork down so that you know that it will not fly out with the heat and steam ; now place the bottle into a pot of water and boil it for three hours. Ee- member you cannot cook it too much. Vfhen done and mostly used up the remaining liquor can be pressed out, then the bottle can be refilled with fresh meat and cooked for the next day. This prepara- tion is very rich, with nutritious element ; two tablespoonfuls at a dose for an adult is sufficient, repeated every two or three hours. A little can be poured out at a time and warmed on the stove as it is required. Keep the bottle well corked ; if it is left open the extract will lose much of its strength, as well as its flavor. CHICKEN JELLY. Take half a raw chicken, pound it well with a mallet, bones and all, cover it over with cold water ; heat it slowly in a covered vessel, let it simmer till the meat is thoroughly cooked, then strain the liquor through a coarse cloth ; now season it to taste, return it to the stove and let it simmer ten minutes longer, skim it when cool and give it to the patient. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 15 BARLEY WATER. Take of pearl barley two ounces, boiling water two quarts, boil •down to one quart and strain ; a little lemon and sugar may now be added. This is a good drink in all inflammatory and eruptive diseases, scarlet fever, measles, small pox, etc. RICE WATER. Take of good rice two ounces, water two quarts, boil one and a half hours, then add sugar and nutmeg to suit the taste ; use w T ith milk. This an excellent diet for children. ARROWROOT JELLY. . *. One cup of boiling water, two teaspoonfuls of Bermuda arrow- root ; wet the arrowroot in a little cold water and rub smooth, then stir it into the hot water, which should be on the fire and boiling, with sugar already in it ; stir until clear, then add one teaspoonful of lemon juice ; now wet a cup with cold water and pour the jelly, and let it form. Eat with sugar and cream, if you like. BARLEY JELLY. Boil one quart of water, let it cool ; take one-third of a loaf of bread (common size), slice it up and pare off 1 the crust. Toast it to a light brown, put it in the water in a covered vessel and boil it gently till you find, on putting some in a spoon to cool, that it becomes a jelly ; now strain it and cool ; add sugar and lemon juice, or grate a little lemon peel as it is used. OATMEAL GRUEL. Two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal, one quart water, boil ten minutes and strain ~ salt and sugar to suit your taste. 16 PEARLS OF WISDOM, CORNMEAL GRUEL. Made the same way, using cornmeal instead of oatmeal. OATMEAL WATER. Take two ounces of oatmeal, one quart of water, stir up well, let stand till settled, then drink the water with ice in it, if you choose. This is an excellent drink for diarrhoea or in dysentery. Again — Take milk one pint, sheep's suet three ounces, corn starch half an ounce, cardamon seeds one ounce browned like you would coffee, then grind it very fine ; after the other mixture is boiled gently for thirty minutes stir in the ground seed while it is yet hot ; when cool it can be used as food and medicine. It is excellent. It will cure the very worst cases of dysentery or bloody flux. It does the work when the best of doctors fail. BUTTERMILK PAP. Take of fresh buttermilk four parts, water one part, mix and boil, then thicken with corn or oatmeal. Eat with butter arid molasses. WINE WHEY. Heat a pint of new milk until it boils, at which moment pour in as much good wine as will curdle and clarify it ; boil again, and set aside until the curd subsides ; pour off the whey carefully and add two pints of boiling water and loaf sugar to suit the taste. ORANGE WHEY. Milk one pint, the juice of one orange with a portion of the rind ; boil the milk, then add the orange juice ; let stand till it coagulates, then strain. Both of the above are excellent for convalescent pa- tients where there is weak digestion, for children or adults. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOK ALL. 17 VEGETABLE SOUP. Take one potato, one turnip, and one onion, with a little celery or celery seed ; slice each, and boil one hour in a quart of water ; season to taste ; then pour the whole upon a piece of toast. ELM-BARK JELLY. Take two teaspoonfuls of finely pulverized elm bark and one pint of cold water ; stir until a jelly is formed ; sweeten with loaf sugar. This is excellent for all diseases of the throat and lungs, coughs, colds^ etc. It is very nutritious. FLAX-SEED LEMONADE OR COUGH SYRUP. Four tablespoonfuls of whole flax seed, half an ounce horehound herb, one quart boiling water ; let steep for three hours in a covered vessel and strain the juice from three roasted onions, the juice of two lemons ; tincture of lobelia and ipecacuanha, of each three drachms ; add sugar to sweeten ; if too thick, add a little w T ater. Partake of it freely; it is excellent for colds, coughs, throat or lung, as well as kid- nev trouble. MILK PUNCH. Take two fresh eggs, two tablespoonfuls loaf sugar; beat well together on a plate ; add one pint of new milk, nutmeg and good brandy or whiskey to flavor it well. This is par excellence the best sus- taining food in low grades of fever for children or adults. Alternate with the Extract of Beef, (see page 14, ) patients will live on it for days and weeks. 18 PEARLS OF WISDOM, The Little Infant. "A babe in a house is the well-spring of happiness/' The young husband steps about with a joyful air, with his head carried much higher than ever before ; he feels proud. Why shouldn't he ? He is proud of the title of Father, and the fond wife looks and smiles through her tears, feeling the pleasure of at last becoming a mother. Baby looks just like its father, except its hair and eyes — they resemble its mother ; but it is a bonny little thing, a messenger of peace and a joy to all. But what shall we do with it ? Well, we will tell you, but first we must tell you what is too often done in such cases : First, it is washed, then some spirits is rubbed on its head, then one or two caps, then some flannels are put on it, and it is dressed ; now it must take a little something, for the dear little creature must be hungry — so a little whiskey, salt and molasses are mixed and brought and poured down its delicate little throat ; next it must have physic — a little cas- tor oil is given, then a little baby soup is mixed up and given, after which it is put to bed to sleep. But, alas, not to sleep, for now here is where the music begins, and all hands are engaged in the waltz. The baby cries, and cries, and frets, and nobody gets any peace in that house. But surely something must be done. " Why, I do wonder what ails it? It surely must be sick," says one; "The child has the colic," says another; then a dose of paregoric is given; then in a few moments a dose of soothing syrup is poured down, and if the crying ceases, it swoons away under the influence of the narcotic poison it has taken ; now do go for the doctor, and when he arrives he finds it in a fit that has been produced by a reckless interference with nature. Now, all of this is cruel ; yes, it is an abomination. It was not done intentionally, of course, but it don't help the baby, to say it was done in kindness. Now, this is no imaginary picture. We have watched over hun- dreds of them, and, as they are not able to speak for themselves, you must allow us to speak for them and vindicate their claims. So we will proceed to give you a few hints : First, there is no oil, whiskey or salt needed, but if you will just keep them away you will soon learn that there is no necessity of giving paregoric or soothing syrup either to cure the colic. If the baby has a mother living, the first supply of milk from her will be better than anything else, and it is just what GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 19 God designed it should have. It is no matter if the baby does not get. anything to eat for the first thirty-six hours. Xo baby yet has ever died for want of food the first two days of its life; but there have been hundreds, ah, yes, thousands, killed by the reckless interference,, by giving such miserable stuff as we have mentioned. If you do not abuse your little infant, its stomach will require no treatment. Having now rid your minds of this nonsense, you will next want to know what should be done. This is what we will endeavor to tell you : First, prepare all of its clothing with little tapes, having a a needle and thread handy to tack it with, instead of pins ; wash your baby with a little soft water and mild castile soap ; use a little glycer- ine, rubbing it over the body to dissolve the oily particles, then wash it off and dry the skin ; use no spirits of any kind ; do not fasten the clothes too tight ; use no cap on the head, and give it nothing. By- placing it to the mother, if it can be borne, it will be sufficient, but if you cannot resist the temptation long enough for nature to supply the proper nourishment, give it a little milk and warm water, sweetened with sugar of milk ; then, with its bod}* clean and warm, and its breath sweetened with angel purity and sweetness, lay it away in a warm r cosy nest, then you can sit down in comfort and see it rest easy, in a manner that will soon convince you that you have done right. But, if the mother should not furnish the proper supply in three or four days, then you can furnish it with the artificial nourisnment, properly prepared. Children, as they grow older, may require food. The milk of some mothers becomes impoverished, and, consequently, the child grows poor and is never satisfied ; then, in that case, take a little bread,, arrowroot and sugar, and simmer in a little water until it is quite smooth, then add milk until it is the proper thickness ; sweeten a lit- tle, and give it to your baby. Remember, however, that the natural food is the mother's milk, and any deviation from that standard of natural constituents is, consequently, more or less injurious, as the babies are not always hungry when they cry; it may be a pin, a tight compression on some part of the body, or it may be sickness. Babies are like older people — creatures of habit — and it is astonishing how soon they will form a habit. If you teach it the habit of being rocked to sleep, then that is what it wants when it cries and desires to sleep ; there- fore, you can teach it good habits as well as bad ones. You can teach it the habit of cleanliness, with very little trouble and regular attend- ance every day. Just try it, and be convinced ; if you will, your baby will be healthy and sweet. How often have we seen a mother rocking her baby to sleep, and then when she tries to lay it down it is as wide awake as ever? We have seen them trv this a half dozen times or 20 PEARLS OF WISDOM, more before succeeding. Lay it down awake, and when nature re- quires sleep it will soon come. But this habit must be taught from the beginning, if not you will have considerable trouble to antagonize the habit by and by. TEETHING. More children die passing this period of their lives than at any other time ; just when they have began to grow so interesting. Up to- this period in their lives they have always been so healthy ; they have not been sick a day ; they are so fat and healthy, and look so sweet ; they have began to pull oil the love strings, which wind so tight about the mother's heart. But, ah, me ; they are beginning to cut their teeth, and are so sick. Now, if we can be the means of teaching mothers how to save their children from the grave, while they are passing through this critical period of their lives, we will feel that this little book has . accomplished its purpose, and our life has not been lived in vain. When a child is teething, there is a heavy pressure upon the gums from the teeth forcing their way through ; this, of course, produces irritation and inflammation of the gums ; they become very tender and sore to the touch. This acts upon the nervous system and is sometimes followed by high fever ; the stomach and bowels are all out of order, and the child is fretful and sick. If the bowels become re- laxed, and it vomits up its food, etc, do not fly to your soothing syrup, or your paregoric and laudanum. One drop of laudanum, or five drops of paregoric, or half a teaspoonful of soothing syrup have each been known to kill an infant. Do not, we beg of you, suffer anybody to ever give your child those medicines, but use your little simple remedies which you know all about — at least you know they will do no harm. If you fail to furnish sufficient milk for the child, or if it has began to eat food, be careful what you give it to eat. Do not give it any green vegetables or green fruit, but resort to your Extract of BeeiV Oatmeal Water, Milk Punch, &c. ; (see pages 14, 16 and 17,) they will be sufficient to carry your child through safely. Keep the child warmly clad ; change its garments every time the weather changes ; if it is broken out with the heat, bathe its body occasionally with a little soda water, (such soda as you use for baking purposes,) wipe it dry and dust its body with a little cream of tartar. Occasionally give your baby a little lime water in its milk ; also, give it a piece of nice dried beef in its hand to suck — cut it in a long, round strip so that it GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 21 cannot swallow it, and thus be choked to death. If you will follow these rules, you will seldom ever have to call a physician ; but if they all fail, you may call a physician who has age and experience in the treatment of little children, whom you have confidence in. When the teeth are coining through avoid giving it hard sub- stances to bite upon, for it breaks the enamel upon the teeth and they are apt to decay. The best thing is an India .rubber ring, which you can get at the drug store. Wash it off clean, then spread some mo- lasses upon it, and the child will work upon this with perfect pleasure and safety. But if the teeth are tedious in coming through, and the gums become much swollen and inflamed, you had better take it to the doctor and insist upon him to cut the gums, or, better still, to a good dentist, who will scarify the gums over each tooth. We have done this many times, and have been astonished to see how quickly the stomach and bowel trouble w T ould all pass away, and the child be ap- parently well in a very few days. When the child gets old enough to walk, do not make it stand too long at a time upon its feet. If one child w r alks at a certain age, it is no reason why another should. If you. force your child to walk you run the risk of bending its limbs. Some people are in the habit of scaring their children about "the doctor ! the doctor will come and cut your ears off. He will pull your teeth out." Now, this is all wrong, to scare your child about anything, no matter what, especially about the doctor. If you do not want your child to be timid and a coward all through its life, never allow anybody to try to scare your child. How T can the physician, under such circumstances, find out the condition of the tongue or the state of the pulse when the little child is almost frightened to death and trembling with fear ? Do not terrify the child in this way. Im- press the idea that when he comes he will cure them if they are sick, and is a friend to them when well ; then the child will learn to be calm as well as trustful ; b asides, they will be much easier restored to health. When they have confidence the medicine has a much better effect. There is a great difference between a grown person and a child when sick, for an adult has a dread of death, and, in many in- stances, a greater dread of the consequences after death. Hence, he submits very readily to treatment in the hope of living longer ; while the child has no fear of death nor the consequences after death, for its mind is too young yet to be doctrinated into the false ideas of the condition of life beyond the grave. But the child only dreads, and knows nothing of anything only its present pain. Children, therefore, if not too weak to bear it, should be amused with toys, and pictures ; give them a slate and pencil, a doll or a pet dog, a kitten, anything to cheer up their little spirits and give the best chances for a recovery. 22 PEARLS OF WISDOM, Hating. The brain is interested in the process of digestion. If it is excited or over-taxed, or even over-vexed, it will not stimulate the stomach to work till it is rested. Never eat when you are mad, fatigued,or exhausted. Drink a little gruel if you are very hungry, then wait till you are rested before you take a full meal. Always give the stomach time to rest between meals. Always eat regular, and not by piece-meals. Frequent eating, as well as too frequent nursing of children, soon weakens the stomach and liver, and brings on dyspepsia and other kinds of diseases. Eat Slowly. — Rapid eating, and drinking so much while eating, is the curse of this nation. It produces palpitation of the heart, ver- tigo, headache, neuralgia, nervous debility, spinal irritation, rheuma- tism, premature old age. Chew your food thoroughly, drink but little while eating, take plenty of time ; don't be in a hurry. Take thirty minutes' time to eat your meals. Remember that stomach bitters will not chew your food for you. You are better off without such stuff. Common Lamentation. — What is the cry of our fast-going people ? * l My food does not digest;" this is the saying all over America- "My poor head aches half the time; " so exclaim our young ladies. xi My lungs are the best part of me," which you can hear most any day, " but my liver is diseased and torpid." This is a popular com- plaint. "And my bowels are slow and sluggish." Such miserable lamentations ascend from all the most fertile portions of this glorious continent. But we feel glad that there is an awakening in the direc- tion of physiological knowledge and universal improvement, and the final triumph will surely be: The triumphant conquest of individual man over all enemies to his bodily ease and mental tranquility. Is it not worthy of particular notice that the majority of people who, as invalids, incessantly complain in the department of digestion, are the most constant violators of physiological law ? If, however, any person should natter him or herself that he or she can go on violating the conditions of Health, and, at the same time, by simply yielding to the self-restoring mercies of his spiritual constitution, recover all his original vigor and bloom, his disappointment will be complete. Mo- ther Nature is just as loving and as just as Father God ; but they do GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOE ALL. 23 not, because they cannot, guarantee impunity from the effects of vio- lation. All the medical isms and myths and pathies from Hippocrates down to the last nostram cannot perform the pardoning act. There is no infallible remedy, so you might as well pass the word all around the world — there is no specific for any human transgression. Let every eye read it, let every ear hear it, and inscribe it in fadeless char- acters upon the Temple of Health. Lung Life. Deprive the lungs of heaven's invisible air — shut off the supply of the vivifying principle of the Divine Infinitude — and the whole beau- tiful machinery will stop. Remember this, that the best food in the the universe could give you no strength unless first baptized in the spirit of the atmosphere. Air is the Universal ! Thank the Lord that it cannot be fenced in by legislative enactment. But it can and ■often is kept by ignorance or inattention out of the lungs of invalids. Some persons seem to be afraid to expand their lungs to their utmost capacity for fear something will break and let out the stream of life. Of course, dear reader, you know that any sudden and violent conduct will be attended with a great percentage of risk. Begin deliberately to prac- tice daily, therefore, and you will find that the air is impregnated with an electric energy which pervades, refreshes, quickens and energizes every part of your physical temple. Remember, your food cannot di- gest, neither can your blood circulate, without the electric fire of the air; neither can a particle of food strengthen you without it. . With- out the living energy of the air, which is obtained only through the lungs, no diet could be made universally nutritious. Salivarj- juice, as it pours out from the little springs on either side of the cheeks and mouth, could do nothing without the vivifying electricity of the air. The gastric fluids — although loaded with its inherent pepsin and the acids, lactic, hydrochloric, etc., etc. — could accomplish nothing with- out a constant supply of nerve-energy. The lungs must absorb the electricity of the measureless immensity ; otherwise nothing strong can occur, but death and transformation will hasten into the temple. "24 PEARLS OF WISDOM, Singular Physiological Facte. The shortest route to health is through the lungs. Small lungs — small minds ; or large lungs and bad air ; large minds and few thoughts. The old-fashioned orthodox churches were built and kept as tight .as drums during service. The effect was manifest in narrow -creeds and doleful doctrines concerning God and man. In this con- nection we are reminded of Florence Nightingale, the noble nurse who voluntarily went to the Crimean war to bind up the bleeding soldiers. She says: " An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What air can we breathe at night but night air. The choice is from between pure night air from without and foul night air from within. Most people prefer the latter. An unaccountable choice. What will they say if it is proved to be true that fully one-half of the diseases we suffer from are occasioned by people sleeping with their windows shut. An open window most nights in the year can never hurt anyone. This is not to say that the light is not necessary for recovery. In great cities night air is the best and purest, out of the twenty -four hours. We could better understand shutting the windows in towns during the dajr than during the night, for the sake of the sick; for the absence of smoke and dust, as well as the quietude, all tend to make the night air the best for airing the sick. It is impossible to keep well, and have good digestion, without the pure air, and plenty •of it ; it is impossible to think large, manly, beautiful and virtuous thoughts, while respiring in an atmosphere of stagnation and conse- quent corruption. People who sleep in close, ill- ventilated rooms are forever dreaming a set of monotonous dreams, loaded with vicious pictures, and animated by strangers or demons, made from the con- fined air. Idiots breathe superficially; they seldom respire like an intelligent mind. Timid persons inhale small quantities of air. The •caward has a narrow chest, and he only uses the upper portion of his lungs. Why does the strongest horse always have the broadest and deepest chest ? The mind cannot expand and improve, morally and intellectually, unless the lungs be large and full, and constantly and plentifully supplied with air fresh from the vestige of immensity ; no health can be maintained in a confined atmosphere; no exalted thoughts ; no spiritual preceptions. OEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 25 PROCESS OF DIGESTION. The Gastric Methods. The reasons in favor of full and intelligent ' respiration are numerous and easily understood. Chyle is the last result of fundamental digestion. But in itself, chyle has no power to promote growth, give strength, or repair the waste of the body. It is the successor to chyme. Chyme is manufactured from the food in the first part of digestion. It is first manufactured by the stomach into a pulpy mass, impregnated or charged w r ith electricity of the vital kind. But when it passes downward into the lower stomach, or duodenum, the pancreatic fluids and the bile at once combine with it, thereby adding a positive element by which the chyme is transformed into a milk-white liquid (the chyle) which, with the residum, flows steadily into and through all the small intestines. What next ? The numer- ous mesenteric glands, with the lacteal vessels, commence their work of forming incipient eggs from out the chylic fluids ; the unchylified portions (the residum) meantime passes onward into the large and lower bowels, and is then rejected, together with the broken-down blood globules, in the shape of bile and relative excretions. This ma- terial is wholly excrementious. Now the thoracic duct, so-called, attracts the chyle from the lac- teal passages and mesenteric glands, and pours it into a vein which, from behind the collar-bone, discharges its contents into the positive side of the heart ; there the blood is mixed with the negative portions of the venous blood, which is no more nutritious than the chyle ; neither can it give strength nor repair waste. THE PURIFYING ORDEAL OF THE BLOOD. How is this accomplished? By means of the pure air of space. Yes ; when Heaven's devout breath enters the air-chambers the chyle is at once converted into nutritious blood, baptized to the multifarious necessities of the arterial system, while at the same time the cold venous blood is unloaded of its dead-burdens in the form of carbonic gas and useless water. Carbon is the principal element of decay and death, yet it is very essential to life and a good conductor to electricity. ♦So, therefore, the heart very wisely and energetically throws both the chyle and venous blood upon the entire responsibility of the lungs ; so that when the invisible air is drawn by deep breathing into the 26 PEARLS OF WISDOM, pulmonary structure the divine life also enters, whereby the chyle is changed as by magic into the constructive principle for the soul's good, whereby the newly purified blood is re-baptized and confirmed, into the ways of righteousness ; it hastens upon its mission of benev- olence to all parts of the physical temple. Now, my dear reader, we feel that we have put this question in a light that you may understand fully the process of digestion, as well as the importance of lung life in health, as well as the necessity of ventilation in the sick room ; so that you may better and more fully understand us when we speak upon the different conditions, on the pages of this little book, of How to Live, and what to do in all circumstances in disease and misfortune which may come upon you. For you must remember that nearly all diseases can be traced to the stomach and lungs, as the first origin from improper air and bad digestion. REMEDY FOR CONSTIPATION. Many persons who are troubled with biliousness, jaundice, sick- headache, fever, chills, etc., which is a constant persistent inactivity of the bowels. Dear reader, pills and cathartic medicines will not cure you, for thousands have tried it, over and over again. The old com- plaint is still lingering with you, and has been for years. We will tell you how you can, with a very simple medicine and a judicious use of diet, cure yourself of it, and of all the above ills, and keep you free from those troubles, When the system is clogged and surcharged with broken-down blood of wasted tissue, semi-oxygenated fluids (out of which all manner of corruption, jaundice, bilious sick-headache, melancholy, fever and chills, are brought forth. Remedy. — Take plenty of time to eat your meals, chew your food well; no meat, no coffee, no hot cakes oftener than twice per week. Plenty of all kinds of fruit sauce for breakfast and supper, ' cracked wheat, graham bread or mush, or oatmeal, baked potatoes, vegetables of all kinds.- If you will live in this way you will be astonished how soon you will get rid of all those bilious troubles ; not one, but all will pass away from you, never to return. For immediate relief— Take a tablespoonful of Indian meal or gra- ham flour in a tumbler of water before breakfast, quite early in the morning; perhaps several doses will be necessary, together with our sovereign remedy. Take two drachms each of tincture of mandrake (podophylin), tincture of Turkey rhubarb and tincture of nux vomica, one ounce of GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 27 fluid extraet of Cascara Sagrada of Park, Davis & Co.'s manufacture, tablespoonful of powdered willow charcoal, orange peel and cloves, well powdered, of each one tablespoonful ; put all in one pint of good Holland gin, add half a pint of water, half pound of sugar. Shake it well. Dose : Teaspoonful half hour after each meal and one on going to bed. Take it for a week or more, or longer if required. Keep this medicine in your house, and you will never need any other for all those bilious troubles which trouble more or less one out of every family. NEURALGIA. This is another malady which afflicts the human family. But if the system is much clogged up, as described in bilious conditions (see page 26) it may be necessary to take a good bath, first soaking the feet in a bucket of hot water, after first adding a tablespoonful of ground mustard, drinking some hot ginger tea, or, better still, a tea made from the smart weed. This is excellent. Now go to bed, add a few bottles of hot water to the feet and around the limbs. Pile on now the blankets and the comforts several thicknesses, and after commencing to sweat keep it up for thirty or forty minutes. Don't be afraid of sweating too long, for its not going to hurt you. Now, while you are sweating go to rubbing and scratching yourself, You will be astonished at the amount of the gluey matter that you can roll off from your body- Of this you must get off all that you can while you are sweating under the cover, as it is the only time and place that it will come off. Have some friend to sponge your body off with a warm, wet towel and soap while you are yet under the covers- When you get through the sweat, you can be sponged off with a, little warm water, wiped dry and rubbed hard with the towel, Or, better still, give the body a brisk rubbing with the bare hands for twenty minutes. With this treatment, together with the following remedy, we have never failed to cure neuralgia permanently. It is as follows : Neuralgia —Sal amo- nia in one ounce of camphor-water to be taken teaspoonful at a time, and the dose repeated several times at intervals of five minutes till the pain is relieved, then prolong the intervals- If, however, the pain is very acute and severe, for external use you can use the following, no matter where the pain is located — neck, face, teeth or ears : Wine of opium, 30 drops, sulphuric ether half a drachm; fluid extract of belladonna, fluid extract gelseminum, of each one drachm, one ounce of lavender water. Mix all together, saturate a cotton cloth with the mixture and apply it for an hour or more over the region of the pain. 28 PEARLS OP WISDOM, Bath. Some convenient apparatus should be kept in every dwelling for bathing purposes. Baths are used both in health and disease. Bath- ing or sponging is indispensable, for cleanliness is godliness. Wash the skin all over at least twice a week. Use a little castile soap and then wipe dry, having the room the right temperature- Every family could have a cosy little bath room by itself, with very little expense, to be used in health or sickness. By having a wooden box made with a door to it large enough for a person to sit on a stool — something like a piano stool, that could be raised or lowered at will — for the bather to sit on ; the bath box so arranged that the head could be outside when the door is closed close around the neck. With such a bath box as this, no one would need any other kind of bath fixtures about the house ; for with this kind of a bath box there could be nearly every different kind of bath given that would be required for any pur- pose whatever ; such as the alcoholic vapor bath, steam bath, elec- trical bath, medicated vapor bath, shower bath, spray bath, etc., etc, by having a reservoir, some distance from the bath box, holding suffi- cient warm or tepid water for the purpose, with a rubber hose run- ning from the reservoir to the bath box. In this way you could take your alcoholic sweat by placing a lamp with s a large wick made for that purpose, and set it under your stool and take a good sweat ; first, with your feet placed in a bucket of hot water, after all of which, you could shampoo yourself with soap, then spray yourself off from the rubber hose, which should be supplied with a nice spray-fixture on the end of the hose, filled full of very fine holes for the water to pass through, and hung up on the inside of the bath box — some place handy. Then, after shampooing your body with soap you could have an attendant to turn on the water so you could spray yourself off while sitting in the box all shut up. Now this is one of the most de- lightful baths that ever was given, and does far more good for the sick or well than a bath taken in any other way, as you can have the water any temperature you desire, and change it at will. In this case you see the fresh water runs on you all the while and passes off into your waste pipe, which, of course, should be attached to the bot- tom of the bath box. If people would only so arrange their bath houses or boxes in this wav, so that the bathers could have the water GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 29 run on them by means of a fine spray and pass off, it would be more scientific. It is very much better than lying in the water, for the reason that, in this way, you receive all the electrical and magnetic elements that are in the water, and thus your bath acts like a tonic to the human body, giving strength and vigor ; while lying in the water the old way is not so cleansing ; besides, if you lie in the water over twenty-five minutes, it is weakening in its effects. Alcoholic sweat baths given in this way, from the dry, hot air from the alcoholic lamp, (for you should use no other kind of heat for this purpose but alcohol), is a better method for curing rheumatism and neuralgia than all other medicines in the world, for it will cure them every time without fail, but it must be repeated two or three times per week. Try it. The best way to give a baby a bath when it is sick and afraid of the water, is to take a small blanket and wring it out from w^arm water, spread it over the mother's lap, and lay the baby on the wet blanket and wrap it all up, and wrap a dry blanket over that to keep out the cold air. Keep the child in this condition for thirty or forty minutes, then unwrap it and change it to a warm, dry sheet, and wrap it up again till it has all dried off. You can, while wrapped up in the sheet, rub it dry with the sheet, then you can change its clean clothes. This method can be repeated as often as desired with safety, and it is very efficient in many of the ills that are incident to children. How- ever, you are to remember that in all cases of this kind that the room must be warm ; no draft from the doors and windows while adminis- tering the bath. THE FOOT BATH. This batb is very efficient for many purposes. For headaches or for a sudden cold, this is often used on going to bed. A large bucket, or any kind of a deep vessel, is used. Fill it up with as hot water as can well be borne, place the feet in it and throw a quilt over the limbs and lap to keep the heat in, and sit with the feet in this water for 30 minutes, or longer if desired. As the water cools there can be hot water added occasionally so as to keep the water as hot as can be borne. If the patient is troubled with cold feet, there can be a tablespoonful of ground mustard added and well mixed with the water beforehand. If you should wish to sweat after the bath, you should drink some hot teas while taking the bath, such as ginger tea, or the smart weed, or a 30 PEARLS OF WISDOM,. hot lemonade with a little whisky or capsicum (red pepper) added to it. To get the full benefit of such a bath you should go immediately to bed and have some hot irons to the feet, and cover up well. Keep still till you get into a sweat. THE HIP, or SITZ BATH. Sufficient water should be placed in a tub to cover the hips and lower portion of the abdomen. When the patient is in a sitting pos- ture the water can be made to any temperature to suit the immediate indications. And the patient should remain in the bath the length of time indicated by the physician. Most all physicians prescribe this bath for quite a number of diseases. We would add that in case of painful or even suppression of the monthlies, this bath is very good. Sometimes we order this and the foot bath also, (as described on page 29), with the feet in the bucket of water, while at the same time you sit in the tub of water. Fevers, In the management of fevers, no matter of what kind or by what name it is called by the attendant physician, the nurse should know how to manage the patient to subdue the fever before it gets to such a high grade as to become threatening and dangerous to life. Here is where the sponge bath is always practicable, at whatever time of the day or night. When the fever is the highest then is the time that the patient should be sponged off with tepid water, not too cold, not hot. Part of the body can be gone over at a time, generally first the head and face, then one arm laid bare, then the other, then the breast, neck and bowels, then one leg, then the other ; cover up the body as you go ; then have the patient turn over on the side while you can sponge the back and limbs clear to the feet. This mode can be repeated every hour while the fever lasts, taking care that you do not sponge the pa- tient after the fever has gone down. Remember, that there is never any danger of any body taking cold in giving a sponge bath while the fever is on ; never. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL 31 Again, remember, that, in all cases of fever, no matter what, the head should be kept cool by occasionally bathing the head and face- with the bare hand wet in water. This can be repeated often while the fever runs high ; while, at the same time the feet and lower ex- tremities should be watched very closely and kept warm day and night, even if it must be done with hot irons or jugs of hot water, or wrapped up with hot flannels, heated by the stove. Follow these rules, closely and nearly every case of fever can be controlled, and the pa- tient made well in a very short time. RULES TO OBSERVE. Rule 1 — Fever patients should have the right kind of nutritious- food to keep up and sustain the vital forces. The food should consist of beef extract, chicken or mutton broth, milk punch, etc., made as dricted on pages 14, 15, 17. This food must be given at intervals of from two to three hours apart, only a little at a time. Great quanti- ties of food must not be forced upon the patient. Patients never re- quire very much food when sick. Never disturb or wake your patient up to give them medicine or food, unless they are under the influence of narcotic medicines, when it is known that they will fall asleep im- mediately afterwards, as sleep will do your patient more good than medicine ; but watch them. As soon as they wake up be ready to give the medicines with the least disturbance about it, that they may get quiet and go to sleep again, regardless if it is over the time that it should have been given if they had been awake. Rule 2 — See to it that the room is well ventilated. If it is winter time the room should be kept 60 to 70 deg. Fahrenheit, unless during the time the fever is the highest. In summer time there is not much danger of the cold air, if you have plenty of clothes to regulate the temperature of the body. But the lungs must have fresh air and plenty of it. Rule 4 — Do not go from the cold air to the bedside of the sick ; especially if the patient is in a perspiration, or the patient has rheu- matism ; for the skin is very sensitive, and you had better wait in a warm room first till you get warm. No person has any idea of the pain and suffering of this disease unless they have had it themselves. Every joint is racked with pain, and the least touch of cold air or fin- gers adds to the suffering. Even the banging of a door, the shutting of a window, or the squeaking of a shoe or a boot, is but adding agony to the patient, and must be avoided. 32 PEARLS OF WISDOM, Rule 4 — Do not have old bottles setting around. When you are- through with the bottle that has been prescribed throw away the medicine and wash out your bottle, and set it away. It is best not to keep medicines over for another case of sickness, because it is never wanted. Rule 5. To change the dress of a patient — Much distress is often caused by not properly understanding just how to proceed to get the- arms in and out of the sleeves, and is often attended with difficulty- If the infliction is likely to continue. First, rip the sleeves open, then tack on some strings so that the sleeve can be tied. This will not in- jure the garment and it can be sewed up again when needed. Rule 6 — There is a secret in handling a broken bone or a sore limb. Never take hold -with the points of your thumb and finger as though you were afraid of it ; but take a firm grasp, or slip your hand under and let the limb lie in the palm of your hand, then support it with your thumb and finger. All nervous handling produces fear in the patient ; while the patient always feels safe in the firm grasp and a, steady nerve. Tlie Home Medicine Cliest. Every family has more or less medicine about their house ; but usually, however, they are kept carelessly sitting around in no place in particular. It is well to have some small box, with a lock on it r and always kept in some convenient place. It would be useless for every house to keep a drug store ; but it is always well enough to keep a few reliable medicines, such as you would be likely to use in a case of emergency. But let me entreat you, never do you keep or buy any patent medicines, the ingredients of which are not known to you.. There has been more damage produced by thein than good accom- plished ; and, for the most part, they have been put up by ignorant pretenders, whose sole object is to get your money. Keep your castor oil, sweet oil, a vial of laudanum, a little tincture of lobelia, syrup of ipecac, spirits of camphor, a bottle of glycerine and a vial of syrup of rhubarb. Keep in your chest a roll of lint, a roll of linen, a piece of flannel, some sticking plaster. Have your physician put you up a GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 33 bottle of medicine for burns and scalds, and have a place for it in your chest. These are some of the medicines that every family should keep on hand ; not too many — only those which you know how to use. And for obvious reasons they should always be kept by themselves where they could be had at a moment's notice — all well labeled that you may make no mistake. Hemorrhage, BLEEDING, AND HOW TO STOP IT. Many a fond mother has had a terrible fright by her child running in with its face and clothes all smeared over with blood. It is aston- ishing to see what a big mark a very little blood will make. But then it is no wonder that bleeding will produce fright ; animals will instinct- ively rush to the spot where one of their kind is bleeding to death. Blood is the life, and where there is much loss of it life is endangered. Xow. there is something about the structure of the body that every- body should understand ; indeed, a full knowledge of the entire struc- ture of the human body should be acquired by everyone. It is to be hoped that this knowledge will be one of the "fundamental branches taught in our public schools at no distant day. At least every child should be taught this important knowledge. They should be as famil- iar with the bones and their structure and uses, all the blood vessels, their origin and course, as they are of the rivers and lakes of the country ; for no one can afford to be ignorant of the situation of the blood vessels ; because some day, in the course of their lives, it may be a question with them of life and death, or that of some one of their friends. Accidents may happen to anyone. If the body is torn, cut or injured in any way, some one of the important blood vessels may be involved, and death may be the rusult in a very few moments, sim- ply because no one present may have obtained the knowledge which they might have possessed with a very little study. Therefore it is very hard for us to give you rules to stop bleeding, for we do not ex- pect everyone who reads this little book to understand anatomy. We cannot tell you as we would were you acquainted with the circulatory system ; yet, if you will follow us through, what we do say we can give you a fair understanding of it. "34 PEARLS OF WISDOM, BLEEDING FROM THE NOSE. Occasionally we find a person bleeding from the nose ; that is quite troublesome. The cause is generally concealed in the nervous sys- tem — debility of the nervous system. Loss of nervous force is the usual cause of hemorrhage, whether "from the lungs, anus, nose, stomach or other parts of the body. Therefore, the true remedy consists in whatever restores vigor to the nervous system. Hamamelis (witch hazel) bark •or pulverized borax applied within the nostrils will stop the bleeding very soon. In the meantime cold water should be poured upon the wrists and back of the neck until the parts are very much reduced in temperature, thus arresting the rush of blood to the head. Also, if you feel that the bleeding is going to commence, press on the large veins •on either side of the throat, rubbing downwards gently. BLEEDING ABOVE THE EAR. If there is a wound above the ear, on either side of the head, place your finger about a quarter of an inch in front of the ear, upon the side injured, and press hard on your finger, as this point will be on the blood vessel that carries the blood from the heart up along the temple to the side of the head. BLEEDING BELOW THE EYES. All of the small arteries that carry the blood to the outside of the face, nose, lips and muscles of the face, spring from one main artery that passes over the under jaw about half-way from the angle to the point of the chin. Therefore, if you will place a nickle on your thumb over the lower edge of the jawbone you will at once arrest the bleeding. BLEEDING FROM A WOUND IN AN ARM. Grasp the arm about two inches below the arm-pit ; press tightly upon that portion which lies next to the body and a little in front of the center of the arm-pit. Or you can make a roll or pad and place GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 35 on the artery at this point, and tie a handkerchief around the part tightly, just below the arm-pit. Treated in this way will check all bleeding below this point till you can send for your physician to come .and tie the artery and dress the wound properly and as it should be. BLEEDING FROM WOUNDS IN THE LEG OR FOOT. Lie down and support the limb above the head of the body. Now press upon the large artery which lies in front of the thigh, about mid- way of the leg, just below the groin. Fix a roll or pad, (just as directed to fix the pad to stop the bleeding of the arm), or if you are in the field by yourself, and should get a severe cut with the scythe or some other sharp instrument, no matter what, just take a handful of dry earth and clasp it to the wound and hold it tightly there with the hand till you can get assistance. BLEEDING FROM THE STOMACH. It is frightful to see any one vomiting blood, and it .is quite dan- gerous ; but not always as dangerous as it appears. Sometimes it is a question whether it is from the stomach or from the lungs. The blood from the stomach is darker in its color than the blood from the lungs, and it is frequently mixed with food and stringy and ropy. Remedy. — Give two teaspoonfuls of vinegar, or lemon juice in a little cold water, and repeat it every half hour till the bleeding stops, or till your physician comes. You can also give a little cracked ice, if you have it, and nothing more, unless you understand medicine. BLEEDING FROM THE LUNGS. You will know that the blood is from the lungs from it being con- stantly coughed up instead of vomiting ; besides it is a scarlet color Instead of being a dark color like that from the stomach, and it is frothy in its nature. Keep the shoulders raised pretty high by pillows ; sponge the chest off with cold water and a little vinegar; make no ex- ertion by talking ; keep quiet; give the patient just a little bit of salt, half a teaspoonful at a dose, taken dry, and repeat it often in small doses. These are the only means at hand to be used by the common people, and many times they are the best that can be used when they do the work. The other agents belong to the doctor, and it requires an •education and experience to use them successfully and with safety. 36 PEARLS OF WISDOM, "Wounds. Wounds become dangerous more from their position than from their size. A small punctured wound may be more dangerous than a large cut.; or, a small wound in a certain place may be more danger- ous, while a large cut or wound in some other spot may not be attend- ed with any danger whatever. If it be dark colored blood and flows with regularity, you may be able to manage it : but if it spurts out with little jets, however small the wound may be, you must use the same means to stop it as directed in chapter on how to stop bleeding, (by compress and bandage), and then send for your doctor at once. Outs on the head, in the hair, cannot be dressed with a plaster. They may be dangerous even when yeu do not think so. Wounds from splinters, nails, or from glass, must not be closed immediately. You must let the doctor see them. BROKEN BONES AND DISLOCATIONS. Of course you could not expect us to give you a treatise how to remedy this difficulty, for this could not be done in so small a book. We can only say that broken bones are easily detected by the patient not being able to raise the limb, by its bending or grating sound be- tween where there are no joints. You may not be able to detect it, whether it is a dislocation, a fracture or a broken bone. Unless you are quite sure it is a case of out-of-joint you had better not undertake to jerk or pull it. Wait till the surgeon comes. Always take the ►safe side. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 37 Infectious Diseases* These are propagated by a specific of contagion, which gains ac- cess to the blood, thereby generating a virous in the system. They are contracted by inhalation of gaseous exhalations from patients suffering from diseases, or from the discharged materials from the lungs, skin or bowels. The atmosphere in neighborhoods may be so impregnated with this specific poison as to cause what is known as an Epidemic. When a quantity of contageous matter, however small, is intro- duced into the blood of a healthy person, it will be propagated into the blood, and the disease is the result. You must never undertake the treatment of these diseases yourself ; better employ a good phy- sician and a good nurse, and this will be enough for you to know that you have supplied the best means at your command. When the skin begins to peel off, if it is a child, you will find it constantly picking at the nose, lips, teeth, or finger nails. It is a curious fact, how they will interest themselves for hours, picking at themselves till they "bleed, without seeming to feel the least pain ; nor is it any use for you to find fault with them, or even threaten them, for it will do no good ; it seems to be a part of the disease. Your only remedy is to place mittens upon the hands. After scarlet fever or small-pox, the room, together with all of its furniture, should be thoroughly disinfected- To accomplish this, cleanse the floor with hot water and lime, or car- bolic acid ; close the room air-tight, after removing everything wet or moist from it, and then you can burn flour of sulphur ; this can be done by placing an iron kettle, with legs to it, in the center of the room. Or better still : Heat the kettle sufficiently hot to burn sul- phur in it, then throw or sprinkle two or three ounces of sulphur in the kettle, then hasten out and close the door tight ; let this remain closed for three or four hours, then it can be opened and aired for several days ; then if you should whitewash the walls, your room would be as pure as it ever was. 38 PEARLS OF WISDOM, WHOOPING-COUGH. This disease does not show itself in two or three days. At first the symptoms are merely that of a slight cold ; the child has a short, dry cough, particularly upon food being taken ; this will continue, perhaps, for a week, or longer, before you will notice any other particular symp- toms arise. Now, the fit of coughing is preceded by a convulsive drawing in of the breath, which, as it rushes into the lungs, causes the pecu- liar Whoop ; the cough lasts for a minute or two, then generally ends with vomiting; the breathing is then quiet for a time, and the child is comparatively at ease, until the next spasm of coughing comes on. Children under two years of age are generally exposed to more danger in this disease than older ones. However, if the child has convulsive coughs, we would advise you to seek for medical advice. Our late medical progress has done much towards a successful management of this disease, the Eclectic in particular, to which class of practition- ers the author feels proud to belong. They have done much, of late years, by the use of newly discovered remedies, to mitigate the suff- ering from whooping-cough, and many children are cured without going through the usual prolonged and allotted time for the disease. But we feel that we cannot give you a special treatment here for this complicated disease. It is not the purpose of this little book to advise you to handle medical agents which you know nothing about; but to point out to you the true road for you to follow to gain your health. Besides we feel opposed to anybody handling medical agents without a thorough knowledge of medicine. In mild cases, and with best care, the following medicine, red pepper tea sweetened with honey, with a few drops of tincture of lobelia, used as a gargle several times a day, will be all that is necessary in most of these cases ; but you must pro- tect the chest with suitable thick clothing and keep the feet warm and dry. You must not resort to the usual cough medicines and syrups, for they will do no good and many times produce injury. CROUP. Croup is a very alarming disease, and well it may be ; for it re- quires immediate treatment in many cases to save life. Sometimes it runs a very rapid course and destroys life in a very few hours. We will tell you how you can recognize it. It commences with a short GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOE ALL. 39 dry cough ; but the cough always sounds hoarse, then the breathing is increased and labored — there is a pecular rasping, or grating, or choking sound, which seems to proceed from the throat. Now, if you have got a case of this kind on your hands you must immediately go to work. Here we can give you a reliable treatment that will always do good service : Tincture of ipecac 1 drachm. Tincture of lobelia seed 1 " Tincture of aconite root 10 drops. Powdered niter 4 drachms. Bromide of potassium 20 grains. Glycerine 4 ounces. Distilled water 1 ounce- Mix all together and shake well. Take this prescription to your druggist and get him to put it up for you. It will keep for years. Take it home and put it away in your medi- cine chest, as described on page 32. Have it marked plainly on the label, ""For Croup. Dose : Teaspoonful every half hour till relief, then prolong the intervals as the case may require." Now commence treatment promptly. Give a dose of the above medicine, then make a poultice of bran, add some ground mustard to the poultice, apply it to the breast and throat and keep it there till it reddens the skin. Place the child's feet in hot water, as hot as it can bear it, and keep them - there all the while by adding more hot water occasionally till the child gets better and breathes easier. The author has saved the lives of hundreds of children by this prompt treatment. It will not fail if taken in time. But you must keep calm and do not get frightened, so that you •do not know what you are doing, and you will be astonished to see how soon your child will come out of those alarming symptoms, and get well quick. CHILDREN'S CONVULSIONS OR FITS. These conditions arise from many causes. Sometimes from teeth- ing, from worms, or from hard, indigestible food that has been eaten — anything that will tend to irritate the stomach and bowels ; or the overloading of the stomach may produce those convulsions. There may be something wrong with the brain, or they may be produced irom previous injury, from a fall, or in some other way. But if the child is suffering from a fit, do not get frightened or excited ; but take things calmly, for you can work faster when you are cool and delib- 40 PEARLS OF WISDOM, ■erate, and to a good deal better advantage, by collecting your thoughts arid working by the dictates of your deliberate judgment. First, seek at once the advice of your physician. If he is not at hand when the fit comes on take some cloths and dip them into some hot mustard water and wrap up the child's feet and lower parts of the limbs till the skin is quite red, and as soon as opportunity is offered give a tea- spoonful of syrup of ipecac, or 20 drops of tincture of lobelia, (each of which should always be kept in your medicine chest, see page 32), and try to induce sickness at the stomach and vomiting, if possible. If the head should appear hot you should apply cold water. This is good treatment and often will bring the child out all right. But when the doctor comes he will find out the cause, and prescribe for you accordingly. DIARRHOEA. Bowel complaint occurs every Summer, and often proves fatal to young children. It has been thought the eating of fruits was the cause of children's diarrhoea, as it generally occurs at the time that the fruits are ripening and being gathered. But we think that good, ripe fruit, if perfectly sound and fresh, will do no harm in most cases. While we believe that half-ripe or decayed fruits or vegetables are very unhealthy and but little better than poison. Now, it requires very good judgment to manage successfully all diseases of this kind, and no person, ignorant of medicine, should ever tamper with the life of a child by experiment. Neither should they delay, with the hope of the child getting well of itself. Delays and ignorance in the manage- ment of such diseases have been the cause of many deaths. In many cases, where it is allowed to run too long, there are generally very se- rious complications set up that cannot be very easily controlled. But it is your duty to commence at once with the proper food and the sim- ple remedies, such as described on pages 21, 24 and 25. This will do no harm, and in many cases will cure the case in two or three days. But if there is no change hi that time, you should consult your phy- sician at once, who will tell you, if he is an intelligent physician, that you have given .the patient the right treatment,, and he will not order you to change the diet. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 41 DYSENTERY OR BLOODY FLUX. This distressing disease, of all others, may be controlled and cured by very simple methods, if not let run too long, till it becomes chronic. The first thing to be done, as in Diarrhoea, is to stop all kinds of food, except the beef extract, milk punch, oatmeal water and mush, as de- scribed on pages 14, 15, 16 and 17. But slippery elm, or flax-seed teas made from the water, or from the oatmeal, used as injections after each evacuation from the bowels, are not to be omitted. About two tablespoonfuls at a time, or as much as can be retained for a while. 'Bilious persons, having the obstinate form of this disease, will find great virtue in the following prescription : Turkey rhubarb and willow charcoal, of each (pulverized! one tabiespoonful. Of saleratus, a piece as large as a hazel-nut. I The charcoal, put up in bottles, can be had at the drug store.) The golden seal (hydrastis) half a teaspoonful. Add these ingredients to a tumblerful of water ; stir up well ; let it stand covered up, twelve hours, when, after thoroughly stirring it, the liquid will be ready for use. Dose : Teaspoonful of the liquid once in every four hours during the day. Xow then, remember that you are never to wake up at night to take medicine. Sleep will do you more good than to be dis- turbed of a quiet, easy sleep. We cannot too strongly urge the value of hand magnetism. In restoring the balance of health to the system, not only in this but in every disease, no matter what, and especially would we impress upon you to remember that in all stomach and bowel troubles, the Witt is a very powerful physician. Therefore, do not fail to avail yourself of his skill and beneficence. Always keep your feet and bowels warm and dry. Always sleep with your mouth closed, that the air may pass up through the nostrils into your lungs, that it may be pure and more magnetic, and therefore more energizing to your system, and thank the Universal God of Nature that in Him you "live and move and have a being," and your face will soon shine with gladness, and your cheeks will blush with intensified vigor. 42 PEARLS OP WISDOM, Medicines for a Happy Home. Not only should we cultivate such tempers as serve to render the intercourse of home amiable and affectionate, but we should strive to adorn it with those charms which good sense, judgment and refine- ment that is so easily imparted to it. We say, easily, for there are persons who think that a home cannot be made beautiful without a considerable outlay of expense in money. Such people are in great error. It costs but very little to have a neat flower-garden, and to surround your dwelling with those simple beauties which delight the eye far more than expensive objects. Nature delights in beauty ; she loves to brighten the landscape and make it agreeable to the eye. She hangs the ivy all around the ruin, as well as runs it over the stumps of withered trees. She twines the graceful vine. A thousand arts she practices to animate and please the mind. Folio w t her example, and do for yourself what she is always laboring to do for you. — Cotton. We are glad to make the above quotation, for it is not only a med- ical whisper, but rather a short sermon on love, which may prove the best remedy after all to heal many of the infirmities ; the best medi- cine in our pharmacy that we have got, for perhaps you have lost the bright, fresh feelings of the soul. But we would add, if the writer had only made a more comprehen- sive supposition (including all the married throughout the world), we could reply affirmatively ; except, of course, all of such ordinary broils — those which are always so indispensable as to meet the de- mands of honest hunger. Let the already truly married still keep up the practice of early courtship. Don't let the principles of Harmonial Love and wisdom ever become old and stale, and die out of your hearts, for it will always sound sweet to be again and again told that w T e are loved and appreciated by our conjugal companion ; for it al- ways acts upon the soul like a tonic. No matter how tired and vexed and w T orn out with the duties of the day, it will always stimulate you to new strength and vigor. And let all those who are about to em- bark upon their conjugal existence, regulate all of their attachments and live by spiritual delicacy and private truthfulness. Now, if all those who chance to read this prescription, will try it, we feel that we could guarantee that such a house would be a natural sanctuary of heavenly blessedness. The family circle would shine and sparkle like GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 43> a ring of diamonds. Then each throbbing heart would be a well- spring of love, tenderness, grace and gladness. All good angels would go in and out of such a sunny home, just exactly as the healthy chil- dren thereof would glide to and fro on the swift feet of unrestrained enjoyment. A divine joy is certain to pavilion such a happy home, and one tender hand is sure to embrace all hearts which come within its influ- ence, for it would be the very Gates of Heaven. Motherhood. This is a question which nearly all writers have evaded as harsh,, untimely, or felt that it would not be accepted as modest ; but we feel that the time has come when all people should put away all such false modesty, and deal with the real facts as they are, and such important facts that we all should want to know, and we all must meet them sooner or later, whether we will or not. Motherhood is the crowning glory of "Womanhood. But the am- bition of the mother should be that of bringing of the germ of able- bodied, great-hearted, glorious men and women, who will always be ready to do and to dare for the truth's sake, for humanity's sake. The salvation of the human race all lies in the practical recognition of one important principle — one which, by future generations, if not now, in the light of our present science, must be pre-eminently acknowledged as an unquestionable truth, viz : That she, who is the continued origi- nator of the race, she, whose power and influence for weal or woe, must be handed down through her posterity during all coming time, she must be educated to, #nd shall be granted the inalienable, indis- putable right to determine for herself when she can lovingly take up- on herself the responsibilities of Motherhood. The time has already come when the mass of our thinking people have come to see and to know the one important, but hitherto neglected, lesson learnt, that we are guilty of a heinous crime, and one which nature never pardons, when we will knowingly allow ourselves to become the instruments of bringing into existence human beings whose lives area curse to the world and to themselves, rather than a blessing. Young men as well as old must also be educated up to this point, to see the facts as they really are. 44 PEARLS OF WISDOM, Till within a very short period physiology has formed no part of the education of parents, and the simplest elements of anatomy have been entirely unknown to mothers; Maidens have entered upon the possibilities of maternity without the slightest information regarding the structure of their bodies, and still less of the powers of foetal de- velopment and intelligent understanding of the inevitable inquiries attending its arrest ; and what is still more ludicrous, were it not so very sad, ignorant even of the conditions of parturition. This, we claim, is all wrong ; besides there is no excuse for it. We mu'st charge it upon an ignorant Father or Motherhood — Motherhood not yet con- scious of its high duties, to instruct their children, at least as far as they know themselves, as well as to urge it upon their children to seek for all the knowledge upon those subjects that they can possibly avail themselves of. It must be clear to every thinking mind, that it is not probable that there will be any visible decrease in the crime of this world -till the pulpit and the press, as well as the law-making power, are con- vinced that no persuasion, or education, or even punishment, or stat- utory enactments, can ever be made to cure those who are organically, morally, mentally or physically diseased. As the unborn individual cannot be consulted as to the character of his mind, or his intellectual powers, he is, therefore, dependent upon the condition, and the char- acter, and the intellectual and moral character of his immediate pro- genitors. Indeed, he has no more control over his moral or mental organization than he has over the color of his eyes or his hair. Our organization is made for us and not by us. Our present educa- tional and religious institutions have not, and cannot, prevent the com- mission or increase of crime. Why has not man sought out the means of developing and per- fecting the human forms of his children as well as he has improved the stock of the animal kingdom below him ? We do not want pas- sionless men, but men with strong passion, held resolutely under the check of an enlightened reason and conscientious individualty. It is high time that marriage should be regarded as something higher and nobler than a mere condition granting license to the passions. Let human beings enter into the marriage relation for the sole purpose of compan- ionship, for mutual improvement, and- for the development of their own and each other's noblest, best traits of character. Then, when offspring is desired, let the prospective father and mother seek to com- bine the very best advantages for the expression of their own and" each other's forces, so that their children shall enter upon their earthly career with all of those excellencies of physique and character that GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 45 adorn the noblest specimens of man or womanhood. The children of such parents, conceived under such conditions, receive, at the moment of conception, an impetus towards the good and the imperishable that no vicissitudes of life can ever obliterate. Such children will never fall into vice, but rather, as we see them grow up to maturity, the very sight of such noble specimens of men and women will be looked upon and considered as the protecting arni* thrown out and around to em- brace and protect the human race. Happy are the parents whose children love life and all of its opportunities. Kappyare the children whose parents derive the greatest joy from their beautiful lives. Maxims. 1st. Never eat a late supper and go to bed with a full stomach. 2d. Never sleep with your hands over your head. It impedes the circulation, and will produce heart disease. 3d. Xever bathe the head with cold water, but hot, for all dis- - of the brain. 4th. Human magnetism, the life principle, maybe imparted from one to another, and is a very potent medicine in all diseases. 5th. Sorrow, grief, fear or any other extraordinary emotion, will So to be well you must be cheerful and wear a pleasant countenance. 6th. Xever allow a child to sleep with an adult. There is an in- visible magnetic atmosphere of sympathy emanating from and sub- sisting between individuals, which, if youth and maturity is brought into close conjunction, will always result in permanent injury to the youngest organization. It is a well ascertained fact that the aged will attract vigor and youthfulness from the young, therefore disease will always draw strength from the healthy, should the two continue to sleep together. 7th. Xever sleep upon any description oi feathers, for they impart no life-giving element ; but will always draw from you many of the atmospherical energies which emenate from and surround you at all times, and you will always arise in the morning tired and weary, with- out knowing that it was the feathers which had exhausted all of your vital strength. 46 PEARLS OP WISDOM, 8th. Never permit a sick and feverish person to wear the same garment, or repose between the same sheets, longer than two days, because the positive disease of the patient, during the fever, is always absorbed by the contagious substances of the body. 9th. You should never frighten, deceive or tell a lie to your child, because it is so unnatural, and besides it is very wicked. 10th. Never love your child unrighteously. That is to say, never permit your love to smother your judgment nor blind the voice of reason, for you must know that sympathy (or love) is only serviceable* when wisely bestowed. 11th. It is more easy to manage and educate a child before its birth than it ever will be subsequent to that event, because the indi- vidualism is moulded, and consequently manufactured, more or less perfect in the native womb, and because, also, birth is before thinking. 12th. Never make your child feel you to be its master, nor an in- ferior, nor a superior, but an honorable associate. You should always substitute examples, truth and association for deception and lies, in your so-called family government. 13th. You must learn to will and act, ere the child comes to live among you, as you would have the child will and act before the world. 14th. The unborn child is a mirror, which will faithfully reflect all the wickedness and imperfections, or the goodness or righteousness, of its immediate progenitors. The era is nigh when even all the hid- den vices, as well as the secret transgressions of both the ignorant and educated parents will be recognized and read in the face, form and character of their offspring. — Davis. 15th. Learn your child to do your will, and never decide with- out just foundation ; or, should you hastily decide, never alter your decision without first explaining, to the comprehension of your child, your reason or reasons for so doing. But it is far better to have your child have perfect confidence in your wisdom. Cause and Cure of Female Weakness. What means these peace-destroying symptoms ? Bearing down in the lower part of the abdomen, heat, dull pain, burning, weakness in the small of the back, sore place on the spine, small of the back so tender to the touch, dragging, aching in the loins, indisposition to bodily exercise, dread of walking — either far or fast, the feeling wear- GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOE ALL. . 47 ied and then of numbness in the limbs. Why are our married women so capricious of temper, so childish, at times so given to transition from cold sensations to that of hot flashes ; then from amiableness to peevishness, and fretful, with scrofulous swellings? Why are our children born with broken-down blood globules floating through their infant hearts ? Why do their young bones absolutely ache with volup- tious fatigue, transmitted by ignorant parents ? Every ganglionic center is a telegraphic station ; it receives im- pressions and transmits the signs and disturbances from point to point. Who wonders that our children are scrofulous, and so fond of sweets and stimulants ? Who, that can trace the relation between one cause and another, will still grope around yet longer and ask the learned physician to explain why women are sick and unfit for ordinary du- ties of house-keeping ? The principal cause of woman's suffering lies in Prolapsus Uteri, (falling of the womb,) Retroversions, Antiversion, and all other kinds of displacement; Whites, (Leucorrhea,) then in- flammation and ulceration of the womb. Those are the main causes which afflict three-fourths of the women of this country ; yes, it is no use to attempt to disguise the fact that they are suffering, eking out a miserable existence, many of them without hope that there is any relief to be found for them, while many others, through false modesty , suffer and die in silence rather than consult a competent physician for relief ; but, nevertheless, sooner or later the truth must be told that the main cause of all of these reproductive diseases are caused origi- nally by excessive and unrestrained indulgences of ( the animal inclina- tions, through ignorance. Neither man nor woman have comprehended the primal cause of their suffering ; or what would be still worse — those, who knowing the truth, will further practice the ungodly habit of intemperate reproduction. But, if you would be wise and strong, you should seek advice from intelligent persons, and reading books upon these subjects. Fathers and mothers should commence the teaching of their children, as early in life as they could understand, all that they know themselves, as well as to surround them with useful books to read, that their children should not grow up in ignorance of the natural laws and functions of the organs of the human body, and their uses, as well as to know the consequent suffering from their abuses. This subject is entirely too broad and deep for us to go into full details. This little book is intended only to hint at the different subjects and point out the way you should do, and give you such knowledge and treatment that is practicable, which will tend to relieve your immediate suffering, as well as to teach you how you can keep well, and to prevent the suffering of others. 48 ■ PEARLS OF WISDOM, But, first of all, we must give you our opinion, based upon twenty .years' practice with female diseases, that the introductions and use of all kinds of Pessaries and Uterine Supporters have proved a failure to *cure the falling of the womb. They are not only useless, but they have proved to be very injurious. Now, the treatment we propose to .give you is very simple, but radical and positive- Every woman suffer- ing from those diseases should provide herself with a good soft rubber syringe — a No. 1 Davis or Mattson's are the best. With this instru- ment, properly used, she can cure herself of Whites, (Leucorrhea,) and many other kinds of vaginal irritations. Eemedy No. 1.— Take the white of one egg, beat it up well on a plate ; after which add a tablespoonfull of strained honey, thoroughly amalgamated ; after which add it to one pint of blood- warm water, ithen it is ready for use. No. 2. — To one pint of blood-warm water add five to six drops of diluted sulphuric acid ; mix well ; ready for use. No. 3. — One pint of warm water, one teaspoonful of baking soda added ; dissolve and mix well ; ready for use. No. 4. — One quart of warm water ; add one teaspoonfull of table- •salt ; dissolve well ; ready for use. No. 5.— One pint of warm water; add tablespoonful of ox-gall; mix ; ready for use. Nos. 6 and 7. — Make a decoction from the plantain leaves, which grow in your door-yards in great abundance, or a decoction from the walnut leaves, andjise a quart at one time, blood warm. Directions for Using the same. — Where there is much discharge irom the vagina, you should first cleanse the part out with castile soap- suds, injected with your syringe ; after which you can use Eemedy No. 1, commencing in the morning and inject slowly, that the medicine may have a chance to affect all the parts of the vagina. At noon you can use No. 2, and at bedtime use No. 3 in like manner. Use those remedies for several days in succession, then you can substitute either one of the other remedies, and thus you can alternate them until you get well. In the meantime you can take the following medicine in- fernally ; get your druggist to put it up : Fluid extract black cohosh 1 drachm. Fluid extract chamomile Fluid extract of dandelion lounce. Glycerine sufficient to make a four-ounce mixture. Dose. — Teaspoonfull one hour after each meal. This treatment persisted in will cure any ordinary case. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 49 In cases of falling of the womb, or where there is a little inflam- mation or ulceration, it can be cured by the following medicine ; get your druggist to put it up for you : Glycerine 6 ounces. Tanic acid \ " Mix by a gentle heat till the acid is all dissolved. Then take a tuft of fine cotton, about the size of a small hulled walnut ; after tuck- ing the fringed edges over to the center, take four stitches through the tuft of cotton with a strong patent thread ; soak this tuft of cot- ton in the glycerine and tannin medicine. Just before going to bed, let some lady friend insert this tuft of cotton (soaked with glycerine of tannin) up the vagina as far as she can push it with the finger, leaving three or four inches of the thread hanging outside ; keep this in till ten or eleven o'clock next day, then by the thread you can draw it out and throw it away ; then inject a little warm soap-suds, and rinse out the parts. This tanic acid mixture will stain your sheets or clothes ; better prepare for it. This treatment, with the cotton tuft and glycerine medicine, can be kept up every evening, or every other day, or third day, as the nature of the case demands ; from five to six applications is generally sufficient to effect a cure, by keeping up the other washes and injections between times. This method of treatment and handling those diseases are simple and harmless, and perfectly reliable. The author has had no occasion to use any other remedies for many years. The treatment is always fol- lowed with marked success. However, we might add, that when there is much irritation, smarting or burning sensation in the walls of the vagina, it can soon be healed up and cured, by beating up well on a dinner plate, the white of one egg, and add it to a pint of warm water to be used with the syringe as an injection wash, in place of one of the other injections. 50 PEARLS OF WISDOM, Accidents and Emergencies. Under this head, which properly commences on page 33, we will continue here by giving you a number of prescriptions. BURNS AND SCALDS. 1. A liniment composed of equal parts of lime-water and linseed oil, is a superior application for burns. The lime-water alone is ex- cellent. 2. Dissolve two ounces of alum in one pint of hot water. Satu- rate cotton cloths with this solution and keep the burn well wrapped in them. The pain will quickly cease and the process of healing will soon commence. 3. Two tablespoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda dissolved in one pint of hot water. Saturate cotton cloths with this solution and keep the parts w r ell wrapped up, and the cloths constantly kept wet with this solution. The pain will soon cease and the process of healing will soon commence. Care should be taken not to let the parts be exposed to the air for one moment from the time of the first application, by the change of the dressing. This can be accomplished by handling the burnt parts under the water while dressing. Burns and scalds will heal rapidly, without leaving a scar, if attended to in this manner. When the clothing of a person catches fire, throw them on the -ground and roll them up in a piece of carpet, or a bed quilt is still bet- ter. This will extinguish the flames. If those articles are not at hand then take your coat and use it instead. Begin the wrapping at the neck and shoulders and wrap downwards, so as to keep the flames from the head and face. Cover all again with damp clothes, several thicknesses. This will soon extinguish the flames; after which the .burnt parts can be dressed with Cosmoline. This is a new remedy, and it is an excellent one. After covering the Cosmoline with only one thickness of cotton cloth, then wrap the entire dressing with raw cotton to exclude the air. If the weather is very warm the Cosmoline .dressing should be renewed twice per day ; otherwise, every other day OEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL 51 will be sufficient. The dressing should take place under the water, if possible, to exclude the air from the burnt parts. The above remedies and treatment are the best known, and adopted by all the profession. We present quite a number of them, from the fact that it often happens that only one remedy is at hand and ready tor use, whilst the others might not be had without the loss of much valuable time, while any one of the above is very good. POISON VINE ; POISON OAK. Remedy. — Mix a small quantit} 1- of starch with sufficient glycerine to form a thick paste and apply to the poisoned parts. This is excel- lent. One application is generally sufficient to effect a cure ; if not, it may be repeated on the following morning. This, in the author's hands , has never been known to fail. Before the application, bathe the parts In hot water, almost hot enough to scald the flesh. But, as this remedy may not|always be at hand, we will give another: Baking soda, or common washing soda, will remove this difficulty very promptly by adding sufficient water to the soda to form a paste, and apply it thoroughly once or twice a day. It will usually kill the poison in from two to four days. The following is from Prof. Bundy, of Oakland, Cal., in which State poisoning is of very frequent occurrence from the poison oak- Take of the Fluid extract of grindelia robusta 2 drachms. Glycerine 2 ounces. Mix and apply to the affected parts three or four times daily. This is a new remedy, and is a specific for the poison oak poison- ing; in fact so much so that no other treatment need be mentioned. This remedy can now be always found at the drug stores. SPIDER BITES. 1. Catnip and plantain (which grows in nearly everybody's door- yard) equal parts, bruised and applied to the wound, is a prompt and effectual remedy for the cure of the bite of a spider, or any other in- sect. A teaspoonf ul of the juice of the plantain should be taken inter- nally every hour, at the same time. This is also a cure for a hornet or a bee sting. Then in case these remedies are not handy we will give you some other remedies. 52 PEARLS OF WISDOM, 2. Table salt and baking power, equal parts, bound on the parts. This will immediately arrest the swelling and relieve the pain. 3. The common onion is another remedy for the same purpose. A piece is to be cut off and at once applied on the wound. .Dr. Hill uses no other remedy than this for stings, etc. If the pieces of onion are changed every few minutes, the pain, he says, diminishes imme- diately. Accessory Measures. — If a wasp, or other stinging insect, be the cause of the trouble, examination must be made to see if the sting is left in the flesh, as this is often the case. Then the sting must be ex- tracted by the fingers or a pair of fine-pointed forceps. SNAKE BITES. The first object to be attempted, in such cases, is to arrest the cir- culation of the blood, from the part bitten, as soon as possible. This can be done by tying a handkerchief or rope tightly around the limb, between the wound and the heart, as directed on page 33 (to stop hemorrhage.) The wound should be sucked with all the force the patient can command, or have some person do it for him. No danger attached to the person thus sucking the wound, so long as the poison does not come in contact with any abraded or raw surface of the mouth or other parts of the body. If any considerable time has elapsed after the bite, and before the application has been made, then there should be made a small incision of the flesh, with a knife, acioss the wound, in order, more readily, to admit the solution into the wound, after which the bruised plantain will do you good service, as before described. If that is not at hand, the next best remedy is moistened saleratus and bound on the bite. Then dissolve more and keep the parts wet with it for a few hours. This remedy has not yet been known to fail to cure the bite of a snake. The old remedy is to drink plenty of good brandy till you get in- toxicated ; and then it sometimes fails. We would rather use the plaintain externally and internally. CRAMP IN THE PIT OF THE STOMACH. ■ . - Severe, pinching, gnawing, or contractive pains in the stoma* h, generally occurring after taking food. Cause. — Highly seasoned or indigestible food; stimulants, coffee and tobacco ; long fasting, exposure to cold or damp, etc. It is usually but a symptom of indigestion. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 53 Remedy. — Most forms of this difficulty can be effectually cured in a few minutes by a very simple means : Take a teacupful of hot water, and add to it a heaping tablespoon- ful of sugar. Drink it down slowly, as hot as possible. In some cases it may be necessary to repeat the dose in twenty or thirty minutes ; but it is seldom that more than one dose will be needed. Another means is to place a mustard poultice on the stomach and allow it to remain till considerable redness is produced ; then follow this with a hot fomentation of hops or tansy. If this should occur in the middle of the night, the patient should apply friction over the stomach. This rubbing with the hand, with an active mill, until con- siderable redness, with a high degree of heat, is produced. It alone will often afford effectual relief. However, the patient subject to these attacks should shun all articles of food which excite attacks of this disease, and live on plain, easily digested food, spend his time in the fresh air and sunlight, and take regular active exercise. BILIOUS COLIC OR CRAMP COLIC. Many persons are subject to this distressing disease and suffer for hours without obtaining relief, when it is the simplest thing to cure in the world. Take of the fluid extract of idiascora villosa! wild yam, 30 drops in about one swallow of hot water, at a dose ; repeat it in 30 minutes if necessary. In the meantime take one pint of warm water, add half teaspoonlul of salt to it, stir till dissolved, and inject it slowly into the bowels with a syringe. Retain it as long as possible. This will evac- uate the bowels in less than 30 minutes, and you will get prompt relief. JAUNDICE. The fringe-tree i ehionarithus) — "Old Man's Gray Beard," as it is sometimes called. This is a new remedy for this disease, introduced to the profession by Prof. B. J. M. Goss. He says it is a .specific for jaundice. This article can be procured at the drug store. Call for the fluid extract. The dose is a teaspoon ful, in a little sweetened water, before ear-h meal. In ten days your jaundice is all gone. However, the jaundice may be complicated with other diseases. In this case, after your trial, yon can consult your physician. 54 PEARLS OF WISDOM. NEURALGIA. It is very important for those who are afflicted with this distressing disease to be prepared with a few remedies at hand, and with their judicious use they need not suffer very long with this distressing dis- ease. Eemedy 1. — Take half a teaspoonful of sal amonia and four table- spoonfuls of camphor- water ; mix. Dose : Teaspoonful, and repeat several times at intervals of ten minutes, if the pain be not relieved at once, as many neuralgia pa- tients can attest. Camphor-water may be 'prepared by adding one teaspoonful of the strong spirits of camphor to half teacupf ul of water. But one remedy will hardly ever cure every case of this disease. There is a new remedy discovered, and one that is reported by the profession to be of superior efficacy in the cure of neuralgia ; in iact it is regarded as an effectual cure in this disease. It is the sul- phate of nickel. Have your druggist prepare it for you by rubbing one grain of it in a mortar with nine grains of sugar of milk ; tritu- rate well. Divide it into two-grain doses. One dose is often sufficient to relieve the severest paroxysm of pain. If it should not do so, the dose can be repeated every one or two hours until the pain ceases. Prof. Hale, of Chicago, has reported many very grave cases of neural- gia cured by this remedy. The author has used it in several very old cases of neuralgia, and has been utterly astonished to see how prompt this remedy relieved that most excruciating malady, especially if it is of a periodical character. It is useless to treat this disease with liniments. Fomentations are much better than all the pain-killers in America. The hot air sweat, repeated several times, is the most reliable per- manent cure that we know of. (See description of Bath.) EARACHE. First, the ear should be carefully examined to see if any foreign substance is in it, that may provoke the difficulty, the removal of which will relieve at once. If nothing of the kind is discovered, we may know it to be the result of a cold. Then proceed as follows : Heat a brick or stone and wrap it up with a damp cloth or towel, and place to the ear, heating and sweating it freely. At the same GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 55» time take equal parts of sweet oil and glycerine, teaspoonful each, and add 10 drops of laudanum to this ; mix well by warming it over the stove. Then take a straw or little stick, from the end of which drop 3 or 4 drops of this mixture into the ear. This will give you prompt relief at once. DIPHTHERIA. Diphtheria is scarcely more than a modification of scarlet fever. The patient first complains of lassitude, aches all over, especially in the back and hips, head aches, loss of appetite, rigors and chills, active and quick pulse, a light-furred tongue, redness in the back of the mouth, enlargement of the glands about the neck, a hot, dry skin, and in most cases an exudation formed upon the mucous surfaces of the upper air passages. This soon becomes organized into a tough, white mem- brane, covering the soft palate and tonsils. These sometimes degen- erate into ulcers. The breathing, in consequence of the condition of the membranes and air passages, becomes hurried and labored, and the patient becomes very restless and uneasy, pulse quick and fre- quent, the asphyxia ensuing ends in death. The breath becomes fceted. Xo one, after breathing the breath and exudations arising from a diphtheric patient, can ever mistake this disease. It generally rages^ as an epidemic, and is regarded as contagious. Treatment. — The first step in the treatment should be an emetic- by a copious draught of milk- warm water with a little salt and ground mustard added to the warm water. This should be drank slowly and continuedly until the patient vomits. No danger, don't be afraid of too much water ; it is harmless. The vomiting will, at the same time,, produce free perspiration, which is highly necessary, and should be- kept up by the use of the tincture of gelseminum and aconite root, of each 20 drops, added to a half-tumbler of water. Dose : Teaspoonful every hour. The kidneys should be kept in vigorous operation. Flannel cloths should be wet with the compound tincture of capsicum,, myrrh and lobelia, and should be changed every half hour, and ap- plied as hot as the patient can bear it, till the disease is under control,, taking care that the throat is well protected from the cold air after the- hot flannel cloths are abandoned. The patient should be kept in bedi with hot jugs kept to the feet, and a gentle perspiration should be kept up. The bowels should be evacuated by injections of warm, water. 56 PEARLS OF WISDOM, The following prescription the author has found to be a specific to kill the ulcers and exudations that gather upon the tonsils and mu- cous membranes in the throat : Chlorate of potassium 1 drachm. Fluid extract wild yam (diascora villosa) . J drachm. Hydrate of chloral 1 drachm. Tincture of muriate of iron 1 drachm. Carbolic acid 5 drops. Glycerine. 3 ounces. Mix well. Yon can get your druggist to put this prescription up for you.. Now, with a camel-hair brush you can touch the tonsils and all the- exudations in the throat three or four times per day with this medi- cine. If the patient swallows a little it will do no harm. If the medi- cine appears to be a little too strong, it can be reduced with a little- water. You will be astonished to see how soon the ulcers will clean off and begin to heal up under this treatment. Give the patient plenty of milk punch, (see page 17, how to make- it.) Add plenty of brandy, as it is said, by late observers, that good whisky or brandy is a prophylactic in diphtheria. Hence you can add more than usual to the milk punch. Also give the extract of beef,. (see page 14). In convalescing, the patient should have a good sponge- bath every day, followed by a brisk rubbing with the bare hands by the nurse or some genial friend. ERYSIPELAS (ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE.) Cause — Exposure to cold ; impaired digestion ; wounds ; particu- larly from dissecting and surgical instruments ; badly ventilated and over-crowded apartments ; certain condition of the atmosphere and a morbid state of the blood from disease ; the habitual use of stimu- lants, etc., and consequently debility. The tendency of the disease i& to attack different parts of the body simultaneously, which furnishes- us with evidence of its origin in a bad condition of the blood. The chief existing cause of Erysipelas is a recent wound, and the predis- posing cause is inattention to the laws of health, combined, perhaps, with a personal or "family tendency to the disease. Erysipelas is known by its inflammatory redness of the skin, and its rapid tendency of spreading over the body, with considerable puffy swelling,. tenderness,, painful burning, tingling and tension. The color varies from a faint- red to a dark-red or purplish color, becoming white under pressure GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL. 0/ but returning to its former color on the removal of the pressure. An attack is usually ushered in with shivering, languor, headache and nausea ; bilious vomiting with the ordinary symptoms of inflamma- tory fever, accompanied or followed by inflammation of the parts affected. When erysipelas attacks the face, it nearly always com- mences at the side of the nose near the angle of the eye. Remedies and Treatment. —Applications, externally used, should always be put on warm, whatever form the disease may assume ; cold applications should never be made, as they interfere with the free circulation of the blood, and the nutrition of the part; and they al- ways increase rather than diminish the extent of the severity of the disease. There are many kinds of treatment for this disease, but we will endeavor to give you only that which has been adopted by the author, which, in every case, has proved to be the most successful and can be relied upon. A poultice made from the cranberries, stewed and cooked in the usual way, and applied blood-warm, is a very valuable remedy for outward application. If those are out of season, the next best remedy is a decoction of strong tea made from the inner bark of the burr-oak tree, and use this to make a bread poultice, and apply it. If this cannot be had, the next best is sulphite of soda, half an ounce, to a pint of blood- warm rain-water ; dissolve well. A cotton cloth wet Well in this and laid over the affected parts, one thickness, and kept wet by often changing. However, the cloth should be thoroughly washed in clean water before putting it in the soda medicine. Again : Also the hamamelis, the witch-hazel, as it is sometimes called, used in the same way as the soda solution; but use it full strength. Also, I have used a gill of good brandy with the juice of 2 lemons added. Keep the affected parts well moistened with either of those remedies till the inflammation is well subdued. We have always been successful with those remedies used in this way. Sometimes we alter- nate with two of those remedies, first using one, then the other, until the inflammatory action is entirely under control. But this disease must be taken in time. It will not do to postpone the treatment for one moment, as the disease is a very dangerous one. For the internal treatment we use the following prescription : Muriate tincture of iron 3 drachms. Diluted carbolic acid , \ drachm. Fluid ext. wild indigo (baptisiatinctoria) 1 drachm. Glycerine sufficient to make a four ounce mixture. Dose: Teaspoon ful every two hours. 58 PEARLS OF WISDOM, If it is of the facial erysipelas with much fever, it must be con- trolled by the mother tincture of belladonna and aconite. They can be procured at the homeopathic pharmacy. Give 10 drops of each in a halt-tumbler of water ; mix well. Dose : Teaspoonful every hour if the fever is high, and the iron mixture every three hours, till the fever is controlled ; then stop and give the first tincture of iron medicine every two hours. Keep the bowels open by injections of salt and water, as described in other pages of this book. This treatment will do you good service •in this disease. SCARLET FEVER. Children are far more liable to contract this disease than adults, as very few of the latter ever have this disease, even when exposed. The interval between the exposure and the attack varies from two to five days to three weeks, and patients are known to have the disease without exposure, when it is prevailing in the neighborhood. General Symptoms. — Scarlet fever usually commences very sud- denly, with the ordinary forerunners of fever, chills, and shivering, succeeded by hot skin, nausea, sometimes vomiting, with rapid pulse, thirst, frontal headache, and sore throat. The last named symptom, sore throat, is generally the earliest complained of by the patient. In about forty-eight hours after the occurrence of those symptoms, the characteristic rash is perceptible, first on the breast, from whence it generally extends and spreads all over the body. These eruptions are bright-red points or spots, which have been compared, by some writ- ers, to look like that of a boiled lobster shell. These spots either run together and diffuse themselves uniformly -over the skin, or else appear in large, irregular patches on different parts of the body. The color of the skin disappears on pressure, but returns on its removal. The appearance of the tongue is characteris- tic : it is first coated, but the tips and edges are red ; the pimples are red and somewhat raised ; afterward the tongue cleans off and looks very red and raw. A diffused redness, sometimes of a dark scarlet •color, covers the mouth, etc., which all disappears as the febrile symp- toms and rash subside. About the fifth day the rash begins to de- cline, and entirely disappears about the eighth or ninth day, leaving the patient in a very weak condition. The subsequent process of peeling of the cuticle is varied in its duration ; it takes place in the form of scurf, from the face and trunk, but from the hands and feet large flakes are separated, sometimes coming away entire like a glove or slipper. GEMS OF KNOWLEDGE EOK ALL. 59 This also is a very dangerous disease, and should have prompt at- tention. We shall advise you to send for your physician, as this dis- ease is apt to be followed by serious complications, and not attempt '.treatment yourself . Bat, as the external treatment is the most essen- tial to be attended to, the author will give you that which we always •employ, no matter what the complications are, and it is always called for in every case, and your family physician, if he is an intelligent one, will not object to it, as it will not interfere with his internal treatment. As this is a cutaneous disease, the battle-ground to be fought is upon the surface ; hence we should advise you by all means to give a warm .sponge bath every night, followed by greasing the entire body all over with an uncooked fat piece of bacon— in severe cases we always bind thin slices of it upon the neck, breast and soles of the feet. We shall urge this treatment upon you, as it is always called for and highly •effectual. If attended to promptly it will never fail to cure the patient with but little other treatment. SMALLPOX (Variola). This disease is too well known to need a particular description. It is always caused or communicated by contagion ; that is, caught from others who have it. There are two forms of this disease — the Confluent, when the vesicles are so thick that they run together ; and the Distinct, when they are separate. Then we have Varioloid, or -Smallpox modified by constitutional predisposition — we won't say by vaccination, because we don't believe that vaccination ever prevented a case of smallpox in this world ; but, on the contray, we do know of many cases of confluent smallpox after the patients informed us that they had been vaccinated and that it took well. Therefore we would advise you never to allow your children to be vaccinated under any consideration. Of our own observation of the condition of the human iamily, which we have formed after an experience of over twenty years in the practice of medicine, we have long since arrived at the conclusion that the inhuman practice of vaccination has caused more -deaths than the disease of smallpox ever did, to say nothing of the con- sumption and scrofulistic wrecks that the sin of vaccination has left all over the world. From conscientious scruples, the author has never yet vaccinated a single individual, and we don't intend to commence now. Our voice shall ever be heard in condemnation of that in- human practice. *60 PEARLS OF WISDOM, If the rules and laws of health are observed, which we have en- deavored to give you in this little book, you need never be any more .afraid of smallpox than you need be of any other disease. However, we will proceed to tell you that the treatment in this disease is simple and easy to manage. We have a remedy from London which rivals .all others for its simplicity, and, coming as it does so highly recom- mended, we apprehend that it has accomplished all that is claimed ior it : Dissolve one ounce of cream of tartar in one pint of boiling water. 'Of this, when cold, give half a gill for the first dose, to an adult. After this is taken, divide the remaining quantity into such doses as, taken three times a day, the whole will last three days. It is said that this simple remedy has restored thousands of cases, and will effectually cure this disease in five or six days, leaving no pit marks and no blindness, as is sometimes the case when otherwise treated, and always prevents the tedious lingering of convalescence ; besides, it can be taken at any time, being preventive as well as cura- tive. The use of it is so effectual that, were it popularly employed, it would dispense with the unnatural law of vaccination and the very mostly staff of vaccinators. Another remedy, more in use in some parts of Europe, aud also in China, and said to be the most successful ever employed in those .countries, and perfectly effectual, is to apply to the chest an ointment made by combining tartar-emetic and croton-oil with lard. This ap- plication should be made when the fever is at its height and just before the eruptions appear. This causes the whole of the eruptions to ap- pear on this part of the body, and thus relieves the internal organs and the face, on which there will be no pitting. WORMS. Worm troubles are not so common as generally supposed. Almost •every irritation or abnormal condition of a child is attributed by the parents or others to the presence of worms, and the little sufferer is often made worse by the use of medicines. In no case, however, should the child be purged and medicated for worms unless it is quite positive that such are present. Rarely do they exist without some evidence being shown in the discharges from the bowels ; hence these should be carefully examined. Large sums of money are annually .spent in this way. Get your druggist to put you up the following prescription :