Household Companion: The Family Doctor

Book V. Part I. Tuberculosis

The entire nation has been aroused to fight The Great White Plague and stamp it out of existence. Millions have died of this dread disease, and its terrible infection seems to be lurking for us ...

The Microscopic World.

With Pasteur's discovery of the micro-organic world civilization entered upon a new epoch. With it many of the phenomena of life which had not been understood and which had led to superstitious ...

What Consumption is.

Consumption is caused by the growth of certain microorganisms in the tissue of our bodies. These micro-organisms grow in us in the same way as wheat, timothy and clover grow in a field. The ...

What Is Tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis is the implantation and growth of the tubercle bacillus in the tissues of a human being or an animal. The tubercle bacillus as a living entity conforms more nearly to the laws ...

Distinction between Consumption and Tuberculosis.

In the popular mind consumption and tuberculosis are one and the same thing. They are not the same thing, however, and it is worth while keeping the distinction in mind. Consumption is the ...

Colds, Influenza and Pneumonia in relation to Tuberculosis.

Colds, influenza and pneumonia have been looked upon as causes of consumption and are still regarded as such. They are not primary causes but secondary causes. When the tubercle bacillus has ...

History of Consumption.

Consumption has existed in the world as long back as history records anything. It is found in every part of the habitable globe. It has been a plague upon the earth in all times. It is a disease ...

Is Tuberculosis Inherited?

The old idea was that tuberculosis was inherited. People got this idea because they saw the disease occur so frequently in families, and saw it run through two or three generations. We now know ...

Predisposition to Tuberculosis.

Whilst the disease cannot be inherited a predisposition to it may be inherited. Some families undoubtedly are more prone to tuberculosis than others. This is not only true of families but of ...

Diseases as Predisposing Causes of Consumption.

There are some diseases which predispose to consumption. They do this in two ways, by changing the contour of the body and by modifying the tissues of the body. To the former belong rickets, ...

Dissipation as a Predisposing Cause.

Dissipation is a predisposing cause of consumption. In this way consumption is the wages of sin. Dissipation is a scattering of vital forces by excessive indulgence of any kind. It always ...

Want and Overwork as Predisposing Causes.

Two of the most potent predisposing causes of consumption are want and overwork. This is why tuberculosis is so largely a disease of the poor. Want means not only bad nutrition of the body but ...

Alcohol in Tuberculosis.

In olden times and among a great many people even now alcohol is looked upon as a protection and a cure of consumption. It is neither, but on the contrary is a predisposing cause, and when a ...

Climate and Tuberculosis.

It used to be taught that the only cure for tuberculosis was climate, and lots of people still have an idea that climate is a very important factor in both the development and treatment of ...

Immunity in Tuberculosis.

There is a resistance to tuberculosis in human beings which is called immunity. Most people possess it in some degree, but some to a much greater degree than others. Some races possess it in a ...

Contagiousness of Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis being due to a living thing is communicable from one person to another and cannot be gotten except by communication from a previous case. The mode of communication of tuberculosis ...

Mode of Contagion of Tuberculosis.

The contagion of tuberculosis is always contained in broken down tissue given off by the person who has the disease. Usually this tissue is thrown off in the form of spit but sometimes it is ...

How Contagion can be Prevented.

A tuberculous subject should always put every particle of broken down tissue into a receptacle immediately when it is given off. If he expectorates he should hold a paper sputum cup close to his ...

Consumption a House Disease.

Consumption has been called a house disease because it is in the house or rather in an enclosure of some kind that the disease is usually conveyed from one person to another. It is questionable ...

Hotels and Boarding Houses as Means of Spreading

Tuberculosis. Hotels and boarding houses sometimes become the media of spreading tuberculosis, although perhaps not as often as people think. The occupancy of a room by a consumptive for ...

Servants and Employees as Spreaders of Tuberculosis.

Servants and employees sometimes give tuberculosis to their employers or to their fellow employees. A consumptive cook, for instance, could very easily infect a whole family. A consumptive ...

Contracting Tuberculosis in the School Room.

Much fear has been expressed by some of the danger of contracting tuberculosis in the schoolroom. A consumptive teacher may give the disease to his pupils, and a consumptive pupil may give it to ...

Contracting Tuberculosis in Churches and Public Places.

Churches and public places may become infected with the contagion of tuberculosis, but contagion in such places rarely becomes intense enough to give the disease to anyone. Most people are in ...

Contracting Tuberculosis in Public Conveyances.

There is really very little danger of contracting tuberculosis in public conveyances although some people have a great fear of getting the disease in this way. Here again, as in the hotel, the ...

Getting Tuberculosis on the Street.

As has already been intimated there is practically no danger of getting tuberculosis on the street. Rain, sunshine and fresh air very quickly devitalize the tuberculous matter which is thrown ...

Relationship between Human and Bovine Tuberculosis.

There has been a great deal of discussion of late on the relationship between human and animal tuberculosis. There is a wide difference of opinion as to the danger of human beings contracting ...

How the Tubercle Bacillus gets into the System.

In this connection it may be worth while considering how the tubercle bacillus gets into the system. It may get in by the skin, by the stomach and by the lungs. It rarely gets in by the skin, ...

Duration of Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is a long-drawn-out, tedious disease under ordinary circumstances. It is a long time before it shows itself after implantation and frequently it develops even to the stage of ...

Remedies for Tuberculosis.

There is no specific remedy for tuberculosis but there are a great many remedies which when skilfully used at the proper time help nature win the victory. The essential elements in the treatment ...

Food in the Treatment of Tuberculosis.

As the digestive organs and all those parts of the body which have to do with nutrition have been weakened by the disease it is important to select food which is easily digested and assimilated ...

Fresh Air in the Treatment of Tuberculosis.

The taking of food means very little unless the patient remains in the open air or at least gets enough fresh air to properly oxidize the food. Air is as important for nutrition as food and ...

Rest and Exercise in the Treatment of Tuberculosis.

Rest and properly graded exercise are important factors in the treatment of tuberculosis. So long as a tuberculous patient is below normal weight and is running some temperature he is much safer ...

Slowness of Recovery from Tuberculosis.

With the very best treatment recovery from tuberculosis is a very slow process. Restoration of physical health comes much quicker than complete recovery from the disease. This often leads to ...

Preventability of Tuberculosis.

The most consoling feature of the modern teachings about tuberculosis is that the disease is preventable and can be wiped out. What has life and depends upon reproduction can be exterminated. ...

The Consumptive Protects Himself by Protecting Others.

Every consumptive can avoid giving the disease to others. If he knows what to do and is willing to do it he can make himself absolutely noncontagious and can prevent any of his bacilli getting ...

The Government in the Prevention of Tuberculosis.

The government is alive to the importance of stamping out tuberculosis and is everywhere cooperating. Boards of Health are ready to disinfect houses without cost to the individual and distribute ...

Groundless Fear of Consumption.

The nervous and timid nowadays are so much afraid of getting consumption that they treat the poor consumptive inhumanely. There is no ground for such fear and timidity. All that is necessary to ...

Should Consumptives Marry?

Should consumptives marry? This is a question which is often asked and the enactment of a law prohibiting marriage has even been agitated. Consumption is not hereditary; on the contrary immunity ...

Should the Consumptive Mother Suckle her Child?

Another matter which bears somewhat on this question is whether a consumptive mother should suckle her child. As a rule she may do so for some months at least. But if she is in the active stage ...

Book V. Part II. The Family Doctor

The reputation of Dr. Hartshorne, the author of this department, ranks high among those of our general physicians, and these pages from his pen will be endorsed by every good doctor as safe and ...

The Family Doctor: Illustrations

The Good Doctor And His Little Patient. ...

What Is Disease

It was a rather strange idea of a recent distinguished writer upon Hygiene, that perhaps, if we understood perfectly all the laws of health, and obeyed them all, life might be indefinitely ...

Causes of Disease.

These may be stated together, thus: as causes which are Hereditary: examples (though not always inherited), consumption, gout, epilepsy, cancer. Functional: that is, depending ...

Hereditary Disease

We often see consumption affecting several members of the same family through several generations. The same is true of insanity. Gout is many times transmitted from father to son, but seldom to ...

Functional Causation.

Over-exertion may produce exhaustion, which, in a person before feeble, may end in death. Or, short of this, there may be brought on a state of weakness slow to be recovered from. In such a ...

Mechanical Injuries.

Broken limbs, displaced joints, and wounds, are often causes of disease. Tight-lacing is also a mechanical cause of interruption to the right action of the lungs and heart, crowding these and ...

Conditional Causes.

By these we mean high heat, great cold, dampness, sudden changes and partial exposures of the body to either extreme, or electrical influences; these last being very little understood. ...

Digestive Morbid Causes.

Excess of food may cause indigestion at the time; and, if often repeated, habitual indigestion called dyspepsia. A less amount of excess or superfluity may bring on an overfulness of rich blood ...

Obstructive Causes.

Everything that interferes with the clearing out from the body of all waste and dead material, by the excretions, tends to injure health. Breathing foul air, makes the blood impure, and promotes ...

Contagion.

This is, strictly defined, conveyance of disease by touch or contact. But some (not all) disorders, which may be transmitted by actual touch, pass also to a short distance through the air. This is ...

Infection: Atmospheric Causation.

Certain places, at particular times, are infected with maladies which attack a greater or less number of those living or visiting there. Some of these diseases are said to be endemic; that is, ...

Nature Of Diseases

Children sometimes die of old age. That is, their original endowment of life energy was so small as to be exhausted during infancy. Others die very soon because of some defective development of ...

Irritation.

An eye is irritated when a spark from a locomotive, or a bit of sand, or an inverted eyelash, get into it. A mustard-plaster first stimulates the circulation of the skin where it is applied; ...

Inflammation.

All the world knows when a hand, a foot, or an eye is inflamed. Proverbially, the signs of this are redness, heat, pain, and swelling. The redness is owing to the excess of blood; the heat to ...

Hypertrophy or Overgrowth.

Overgrowth is the meaning of this word; increase in size without essential change in the nature of a part. An organ may enlarge very much, with a great change in its character; for example, a ...

Atrophy and Degeneration.

Atrophy is the opposite to hypertrophy. Want of blood or of the supply of nervous energy will cause an organ to shrink away. So a palsied hand often, in time, withers to ...

Dropsy.

Seldom does an accumulation of water occur in one part of the body without some previous general disorder of the system, or at least an affection of some of the great organs: the heart, liver, ...

Mortification.

When a part, as a toe, a whole foot, leg, or arm dies, while the rest of the body lives, it is said to mortify, slough, or suffer gangrene. Once in a while the feet of an old person may undergo ...

Morbid Growths.

Warts, corns, bunions, wens, moles, bony enlargements, fibrous and fatty tumors, are all unsightly, and the last named may be considerably inconvenient. But they do not of themselves tend to ...

General Disorders

We may name these as debility, anaemia, plethora, cochexio, neuratoxia, toxaemia, and fever. ...

Debility.

One is apt to feel weak, when anything whatever is the matter. This may arise from loss of blood, from excessive fatigue, from continued illness, or from a severe shock to the system from any ...

Anaemia and Plethora.

Poverty of blood may result from various diseases, or from loss of blood, too long nursing, etc. Weakness accompanies it, of the kind above called exhaustion. An anaemic person is usually pale (...

Cachexia or Diathesis.

By this is meant some abnormal condition of the constitution. Leukæmia (or leucocythæmia) is a disease in which there is an excess of white or colorless corpuscles in ...

Toxæmia: Blood-Poisoning.

Blood-poisoning can never be a trifling thing. We should be in deadly danger of it every day, but that so much is arranged in our bodies not only to prevent it. but to relieve it promptly when ...

Fever.

When one has a hot, dry skin, a glowing red cheek, thirst, a rapid pulse, and weakness of body, with more or less dulness or disturbance of the mental faculties, we say he has fever. ...

Classification Of Diseases

Various plans of arrangement have been proposed, and are in use. I prefer to name all diseases as either Inflammations and ToxÆmic disorders, Cachectic affections, Nervous disorders, or ...

Signs and Symptoms of Diseases.

On approaching a sick person, our first question, whether put into words or not, is naturally, Is there much the matter? Other inquiries follow, such as these: Has he fever ? Is he very ...

Symptoms Affecting the Skin.

The skin is hot and dry in fever. Moisture is nearly always a favorable sign. Exceptions are, the cold and clammy perspiration of great prostration, and the copious sweating of ...

Symptoms Presented by the Mouth, etc.

The TONGUE is pale, in anaemic persons; red in scarlet fever, inflamed mouth, and sometimes when the stomach is inflamed (gastritis); furred, in indigestion, and very often in fever; brown, or ...

The Throat.

Difficulty of swallowing may result from inflammation of the tonsils or gullet (pharynx); spasmodic closure of the throat; permanent narrowing or stricture of the pharynx or lower gullet (...

The Stomach.

Appetite is almost always deficient in both acute and chronic disease; most so, however, in the former, as a rule. Perverted appetite occurs in case of chlorosis, and in some hysterical ...

Symptoms Belonging to the Circulation.

Palpitation, or disturbed action of the heart, may depend upon inflammation of its membranes (pericarditis, endocarditis), enlargement (hypertrophy ox dilatation), valvular disease, anaemia, ...

Hemorrhage.

While bleeding from any part of the body is often an important symptom, it needs to be interpreted with care. Its consequence depends greatly on its quantity and the source from which the blood ...

Symptoms Connected with the Breathing Organs.

Sixteen to eighteen times in a minute is the ordinary rate of breathing while at rest, in health, for a grown person. In fever it is almost always a good deal faster than this; often thirty, ...

Symptoms Affecting the Muscles.

Position is often significant in disease. Inability to rise may be owing to general weakness, palsy, inflammation of the joints, etc.) as from rheumatism or gout), or an injury, such as a broken ...

Symptoms Connected with our Senses.

Pain is variously interpreted, according to its place and character. It may be Acute, sharp, cutting, as in pleurisy; shooting, darting, as in neuralgia; piercing (lancinating), in cancer; ...

The Eye in Disease.

Blood-shot eyes show either inflammation of them or fulness of blood in the head, which is often present in fevers. If one eye only is very red, of course the trouble must be in itself. ...

The Ears.

Pain in one of the ears, earache, may be either inflammatory or neuralgic. Other signs must be considered along with it to show which it is. Ringing in the ears occurs from ...

Headache.

Pain in the head may depend in different cases upon neuralgia, rheumatism, overfulness of blood (congestion hyperemia); blood-poisoning (as by alcohol, opium, etc.); fever (remittent, typhoid, ...

Expression of the Face.

Acute disease is apt to alter this more than that which is chronic; but it is often changed in both. An anxious or distressed expression giving way to serenity is always a good sign, unless it ...

Delirium.

This is a disorder or confusion of mind, in acute disease, not fixed for a long time like insanity, but depending upon a temporary cause. It is present in many attacks of maladies attended by ...

Stupor.

Coma is the medical word for this. It is an unnaturally deep sleep, from which one cannot be roused. We meet with it chiefly in the following: Alcoholic drunkenness (dead drunk); opium-...

Symptoms Affecting the Secretions: The Bowels.

Constipation (tightness of the bowels; absence or rarity of movement, and smallness of amount discharged) is almost always present during the first days of a fever, of any kind except ...

Excretion of the Kidneys.

Symptoms connected with this excretion are: strangury (difficult urination), incontinence of urine (want of control, especially during sleep), retention, suppression, and excess of the secretion ...

Qualities of the Urine.

About forty, or from thirty to fifty, fluid ounces (a quart, more or less) of urine is passed by a healthy grown person every twenty-four hours. It may be retained longer in the female than in ...

Perspiration.

Besides deficiency and excess in this important secretion of the skin, it is a familiar fact that it has, in some persons, a very unpleasant odor, especially in the arm pits and about the feet. ...

Remedies And Their Application

Do doctors, properly speaking, cure the diseases and injuries of their patients ? Yes, and no. Cure comes from a Latin word meaning care; to take care of something or somebody. That a good ...

To Relieve Pain.

Much depends on where the pain is, and of what sort. Annodynes are medicines whose action is to quell pain, by their influence upon the brain or nerves. But we do not nearly always have to ...

Remedy for Pain in Abdomen.

A safe and often very useful remedy for pain in the abdomen, or, indeed, anywhere else, is the outward application of a mustard-plaster. When doubtful what else to do, try that. Properly used, ...

Other Seats of Pain.

Pain in the head is of several kinds, and dependent on several causes. Very seldom are anodynes suitable as remedies for headache, because they all act more or less powerfully on the brain, and ...

Composing Nervous Disturbance.

What this requires depends very greatly on the cause and nature of the trouble. For infants, as well as older persons, nervous disturbance may vary all the way from slight fidgeting to fits or ...

Promotion of Sleep.

When sleeplessness comes as one of the symptoms of a disease, it may not have to be dealt with by itself, at least with medicine, unless it be more prolonged and distressing than usual. In every ...

Purgative Medicines.

A large number of drugs act upon the bowels; cathartics is a technical name for these. Only a few of them need to be considered in connection with our present plan. Rhubarb is adapted ...

To Check Diarrhoea.

Not every looseness of the bowels ought to be stopped at once by medicine. Sometimes it is a relief to a condition of the system which would involve a worse illness if it did not come. ...

Sick Stomach.

As this occurs under a variety of circumstances, the main treatment of every case must depend upon its nature and cause. We may name, however, several remedies which will do good in most cases ...

Indigestion.

A much overloaded stomach is best relieved by being made to throw out its contents under the action of an emetic. This is, however, a harsh remedy, not nowadays often resorted to. ...

Continued Weak Digestion.

The class of medicines which particularly tone up a weak and relaxed stomach are the simple vegetable bitters. Such are quassia, columbo, gentian, and some others. Simple bitters we call these, ...

To Reduce Inflammation.

A serious task, this is, in many instances; taxing the doctor's skill, and not very rarely baffling him. How, then, can one say anything about it in a work on Home Medicine ? A few clear ...

Means Used in Reducing Inflammation.

For this purpose, the means available in different cases are, chiefly, these: Rest; Position; Cold; Diet; Purgation; Blood-letting; Cooling Medicines; Nervous Sedatives; Counter ...

Cooling or Sedative Medicines.

Cooling (sedative) medicines are in place chiefly in inflammatory affections of the breathing organs, as pneumonia, bronchitis), and pleurisy. Tartar emetic is the most powerful of these. Once ...

Dealing with Fever.

Reminding the reader of what was said, a few pages back, of the nature and signs of fever, it may be said now, that what we want to do when those signs {heat, excitement of the circulation, ...

Fever: Dryness of Skin.

Dryness of the skin is a regular symptom of fever. The most frequent exception to it is in the febrile state of inflammatory rheumatism; in which the skin, while hot, is sometimes quite moist. ...

Fever: Diet and Treatment.

Weakness, in fever, is not quite the same thing early in the attack as towards its end. In the first place it is an oppression of the system; after a while there is more or less exhaustion. The ...

Cough.

How many different kinds and cases of cough there are, we have already mentioned when considering it among the symptoms of disease. It cannot be treated exactly alike under all these different ...

Dealing with Hemorrhage.

What causes bleeding must always be the first question. If it is a symptom of a disease, the necessity of treating the disease rather than the bleeding is plain. In such a case, only a large and ...

Bleeding in the Mouth.

When a tooth has been pulled, or in an infant, the gums have been freely lanced, sometimes considerable bleeding will occur. If from a tooth, a plug of cotton may be dipped in creosote, or ...

Spitting of Blood.

Is it from the lungs, or from the throat, mouth, or nostrils? Not unfrequently, bleeding from the nose goes backwards, into the throat, and the blood, then hawked up, is naturally ...

Intestinal Bleeding.

For hemorrhage from the bowels, the same kind of management is applicable as that appropriate when blood is thrown up from the stomach; as just described. Bleeding piles (hemorrhoids) ...

Monthly Irregularities.

For delayed monthly courses it is desirable to produce a determination of blood towards the lower part of the abdomen. Hot foot-baths, and warm hip-or sitting-baths, are the most effective ...

Dealing with Dropsy.

For our purpose, in this place, it may be said that there are three classes of dropsical troubles: general dropsy (anasarca), superficial local dropsy (æedema), and local internal dropsies. ...

Prostration: Debility.

We have seen already that there is more than one kind of weakness from disease. There may be oppression, as in the early stage of almost any acute disorder; or depression (prostration) from a ...

General Debility.

After an acute disease with fever--as scarlet fever, measles, typhoid fever, etc. convalescence is accompanied by more or less debility. But when everything goes well, appetite is then ...

Treatment for Debility.

To meet these, we have, besides rest from care, change of air, and generous feeding (all of which are of the greatest importance), three sorts of tonics: blood-renewers, appetizers, and nervines....

Remedies for Special Diseases.

We have very few real and certian specifics for the cure of particular diseases. The great boast of the medical profession is of its power to stop chills and fever and control other ...

Principal Medicines And Other Remedies

For the reader's convenience, we will now give a brief account of the principal medicine in general use likely to be particularly mentioned in the following, pages. As they are ahlphabetically ...

Acetate of Ammonium Solution.

This is a mild, moderately cooling medicine, very suitable to promote perspiration during fever. It is easily made by dropping small pieces of Carbonate of Ammonium into good Vinegar, piece ...

Aconite.

Tincture of the Root of the Monkshood or Aconite plant. A deadly sedative poison in any but very small doses. It acts mainly on the nervous system, but indirectly on the circulation. Some ...

Aloes.

A powerful purgative medicine, having a particular tendency to act on the lower bowel. Therefore it is not a suitable cathartic in cases of Piles. Yet, in a very small, not purgative, dose, it ...

Alum.

A mineral called a salt by chemists . It contains either Ammonium or Potassium with Aluminium and Sulpuric acid in combination. (There is also an Iron Alum, in which, likewise, ...

Ammonia.

Volatile Alkali and Hartshorn are other names for this substance. When pure, it is a gas; but it is used either in the form of the Solid Carbonate of Ammonium, or in solution in Water {Aqua ...

Arnica.

The tincture of the flowers (or of the whole plant) is a popular application for bruises and sprains. It is a warming application, and not suitable where the skin is broken. Being poisonous when ...

Arsenic.

A metal whose compounds are poisonous. The medical form in which arsenic is generally prescribed by physicians is the solution of arsenite of potassium (Fowler's solution). Dose, from three to ...

Assafoetida.

A gum-resin, of very disagreeable odor and taste; a good, mild, and safe composing medicine for disturbed nerves and to induce sleep. Assafoetida pills, of three grains each, may be given now ...

Bark, Peruvian.

See Quinine. ...

Baths.

In treatment of disease, the kinds of baths most used are the warm and the hot bath. We may call it warm from 900 to 960 Fahr., and hot from 960 to 100. It never need be hotter than this ...

Belladonna.

This product of the deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna) is a powerful narcotic or brain stimulant drug. The extract of the leaves is most used by physicians as a medicine, in neuralgia, etc. ...

Benzoin.

A resinous substance, from the styrax, an Fast Indian tree. The compound tincture of Benzoin is a good medicine for bronchial cough. Dose, fifteen to twenty drops, on a lump of sugar, every ...

Bismuth Subnitrate.

A soothing stomachic medicine. Dose, two to five grains. ...

Blackberry Root

Country people generally know the astringent property of this; but some make a mistake in supposing the berries to have the same; which they do not. A tea made by cutting up a handful of the ...

Blisters.

We use mustard-plasters not to blister, but only strongly to warm and stimulate the skin. For raising a blister, cantharides is mostly resorted to. The oldest way is to spread the ointment of ...

Borax.

A very familiar article this is, in the nursery, for sore mouth. It is a mineral astringent, milder than alum, and may be used more freely; either dissolved in water as a wash, or in powder with ...

Cajuput Oil.

An aromatic greenish (or, when old, reddish) oil, from the leaves of an East Indian tree; one of the best remedies for flatulent colic, especially when gouty; and also for flying gout and ...

Calomel.

Chloride of mercury. See above, under blue pill. Calomel is a white powder. Dose, from one-twelfth of a grain, for an infant, to one-half grain, one grain, ...

Camphor.

A most useful gum, from evergreen tree native to the south and east of Asia. Everyone knows its white or colorless transparency, its peculiar odor, and pungent and yet cooling taste. It is ...

Carbolic Acid.

This has no proper place as a domestic medicine. It has had great popularity as a disinfectant; more than it deserves, in comparison with several other less unpleasant things. Surgeons often ...

Cardamon Seeds, Compound Tincture of.

A warming aromatic preparation, often added to soda, etc., for sickness of the stomach. Dose, a teaspoonful, in water. ...

Castor-Oil.

Expressed from the beans of the palma christi, a handsome plant, originally from Asia. It is nasty, decidedly; but is a good, effective, and yet mild purgative medicine. It is the best cathartic,...

Catechu.

An extract from the wood of an oriental tree. It is astringent, and is very useful in diarrhoea. Tincture of catechu is the best preparation. Dose, half a teaspoonful to a teaspoonful, in water. ...

Cerate.

This word means something made with wax. Simple cerate is made of spermaceti, white wax, and oil of almonds. It is a very soothing and healing application to sore places of any kind, as after a ...

Chalk Mixture.

A convenient medicine for common diarrhoea, made of prepared chalk, gum-arabic, glycerine, and cinnamon water. Dose, a tablespoonful for a grown person. Most frequently something is added to ...

Chamomile.

This is a plant with bitter and aromatic flowers. Of these a tea is made with boiling water. It may be taken, half a pint daily, as a simple appetizer and tonic in weak digestion or general want ...

Charcoal.

Powdered charcoal is a good sweetener of a stomach oppressed with flatulence from indigestion. Dose, half a teaspoonful to a teaspoonful. It is often given with an equal quantity of ...

Chloral (cholral hydrate).

One of the medicines that promote sleep. It is less powerful than opium, although a very large amount of it taken will poison fatally. It is a white crystalline substance, of a pungent taste and ...

Chlorate of Potassium (chlorate of potash, commonly called).

A favorite medicine with physicians and others, for sore mouth and sore throat. It often does more good to sore mouths, in babies especially, than anything else. But it must not be swallowed ...

Chloroform.

The most prompt and powerful, but also least safe, of the articles used by surgeons as anaesthetics; that is, for patients to breathe before and during opera-ions, in order to prevent them from ...

Cinnamon Water.

Made from the aromatic bark of the cinnamon tree of the East. It is a pleasant spicy solution, slightly astringent; good with other things in mixtures for diarrhea. Dose, for a child, a ...

Citrate of Magnesium.

Commonly taken in effervescent solution. It is about the least disagreeable of all purgative medicines. Apothecaries mostly keep it already dissolved, in tightly corked and wired bottles. More ...

Citrate of Potassium.

Like the citrate just mentioned, this has for one ingredient citric acid, obtained from lemon or lime-juice. This is neutralized by potassium (an alkaline metal) as it may be also by magnesium; ...

Cloves Oil

A strong, warming aromatic, from flower-buds of the caryophyllus aromaticus of the East Indies. A hot tea is sometimes made of cloves, to be given in cholera-morbus. If the oil should ...

Cocoa Butter.

Cocoa butter is a good Soothing application for bruises of any part of the body. It is well always to have it in the house. ...

Cod-Liver Oil.

Obtained, as its name indicates, from the livers of codfish. It is very nourishing and fattening to wasted and wasting bodies, sometimes checking the progress even of pulmonary consumption. Its ...

Colchicum.

A plant whose root and seeds are both used medicinally. The wine of the root is the best preparation. In large dose it acts on the bowels; sometimes irritating the stomach also. It is a diuretic,...

Cold Cream.

This is the unguentum aquæ rosæ (ointment of rose-water) of the apothecaries. It is a soft, easily melted, and very soothing application for sore places, chapped hands or lips, etc. It becomes ...

Collodion.

This is a solution of gun-cotton in ether. When it is painted upon any surface the ether evaporates leaving a thin cottony film. Flexible collodion, made a little differently, is less ...

Columbo.

(Calumba, root of an African plant) is one of the simple vegetable bitters, Like the rest of its class, it is a tonic to the stomach. It is given sometimes for dyspepsia. ...

Cream of Tartar (Bitartrate of Potassium.

This is a cooling, mild purgative salt, which also increases the flow of urine (diuretic). It is very often given in dropsy. Dose, one or two teaspoonfuls, stirred in water. Very little of it ...

Creosote.

A product of tar. A hot-tasting, sooty-smelling liquid; poisonous if swallowed in moderately large quantity; burning the mouth or skin which it touches. Physicians advise it in one-...

Digitalis (Foxglove).

Foxglove is the common name of the pretty plant whose leaves furnish this medicine. The tincture is most used. Physicians give it often when the action of the heart is too rapid, and perhaps ...

Dover's Powder.

Made of ipecacuanha, opium, and a cooling salt (sulphate of potassium, or some similar compound), this medicine is composing and diaphoretic. Some persons find it agree with them at the ...

Effervescing Draught.

This is a cooling medicine for fever; the carbolic acid gas in it also makes it acceptable to the stomach. It is composed on the following recipe: Dissolve two drachms and a half of ...

Electricity.

Physicians often advise (or themselves personally apply) different forms of electricity for the treatment especially of baralysis; also, for neuralgia lead colic, and many other affections. ...

Elixir of Vitriol.

Aromatic sulphuric acid is another name for this, which is often prescribed as an appetizer; sometimes also for diarrhoea, and occasionally for hemorrhages. Dose, ten to fifteen drops, in water; ...

Elixir Proprietatis (Elixir Pro.)

This is an old name for tincture of aloes and myrrh; which has a popular reputation as a medicine to bring on the monthly courses when delayed or suppressed. Dose, a tea-spoonful, in water, ...

Emetics.

Articles which cause vomiting. The most important occasion for their use is when poison is known to have been swallowed. Then the quicker and the more thoroughly the stomach is emptied, the ...

Epsom Salts.

Sulphate of Magnesium, A very unpleasant medicine to the taste; an active, cooling cathartic. It's (its nastiness apart) useful as a purgative in some inflammatory affections of strong people; ...

Ergot: Spurred Rye.

A growth on grains of diseased rye plants. When taken into the stomach, it has a tendency to promote contraction of the womb and of the blood-vessels. On account of the first of these effects, ...

Eucalyptus.

From the leaves of this Australian tree a tincture is made, as well as a solid extract, and the essential oil, eucalyptol. Lozenges of this drug are serviceable as a warming expectorant, in ...

Fennel-Seed.

A very mild aromatic; sometimes made into a tea for babies' colic; more often added to senna tea, ox fluid extract of senna, to keep the purgative medicine from griping the bowels. ...

Flaxseed.

This makes a good soothing drink, flaxseed tea, for sore throat. Pour half a pint of boiling water upon a table-spoonful of whole flaxseed, and stir it up for a few minutes. Then let it stand ...

Fly-Blister.

A plaster of the ointment of Spanish flies (cantharides), applied to draw a blister upon some part of the surface of the body. Such a remedy is only required for a rather severe case of internal ...

Gentian.

A flowering plant, whose root is used in medicine. Its extract is made into tonic pills (compound gentian pills) for indigestion, and its compound tincture is one of the best tonic preparations ...

Geranium.

This plant has an astringent root, of which a tea may be made by boiling an ounce (about two tablespoonfuls) in a pint and a half of water down to a pint. Of this the dose is from a ...

Ginger.

A fine spice for culinary as well as medicinal use. Jamaica ginger is the most used with us. Essence of ginger is a very good medicine to have in the house. It is a warming stimulant to the ...

Glycerine.

A sweet, transparent liquid, obtained from fatty substances. Only pure glycerine (Bower's or Price's) should be used. Its principal employment is as an external application; to chapped hands, ...

Gum-Arabic.

A soothing (not nourishing) material for a drink, in cases of irritation of the throat, or cough. It is simply dissolved in water, a tablespoonful to a half pint. Some persons like to chew and ...

Hoffmann's Anodyne.

A strong warming stimulant to the nervous system, with some anodyne or pain-relieving power. It is useful in attacks of gout in the stomach or heart, palpitation from or with weakness, angina ...

Hops.

A Hop-pillow is sometimes used for sleeplessness. To prepare it, fill a small pillow-case with hops, which have been sprinkled with alcohol to bring out the active principle. Tincture ...

Hot Water.

Hot water, as a means of conveying heat to the interior of the body, is a stimulant to the stomach, to the great nerve centres back of the stomach, and to the general blood-circulation. Hence ...

Hunyadi Janos Water.

A laxative (mildly purgative) mineral water, sold in bottles. Dose, a wineglassful. ...

Huxham's Tincture of Peruvian Bark.

A good tonic in feeble conditions of the body, as in slow convalescence from an illness, running down with work in summer time, etc. Dose, a teaspoonful, three times a day, in water; best, a ...

Hydrochlorate of Cocaine.

A preparation of the active principle of the leaves of the South American erythroxylon coca It has been found, when applied (a few drops of a four per cent. solution in water) to the eyeball, ...

Hyoscyamus.

From the leaves of this plant (henbane) are made a solid extract, a fluid extract, and a tincture. Hyoscyamus is an anodyne; a good deal like opium in its effects on the system, but ...

Hypopiiosphites.

Compounds containing phosphorus, in a peculiar state of combination with other medical substances Much used as an effective tonic, in low states of the system, is the preparation called Fellows' ...

lngluvin.

An extractive obtained from the gizzard of the common fowl, and, like pepsin, used as a tonic to the digestive organs. Some physicans report it to be very effectual in relieving vomiting; ...

Inhalation.

This is breathing in vapor of some kind; which is considerably employed in the treatment of diseases, especially of the throat and lungs; as well as (by the use of ether, chloroform, and nitrous ...

Injections (enema, enemata).

These are used for various purposes. Most commonly, into the bowels, to empty the lower bowel, when this is considered more prompt and convenient than medicine by the mouth. The old-fashioned ...

Iodine.

Lugol's iodine solution, the tincture of iodine, and iodide of potassium, all have medical uses; but not, as a rule, in domestic practice. We may except, perhaps, the outward ...

Iodoform.

A powerful drug, kept in the apothecary shops in the form of a powder. Sometimes prescribed as an internal medicine in scrofula, ulcer of the stomach, etc., in one-grain doses; but it is much ...

Ipecacuanha.

This is an active but mild emetic in large dose. In smaller quantities, it is an excellent loosener of cough (expectorant), and also a promoter of perspiration (diaphoretic). It is one of the ...

Iron.

There is iron in the blood of every man, woman, and child. Whether we ever have too much of it is not certain; but, without doubt, many thin, pale, and weak people have too little of it. The ...

Jalap.

This is a very active purgative; too much so for common use, but sometimes valuable in particular cases. In dropsy it is occasionally prescribed, along with cream of tartar, or with squills. I ...

Juniper.

The berries of the juniper tree or shrub; used in medicine is as a diuretic in dropsy. A tea may be made by pouring a pint of boiling water upon half an ounce of bruised juniper berries, ...

Lactucarium.

An extract from the common garden lettuce (lactuca). It is mildly narcotic and anodyne; promoting sleep like opium, but with much less power. The syrup of lactucarium (named Aubergier's syrup), ...

Lady Webster's Pills.

The important thing in these is aloes. They are purgative, and, like other aloetic preparations, have some effect in promoting a tendency of blood towards the pelvic region of the body. They ...

Laudanum.

Tincture of opium. One of the strongest of the opiate medicines. It is therefore a powerful anodyne and hypnotic (sleep-producer). Dose, for a grown person, from fifteen to thirty drops....

Lavender.

Aromatic flowers, well known for their pleasing perfume. The only preparation used as a medicine is the compound spirit of lavender. It is an agreeable warming, gently stimulating article; good ...

Lead, Sugar of.

A cooling application, often used for inflammations. Lead-water may be made by dissolving it in water; but with greater convenience by adding to water the solution of subacetate of lead (Goulard'...

Lime-water.

Simply a solution of lime in water. Anybody can make it, by putting pure, clean, unslaked lime in pure water. Take a large bottle, and press into it enough lime to fill about one-fourth of its ...

Liquorice, also spelled Licorice.

The root of an herb growing on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The Extract is chiefly used. It is black, hard, and sweet. There is also a fluid extract. Neither has any important property ...

Lobelia.

The leaves and tops of this plant are employed best in the form of tincture. It is a powerful sedative medicine; capable, like tobacco, in large doses, of producing fatal prostration. Its most ...

Logwood.

The reddish heartwood of a Central American tree. It was once more used than now, as a mild astringent for diarrhæa. A tea may be made of it by boiling an ounce of it, with a drachm of cinnamon, ...

Magnesia.

A valuable home medicine, as an antacid laxative. It is particularly good when there is constipation, with sick stomach and headache. Even at the beginning of diarrhæa and cholera morbus, it is ...

Malt Extract.

Especially in Germany, large use is made of preparations under this name. As sold in this country, some of them are too sweet to agree with the stomach. The best is Johann Hoff's Malz-...

Manna.

A sweet substance obtained from the trunk of the flowerish ash tree, in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Its only important use is to open the bowels of children and delicate people,...

Mineral Waters.

These may be classified simply as: 1. Alkaline. 2. Saline. 3. Sulphurous. 4. Chalybeate, containing Iron. 5. Purgative. 6. Limestone or Calcareous. 7. Thermal, i. e., Warm or Hot Springs. While ...

Morphia.

It is not necessary to have morphia in the family medicine chest; laudanum and paregoric will do for opiates under almost all circumstances. ...

Musk.

A very strongly odorous substance, secreted by the musk-deer of the Himalaya Mountain region, in Asia. It is antispasmodic, that is, composing to disturbed nerves. Prescribed sometimes for ...

Mustard-Plaster.

One of the most frequently useful of all domestic remedies. When anybody is suffering pain, or, indeed, illness of any kind if you do not know what to do, put on a mustard-plaster, near the seat ...

Myrrh.

A gum-resin long known for its aromatic properties. Internally given, it is stimulant and tonic, and is an ingredient in some preparations intended to act upon the bowels or to restore suspended ...

Nitre.

A name for saltpetre; called by chemists nitrate of potassium. It is a cooling, sedative salt, when taken internally. In ten-grain doses it is a useful medicine in acute bronchial inflammation (...

Nux Vomica.

A poisonous seed or nut whose active principle is the alkaloid strychnia. It is best used in extract or tincture. Both are bitter tonics, with a powerful action on the nervous system, especially ...

Olive Oil.

Probably the gentlest of all laxatives; in teaspoonful to tablespoonful doses. For a delicate infant, needing to have the bowels acted upon, a teaspoonful is very good. The imitation of true ...

Opium.

If all the medicines in the world were to be destroyed, except three, and we could choose the three, they should be quinine, opium and iron. The first cures the greatest number of cases of ...

Pepper.

Of the two kinds used with food, red pepper {capsicum) is the more stimulating. It is sometimes given by physicians as a stimulant, in five-grain pills. A much more common use for it is to ...

Peppermint.

Essence of peppermint is a pleasant, warm aromatic; given as good for colic and sick stomach. Dose, ten drops for a grown person; for an infant, from two drops down to half a drop (that is, add ...

Pepsin.

Hard to get pure. Given for weak digestion. Dose, 5 grains. ...

Permanganate of Potassium.

This salt, which gives a beautiful red color to water, has a remarkable action on all organic (animal or vegetable) matter. It is one of the best disinfectants. Five grains of it in a pint of ...

Phosphorus.

Too dangerous for use as a domestic medicine, this is sometimes given by physicians as a powerful nerve-stimulant. Dose, one-thirtieth of a grain. Phosphates are safe compounds, often used. ...

Pink-Root.

This American plant (Spigelia Marylandica) is a very good medicine for worms (vermifuge). It may be made into a a tea thus: Put together half an ounce of broken and bruised pink-root; senna ...

Podophyllin, or Resina Podophylli

This is an active principle obtained from the root of the common May-apple (podophyllum peltatum). The powdered root itself may be taken in doses of ten to twenty grains. Of podophyllin, the ...

Potassa (Potash).

Solution of potassa is sometimes given as a medicine by physicians. Caustic potassa (vegetable caustic) is the solid stick, which, with care, may be used to destroy warts. More often, ...

Poultices.

These are used to warm and soften the skin, when applied to inflamed parts of the surface of the body; particularly when a gathering (suppuration, abscess) is expected. Also, they often do good ...

Pumpkin Seeds.

These have a deserved reputation, as capable of driving a tapeworm out of the bowels. For such use, an ounce (about two tablespoonfuls) of the fresh seeds should, after removal of their outer ...

Quassia.

A bitter wood which is a good, simple stomachic tonic, suitable for dyspepsia. It is best taken in the form of a tea. Half an ounce of it may be boiled for an hour or two in a pint of water. ...

Quinine.

What is commonly so called and used in medicine is the sulphate of quinia. The alkaloid quinia is the most valuable of several obtained from Peruvian bark; that is, the bark of different species ...

Rhatany.

This is the root of krameria, a South American shrub. It is astringent; its tincture is the best preparation. Dose, a teaspoonful, in water. Used especially for diarrhoea. ...

Rhubarb.

The root of an Asiatic and European plant, is a gentle purgative, with also some tonic property, which makes it especially adapted to dyspeptic persons, and others disposed to constipation. Dose,...

Santonin.

One of the most effectual vermifuges; that is, medicines which either kill or drive out worms. It must be used with care, as excessive doses are violent in their action; we may say poisonous. ...

Sassafras Pith.

A very soft material, which gives a soothing (demulcent) proerty to water in which it is placed. It is often used in this way for inflammation of the eyes. ...

Seidlitz Powders.

Made by mixing bicarbonate of sodium, and tartrate of potassium and sodium (rochelle salt), in powder together, for one paper. For another paper, tartaric acid is put up, in proportionate ...

Senna.

The leaves of an Eastern plant; an active purgative, with a disposition to give some griping pain in its operation. This may be prevented by adding fennel seed (an aromatic) or oil of fennel to ...

Soap.

Castile soap is the kind preferred when nicety is particularly desired. This is used by some people to clean their teeth. It is an ingredient, also, in some purgative pills, and is commonly ...

Soap Liniment.

Camphorated tincture of soap. An excellent bathing material, so-called; that is, for rubbing a part, to warm and stimulate the movement of blood at and near the surface. It is good for sore-...

Soda.

Bicarbonate of sodium is the chemical name of the article which is used in baking and washing, as well as in medicine. It is an excellent and not disagreeable antacid, relieving sourness of ...

Spice-Plasters.

When a child's stomach is sick, or it is obstinately colicky, one of the most helpful things is a spice-plaster. Take of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, all powdered, each one or two teaspoonfuls; ...

Squills.

The bulb of an onion-like plant, of which the syrup is most used. It is an excellent cough-medicine (expectorant): rather less loosening than ipecac, and therefore suited to a later stage in a ...

Staphysagria.

Stavesacre. A drug used in powder as an effective parasiticide; especially to destroy the eggs or nits of lice. Sulphide of Calcium, in quarter-grain doses or less, has the ...

Sulphur

This is a mild and good laxative; particularly suitable for piles, and for those persons who are often troubled with colic. Dose, a teaspoonful; in molasses or milk. In recent cases of skin-...

Tannin or Tannic Acid

This is the astringent principle of oak bark, of nut galls, and of many other vegetable materials. Its presence in tea-leaves accounts for iron spoons being blackened when left in tea. Catechu ...

Tar.

An old-time remedy for chronic bronchial trouble; especially likely to do good by inhalation. A tin cup containing tar may be kept over a slow flame, in the room with the invalid, so as to give ...

Taraxacum.

Everybody knows the dan delion plant. Taraxacum dens leonis is its botanical name. The leaves are liked by some people as a kind of greens for the table. The root has long been known,...

Tarrant's Powders.

A moderately active and not unpleasant cooling purgative. Dose, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful, according to the amount of effect desired. ...

Tartar Emetic.

A very harsh drug in its effects upon the human body, unless it be given in very small doses. Other emetics are always to be preferred when vomiting is to be produced. Its greatest value is in ...

Turpentine, Oil or Spirit of.

Used occasionally by physicians as a medicine internally, in ten-drop doses, in typhoid fever (as an alternative to the diseased bowel) and in chronic rheumatism; in larger quantities, even a ...

Valerian.

The root of an herb native to the Old World, of which the tincture and fluid extract are most used. It is a mild nervous stimulant and antispasmodic (composing agent). In hysterical cases, and ...

Vichy Water.

An alkaline (antacid) mineral water of France, more agreeable because of its containing some free carbonic acid gas. It is recommended for dyspepsia with sour stomach; for gravel, and for gout; ...

Warner's Cordial.

Tincture of Rhubarb and Senna this is, by composition. It is a warming, stimulating laxative to the bowels; good in gouty cases, and many others. Dose, one or two teaspoonfuls, in water. <...

Wild Cherry Bark.

One of our native American medicines, of real value. Like the fruit and leaves of the wild cherry tree, and like peach leaves and fruit-stones, this bark contains principles which, when water is ...

Doses Of Principal Medicines

Acetate of Ammonium Solution..... 1 Tablespoonful. Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia...... 10 to 30 Drops. Assafoetida, in Pill...........&...

Largest Safe Doses of Poisonous Drugs.

Every person should know the largest doses, which is safe to take, of active medicines. The following table shows the largest doses admissible, in grammes, and also the equivalent i a grains for ...

For the Medicine Chest.

The following household remedies are suggested for the family medicine chest: Medicine ...

Nursing And Care Of The Sick

In many kinds of illness, especially continued fevers, and other attacks attended by great debility, good nursing is well known to be as important as good doctoring. A careful physician will ...

Qualities of a Good Nurse.

Exactness in carrying out the orders of the physician is the first duty of a nurse. The doctor is responsible for the treatment of the case, and the patient and family are responsible for the ...

The Sick-Room.

When it is possible to choose, the patient's room should be on the sunny side of the house, and on the second floor. It should be one of the largest in the house. If a room is necessarily small, ...

Warmth.

A sick-room should, generally, be kept at a temperature between 68 and 700 Fahr. In a few exceptional cases, physicians may wish to have a room much warmer, at particular times. When fuel ...

Light.

While the sunny side of the house is the best, and sunlight should be admitted (with few exceptions only) every day into the room, the sick person's eyes should not be exposed to a direct glare. ...

Air.

In the sick-room the things to be done are, to have the air changed constantly, and at the same time to prevent direct draughts upon the patient's bed. If there are several windows, all but the ...

The Sick-Bed.

Select a wide and rather low bedstead, for ease in getting in and out; a wire bed-bottom; next best to it, one on good springs, with a thick but soft mattress. No curtains should be placed ...

Sick-Garments.

These should be as simple as possible. One sufficiently warm and long night-shirt or night-gown will, as a rule, be enough; the less worn, the easier it will be to make changes. If the limbs ...

Washing and Bathing.

Every morning, at least, a sick person's face should be freshened up by washing, in whatever manner his strength best allows. One really ill must have it done by another person. A soft ...

Food For The Sick

Appetite almost disappears in severe illness, especially when there is fever, and the capacity to digest food is then nearly lost. It is best not to give large quantities, but keep up the ...

Beef-Tea.

Chop a pound of good lean round of beaf into very small pieces. Pour over it a pint, or less (never more) of cold water. Cover it, and let it stand for two hours near the fire, or on a part of ...

Beef Essence.

Cut up a pound of good lean beaf into small pieces, and put it into a pint bottle (or other handy receptacle), without any water. Cork the bottle loosely and place it up to its neck in water in ...

Broiled Beef Juice.

Broil a pound of lean beef. Cut it into strips, and press out the juice with a lemon-squeezer or meat-press. A pound of meat will give about three tablespoonfuls of gravy or juice. ...

Raw-Beef Extract.

Cut up good lean beef very fine, and put a pound of it with half a pint of cold water in a bottle. Let it soak for about twelve hours, shaking it well half a dozen times or more during that time....

Raw-Beef Scrapings.

Take a piece of good tender beef, and, with a rather dull knife, scrape off all of it that will come, leaving the tough, gristly portions behind. The pasty meat thus obtained may be salted a ...

Chicken Broth

Clean half a chicken and remove the skin. Pour on it a quart of cold water, and salt to taste. Add a table-spoonful of Carolina rice, and boil slowly for two or three hours. Then skim it well to ...

Gruels.

Oatmeal Gruel. Boil a pint of water, and while boiling, mix with it two table-spoonfuls of (Canada, Bethlehem, or Ohio) oatmeal, which has been first rubbed smooth in a little cold ...

Farina Gruel.

Mix two tablespoonfuls of farina with a quart of water, and let it boil long enough to become thick. Add a pint of milk and a little salt, and then boil again for a quarter of an hour, Sweeten ...

Barley, Rice, Toast Waters

Barley Water. Wash well two ounces of pearl barley with cold water, throwing that water away. Put the barley into a pint and a half of fresh cold water, bring it to the boiling point,...

Soups

Bread-and-Butter Soup. Spread a slice of well-baked bread with good fresh butter, and sprinkle it moderately with salt and black pepper. Pour a pint of boiling water over it, and let ...