Michael: It's a wonder anyone survived, eh? You asked about "felon" and "erysipelas." I have a couple different lists of old medical terminology. Felon doesn't make the lists, but the dictionary describes it thusly: A painful, pus-producing infection at the end of a finger or tie, near the nail. Erysipelas, according to an old medical terminology list, is a contagious skin disease due to streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesions; the dictionary describes it as an acute infectious disease of the skin or mucous membranes caused by any of several kinds of streptococcus. I suspect these were quite serious in the days before antibiotics. Margaret ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael O Reck <moreck@juno.com> To: <VALEE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 11:16 AM Subject: [VALEE-L] Old receipts for ailments - dated 1877 > The following was handed down from generation to generation in my wife's > family. These were common cures that people practiced without a doctor > being available. The document was hand written and dated 1877. It is > shown as it was written without corrections in grammer and spelling. > > PLEASE DON'T DO THIS AT HOME! I am not sure it would work in any of the > cases, but it makes for fun reading. > > Does anyone know what felon and Erysipelas is? > > > Mrs. Shaffers : All her Receipts - 1877 > > > Receipt for Inflammatory Rheumatism: > Half an ounce of pulverized saltpeter. Put in half pint of sweet oil. > Bathe the parts that are affected. > > Receipt for Piles: > Take a half a pound of new made butter, free from salt. > One pint of the juice of Pokeroot. > One common table spoonful of gunpowder. > Put them together and simmer the compound over a slow fire until the > water is all out of it, then as it is cooling, stir it a little at > intervals to keep the powder from sinking . Anoint the parts that are > effected twice a day for a few days > For the bleeding Piles in the month of may, it is best to get the Poke > root, it is more juicy and can be easy be grated and strained but if made > in the winter, boil the Root and use the tea according to strength. > > Receipt for burns and cuts and bruises: > Half pint of sweet oil. > Five cents worth of Beeswax. > One tablespoon of poison. > One tablespoon of lard. > One tablespoon of whiskey. > Boil slow for one hour, spread on effected parts. > > Receipt for Erysipelas. > Take the common yellow carrot, scrape it and grate it fine and apply it > as a poultice and this carrot is good for children that has the croup. > Apply it to the back part of the neck Breast change it when it becomes > dryish. > > Receipt for felon: > Take the yolk of one egg and equal quantity of strained honey. > One tablespoon of spirits of Turpentine fresh drawn. > One tablespoon of Spirits of camphor. > Mix it well and thicken it with flour to the consistence of thin paste. > Spread it on the sore thinly and cold. > > > The above receipts were found in the Bible of Mildred Young. They > belonged to her grandmother, Maria' (Black) Brenner. I am not sure who > Mrs. Shaffer was in connection to the family. Maybe a neighbor. > > ....Michael Reck <moreck@juno.com>