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>