Chapter IV: Part 4

FOR CONSUMPTIVE PERSONS.--Two ounces aven root, half ounce wild turnip, one skunk cabbage ball, masterwort and ginseng, half ounce each, and one ounce sugar candy; mix one tablespoonful, and boil in one quart water; add one pint new milk; two teacupsful of this chocolate to be taken night and morning; bathe with cold or tepid water every morning, if the patient can bear it; walking is the best exercise.

CANCERS.--A cancer under the eye was cured by the patient drinking one quart of tar water daily, and apply a plaster and mutton tallow, melted together; this cured a cancer of twenty years standing, in two months; mix black pepper, burnt alum, and honey, equal parts, and use as an ointment; the last I would not recommend to be used but a few times--rather use bloodroot, daily.

DYSENTERY, OR RELAX IN CHILDREN.--Take equal parts good vinegar and hens’ eggs, and beat them well together; mix in wheat flour, stiff as common dough; bake this moderately, then pulverize; give one teaspoonful of the powder three times a day; mix with the above powder, hens’ gizzards, pulverized.

BATHING WITH OX GALL.--In gout or pains, heat a shovel, mix a little vinegar and pour on; bathe the parts affected with the steam. In all pains, never use any local application, without taking some warming medicine internally, if but a little red pepper; it is not essential to give alcohol in any form; a little carminative, such as pulverized mandrakes, or angelica seed, ought always to be on hand.

ANTI-BILIOUS POWDERS.--One pound jalap, two pounds Alexandria senna, one pound peppermint; let these all be pulverized, then mix, after sifting fine; for a grown person, a teaspoonful in a cup full of boiling water; then cool, sweeten it and drink; no harm if two teaspoonsful are taken. I would advise the patient to take three anti-bilious pills the night previous. This medicine can be taken at all times.

TO PROMOTE THE GROWTH OF THE HAIR.--Mix equal parts olive oil, spirits rosemary, and bloodroot.

WEAKNESS.--Acorns are good for weaknesses; make into coffee.

ANTI-SCROFULOUS PLASTER.--One gill tar, two yolks eggs roasted inside, and one puff ball; simmer over a slow fire, spread on thin leather, and apply.

ULCER ON THE LEG.--Wash the ulcer twice a day, night and morning, with one pint of weak lime water, and apply a poultice over the sore, twice a day, made of blood root and beth root, finely pulverized and mixed with honey; in case the leg is swelled, apply a poultice of slippery elm bark, every night.

Give a wine glass full of my cleansing syrup, morning, noon and at bed time, and drink, as a common beverage, the following: take a handful each of cherry bark and princes pine, put them into two quarts boiling water, and let it steep well; then strain. Abstain from spirituous liquors and salt meats.

CANCER.--Take the powder of dry yellow dock root, wet with port wine and put it on the cancer, renewing it three times a day; make your daily drink a decoction of one handful of yellow dock root, bruised, and a handful of the bark or buds of black alder, boiled in four quarts of rain water to the consumption of two quarts.

PROLAPSUS UTERI.--Take one ounce each of white oak bark, beth root, crowfoot roots, and rose leaves; boil the whole in four quarts of water, down to two; strain the decoction, to which add a pint of port wine, and two ounces of powdered alum, while it is warm. The patient must first take a dose of castor oil, and, after its operation, must foment the part four or five times a day, with a flannel dipped in the decoction as warm as it can be held in the hand. In order to prevent a relapse, the patient must wet the parts twice a day with warm water, in which a spoonful of salt has been dissolved, and keep the bowels open by a dose of castor oil once a week, using salt water bath twice a week.

RUPTURE OF THE TESTICLES.--Three years ago, a Canadian, who had been laboring under a large swelling of the testicles, and been given up as incurable, made application to me. The surgeons had held consultation over him, and agreed that he must be castrated, but he would not comply. Upon examination, I found it to be a sarcocele, or fleshy tumor of the testicles, and therefore resolved to attempt the cure by discutients. I first cleansed and purified the blood from humors and mercury, and applied the following cataplasm, or poultice, over the scrotum: take every-night two handsful of goose-grass, or cleavers, in two quarts of cider vinegar; foment the swelling with flannel wet in the vinegar, for the space of fifteen minutes, then bind the leaves over the tumor. Anoint it frequently, every day, with the following ointment: take the scrapings of a powder horn, and the inner bark of rose willow, pound it fine, and wet it well with brandy; apply through the day.

HIVES IN CHILDREN.--Dissolve twenty grains of bitter root in six teaspoonsful of warm water, and give the child, according to age--from six months to a year old, one to two teaspoonsful of the infusion; if it does not operate in fifteen minutes, give the child a little warm camomile tea, in order to cleanse the stomach; after the operation, give it, according to age, a little poppies of syrup, in catnip tea. Give the child, until well, the following: take one ounce of dragon’s claw root, ten grains of bitter root, and a quarter of an ounce of mandrake root; pour on all these one quart of boiling water, and let them steep four hours; stir frequently, then strain; give from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful every four hours, until well; give always according to age.

SYRUP FOR WORMS.--Take six ounces of fresh bark of black alder, eight ounces of dry buck-horn plantain, and three ounces of unicorn root; boil the ingredients in four quarts of water, down to two; strain the decoction, to which add two quarts of molasses, and boil it away to the consistency of syrup. Children from two to four years of age, may take from three to four teaspoonsful of the syrup, morning and evening, for three days before both the full and change of the moon, which will carry away the worms, and stop the fever. Adults may take a wine glass full, morning and evening, for three days respectively, before both the full and change of the moon.

TO CREATE AN APPETITE.--Dissolve two tablespoonsful of bay salt in half pint of warm rain water, and add one ounce of rectified spirits of salts. Dose--a teaspoonful, in a wine glass of cold water, before breakfast and dinner. This will excite the appetite, without vomiting, and increase the urinary discharge.

TO CLEANSE THE BLOOD FROM MERCURY.--Put four ounces, of the powdered root of may apple into one gallon of metheglin; dissolve four ounces of Epsom salts in a quart of the liquor, made warm, and mix all together; shake the vessel frequently, and let it stand for a week. The patient may take a wine glass full of the above liquor, once or twice a day, according to its effects.

Take the leaves and roots of skunk cabbage, of each eight ounces, bruise in a mortar, and boil them in two pounds of hog’s lard, for four hours; then press it through a hair sieve or canvas, and mix in it one ounce of pulverized roll brimstone. The parts affected must be rubbed with this ointment, before the fire, for ten minutes every night and morning, and covered with flannel, using the warm bath twice a week, in the spring of the year. After all the pains are removed, the patient may use tonic medicines, such as fine Columbia root, and ten grains of the rust of iron, three times a day. Use the salt water bath twice a week, in the months of June and July, and have moderate exercise on horse-back, in order to brace the solids.

OINTMENT.--Take pitch pine knots, and saw them into dust; then boil the dust in water; when well boiled, skim off the turpentine, and strain the water; then put in equal parts of rue, saffron, sage and camomile; boil the strength out, strain the liquid, and put in fresh butter.

BLACK JAUNDICE.--Take a handful of the leaves of artichoke, bruise, put them in an earthen pot, and pour three pints of good ale on them; set the pot near the fire, for two days; strain the liquor, to which add a quart of Tenerife wine. The patient, if costive, must take a wine glass of this syrup every morning, for nine mornings, first taking a dose of anti-bilious pills.

SEVEN YEARS’ ITCH.--Take four ounces each of white hellebore and yellow sharp pointed dock root, and two ounces of elecampane root; bruise them in a mortar, and boil them in four quarts of water, down to two; strain the decoction, and while warm, dissolve one ounce of cura sal-amoniac in the wash; wet the parts with a linen rag, dipped in the lotion, every night at bed time, and take a teaspoonful of cream of tartar and flour of sulphur, in molasses, twice a day for three days, by which time the itch will be cured. This is a more cleanly method than using greasy ointments, and is an infallible and safe cure. Put on clean linen and sheets the fourth night, to prevent a relapse.

CORNS ON FEET.--To keep the feet in proper condition, they should be frequently soaked and well washed; at these times, the nails of the toes should be pared, and prevented from growing into the flesh. Corns are the most troublesome evils connected with the feet; they are of two kinds, soft and hard. The soft corns are those which grow between the toes; they may be easily removed by applying ivy leaf, steeped in vinegar; if the corn be very painful, change the ivy leaves every morning; the leaf may be steeped for one or two days before using.

PLEURISY.--Drink freely of soot tea, half a pint of hot tar water every hour, or a strong tea of nettles, and the leaves pounded and applied as a poultice, every day; at night, apply the white of an egg, mixed with sulphur.

WEAKNESS.--Half pound spikenard root, half pound Solomon’s seal, quarter pound tamarac bark, and quarter pound lungwort; boil in one gallon rain water ten minutes, then let them steep six hours; strain, and add half pound loaf sugar and half pint best Holland gin. Take a wine glass full three times a day.

LOSS OF APPETITE AND DEBILITY.--Take one pint of white pine bark, tamarac bark, and spikenard root, and one ounce spruce gum; boil all together in three quarts and a half rain water, fifteen minutes, then strain and add half pint molasses; boil six minutes, then let it cool. Drink half a teacup full morning and evening; if there is no heat, add half pint best brandy.

SMALL POX.--Make a warm tea of saffron and catnip, and give the patient; immerse the feet in weak ley, and wash the body or surface three times a day.

Give also the follow ing: take one ounce mandrake, ten grains bitter root, four grains blood root, ten grains sassafras bark, and half ounce Turkey rhubarb; put all into one quart boiling water, and let them steep four hours; stir frequently, then strain. Give a child one year old, a teaspoonful four or five times a day--to others, according to age and constitution.

Bathe the head with tepid vinegar and water; if the throat is sore, gargle with sage and hyssop, sweetened with honey; when excessive restlessness prevents the rising and filling of the pox, give a teaspoonful of the syrup of poppies, in a little catnip tea, every five or six hours; and if purple spots appear among the pox, give yeast inwardly, and apply strong poultices to the feet.

COUGH OR WHOOPING COUGH.--Take one ounce each colt foot, St. John’s wort, spikenard, elecampane root, and mullen leaves; let them boil half an hour slowly, then add half an ounce Indian physic, or American ipecacuanha, pulverized; stir often, and steep for four hours; then squeeze, strain, and add one pint of pure honey. Give as often as required, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful. It will loosen the phlegm and heal the lungs, is very sudorific, and good for all coughs or colds.

INJECTIONS.--Take weak thoroughwort tea, one pint milk, half pint molasses, and half a wine glass full oil--olive oil is generally used, but hen’s oil is equally as good; for a child, use less. This is excellent in fevers, inflammations, &c.

ASTHMA.--Ether, tincture of castor, and opium, equal parts; mix all together, and take a teaspoonful when the symptoms appear, as often as required.

PLEURISY.--Drink freely of wind root (otherwise called lung root or pleurisy root), and make a syrup of the following: take one ounce each wild cherry bark, white ash bark, poplar bark and red ozier bark, and half ounce each culver root, sassafras bark and mandrake root; put all in three quarts warm water, boil ten minutes, then steep three hours; strain, and bottle. Drink a wine glass full mornings, and half a teacupful at bed time.

SPITTING BLOOD.--Take four ounces fresh comfrey root, the same quantity fresh burdock root, two ounces red willow bark, one ounce parsley, and two ounces yarrow tops; boil these ingredients in four quarts water and one quart new milk, to the consumption of three quarts; strain it, and take one gill of this decoction, well sweetened with loaf sugar, three times a day.

It is also beneficial in curing the fluor albus, or whites, in weakly females. The root of comfrey is good for all fluxes, and a bad smell in urine. Take four ounces comfrey, and one ounce tormentil root, boil them in two quarts and a half water, ten minutes; then strain, and add a gill of best brandy and half pound loaf sugar. A gill or a common teacup full may be taken by an adult, night and morning, or as often as necessary; a child may take a tablespoonful, as often as required.

SALT RHEUM.--Take a large handful plain or white clover, red clover, and common plantain; put them in two quarts of urine and one quart of beef brine, for six hours--let them be only warm, not hot; then squeeze them well, strain and put up for use. Wash the parts affected night and day, with a clean linen rag; drink freely of fishes mouth, or what is called balmony, and take, twice a week, one teaspoonful of powdered mandrake root, at bed time.

EPILEPTIC FITS, OR HYSTERICAL AFFECTIONS.--Take ladies’ smock, dry the leaves, and keep them in a bottle; when wanted, take a teaspoonful of the leaves, and steep in a half teacup boiling water. Give, when required, as often as necessary.

AFTER PAINS IN CHILD BIRTH.--To relieve them, take a tablespoonful of Epsom salts, and put it in half a pint hot water; take half of it, and in the course of two hours take the remainder, if the patient is very costive, if not, take less; then take a teaspoonful of devil’s bit (otherwise called blazing star root), in a little weak tanzy tea; if faint, put in it some gin or brandy. You can administer this dose every three hours, if required. It seldom fails of giving instant relief and is an excellent gargle for a sore mouth, sore throat, or scrofula.

PREGNANT LADIES.--Take one quart of butternuts, when green and so soft that you can run a needle into them, one ounce ginger root, and three pints molasses; boil them at least half an hour, slowly. Take one three times a week, and drink frequently of slippery elm bark, steeped in water. If this is unpleasant, put in a few sumach berries, a little black birch bark, or a small quantity of tanzy, merely to give a flavor.

TO REMOVE A FILM ON THE EYE.--Take equal quantities fresh celendine and ground ivy juice, and set it on warm ashes, in a tin vessel, for an hour; strain the sediment from the clear juice; take a gill of this, and put in half a teaspoonful of best loaf sugar; bottle it, and wet the spot several times a day.

ANOTHER.--Take the gall of an eel, and drop a little in the eye three times a week; then put in one drop of olive oil, to heal the eye. It has cured, when all other remedies had failed.

WILD CUCUMBER.--This is a forest tree, similar to the poplar; you will often find them from seventy to eighty feet high. There are other species of the cucumber which are evergreen, but the leaves of this are deciduous, oval, acuminate, and pubescent beneath. It produces a fruit bearing some resemblance, while green, to a small cucumber; in August, the fruit turns to a deep red color, and opens; the seeds are red, and the size of a kernel of corn; they have a bitter taste, and are quite pungent.

I have used them extensively, and consider them very valuable in certain forms of diseases, especially where there is a phlegmatic temperament, or a general relaxed state of the system. In dropsical affections, I have found the cucumber to be a superior remedy. The bark of the trunk and root, is also very valuable; it is somewhat similar to the poplar, yet it is more diuretic and stimulating; it is good in dyspepsia, or where we want a remedy to increase the tone of the stomach. I have known and cured many cases of anasarca, and yellow fever.

Make a tincture of the seeds or bark, and take half a wine glass full mornings, before dinner, and at bed time. This will cure the chronic rheumatism. I can safely say it is a very valuable medicine in all families, as it possesses tonic, stimulant, and diuretic properties.

FOR DROPSICAL PATIENTS--a teaspoonful of the powdered bark or seeds, mixed with honey, and taken mornings and at bed time, will produce a cure. Drink plentifully of dwarf elder bark tea, as a common beverage.

FAMILY PILLS.--Take four ounces black root, and half an ounce each cayenne and mandrake root, pulverized; make an extract of these together by moderate warmth, straining during the time of preparing, and bring the substance to the consistency of tar; then add equal parts of pulverized gum gamboge, and natural extract of lobelia--one tenth as much as there is of the above compound extract. Previous to making into pills, work into the mass seven drops of oil of spearmint; then form your pills with magnesia, to the size of a pea. Take from one to four or five, night and morning. It would be well to take them nine days in succession, beginning with less, and increasing if necessary. They can be relied on, and are excellent to take in the spring and autumn.

ST. ANTHONY’S FIRE, OR CANKER SORE THROAT.--Take eight ounces of beech drops, put them into four quarts cold water, boil down to two quarts and sweeten with loaf sugar; after proper evacuations, patients subject to the rose or erysipelas, may take a teacup full of this, four times a day; apply clean linen rags, wet with the decoction not sweetened, over the inflamed parts, until perfectly well. Do not take the above when your courses are flowing, or when you expect them. The above is an excellent wash for children that are chafed, either in the neck or groins; wash the parts affected as often as necessary, using a clean cloth; the cleaner the cloth you wash any sore with, the sooner it will heal; never use the same cloth on any sore twice; it ought to be instantly washed in clean water, before using the second time.

CARBUNCLES.--Take equal parts beth root and blood root, powdered fine and mixed with honey; bind it over the carbuncle, and renew it every two hours. Make a purge of the following: take a handful each of thoroughwort, tanzy, and tamarack bark, one ounce culver root, half ounce mandrake, ten grains sassafras bark, and half ounce angelica seed; put all together in three quarts cold water; boil seven minutes, and keep hot nine hours. Take from half a wine glass full to a whole one, three times a day. Drink, as a common beverage, a strong tea of princes pine, or red ozier.

EMETIC.--Take a large handful leaves and blows of thoroughwort, (called by some boneset,) put them into one quart boiling water, and let them stand near the fire three hours; then stir, and strain off. Give the patient one gill, as hot as it can be drank, and if it does not operate in half an hour, give another, or half the quantity; drink every morning, a wine glass of the remainder cold, as it is a tonic in all cases of general debility.

DEAFNESS.--Take a beaver’s tail, roast it, squeeze out the oil and apply on cotton. Or, roast a turnip in ashes, squeeze out the juice, and put four drops, twice a week, into the ear. Take cleansing syrup daily.

CATHARTIC FOR FEVERS.--Take half ounce American ipecacuanha, three ounces culver root, three ounces snake root, sliced and bruised, and one quart good old rum; keep them in a covered earthen vessel by the fire, for five days, and then strain the tincture for use. Dose--a tablespoonful twice a day.

As a diaphoretic, in low stages of fever, and in confluent small pox, when sores appear gangrene, and the powers of life seem sunk, take the following mixture: four drachms of bruised snake root, one pint boiling water, two drachms tincture snake root, four drachms syrup of ginger. Dose--two tablespoonsful, to be taken every three hours, in the above complaint.

LUMBAGO.--Take one pound of fresh brake root, or female fern, one ounce sumach root, cut fine, half ounce culver root, half ounce mandrake root, and half ounce angelica seed; boil them in two quarts whiskey, until they become slimy; then dip cloths in and bind on. Take a tablespoonful nights, inwardly, and half a wine glass full mornings. Repeat the application on the spine, very frequently.

RICKETS IN CHILDREN.--Take one ounce of brake root, or female fern, cut fine, and pour one quart of boiling water on it; sweeten it, and give the child a teacup full four times a day; if the child is too young to take this dose, give less, according to age. At the same time, use the decoction in rum, for bathing the spine and limbs of the child; it would be well to bathe the child in a spring, every morning in summer.

SCROFULOUS SWELLINGS.--Take the inner bark of bayberry bush, pound it soft, and apply it over the swellings and sores, nights and mornings. Drink a strong tea made of bayberry leaves--a teacup full four times a day.

WIND, OR CHOLIC.--Take one ounce of bayberry berries, bruise them well, and half ounce masterwort seed, well pulverized or bruised; infuse them in three pints of best cogniac brandy for a week, and shake the bottle frequently. Take a half wine glass full in the same quantity warm water, twice a day, on an empty stomach; if necessary, take it three times a day.

INDIAN REMEDY FOR FEVERS.--I find the Indians more incident to fevers, than any other disease, and they rarely fail to cure themselves, by sweating, and then plunging themselves into cold water, which, they say, is the only way not to catch cold. I once saw an instance of this kind. Being in search of a particular root, at the Lake of the Two Mountains, about thirty miles from Montreal, I called on an Indian chief, and found him ill of a fever; his head and limbs were apparently much affected with pain; his wife was preparing a bagnio, or bath, for him. The bagnio resembled a large oven, into which he crept by a door; on the side opposite the door was a hole, in which she put hot stones. She fastened the hole up as closely as possible, to prevent the least air entering therein. While he was sweating in his bagnio, his wife was preparing his road to the lake. This was in August, 1835--a very cold season; in less than half an hour, he was in so great a sweat that when he came out, he was as wet as if he had come out of a river, and the steam from his body was so thick, that it was hard to discern his form or face, although I stood near him. In this condition, naked, a body cloth only excepted, he ran to the river, about thirty paces distant, ducked himself two or three times, and returned, passing through his bagnio, to mitigate the severe shock of the cold, to his own house, perhaps twenty paces further, and, wrapping himself in his woolen mantle, lay down at full length near a long, but gentle fire in the middle of his wigwam--turning himself several times, till dry; he then arose, and began getting dinner ready for us, seeming to be as easy and as well as either of us.

The squaws wash their new-born babes in cold water, as soon as they are delivered, often repeating the same healthy operation. I have recommended cold water to a number of weak females, during pregnancy, and they have borne up with a vigor scarcely less wonderful than that of the Indian woman.

HARDIHOOD OF INDIAN WOMEN.--The great power of endurance which the Indian woman of the forest, uncontaminated by the blighting influence which civilization often introduces among them, many have noticed. Every one has read the account of their remarkable health, during pregnancy and child-birth. Washington Irving, in his “Astoria,” in giving an account of a journey, through the dreary deserts lying between the Snake and Columbia Rivers, says:

“And here we cannot but notice the wonderful patience, perseverance, and hardihood of the Indian woman, as exemplified in the conduct of the poor squaw of the interpreter. She was now far advanced in pregnancy, and had two children to take care of--one four, and the other two years of age. The latter, of course, she frequently had to carry on her back, in addition to the burdens usually imposed upon the squaw; yet she had borne all her hardships without a murmur, and throughout this weary and painful journey, had kept pace with the best pedestrians. Indeed, on various occasions, in the course of this enterprise, she displayed a force of character that won the respect and applause of the white man.”

PHYSIOLOGY.

TO MY BELOVED SEX:—

SEEING so many of you daily imposed upon by those who profess to be acquainted with prolapsus uteri, or falling of the womb, and knowing that two-thirds of the married ladies are very ignorant, as regards the structure of their own bodies, and therefore the more easily imposed upon, I will endeavor to give a full description and explanation of the living animal, which we call physiology. It is a beautiful study, and we read of King David’s admiration, after viewing the structure of his own body; he exclaims in rapture, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!” I am sorry this important study is excluded from our schools. The reader may ask--what are the component parts of the living animal, the heart, brain, eyes, ears, muscles, bones, and the many other parts--how do they act, and what are their uses?

FORMATION OF THE CHEST.

The chest is formed by the back bone behind, the breast bone in front, and the ribs, which go from the back bone to the breast bone. Seven of the ribs are long, and five short; the five lower are the short ribs, and they are united to the breast bone by an elastic cartilage; by this construction, the chest is made flexible.

Now that I have explained the formation of the lungs, we will look in and see what it contains--the lungs and heart.

The lungs are wedge-shaped--the small ends being up under the collar bone, while the base, or larger part, is at the bottom, turned down heavily in the midriff. The lungs are attached to the wind-pipe, and larger air vessels and blood vessels, these likewise being connected to the back bone with cartilages. The lungs float downward into the midriff, and against the ribs or the side of the chest, every time the air is drawn into the chest. They are divided into two parts, on each side of the chest, something like a sponge, full of cells; the most correct resemblance of these cells, or vacancies, would be, in my opinion, a thick branch of some shrub, very full of the minutest berries you can conceive of, and without leaves; you must imagine the shrub as hollow, through all its branches and twigs, until quite into the cells; then cut the extremity of all the twigs, until you bring it to a wedge shape, and weave something like a spider web, to cover the cells, so that nothing but the air or blood can pass through, to be renewed.

The heart is in front, between the two tubes of the lungs. It is likewise wedge-shaped, the base, or larger end being up, while the small end points downward, slanting into the left chest; it occupies one-third more room in the left chest than in the right, measuring from the centre of the breast bone, under which the heart is placed, towards the middle of the breast bone.

This important organ is little known, and I wish to explain its offices and revolutions, in a comprehensive manner, that all may understand it.

We have three different kinds of blood vessels; the largest vein is called vena cavæ; the smaller veins are called capillaries and arteries; every time you prick yourself, you open a capillary vein. On the right side is the vena cavæ, one part descending and the other ascending, but both meeting on the right side; this brings all the contaminated blood from all parts of the body; from thence it empties into the right ventricle, then to the right auricle, pushes on to the pulmonary artery, through the lungs, to be purified, returns with velocity to the left auricle, and then to the left ventricle. There are thousands and tens of thousands little arteries, that carry the blood to all parts of the body.

I will quote a report from Dr. Edwards. He had been speaking of the wonderful distribution of the blood, in the little arteries, when he added:

“Along on the lines of these little tubes or canals, (the arteries,) through which the blood with all its treasures flows, God has provided a vast multitude of little organs, or waiters, whose office is each one to take out of the blood, as it comes along, that kind and quantity of nourishment which it needs, for its own support, and also for the support of that part of the body which is committed particularly to its care. And, although exceedingly minute and delicate, they are endowed by their Creator with the wonderful power of doing this, and also of abstaining from, or of expelling and throwing back into the common mass, what is unsuitable, or what they do not want, to be carried to some other place where it may be needed; or, if it is not needed anywhere, and is good for nothing, to be thrown out of the body as a nuisance.

“Now let us follow these little organs, as they fly upward, to carry support to the hair, to make it grow. But, as they proceed upward, the ears will want serum--the eyes will want something for the eye-balls, and the organs about the eye will take that and work it up into the eyes, and cause them to grow; then proceed on to your joints, and along the bones, muscles and nerves; the joints want strength--it is a fluid called synovia, in physiology; then proceed to your finger nails.”

So you see the whole system is supported by the blood; all these vessels or supports go to every organ in the body, and are called secretions; if these secretions are obstructed by disease, they cannot perform their regular routine, or office, and the parts will gradually become infirm. The blood carries little atoms, or particles, to make all parts of the body grow, and which, you may perceive, are necessary to replace the atoms which are worn off by friction, in our motion, as there is a constant waste in every part of the body, or system.

Now let me return to the heart. It is not larger than a man’s fist, and is strong and muscular. It is, as I said before, situated slanting, or obliquely; both sides of the heart fill in the same instant, and then contract, shrink, and compresses, with as much force as a strong man could press it with his hand. Such is the admirable circulation of the blood, that this revolution goes regular, one hundred thousand times in twenty-four hours.

How can we but admire the creation of such a beautiful machine! Then consider how much resistance this poor heart has to overcome, in sending blood to all parts of the body, and the many obstructions in its way, which causes it to stop its motion, or it will quiver and throb, according as it is repulsed by those obstructions. How many there are who say, “My heart is diseased--the physician says so.” Now, my friends, not in one case of ten is the heart diseased; but it is obstructed in its revolutions, by not being able to send the blood through these little vessels, to all parts of the body; they are crooked, and the least impediment must necessarily cause agitation, or stop this great propeller.

There is a strong partition between the right and left sides of the heart, so that the right auricle and right ventricle, with their blood, brought back from the veins, can have nothing to do with the blood in the left auricle and left ventricle; it is, indeed, as if there were two hearts, placed side by side, and pressed closely together. We know not how the heart is kept in motion, nor can the wisest anatomist or physiologist in the world tell us; we know that the lungs have something to do in the case, and, when once set a-going, we can form some idea of what keeps it in motion--but, after all, the real causes of the continued movement of either the heart or lungs, has ever been a great mystery, and may possibly always remain so.

Our bones, nerves, and muscles receive life and nourishment from the blood; then how necessary it should be pure and clean. As the blood is made from our food, we should be careful as to the quality and quantity, eating only what is conducive to health, which surely will promote happiness. Strong spices, hot bread, rich pies and cakes, salt pork and beef, are injurious eating at all hours of the day, especially at bed time, and is contrary to the laws of nature. Some may laugh, and say, “Why, I eat half a mince pie, and half a dozen pickles, every night, and yet I am well.” You may tantalize your digestive organs for a while, but remember, your gratifying your unnatural appetite, will be repaid by years of pain and distress. Be rational beings; eat to live, and not live to eat.

Mothers, as a general thing, feed their children too often; even if you nourish your child with the breast, it should be regular--not twenty times a day, and all night. This is very wrong; you bring your little ones up gluttons, and, as soon as they are weaned, they will be continually crying for something to eat--never satisfied. Always be regular in eating your own meals, and giving the same to your children, if you wish them to be healthy; as a general rule, give them food according to your own judgment--not too much. I think many a poor child has been murdered, by an over fond mother giving it all it wanted, and not using that judgment which was required, because the child cried. O! mothers, be firm, wise, and prudent, in raising those tender plants; remember, if the digestive organs are too weak, the child will fall into fits. Let a child eat mashed potatoes; all vegetables are better, and give more nourishment, than cakes and pies; a little lean meat, is healthy for a child. In our food, we all want a change; but let all be well cooked, well baked, and plainly seasoned.

Now let me go back, and say a little in regard to the nerves and bones. The nerves derive their support from the blood, but not entirely, for the nerves may be weakened by other causes; still they depend on the blood, in a measure, for support. For instance, a lady may fall and break her back bone, or spine; now this is the seat of the nerves; they all branch out from the spine, and, of course, all the nerves are affected; perhaps the pain would be most severe at the extremity of the nerves. Many able and eminent physicians have been baffled, in procuring ease to their patients, as there was no pain where the parts were injured, but at the extremity of the nerves.

The digestive organs depend entirely upon the nerves for support; therefore, never irritate the spine by blistering, as it injures every nerve. Everything that is applied to the spine--plasters, bathing, or drops, should be of a cooling nature, and at the same time strengthening, and never irritating, as it only makes you worse; I never saw any good effect derived from it. If you want to irritate, draw from the spine, by putting blisters on the thighs or legs, not to the spine or head; let your motive be, in all cases, to draw downward.

How do the joints derive support from the blood? It is the secretion we call in physiology, synovia. It serves the same purpose as the grease which men use for wheels, to prevent their making a noise; so, when this secretion is obstructed, or the circulation irregular, the ligaments and muscles find no support, and consequently they become stiff and inactive; call it rheumatism, if you like, or weak joints. Sometimes the bones become crooked and deformed, which is often caused by mercury, or by scrofula, which creates heat, and absorbs all the nourishment from them. Sometimes the muscles become stiff; in all such cases, cleanse the blood, and rub in hemlock tincture; you will find, in this book, very good bathing drops.

THE DIAPHRAGM.

Now that I have explained the circulation of the blood, and showed you the contents of the chest, I will proceed to the midriff. The contents of the chest are separated from the abdomen, by a floating curtain, called the midriff, or diaphragm. The midriff is the floor of the lungs; the right and left portions are loose, and float upward into the chest every time we breathe out the air in the chest; on breathing, or drawing in the air, the midriff of a person in health, forms a floor to the lungs and heart, and it descends until it is drawn tight, flat and stiff, across the body. The arrangement of the midriff is such, as always to form a strong support to the heart and lungs, as it floats below the lungs, every time we empty the air out from the chest.

The midriff is united, or fastened to the back bone, breast bone, and the middle of the ribs; therefore, we say the right and left portions float upward into the chest. How often is this part strained, and then called consumption! I allow there may be a cough, and tightness across the chest; but the real cause is, the lungs have lost their support, and consequently they wither and decay, unless you can strengthen the floor or support, that is, the ligaments; the symptoms are, you are unable to draw a long breath; if you go up stairs, your breath becomes short.

How many of you have had relations or some female friend, whom you considered near dying of consumption, but fortunately became pregnant; and she, to your astonishment, enjoyed better health than for years previous. But how could it be so? Why, this is the cause: as soon as the fœtus rose from the vagina, it supported the midriff, and pushed up the floor of the lungs, and the poor patient found instant relief; she could breathe freely, could walk easily, her cough ceased, and her sleep was calm. But alas! as soon as parturition takes place, her symptoms all return, and, as no one understands her case, she must die, through ignorance.

Young men very often sprain their midriff, by lifting, or in wrestling, and frequently die of consumption, when, by a little care and judicious treatment, they might be saved. In the first place, your lungs hang on your wind-pipe, air vessels, and blood vessels; now, if so, they want a support, and the midriff is this support; but if it is gone, do not be surprised if you decap a blood vessel, and thereby spit blood from that cause; but be not frightened to death by this, as it will, in many cases, relieve you and be beneficial in the end.

THE GULLET.

The gullet is the food pipe; it passes through the chest, from the back part of the mouth, along the back bone; its shape is tolerably regular, until it passes the contents of the chest; then it opens into a spacious apartment, called the stomach; it lies across the body, leaning to the left side; it is more like a bag, than anything I can describe; it is very close to the diaphragm, and one would suppose the diaphragm rested on it. The stomach of an adult, will hold from one to three pints.

THE LIVER.

This is the largest gland in the human body. It lies on the right side, under the right breast; the gall bladder is attached to the liver, and there is also a communication with the stomach; the gall bladder is the size of your thumb, and is called secretion, or bile; if we have too much, it overflows, and causes jaundice, sick headache, gall-stones, and many other diseases, which cannot be cured, unless you commence by cleansing your blood. As the liver is a gland it can be diseased in various ways; it can be ulcerated, and may contain grubs, or worms.

THE ABDOMEN.

This contains the intestines, and commences from the stomach; that part the ancients used to call the second stomach, is now termed duodenum; this turns downward and backward, toward the right side, there it turns again to the left, and I may say, zig-zags, until it joins the larger intestines; both ends of the large intestines, are tied to the back bone, to keep them from floating; the lower end passes through the basket of the hips, to the end of the back bone, to keep it in its right place; this forms the back passage, and the end of the back bone is called the rectum. The bowels move; and if so, how often you injure yourself by not obeying the calls of nature to evacuate them; you put it off to some more convenient time; but nature will not be baffled with impunity--you must suffer for your omission the next day, or day after; the head is afflicted, and you go to your closet, force and strain to accomplish what you refused nature at the suitable time; as the intestines float, will you not cause debility and disease? Yes, surely you will; then, of course, you have recourse to physic, and this makes you worse, as the intestines become coated. Now for the results; as I said before, the large intestines pass through the basket of the hips; they are straight along the bone, when in a healthy condition, but by this forcing and straining, they become drawn down, in a wrinkled condition, and there is no action; thence arises costiveness, constipation, piles, ulcers, fistulas, and numerous other diseases, which assail these parts, through neglecting the calls of nature. And here I would observe, in regard to your children, be watchful; I have been told by girls from six to twelve years old, how they have been so costive, that they would have to force themselves to such a degree, that every object around them appeared black. O! what poor miserable beings will they be all their lives, through a mother’s neglect. Never let a young child sit too long on a vessel or chair; it weakens the intestines, and brings on general debility. I have known many to die in fits, and to have the relaxation of the fundament, merely by sitting too long on a stool chair.

THE KIDNEYS.

The kidneys are not in the box of the hips, but above it, in the small of the back, on each side of the back bone. Their office is to separate the salt, earth, and surplus water, from the blood; there is a chamber to each kidney, into which the water is first poured; from each of these chambers, there is a pipe, or tube, that passes downward to the bladder; this tube is called, in physiology, the ureter. The kidneys seem to be a sort of sieve, or filter, with this difference, however: while a sieve permits only the finest and best part to pass through it, the kidneys filter out the worse, or coarser parts; these are carried to the bladder, whence they are conveyed immediately out of the system. In a natural and healthy state, the proper time when the bowels should be evacuated, is indicated by nature; should the water be retained, and the voice of nature disobeyed, the effects are these: as in the bowels, it will lessen the action of the bladder and kidneys, and what you retain, does more injury than you can possibly imagine; your kidneys become coated by retention--thence come gravel, stone, stoppage of the urine, and various other diseases of the kidneys and bladder.

Never trifle with nature. What pain and suffering might be averted, if all would obey the first call of nature! By retention of the urine, a bad odor arises from the body; what you retain in the bladder, is emitted from the pores in a measure, and your perspiration is very offensive. Mothers ought to instruct their children in regard to this important call of nature. I have found, in my practice, a great number who habituated themselves to retain the water in the bladder all day, that is, from morning to bed time; and what miserable looking objects they were; their countenances were sallow, and the skin dry and withered, although young in years.

The kidney may be ulcerated, and contain grubs, as well as the liver, it being likewise a gland, but much smaller than the liver. You can injure the kidneys by food, as all water or liquids go immediately to the kidneys; sweet spices and all acids should be avoided, as they coat the kidneys, and cause the gravel; the ureter, or pipe which takes the water to the bladder, finally gets filled and obstructed, so the water cannot pass thence.

BASKET OF THE HIPS.

The bony walls of the hips are very strong and solid. The only part that is movable, is the lower end of the back bone, in front; behind the cross bone is the bladder, next comes the womb, and behind this is the back passage.

THE WOMB AND ITS APPENDAGES.

The womb is pear-shaped--the large end being uppermost, and the small end, or mouth, downward, and connected with the neck of the vagina. It hangs on four crotchets, or hooks, which are the upper ligaments to support it; it is also supported by muscles, and from the crown of your head to the ends of your fingers and toes, there are small fibres connected with it. I would say to all, be careful not to stretch or reach the arm higher than its natural limits; a child from seven years old and upwards, to fifteen, may injure these supporters by jumping, and swinging at the length of their arms; so the squaws of the Iroquois tribe assure me, and I have seen a large number of the most distressing cases of this kind.

THE OVARIES.

The ovaries are on each side of the womb, and are a great support to it; ovaries signify egg vessels, and egg, in physiology, means ovum. The egg is the beginning of our specie, or animal life; thence the germ, or seed. The ovaries are two balls, the size of a small egg, connected with the womb by a pipe, or tube, called the fallopian tube; this tube, or passage, carries the ovum to the womb. When menstruation takes place, the ripening and expulsion of the egg is affected by a real inflammation, similar to what may be seen when you run a nail, or piece of wood, into your flesh, when there will arise an inflammation which will cause it to fester, and then it is easily removed from the flesh; it is this periodical irritation, which causes a sympathetic inflammation; at the beginning of the month, the inflammation is slight, but about the time the egg is expelled from the vesicles, the inflammation reaches its height; in order to give relief, the vessels pour out an abundance of blood, and frequently mucous, according to the healthy condition of the ovaries. The ovaries are placed very low in the groins, advancing into the pelvis. In case of malformation, the menses never appear, and impregnation is impossible; but I have known females to become mothers at the age of fifteen, and they never saw their menses; no doubt, if they had not married, it would have come about in its own time. But here I would remark, it is frequently colorless in weak, scrofulous constitutions, and often these obstructions are in the fallopian tube, and falling of the womb is the principal cause. The periodical discharge of the blood, I may say, is often from the uterus, through the vagina, and sometimes from the vagina alone. Menstruation commences between the ages of fourteen and eighteen; I have, however, in my practice, found several cases where they appeared at the age of ten years; but this is not a general rule, and such cases rarely occur. Usually, the earlier the menses appear, the sooner they disappear; but, as a general rule, the menses ought not to depart until at the age of forty-eight or fifty, and I have known them to continue to fifty-five, and those females were perfectly well.

As I said before, the mouth of the womb is connected with the vagina, which signifies a tube, or passage. The vagina is a very thick wall, capable of dilating and contracting, to a very great extent; its length is from four, to five, six, and seven inches, and some anatomists have testified that it is, in some rare cases, even eight inches long; it is not strait--its curve is in front, next to the bladder, while the convex part is next to the rectum, or larger bowels. I explain this, as many are led into error, imagining the womb within an inch of the entrance.

Now, my friends, I have given you a plain description of your internal organs, and I hope you will overlook its deficiencies; I have given my descriptions as delicately as possible.

DISEASE OF THE WOMB.