Flowers (when).--June to September.
Grows (where).--Grows in dry neglected places, about old buildings and fences.
Prepared (how).--The infusion should be prepared by adding one ounce of the plant to a pint of boiling water, Do not let it boil, but only steep; stand only a few minutes; when wanted as a tonic, use it cold. When used for sweating purposes, etc., it must be used hot.
Diseases, Dose, etc.--Drink as freely as the stomach will permit. It is frequently used for colic in babies in doses of half to one teaspoonful, warm. To produce sweating it should be used hot and freely taken. A combination of catnip, lady"s slipper and skullcap, equal parts, either in the infusion or fluid extract, one dram doses, is good for nervous headache, hysteria, ch.o.r.ea. Leaves are used as a fomentation. The expressed juice of the plant is good for amenorrhea in one to two teaspoonful doses five times daily.
CELANDINE.--Tetter Wort. Chelidonium Majus.
Internally, used for.--Liver and skin troubles.
Externally, used for.--Warts, corns, salt rheum.
[HERB DEPARTMENT 417]
Part used.--Herb and root. Latter is the best.
Flowers (when).--Throughout the summer.
Grows (where).--In the United States in waste places.
Prepared (how).--It is best used internally in the tincture, powdered root, or fresh juice.
Diseases, Dose, etc.--For liver disease, it is especially good where the pain is under the right shoulder blade. Use the tincture in ten-drop doses three times a day. Externally rub the juice on the corn or wart. Make an ointment from the root and rub this on the skin for salt rheum. It is said to be good for piles also. Dose:--Powdered root ten to twenty to thirty grains. Tincture, ten to twenty drops, and of the juice ten to twenty drops.
CHAMOMILE. Roman Chamomile. Anthemis n.o.bilis.
Internally, used for.--Tonic in small doses, dyspepsia, colic, cramp, diarrhea, dysmenorrhea.
Externally, used for.--Fomentation, boiled in vinegar and applied to painful swellings.
Part used.--Leaves and herb.
Gather.--When in bloom.
Flowers (when).--Summer.
Grows (where).--Native of Europe. It grows wild in the United States.
Prepared (how).--As an infusion use a half ounce to a pint of boiling water, steep and take freely.
Diseases, Dose, etc.--Use cold infusion in dyspepsia; warm infusion for colic and cramps, and for diarrhea in children, especially of the green kind of stools. Dose:--One teaspoonful every two or three hours. Good for nervousness in teething children. An oil also is used, two to five drops on sugar. This is given for colic, cramps, and in painful dysmenorrhea.
CLEAVERS. Goose Gra.s.s. Catch Weed. Clivers. Bed Straw. Galium Aparine.
Internally, used for.--Suppression of the urine, gravel, inflammation of the kidneys and bladder, and for scalding urine in gonorrhea.
Externally, used for.--Freckles.
Part used.--The plant.
Gather.--Early autumn.
Flowers (when).--From June to September.
Grows (where).--Common in the United States, growing on cultivated grounds, moist thickets, and along fences and hedges.
Prepared (how).--Infusion. Use one and one-half ounces of the herb in a pint of warm water and allow it to steep for two hours.
Diseases, Dose, etc.--Take two to four ounces of the infusion three or four times a day, when it is cold. The dose can be lessened and taken oftener. It may be sweetened with sugar when taken for the diseases named above. Also equal parts of cleavers, maidenhair, and elder blows, steeped in warm water for two or three hours and drank freely when cold forms an excellent drink in erysipelas, scarlet fever and measles. An infusion made with cold water is good to remove freckles; wash the parts several times daily for two or three months.
[418 MOTHERS" REMEDIES]
CLOVES. Caryophyllus.
Internally, used for.--Flatulent colic, diarrhea, cholera morbus, toothache, (oil of cloves).
Gather.--Collect flowers in October and November, before they are fully developed and dry quickly.
Grows (where).--In tropical climate.
Prepared (how).--Boil two or three teaspoonfuls of the ground cloves in a half pint of milk.
Diseases, Dose, etc.--Two to four teaspoonfuls every twenty to thirty minutes for gas colic, or diarrhea where the bowels need tone. The oil can be used in three to five-drop doses. Also good to place in hollow teeth.
Put a little of the oil on cotton and insert into the tooth. It is also good to add to other medicines to stop griping and nausea.
BLUE COHOSH. Squaw Root. Papoose Root. Blue Berry. Caulophyllum Thalictroides.
Internally, used for.--Nervous affection, rheumatism, womb troubles, such as amenorrhea, leucorrhea; used previous to labor it is beneficial and also good for afterpains.
Externally, used for.--Sore throat. Part used.--Root.
Gather.--Latter part of summer or in autumn.
Grows (where).--All over the United States in low moist rich grounds, near running streams, in swamps, etc.
Prepared (how).--As an infusion or decoction. It can be bought in the fluid extract form. Make a tea by adding one ounce of the root to a pint of boiling water. Decoction is made by allowing it to boil some length of time.
Diseases, Dose, etc.--Dose of fluid extract fifteen to thirty drops. Dose of tea, two to four ounces, three or four times daily. Dose of decoction, one-half the amount. When used in acute disease, the dose should not be more than one-fourth as much and given every one or two hours. For rheumatism it is especially valuable, when small joints like the fingers and toes are involved. It is very good in the chronic womb diseases named above. It should be used in small doses several weeks prior to labor. It is said to a.s.sist in making labor easier.
[HERB DEPARTMENT 419]