Exactly as printed, 1880
Whites of eggs, sweet milk.
Apply fire in some form to the wound, thoroughly and immediately.
Ammonia, applied freely.
Buckeye Cookery, 1880. Public domain; transcription unaltered.
💊 Doctor's Orders
1880
Bite of Serpent
Apply fire to the wound, thoroughly and immediately. Then whisky, to intoxication.
So what happens if I make it?
Cauterising a snakebite adds a serious burn to an envenomation and does nothing to the venom, which is already in the lymphatics. It is one of the classic harmful first-aid traditions.
The whisky is worse than useless. Alcohol raises heart rate and dilates blood vessels, and to intoxication it also removes the patient's ability to report how they are doing.
Notes from the 21st century
- The current advice is almost all inaction. Keep still, keep the limb below the heart, remove rings, get to a hospital. No cutting, sucking, ice or tourniquets.
- Whisky for snakebite is the famous one. It persisted well into the twentieth century and was, for a while, a legal justification for keeping liquor during Prohibition.
- Ammonia was the era's cure-all. Applied freely, as here, or inhaled. It is an irritant and it does nothing for venom.
Also in this book
- Beef-Steak for Winter Use — Raw steaks packed dry in a jar with saltpetre and kept for weeks in the cellar, then fried as usual.
- Raw Beef for Dysentery — Minced raw beef, a spoonful every four hours, for a patient with dysentery.
- To Catch Wild Ducks or Geese Alive — Soak wheat in strong alcohol, scatter it where they feed, and collect them while drunk.
Don't take our word for it. The complete book is online, free and searchable.
Read the original page →More doctor's orders
Opium, Laudanum (antidotes)
The antidote table's advice for opium and laudanum — emetic draught, vinegar and water, “dashing cold water on chest and face, walking up and down for two or three hours.”
💊 Doctor's Orders
Call poison control
The 20th Century Home Cook Book · 1906
Meat for Invalids
Raw loin beaten in a marble mortar with sweet and bitter almonds and sugar, into a pulp with “a rosy hue, and a very agreeable taste.” Said to keep “even in summer.”
💊 Doctor's Orders
Call poison control
The Dixie Cook-Book · 1883
Mercury, Chloride of Calomel
One grain of mercury chloride twice a day as an alterative, four to five as a laxative. The book calls it “a most dangerous medicine” and prints the doses anyway.
💊 Doctor's Orders
Call poison control
The 20th Century Home Cook Book · 1906