Period Salve, Insect Repellant & Leather Dressing, etc

[Vuhginyuh]

Here is a Period Skin Salve, Fungicide, Insect Repellant & Leather Dressing all in one neat little batch....

I found the recipe in the 1858 United States Dispensatory.

It reads as such;

8 oz LARD, or tallow
1.5 oz OIL of JUNIPERUS VIRGINIANA, cedar oil
.5 oz CERA FLAVA, yellow bee's wax

Heat until parts mix well, cool, apply. Store covered.

This mixture was used on burns, blisters, insect bites and as a bug repellant.

I find it very amusingly that these parts measure about the same as a recipe for a leather dressing!

The cedar oil can be used alone as an fungicide and pesticide, external application, or mixed 1 part oil to twenty parts water as an ''oral diuretic''.* Enjoy!

U.S. Despensatory, p449, 11th Edition
Drs. Wood & Bache
J. P. Lippincort and Co.
Philledelphia
1858

*I'm not doctor, I just have a book. Try at your own risk...

[ACo.]

This is my first post even though I have been lurking and learning for a while now. That's a very interesting recipe and may have indeed worked to a small degree in the mid 19th Century if for no other reason that nothing better was available, but keep in mind that many people then and now are HIGHLY allergic to cedar (including myself) and recommending (posting) such a recipe could get yourself and even this forum into a certain amount of hot water. As we move further away from a rural society, fewer people are aware of some of their allergies and can get surprised by them in unpleasant ways so best to stick with the modern insect repellents - they work better anyway and nobody will notice them if applied in private. Sorry, no offense to anyone that is trying to forward authenticity in the hobby but sometimes we have to keep common sense when it comes to health in this litigious society.....
T.P. Hern

[Hank Trent]

I can't see any reason for banning the mere posting of historic information, particularly when the poster doesn't even recommend its use, as in this case. Otherwise, how would people like me, who often portray historic doctors, be allowed to share research? I'd be interested to see what the warning of "a certain amount of hot water" is based on, such as a citation of a legal case lost by an internet forum or individual posting a recipe or historical medical information online.

But in reference to the original post, the lard and beeswax combination was a basic one for making any kind of ointment. I don't have that edition of the Dispensatory, but I bet it's in there alone under "simple ointment" or "unguentum simplex". So it will probably show up in all kinds of recipes in which an ointment-like base is needed to carry an active ingredient, and if the active ingredient is the same, the recipe itself will be almost identical.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Vuhginyuh]

The Dispensatory is an amazing text, I'm really surprised at the amount of treatments listed that that I am familiar with. The period knowledge of African and Asian plants presented within is astounding and I'm sure still in demand for modern pharmaceuticals.

[Hank Trent]

The Dispensatory is an amazing text, I'm really surprised at the amount oftreatments listed that that I am familiar with. The period knowledge of African and Asian plants presented within is astounding and I'm sure still in demand for modern pharmaceuticals.

I've got the previous edition, and there's lots of cool information even unrelated to medicine. For example, there are articles on ingredients like soap, salt, even water, which were used in medicine but which were also in every household for everyday use. The articles describe what's usually available, where it comes from, what it looks like, how it's made, what impurities it usually contains, etc. Definitely a neat resource.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Vuhginyuh]

My favorite so far is coal tar for flakey scalp, we call it T-Gel shampoo.

This particular volumn belonged to Dr.Milton Devane.

The front papers have his signature and the inscription N. Carolina army , no date with the signature.

He and his son James, who later became a surgeon, are associated with the 38th NC.

This page is also embossed in an oval;

*************
A D & J W PERRIN.
MERCHANTS
NAVARRO
LEON Co TEXAS
*************

[huntdaw]

There used to be a dandruff shampoo that I remember being sold within the last dozen years or so that still used coal tar as one of its main ingredients. Can't remember the name of it though. Just another sign that some of those old remedies had a long lifespan.

[Vuhginyuh]

There used to be a dandruff shampoo that I remember being sold within the last dozen years or so that still used coal tar as one of its main ingredients. Can't remember the name of it though. Just another sign that some of those old remedies had a long lifespan.

T-Gel, 2% coal tar solution...

[ephraim_zook]

Were you thinking of Denorex, maybe? If you do a google search for "coal tar shampoo" you'll find all kinds of references. Apparently coal tar is suspected to be a carcinogen.
=====================
Pretty soon I'll be wanting simonize rather than shampoo.

Ron Myzie

There used to be a dandruff shampoo that I remember being sold within the last dozen years or so that still used coal tar as one of its main ingredients. Can't remember the name of it though. Just another sign that some of those old remedies had a long lifespan.

[Skeet]

Pards, I actually made this last night and am going to try it out. I bought some cedar oil from a local nature store and the girl told me cedar oil will give you courage. I told her what I was making and she gave me the funniest look? If you are allergic to cedar oil, you will find out real quick! It made my house smeel real good, better than terpentine. Cpl Dan Morgan 10thVA(IVR)