Brian Altonen, MPH, MS

Notice: This document is in possession of the Oregon Historical Society, Portland OR.  MSS 742.

Introduction

John Kennedy Bristow was born somewhere near the northern border of central Tennessee in 1814.  His father, Elijah Bristow, originally came from Virginia, but had land claims coming to him due to his service as a sharpshooter in the war of 1812 under Andrew Jackson.  John’s mother Susan Gabbert was of a family in Virginia and Tennessee. 

There are several parts to the story of how John Kennedy Bristow came to be a physician.  His parents had named him after a famous General in the War.  Growing up in Tennessee during his first 8 to 10 years, he had an uncle, Michael Gabbert, who later became a famous doctor in Memphis.  Michael Gabbert’s fame was due to his involvement with setting up the medical school in Memphis around 1846.   This school was initiated as a regular medical school but was quickly converted to Thomsonian and Eclectic when half of its staff were away on a trip to see how the schools in Ohio were operating. 

From about 1850 to 1860, this school never really took off as a full-fledged medical school, even though it had received state’s approval to operate.  Its failure was possibly due to the philosophy of medicine at this point in time in the Bible Belt region.  The most strongly devoted religious people were against the use of medicine to force the body against any natural events or circumstances of life, since they were of God’s Will.  Allopaths practiced some methods that were against this tradition, such as blood-letting and the promotion of mercurials and other mineral remedies, along with the terrible opium.  The alternative healers had themselves several substitutes for opium and a number of plants meant to replace the new mineral remedies being promoted.  In some cases it appeared as though philosophically doctors were trying to prevent a disease or problem from progressing; it was the traditional teachings of earlier years for doctors to allow those conditions to proceed along their natural course.  This original philosophy stated that the fever had to be allowed to progress into a sweat, and that only medicine could be given that helped this process along and caused a sweat to erupt.  This philosophy also stated that the surgical removal of something like an abscess, then often considered a “cancer”, was against natural law; rather than cut it away with a lancet, the physician was supposed to place a compress on it and cause it to erupt.  The alternative healers practiced this form of medicine, termed “sanative” regular physicians did not. 

Therefore, by around 1860, the medical school in Memphis  had to close its doors due to lack of adequate political, social, financial and potential student support.   (I wrote a much larger essay on this around 1994, to be posted elsewhere, based on the articles published about this political turmoil in Physiomedical Recorder, Eclectic Medical Journal and Boston Medical and Surgical Journal around 1848-1855.)  The crux of this piece of history is that the regular doctors had to forcibly close the wards for homeopathy and eclectics because they were receiving little to no patients and thus were no longer making a profit.  Since these other “irregular”doctors had the same accreditation and state support as the allopaths, leaders in the regular medical field forced the states to make such closures happen through law.

As John Kennedy Bristow grew up, medicine underwent numerous changes in its politics and financial stability.  There were  few regualr medical schools opening in the United States relative to schools devoted to the newer fields of medicine like eclectics and homoepathy.  In the midwest, this political and financial instabbility of the profesion was at its worst.  Regular physicians and schools were often disliked and some even highly disrespected by the community when news of cadaver studies were passed around the community.   The public disliked the possibility that the local grandparent could serve as the next study object in these facilities, or the last prisoner to be shot or hanged.

John was first being raised in Tennessee, but the family moved up into southern Illinois around 1842 due to new options for land claims opening up in this part of the country.  Both he and his family were far removed from the politics developing on the east coast, but close to the problems brewing at the schools then opening in the new Noerthwest of the United States.  The first medical schools to open in Illinois were operating from the church settings.  The second series of schools was actually one school, which made its way in from Indiana, and then tracked its was through Illinois to Rock Island, and then due to the cholera epidemic and its position on the east side of the Mississippi River, downwind from the effluvium the river generated, its president and owner decided to move  finally begin to settle in eastern Iowa just across the river first to Davenport, and the southward to Dubuque, when it was finally bought up around 1850 by the medical school to the south in Keokuk. 

During this time, John Kennedy had become an adult in the Warren County area of Illinois.  Following the death of his first wife in 1847 due to ship fever, he removed to Adams County where he learned medicine from Edmund G Browning, who was trained at a 4-6 week school of Botanic [Thomsonian] Medicine located just outside of Chicago, Illinois.   The Chicago school was slightly more traditional in its Thomsonism than the similar school run by Alva Curtis just a few towns away.  Religion and religious belief was very important to some of the Illinois doctors in training, a result of the Bible Belt influence.   Both Browning and Bristow were Baptists, with Browning more a Bible Thumper than John.  The tradition at the time was being a circuit rider for your region, preaching your faith on the road.  Since there were already several circuit riders already engaged in this part of Illinois, Browning took on medicine, to learn the skills of healing as a physician, for these skills he could practice along with his religion and preaching goals once he had a career set up.

Why John became a physician is a story of both personal tragedy and a tale of how he had to live on with his one surviving son, overcoming this tragedy as a Baptist raised individual.   John’s decision to be a doctor related to the death of his first wife in the Winter due to Ship Fever (typhus or typhoid).   Due to his own ailing health, he had no choice by the time he was in his 20s.  As a child (around 7 or 8 years of age) John had rheumatic fever (noted in the family letters by a brother in Illinois).  By the age of 25 he was beginning to feel the knee pains of impending knee arthritis brought on by this medical history (even worse, this problem brings on rheumatic heart disease, which is heart failure due to heart valve failure).   This meant that as he got older, he would become more dependent on the horse and buggy to get around, and not be able to engage in the typical field work required to raise the family’s crops, or even continue his work as a woodsman with skills in carpentry and ox-bow (coffin) making.   The fairly non-aggressive, less physical skills of being a doctor thus became his choice.

Edmund oversaw Bristow’s practices from post-growing season 1850 to pre-growing season 1852, about two years. While the medical school across the Mississippi in Iowa was teaching its classes for 6 weeks every winter, and just before and after the peak of the growing and harvesting season began,  John was learned his form of medicine taught in Ohio alongside one other apprentice who according to the 1850 census was John Massie.  Both lived at Dr. Browning’s place, and both kept seperate ledger books of their patients and medical services.  Both were practicing the new form of Thomsonianism popular to the region, that new Thomsonianism professed by Alva Curtis of the Botanic School, first close to Chillicothe and by 1850 close to Cincinnatti, Ohio. 

We can tell from Bristow’s ledger detailing his interactions with his patients that the 1852 Asiatic Cholera epidemic struck the western Illinois edge rather severely, enough to make many people and families leave.   In summer of 1852, this turned John’s practice into something more like that of a coffin maker and undertaker, using his woodworking skills to produce the coffins for several of his neighbors.  By the end of that summer, he and many others decided to leave Warren County, Illinois in Spring of 1853.  More importantly, thie local history of the 1852 epidemic is told by a physician who sent his observations back to Boston, where they were published in the weekly publication Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (today New England Journal of Medicine).   The author of this article detailed the epidemic as it made its way into the local township capitol city of Carthage, purported by way of a caravan passing through the region with elephants, camels. clowns and a circus.  During their stay at the hotel in downtown Carthage, some locals began dying due to the cholera about 7 to 10 days later.  The doctor witnessing this state these deaths were either due to contagion brought in by the circus workers, the effluvium of the nearby stream, and/or the flooding of the river, which caused the sewage from the outhouse to possibly contaminate the town’s water wells.  The physician was right with all of these theories, and as a consequence of this rapid spread of the disease, it made its way from this nidus into the nearby townships like those in and around Blandensville, Warren County–the Bristow’s place of stay, one county east from where John was learning medicine.

When the cholera took many lives along the river in western Illinois, it had it greatest effects upon the city of Nauvoo.  At the time, this city was developed, inhabited and owned mostly by Mormons.   The placement of Nauvoo on the river made it one of the first cities to take have cases of cholera.  So the belief at the time was at first, the possibility that God was punishing the Mormons for their infidelity with the true Christianity.  But this prejudice quickly departed once deaths started happening outside of Nauvoo.    The Swedish utopian settlement just outside Nauvoo later took over the city once the Mormon removed, and probably believed this plague was due to natural topographic features incombination with poor, unhealthy living practices.  A few counties to the south, a description of how the local dealt with this blue plague was published in a Midwestern medical journal, in which the author described how the epidemic caused spirit rappers to take to the streets, praying and dancing like shakers hoping to steer the bad spirits away from their little town.  The absence of regular medicine at the academic level made this territory open lands for explorers in the various alternative forms of medicne for the time.  The one regular medical school that existed up in Chicago, was far from controlling the territories being claimed by the numerous alterantive medical schools opening up on the country side, across the Mississippi River, and even down in St. Louis, where homeopathy became a ruling profession. 

John’s surviving relatives were already in Oregon by now.   His father Elijah had made his way to claim new lands in 1846 , first by way of Fort Sumter in California, and from there headed northward the next Spring to stake claim to land in part of central Oregon Territory in 1847.  Susannah Gabbert and much of the remaining family then  headed to Oregon in 1848.  John and his brother Henry remained behind in Illinois.  Henry would find a job and living place in Peoria.  John remained in and around the farming towns near Blandensville.

Edmund G Browning and Bristow removed to Oregon following the tragic deaths that the 1852 Cholera epidemic caused in their region just east of the Mississippi River.  We see evidence for this in Bristow’s ledger in the form of entries made for the coffins he had to make for a number of his neighbors.  This was then followed by charges made for ox-bow construction, since his other skill he grew up learning and practicing was wood-bending (one notch higher in complexity and tougher than barrel making–you heat the wood usually hickory in water and then bend and form it into the ox-bow).  Once both had reached Oregon, they went their own separate ways, with Browning becoming an important religious leader in the towns just north of Eugene, Oregon.  John Kennedy Bristow headed a little further south to where his father Elijah Bristow had claimed land for the family back in 1847/8.

John had lost his first wife to ship fever in the winter of 1847.  He would later lose his second wife to asiatic cholera along the Oregon trail in April 1852, several hours after passing Fort Kearney.  Next, he lost his youngest child Suzanne, just one month later in western Nebraska, possibly due to milk sickness and/or poor nutrition due to the loss of her mom–Suzanne was probably still a breast-feeder, and the switch to cow or oxen milk could have even fatal due to the local foliage the cattle ate (this tale of the Eupatorium plant responsible for this is covered separately).  Regardless of the causes for these next tragedies, once John and his son Elijah, Jr., made it to Oregon, they claimed their land and John did not practice medicine until about 1856 or 1857.  Some local tales provide us with information on how he lived during this time, setting up the home on his land and beginning to farm his property according to the requirements for his laying claim to this land a few years after residing upon it; he had until 1855 to lay this claim and show proof that he settled the property. (A hand-drawn map using pencil, on yellow very thin paper is in possession of Oregon Historical Society, detailing his property boundaries and the names of his neighbors.) 

John set up plans with a few of his neighbors and relatives on how to start his business and barter for their services. At least one neighbor grew some of the plants Bristow used for medicine, such as the Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum).  John offers his family services in exchange for receiving supplies of this medicine.  Lobelia came in from at least one of his patient families; John probably planted some of these himself, as did members of his family.  His brother William had a store that provided him with these plant medicines as well.   There were also the local gatherers of medicinal plants that John could rely upon, but since  he was trained in Thomsonism, he probably knew the eastern plants better than the Western plants.

John makes use of Thomson’s tinctures and other formulas quite a bit (No. 6, No. 1, and No., 2 especially).  But this manuscript shows that he was learning Wooster Beach’s method of Reformed Medicine practice as well.  John increased his practice knowledge in this manner and by 1860 had pretty much mastered a form of non-allopathic medicine that consisted of numerous treatment methods more consistent with the church teachings. 

John’s own eclectic nature stood out when following the Civil War, his sister’s husband Stephen Rigdon, who had served for the Union, came back and began promoting Gymnastics and health.  With Stephen Rigdon’s help, the two of them set up a gymnasium and began promoting an exercise and health philosophy by the late 1860s.  John by now had also begun experimenting with electric cure devices, and was making use of anything else that happened his way that was non-allopathic in nature and consistent with his philosophy on natural cure and sanative cure.  The famous local botanist, William Dain, who had preached to his father a unique philosophy of combined Indian Root Doctoring and Thomsonism in 1845, ( a whole section here is devoted to Dain, who married an Indian in Oregon, served Fort Vancouver, and later became a scout and trail guide for the early overlanders heading to Florida as Capt. Solomon Tetherow’s Team), also influenced John Kennedy, for he left us with another rendering of Dain’s lengthy herbal formula shared withTetherow’s team in this manuscript.  Adding to this sense of Indian Root Doctoring are Catnip’s formulas, which are very much modern, not old-hat herbal traditions using just the local herbs; Catnip’s philosophy and personality are unclear–he/she could be anything from an old man trappers to a your woman breaking into the midwifery/herbal medicine field.

In sum, John provides us with some of the most important insights into a medical discipline born in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, a region which later became the heart of non-allopathic medicine for quite some time.  The school of Naturopathy, responsible for the presence of an accredited program for this form of alternative medicine (for which the official degree is ND), still exists today; its local birth in Oregon in 1957/8 was brought about by these local families who believed in such practices.  Following the Bristows along the Oregon Trail to this part of Oregon were the spirit rappers of Illinois (they were from the Burned Over district of New York), the various forms of alternative church healers trained in medicine just south of Adams County and Nauvoo, Traditional Thomsonians and Botanic Physicians, Wooster Beach’s Eclectic physicians, various forms of Homeopaths, water curers or hydropaths, the early gymnastic therapy promoters and nutrition-minded healers, and a number of Indian Doctors.

The following manuscript bears recipes of all sorts and a little bit of prose.  The words in this version are pretty much the way they appear in the original document at the Oregon Historical Society (MSS 742).   All  misspellings were checked and rechecked several times between 1994 and 1996 during the course of researching the materia medica and validating the recipes and their applications.

There were a few letters that could not be interpreted, and so two letters may appear separated with a slash, i.e. ‘t/l’.   The ‘___’ at the end of a word are typical examples of “shorthand” for the time, a technique known as suspended lettering, which is pretty much like today’s period-abbreviations technique (see Cornelius Osborn’s Revolutionary War manuscript for more notes on this).

The penmanship demonstrates that Bristow wrote most of the recipes himself, but a few like those of Catnip were penned by someone else, using a different writing tool.  These writings appear to have been made after Bristow moved to Oregon.  But some may have been composed in Illinois.  The Prose and Verse scattered about the back of this booklet were presumably written earlier.  The dates for the authors and references given by Bristow point to at least the mid to loate 1850s (Wooster Beach’s book for example).

The full width bars that follow each section were added to improve readability and the flow of the document. 

The titles given to each recipe are in Bold for this presentation.  

Names appear in blue.

These are the author’s names after may of these recipes–the source for Bristow’s notes.  As just noted, there is one series of receipes with a different penmanship however.    The recipes by Catnip appear to have been entered by Catnip himself.

See other pages for more notes on this document.

MSS 742                             J.K. Bristow

                                          700

                                          450

                                          ___

                                          250

                              24

                              15

                              __

                              39

                               250

                              ____

                              4150

.

                  Canella alba

                  Elaterium

                  Santonine  An

.

Common Chill & Fever

So Sono as the Chill cums

on give hot tea Composition

Sage pepper or any tea

that will warm the Paitien__

give it freedly until the

Fever rises then give

an Emetic perhaps the best

is Lobillin in Boneset tea

after it operates well give

an injection to open the

Bowels with some mild

purgative and as soon as the

Feavour Coals give quin

20 grains of quinine to

10 teaspoonfuls of No. 6

then ad one gill of water

divide into 5 doses

give 1 every 2 ours

and a cure is certain

without any other

paroxism and in all

cases of Summer Fever

the above course will

do with a little addition

if a fever cum on

without a chill give

the hot teas as above

keeping the head wet

with cauld water and

after pukeing well give

the head teas again and the

headwet as above for

some time then apply the Steam with

psaltin the water  Should

the Feaver still

continue then give a

powder every 2 ours and

tea between  — the times

*  Keep the Stomach sick

Severl hours and then

give an other injection

Should the Feaver still

continue Rub the Boddy

with pepper vinegar &

psalt the apply the Steam

again after which

give the quin(ine) as in Chils

and if the fever does not

pale give on until (fair)

give at least 40 grains

of the quin.

*  Compose of equal parts

Lobillie Ipcack & Bitter Rute

dose from 3 to 6 grains.

Notes

The recipe book was composed sometime after Bristow arrived in Oregon, and probably once he got settled and built the house required for him to maintain his ownership of the land he had claimed in 1853.   The mention of quinine is very significant.  John was an eclectic physician by now, no longer a simple Thomsonian.   He still uses some of the philosophy of Thomsonians, by applying the Lobelia to produce a vomit, but also mentions “Ipcack”, perhaps a local herbal equivalent to this South American drug, such a Gillenia or Euphorbia (see Colden’s work on American plant medicines in Coldengham, and the Oregon Trail herbal medicine parts, esp. Scout William Dain, for more). 

The Bitter Root (sp?) is possibly a Rocky Mountain plant with this common name.  The Boneset (Eupatorium perforatum) is an east coast marshland plant, not native to the Northwest.  Sage and cayenne are perhaps Thomsonian.  The Cayenne (pepper or red pepper) is from the French occupied colonial regions of what are now the Gulf states and the Carribean Islands. 

John tells us a lot about his method of treatment and underlying philosophy with this section.  Fever is typically one of the most complex and lengthiest topics for any physician to define and describe.  How much Bristow was informed of the taxonomy of fevers (the different types such as continuous, remittent, intermittent, 3-day ague, etc.) is uncertain, but is probably like that found more in Thomson’s writings, with a little touch of eclectic writings on this topic published by Alva Curtis.  One of the primary medical journal ccirculated through Oregon at this time was Physiomedical Recorder, distributed by Simeon D. Earl in 1854 according to the journal’s listing of subscribers (at Naturopathic College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland).    Ths was bought out by a school in Cincinnatti in 1855/6 and the subsequent edition appears more traditionally allopathic in nature and content. (also at NCNM library, bound and attached with Physiomedical Recorder).

Cure for Consuption.

Take of the bark of blackoak

Bitter Hickory Whitethorn

Crabapple grapevine Crossvine Bitter=

=sweet Dogwood Wildcherry

Sassafras root Bark equal

parts except the cherry should

be a lit(t)le less boil in

water till the strength is

extrctd then strain & simmer

to a syrrup dose a teaspoonful

Three times a day

Notes

Consumption was interpreted as the most fatal disease for any one to suffer.  It comes on fairly noticeable due to a cough and fever but later disappears and may or may not return.  Since the practitioners were unable to differentiate it that well from other cough-related problems, the association of the later symptomatology with the early stage of this disease was often missed.    

The definitive symptoms of the consumption were the return of the fever and cough, with black sputum produced.  This was a sign that lung tissue was being dissolved away by the mycobacterium residing within the mucosal surfaces of the lung.  The discovery of the mycobacterium within the lung and mucous discharge would not be made until the 1880s and be recognized as such by the early 1890s. 

Consumption could be treated by climate and topography due to the nature of the air taken into the lung and the expsoure one had to solar radiation.  At high elevations, the short wave ultraviolet penetration and impact on the body is greater, versus the same at low elevations.  This the treatment of consumption by 1870 came to focus on high elevation climatic settings in the Far West, atop mountains in California, Colorado, and Arizona.  The trappers introduced this possible treatment modality during the early 1800s (see Trapper’s section of this site, especially the materia medica section for the later years, 1825-1850; https://brianaltonenmph.com/6-history-of-medicine-and-pharmacy/trapper-and-explorer-medicine-ca-1790-1840/a-materia-medica-for-trappers-and-explorers/trapper-medicines-a-z/).

In other low elevation settings, consumption was associated with soil and water-related features, in particular the average temperature and humidty for a region  (see https://brianaltonenmph.com/gis/historical-disease-maps/the-other-consumption-maps/).

Bristow probably believed in the latter topography-climate theory for consumtption, combined with a possible vital force concept not fully revealed by his writings.  To Bristow, this meant that the trapper philosophy was fairly credible, as evidence by his inclusion of William Dain’s recipe in his recipe book  (see delivery of a child section below) and Catnip’s recipes suggest.  But Bristow was also engaged in the nutrition and exercise methods of assisting in improving someone’s health, and he was experimenting with DC and galvanic electric cure modalities.

Cure for liver complaint

      Take five parts Bitter root

Three parts Spikenard Two

parts Nervine Tincture

very strong in Good

Gin and then take

enough to keep up an action on the bowels

till a cure is affected.

Cure for Cancer.

      Take Equal parts of

Bloodwort Robins plantain

and wild sage stew in

fresh turpentine down to wax

      Then take the plants

as before and make a strong

decoction for a wash for

the same adding at the

same time a small piece

of bluestone  The above

plaster and wash to be used

after the cancer is broke

and running which should be

done by a sorrel plaster

A Cure for Menstrual

derangement or Barrennys.

      Take a single handful

      of rusty iron and black

      snakeroot a bunch as large

      as a hens egg in a quart

      of good vinegar and steep

      8 hours not(hot) simmer it

      down to three gills dose

      a tablespoonfull of 3 times

      a day before eating.

Note

This is an important example of how the herbal traditions of colonial times and the early post-Revolutionary War period were transformed into the medicine practiced from 1850 to 1865.  Some of these medical plant traditions continued to be practiced following the Civil War, in spite of the discoveries made post-bellum related to the bacterial cause for disease.  Rusty Iron was used in the 18th century to treat the lady with menstrual problems.  This would much later (late 19th C) be transformed into the use of an Iron tonic, the use of iron serving to replace the iron lost by menstruation.   There is a philosophical basis for this covered extensively under the research of Dr. Osborn’s ens veneris formula, a recipe first developed around 1650 by Christian Alchemist George Starkey (also reviewed extensively elsewhere).  Chemist/Alchemist Robert Boyle converted Starkey’s philosophy and recipe into something he called Ens Primum Veneris, promoting its use in this fashion.

The use of Black Snakeroot (Black Cohosh, or Cimicifuga racemosa) to treat menstrual related problems first evolved as a Snakeroot remedy, introduced by Cadwallader Colden around 1737-9/published 1749-1751, through Carl von Linne’s publication and his students’ theses.   Over time, the medical practitioners modified their beliefs in how and why this plant worked, transforming it from a remedy used to treat pain and convulsions (muscle pains and tremors) into something targeting uterine related symptomatology of the same form and presentation.  [Transformation of Common Belief.]

This this recipe and its philosophy has the route of migration defined as New York, (17th-18th C) to Ohio (Eclectics, 1824-1845) to Illinois (1837/40-1855)  and finally Oregon (1855-1860).

Some of the Midwest Bible Belt philosophy has migrated as well into Oregon, by way of the Virginia-Tennessee to Ohio and Illinois route, and finally Oregon Trail to Oregon route.  Bristow’s history and his Uncle Michael Gabbert’s history confirm this migration route.

Cure for Dropsy

      Take equal parts of

      ____________________

After taking the

powders until they

operate Take 1 oz. of

Boneset 1 of Black Root

1/2 of Quassie & of Balmony

Boil in 2 quarts of water

down to 1 quart strain off

& add 1/c pound sugar

when cool add 1 quart of Gin.

Take 1/c wine Glass 4 times

a day

                        WWL

Ague powders

Take Peru Bark 10 Grains

Quinine           10  ”

Allows            15  ”

Pulv. Sassafras 5  ”

Divide into 8 powders

Take one every    3 hours

until they operate

the 6th day take the

ballanc or until

they operate if any

left the 6th day take

the ballance

                        WWL

Stomach

Liver pills

Dysp pills

Head ach__

Take Bitter Root Cayenne

Nervine LO  Lobelia (Lobeline?)

all pulv. fine

mix in extract

of Dandelion make

5 grains/grams pills

dos 2 pills 3 times a

day or enough to keep the bowels regular

Cure for Ague

Take 30 gr quinine &

30 ” of rhubarb 30 of Sulphur

mix well divide into 8

powders taken three times a day.

      ________    _________

Another Take

Equal parts Tincture of

Capsicum Tic. Camphor

and parago(r)ic dose table sp

=oonful once in an hour

commence three hours bef

=ore the chill comes on.

For Sc(r)offula

Poke Root         one oz. 1

Mandrake                ”  1

Blood Root        ”  1

Sour Dock               ”  1

Blue flag               ”  1

In one qrt. whiskey and add

One pint Molses the take

3 times a day as mutch as

the stomach will bare.

To restore the Color of the

Hair

Rx.   Lac Sulphur Drachm 1

      Shugar of Lead    Drachm 1/2

      In 4 oz. Rose water shake

      When used and apply

      twise a day

.

To restore the Lochial disch.

when supprest by fever or

otherwise Rx apply a plaster

of tar and lard to the abdomen.

Notes

JKB’s final years of his practice were solely spent to child delivery.  This was mostly due to his age, perhaps his disabling rheumatic conditions, and the passage of state laws regulating the licensure, certification and practice of medicine.

Lochial discharge is the discharge that occurs following a child delivery.  Blood, mucus and the placenta are expected.  A delay of the afterbirth is a primary concern of physicians and midwives who deliver babies.  In some cases, delivery may be followed by Purpureal fever, due to the infections that follow if the full discharge does not ensue.  This results in the manifestation of bacterial infection throughout the body, leading to septicemia , indicated by severe fever onset.  This condition can be fatal.

In Bristow’s recipe, he notes the supression of lochial discharge by the onset of this fever.  Thus the cause-effect relation is reversed, an indicator of his medical philosophy.  Bristow believes that fever weakens the body, thereby suppressing the discharge.  He treats this condition by applying the plaster to the abdomen, to sanitatively cause the body to proceed along its natural course–discharging the lochia.

For Fistula

Rx.  Boil Poke Root til

you make an extract as

thick as molases to one pint

add a lump of salt as large

as a hens egg the same of

harde soap mix then

wash twise a day the same

as you would with soap

til cured.

Hair Tonic

Rx.  Aqua Ammonia  1 oz.

      Lard Oil    4 ”

      Shake well & Bottle tight.

Pills for Liver complaint

Rx.   Gum Ammoniac   1   oz.

      Alows            1/2 ”

      Assafoetida    1/2 ”

      Varigated soap 1   ”

      Ext. Dandelion 1   ”

      Make into 3 grn. pills

Cure for Ague

      Rx.  Oil Lemmon   1 oz.

            Alcohol     one pint

      Shake well and wash all over

      with it at knight with it at

      morning tak tea spoonful of

      equal parts of ess. Coffe & ess

      Lemmon once and hour.

A Cure for Ague

      Wash all over in ess.

of Lemon then take

pills made in ext. of

equal parts Boneset and

Balmony thickend with Goldenseal.

Regulating pills

Equal parts Alows Gum

Myrrh mandrake Bitter

Root make into pills in ext. Blackroot.

.

Dr. W. Grindle & Brother

      New York or Philadel

medicine for Consumption

price $3.00 per Box or $2 by the dozen.

Worm & Jaundice Bitters

one ounce Gum Aloes 1/2 ounce

Gum Myrrh 1/2 ounce Rhubarb

one gill Beefs Gall steep

in one qurt.  Alcohol then add one

qrt. of water Dose for Child

tablespoonful for an Adult

Kosts Pulvis Anodyne

      Rx   Ext. Pap. Nonnarcotum   1 Dram

                  Gum Camphor     ”  ”

                  pulv. Lobelia         ”  ”

                   ”    Ictodes         ”  ”

mix well Dose from one

to two gr. use one of the

Best of anodyne & antispasmo.

=dics good for afterpains and Dismenorrhea

Discuitant Wash

Take Oil sassafras &

Oil Oreganum equal parts

Alcohol.  sufficient quantity

to dissolve the oils.  then

add to the above as much

Iodine as will readily

dissolve with 3 times

the amount of Iodide of Potassium

                              Catnip

Note

Discuitant is a time-linked medical term.  It was invented by Wooster Beach, appearing on one of his 1840s medical books.  Few others used this particular term and its spelling.   The following appears on page 71 in A treatise on the generative organs by John Stevens  (1853).   (See in Google books).  This is part of a lengthy section on the treatment of Gonorrhea.

The following is what this term was derived from:

dis·cu·tient (d-skyshnt) adj. Causing dispersal or disappearance of a pathological accumulation. n. A discutient agent or drug.

Cure for clap

      Take on Bitter Apple

      2 oz. Podophyllium Peltatunm

      best Gin  1 qt.   Dose

      One Table spoonfull

      3 Times pr day  20 minutes

      into Eating             Catnip

For Rhumatism & Parralysis

      Rx  To 1 qut. best Brandy add

              1 oz. Gum Myrrh

              1  ”  Gum Guaiacum dose

            Tablespoonful 3 times per day

                        Lowry Rolad

.

Styptic Compt.

      Rx    Myricin

            Carb. Amonia

            Gum Camphor

            Capsicum    aa

            dose from 5 to 10 grs

                              Catnip

Cathartic Pills

      Rx Podophylline       i

         Capsicum        ”   ”

         Podoph. Peltatum  ”  iii

         Ext. Colocynt      iii

         Gum Myrrh                i

            or 20 drops Peppermint Mix

                                    Catnip

Comp. tinc. Lobelia 3rd Preparation

      Rx  Lobelia seed (the best)   8 – oz.

            Sculcap           ”           1 – ”

            Blue Cohosh ”           1 – ”

            Cyppripedium      ”           1 – ”

            Capsicum          ”        1/2 – ”

      Best Brandy or pure Spirits   1 qrt. n.

      Digest 10 days                      Catnip

Cure in Cancer

Honey Yellow of an egg Alum

salt.   equal parts made into paste

with the flowr of the English

horse bean

For Putrid Soar Throat

      Rx Chlorite Potash    j

         Muriatic Acid    ji

         Pure Water         vjii

                                    Mix.

      Dose for childs five years

      old half teaspoonful once in

      three hours.

Notes

Putrid Sore Throat = Diphtheria.

Hutchins Liniment

      Rx Alcol (sic) on Galn

         Capsicum 3 oz.

        Gum Campher     3 oz.

      Digest 10 days decant off

      and add Oil Monarda 1 oz

      Oil Origannum           1 oz

       ”  Sassafras     1 ”

       ”  Turpentine          4 ”

Liniment fo wounds

Cuts Burns & Erysipoles

Rx Lint Seed Oil   4 oz

      Oil Origanum  1 ”

       ” Turpentine 1 ”

            No. 6___ 1 ”

Shake well and keep

the parts constatley

wet with it.

                  Hutchins

Coff Balsam

Rx   Honey or Syrup 1 qrt.

      Tinc. Gum Guaiac  1/2 oz.

No. 6 ____        1 oz.

Ess. Anise        ”  ”

”    Pennyroyl     1/2 ”

”    Sassafras      ”  ”

”     Spearmint         ”  ”

”     Wintergreen ”  ”

      Good in Colds, Coffs and

      Soarthroat              H.

White Salve

      Rx.  Rosin           1bs 1

            Mutton          oz 4

            Beeswax           ” 4

            White lard     ” 1 1/2

Melt all together

turn into cold water

and work for an hour

then make into sticks

The best salve is equal

parts of rossin beswax camph

=or gum mutton tallow & half

the quantity of fir balsam &

balsam capavia all melted

together on a slowfire

Sider

For Rx to 5 gal. add 3 oz.

Artaric Asid and 4 lbs

Brown Shugar

Diptheria Wash

Rx    Goldenseal pulv.  1 Drach.

      Borax             1 Drachm

      Black Pepper            ‘     ”

      Alum                    ‘     ”

      Nitrate of Potash ‘     ”

      Salt                    2     ”

      Put all into a common sized

teacup or a vessel that wil hold

about 4 oz. fill half full of

boiling watter stir well then

fill full of good vinegar when

it settles is ready for use  Swab

the throat and mouth when bad

every half hour let the

patient swallow a litle every time you swab.

Liniment for soar throat

Rx  spirits turpentine  1oz

Sweet or Lintseed oil   1 oz

Aqua Ammonia                1 oz

Mix Shake well before

useing apply every 4 hours

keep a flannel around

the neck till well.

Notes

Probably regular sore throat, including the fatal positive-testing streptococcal infections of modern day medicine; perhaps not diphtheria, although early cases of diphtheria may have been treated in this manner.

Salve for Scrofula

Take pure Alcoholic extract

of Cicuta one ounce Iodide

of Led on Dram incorporat

well togher in a morter

then add half a pound

of fresh butter after

washing well with soap

and water ap(p)ly the above

spread thin on soft leather

night and morning if

too strong add a litle

more butter                   Beach

Note

Scrophula is an infection of mycobacterium taking its course outwardly through the neck and onto the outer surface of the body.

Scurvy

Survis Berry Bark

Wild Rose         ”

Willow            ”

Alder       ”

Cherry            ”

White Dogwood     ”

fir Bows

Boil Strong  Drink

freely

Indian Cure for all Sorts

Diseases take all if Can be found

or as may as you can get.

1 to 3 parts      May Apple

1     ”           Bitter Root

1     ”           Culver

1     ”           Blue flag

1/16  ”           Blood Root

1     ”           Shue make

1     ”           Poplar

1     ”           Peach

1     ”           Cherry

1     ”           Bitter Sweat

1     ”           Dogwood

1     ”           Burdock

1     ”           Yellow Dock

1     ”              ”   Preller (?)

1     ‘           Spignert=

                            =over

1     ”           Pleuracy

1     ”           Blue Cohosh       Greak

1     ”           Black   ”                 elenam   

1     ”           Consuption Root

1     ”           Wafer Ash

1     ”           Prickly Ash

1     ”           Bleu Sculcap

1     ”           Unicorn

1     ”           Quene of Medow

1     ”           Mullin root

1     ”           Lady Slipper

1     ”           Black Bryer

1     ”           Ginton

1     ”           Golden seal

1     ”           Wahoo

1     ”           Liqurish

1     ”           Origon Grape

To Bring the pustulaz

of Small pox out any

Whare you want

Croten oil & tartaric

Acid ointment

they only Come whar the ointment is

applyde.

Note

This represents a sanative philosophy.  You don’t want to suppress the small pox, but rather assist it along its course, erupting and discharging its contents.  If you survive, so be it, this fate was God’s Choice.  Whether or not Bristow and others approved of and engaged in small pox inoculation is uncertain.

For Birns fresh Cut or old Sores

      Cullv/Cold Water with Blue Stom/n.

      Make it Gr(a)te stringent.

      With Suphate  Zink

      if provd flesh stronger

      with Bleu.  Stain

Preperatory for females

                        By Wm Dain

2  lbs  Partridge Berry vine

1/2 ”   Cram bark

1/2 ”   Unicorn

1/4 ”   Blue Cohosh

1   ”   flax seed

1/4 ”   Baberry

1   ”   Spignet

1/4 ”   Beth Root

1   ”   Red Raspberry leeves

            or Whichazle

Boil in 3 gal water

to 1/2  Strain add 4 lbs

Lofe Sugar 1/2 gal

Holland Gin= 

                  over

Doses 1 to 2 or 3 fluid oz 1 to 4

times a Day from 1 to 8 month(s)

as the patiens Begines

then a tea at the time of

Labour panes of

1 tea spoon  Composition

1    ”       Unicorn

1    ”       Blue Cohosh

            or Black or Both

2    ”       Wild Ginger

1    ”       Lady Slipper

1    oz.     Blue Sculcaps

5 or 6 Red Rasberry or

            Whichazle Leaves

make a strong tea

Dose 1/4 to 1/2 tea Cup

full once in 15-20 or 30

minuts as the Case requires.

Cholera Syrup

Bayberry    one oz.

Goldenseal, Popler bark, Prickley Ash bar

Balmony Cayene, Cloves 1/2 ”

Boil in tw qrts water strain

preparation then add equal in measure

good loaf shugar, seald skimm

cool then add haf pint tinc.

Myrrh botle set in cool place

                              Curtice

Note

Author cited is probably Alva Curtis of the Ohio Botanic Medical school.

Salve for any old soar

Rx   Lard  three lb.

      Rosin 1 1/2  ”

      Beeswax 1/2  ”

      Simer four hours then

      add two oz. Oil Spike and

      Simmer four hours longer

                        Trowbridge

Dr. Churchills Cure

for Consumption

      Rx    Ext. Blodgetti                      3 oz.

            Hypophosphites Limes & Soda 1/2 oz.

            Alantin  (Pura)               1 Drachm

            Meconin  (Pura)            1/2 Scruple

            Ext. Cinchona                      2 Drachm

            Loaf Sugar                    1 Pound

            Port Wine                     one half pint

            Cold water                  one quart

Mix the powders & exts

thoroughley togeher then put

into a botle that will hold

three pints then add half pint

water shake well let it

stand a few moments then

Aadd (sic) the other pint & half

water with the sugar dissolv

in it then the wine or/on

Rum or Holland gin will

do if the wine cant be

had shake well before

each dose a dose table

spoonful four times

a day before eating

and on retireing at night

.

Rev Edward A. Wilson of

Williamsburg Kings Co, N.Y.

Hodge, Calef & co. 97 Front

Street Portland  Oregon  Agnts

Cure for Teter

In the first place wash the affected

part with the following Take 2 oz ech

Yellow Dock and Blood root, put into

a 1/2 pint alcohol and 1/2 pint good vinegar

digest 10 days wash the part twise

a day with it and apply the following

ointment as often fresh Butter 4 oz.

venice turpentine 1 oz, red precipitate 3 dr., mix

well this ointment will cure any kind of

Teter Ring worms or any kin of itch

                                          Gunn.

for Scrofula

      Take 60 grains of Hydriadate Potash disolv

      in 4 oz water tablespoon

      ful every morning for

      a child 4 years old

                                    Gun.

For Scrofula

Take 60 Gr. of Hydriate Potash

dissolve in 4 oz. water tablespoonful every

morning for a child 4 years old.

                                          Gun.

Ink for Stel Pens

      To 5 gallons of water at

      boiling heat add

      one half pound logwood one half oz.

      bichromate Potash one half oz. prussiate

      of Potash and it is ready for use

For Liver Complaint

      Rx Bitter Root          5 parts

         Spikenard            3 parts

         Nervine        2 parts

      in Holland Gin

      take enough to keep

      the Bowel loose

                                          Oregon Farmer

Marshmallows   1/3

Uvaursi           2/3

      a handful to a pint

      boiling water dose

      2 or 3 spoonful 3 or 4 times

      a day take alcohol

      2 spoons sugar and

      to make palatable

      add cayenne ginger

Assimilant

      Rx    Boneset  — — —    4 oz.

            Chamomile Blossom       2  ”

            Smartweed                     3  ”

      Blue Vervain Stalks leaves    1 lb.

            best Whiskey                  1 gal.

For a Cough.

Rx.  To a vary strong

tea of yarrow flows

on qrt. add half tea

cup extract of cardis

heaping tablespoon of

Goldeseal  Clumbo  Ictodes

level spoon lobelia the

Same of Indian turnip

put all together and steep

add 1 lb loaf sugar.

For White Swelling

      Ground Ivy & Sassafras bark

      equal parts made into a poultice

      with sweet milk thickened

      with rye meal                       Trowbridge

Liniment for Poleevil Swing

and Phistelo

      Rx Alcohol      1 qt

         Gum camphor        2 oz

         Oil Hemlock     1 ”

         Venice Turp.    1 ”

         Oil of Cloves 1/4 ”

                              Peterson

[17 blank pages]

For Consumption

Take Tamarack bark without

Rossing 1 peck Spicknard

root 1/2 lb. Dandelion root 1/4 lb

Hops 2 oz Boil in two or thre

gallons water sufficient to

get the strenth out Strain

and boil down to 1 gal.

when nerly Cool add 3 lb.

of honey and 3 pts. best

Brandy bot(t)le keep in a

cool place  Dose 3 or 4 times

a day             Chase

Chlorate Potassium for consump

one teaspoonful in a glass water

to be drank a litle at a time in

from 6 to 24 hours as it can be

                              taken.

Febrifuge for al kinds

fever Carbonate Ammonia

two drs alum 1 dr. Gentan

Capsicum Colombo and Prussiate of iron

all pulverised of each 1/2 dram

put in a botle

add water Cold 4oz shake

when used Dose 1 teaspon every

two hours if the patient be

pale and blanched and cool

surface make the following

Viginia Snake root a valleran

each 1/2 oz boling water 1 pt

give teaspoon of the febrifuge

in a tablespoon of the tea til

he has a good apetite if the

case is typhoid give the sweled

belly and loosness give the

following with the others

Gum Camphor 30 grs balsam

Copabia sweet sprt niter

Compound spirit lavender

of each 1/2 oz  Shake the vial

and give forty drops every

four hours in with the other

medison until the tongue

becomes moist and the Diarrhea

is better ten discontinue this

and continue the febrifuge

and teas as before            Dr Chase

Directions how to use the

Gelseminum  Take 50 drops

of gelseminum in a vial add

5 teaspoons water quinine 10 grs

Shake when used one teaspoon

in half glass sweetened water

ever/over two hours till its effects are

                                    visible

Cure for night sweats

Take Ess. tansy  1/2 oz. Alcohol 1/4 oz

Water 1/4 oz  quinine 15 grs.

Muriatic acid  30 drops mix

dose teaspoon in gill of

sage tea three or four times

a day and drink freely of

sage tea                Dr Chase

Toothache and Neuralgia Cure

Best alcohol 1 oz laudanum

1 dram  Chloroform  liquid 5 dr.

Gum camphor  1/2 oz.  oil Cloves 1/2 dr.

Sulphuric ether  3/4 oz  oil lavder

1 dr. apply with lint also

rub on the face         Dr. Chase

To take tarter off the teeth

Dissolve one oz. Borax in 1 1/2

pints water boiling when a litle cool

a tinc. myrrh one tablespoon tinc.

lampti and 1 tablespoon bottle direction

at bedtime

                  [re-chk]

To dress Deer Skins

For each skin take bucket

of water and 1 qurt of lime

let the skin or skins lay in

3 or 4 days then rince in clean

water then take off the hair grain

and soak in cold water to take

out the lime now scour in

good saap suds for half an

hour now take white vitrol

alum and salt of each

1 tablespoon disolved in

water just enough to cover

the skin let it remain in

24 hours the ring out as

dry as you can with a stick

then spred on the flesh

side with brush 1/2 pt.

of curriers oil then

hang in the sun two days

then wash in strong suds

then hang up til dry then

pull and work til soft

  _____    ______    _____

To dress sheep skins

Mak a strong suds in

hot water then when coole

take two skins was(h) them

clean then wash out the

soap with clean water

now disolve alm and salt

of each 1/2 lb. in a litle hot

water which put in to a

tub of cold water enoug

To cover the skins let

them lay about twelve

hours then hang over a

pole to drain when well

dreaned spred them carefu/

=ley on a board to dry

stretching them seveal times

while drying or tack them

when yet a litle damp

sprinkle the flesh side

with saltpeter and alum

each one oz. rubing well with

the hand then lay the flesh

sides together hang on a pole

in the shade turning them over

every day til dry then flesh

them and rub with peumastone

Pudkin’s Ointment for

Cancers Fever Soars &c.

Rx  Lint seed oil 1 pt sweet

oil 1 oz  Boil in an iron ketle

about 4 hours on coals then pulve

and mix  Borax 1/2 oz red Lead

4 oz Sugar Lead 1 1/2 oz setoff

and thicken in the powde stir

til cooled to blend warm then

sitr (sic) in 1 oz spirits turpentine

now take out a litle leting

it get cold and if not thick

enough to spred on thin soft

linnen return to the fire

and boil til thick enough

                                    Chase

.

Equal weights Glycerine and Tannin

for piles taking Rosin and Sulphur

                                    Chase

.

A cure for warts corns and chilblains

Nitric and muriatic acids

Blue vitriol and Salts of

tartar of each 1 oz. add the

acids in the same way the other

powder when done foamig (sic)

mix let stand a few days

appy with a feather           Chase

Samaritan Liniment

Take good Alcohol 2 qrts

add oils sassafras Hemlock

spts Turpentine tincture

Cayene Catechu guiac & Laudnum

of each 1 oz tic. myrrh 4 oz

oil Oreganum 2 oz  oil wintergreen

1/2 oz gum camphor 2 oz and

Chloroform  1/2 oz           

                              Chase

Vemifuge

Take oil Chenopodii 1/2 oz oil

terebinth 2 drs.  Castor oil 1 1/2 oz

fluid ext. Spigelia 1/2 oz

Hydrastin 10 grs.  syp. meth.

pip. 1/2 oz. dose teaspon for a

child 10 years three times a day before

eating                              Chase

.

To preserve eggs for winter

For every three gal. of water

put in one pint of fresh slacked

lime silk 1/2 pint put a

board over the eggs with a lit(t)le

salt and lime on it to keep the

eggs under              Chase

Renovating mixture

Aqua ammonia  2 oz.  soft

water 1 qrt. niter 1 teaspoon

varigated Shaving Soap 1 oz

Shave or scrape the soap vary

fine mix shake well.

this applyed to any grease

spots will take it out by

sponging well  Rince with clean wat

it will kill Bedbugs and ther eggs

by aplying with a fether in the crcks.

For keeping Beef

First     well with salt and

let it it lay 24 hours to draw

the blood out then up to drin (sic)

the pack clase pour over the

following brine for every

100 lb of meat use 7 lb.

salt saltpeter 1 oz cayene

pepeper 1 oz molases 1 qrt.

water 8 gal. Boil skim

well when cold pour

over the Beef                 Chase

A cheap and good cement

Oyster shell lime pulverised

vary fine mix up with

white of a egg to a thick past.

                              Chase

To pickle hams

To every 100 lb. take best salt

8 lb saltpeter 2 oz. Brown

Shugar 2 lb. Potash 1 1/2 oz and

water 4 g gals. mix pour

on after the meat has lain in

the tub about 2 days sprin

kle a litle salt on as you

pack down let it lay 6 weeks

then take out and drain then

sprinkle every part of the

flesh side with Cayen peper

then hang up and dry three

or four days before smoking

                              Chase

Tomato Catchup

Take ripe tomatos 1/2 bushel

wash clean and break to pieces

then put them over the(n) let

come to a boil then set off

when cool enough rub through

a wire sieve and to what

goes through add 2 tea cups salt

alspice and Cloves pulv. of

each 1 teacup best vinegar

1 qrt. put on the fire and

cook one hour spiring (stirring?) all

the time to avoid burning

then batle and seal.  if too

theick when used add a litle

vinegar                       Chase

Waterproof Cement for

Cloth of belting or leather

Take ale 1 pt. best Russia

Isinglass 2 oz. put them in

a common glue ketle boil til

dissolved then add 4 oz. best

comon glue disolve it with

the other then strongly add 1 1/2 oz.

of boiled lintseid oil Stiring

all the time while adding until

thoroughly mixed when cold

it will resemble India ruber

when you wish to use it dissolve

in ale to consistence of thick

glue                          Chase

Cement for Furniture and

Marble Wood Glass China and

is allways ready for use

Take water 1/2 gal. nice glue

1 1/2 lb. White lead 2 oz. whiskey

3 pts. dissolve the glue in the

water remove from the fire

then stir in the white lead

thead then add the whiskey.  The

whiskey keeps it fluid

warm shake or stir it when

used keep well corked

                                    Chase

Cement for &c which stands

fire and water.  With a small

Camels hair pencil rub the

broken edges with a lile

cariage oill varnish          Chase

.

Russian Cement white

and lear Russian Ising lass

dissolved in pure soft water

Snow water is best

                                    Chase

For Whitewash

Nice unslact lime 1/2 bushel

slake it with boiling water

coveer it during the process

to keep in the steam

strain through a fine sieve

then salt one peck well

dissolved in water Rice 3 lb.

boiled to a thin paste stired

in boiling hot spanish

witing 1/2 lb lb (?) good gule previous

=sly dissolved add 5 gals. hot

water stir well cover and let it

stand 2 or 3 days

                              Chase

Boxmetle to make

Copper 4 pts lead 1 pt

Zinc is sometimes used

instead of the lead printer(s)

type is better that either.

Solder for Copper

Copper 3 parts Zinc 2 parts

or sheet brass 3 parts, and zinc 1 part.

Solder for Lead Tin 1 part Lead 2 part.

For tinlead 10 pts tine 7 pts

Scowering liquid for brass

or copper oil vitriol 1 oz

swet oil 1/2 gill pulverised

roten stone 1 gill rain water

1 1/2 pts. mix shake as used

apply with a rag and polish

with buckskin or wollen.

To mend a broken saw

Pure silver 19 parts pure

Copper 1 part pure Brass 2 pats (sic)

all filed to fine powder

the thoroughly mixed i(f) the

saw is not fresh broke

aply the tinning fluid

to the edges now place the

saw level on the anvil

with the edges in place

now put a small line of

the solder on the seam

then cover with larger

bulk of powdered charcoal

now with a spirit lamp &

and blow pipe blow the l/baze

to melt the solder holding the

coal dust in pace (sic) with a rag

                              Case  Chase

Eye Water

Table salt and White Vitriol

of each 1 tablespoon heat

them on Copper or earthen

to dry out the water of Crystalisation

which makes it milder then add

it to 1/2 pint of rain water then

add white sugar 1 tablespoon

blue vitriol the sise (sic) of a pea

apply often 4 or 5 times

daily a good adition to the above

is one grain of morpine to

each ounce of the fluid

                              Chase

For chronic soar eys

      White precipitate 1 teaspoon

rub into a salve with 3 teaspons of

lard aply to outside of lids.

For Poleevil fistel and cure warts and

corns.

Potash 1/4 oz. extr. Belladonna  1/2 dr.

Gum Arabic 1/4 oz.   dissolve the gum

in as little water as will do then pulverize

the Potash and mix in the gum water then

add the belladonna.  To be applyed warts

or corns put in a litle and wash of

in 5 or 10 minutes                        Chase

For Inflammatory Rheumatism

Sulphe and saltpeter of

each 1 oz gum guaiac 1/2 oz

Colchicum seed nutmeg of

each 1/4 oz. all pulv and mix

in syrup 2 oz dose one tea

spoon every 2 hours till

it moves the bowels freely

then 3 or 4 tims daily till

cured.            Chase

        Macrotin would be

a good addition to the above.

            Honey

Good common Sugar 5 lb

water 1 qrt. gradually bring

to a boil skim well when

cool add 1 lb.  Bees honey and

4 drops essence peppermint or

Lubins ext. Honeysuckle

another way             Chase

Brown sugar 10 lb.  3 pts.

Cream tarter 2 oz. strong

vinegar 2 tablspoons the

white of one egg well beaten

Bees honey 1/2 lb. Lubins ext.

of Honeysuckle 10 drops.

when warm put in the tarter

and vinegar when nearly melted

put the honey when it bils (sic) set

off and strain when cold ext

                              Chase

Btucher (sic) Knives Spring

Temper and good edge

In forging be vary careful

not to heat it too hot and

water hammer at the last

whe (sic) you heat to temper

heat only to a cerry (sic) red put

in the water hanging plum

so as not to crook/cook the return

it to the fire passing through

the blaze til a litle hat

then it all over with a tallow

candle then back to the fire

passing back and forth in

the blaze turning over to

keep the heat eaven til

the tallow goes off as tho

it went into the steel

then take out and rub

both sides withe candle

as before and back to

the fire passing back and

forth til it starts into a

blaze with spap snap being

careful to keep the haat/heat

even then rub the overit

again and back to the fire

three times quickly as it

burns off and lastly rub

the tallow over it and

push it into the dust

of the forg til cool

To temper cast steel)   Chase

springs heat in the dark

just that you see a litle red

cool in luke warm water

Mill picks to temper

To 6 qts sof water put in

pulv corrosive sublimate

1 oz and two hands of co__

sat wen dissolved it is read

for use.  heat the picks

only. to a cherry red drow

no temper                     Chase

An other

Water 3 gals,  Salt 2 qts.

sal ammoniac and saltpeter

each 2 oz ashes of ash bark

a shovelful which makes

them seale white as silver

draw no temper                Chase

never heat above a cherry

red and water hammer lightly

To case harden an

axe tree take Prusiate of

Potash finely pulvurised

Role the under side of

the spindle in it when

hot passing it quick to

the water               Chase

Black oxide of mangan

=nece will purify iron.

For coughs

Take one qurt tar boil to

soft wax pour the tar

boling hot in one qrt. Rum

boil one lb hourhond in

two galns water ten minutes two hours

Strain boil to one qrt.

add honey boil skim pour

boiling hot into the tar

let stand 24 hours (dectop/stop)

botle up dose one tablespoon

3 to 5 times a day

                        Dr. Trowbridge

[3 blank pages]

Musings      Dec 24th 1849

I saw her at first mid the joyous and young

And singled her out of the fair

She seemed the most happy the number among

The words seemed the sweetest that fell from her tongue

My heart was rejoiced I was there

Just seventeen summers had gilded her way

No sorrow nor care had she known

As blithe as the bord that carols all day

As light as the lambs round hilltops that play

As fair as the lily just blown

I saw her again & I sat with her there

Alone neath the moon mellowed sky

And thought as she sung me a favorite lay

When the hours like moments were rushing away

That none were so happy as I

I told her I loved how ardent how dear

While thrilld with emotion she heard

Too timid to rest too confiding to fear

There rolld on her cheek one gem of a tear

Which told me how her bosom was stirred

I caled her my wife and took her to dwell

Amid the endearments of home

And realised there how great was her worth

Nor thought the same could be found upon earth

Whereever the footsteps might roam.

How we lived a stime rolld away

Together more closely we clung

And the lay that she warbled to to hush it to rest

The golden haird cherub that lay on her brest

Seemed the sweetest that ever she sung.

She faded away as fadeth the bud

When the worm is feeding below

And through the bereavement would crush to be borne

My hearts finest fibres apart would be torn.

Still, still my beoved must gow

I saw her at last how sweetly she lay

With the mantles of death round her thrown

Her body is given to crumble to clay

Her spirit has gone where the blest ever stay

And I am alone, am alone.

                                    J. K. Bristow

[next page blank]

Exalted by thy name Oh lord

for thy mercy is great thy kindness

hath protecrd protected us.  withdraw

them not from us.  keep ur us as in

the hollow of thy hand guide us

through life assist us through

the dark valley and shadow of

death prepare us a seat at thy

right hand where we may enjoy

the thy presence forever more  S

                              AA Hatch

[next page blank]

Honour thy father and

mother for this is right yes

this is right consider how

they toil for thy welfare thy

p. prosperity forget not their care.

they have been kind kind

kindness should be the return

[next page blank]

                              March

March 8th  1847

There is scarcely a man who

lives on the earth 

How frail is the Minds of man

forgetful of its God.

Murmer gentle lyre

Murmer gentle lyre

Through this lonely night.

Let thy —– trembling wire

Waken ere daylight

Oh! the tones of sorrow

Mingled in the strain

Yet the heart can borrow

Pleasure from their frames the same

Hush the thousand noises

Gone at noonday glare

Gentle spirit voices

Stir the midnight air.

Earth below is sleeping

Meadow hill and grove

Angel stars are keeping

Silent watch above

.

March 14th  1847

      The Ills of Life we Cannot

      Escape therefore let us submit

      to them with patience knowing

      that Contentment is the only

      guide to happiness

      Without a Contented mind we

      cannot fill the station in life for which

      God the Author of our Being has

      Created us.

                              1847

            June 1847

      Virtue a good thing

Yes virtue is truly a good thing

how lovely does it make its appearence

how useful and interesting does that

person appear who has a virtuous

disposistion to adorn their Character

May you my friend be always blest

With friends selected from the best

And in return may you extend

Each gem of love to every friend.

      John K. Bristow   Emeline M. &Bristow

.

In Pleasure could this life be past

We’d never wish to see the last

                              E. M. Bristow

S.  Aurette   Cr.

                  settled

      by work      $ 4.50

      O that God will

      crown us with success

      in all our lawful and

      right undertakings.

                                          88899

[Inside End Cover]

            Lucy went to the

            Horse Ap. 16 — 60

            Florra   Ap  20th —

                  80

                  12 1/2

                _______

                  960

                   40

                ____

                1000

                                                [Book Seller label,

                                                 inverted.]