WARNING! THIS ARTICLE REPRESENTS A HISTORICAL REFERENCE TO THE PRACTICES USED OVER 100 YEARS AGO TO GET RID OF COCKROACHES. THIS PRACTICE COULD BE DANGEROUS TO YOU, YOUR HOME, YOUR CHILDREN OR PETS OR MORE IF YOU UTILIZE THEM TODAY.
THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR HISTORICAL RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY!
How to Destroy Cockroaches.—Take a quarter of a teaspoonful of phosphorous, two level tablespoonfuls of flour, mix and make into paste with well sweetened water. Phosphorous is very inflammable and should not be allowed near fire and being poisonous must not be placed where children and family pets can touch or eat it. Place the paste where the roaches can reach it.
Maybe in this modern age if we allowed more cock roaches to enter our abodes, our appetites would be cubed a bit and weight loss wouldn't be so much of an issue.
Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:
- The Toes
The Toes. — the toes are observed to be straightforward and align with the general contour of the foot. This is their natural position. The beautiful outlet of the natural foot, is here represented in the several different views, the graceful arch of the instep the elegance of its form, it’s marvelous elasticity and string all combine to make the foot that only of great perfection in beauty, but admirably did it for the manifold duties is called upon to perform. Man, in his diversified labors and very trials throughout life, is sometimes obliged to walk, run, jump, leap, climb, stand erect, lean forward, etc., and he depends upon the foot to maintain his equilibrium in the performance of the several duties.
This section provides us with a great deal of non-information about the toes that your average 4 year old intuits without having to verbalize and often verbalizes none-the-less. This section might as well offer up an auto insurance quote advertisement as opposed to supposedly providing medical education information on appendages attached to our feet.
- Sea-Water
Sea-Water.-Sea-water varies considerably in composition, being, of course, more concentrated, as a rule, in the tropical regions, where evaporation is most active, such, for example, as in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean near the equator. According to analysis, the water in the English Channel contains in 1000 parts‑
Chloride of Sodium 28.05
Chloride of Magnesium…………………….. 3.66
Sulphate of Magnesia 2.29
Sulphate of Lime ……………………………. 1.40
Other Saline Materials ……………………….. .76
Total Solid Matter…………………….. 36. 16
Besides these, and perhaps contributing largely to the healthful qualities of sea-water, there exist in the ocean small quantities of iodine and bromide, and extremely minute amounts of some of the common metals. It has been found that, by dissolving a little common salt and carbonate of soda, lime and magnesia in distilled sea-water, its taste is rendered much more agreeable; and this plan, it is said, is adopted in the Russian navy.
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As in the last section where they talk about distilling sea water for drinking on ships, this talks about some of the other materials that can be extracted during the distillation process. With the exception of salt extraction some of these other materials don’t seem terribly practical. Times do change however, and if water is extracted every bit of material that comes with it has to go somewhere whether it can be sold in bulk for mass production of vitamins or horse supplements or what ever.
- Outbreak at Salford Jail
Outbreak at Salford Jail. — In the Salford, England, jail there was a sudden outbreak of diarrhea of a choleric type, which affected more than half of the prisoners; while of the officers and their families, who were distributed throughout the building, not one was attacked. The food of the convicts was examined and found to be good; it was evident, also, that the air to not contain the cause of the disease, as both classes above mentioned were under the same conditions in that respect. Suspicion was therefore directed to the drinking water. It was then discovered that, though the water supply in all parts of the prison was derived from the same source, there was one sister for the use of the officers, and another’s covered cistern for furnishing to the prisoners their allowance, and that the un-trapped overflow pipe of the latter communicated with an open sewer. On the day of the outbreak of diarrhea in the jail, the water from the cistern was observed to be colored and to taste unpleasantly.
This is definitely an interesting historical footnote, even though it would appear that this case was likely at least 20-50 years old when the author covered it 100 years from the publication of this internet article. Never the less, it is interesting to learn again how this case was tracked and gain some additional historical perspective. It helps us to understand the actual situations that led to policy and change and codes in plumbing and more over the years and helps make the current code less distant as if its there for the simple practice of bureaucracy as if we were reading actuarial tables about term life insurance and not a medical guide that might have saved some people’s lives as they put this into practice.