Cure for Small Pox
We find in the Selma (Ala) Reporter the following recipe, which is said to be a sure cure for small pox. Take one grain each of powdered foxglove (digitalis) and sulphate of zinc. Rub them together thoroughly in a mortar with five or six drops of water. This done, add four or five ounces of water and sweeten with sugar. Does – a tablespoonful for an adult, and one or two teaspoonfuls for a child, every two or three hours until the symptoms of the disease vanish.
Source: Southern Cultivator, March – April 1862 as found in John Hammond Moore, ed., The Confederate Housewife (Columbia, SC: Summerhouse Press, 1997).
