You want to put a WHAT on your kid's finger-and other gems

[Kit-Ginevra]

Just picked up a cool book-Enquire Within Upon Everything(I think it's still going)-household hints and all sorts of general trivia for running the home.There's no actual date mentioned,but going by the last dates mentioned,it appears to be around 1926-1927. The language leaves a lot to be desired as do some of the remedies....

Children's disease.... to dress a blister.
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"Cut the bag of cuticle containing the serum at the lowest part by snipping it with the scissors so as to form an opening like this V,and then apply a piece of calico,spread with spermatozoa or other such dressing "

Equally worrisome are...
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To extinguish fire...."A solution of pearlash in water thrown upon a fire extinguishes it instantly-the proportion is a quarter of a pound,dissolved in some hot water and then poured into a bucket of common water. Hand grenades are very effective in the early stages of a fire..."

Just disturbing is...
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Eugenics...''Much good may be done by the segregation of the mentally defective,for their mental weakness is accompanied by the lack of the power of selfcontrol,so that they grow and multiply unrestrainedly"

Lack of foresight award...
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Vocal pictures...''Different attempts have been made from time to time to produce talking pictures.One method was to synchronize the words of the actors spoken into a gramophone with the moving picture by means of electrical devices,but the results obtained were unsatisfactory,and the talking picture never became popular."

And just funky...
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Wedding Arrangements..."The fee to the clergyman is according to the rank and fortune of the bridegroom;the clerk if there be one expects five shillings,and a trifle should be given to the pew opener and other officials of the church.

[crazylegs]

Equally worrisome are...
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To extinguish fire...."A solution of pearlash in water thrown upon a fire extinguishes it instantly-the proportion is a quarter of a pound,dissolved in some hot water and then poured into a bucket of common water. Hand grenades are very effective in the early stages of a fire..."

Yeah, they mean this sort of hand grenade They were very common as extinguishers at one point and intact ones can be sold for a healthy bit of cash these days.

http://www.thegavel.net/grenade.html

[Aethian]

The last one is technically still true. There are some ministers/preachers/fathers/ect that judge their fee on the two getting married.

[Kit-Ginevra]

It was more the payment that was to be made to the officials that amused me. 'Thanks,so I have to stand about during the wedding balancing this dessert that appears to be my wages..'

[Crossbow]

Yeah, they mean this sort of hand grenade They were very common as extinguishers at one point and intact ones can be sold for a healthy bit of cash these days.

http://www.thegavel.net/grenade.html

My friend's old house had these all over the place, mounted on the wall with a bi-metal bracket that would release in case of fire. Pretty much the same thing as these:


No idea if his were the saline or the carbon tetrachloride variety, and I had no interest in finding out.

[AccountingDrone]

Children's disease.... to dress a blister.
********************************
"Cut the bag of cuticle containing the serum at the lowest part by snipping it with the scissors so as to form an opening like this V,and then apply a piece of calico,spread with spermatozoa or other such dressing "

try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_w...rgan_and_melon

Atop the whale's skull is positioned a large complex of organs filled with a liquid mixture of fats and waxes called spermaceti. The purpose of this complex is to generate powerful and focused clicking sounds, which the sperm whale uses for echolocation and communication.[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]

The spermaceti organ is like a large barrel of spermaceti. Its surrounding wall, known as the case, is extremely tough and fibrous. The case can hold within it up to 1,900 litres of spermaceti.[66] It is proportionately larger in males.[67] This oil is a mixture of triglycerides and wax esters. The proportion of wax esters in the spermaceti organ increases with the age of the whale: 38–51% in calves, 58–87% in adult females, and 71–94% in adult males.[68] The spermaceti at the core of the organ has a higher wax content than the outer areas.[69] The speed of sound in spermaceti is 2,684 m/s (at 40 kHz, 36°C), making it nearly twice as good a conductor of sounds as the oil in a dolphin's melon.[70] Below the spermaceti organ lies the "junk" (so-called because many whalers dismissed this part as a worthwhile source of oil), which consists of compartments of spermaceti separated by cartilage. It is analogous to the melon found in other toothed whales.

Sort of like putting any oily dressing on a burn. You are not supposed to, actually though most people use butter. Compound was why sperm whales were hunted, for their oil. Also used in ski wax, FWIW.

[ArcticChicken]

It was more the payment that was to be made to the officials that amused me. 'Thanks,so I have to stand about during the wedding balancing this dessert that appears to be my wages..'

I'm pretty sure they mean trifle as in small amount, not cake.

[BookstoreEscapee]

liquid mixture of fats and waxes called spermaceti.

Spermaceti sounds like something you might get at an Italian restaurant...

[MoonCat]

Spermaceti sounds like something you might get at an Italian restaurant...

Like zamboni

[wolfie]

Equally worrisome are...
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To extinguish fire...."A solution of pearlash in water thrown upon a fire extinguishes it instantly-the proportion is a quarter of a pound,dissolved in some hot water and then poured into a bucket of common water. Hand grenades are very effective in the early stages of a fire..."

Although I'd think that, especially in the early stages, the time spent mixing pearlash (WTF is that?) into the water would allow the fire to grow more than the added effectiveness of the mixture compared to just using water would compensate for. After all, good enough is good enough, and perfect is a PITA.

I hope Pvt. Rock (yep, I've heard of the military slang) doesn't read this and associate it with the use of explosives in extinguishing oil well fires.