HERB - what I wish I'd had

[Gaylin J. Walli]

Katherine kindly wrote:

>I found that liberal use of
>corstarch not only acted as a dry lubricant -- keeping the clothing from
>irritating -- but by itself was often enough to heal the rash if left alone &
>uncovered for a couple hours.  Perhaps this is due to the wonderful "drying"
>properties of cornstarch?  I don't know.  This is based on experience, not
>research, yet unless one is alergic to corn, I cannot see how using 
>it would be
>harmful ("first rule: harm none"), and can certainly make life more
>*comfortable* when it is not convienient to "wear" a poultice!

Thankyou for the experience information, with which I wholeheartedly
agree. I wonder if anyone on the list has information on drawing
qualities of the starch of corn. Anyone? It seems generally true that
grain flours serve as wonderful drawing poultices, in my experience.
I don't know the reason why or the science behind it, to be honest,
and would like to know if anyone on the list has the information.

As for the young gentleman with the boot rash. :) We had found
some oatmeal at the same time that we'd found the baking soda,
but we used the soda on purpose for two other specific reasons
not readily apparent. First, we did it to keep him seated and not
doing all the work around the camp (not that we like to discourage
working, mind you). The second was to encourage others in camp
to do some of the work that this young man was doing all of. Our
standard response was "Oh he can't right now. He has to leave
that poultice on to feed the flesh eating bacteria consuming his legs."

*grin*

jasmine

Iasmin de Cordoba
iasmin at home.com or gwalli at ptc.com
AOL AIM: IasminDeCordoba
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