HERB - Ointment, Balm, Salve Recipes??
Elizabeth Zagula
ezagula at srv.net
Mon May 1 13:22:41 PDT 2000
Usually Nostradamus is very wordy on his descriptions of how wonderful his
preparation is and its various uses. On this one he is definitely less
wordy.
Here is the complete recipe:
A Lotion for Whitening the Face and keeping it beautiful for a long time,
in order to give it a natural pallor and whiteness, which needs repeated
application. For this reason one must use it for four days. It is also
for simple people and those of the lower class. However, I have also used
it on people of higher degree who have been very pleased with it and think
no less of it than of the very carefully prepared sublimate.
Take two ounces each of white, well-cleaned wild lentils, lily bulbs, both
adders'-tongues, starch, Venetian white lead (frequently washed with
rose-water), Gaetan soap, rice and shelled sweet almond kernels. Steep
them all together and then put the mixture into a pristine earthenware pot
with an earthenware lid. Place it in an oven used for making bread and
leave it there until it is baked. Then take it out and put it into a glass
container again. Next, take one ounce each of arabian gum and tragacanth
and half a small quart each of marigold- and white-lily-water and leave the
gum to steep in it overnight. Then take six drachms of fine white sea
shells or porcelain and pound them to powder, grinding them down completely
in lime juice. Next take half an ounce of borax and mix everything
together apart from the gum, but it would be good if you were able to grind
that down finely as well. Add some of our pomade and stir it up well in a
marble mortar. Then pour over it a little of the slime of white poplar
roots, which have been steeped in rose-water and
black-coriander-seed-water. Mix everything thoroughly and make a salve
with it. At night when you go to bed, apply it to your face hot or
lukewarm and leave it until morning. Then boil some beans in water and
wash your face until you have removed the salve. Then go over your face
once more with a sponge moistened with rose-water and let it dry, but take
care nothing is left behind which might have an adverse affect. The gum,
which strongly adheres to the face, nevertheless imparts to it a natural
lustre, which is visible for all to see. For that reason both these gums
should be beautiful and white, especially the tragacanth. If the work is
carried out as instructed, overnight the complexion will be so changed that
in the morning an old woman will look like a young girl.
Elizabeth
There is a fine line between anal and efficient, I straddle it!
>
> The white lead is also called litharge and is a white powder. The most
> common substitue for it would be titanium dioxide which is used as the
base
> pigment for paints and cosmetics today. I am not sure what the mercuric
> chloride would be used for since it is crystalline in nature and soluble
in
> water. Does the book give a description of what the mercury is for other
> than making the face whiter?
>
> Morgan
>
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