Important: Safety Warning
This page directs the use of hazardous substances — such as benzine, gasoline, lye, or strong acids — for household tasks. These materials are highly flammable, corrosive, or poisonous, and the practices described have caused fires, burns, and poisonings.
In addition, this page presents medical treatment from an era before modern medicine. The remedies described are ineffective against the conditions named, and some of the ingredients or doses are harmful. Do not use them to treat any illness; consult a qualified medical professional.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Home › Medical Receipts › To Cure a Disagreeable Breath
To Cure a Disagreeable Breath
This most disagreeable infliction may be alleviated or cured by one or other of the following remedies, provided that the teeth do not require a dentist's assistance. Chlorine water, as supplied by a good chemist, a tablespoonful to half a tumbler of water, to be used as a wash and gargle for the mouth; no harm will be done if a few drops are accidentally swallowed in SO doing. Charcoal in teaspoonful doses of the powder, or as charcoal biscuits, or the use of prepared chalk as a tooth-powder. A frequent cause of foul breath is a torpidity of some of the excretory organs, such as the skin, kidneys, bowels, liver, lungs. When these cease performing their functions one of the others will be called upon to perform an extra office. In this way, when the bowels or skin become affected, the lungs, being an excretory organ, will be called upon to throw off an additional waste from the system. If so, the breath becomes tainted. Should the foul breath be depending upon the stomach, it must be corrected by some skillful physician.