Farmers Advocate October 14, 1918
In
October, Mr M.D. Dalley of Koo Wee Rup, wrote the following letter to the Farmers’ Advocate newspaper - Among the papers of my late
father the following recipe was found; it has been used by him on many
occasions, and found an excellent embrocation (lotion). For the benefit of
farmers I give it: - 1 oz. Laudanum, 1 oz. Tincture of Myrrh; 1 oz. Tincture of
Aloes; ½ oz. Sulphate of Zinc; 1 oz. Carbolic Acid. Mix with 5 oz. salad oil.
For the young readers of this article, the word oz is
the abbreviation for an ounce which is about 28 grams. These ingredients were
obviously freely available at the time; I am not sure how you would access them
all now. Laudanum is opium mixed with alcohol and, not surprisingly, no longer
available at the local shops; Myrrh is a type of tree resin and was one of the
gifts given by the Three Wise Men at the birth of Jesus. I didn't actually realise that it was used anywhere outside the Bible; Aloes is made from the
leaves of the aloe plant; Sulphate of Zinc is the dietary supplement; Carbolic
Acid or phenol is used as an antibiotic or disinfectant and is considered to be
a poison. Salad oil sounds like the least dangerous and easiest to obtain
ingredient out of this list. As a matter of interest, Mr Dalley’s full name was
Moorabool Darriwell
Dalley, quite an unusual set of given names. He was born at Batesford, which is
on the Moorabool River, and Darriwell is the name of a land administration
Parish, just north of Batesford. Darriwell was also the name of the 1879
Melbourne Cup winner.
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