# A Friend in Need

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A Friend in Need
Facts worth knowing about
ARM & HAMMER BAKING SODA
as a proven medical agent
Arm & Hammer
BAKING SODA
IS
BICARBONATE OF SODA
AND IS
U.S.P. STANDARD
ITS QUALITY AND PURITY
ARE UNEXCELLED
FOR SALE BY ALL GROCERS
A Friend in Need
FACTS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT
ARM & HAMMER BAKING SODA
AS A PROVEN MEDICINAL AGENT
CHURCH & DWIGHT CO., INC. Copyright, 1925
INDEX
TO TESTED AND APPROVED MEDICINAL USES OF BICARBONATE OF SODA
CHURCH & DWIGHT CO., Inc. 27 CEDAR STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y.
A FRIEND IN NEED
There is no mortal man whom pain and disease do not reach.
—Ovid.
Health is the birthright of man. If you are sick, you have, in some way, violated a law of nature. When you observe the teachings of nature, you are well. This booklet, pointing out how certain laws of nature can be followed, will help you and your household to avoid much of the pain and suffering that is the inevitable result of delay in heeding Nature’s warnings.
“The foremost fire fighter in the world,” said F. Burnham McLeary, in an article contributed to the World’s Work, “is responsible for the statement that 99 per cent. of all fires on earth could be extinguished with a glass of water if taken in time. To be more specific, even though a score of fires were breaking out in various quarter of San Francisco on the morning of April 18, 1906, fifty such glasses of water, properly stationed, would have ​prevented the destruction of a city and the irretrievable loss of three hundred and fifty millions of dollars.
That is the value of having on hand at the vital moment a reliable agent for checking a destructive force.
Fire has an insatiable appetite; it grows as it feeds; a glass of water may extinguish it in the early moments of its life, but it may grow beyond human power or skill to check when it becomes half an hour old.
Sickness resembles fire; it grows as it feeds; the right remedy may extinguish it in the first few hours of its life, but if it once “grips” the system it may grow beyond human power or skill to master.
“Meet the Disease at its approach.”
We see therefore both ancient and modern appreciate the enormous value of the first few moments or the first few hours in preventing the spread of fire or disease.
We have compared sickness, illness or disease to fire, and it would be well if others always carried the same comparison in their minds, for an essential characteristic of an illness is its tendency to spread from one point to another in the human body and for a single symptom to rapidly develop a group of symptoms. In other words, an indisposition may be compared to fire in the fact that it may be looked at in the light of a red flame that gives a warning of danger before it leaps up into devouring strength and destruction.
Sickness or indisposition is a danger signal; within the body, somewhere, a conflict is going on between the forces that make for disease, and the forces that make for ​health; if the patient begins to get worse you at once know that the armies of disease have gained the ascendency, that the automatic safety provisions of the human system have been overcome, and that Nature has signalled you to aid in the fight with the forces of human intellect. It is in such emergencies—before the doctor comes, or when it is obvious that prompt action will make a visit from the doctor unnecessary—that this little booklet should be consulted. For it tells you when and how that inexpensive box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda in your kitchen, or obtainable in the nearest grocery store, can be used to aid Nature in her fight.
Understand, please, that Bicarbonate of Soda is not a cure-all. Its field of usefulness as a home remedy is limited to well-defined ailments. Understand, also, that it should be regarded as an aid—not a substitute—to the physician. But, as a study of the ​following pages will show, it has been proven by time and trial and experience as a most effective preventive and remedy for a surprisingly large percentage of the ailments most common among the civilized races.
In compiling this list of uses for Arm & Hammer Pure Bicarbonate of Soda as a household remedy, great care was taken to include nothing that had not been tested and approved by leading physicians—men who recognize it is their duty to be thorough—to be positive; men who do not base their decisions upon theory or accept assumption instead of proof; men who are convinced a thing can be done only after it is done.
Remedies offered are, in most instances, drawn from that great medical work “The Materia Medica,” which is founded on the medical experience of the greatest and best chemists, physicians and laboratory scientists the world has produced.
BICARBONATE OF SODA AS A THERAPEUTIC AGENT
Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow; the force of it depends on the strength of the hand that draws it.
—Johnson.
Baking Soda, which is Bicarbonate of Soda, is described in that authoritative work, The New Standard Dictionary, as, “a white crystalline substance, less soluble than sodium carbonate and having only a slight alkaline taste, used in cookery, in baking powders and in medicine.” Its use medicine is briefly outlined by Nelson’s Encyclopaedia as follows:
“Sodium bicarbonate is used in medicine as an antacid (an alkaline remedy for stomach acidity), and, on account of the large amount of carbon dioxide that is readily set free from it by acids or by heating, it is an important component of Seidlitz powders and other effervescing mixtures, and of baking powders.”
“Sodium bicarbonate alkalinizes the blood secretions, and is used as a corrective in functional diseases of the stomach.”
The proved value of Arm & Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda as a therapeutic agent is further evinced by the following evidence of a prominent physician in a letter to the Church & Dwight Company:
“Further, within my old household, before Woman’s Clubs and Parent–Teachers’ Associations, ​I have advocated the use of Bicarbonate of Soda as a preventive for “Colds,” with the result that now many reports are coming in stating that those who took “Soda” were note affected, while nearly every one around them had the “Flu.”
“Besides doing good in respirator affections, bicarbonate of soda is of inestimable value in the treatment of Alimentary Intoxication, Pyelitis (inflammation of the pelvis of the kidney), Hyper-Acidity of Urine, Uric Acid disturbances, Rheumatism, and Burns. An occasional three-day course of Bicarbonate of Soda increases the alkalinity of the blood, assists elimination and increases the resisting power of the body to all Infectious Diseases.
“——by advocating the therapeutic use of compressed yeast has no doubt benefited the health of many, but the value of yeast as a therapeutic agent is incomparable to that of pure Bicarbonate of Soda.
“The value of the World’s famous Spas and Health Springs is largely in the Alkalinity of the water. A comparative few may need Vitamine, but our great “National Crime” is over-eating, both in Vitamines and everything else, which, ​among other things, means an increased acid retention within the body and a predisposition to Rheumatism, Gout, etc.
TESTED HOUSEHOLD REMEDIES
In order to secure the best results with Arm & Hammer Pure Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda) when taken internally, certain simple rules must be observed. Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Bastedo, Page 88) clearly outlines these rules as follows:
“In the digestive period it reduces the secretion of gastric juice, neutralizes a portion of the hydrochloric acid, liberates the carminative carbon dioxide gas, and is absorbed as sodium chloride.
“In cases of fermentation or ‘sour stomach’ it may neutralize the organic acids and so result in the opening of a spasmodically closed pylorus (the ​opening between the stomach and the small intestine); while at the same time it acts to overcome flatulency (accumulation of gas in the stomach and bowels).
“The time of administration must, therefore, be chosen with a definite purpose. Usually for hyperchlohydria (excess of acid) one hour or two hours after meals will be the period of harmful excess of acid.
“In continuous hyperacidity and in fermentative conditions a dose an hour before meals will tend to prepare the stomach for the next meal; or sometimes a dose will be necessary immediately after eating, because of abnormal acid or gas having been present at the commencement of the meal. (For the average person one-half hour after meals is recommended).
“A dose at bedtime tends to check the early morning acidity, or a dose on arising cleans the stomach of acid and mucus before breakfast.”
Acidity
Dissolve a level teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in a tumbler of cool water and take one to two hours after meals. For a tonic form, about one-quarter teaspoonful before meals.
Baby’s Bath
Two teaspoonfuls of Bicarbonate of Soda to a gallon of water, dissolving it in a little water before adding it to the bath.
—Issued by United States Department of Labor, Children’s Bureau.
Baby’s Bottle
To make sweet after washing, fill with water to which has been added one-half teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda, and leave standing until bottle is needed.
Bath
Colds
A half teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in a glass of cold water, and repeated if necessary in one or two hours, will often ward off a cold in its early stages.
In addition to the above a hot Soda bath is very beneficial. Use half pound to one pound of Bicarbonate of Soda in as hot a bath as can be borne. Remain immersed in the water for about fifteen minutes. It is important to go to bed at once after this bath in order to avoid exposure.
A bath taken in this way causes the Alkali to penetrate the system and is a material aid to the human system in throwing off the germs of Grippe.
Efficient and Economical Dentifrice
To prevent decay of the teeth it is essential that they be kept clean. This means periodic dental examinations, the removal of salivary calculus by a competent dentist, the tri-daily use of the tooth brush and the control of mouth acids.
In our experience we did not find that the use of the tooth brush and warm water was sufficient to remove the discolorations, mucin, film and dental plaques from the teeth, for a certain amount of “bite” is needed to thoroughly clean them.
​A tooth powder should be soluble in water, free from grit, alkaline in reaction, and have a “bite” that will mechanically and chemically remove the albuminoid mucin film from the surface of the teeth. To be alkaline is essential because of the fact that most of the pathological germs of the mouth breed in an acid medium, the insoluble fats and albumins that form in the dental plaques are made soluble by alkali treatment, and also the decalcification and later decay take place as the result of the chemical action of acids.
Miller in 1907, after making exhaustive experiments and observations with commercial tooth powders, says: “I was not satisfied, relative to their liability to cut and erode the teeth, with examining the preparations microscopically but where there was any doubt I brushed the teeth them. Of the dentifrices examined a considerable number cut the teeth rapidly, while nearly all the others cut the teeth to some extent, the one that cut the least of all that I have examined was one which consists wholly of sodium bicarbonate.”
Colds and Influenza
A Physician Writes:
“In 1918 and 1919 while, fighting the ‘Flu’ with the U. S. Public Health Safety Service it was brought to my attention that rarely any one who has been thoroughly alkalinized with Bicarbonate of Soda contracted the disease, and those who did contract it, if alkalinized early, would invariably have mild attacks. I have since that time treated all cases of ‘Cold,’ influenza and La Grippe by first giving generous doses of Bicarbonate of Soda, and in many, many instances within 36 hours the symptoms would have entirely abated.”
In the event of a threatened attack we recommend the following treatment:
During the first day take six doses of half teaspoonful of Arm & Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water, at about two hour intervals.
During the second day take four doses of half teaspoonful of Arm & Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water, at the same intervals.
Corns and Bunions
Corns and bunions may be softened and relieved by making a salve of equal proportions of lard and Bicarbonate of Soda, and applying at night before retiring.
Dyspepsia or Heartburn
A quarter of a teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda dissolved in a tumbler of cold water, taken three times a day, will be found very beneficial.
“Sodium Bicarbonate is the most efficient drug for general use (in acid dyspepsia), about one-quarter teaspoonful before meals for a tonic form. In hyperchloric (acid) dyspepsia a level teaspoonful two hours after meals.”
—Therapeutics, Materia Medica and Pharmacy.
Eczema
“Externally, in solution, it (Bicarbonate of Soda) is a solvent for dried exudates (secretion) such as the crusts in seborrheic eczema.” Two level teaspoonfuls of Bicarbonate of Soda to a pint of water gives the proper solution in such cases.
—Practical Therapeutics (Bermingham).
Headache (Sick)
“Bicarbonate of Sodium” (Baking Soda)… “is largely used as an antacid in gastric fermentation and in sick headaches arising from this condition.” Dissolve one teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in a glass of cold water.
Hiccough
A teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda dissolved in half a glass of cold water will, in most cases, give instant and permanent relief.
Hives
“The local irritation and itching may be relieved by a dilute solution of Bicarbonate of Soda and water… (Soda) either in solution or paste is a soothing application for itching, insect bites, and burns. It is not caustic…”
—Materia Medica: Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Bastedo, p. 88, 1914).
Hyperacidity
Add a level teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda to a glass of cold water. “It is beneficial if given after meals in hyperacidity due to fermentation.”
Indigestion
“In many cases it will be found that the administration of small doses of Bicarbonate of Soda, five to ten grains” (quarter teaspoonful and a half a glass of ​cold water) “before each meal will cause free secretion of gastric juice, particularly if it be given simultaneously with bitter substances which act as stimulants to the gastric mucosa…”
—Practical Therapeutics—9th Edit. (Hare, page 669, 1902.)
Insect Bites
Bicarbonate of Soda “either in solution or paste is a soothing application in erythema, urticaria, itching, burns and insect-bites.”
—Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
Intestinal Diseases
If food distresses the stomach, give a quarter of a teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in a wine-glass of milk. “The alkalies have an extended use in diseases of the stomach and intestines, especially the former. Although we do not fully understand all their effects, it is obvious that they can neutralize an excess of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
“They are, therefore, indicated in all cases of hyperacidity and hypersecretion; but in the author’s experience they must be given in large doses.
“In hyperacidity they should, of course, be given after meals, preferably shortly before the time at which the patient expects disagreeable sensations arising from the hyperacidity, such as pyrosis (gas) and heartburn.”
—Treatment of Internal Diseases. (Ortner)
Itching
“Very often, bathing the parts with one drachm (teaspoonful) of Bicarbonate of Soda to a pint of cold water gives relief temporarily. … In other instances, to each bath of thirty gallons may be added about one pound of Bicarbonate of Soda.”
Ivy Poisoning
The eruption caused by Ivy Poisoning is reduced and the itching quieted by frequent bathing with a solution (two teaspoonsful of Bicarbonate of Soda to a pint of warm water).
Leucorrhoea (Whites)
“In a general way the agent (Bicarbonate of Soda) is advantageous in the treatment of leucorrhoea, especially if the discharge has an acid reaction.” Use it freely in solution of two teaspoonfuls dissolved in a pint of water as a douche.
—Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
Lumbago
Use one-half pound to one pound of Bicarbonate of Soda in bath as hot as can be borne. Remain immersed in the water for fifteen minutes or more. Then go to bed to avoid exposure.
Mouth Wash
Bicarbonate of Soda is a good mouth wash, in ​fact, better than any other, as it neutralizes the acids which secrete themselves around the teeth, thereby preventing the decaying effect of these acids. Dissolve one-half to one teaspoonful of soda in a glass of water.
“A good cheap mouth wash, given by Seifert, may be made by dissolving one full teaspoonful of sodium bicarbonate in a pint of water, and adding one tablespoonful of… spirits of peppermint, or cologne, or simply a piece of camphor or a tablespoonful of spirits of camphor. A small amount of this mixture is diluted with water, half-and-half, each time.”
—Treatment of Internal Diseases. (Ortner, p. 269—4th Edit.)
Rheumatism
Sodium Bicarbonate “has been widely employed in the treatment of rheumatism and is found to be of great service in allaying pain and soreness in the joints when used in a lotion made by dissolving it in water and applying it to the part on lint or rag.” Use a saturated solution of two to four teaspoonfuls dissolved in a pint of water.
—Practical Therapeutics—9th Edit. (Hare, page 720.)
Scalds or Burns
“Externally the agent (Bicarbonate of Soda) seems to possess antiseptic properties. Because of the presence of carbon, with its alkaline reaction, the agent is applicable to burns; applied in the form of a moist paste, it will relieve the pain at once in most cases.
—Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacology. (Ellingwood, page 420.)
Cover scald or burn with a paste of Soda and water. Then cover with a damp cloth.
Skin
A shiny, red, hot-weather complexion is cooled and refreshed by a bath of warm water and Bicarbonate of Soda. Add one teaspoonful of Soda to a pint of water.
Sour Stomach
“In cases of fermentation or ‘sour stomach’ it (Bicarbonate of Soda) may neutralize the organic acids and so result in the opening of a spasmodically closed pylorus (the opening between the stomach and the small intestine); while at the same time it acts to overcome flatulency (accumulation of gas in the stomach and bowels).”
—Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics. (Bastedo, page 88.)
Sunburn
Cover the affected parts with a paste of Arm & Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda and water. Immediately upon application a cooling sensation will be experienced. When the moisture has been absorbed from the paste, the fire of the burn will have disappeared and the danger of blistering is lessened. Application of the paste as soon as possible after one is burned is advisable.
Toothache
“Sodium Bicarbonate in solution (two teaspoonfuls to a pint of water) on plugs of cotton in painful cavities, or applied to the gums… appeases agonizing toothache (Duckworth).”
—Therapeutics, Materia Medica and Pharmacy.
“Sodium Bicarbonate has a soothing effect on the mucous membrane of the mouth in nearly all inflamed and irritable conditions, and may be freely used. It has also the advantage of overcoming or in some measure of neutralizing acid conditions.”
Care of the Teeth—Hopkins, page 124.
To Preserve Enamel of Teeth
“In order to prevent early decay of the teeth they should be kept free of albuminous coating. This can be accomplished by the daily use of a good fat neutralizer. Such a neutralizer can be found in the use of Bicarbonate of Soda. Acting as an acid neutralizer, it dissolves the fatty acids ​in the mouth without damage to the enamel of the teeth. It leaves the mouth clean and the teeth free from the film of animal matter, which, if not removed, would soon become the lodging place for myriads of bacteria, to the ultimate ruin of the enamel of the teeth.”
—Extract from paper by Dr. Leonard Keene Hirshberg, A. B, M. A., M. D. (Johns Hopkins University.)
Care of the Teeth
Use Arm & Hammer Soda as a dentifrice. Soda used on a moistened brush, two or three times daily, will remove discoloration, mucin plaques, fat and albuminoid deposits from the teeth, and leave them clean and highly polished.
Laxative
Dissolve one level teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in a glass of cool water and take on arising in the morning. This will clean the stomach of the mucus that has accumulated during the night and act as a mild laxative on the bowels.
Colic
ARM & HAMMER BAKING SODA IS BICARBONATE OF SODA AND IS EXTREMELY PURE
Arm & Hammer Brand Baking Soda is Bicarbonate of Soda of the highest quality and purity, and is therefore equally good for medicinal and baking purposes.
It more than fulfills the requirements of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia.
FOR SALE BY ALL GROCERS
ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS BOOKLET SENT FREE ON REQUEST
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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