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Unless a boil is caused by an outside infection such as a splinter or picking with dirty fingers it is most probably the result of a poor state of health and can usually be taken as a pretty fair indicator that you need a change of either diet or scene. If you suffer from boils continuously you should take professional advice. Such advice many years ago would have comprised a blood purifier of black molasses or treacle and flowers of sulphur, hot compresses or cupping – a process which it intrigues me to know is still carried out even today. The theory is that one takes a small-mouthed jar well rinsed in boiling water and, as soon as is feasible without scalding the patient, places the mouth of the jar over the boil then waits for it to cool. Suction does the rest and provided the boil is at a stage ready for treatment the core will come out neatly and without unnecessary pain.

One of the most constantly recommended methods of drawing a boil that I have come across is to take the skin of a hard-boiled egg – that is the thin membrane between white and shell and wrap it over the boil. I am told this never fails to work. A Madonna lily petal steeped in brandy and used rough side down will draw a boil to a head then when it has satisfactorily dispersed the smooth side should be used to heal it. Onions baked to a pulp and used in a poultice and leek, cabbage and rape treated in the same way or pounded with lard to make a healing unguent were all pressed into service, but I suspect that the problem might not have arisen if plenty of healthy green vegetables and foods rich in minerals and vitamins had been eaten in the first place.

When treating boils absolute cleanliness is essential for both your own sake and that of your patient. Make sure that your hands are well scrubbed in soap and water before and after dealing with it. Always use boiled water and sterile dressings and never, ever squeeze a boil for it is not only potentially dangerous but murderously painful. Hot compresses are the most sensible and safe method of bringing a boil to a head and giving relief from the pain.

There are a great many old – fashioned herbal remedies which I mention below but among the least complex and most satisfactory hot compresses are hot water or hot water and salt. Also recommended for both simplicity and efficacy is a solution of 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts and 1 teaspoon each of bicarbonate of soda and boric acid powder in 4 cups of boiling water. Use a soft compress of cotton wool which should be burned or flushed away as soon as it is discarded.

Although it is best to let a boil come to a head without covering, this is not always practical so cotton wood covered with lint and taped in place is the best alternative. Poultices can also be kept on, taped in place, until they have cooled.

Preventative measures

If you are prone to boils take sulphur regularly.

Drink plenty of water and avoid fatty foods, chocolate and stimulants.

Sunshine and a daily swim in unpolluted sea water are the best although not always the most practical solutions. Investigate sensible alternatives.

A three to four day fast on fruit juices will cleanse and purify when you feel your system becoming clogged.

Home Remediess for Boils

• Honey Equal quantities of honey, fresh lemon juice, fresh orange juice and cod liver oil mixed and taken three times a day is an excellent tonic when you are feeling tired and run down. One of the good good home remedies for boils.

• Iodine Swab an incipient boil with iodine three times a day to stop it developing further. Paint around a boil with rubbing alcohol or iodine to bring it to a neat head and prevent infection.

• Red clover, nettle and sassafras tea This brew purifies the system.

• Honey Apply warm honey, honey and oil – wheat germ for preference – or honey, fresh fig and thyme simmered together or dip half a fresh fig in honey and apply it cut side down.

• Comfrey Pulp the leaves with honey and garlic and apply.

• Lemon Apply half a lemon cut side down.

• Wheat germ and carrot  Grate a raw carrot into 1 tablespoon of wheat germ oil. Apply as a thick poultice and leave over the boil. One of the best home remedies for boils.

• Bread poultice Soak bread in boiling water (you can add 1 good teaspoon of mustard powder if you like) until it is soft and apply still hot but not boiling as a poultice. This is a genuinely effective method of bringing a boil to a head.

• Linseed poultice Crush 1 good handful of fresh linseeds and add as much boiling water as you need to make a paste. Apply thickly and cover. One of the useful home remedies for boils.

• Fenugreek apply a poultice of crushed fenugreek seeds which have been boiled in water for 10 minutes.

• Slippery elm and eucalyptus oil Mix the powdered bark of slippery elm with eucalyptus oil to make a thick, soothing poultice that is also effective on cuts, whitlows and carbuncles.

• Yarrow, dock, chickweed, catnip, burdock or wild pansy (hearts ease) The leaves of any of these herbs steamed and softened may be used as a drawing, healing poultice but do make sure that they come from a clean source. Sorrel cooked and reduced to a pulp is reputed to clear a boil overnight.

• Essential oils of chamomile, lavender, lemon, myrrh or thyme Use either direct or on a hot compress to relieve pain and reduce infection.

• Zinc Take a daily course of zinc until the boil has healed.

• Calendula extract  This is recommended as a safe and healing lotion.

Abscesses and Carbuncles

An abscess is a very severe boil which usually requires professional treatment. A  carbuncle is a many – headed or collection of boils in one place and that place is usually the posterior. The best old-fashioned advice that I can conjure up is to sit in a bowl of hot water into which one of the solutions given for Boils has been stirred. Carbuncles in any other place may be treated as a severe boil and any of those remedies used, especially a thick poultice of slippery elm.

Kaolin poultice followed by a dressing of Golden Lion ointment applied on cotton wool and taped into place was the treatment for every type of infected pustule and it did seem to clear them up quickly and without too much agony. However it did not, I suspect, get to the source of the problem.

Nettle rash

Although commonly believed to be a reactionary rash caused by nettles, urticaria can actually be the result of an allergy towards almost anything. In its mildest form it is aggravating and irritating but it can be serious if the reaction is violent enough to cause those areas surrounding the lips and eyes to swell and if the soft membranes inside the throat and mouth swell enough to make suffocation imminent.

The most common reaction suffered by the majority of us is that which is caused by a cat scratch or insect bite and is instantly identifiable as a red weal which itches. Certain plants inflict the same kind of rash as a nettle sting and strong sunlight can have a similar effect. Rubbing well with the astringent leaves of dock relieves the discomfort of nettle stings but it is probably safer to dab any irritations with calamine lotion. Nettle tea, on the basis of fighting fire with fire, has been known to effect a cure.  

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