The Iowa settlers manual of 1881 was written for people who would be a long way from stores, doctors and civilization. They had to make a lot of what they needed.One of the instructions in the medical chapter is for making phllicome.
But what is it?
The instructions are found in the medical chapter in the section on toilet preparations. Along with instructions for making Cuttle Fish Powder, A Superior Mouth Wash, Violet Mouth Wash and Essence or Spirit of Mustard.
If you Google phllicome you'll find only two hits, both from transcriptions of 19th Century newspaper ads. One from Australia and one from Califonia. So the stuff was widely known.
The instructions are as follow: Take of white wax five ounces, almond oil two pounds, oil of bergamont one ounce, oil of lemon one-half ounce, oil of lavender two drachms, oil of cloves one drachm. Melt the wax and oil, stir as the mixture cools, and add the perfume [a drachm is 1/16 of an ounce].
It's the brylcreem of the day!
No doubt used for Church days and when courting.
It would be great to know how to pronounce phllicome, but anybody who knew is probably long gone. Maybe it was pronounced flick'um, but we'll never know.
We're looking for somebody to make some phllicome and tell us what it's like. The ingredients are all still available today.
Let us know if you become the one and only maker and user of phllicome on the planet! In recognition of your efforts you'll get a one week free pass to all the Pioneer Handbooks downloads.
The medical chapter of the 1881 Iowa settlers manual has more than 100 instructions for medicine, remedies and cosmetics .The pioneers and settlers of the 1800's relied upon the handbooks and manuals they took with them. They were the DIY and how-to books of the day.
They can be downloaded for free at www.PioneerHandbooks.com.
Even if you never expect to make or use phllicome, you can still hit the Facebook Like button below and save this how-to from disappearing into history
It's easy enough to do and a good way to keep this knowledge alive.
The instructions are found in the medical chapter in the section on toilet preparations. Along with instructions for making Cuttle Fish Powder, A Superior Mouth Wash, Violet Mouth Wash and Essence or Spirit of Mustard.
If you Google phllicome you'll find only two hits, both from transcriptions of 19th Century newspaper ads. One from Australia and one from Califonia. So the stuff was widely known.
The instructions are as follow: Take of white wax five ounces, almond oil two pounds, oil of bergamont one ounce, oil of lemon one-half ounce, oil of lavender two drachms, oil of cloves one drachm. Melt the wax and oil, stir as the mixture cools, and add the perfume [a drachm is 1/16 of an ounce].
It's the brylcreem of the day!
No doubt used for Church days and when courting.
It would be great to know how to pronounce phllicome, but anybody who knew is probably long gone. Maybe it was pronounced flick'um, but we'll never know.
We're looking for somebody to make some phllicome and tell us what it's like. The ingredients are all still available today.
Let us know if you become the one and only maker and user of phllicome on the planet! In recognition of your efforts you'll get a one week free pass to all the Pioneer Handbooks downloads.
The medical chapter of the 1881 Iowa settlers manual has more than 100 instructions for medicine, remedies and cosmetics .The pioneers and settlers of the 1800's relied upon the handbooks and manuals they took with them. They were the DIY and how-to books of the day.
They can be downloaded for free at www.PioneerHandbooks.com.
Even if you never expect to make or use phllicome, you can still hit the Facebook Like button below and save this how-to from disappearing into history
It's easy enough to do and a good way to keep this knowledge alive.
[A smart reader has pointed out that it's not called Phllicome at all. That's a typo. The correct spelling is Philicome or Philocome. Thank you for that correction Unliteral.]
Interesting article. You didn't find much information because it's a typo, try searching for either Philicome or Philocome.
ReplyDeleteHa! That explains a bit. Did you already know about philicome? And have you used it? Thank you very much for the clarification. A helping hand is always appreciated. Makes me wonder about all those other words I've seen in these books and how many of them are typos too. Regards...
ReplyDeleteNo, never heard of it. I did your suggested search and looked at the Australian newspaper and saw that the transcriber had made the typo. The same one made in the Pioneer Handbook! Not so surprising I guess though, 'l' for an 'i'.
ReplyDelete