Use Any Form of Flax Seeds When Making Flax Tea
Diane Morris | Thursday, September 14th, 2017 | Flaxseed | 16 Comments
The statistics for my WordPress website show that several people have landed on my blog while browsing for information about making flaxseed tea. They are asking this question: Do I have to grind flax seeds when making flax tea? The answer is: you can if you want to, but any form of flax seeds will do. […]
Read More »Flaxseed in Jane Austen’s Day: Infusions and Poultices
Diane Morris | Thursday, January 26th, 2017 | Flaxseed, Medicine | No Comments
I’ve been running with the topic of flaxseed (also called linseed) for three weeks now. First I examined Dr. Duncan’s comments about flaxseed in The New Edinburgh Dispensatory of 1803. Next, I reviewed the health benefits of flaxseed oil. Last week I discussed some uses of flaxseed oil by Regency-era doctors and surgeons. In this […]
Read More »Uses of Flaxseed Oil in Jane Austen’s Day: Enemas and Burns
Diane Morris | Thursday, January 12th, 2017 | Flaxseed, Jane Austen | No Comments
Regarding a stricture of the rectum: “In its advanced stage I know of none equal to the injection of cold drawn linseed oil …”1 — Thomas Copeland, surgeon (1781-1855) In a previous post I reviewed Dr. Andrew Duncan’s 1803 description of the chemical and therapeutic properties of flaxseed (also called linseed), which information was intended for Regency-era medical practitioners.2 In my […]
Read More »Flaxseed Oil Benefits the Heart and Brain
Diane Morris | Thursday, December 22nd, 2016 | Flaxseed, Medicine | 4 Comments
My previous blog post described flaxseed’s chemical and therapeutic properties as shown in Dr. Andrew Duncan’s book The Edinburgh New Dispensatory, published in 1803.1 He described flaxseed’s historical uses, its mucilage content, its oil (expressed by crushing the seeds) and the use of its leftover “oil-cake” to feed animals. In describing flaxseed oil (also known as linseed oil), Duncan remarked: […]
Read More »An 1803 Dispensatory Describes Flaxseed
Diane Morris | Thursday, December 8th, 2016 | Flaxseed, Medicine | No Comments
One of the top keywords that bring readers to my blog is “flaxseed.” I’m not surprised, for flaxseed—also called “linseed”—is popular here in North America and elsewhere for its many dietary and medicinal uses. I love to talk about flaxseed! I last mentioned flaxseed in my blog of July 7, 2015, where I described how linseed tea was […]
Read More »Linseed Tea: Popular in Jane Austen’s Day and Today
Diane Morris | Thursday, October 9th, 2014 | Jane Austen, Life & Times, Medicine | No Comments
During Jane Austen’s day, linseed tea and other preparations made with linseed were prescribed by doctors and apothecaries to treat a variety of aliments. A simple recipe from Dr. William Buchan’s popular book Domestic Medicine was among those medicines commonly used in 1811: “linseed, an infusion of 1 ounce to a quart of water, may […]
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