February 2 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens, marking the letter “PRIVATE”. Sam describes a cure for chilblains (inflammation of the small blood vessels in the skin in response to cold), amounting to nothing more than saturating the area with kerosene at bedtime.

Mine were the worst chilblains that ever were. I had suffered with them every winter for 22 years when I tried the kerosene oil in 1862. Three saturations cured them until 1864 when they returned, & succumbed to a couple of saturations. They returned in a mild form in ’69 & I finished them with one application. They have never come back again.

Sam recommended that they bottle kerosene under a label of “CLARK’S SWIFT DEATH TO CHILBLAINS” adding a perfume and altering the color. It might be sold at 1,000 per cent profit, he wrote [MTP]. Note: evidently Orion and/or Mollie had written (not extant) and complained of chilblains. Sam’s double “Private” label for what was, in effect, selling the idea of a questionable home remedy, is understandable. Curiously, Sam gave no other family news.

Sam also wrote a note to Daniel Willard Fiske. He’d heard from the doctor that Fiske had been ill, and he wished him better health, and not to burden himself with answering [MTP]. Note: The Clemens’ usual doctor was William Wilberforce Baldwin.