Obtaining birch tar.
Birch tar is obtained by distilling birch bark (the upper, light part of the birch bark). The best tar can be obtained exclusively from freshly cut or live, young twelve- or fourteen-year-old trees. Gather birch bark in June-July, in the southern regions a little earlier. Before collecting, you need to make sure that the bark is easily removed. The collected birch bark is placed in a bowl with a tube or groove for drainage of liquid. Then, under the vessel, a small fire is fired, the birch bark itself is fired, tar starts to flow out of it and flows down the groove into the cup.
Of course, today you can just buy a ready tar in the pharmacy. Tar is formed in the process of decomposition of bitumen (which colors the bark to white color), it is extremely complex in composition. Among the chemical elements that make up birch tar, you can list toluene, xylene, benzene, organic acids, phenol, resinous substances, phytoncides, etc.
Methods of tar treatment.
Most often in folk medicine, tar is used to treat skin diseases. Such unpleasant diseases as scabies and eczema, fungal diseases, ringworm can be treated with tar and ointments. To do this, you need to prepare 10-30% ointment (as a basis to take Vaseline or castor oil), or just buy it at the pharmacy; it can perfectly combine with sulfur.
To treat wounds and skin diseases, use such a folk recipe: make a mixture of tar and fat in a ratio of 1: 1. Often the disease is due to only local application, but the best result you will achieve, only in complex treatment with other drugs.
To heal eczematous skin lesions, tar also helps, especially in the treatment of microbial varieties. In addition to the usual compresses that help to remove the itching and improve the appearance of the skin, in folk medicine there are more complex recipes for treatment. For example, the powder from the crushed roots of horse sorrel is mixed with tar water, brought to a boil and used for compresses and washings. Bandages of a mixture of fat and tar (1: 1) are applied with wet eczema (add raw egg before application).
Excellent results show birch tar in the treatment of such a serious disease as psoriasis. Treatment with birch tar will be much more effective if you take complex preparations for cleansing the intestines. Take 2 table. spoon of tar, mix with 3 table. spoons of honey, 2 tablespoons castor oil and 1 egg egg white. Insist for three days, apply the ointment once a day.
Tar soap usually contains 40% of birch tar. It is widely used in the treatment of pediculosis, helps to remove parasites in animals. When there are no other means at hand, it is indispensable for disinfecting the skin of skin patients.
For the treatment of fungus, there is a folk recipe: smear tar on the steamed, washed feet, and, without washing off, wear three days. Then wash your feet, steamed and again apply tar. Repeating the procedure 3 or 4 times, you will be sure that complete healing will occur.
In many folk recipes you will find a mention of tar water. You can easily prepare it yourself: let the tar dissolve in boiled water, in parts 1: 8, mix, allow to stand for 2 days, then remove the film and pour the resulting liquid (in a color similar to white wine) to another bowl. It is necessary to store such water in the refrigerator, and it is used most often inward for the treatment of pulmonary diseases.
With a severe suffocating cough, pneumonia, bronchitis, folk medicine recommends treating the disease effectively and simply. Before going to bed, you need to drink a spoonful of tar water, wrap yourself in a warm scarf. If the case is very severe, you can drink 2-3 tablespoons of water. In the morning rinse the throat with tar water, and even a strong cough will go away. Often, one procedure is enough. This recipe has also been used to treat complex diseases such as tuberculosis and asthma. You can cure angina by lubricating the inflamed glands with a swab dipped in tar.
Tar water is used to dilute blood, improve digestion, as a diuretic and cleanser. Rubbing into the joints can help with aching in the bones. Traditional medicine suggests washing this purulent wounds with water to speed up healing and eliminate the putrefactive unpleasant smell. Also, tar water strengthens the gums and cures stomatitis.
Birch tar helps also in the treatment of female diseases. So, for the treatment of mastopathy there is such a complex, but effective prescription. In 50 ml of milk is added tar so: the first 3 days - 3 drops, from 4 to 6 day - 5 drops, from 7 to 9 day - 7 drops. Drink three times a day, after five hours. Then make a break for 10 days, and continue the course, but in the reverse order (7-5-3). The course can be repeated no earlier than 2 months.
All these folk recipes came to us through the centuries and demonstrate almost miraculous properties of birch tar.