Cure for boils

a cure is the end of a disease or condition through the use
of a remedy and is most commonly used to remedy natural causes. In this
case, the cure is used to remedy boils, hives, pustules and many other
scrofulous conditions,

Boils,
also known as furuncles, are bumpy, red and pus-filled lumps around a
hair follicle. They are very warm, tender and can be very painful. They
vary widely in size, but generally they tend to be the size of a pea.
Once a white or yellow point appears at the center of the boil, it is
ready to drain or discharge the pus. Unfortunately boils aren’t just
painful and inconvenient, but they can also cause scarring, infection or
abscess of the skin, spinal cord, brain, kidneys and other organs.
These infections may spread to the bloodstream and can be lethal

Cure
for boils is a legal potion and can be bought without prescription in
most apothecaries and beauty parlors

The earliest
version of Cure for Boils was discovered by Dilys Derwent,

Dilys was well-known for her belief in using
animal-friendly ingredients in her potions, so it took her a long time
to create her original recipe which ended up consisting mostly of animal
parts despite her best efforts to find herbal substitutes. Horned slugs
were left out of the equation completely as she refused to kill any
innocent creature, despite its imperative role in soothing the skin. As
this ingredient was lacking, Dilys’ creation was effective in the
removal of boils but was also very harsh on the skin, leaving it raw and
painful. Dilys found that a generous application of dittany would
usually calm the skin down, restoring it back to its former glory, but
taking up to two weeks.

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RECIPE

Tools
Cauldron
Wand
Stirring tool
Mortar and pestle
Dragon gloves (please ensure to put these on prior to starting)
Phial

Ingredients
500ml water
200ml sunflower oil
100gr / 3.5oz dried nettles
6 snake fangs
4 horned slugs
2 porcupine quills
3 tbsp flobberworm mucus

Estimated Brewing Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Instructions
Step 1 - add all six snake fangs to the mortar and crush them into a fine powder using the pestle.
Step 2 - add 500ml of water to your cauldron and bring to the boil.
Step 3 - add four teaspoons of crushed snake fangs to the cauldron.
Step 4 - heat the mixture to 250 degrees Fahrenheit or 121 degrees Celsius for 10 seconds.
Step 5 - bring the heat down to 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius.
Step 6 - stir twice clockwise.
Step 7 - tap the cauldron with your wand three times so the potion turns pink.
Step 8 - leave the cauldron to brew for 45 minutes.
Step 9 - add all four horned slugs to the cauldron.
Step 10 - take cauldron off the heat after three minutes.
Step 11 - add the two porcupine quills and nettles to the potion.
Step 12 - put the cauldron back on the heat.
Step 13 - lower the heat to 45 degrees Celsius or 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 14 - slowly introduce 200ml sunflower oil to the cauldron.
Step 15 - stir five times clockwise.
Step 16 - leave the cauldron to brew for 17 minutes.
Step 17 - take the cauldron off the heat and add the three tablespoons of flobberworm mucus.
Step 18 - leave to cool down and thicken for 5 minutes.
Step 19 - stir the potion until the desired texture is achieved.
Step 20 - bottle the potion.

If
the potion is made successfully, there will be pink smoke rising from
the cauldron and have the consistency of a lotion. Your potion should
look sky blue and smell like wet grass when brewed correctly. This
potion should cure the consumer of boils between ten to twenty minutes.

Additional advice
Cure
for Boils has been known to cause boils rather than cure them if made
incorrectly. If this potion is not taken off the heat prior to adding
porcupine quills, it will cause the cauldron to melt and produce a
horrid odour. Switching around the order of ingredients will render the
potion ineffective and toxic, resulting in a blue hue when applied to
the skin. Lavender or other plants, may be added for fragrance at the
same time the flobberworm mucus is added, but should be left to infuse
for an hour instead of five minutes. Stirring counter-clockwise will
cause the potion to spit at the creator, which can be very dangerous,
possibly blinding, if the substance comes into contact with the eyes, so
be aware of this especially. If the oil is not introduced slowly into
the cauldron, it will not bond with the water, resulting in an
undesirable texture and thickness.

Solution
First
off, the Cure for Boils potion is considered a solution; specifically
it’s an aqueous solution. The water acts as the solvent to the snake
fangs, horned slugs, porcupine quills, dried nettles and sunflower oil.

It
is important to note that not all substances dissolve well in water. In
general, ionic and polar substances such as acids, alcohol and salts,
are easily soluble in water, but nonpolar substances such as fats and
oils are not.

Emulsion
An emulsion is a mixture of two
immiscible liquids, liquids which are usually considered unblendable; in
this case sunflower oil and water. Under normal conditions, these two
liquids would not form a homogeneous mixture, so an emulsifier needs to
be added. An emulsifier usually consists of two parts; a lipophilic,
which combines with or dissolves in lipids or fats, and a hydrophilic,
which has a strong affinity for water. The lipophilic puts itself into
the sunflower oil and the hydrophilic puts itself into the water,
bonding the two. The emulsifier for Cure for Boils is the flobberworm
mucus, which doubles as a thickening agent.

Reaction Rate
Several
steps of this recipe affect the reaction rate, which concerns the rate
at which chemical reactions take place, such as the effect of stirring
and the process of dissolving crushed snake fangs into water. By
crushing the snake fangs the surface area, or the space the snake fangs
cover, is increased and therefore allows the reaction to take place
faster; one whole snake fang may only take up a few millimeters, but if
it’s crushed the powder will spread over a much larger surface,
resulting in an increased surface area.

A powdered solid will
often produce a faster reaction than if the same mass is a single lump,
because it’s much more difficult and time consuming to break up a lump;
the more finely divided the solid is, the faster the reaction takes
place. It is to be noted that water alone cannot dissolve the snake
fangs, so magic is needed; the snake fangs dissolve at the time you tap
the cauldron with your wand and the potion turns pink.

Changes in
temperature also affect the reaction rate greatly. In order to explain
the phenomenon, I will be discussing the collision theory. In the
collision theory, particles, which are tiny parts of a substance, can
only react when they collide. If you heat up a substance, the particles
of that substance start moving faster and therefore collide more
frequently, like a group of bumper-cars at the fair.

The majority
of particles do not have enough energy, and will simply bounce off one
another, so in order to speed up the reaction, the number of very
energetic particles must be increased. Increasing the temperature, as
explained earlier, has exactly that effect; particles start moving
faster when heated and therefore have more energy. I won’t go into any
calculations, but as a rough approximation, for many reactions happening
at room temperature, the rate of reaction doubles for every 10 degrees
Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit rise in temperature.

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STORAGE AND ADMINISTRATION

Cure
for Boils should be stored in a cool area and needs a total maturation
time of three days prior to use. Once this has been achieved, the potion
may be transferred into another container with lid and can be kept for
up to four years at room temperature or below. This potion is unaffected
by humidity, but may melt if kept in temperatures above 25 degrees
Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

This potion comes in the form of
a lotion, a low- to medium-viscosity substance, intended for
application to unbroken skin, and therefore must be applied topically
only. Oral-, certain forms of parenteral- and other methods of
administration are not considered safe and can be very toxic. As much of
the potion as desired may be applied gently to the external skin with
bare hands, a brush, a clean cloth, cotton wool, gauze or similar
without risk of overdose. Please note that areas around the eyes and
genitals should however be avoided at all costs; if either of these come
in contact with the potion, medical help should be sought immediately.

A
healer should also be consulted prior to the use of the potion if the
consumer is pregnant or under the age of five and should only ever be
used on humans. Although rarely, this potion may induce a local allergic
reaction and should therefore be tested on a small part of the skin,
such as the arm or leg, and left for twenty-four hours prior to full
use. Allergic symptoms include swelling, irritation, rash and skin
discoloration.