It has similar use as a counterirritant to that of the previously described cayenne plaster.    From Wordnik.com.  [THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE] Reference

A good counterirritant is made by first spreading a thin layer of honey on a gauze or bandage upon which powdered cayenne pepper is generously sprinkled.    From Wordnik.com.  [THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE] Reference

This intelligence, which, at any other time, would have been received with rapturous enthusiasm, was listened to under the influence of a counterirritant already at work, with comparative calmness, and its only effect was to cause a postponement of the vote on the laborers 'bill upon the plea of the lateness of the hour, although not without strenuous opposition from the extreme right.    From Wordnik.com.  [Edmond Dantès] Reference

It might be employed like the nettle (Urtica), as a counterirritant in epilepsies, and diseases requiring stimulating applications.    From Wordnik.com.  [Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical, and Agricultural. Being also a Medical Botany of the Confederate States; with Practical Information on the Useful Properties of the Trees, Plants, and Shrubs] Reference

She had early learned to ignore his moods, to avoid sympathy which aggravates, and to meet his blues with a vigorous counterirritant of liveliness.    From Wordnik.com.  [Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise] Reference

The use of a counterirritant is not uncommon with good physicians, but the counter-irritant only does what is much more effectually accomplished when the patient uses his will and intelligence to remove the original irritant by ceasing to resist it.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Freedom of Life] Reference

Danger is often the best counterirritant in cases of mental suffering; he found a solace in careless exposure of his life, and learned to endure the trials of each day better by dwelling in imagination on the possibility that it might be the last for him and the home that was his.    From Wordnik.com.  [Elsie Venner] Reference

“Personally I have found that the mind handles pain best if it is given a counterirritant to distract it.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Beekeeper's Apprentice]

The most common counterirritant is mustard flour.    From Wordnik.com.  [Special Report on Diseases of the Horse] Reference