Ingredient: Assafoetida

This substance is used as a stimulant and anti-spasmodic in hysterical and nervous diseases, and spasmodic cough; as an expectorant in asthma; and as a carminative in flatulent colic. The usual dose is from five grains to half a drachm, combined, if necessary, with expectorants in cough, and with chalybeates and aloetics in hysterical complaints. The following formula will sometimes allay obstinate attacks of spasmodic cough, and has been found useful even in [w]hooping-cough : —

Take of Assafoetida, half a drachm;
Mindererus’s Spirit, two ounces;
Penny-royal Water, two ounces.

Mix, and take one or two table spoonsful for a dose.

For the relief of colic in the bowels, the following glyster may be administered :—

Assafoetida, two drachms;
Thin Gruel, ten ounces.

(Assafoetida was used by the ancients as a condiment, under the names of Silphion and Laserpitium. In Persia, it is still esteemed as a condiment, and mixed with almost all their dishes. Gastronomers, as the French term those who delight in the pleasures of the palate, among the moderns, employ it for the same purpose; having the hot plates on which they eat beef steaks rubbed with it.)

Source: A Companion To The Medicine Chest, John Savory.

To destroy Fleas and Bugs

Cover the floor of the room with leaves of Alder, gathered while the dews hangs upon them; adhering to these, they are killed thereby.

Or powder stavesacre, and sprinkle it on the body, or on the bed.

Source: Primitive Physic: or an easy and natural method of curing most diseases, John Wesley.

A Cosmetic Bath

Take two pounds of barley or bean flour, eight pounds of bran, and a few handfuls of Borage leaves. Boil these ingredients in a sufficient quantity of spring water. This both cleanses and softens the skin in a superior manner.

Source: The Ladies’ Book Of Useful Information

Magic Kidney and Liver Restorer

Two ounces of alcohol;
One and a half ounces of glycerine;
One ounce of liverwort;
Three hundred and twenty grains of saltpetre;
Forty drops of wintergreen.

Steep the liverwort in a quart of water down to half the quantity, then throw in the other ingredients while hot. Dose: One tablespoonful about four times a day.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information.

Ingredient: Caraway Seed

Caraway seeds sharpen the vision, promote the secretion of milk, and are good against hysterical affections. They are also useful in cases of colic. When used to flavour cakes the seeds should be pounded in a mortar, especially if children are to partake thereof.

When used medicinally 20 grains of the powdered seeds may be taken in a wineglassful of hot water. But for children half an ounce of the bruised seeds are to be infused in cold water for six hours, and from 1 to 3 teaspoonfuls of this water given.

A poultice of crushed caraway seeds moistened with hot water is good for sprains.

Caraway seeds are narcotic, and should therefore be used with caution.

Source: Food Remedies: Facts About Foods And Their Medicinal Uses, Florence Daniel

Scrofulous Syrup

Take yellow dock root, two pounds; stillingia root and bark of bittersweet root, of each one pound. Boil slowly in three or four gallons of water down to three quarts; strain, and add six pounds of white sugar. Dose: Half a wineglass three times a day. A valuable remedy for scrofula, and all scrofulous skin diseases, as tetter, herpes, leprosy, and the like; also a valuable alterative in all constitutional diseases.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information

News: 1,000-year-old onion and garlic eye remedy kills MRSA

The BBC report that a medieval eye remedy has been found to almost completely eradicate MRSA – equal parts of onion and another allium (garlic or leek), chopped and crushed in a mortar, then mixed with a small amount of English wine and some bovine salts.

Fever with Pains in the Limbs

Take twenty drops of Spirit of Hartshorn in a cup of water twice or thrice in twenty-four hours.

Or drink largely of Cinquefoil Tea.

Source: Primitive Physic: or an easy and natural method of curing most diseases, John Wesley.

Pills for Chronic Bronchitis

Take pulverized skunk cabbage root, two drams; pulverized extract of liquorice, one dram; sanguinaria and macrotin, of each thirty grains. Make into large sized pills (say from eighty to one hundred) with a sufficient quantity of tar, and take one pill from three to six times a day, and continue for several weeks if necessary. One of the best remedies known for chronic bronchitis, and what is sometimes called “clergyman’s sore throat.”

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information

Pile Ointment

Take say a teacupful of hog’s lard, put in a flat or pewter dish, and take two bars of lead, flattened a little, and rub the lard with the flat ends and between them till it becomes black or of a dark lead color. Then burn equal parts of cavendish tobacco and old shoeleather in an iron vessel till charred. Powder these and mix into the lard till it becomes a thick ointment. Use once or twice a day as an ointment for the piles. An infallible cure.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information