Arnica
For internal bruises nothing answers so well as tincture of arnica. 10 drops in a tablespoonful of water every three hours. It is also one of the best remedies for external bruises of all kinds, relieving the pain caused by blows, falls or other injuries. A lotion made of 1 part of the tincture to 10 of water, apply immediately by well saturating a piece of lint and covering over with oiled silk to prevent evaporation. The sooner this is done after receiving the injury the more likely it is to do good.
Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray
Agrimony
Agrimony, used freely in the manner of tea, will cure an ulcerated mouth, and is good for liver and kidney complaints. 1 ounce to a pint of boiling water. Dose, a wine-glassful three times a day.
Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray
Broom Tops
There is no remedy so healthful to those who suffer from heaviness of the limbs and tendency to dropsy as a decoction of fresh broom tops. Half an ounce of the tops should be boiled in a pint of water down to a gill. A wine-glassful every three hours.
Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray
Burdock
The value of this plant cannot be too much known for its direct action on the blood, whether for scurvy, skin eruptions, leprosy, scrofula, venereal, ulcers, kidney disease, convulsions, fits, &c. It is invaluable. Two ounces to be used to three pints of water. This simmer down to two pints; take a gill three times a day.
Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray
Borage
This plant contains a certain amount of saltpetre, as may be proved by burning a dried leaf. For this reason, it is used with great benefit for the relief of sore throats. The root is rich in gum, and if boiled yields a mucilaginous emulsion, excellent for irritation of the throat and chest. Very violent attacks of toothache, where the nerve has taken cold, are often cured by holding a portion of the leaves, previously boiled in milk, and applied warm, in the mouth, against the affected tooth.
Source: The Universal Cookery Book, Gertrude Strohm
Oranges as a Medicine
A distinguished physician once said that if his patients would make a practice of eating a couple of good oranges every morning before breakfast, from February until June, his practice would be gone. The medicinal effect of pure fruit acids is excellent upon the physical system.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
Bran
Get nice clean coarse bran from the mill, and after your breakfast put about five teaspoonfuls into a tumbler, and fill it up with cream, (milk will do if you have no cream,) put a little salt in if you prefer. Most excellent for dyspepsia, or constipation, and will prolong ones life indefinitely, and you may possibly live to see your great-great-grand-children.
Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook
Ingredient: Nutmeg
The medicinal qualities of nutmegs are worthy of considerable attention, on account of their value in the treatment of diarrhea, many cases quickly yielding to the administration of half a drachm
in milk. Sleeplessness may be effectually relieved by them when opium fails and chloral is not advisable. They are also a sedative in delirium tremens, and can be given with safety and marked benefit.
Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts
Ingredient: Barley
Barley is excellent food for the anæmic and nervous on account of its richness in iron and phosphoric acid. It is also useful in fevers and all inflammatory diseases, on account of its soothing properties. From the earliest times barley water has been the recognised drink of the sick.
Source: Food Remedies: Facts About Foods And Their Medicinal Uses, Florence Daniel
Ingredient: Castor Oil
This oil is a valuable aperient; for whilst, in doses of from half an ounce to an ounce, it thoroughly evacuates the bowels, it does so with little irritation; hence it is especially useful in inflammatory cases, or where there is spasm, or where all increased action of the system is particularly to be avoided. From its quick and mild operation, it is particularly adapted for children, and females during pregnancy. It is also the best purgative that can be employed in that affection of the bowels knowm by the names of colica pictonum, or painter’s colic, the Devonshire colic, and the dry bellyache; and it is the more useful in that disease, as it may be joined with opium and other narcotics without having its purgative properties lessened. For the same reason castor oil is advantageously given in calculous affections. It has also been regarded by some continental physicians as peculiarly well suited for expelling the tape-worm. It is likewise considered the best purgative, when properly administered, for combating habitual costiveness. For this purpose a large dose must first be given in the morning, and the use of the oil continued for some weeks, gradually diminishing the dose daily, until half a tea-spoonful only is taken; on the discontinuance of which, the bowels continue to be relieved without further assistance. One disadvantage attending the use of this oil is its tendency to excite vomiting, but this is counteracted by combining it with some aromatic. The best modes of exhibiting it in general have been much canvassed; it is given floating on water with a small quantity of brandy poured over it, and when this can be swallowed at once, there is no better mode; but as this cannot always be done, it may be given with success in coffee or mutton-broth, or suspended in water by the intervention of mucilage or yolk of egg, according to the taste of the patient. Upon the whole, castor oil is a purgative of great value, and one whose operation, as it is in daily use, should be well understood.
Source: A Companion To The Medicine Chest, John Savory.