Marigold flowers distilled, good for the pain of the Head

Take Marigold flowers, and distill them, then take a fine cloth and wet in the aforesaid distilled water, and so lay it to the forehead of the Patient, and being so applied, let him sleep if he can; this with God’s help will cease the pain.

Source: A Queen’s Delight: Or, The Art of Preserving, Conserving and Candying, Nathaniel Brooke

Bowel Trouble in Children, a Good Tonic for

Powdered rhubarb 1 heaping teaspoonful
Soda 1/4 teaspoonful
Sugar 1 teaspoonful
Peppermint essence 1/2 teaspoonful
Hot water 1/2 cup (scant)

Dose:–One-half teaspoonful every hour until bowels show signs of right color.

The soda and the peppermint will tone up the stomach and relieve any trouble present there, while the rhubarb will act on the bowels and carry off all impurities.

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter

Ingredients: Borage

The Borage, with its gallant blue flower, is cultivated in our gardens as a pot herb, and is associated in our minds with bees and claret cup. It grows wild in abundance on open plains where the soil is favourable, and it has a long-established reputation for cheering the spirits. Botanically, it is the Borago officinalis, this title being a corruption of cor-ago, i.e., cor, the heart, ago, I stimulate — quia cordis affectibus medetur, because it cures weak conditions of the heart. An old Latin adage says: Borago ego gaudia semper ago — “I, Borage, bring always courage”; or the name may be derived from the Celtic, Borrach, “a noble person.” This plant was the Bugloss of the older botanists, and it corresponds to our Common Bugloss, so called from the shape and bristly surface of its leaves, which resemble bous-glossa, the tongue of an ox. Chemically, the plant Borage contains potassium and calcium combined with mineral acids. The fresh juice affords thirty per cent., and the dried herb three per cent. of nitrate of potash. The stems and leaves supply much saline mucilage, which, when boiled and cooled, likewise deposits nitre and common salt. These crystals, when ignited, will burn with a succession of small sparkling explosions, to the great delight of the schoolboy. And it is to such saline qualities the wholesome, invigorating effects and the specially refreshing properties of the Borage are supposed to be mainly due. For which reason, the plant, “when taken in sallets,” as says an old herbalist, “doth exhilarate, and make the mind glad,” almost in the same way as a bracing sojourn by the seaside during an autumn holiday. The flowers possess cordial virtues which are very revivifying, and have been much commended against melancholic depression of the nervous system. Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy (1676), wrote with reference to the frontispiece of that book:–

“Borage and Hellebore fill two scenes,
Sovereign plants to purge the veins
Of melancholy, and cheer the heart
Of those black fumes which make it smart;
The best medicine that God e’er made
For this malady, if well assaid.”

“The sprigs of Borage,” wrote John Evelyn, “are of known virtue to revive the hypochondriac and cheer the hard student.”

According to Dioscorides and Pliny, the Borage was that famous nepenthe of Homer which Polydamas sent to Helen for a token “of such rare virtue that when taken steep’d in wine, if wife and children, father and mother, brother and sister, and all thy dearest friends should die before thy face, thou could’st not grieve, or shed a tear for them.” “The bowl of Helen had no other ingredient, as most criticks do conjecture, than this of borage.” And it was declared of the herb by another ancient author: Vinum potatum quo sit macerata buglossa moerorum cerebri dicunt auferre
periti:–

“To enliven the sad with the joy of a joke,
Give them wine with some borage put in it to soak.”

The Romans named the Borage Euphrosynon, because when put into a cup of wine it made the drinkers of the same merry and glad.

Parkinson says, “The seed of Borage helpeth nurses to have more store of milk, for which purpose its leaves are most conducing.” Its saline constituents promote activity of the kidneys, and for this reason the plant is used in France to carry off catarrhs which are feverish. The fresh herb has a cucumber-like odour, and when compounded with lemon and sugar, added to wine and water, it makes a delicious “cool tankard,” as a summer drink. “A syrup concocted of the floures,” said Gerard, “quieteth the lunatick person, and the leaves eaten raw do engender good blood.” Of all nectar-loving insects, bees alone know how to pronounce the “open sesame” of admission to the honey pots of the Borage.

Source: Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure, William Thomas Fernie

Coughs, Very Simple Remedy for

“Take one-half tablespoonful hogs’ lard or salt pork grease, heat it hot, fill spoon with coal oil and swallow while hot. Have used this, will stop and cure the worst cough.” Not to be given to children.

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter

Caked Breasts, Fresh Hops for

“Fry one pint of fresh hops in a half cup of lard until the lard is a rich brown, then strain, set away to cool and use as a salve.”

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter

Hoarseness, Egg and Lemon for

“Beaten white of one egg, juice of one lemon, with sugar enough to thicken, then add one teaspoonful olive oil.” Take one teaspoonful every hour until relieved.

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter

Nosebleed; remedy sent us by a Public School Teacher

“Make a compress of paper soaked in cold water; put it under the upper lip and have the patient press the lip with the fingers. Remarks.– Tried with success in many cases by a school teacher.” By putting under the lip and pressing on it, you press on an artery and stop bleeding. Be careful to use nothing but white paper, as ink or colors would come out when wet.

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter

Sore throat, Splendid Liniment for

“Olive oil 1/2 pint
Ammonia 1/2 pint
Turpentine 1/2 pint
One egg.

Shake till it forms emulsion. This can be used as a blister.”

This is a very effective remedy, but you must watch the throat very carefully as this will blister quickly. After removing the liniment, grease the parts with oil or cold cream.

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter

Ingredients: Bennet Herb

This, the Herba Benedicta, or Blessed Herb, or Avens (Geum Urbanum) is a very common plant of the Rose tribe, in our woods, hedges, and shady places. It has an erect hairy stem, red at the base, with terminal bright yellow drooping flowers. The ordinary name Avens — or Avance, Anancia, Enancia — signifies an antidote, because it was formerly thought to ward off the Devil, and evil spirits, and venomous beasts. Where the root is in a house Satan can do nothing, and flies from it: “therefore” (says Ortus Sanitatis) “it is blessed before all other herbs; and if a man carries the root about him no venomous beast can harm him.” The herb is sometimes called Way Bennet, and Wild Rye. Its graceful trefoiled loaf, and the fine golden petals of its flowers, symbolising the five wounds of Christ, were sculptured by the monks of the thirteenth century on their Church architecture. The botanical title of this plant, Geum, is got from Geuo, “to yield an agreeable fragrance,” in allusion to the roots. Hence also has been derived another appellation of the Avens — Radix Caryophyllata, or “clove root,” because when freshly dug out of the ground the roots smell like cloves. They yield tannin freely, with mucilage, resin, and muriate of lime, together with a heavy volatile oil. The roots are astringent and antiseptic, having been given in infusion for ague, and as an excellent cordial sudorific in chills, or for fresh catarrh. To make this a pint of boiling water should be poured on half an ounce of the dried root, or rather more of the fresh root, sliced. Half a wineglassful will be the dose, or ten grains of the powdered root. An extract is further made. When the petals of the flower fall off, a small round prickly ball is to be seen.

Source: Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure, William Thomas Fernie

Catarrh of head, Mullein Leaves. Treatment, etc., for

“Smoke dried mullein leaves and blow the smoke through the nose, and in addition to this, put a heaping tablespoonful of powdered borax in a quart of soft water; syringe this up in the nose, and in addition to both of the above, frequently inhale a mixture of two drams of spirits of ammonia, half a dram tincture of iodine and fifteen drops of carbolic acid; smoke the mullein, syringe the borax water and inhale the last mixture all as frequently as convenient and it frequently will cure if kept up faithfully.”

Source: Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remidies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, T. J. Ritter