Tonic

One quart of rye whisky, one ounce fluid extract of celery, two ounces fluid extract of hops, half ounce fluid extract of rhubarb, four quarts of cold water. Mix well, and bottle for use. One tablespoonful before each meal and at bedtime.

Source: The Canadian Family Cookbook, Grace E. Denison

For a Sore Throat

At the beginning of a sore throat, get fresh ivy leaves, tack them together, warm them, and put the shady side to the throat.– Or: wet bread-crumbs with brandy, and tie them round the throat. Make a gargle of 2 carrots, sliced and boiled, and use it often.– Or: dissolve 4 oz. camphor in a pint of rectified spirits of wine. Dip a piece of new Welsh flannel into this, and apply it to the throat. Be careful to wet frequently.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Remedy for Dandruff

Take glycerine four ounces, tincture of cantharides five ounces, bay rum four ounces, water two ounces. Mix, and apply once a day, and rub well down the scalp.

Source: The Canadian Family Cookbook, Grace E. Denison

A Carrot Poultice

Boil washed carrots, and pound them to a pulp with a wooden pestle; add an equal quantity of wheaten meal, and 2 table-spoonsful yeast, and wet it with beer or porter. Let it stand before the fire to ferment. The soft part to be made into a poultice with lard.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Bees’ Stings

As the bee when it stings always leaves its weapon behind, it is necessary first of all to extract it from the flesh, which may readily be done with a fine needle or a pair of small tweezers, then anoint the wound with a mixture of equal parts of hartshorn and olive oil. Or a little alkaline lotion or even common whiting will take away the pain. To a person in good health stings from these insects are not dangerous, except when they occur in the mouth, throat, or on the eyelid. It is never advisable to knock a bee off when it settles upon one ; if left entirely alone it will generally fly away of its own accord without inflicting any damage. One of the best-known remedies for a sting in the mouth or throat is to chew a strong onion and, if necessary, swallow the juice.

Source: Recipes for the Million

To Prevent Hair Falling Off

Wet the head occasionally in salt and water, and the hair will cease falling off.

Source: Household Gas Cookery Book, Helen Edden

Cough Mixture

1/2 lb. treacle
1d. paregoric
1d. peppermint
1/2 pint boiling water
1d. aniseed
1d. laudanum

Put in a pint bottle and mix well together. Dose, wine-glassful.

Source: The Northampton Cookery Book, M.A. Jeffery

Cure for Cuts and Bruises

Cut fingers and bruises of all kinds if wrapped in a cloth wet in alum water heal with a rapidity that is truly wonderful.

Source: The New Galt Cook Book, M. Taylor & F. McNaught

Flax-Seed Lemonade

To a large tablespoonful of flax-seed, allow a tumbler and a half of cold water. Boil them together till the liquid becomes very sticky. Then strain it hot over a quarter of a pound of pulverized sugar, and an ounce of pulverized gum arabic. Stir it till quite dissolved, and squeeze into it the juice of a lemon. This mixture has frequently been found an efficacious remedy for a cold, taking a wine-glass of it as often as the cough is troublesome.

Source: The Canadian Family Cookbook, Grace E. Denison

Cure for Chilblains

Bathe the feet in hot water, dry thoroughly before the fire, then rub with the following as long as possible. Take a piece of butter the size of a walnut with as much salt as can be worked into it. One or two applications will generally cure the worst cases.

Source: The New Galt Cook Book, M. Taylor & F. McNaught