Drunkenness, Chocolate for

“Give patient all the chocolate he can or will eat. This cured one man I know.”

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

Poor Circulation, Alcohol Rub for

“Rub vigorously night and morning with good whisky. Don’t stop for a week or so after patient looks and feels well.” Rubbing with alcohol would probably be preferred.

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

Pregnancy, A Great Aid for

“Soothing syrup or Mother’s friend, while pregnant. Two ounces each of cramp bark, blue cohosh, slippery elm, raspberry leaves, squaw vine, orange peel and bitter root. Simmer gently in sufficient water to keep herbs covered for two hours, strain and steep gently down to one quart. Let it stand to cool, then add one cup granulated sugar, and four ounces alcohol. Dose.– One tablespoonful two or three times a day for several weeks before the birth of the child. This has been thoroughly tried and causes an easy birth where difficulty has been expected.”

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

Ague in Face, Menthol and Alcohol Effective Remedy for

“After making a solution of teaspoonful of menthol crystals, dissolved in two ounces of
alcohol, apply several times a day to the face. Care should be taken that this solution does not enter the eyes, as it would be injurious.”

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

Corns, to Remove Without Pain

“Alcohol 1/2 ounce
Muriatic Acid 1 dram
Nitric Acid 1 dram
Oil of Rosemary 1 dram
Chloroform 2 drams
Tincture Iron 2 drams

Mix the above, and apply freely to the corn with little brush or feather
until it can be removed with thumb lance. It may require several
applications.”

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

La Grippe (Influenza), Red Pepper Treatment From Canada for

“Take a bottle of alcohol and put enough red peppers in it so that when four drops of this liquid are put in a half cup of water it tastes strong. This is what I always break up my grippe with.” Peppers thus prepared stimulates and warms up the stomach and bowels, and increases the circulation.

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

Ingredients: Acorn

This is the well-known fruit of our British Oak, to which tree it gives the name– Aik, or Eik, Oak.

The Acorn was esteemed by Dioscorides, and other old authors, for its supposed medicinal virtues. As an article of food it is not known to have been habitually used at any time by the inhabitants of Britain, though acorns furnished the chief support of the large herds of swine on which our forefathers subsisted. The right of maintaining these swine in the woods was called “panage,” and formed a valuable property.

The earliest inhabitants of Greece and Southern Europe who lived in the primeval forests were supported almost wholly on the fruit of the Oak. They were described by classic authors as fat of person, and were called “balanophagi”–acorn eaters.

During the great dearth of 1709 the French were driven to eat bread of acorns steeped in water to destroy the bitterness, and they suffered therefrom injurious effects, such as obstinate constipation, or destructive cholera.

It is worth serious notice medically that in years remarkable for a large yield of Acorns disastrous losses have occurred among young cattle from outbreaks of acorn poisoning, or the acorn disease. Those up to two years old suffered most severely, but sheep, pigs and deer were not affected by this acorn malady. Its symptoms are progressive wasting, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, sore places inside the mouth, discharge from the eyes and nostrils, excretion of much pale urine, and no fever, but a fall of temperature below the normal standard. Having regard to which train of symptoms it is fair to suppose the acorn will afford in the human subject a useful specific medicine for the marasmus, or wasting atrophy of young children who are scrofulous. The fruit should be given in the form of a tincture, or vegetable extract, or even admixed (when ground) sparingly with wheaten flour in bread. The dose should fall short of producing any of the above symptoms, and the remedy should be steadily pursued for many weeks.

The tincture should be made of saturated strength with spirit of wine on the bruised acorns, to stand for a fortnight before being decanted. Then the dose will be from twenty to thirty drops with water three or four times a day.

The Acorn contains chemically starch, a fixed oil, citric acid, uncrystallizable sugar, and another special sugar called “quercit.”

Acorns, when roasted and powdered, have been sometimes employed as a fair substitute for coffee. By distillation they will yield an ardent spirit.

Dr. Burnett strongly commends a “distilled spirit of acorns” as an antidote to the effects of alcohol, where the spleen and kidneys have already suffered, with induced dropsy. It acts on the principle of similars, ten drops being given three times a day in water.

In certain parts of Europe it is customary to place acorns in the hands of the newly dead; whilst in other districts an apple is put into the palm of a child when lying in its little coffin.

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

Sweaty Feet, Borax and Alcohol for

“Dissolve a tablespoonful of powdered borax in half a pint of diluted alcohol (half alcohol, half water) and rub the feet at night, You will find this a splendid remedy.”

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

Definition: Tincture

A tincture is an alcoholic solution of a non-volatile substance (for example, tincture of iodine).

“Very uniform and reliable tinctures may be made of most indigenous plants, by procuring the part to be employed, at the proper season, while it is green and fresh, bruising it well, and covering it with good strong whiskey, or with alcohol diluted with one part of water to three of alcohol, corking tightly, and letting it stand about fourteen days, when the tincture may be filtered or poured off from the drugs, and will be ready for use. Prepared in this imperfect manner, they will be found to be much more reliable than any of the fluid extracts found in the drug-stores. An excess of the crude drug should be used in preparing the tincture to insure a perfect saturation of the alcohol with its active principles.”

Source: The People’s Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English or, Medicine Simplified, R.V. Pierce.

Definition: Rectified Spirit

Rectified spirit is a liquid with a high concentration of alcohol, formed by multiple distillation. It is generally used for medicinal or household purposes, or very occasionally in mixed drinks. It usually has a concentration of alcohol above 75%.