For Constipation

One or two figs eaten fasting is sufficient for some, and they are especially good in the case of children, as there is no trouble in getting them to take them. A spoonful of wheaten bran in a glass of water is a simple remedy, and quite effective, taken half an hour before breakfast; fruit eaten raw; partake largely of laxative food; exercise in the open air; drink freely of cold water during the day, etc. It is impossible to give many of the numerous treatments in so short a space, suffice it to say that the general character of our diet and experience is such as to assure us that at least one-quarter of the food that we swallow is intended by nature to be evacuated from the system; and if it is not, it is again absorbed into the system, poisoning the blood and producing much suffering and permanent disease. The evacuation of the bowels daily, and above all, regularity, is therefore all important to aid this form of disorder.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

For the Griping in the Guts

Take a peniworth of Brandy, and a peniworth of Mithridate mixed together, and drink it three nights together when you go to rest, or take a little Oil of Aniseeds in a Glass of Sack three times.

Source: The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet, Hannah Wolley

A Splendid Remedy for Dysentery

A dessert spoonful of olive oil every four hours, and an opium pill between, this is the quantity for an adult, of course it must be much less for a child.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Hominy and Milk for Constipation

Half a cupful of small hominy; one scant quart of cold water; a pinch of salt.

Boil one hour, stirring often; mix in new milk, and sweeten while hot. This is a good food to correct constipation.

Source: The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper’s Guide, Mrs Washington

Slippery-Elm Bark Tea

Break the bark into bits, pour boiling water over it, cover and let it infuse until cold. Sweeten, ice, and take for summer disorders, or add lemon juice and drink for a bad cold.

Source: The White House Cookbook, F.L. Gillette

Blackberry and Wine Cordial

It is recommended as a delightful beverage and an infallible specific for diarrhea or ordinary disease of the bowels:

Receipt.- To half a bushel of blackberries well mashed, add a quarter of a pound of allspice, two ounces of cinnamon, two ounces of cloves; pulverize well, mix, and boil slowly until properly done; then strain or squeeze the juice through homespun or flannel, and add to each pint of the juice one pound of loaf sugar; boil again for some time, take it off, and while cooling, add half a gallon of the best Cognac brandy.

Dose.– For an adult, half a gill to a gill; for a child, a teaspoonful or more, according to age.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Hot Lemonade for Diarrhea

Some people prefer hot lemonade to the usual form, but it is only recently that we have seen it recommended in diarrhea. Dr. Vigouroux recommends a glass of hot lemonade every hour, or half hour, as an easy, agreeable, and efficient treatment for diarrhea.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

For Colic

For colic, or pain in the bowels, take two large, thick dinnerplates, put into hot water, let heat until you cannot bear your hand on them, then wrap one in a thin towel and lay over the seat of pain, changing as often as the plate grows cool. This is much easier than wringing cloths from hot water and quite as efficacious a remedy.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Remedy for Asthma

The following is said to be a cure for the distressing disease, asthma: The ingredients are: Sulphur, one half ounce; cream of tartar, one ounce; senna, one ounce; aniseed, one-half ounce. Pulverize and thoroughly mix the ingredients, and take one teaspoonful in about two tablespoonfuls of molasses on going to bed, or at such time through the day as may suit the patient. The dose, once a day, may be diminished or increased a little, as may best suit the state of the bowels of the individual.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

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.