Blackberry Syrup

Half a pound of blackberry root, and one-half pound of white oak bark, cut into small pieces or pulverized, and boiled in one gallon of water until it is reduced to two quarts, then strain, and boil up with cloves, cinnamon and pepper, and enough sugar to make a thick syrup. Add one gill best French brandy to each quart. Bottle and seal with wax, when it will keep for years. This was used most successfully during the late war, in cases of dysentery.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

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 very good Surfet water

Take what quantity of Brandy you please, steep a good quantity of the Flowers of Red Poppies therein, which grow amongst the Wheat, having the black bottoms cut off, when they have been steeped long enough, strain them out, and put in new, and so do till the Brandy be very red with them, and let it stand in the Sun all the while they infuse, then put in Nutmegs, Cloves, Ginger and Cinamon, with some fine Sugar, so much as you think fit, and keep it close stopped; this is very good for Surfets, Wind in the Stomach, or any Illness whatever.

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

Arrowroot Wine Jelly

One cupful of boiling water, one scant tablespoonful of arrowroot, mixed with a little cold water, one tablespoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt, one tablespoonful of brandy, or three tablespoonfuls of wine. Excellent for a sick person without fever.

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

Thoroughwort Bitters

Make a strong tea of the thoroughwort–strain it, and when cool, put to a couple of quarts of it half a pint of French brandy, the peel of two or three fresh oranges, cut into small bits, and half a dozen bunches of fennel, or smallage seed. The seed and orange peel should be crowded into a bottle, then the tea and brandy turned in. The bottle should be corked tight. The bitters will keep good almost any length of time, and is an excellent remedy for bilious complaints, and can often be taken when the thoroughwort tea will not sit on the stomach. A wine glass of these bitters to a tumbler of water is about the right proportion. It should have a little sugar added to it before drinking it.

Source: The American Housewife

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

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.

To Cure Watery and Inflamed Eyes

Foment frequently with decoction of poppy heads. When the irritation and inflammation occur, a teaspoonful of cognac brandy in four ounces of spring water may be used three or four times in the course of the day as a strengthening lotion.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information

Tincture for Rheumatism

Take pulverized gum guaiac and allspice, of each four ounces; bloodroot, pulverized, two ounces; pearlash, one ounce; fourth proof brandy, one quart. Let stand and digest three or four days, shaking it two or three times a day. Dose: A teaspoonful three or four times a day, in a little milk, syrup or wine. An almost infallible remedy for rheumatism.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information

Worm Elixir

Take gum myrrh and aloes, of each one ounce; saffron, sage leaves, and tansy leaves, of each half an ounce. Tincture in a pint of brandy for two weeks, and give to children a teaspoonful once a week to once a month as a preventive. They will never be troubled with worms as long as you do this.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Useful Information