Blackberry Cordial

To one quart of blackberry juice, add one pound of white sugar, one tablespoonful of cloves, one of allspice, one of cinnamon, and one of nutmeg. Boil all together fifteen minutes; add a wineglass of whiskey, brandy or rum. Bottle while hot, cork tight, and seal. This is almost a specific in diarrhea. One dose, which is a wineglassful for an adult–half that quantity for a child–will often cure diarrhea. It can be taken three or four times a day if the case is severe.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Essence for Smelling Bottles

Oil of lavender and essence of bergamot, each one drachm; oil of orange-peel, eight drops; oil of cinnamon, four drops; oil of neroli, two drops; alcohol and strongest water of ammonia, each two ounces.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Centaur Liniment

Oil Speke one oz., Oil Wormwood one oz., Oil Sassafras one oz., Oil Organum one oz., Oil Cinnamon one oz., Oil Cloves one drm., Oil Cedar one drm., Sulphur. Ether one oz., Aqua Ammonia one oz., Tinc. Opium one oz., Alcohol one gal. Mix. This is an excellent liniment and good whenever a liniment is needed.

Source: One Thousand Secrets of Wise and Rich Men Revealed, C. A. Bogardus

Hop Bitters

Hops four ozs., Orange Peel two ozs., Cardamon two drms., Cinnamon one drm., Cloves one-half drm., Alcohol eight ozs., Sherry Wine two pints, Simple Syrup one pint. Water sufficient. Grind the drugs, macerate in the Alcohol and Wine for one week, percolate and add enough syrup and water to make one gallon.

Source: One Thousand Secrets of Wise and Rich Men Revealed, C. A. Bogardus

Cologne

Put into a bottle half an ounce of oil of lavender, one drachm of oil of rosemary, two of essence of lemon, two of essence of bergamot, forty drops of oil of cinnamon, and a little musk, if you like it; pour on it three pints of best alcohol.

Source: Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers, Elizabeth E. Lea

Another Receipt for Purifying the Blood and Strengthening the Stomach

Take mace, flour of sulphur, cloves, cinnamon, half an ounce of each, eleven penny bits worth of saffron and about half an ounce small snake root, put it altogether into a bottle and add one quart good wine, let it stand 24 hours and it will be fit for use. A teaspoonful may be taken in the morning before breakfast, or it may be taken three times a day.

Source: Recipes: Information for Everybody, J.F. Landis

For Dysentery and Diarrhoea

The following prescription from an eminent physician has proved valuable: Take of calcined magnesia two drachms, of aromatic spirits of ammonia two and a half drachms, of water half a pint, mix well together, and as a dose for a grown person, give a table-spoonful every half hour until relieved.

Some country nurses recommend dittany tea, or spice-wood berries boiled in new milk. A large poultice on the stomach and bowels, made of new milk, thickened with light bread, has given relief — keeping it warm.

Be careful to keep the patient’s feet warm, and to bathe the back and stomach with spirits. Where the dittany and spice-wood cannot be obtained, other aromatics, as cinnamon and cloves, are good substitutes.

Source: Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers, Elizabeth E. Lea

Tonic

The following is the tonic used by reformed drunkards to restore the vigor of the stomach. Take of gentian root, half an ounce; valerian root, one drachm; best rhubarb root, two drachms; bitter orange peel, three drachms; cardamom seeds, half an ounce; and cinnamon bark, one drachm. Having bruised all the above together in a mortar (the druggist will do it if requested), pour upon it one and a half pints of boiling water and cover up close; let it stand till cold; strain, bottle, and cork securely; keep in a dark place. Two tablespoonfuls may be taken every hour before meals, and half that quantity whenever the patient feels that distressing sickness and prostration so generally present for some time after alcoholic stimulants have been abandoned.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Mouth Pastiles, for Perfuming the Breath

Extract of licorice, three ounces; oil of cloves, one and a half drachms; oil of cinnamon, fifteen drops. Mix, and divide into one-grain pills, and silver them.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Sago for Invalids

Wash one large spoonful of sago, boil it in a little water, with a pinch of salt and one or two sticks of cinnamon, until it looks clear; then add a pint of milk, boil all well together, and sweeten with loaf sugar.

Source: Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book, Catherine Beecher