Mixture for a Cold

The juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 small teaspoonful sweet spirits of nitre
1 teaspoonful glycerine
A little honey

Put these ingredients into a tumbler and then fill 3 parts full of boiling water. Drink last thing at night.

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

Flaxseed Lemonade

Pour one quart of boilmg water over four tablespoonfuls of whole flaxseed, and steep three hours. Strain and sweeten to taste, and add the juice of two lemons. Add a little more water if the liquid seems too thick. This is soothing in colds.

Source: The Universal Cookery Book, Gertrude Strohm

Bran Tea

Put a handful of bran in a pint and a half of cold water, boil it for an hour and three-quarters, then strain, and flavour with sugar and lemon juice. This is a very cheap and useful drink in colds, fevers, and restlessness from pain.

Source: Recipes for the Million

A Remedy For A Common Cold

3 grains compound extract of colocynth, and 3 grains of soap, in 2 pills, taken at going to bed. The following night, take 16 or 18 grains of compound powder of contrayerva, and 1/2 a pint vinegar whey.– Breakfast in bed the next morning.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

For A Cold And Cough

To 3 quarts of water, put 1/4 lb. linseed, two pennyworth stick liquorice, and 1/4 lb. sun raisins. Boil it, until the water be reduced half; add a spoonful of rum and of lemon juice. A 1/4 pint at bed time, and in smaller quantities, during the night, if the cough be troublesome.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Egg Gruel

Beat the yolk of an egg with a spoonful of white sugar, and then beat the white separately, to a stiff froth. Pour water when boiling to the yolk, then stir in the white and add spice, or any seasoning, to suit the taste. When a person has taken a violent cold, after being warm in bed give this as hot as it can be taken, and it is often a perfect cure.

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

For a Cold in the Head

Mix together in a large bottle four ounces of ammonia and four of camphor. A cologne bottle with a glass stopper is the best for this preparation. When there are symptoms of a cold in the head inhale this mixture frequently.

Source: Miss Parloa’s Young Housekeeper, Maria Parloa

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

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 Canadian Family Cookbook, Grace E. Denison

Cure for a Cold

Boil two ounces flaxseed in one quart of water, strain and add two ounces of rock candy, one-half pint of honey, juice of three lemons ; mix and let all boil well, let cool and bottle. Dose, one cupful on going to bed one-half cupful before meals, the hotter you drink it the better.

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