Bronchial, or any Severe Cough. One of the best Home Remedies

“Hoarhound (herb form) — 1 ounce
Irish moss — 1 ounce
Flax Seed (the seed not pulverized) — 1 ounce
Boneset — 1 ounce
Licorice Root (cut up fine) — 1 ounce

Place the above in some suitable pan or dish for such purpose in a gallon of cold water, and put it on the back of the stove, so that it will simmer slowly until reduced to one-half gallon, which may require one day or more, then strain and place in a bottle, or bottles. Dose.– One wineglassful three times a day. Add a little sugar if desired.” This is a very fine cough remedy, as the hoarhound loosens the cough, the flax seed soothes the membrane, and the boneset by its general action on the system produces sweating. The Irish moss is a sort of food for the whole system and helps to build a person up.

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

Coughs, Very Simple Remedy for

“Take one-half tablespoonful hogs’ lard or salt pork grease, heat it hot, fill spoon with coal oil and swallow while hot. Have used this, will stop and cure the worst cough.” Not to be given to children.

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

Ingredients: Barley

Hordeum Vulgare — common Barley — is chiefly used in Great Britain for brewing and distilling; but, it has dietetic and medicinal virtues which entitle it to be considered among serviceable simples. Roman gladiators who depended for their strength and prowess chiefly on Barley, were called Hordearii. Nevertheless, this cereal is less nourishing than wheat, and when prepared as food is apt to purge; therefore it is not made into bread, except when wheat is scarce and dear, though in Scotland poor people eat Barley bread. In India Barley meal is made into balls of dough for the oxen and camels. Pearl Barley is prepared in Holland and Germany by first shelling the grain, and then grinding it into round white granules. The ancients fed their horses upon Barley, and we fatten swine on this grain made into meal. Among the Greeks beer was known as barley wine, which was brewed without hops, these dating only from the fourteenth century.

A decoction of barley with gum arabic, one ounce of the gum dissolved in a pint of the hot decoction, is a very useful drink to soothe irritation of the bladder, and of the urinary passages. The chemical constituents of Barley are starch, gluten, albumen, oil, and hordeic acid. From the earliest times it has been employed to prepare drinks for the sick, especially in feverish disorders, and for sore lining membranes of the chest. Honey may be added beneficially to the decoction of barley for bronchial coughs. The French make “Orgeat” of barley boiled in successive waters, and sweetened at length as a cooling drink: though this name is now applied in France to a liqueur concocted from almonds.

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

Ingredients: Wood Anemone

The Wood Anemone, or medicinal English Pulsatilla, with its lovely pink white petals, and drooping blossoms, is one of our best known and most beautiful spring flowers. Herbalists do not distinguish it virtually from the silky-haired Anemone Pulsatilla, which medicinal variety is of highly valuable modern curative use as a Herbal Simple. The active chemical principles of each plant are “anemonin” and “anemonic acid.” A tincture is made (H.) with spirit of wine from the entire plant, collected when in flower. This tincture is remarkably beneficial in disorders of the mucous membranes, alike of the respiratory and of the digestive passages. For mucous indigestion following a heavy or rich meal the tincture of Pulsatilla is almost a specific remedy. Three or four drops thereof should be given at once with a tablespoonful of water, hot or cold, and the same dose may be repeated after an hour if then still needed. For catarrhal affections of the eyes and the ears, as well as for catarrhal diarrhoea, the tincture is very serviceable; also for female monthly difficulties its use is always beneficial and safe. As a medicine it best suits persons of a mild, gentle disposition, and of a lymphatic constitution, especially females; it is less appropriate for quick, excitable, energetic men. Anemonin, or Pulsatilla Camphor, which is the active principle of this plant, is prepared by the chemist, and may be given in doses of from one fiftieth to one tenth of a grain rubbed up with dry sugar of milk. Such a dose (or a drop of the tincture with a tablespoonful of water), given every two or three hours, will soon relieve a swollen testicle; and the tincture still more diluted will ease the bladder difficulties of old men. Furthermore, the tincture, in doses of two or three drops with a spoonful of water, will allay spasmodic cough, as of whooping cough, or bronchitis. The vinegar of Wood Anemone made from the leaves retains all the more acrid properties of the plant, and is put, in France, to many rural domestic purposes. When applied in lotions every night for five or six times consecutively, it will heal indolent ulcers; and its rubefacient effects serve instead of those produced externally by mustard. If a teaspoonful is sprinkled within the palms and its volatile vapours are inhaled through the mouth and nose, this will dispel an incipient catarrh. The name Pulsatilla is a diminutive of the Latin puls, a pottage, as made from pulse, and used at sacrificial feasts. The title Anemone signifies “wind-flower.” Pliny says this flower never opens but when the wind is blowing. The title has been misapprehended as “an emony.” Turner says gardeners call the flowers “emonies”; and Tennyson, in his “Northern Farmer,” tells of the dead keeper being found “doon in the woild enemies afoor I corned to the plaice.” Other names of the plant are Wood Crowfoot, Smell Fox (Rants), and Flawflower. Alfred Austin says, “With windflower honey are my tresses smoothed.” It is also called the Passover Flower, because blossoming at Easter; and it belongs to the Ranunculaceous order of plants. The flower of the Wood Anemone tells the approach of night, or of a shower, by curling over its petals like a tent; and it has been said that fairies nestle within, having first pulled the curtains round them. Among the old Romans, to gather the first Anemone of the year was deemed a preservative against fever. The Pasque flower, also named Bluemoney and Easter, or Dane’s flower, is of a violet blue, growing in chalky pastures, and less common than the Wood Anemone, but each possesses equally curative virtues.

The seed of the Anemone being very light and downy, is blown away by the first breeze of wind. A ready-witted French senator took advantage of this fact while visiting Bacheliere, a covetous florist, near Paris, who had long held a secret monopoly of certain richly-coloured and splendidly handsome anemones from the East. Vexed to see one man hoard up for himself what ought to be more widely distributed, he walked and talked with the florist in his garden when the anemone plants were in seed. Whilst thus occupied, he let fall his robe, as if by accident, upon the flowers, and so swept off a number of the little feathery seed vessels which clung to his dependent garment, and which he afterwards cultivated at home. The petals of the Pasque flower yield a rich green colour, which is used for staining Easter eggs, this festival having been termed Pask time in old works, from “paske,” a crossing over. The plant is said to grow best with iron in the soil.

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

News: Honey Used As Remedy For Coughs And Colds

“Mary Poppins may have said it first — a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. But now with the FDA advising against over-the-counter cold and cough remedies for kids under two, the sugar may be one of the best options parents have left.”

Full story: WFMZ-69 News, 21st January 2008

Bronchitis, Grandmother’s Remedy for

“Hoarhound 5 cents worth
Hops 5 cents worth
Wild cherry bark 5 cents worth
Licorice root 5 cents worth

“Boil and simmer altogether in two quarts of water long enough to get the strength out of the ingredients, strain, add three cups sugar, then add enough good whisky to keep from souring, say a half pint.” This combination is not only good for bronchitis, but for the cough left from the effects of bronchitis. The hoarhound, wild cherry bark and licorice root have a very soothing effect on the bronchial tubes, and the hops quiets the nervous system. This is also good for a common cough.

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

Cough, Honey and Vinegar for

“Honey and vinegar.” This is an old and tried remedy and a good one. The vinegar cuts the phlegm in the throat and bronchial tubes, and the honey is very soothing.

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

Lemon Mixture for a Cough

Put two fresh eggs in a jar; cover them with the juice of six large lemons; let it stand until the hard shell of the eggs is eaten off; then beat it together; strain it, and add half a pound of rock candy, one
gill of brandy and two table-spoonsful of sweet oil.

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

For A Cough

Take a wine glass of the juice of the green hoarhound, or if that cannot be obtained, a strong decoction from the dry herb will answer; mix it in half a pint of new milk, sweetened either with sugar or honey; take this half an hour before breakfast. It has been known to cure obstinate coughs, and persons that have taken it for four weeks or more, have gained strength and flesh, and the pain in the breast was relieved. Flannel should be worn.

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

Definition: Tolu

Tolu: A balsam from a South American tree of the genus Myroxylon. It was traditionally used for the relief of asthma and coughing, and in wound treatments.