Dysentery

Make a strong tea of sweet gum bark ; to a pint, add a gill of good brandy, half an ounce of laudanum, a little loaf sugar to make it palatable. Take a teaspoonful every hour until the effect of the laudanum is apparent, then at longer intervals, until the disease abates.

A very good and simple remedy, if used when the first symptoms appear, is : Give an adult five drops of spirits of turpentine
in a teaspoonful of sweet milk. Repeat, if necessary. Give a child according to age.

Another remedy : A teacup half full of apple vinegar. Dissolve as much salt in it as it will hold, leaving a little at the bottom. Pour boiling water upon the solution until the cup is three-fourths full. Scald it, and remove the scum. Take a tablespoonful three times a day.

Source: Mrs Hill’s New Cook-Book

“The Sun’s” Cholera Mixture

More than forty years ago, when it was found that prevention for the Asiatic cholera was easier than cure, the learned doctors of both hemispheres drew up a prescription, which was published (for working people) in The New York Sun, and took the name of “The Sun Cholera Mixture.” It is found to be the best remedy for looseness of the bowels ever yet devised. It is to be commended for several reasons. It is not to be mixed with liquor, and therefore will not be used as an alcoholic beverage. Its ingredients are well known among all the common people, and it will have no prejudice to combat; each of the materials is in equal proportions to the others, and it may therefore be compounded without professional skill; and as the dose is so very small, it may be carried in a tiny phial in the waistcoat pocket, and be always at hand. It is:–

Take equal parts of tincture of cayenne, tincture of opium, tincture of rhubarb, essence of peppermint and spirits of camphor. Mix well. Dose fifteen to thirty drops in a wine-glass of water, according to age and violence of the attack. Repeat every fifteen or twenty minutes until relief is obtained. No one who takes it in time will ever have the cholera. Even when no cholera is anticipated, it is a valuable remedy for ordinary summer complaints, and should always be kept in readiness.

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

Diarrhoea

Take tincture of Jamaica ginger one ounce, tincture of rhubarb one ounce, tincture of opium half ounce, tincture of cardamom one and one-half ounces, tincture of kino one ounce. Mix. Dose for an adult, half to one teaspoonful, repeated every two to four hours; and for children one year old, five drops; two years old, five to ten drops; three years old, ten to twelve drops, and older children in proportion to age.

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

Blackberry Cordial

To two quarts of juice add one pound of sugar, one-half ounce of cloves, one-half ounce of cinnamon, one-half ounce of nutmeg. Boil twenty minutes, and when cold add one pint good brandy. This is splendid in cases of dysentery.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Milk as a Remedy

An article appeared lately in which it is stated on the authority of a very celebrated physician, that in the East warm milk is used to a great extent as a specific for diarrhea. A pint every four hours it is said will check the most violent diarrhea, incipient cholera, and dysentery. The milk should never be boiled, but only heated sufficiently to be agreeably warm, not too hot to drink. Milk which has been boiled is unfit for use. This writer says: “It has never failed in curing in six or twelve hours, and I have tried it at least fifty times. I also gave it to a dying man who had been subject to dysentery eight months, and it acted on him like a charm, he is still living, a hale, hearty man, and now nothing that may hereafter occur will ever shake his faith in hot milk.”

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Another Mixture for Cholera

Laudanum two ounces, spirits of camphor two ounces, essence of peppermint two ounces, Hoffman’s anodyne two ounces, tincture of cayenne pepper two drachms, tincture of ginger one ounce. This is also invaluable. A teaspoonful in a little water, or a half a teaspoonful repeated in an hour afterward in a tablespoonful of brandy. This preparation will check diarrhea in ten minutes, and abate other premonitory symptoms of cholera immediately.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Boiled Flour

Take of fine flour one pound, tie it up in a linen cloth as tight as possible, and after frequently dipping it into cold water, dredge the outside with flour till a crust is formed round it, which will prevent the water soaking into it while boiling. Boil for a long time, and permit to cool, when it will become a hard, dry mass. This is to be grated, and prepared like arrow root. A good diet for children in diarrhea.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Cholera Mixture

Laudanum, tincture of Rhubarb, and spirits of camphor, equal parts. Begin with thirty drops, taken clear and unmixed, with a little sugar placed in the mouth afterwards. Repeat the dose (after every evacuation) increasing it if the case becomes urgent to sixty drops, (a teaspoonful), or ninety if necessary. No household should be without this remedy, particularly in the summer.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Ingredient: Nutmeg

The medicinal qualities of nutmegs are worthy of considerable attention, on account of their value in the treatment of diarrhea, many cases quickly yielding to the administration of half a drachm
in milk. Sleeplessness may be effectually relieved by them when opium fails and chloral is not advisable. They are also a sedative in delirium tremens, and can be given with safety and marked benefit.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Receipt for Chronic Diarrhea

Cinnamon seed one-half ounce, cardamon seed one-quarter of an ounce, carroway seed one-quarter of an ounce, orange peel two ounces, English gentian one ounce, camomile flowers one-half ounce. Put on to the above one quart of old rye whisky. (They must all be ground up first).

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook