For the Croup

Put the child in warm water, and keep up the temperature by putting in more hot water; keep it in fifteen or twenty minutes, then wipe it dry and put it in a warm bed, or wrap a blanket round it and hold it on the lap; give it an emetic, and put powdered garlic and lard to the throat and soles of the feet; keep up the perspiration, by giving a few drops of antimonial wine every half hour. The next morning give it a dose of rhubarb tea or castor oil, and keep it from the air for several days. This treatment has been very beneficial when a physician was not at hand; and nothing had been done till his arrival, perhaps the child would have been too far gone to recover. In cases of croup, to wet a piece of flannel with alcohol, and apply it to the throat as hot as it can be borne, has often a salutary effect, applied frequently. It is also good to use for a bad cold, &c.

Molasses stewed with a lump of butter, and a table-spoonful of vinegar, taken just before you go to bed, and to grease the nose, forehead and breast with mutton tallow, will sometimes cure a child without anything else. To pound garlic in a rag and squeeze out the juice, mix it with molasses, and give a tea-spoonful at a time, has given relief when a child was very ill. Sliced onions, or garlic stewed with sugar and water, or molasses, is very good to take for a cold. Where children are subject to the croup, you should always have a pot of water over the
fire, and light-wood near, to heat it as quick as possible. Children that are subject to these attacks should have their feet kept warm and dry, and always wear flannel next to the skin.

It is the duty of parents to make use of the most simple remedies, which may always be in readiness, and, if applied in time, may prevent the necessity of giving strong medicines, which injure the constitutions of young children. The least symptom of the disease should be attended to. Lobelia is a certain remedy for croup. If the case is light, a few drops of the tincture, increasing the dose according to the age of the child, given at short intervals, will cause it to vomit and prevent danger; but if the attack is a severe one, you should give the “third preparation of lobelia;” for a child of ten years, ten drops, and so on in proportion; mix it with sugar and water. Every mother should keep lobelia at hand, as it has been known to give certain relief in many cases.

A child of twelve months, may take of the tincture ten drops every fifteen or twenty minutes, till it acts as an emetic, or relieves by perspiration; one of two or three years may take twenty or thirty drops. The third preparation is of much greater strength than the tincture.

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

Dropsy

Gentle exercise and rubbing the parts affected, are highly proper in this complaint, and the tepid bath has often procured considerable relief. The patient ought to live in a warm dry place, not expose himself to cold or damp air, and wear flannel next the skin. Vegetable acids, such as vinegar, the juice of lemons and oranges, diluted with water, should be drank in preference to wine or spirits, either of which are generally hurtful. The diet should be light and nourishing, easy of digestion, and taken in moderation. Horseradish, onions and garlic, may be used instead of foreign spices; but tea, coffee, and punch, are alike improper.

Source: The Cook And Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary, Mary Eaton

For Worms

Equal parts of salt and sugar, taken while fasting, are good for worms; a tea-spoonful is sufficient for a child two years old; to take half a cup of chamomile, rue or wormwood tea, with a little sugar, two hours before breakfast, is also good. Give a dose of senna after they have been taking this three days. It is very important to bruise garlic and rue, to apply to the stomach; put it in a bag, and wet it with spirits every day. The garlic and rue is said to keep the worms out of the stomach. Wormseed oil, a few drops at a time, has given relief, but should be used cautiously. Old cheese grated and given to a child, has been known to afford relief: it is also beneficial when a child is seized with sudden illness from having eaten too many cherries.

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

Sinapisms

The sinapism is a poultice made of vinegar instead of milk, and rendered warm and stimulating by the addition of mustard, horseradish, or garlic. The common sinapism is made of equal quantities of bread crumbs and mustard, a sufficient quantity of strong vinegar, and mixing all together into a poultice. When a sinapism is required to be more stimulating, a little bruised garlic may be added. Sinapisms are employed to recal the blood and spirits to a weak part, as in the case of palsy; they are also of service in deep-seated pains, as in the case of sciatica. When the gout seizes the head or stomach, they are applied to the feet to bring the disorder down, and are likewise applied to the soles of the feet in a low state of fever. They should not be suffered to lie on till they have raised blisters, but till the parts become red, and will continue so when pressed with the finger.

Source: The Cook And Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary, Mary Eaton

Garlic Syrup, for Hooping, or any other Cough

Put 3 roots of garlic, sliced thinly and transversely, with 4 oz. honey, and 4 oz. vinegar, into a 1/2 pint bason, and set that into a large wash-hand bason; let it infuse half an hour, then strain it. Take the first in the morning, and the last at night, a tea-spoonful of the syrup, in an equal quantity of brandy and water; put the water in the glass first.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Deafness

Deafness generally arises from deficient secretion of wax in the ear. The following remedy is in some cases useful :— Oil of turpentine, half a dram ; olive oil, two drams ; mix, and insert a couple of drops in the ear at bed-time.

Oil of bitter almonds also proves of great service in the treatment of this ailment, especially if a few drops of turpentine or camphor liniment be added to the oil. If the deafness arises from nervous debility a course of tonic medicines should be taken, the diet strictly attended to, and a clove of garlic wrapped in muslin, or a few drops of the juice, introduced into the ear.

Source: Recipes for the Million

For the Whooping Cough

Onions and garlic sliced, of each one gill; one gill of sweet oil; stir them in the oil in a covered dish; strain and add one gill of honey; one-half an ounce of paregoric; one-half an ounce of spirits of camphor. Bottle and cork for use. Dose: one teaspoonful three or four times a day.

Source: Tried and True Recipes, F.D.P. Jermain

Cure for Sore Throat in All Its Different Forms

Two ozs. Cayenne Pepper, one oz. common Salt, one-half pint of Vinegar. Warm over a slow fire and gargle the throat and mouth every hour. Garlic and Onion poultice applied to the outside. Castor Oil, one spoonful to keep the bowels open.

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

Medicinal Food

Spinach has a direct effect upon complaints of the kidneys; the common dandelion, used as greens, is excellent for the same trouble; asparagus purifies the blood; celery acts admirably upon the nervous system, and is a cure for rheumatism and neuralgia; tomatoes act upon the liver; beets and turnips are excellent appetizers; lettuce and cucumbers are cooling in their effects upon the system; beans are a very nutritious and strengthening vegetable; while onions, garlic, leeks, chives and shallots, all of which are similar, possess medicinal virtues of a marked character, stimulating the circulatory system, and the consequent increase of the saliva and the gastric juice promoting digestion. Red onions are an excellent diuretic, and the white ones are recommended raw as a remedy for insomnia. They are tonic, nutritious. A soup made from onions is regarded by the French as an excellent restorative in debility of the digestive organs. We might go through the entire list and find each vegetable possessing its especial mission of cure, and it will be plain to every housekeeper that a vegetable diet should be partly adopted, and will prove of great advantage to the health of the family.

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

Thieves’ Vinegar

Take a large handful of lavender blossoms, and the same quantity of sage, mint, rue, wormwood and rosemary. Chop and mix them well. Put them into a jar, with half an ounce of camphor that has been dissolved in a little alcohol, and pour in three quarts of strong clear vinegar. Keep the jar for two or three weeks in the hot sun, and at night plunge it into a box of heated sand. Afterwards strain and bottle the liquid, putting into each bottle a clove of garlic sliced. To have it very clear, after it has been bottled for a week, you should pour it off carefully from the sediment, and filter it through blotting paper. Then wash the bottles, and return the vinegar to them. It should be kept very tightly corked. It is used for sprinkling about in sick-rooms; and also in close damp oppressive weather. Inhaling the odour from a small bottle will frequently prevent faintness in a crowd.

It is best to make it in June.

This vinegar is so called from an old tradition, that during the prevalence of the plague in London the composition was invented by four thieves, who found it a preservative from contagion; and were by that means enabled to remain in the city and exercise their profession to great advantage, after most of the inhabitants had fled.

Source: Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches, Eliza Leslie