For Whooping Cough

Dissolve a scruple of salts of tartar in a gill of water, put in half a scruple of pulverized cochineal, sweeten it with loaf sugar, give an infant a tea-spoonful of this mixture four times a day, and a child four years old or upwards, a table-spoonful. In some cases the relief is instantaneous.

Another Remedy

Half a pint of honey, half a pint of vinegar, two table-spoonsful of sweet oil stewed together a few minutes; when cold put it in a bottle, and put in a tea-spoonful of laudanum; shake it well, and give a table-spoonful when the cough is troublesome, and a dose just before going to bed. For an infant of six months, a small tea-spoonful is a dose, and for a child of four years, two tea-spoonsful. Where there is not much fever, a little port or claret wine, mixed with sugar and water, and taken with toast broken in it, is beneficial. Children should be taken out riding if possible, and should be well wrapped up.

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

Draught for a Cough

Beat a fresh-laid egg, and mix it with a quarter of a pint of new milk warmed, but do not heat it after the egg is put in. Add a large spoonful of capillaire, the same of rose water, and a little nutmeg scraped. Take it the first and last thing, and it will be found a fine soft draught for those who are weakly, or have a cold.

—Another remedy. Take a handful of horehound, a handful of rue, a handful of hyssop, and the same quantity of ground ivy and of tormentil, with a small quantity of long plantain, pennyroyal, and five finger. Boil them in four quarts of water till reduced to two quarts. Strain it off, then add two pounds of loaf sugar; simmer it a little, add a quart of brandy and bottle it for use. A wine glassful of this to be taken occasionally.

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

Very Excellent Lip-Salve

Take four ounces of butter, fresh from the churn, cut it small, put it into a jar, cover it with good rose-water, and let it remain for four or five days; then drain it well, and put it into a small and very clean saucepan, with one ounce of spermaceti, and one of yellow beeswax sliced thin, a quarter of an ounce of bruised alkanet root, two drachms of gum benzoin, and one of storax, beaten to powder, half an ounce of loaf sugar, and the strained juice of a moderate sized lemon. Simmer these gently, keeping them stirred all the time, until the mixture looks very clear, and sends forth a fine aromatic odour; then strain it through a thin doubled muslin, and stir to it from twelve to twenty drops of essential oil of roses, and pour it into small gallipots, from which it can easily be turned out when cold, and then be rubbed against the lips, which is the most pleasant way of using it, as it is much firmer than common lip-salve, and will be found more healing and infinitely more agreeable. When butter cannot be had direct from the churn, any which is quite fresh may be substituted for it, after the salt has been well washed and soaked out of it, by working it with a strong spoon in cold water, in which it should remain for a couple of days or more, the water being frequently changed during the time.

Source: The Ladies’ Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness, Florence Hartley

Summer Diseases

The food of children in summer, should be light and nourishing; if of milk, be careful that it is sweet. If you cannot get it fresh as often as you want it, boiling will keep it sweet. Sour milk and improper food sometimes bring on the summer disease, which is easier prevented than cured.

A little rhubarb tea or tincture, with a small quantity of prepared chalk, will sometimes check it in its early stages, but the most effectual medicine that I have tried is called by some apothecaries, “red mixture,” of which I will give a recipe.

Chicken water, slightly salted, is very good; make but a little at a time, and have it fresh.

Rice gruel, sweetened with loaf-sugar, and a little nutmeg, is nourishing. To make a drink of slippery-elm, shave the bark fine and put it in water; strain it, mix it with milk, and sweeten it. Elderberry and blackberry cordials are also good in cases where there is no fever.

The stomach and back should be bathed with spirits, and a little bag of pounded spices, wet with spirits, applied to the stomach, may be used with safety, when not within reach of a physician.

A bark jacket has been used with success in many instances, cut it out of fine muslin, to be double, spread it open, and cover one side with about two ounces of the best Lima bark, and twelve pounded cloves; put on the other side, sew it up, and quilt it across; put on shoulder straps and strings of soft ribbon; sprinkle it with spirits twice a day.

The child should have the benefit of the morning and evening air. If it is not convenient to ride it out, walking will answer, in the arms of a careful nurse, carried on a pillow, with an umbrella to protect its eyes from the light.

When a child is taken sick in a city, removing it to the country often has a beneficial effect. Milk thickened with arrow root is good diet for children. Flour dried in an oven for several hours, and used to thicken milk or water, is also good, sweetened with loaf-sugar, and is nutritious. They should eat but a small portion of any thing at a time.

To cut slices of lean fresh beef or mutton, put it in a bowl, and pour a pint of boiling water on it, and let it set close to the fire for an hour, is very good to give children occasionally, with but little salt; the stomach will sometimes retain this when other things are rejected. As thirst is an attendant on this disease, much salt should be avoided in all their food. Every thing about a sick child should be kept clean, and its clothes well aired before changing them. If it is too ill to carry out of doors, have it changed from one room to another, and the apartment it left well aired.

Children who are afflicted with this disease, sometimes crave fruit. Ripe peaches, fresh from the tree, or ripe apples, baked or roasted before the fire, may he occasionally administered in small quantities with perfect safety.

To make toast-water, the bread should be toasted on both sides very dry, and boiling water poured on it.

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

Cream Tartar Whey

Warm a pint of fresh milk, when scalding hot, stir in a teaspoonful of cream tartar, and if this does not turn it, add more, till it does. Strain it, and sweeten with loaf sugar. Those who cannot eat wine whey can eat this without trouble, and it is good in fevers.

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

Heartburn, Remedies For

Add two drams of carbonate of magnesia to a cupful of milk, and drink it whenever the rising is experienced.

Eating a raw turnip will also take away the smarting sensation.

The following effervescing drink is also good:— The juice of an orange, with loaf sugar to flavour, and, in proportion to the acidity of the orange, a little bicarbonate of soda. Mix the orange juice, sugar, and water together in a tumbler, then add the soda; stir, and drink while effervescing.

Source: Recipes for the Million

Blackberry Syrup, for Cholera and Summer Complaint

Two quarts of blackberry juice.

One pound of loaf sugar.

Half an ounce of nutmegs.

A quarter of an ounce of cloves.

Half an ounce of cinnamon.

Half an ounce of allspice.

Pulverize the spice, and boil all for fifteen or twenty minutes. When cold, add a pint of brandy.

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

Remedy for Cough

One ounce of Balm of Gilead buds; put in a quart of water and boil down to a pint; add one pint of Bourbon whisky and one pound of loaf sugar.

Source: The Canadian Family Cookbook, Grace E. Denison

A Cure for Dropsy

Six lemons, one pound of loaf sugar, one ounce of cream of tartar, one ounce of magnesia, two ounces of parsley seed. Slice the lemons thin, put them and the parsley seed into three quarts of water, boil down to one quart, strain and add the other things to them. Dose, a wine glass three times a day.

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

Eau Sucré

Dissolve three or four lumps of loaf sugar in a glass of ice-water, and take a teaspoonful every few minutes for a “tickling in the throat,” or a hacking cough. Keep it ice-cold.

A simple, but often an efficacious remedy.

Source: Common Sense in the Household, Marion Harland