The Oil of Butter, A Remedy for Dysentery, &c.

Put half a pound of fresh butter in a quart of boiling water, to extract the salt; let it melt and boil up. If there should be any curds on the top, take them off, then skim off the clear butter, and keep it covered by the fire; give from one to two table-spoonsful at a time, three or four times a day.

This is useful in cases of dysentery, and is also soothing to the stomach, after violent vomiting for a long time. Sometimes a plaster of mustard put on the stomach stops vomiting.

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

For Cramp in the Stomach

Dissolve a tea-spoonful of table salt, in a tea-cup of warm water; if this does not stop the vomiting and cramp, repeat the dose; this is very useful in stopping the operation of an emetic, when it has continued too long. Flannel cloths dipped in hot spirits, and sprinkled with cayenne pepper, and applied to the stomach, sometimes relieves the pain; a mustard plaster is also of use.

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

For Bilious Diarrhoea, attended with Wind and Headache

Take Mountain Flax, 1 ounce.

Turkey Rhubarb, 1/4 ounce.

Ginger Root, 1 ounce.

Calumba Root, 1 ounce.

Bruise all the roots, and boil together with the Mountain Flax in one quart of water until reduced to a pint and a half, let stand till cold, and strain off.

Dose– Half a wineglassful two or three times a day according to its aperient effect, two hours after a meal.

Source: Baldwin’s Herbal Guide To Health, G. Baldwin

Cramp

Persons subject to this complaint, being generally attacked in the night, should have a board fixed at the bottom of the bed, against which the foot should be strongly pressed when the pain commences. This will seldom fail to afford relief. When it is more obstinate, a brick should be heated, wrapped in a flannel bag at the bottom of the bed, and the foot placed against it. The brick will continue warm, and prevent a return of the complaint. No remedy however is more safe or more certain than that of rubbing the affected part, to restore a free circulation. If the cramp attack the stomach or bowels, it is attended with considerable danger: medicine may relieve but cannot cure. All hot and stimulating liquors must be carefully avoided, and a tea-cupful of lukewarm gruel or camomile tea should be frequently given, with ten or fifteen drops of deliquidated salt of tartar in each.

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

For Dropsy

Put a quarter of a pound of cream of tartar, and a pound of new nails, in a stone jug, with half a gallon of water, let it stand three or four days, occasionally shaking it; take a table spoonful three times a day, on an empty stomach, and half an hour after each dose, take two spoonsful of mustard seed or scraped horse-radish. If the swelling abates, you may take the medicine less frequently, or omit every other day, but do not leave it off until you are entirely cured. After it has stood some time, it becomes stronger, when you may put in more water. This has been highly recommended for the dropsy.

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

For Colic

Drink strong ginger tea, while hot, and put hot bricks to the stomach and feet; if this does not give relief, take a dose of rhubarb or castor oil. Persons subject to the colic should keep a piece of ginger about them to chew after eating; wear flannel next the skin, and be careful to keep the feet dry: they should avoid strong coffee and tea, and eat nothing that disagrees with them. Dry toast without butter, and crackers, are good for persons that have the colic. For violent cases, take two table-spoonsful of brandy, and half a tea-spoonful of black pepper.

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

Indigestion

Indigestion is a breeder of disease, but may be cured by mixing one drachm of powdered colomba root, one drachm of ground ginger, and half a drachm of carbonate of soda; this divide into twelve powders, and take one in a little milk three times a day; or, one ounce of colomba root to a pint of boiling water is a most excellent and cheap remedy for indigestion. Take a wineglassful three times a day. Tried with every satisfaction.

Source: Fray’s Golden Recipes for the use of all ages, E. Fray

Another Receipt for Purifying the Blood and Strengthening the Stomach

Take mace, flour of sulphur, cloves, cinnamon, half an ounce of each, eleven penny bits worth of saffron and about half an ounce small snake root, put it altogether into a bottle and add one quart good wine, let it stand 24 hours and it will be fit for use. A teaspoonful may be taken in the morning before breakfast, or it may be taken three times a day.

Source: Recipes: Information for Everybody, J.F. Landis

For Dysentery and Diarrhoea

The following prescription from an eminent physician has proved valuable: Take of calcined magnesia two drachms, of aromatic spirits of ammonia two and a half drachms, of water half a pint, mix well together, and as a dose for a grown person, give a table-spoonful every half hour until relieved.

Some country nurses recommend dittany tea, or spice-wood berries boiled in new milk. A large poultice on the stomach and bowels, made of new milk, thickened with light bread, has given relief — keeping it warm.

Be careful to keep the patient’s feet warm, and to bathe the back and stomach with spirits. Where the dittany and spice-wood cannot be obtained, other aromatics, as cinnamon and cloves, are good substitutes.

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

Tonic

The following is the tonic used by reformed drunkards to restore the vigor of the stomach. Take of gentian root, half an ounce; valerian root, one drachm; best rhubarb root, two drachms; bitter orange peel, three drachms; cardamom seeds, half an ounce; and cinnamon bark, one drachm. Having bruised all the above together in a mortar (the druggist will do it if requested), pour upon it one and a half pints of boiling water and cover up close; let it stand till cold; strain, bottle, and cork securely; keep in a dark place. Two tablespoonfuls may be taken every hour before meals, and half that quantity whenever the patient feels that distressing sickness and prostration so generally present for some time after alcoholic stimulants have been abandoned.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie