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

Currant Gruel

Make a pint of water gruel, strain and boil it with a table-spoonful of clean currants till they are quite plump. Add a little nutmeg and sugar, and a glass of sweet wine. This gruel is proper for children, or persons of a costive habit.

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

Blackberry Cordial

To one quart of blackberry juice, add one pound of white sugar, one tablespoonful of cloves, one of allspice, one of cinnamon, and one of nutmeg. Boil all together fifteen minutes; add a wineglass of whiskey, brandy or rum. Bottle while hot, cork tight, and seal. This is almost a specific in diarrhea. One dose, which is a wineglassful for an adult–half that quantity for a child–will often cure diarrhea. It can be taken three or four times a day if the case is severe.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Candied Lemon or Peppermint for Colds

Boil 1 1/2 pounds sugar in a half pint of water, till it begins to candy around the sides; put in 8 drops of essence; pour it upon buttered paper, and cut it with a knife.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Coughs

The extract of malt will be found an excellent remedy for coughs or colds. Pour as much hot water over half a bushel of pale ground malt as will just cover it; the water must not be boiling. In forty-eight hours drain off the liquor entirely, but without squeezing the grains. Put the former into a large sweetmeat pan, or saucepan, that there may be room to boil as quick as possible, without boiling over. When it begins to thicken, stir it constantly, till it becomes as thick as treacle. Take a dessert-spoonful of it three times a day.

Another remedy for a bad cough may be prepared as follows. Mix together a pint of simple mint water, two table-spoonfuls of sallad [sic] oil, two tea-spoonfuls of hartshorns, sweetened with sugar, and take two large spoonfuls of the mixture two or three times a day.

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

Elderberry Wine, &c.

To each gallon of berries, put one of water; mash them in a tub, and leave them two days, stirring them frequently; then strain them, and to each gallon of juice put three pounds of brown sugar, and to every five gallons, two ounces of bruised ginger, and one of cloves, which tie up in a bag, and boil in the wine for an hour, and put it in a cask; when it is nearly cold, put in two spoonsful of lively yeast; let it ferment two days, and put in a pint of spirits with the bag of spice, and close it up. This is excellent as a medicine for delicate or elderly persons.

Fill a bottle with elderberries, with a dozen cloves, and fill it up with spirits. It is good to give children that have the summer disease; mix a tea-spoonful of it with sugar and water for a child, or a table-spoonful for a grown person.

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

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

Elecampane and Hoarhound Syrup

Put a pint of hoarhound in a quart of water, and let it draw by the fire; put a tea-cupful of dried elecampane root in a pint of water, cover it close, and let it boil till all the strength is out; strain it and the hoarhound together, and put them to boil with a pound of sugar; when it is a rich syrup, pour it in a pitcher to cool, and bottle it. Take a table-spoonful at a time when the cough is troublesome. Sometimes flaxseed is a useful addition to this syrup.

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