Cough Mixture

Take buttonwood root and make a strong tea of it; to a pint of the tea and a pint of honey, a piece of saltpetre about the size of your thumb; mix all together and boil down to one pint; also add one tablespoon of paregoric.

Source: Tested Recipe Cook Book, Mrs H.L. Wilson

Remedy for Croup

One pint of olive oil, 1 ounce of gum camphor (pulverized), 2 ounces of white wax. Pour the olive oil into a covered vessel, place it over the fire, add the gum camphor and let slowly boil until the camphor is all dissolved, then add the wax, stirring thoroughly, until melted. Pour the contents of the vessel into glass jars and screw the tops firmly down. Keep in a dark place. This salve is to be used as a plaster over the throat and chest. In my own experience I have found it to be a most excellent remedy for croup. It is also very good for asthma.

Source: Tested Recipe Cook Book, Mrs H.L. Wilson

Remedy for Hoarseness or Loss of Voice

Dissolve in the mouth a lump of borax, the size of a garden pea, or about three or four grains. If held in the mouth for ten minutes before speaking or singing, it will act like magic.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

For Sore Throat

Take a small quantity of chlorate potassa, pour boiling water on it, and let it stand until it takes up all it will, then add old rye whisky equal to the amount of water you used. Add to this tincture of capsicum until the mixture is pretty sharp, and then it is ready for use. This is good for a gargle in all cases of sore throat and is an excellent remedy for diphtheria, using it both as a gargle and internally. Dose:— One teaspoonful every hour, or when very bad every half hour. Water will only dissolve a certain quantity of potassa. A good rule, is to take a half a pint of water, and when it has absorbed all the potassa it will, pour the water off and add a half a pint of whisky. The capsicum is harmless so there is no danger of getting too much in, but to this quantity I should say add about two tablespoonfuls, which will make it sufficiently hot.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Sore Throat

Everybody has a cure for this trouble, but simple remedies appear to be most effectual. Salt and water is used by many as a gargle, but a little alum and honey dissolved in sage tea is better. An application of cloths wrung out of hot water and applied to the neck, changing as often as they begin to cool, has the most potency for removing inflammation of anything we ever tried. It should be kept up for a number of hours; during the evening is usually the most convenient time for applying this remedy.

Cut slices of salt pork or fat bacon, simmer a few minutes in hot vinegar, and apply to throat as hot as possible. When this is taken off as the throat is relieved, put around a bandage of soft flannel. A gargle of equal parts of borax and alum, dissolved in water, is also excellent. To be used frequently.

Camphorated oil is an excellent lotion for sore throat, sore chest, aching limbs, etc. For a gargle for sore throat, put a pinch of chlorate of potash in a glass of water. Gargle the throat with it
twice a day, or oftener, if necessary

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

Alcohol Bandage for Sore Throat

Take a strip of flannel sufficiently long to go three times round the throat ; heat it, dip it in alcohol, and, when thoroughly soaked, fold it, and apply it to the throat; put over this a strip of oiled silk, and over that tie an old silk or linen handkerchief ; this is a safe, easy, and soothing remedy for a sore throat. The bandage should be moistened from time to time with alcohol as it dries.

Source: The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper’s Guide, Mrs Washington

Remedy for Diptheria

Chlorate of potassa is a well known means of arresting the progress of diphtheria. A solution should be kept in every family medicine chest, ready to be administered in every suspicious case of
sore throat. The solution is made by dissolving half an ounce of the chlorate in a pint of boiling water. It should be preserved in a bottle, closely corked, and when used the bottle should be shaken with sufficient violence to diffuse the crystalline sediments through the water. The dose is a tablespoonful thrice daily.

Source: The Housekeeper’s Friend: A Practical Cookbook

Molasses Posset

This old-fashioned remedy for a cold is as effectual now as it was in old times. Put into a saucepan a pint of the best West India molasses, a teaspoonful of powdered white ginger and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter. Set it over the fire and simmer it slowly for half an hour, stirring it frequently. Do not let it come to a boil. Then stir in the juice of two lemons, or two tablespoonfuls of vinegar; cover the pan and let it stand by the fire five minutes longer. This is good for a cold. Some of it may be taken warm at once, and the remainder kept at hand for occasional use.

It is the preparation absurdly called by the common people stewed quaker.

Half a pint of strained honey mixed cold with the juice of a lemon and a tablespoonful of sweet oil, is another remedy for a cold; a teaspoonful or two to be taken whenever the cough is troublesome.

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

Brown Mixture For Coughs

Dissolve one ounce of gum arabic, one ounce of licorice, and one ounce of brown sugar-candy, in half a pint of boiling water. When cold, add one ounce of elixir of paregoric, and one-half an ounce of antimonial wine. Take a tablespoonful of this mixture whenever the cough is troublesome, and upon going to bed.

Source: Audel’s Household Helps, Hints and Receipts

Gargles for Sore Throat

No. 1. — One wineglassful of barm ; one wineglassful of vinegar ; remainder sage tea, to make a half-pint bottle of gargle.

No. 2. — A pinch of chlorate of potash in a glass of water. Gargle the throat with it twice a day, or oftener, if necessary.

No. 3. — Tar water is a very good gargle for sore throat ; it is to be used twice a day.

Source: The Unrivalled Cook-Book and Housekeeper’s Guide, Mrs Washington