To Strengthen A Weak Voice

To eight ounces of water add one dram of tincture of cayenne. Gargle the throat frequently, especially before speaking or singing.

The following is also good: — Beeswax, two drams; copaiba balsam, three drams; powdered liquorice root, four drams. Melt the balsam with the wax in an earthen pipkin, remove it from the fire and mix in the powder. Make pills of three grains each. Two of the pills to be taken occasionally, three or four times a day.

Source: Recipes for the Million

An excellent Gargle for a Sore Throat

Half fill a teapot with dark red rose leaves, pour boiling water over; when cold strain it into a 6 oz. bottle, add a tea-spoonful of tincture of myrrh, and 25 drops of elixir of vitriol: if the throat be ulcerated, a tea-spoonful of tincture of cayenne.

Source: The English Housekeeper, Anne Cobbett

Magnetic Toothache Drops

Take equal parts of Camphor, Sulphuric Ether, Ammonia, Laudanum, Tincture of Cayenne, and one-eighth part of Oil of Cloves. Mix well together. Saturate with the liquid a small piece of cotton, and apply to the cavity of the diseased tooth, and the pain will cease immediately. Put up in long drachm bottles. Retail at 25 cents. This is a very salable preparation, and affords a large profit to the manufacturer.

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

“The Sun’s” Cholera Mixture

More than forty years ago, when it was found that prevention for the Asiatic cholera was easier than cure, the learned doctors of both hemispheres drew up a prescription, which was published (for working people) in The New York Sun, and took the name of “The Sun Cholera Mixture.” It is found to be the best remedy for looseness of the bowels ever yet devised. It is to be commended for several reasons. It is not to be mixed with liquor, and therefore will not be used as an alcoholic beverage. Its ingredients are well known among all the common people, and it will have no prejudice to combat; each of the materials is in equal proportions to the others, and it may therefore be compounded without professional skill; and as the dose is so very small, it may be carried in a tiny phial in the waistcoat pocket, and be always at hand. It is:–

Take equal parts of tincture of cayenne, tincture of opium, tincture of rhubarb, essence of peppermint and spirits of camphor. Mix well. Dose fifteen to thirty drops in a wine-glass of water, according to age and violence of the attack. Repeat every fifteen or twenty minutes until relief is obtained. No one who takes it in time will ever have the cholera. Even when no cholera is anticipated, it is a valuable remedy for ordinary summer complaints, and should always be kept in readiness.

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