For the Croup

Put the child in warm water, and keep up the temperature by putting in more hot water; keep it in fifteen or twenty minutes, then wipe it dry and put it in a warm bed, or wrap a blanket round it and hold it on the lap; give it an emetic, and put powdered garlic and lard to the throat and soles of the feet; keep up the perspiration, by giving a few drops of antimonial wine every half hour. The next morning give it a dose of rhubarb tea or castor oil, and keep it from the air for several days. This treatment has been very beneficial when a physician was not at hand; and nothing had been done till his arrival, perhaps the child would have been too far gone to recover. In cases of croup, to wet a piece of flannel with alcohol, and apply it to the throat as hot as it can be borne, has often a salutary effect, applied frequently. It is also good to use for a bad cold, &c.

Molasses stewed with a lump of butter, and a table-spoonful of vinegar, taken just before you go to bed, and to grease the nose, forehead and breast with mutton tallow, will sometimes cure a child without anything else. To pound garlic in a rag and squeeze out the juice, mix it with molasses, and give a tea-spoonful at a time, has given relief when a child was very ill. Sliced onions, or garlic stewed with sugar and water, or molasses, is very good to take for a cold. Where children are subject to the croup, you should always have a pot of water over the
fire, and light-wood near, to heat it as quick as possible. Children that are subject to these attacks should have their feet kept warm and dry, and always wear flannel next to the skin.

It is the duty of parents to make use of the most simple remedies, which may always be in readiness, and, if applied in time, may prevent the necessity of giving strong medicines, which injure the constitutions of young children. The least symptom of the disease should be attended to. Lobelia is a certain remedy for croup. If the case is light, a few drops of the tincture, increasing the dose according to the age of the child, given at short intervals, will cause it to vomit and prevent danger; but if the attack is a severe one, you should give the “third preparation of lobelia;” for a child of ten years, ten drops, and so on in proportion; mix it with sugar and water. Every mother should keep lobelia at hand, as it has been known to give certain relief in many cases.

A child of twelve months, may take of the tincture ten drops every fifteen or twenty minutes, till it acts as an emetic, or relieves by perspiration; one of two or three years may take twenty or thirty drops. The third preparation is of much greater strength than the tincture.

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

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

Rheumatism

In this complaint the diet should be nourishing, with a little generous wine; costiveness must be carefully avoided. The painful part should be kept warm with flannel, should be frequently rubbed, occasionally electrified, and supplied with the volatile liniment. Blisters, cataplasms of mustard or horseradish, may be applied with advantage.

If these be not effectual, take a pint of the spirits of turpentine, and add half an ounce of camphor. Let it stand till the camphor is dissolved, then rub it on the part affected night and morning, and it will seldom fail to afford effectual relief. This mixture is also very proper for sprains and bruises, and should be kept for family use.

But several of our own domestic plants as above may be used with advantage in the rheumatism. One of the best is the white mustard. A table-spoonful of the seed of this plant may be taken twice or thrice a day, in a glass of water or small wine. The water trefoil is likewise of great use in this complaint. It may be infused in wine or ale, or drunk in the form of tea. The ground-ivy, camomile, and several other bitters, are also beneficial, and may be used in the same manner. No benefit, however, is to be expected from these, unless they be taken for a considerable time.

Cold bathing, especially in salt water, often cures the rheumatism. It is also advisable to take exercise, and wear flannel next the skin. Issues are likewise very proper, especially in chronic cases. If the pain affects the shoulders, an issue may be made in the arm; but if it affects the loins, it should be put into the leg or thigh. Such as are subject to frequent attacks of the rheumatism ought to make choice of a dry, warm situation, to avoid the night air, wet clothes, and wet feet, as much as possible. Their clothing should be warm, and they should wear flannel next their skin, and make frequent use of the flesh brush.

One of the best articles of dress, not only for the prevention of rheumatism, but for powerful co-operation in its cure, is fleecy hosiery. In low marshy situations, the introduction of that manufacture has prevented more rheumatisms, colds, and agues, than all the medicines ever used there. Such of the inhabitants of marshy counties as are in easy circumstances, could not, perhaps, direct their charity and humanity to a better object than to the supplying their poor neighbours with so cheap and simple a preservative.

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

Creme de L’Enclos

Take 4 ounces of milk, 1 ounce of lemon-juice, and 2 drachms of spirit of wine. Simmer over a slow fire, and then bring it to the boil, skim off the scum, and when cold apply it to the skin.

It is much used by some persons to remove freckles and sun-burnings.

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

Another Cure for the Consumption

Take a newly laid hen’s egg on the third day of new moon in the morning before breakfast, break it into a glass and stir it well with a chip of pine wood, then add a gill of good wine and drink it for seven or nine days.

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

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

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

Essence for the Headache

Spirits of wine, two pounds; roche alum, in fine powder, two ounces; camphor, four ounces; essence of lemon, half an ounce; strong water of ammonia, four ounces. Stop the bottle close, and shake it daily, for three or four days.

Source: Our Knowledge Box, ed. G. Blackie

Bitters

Bruise an ounce of gentian root, and two drams of cardamom seeds together: add an ounce of lemon peel, and three drams of Seville orange peel. Pour on the ingredients a pint and half of boiling water, and let it stand an hour closely covered: then pour off the clear liquor, and a glass of it taken two or three times a day will be found an excellent bitter for the stomach.

Or slice an ounce of gentian root, and add half a dram of snakes’ root bruised, half a dram of saffron, three quarters of a dram of cardamom seeds, and the same of cochineal bruised together, and the peel of three Seville oranges. Steep the ingredients in a pint of brandy fourteen days, shaking them together frequently; then strain the tincture through a piece of muslin, and a tea-spoonful in a glass of wine may be taken two or three times a day.

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