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1. To soothe a stopped-up nose and scratchy throat, The three step process advised patients to smoke mullein leaves (making sure to exhale through the nose, of course), syringe a mixture of boric acid and water into the nostrils several times a day, and "frequently inhale" a mixture of ammonia, iodine and carbolic acid.
2. If the previous method failed to work, a "spray of a four-percent solution of cocaine" or direct application of a cotton ball soaked in an even stronger solution in the nostril was recommended for "immediate relief."
3. For a nosebleed, find "an old brown puff-ball from the ground," remove the insides and put it in the nose. Let it "remain for some time." In case you're curious what a puffball is, it's a kind of fungus.
4. No puffballs available? That's okay! A "similarly effective" method for curing that nosebleed suggests raising the arms above the head, applying ice or cold cloths to the neck or spine, and in extreme cases, "ice may be applied to the scrotum or breasts" while simultaneously syringing warm saltwater into the nostrils.
5. Here's a "splendid" liniment for sore throat:
Olive oil (half-pint), ammonia (half-pint), turpentine (half-pint), one egg. Shake until the mixture forms an emulsion. Apply to the neck and throat until a blister forms. Wipe clean and apply cold cream.
6. Suppose blistering your neck doesn't relieve your sore throat. What then? Cocaine, of course. Mix it with warm water and some olive oil and "paint it into the throat." Alternately, sucking on a cocaine lozenge before eating "will be found very useful."
7. Croup can be scary,especially for first-time parents. Should you travel back to 1900 and find your baby coughing spasmodically in the night, a spoonful of sugar with just a few drops of kerosene on it. The idea is to induce vomiting, which it probably does.
8. For asthma: "inhale chloroform." If chloroform isn't readily available, other options include smoking saltpeter, the smoke of burning coffee, or cigarettes containing thornapple.
9. Tapeworms giving you grief? Two doses of the following mixture was considered an "excellent remedy": Castor oil (half an ounce) and turpentine (15 drops). You can mix the previous two items with a cup of milk.
10. If you find you're losing some hair, here's a quick and easy fix: Make some sage tea. Now mix it with an equal part whisky. Now take a sip, then add "a dash of quinine" to the cup and spray, paint or rinse over the scalp as often as needed, at least twice a day.
11. A slightly stronger anti-hairloss method (and one that's "guaranteed" to produce results) is to rub a blend of almond oil, rosemary extract, wine, distilled water, and mercury bichloride into the scalp every morning until your hair grows back or unexplained death, whichever comes first.
12. For dry, chapped skin: Spoon a few ounces of sour cream into a flannel cloth. Tie up the ends. Bury the cloth in some dark, soft soil and leave overnight. Dig the cloth back up "mid-morning" and apply the "enriched" sour cream to hands, knees, heels and elbows as needed.
13. Eczema is a challenging condition and there doesn't seem to be a universally effective treatment.
Mix half an ounce of laudanum with seven and one-half ounces of "sugar of lead," [that's acetate]. Soak into gauze strips and apply to afflicted parts.
14. Lice are persistent and it may take several different treatments to get rid of them. One such treatment? Pure kerosene. Again, watch for the blistering, and make sure you follow up with some cold cream—24 hours later, shampoo it out.
15. Got a problem with body lice? Just get some blue ointment. It's only 20% mercury, so you may need to apply it several times per day.
16. Ringworm is highly contagious and nothing to mess around with. Mix some gunpowder with vinegar to form a thickish paste. If one application doesn't do it, two or three should knock it right out.
17. Anyone with acne can tell you it's difficult to treat. That's why there are so many products available now. But it seems our great-grandparents had no idea what to do, because a mixture of lard and ground cannabis indica was their answer.
18. Got a sunburn? Mix together equal parts cornstarch and oat flour, then drop in a dram of lead carbonate. Just dust it wherever, no worries.
19. For canker sores, there are many, many recommended treatments that have been "proven effective" by brave and no-longer-alive people, including tomato juice, half a lemon held against the area, rinses of baking soda and boric acid and vinegar. Or if you're feeling especially bold, a piece of raw chicken skin can be applied to the sore and left "until no longer painful."
Just to reiterate: None of these are healthy or advisable. Please don't put puffballs in your nose or lead on your scalp.
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I bet there's some truth in many of those remedies - I quite favour some of the cocaine remedies :-D
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gunpowder and vinegar be eck.... :-D
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I must make a list and see what the chemist can get for me tomorrow :-D :-D
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Reading a lot of these my advice is if you smoke be careful you will go up in smoke ;-) :-D :-D :-D. Or in the case of the gunpowder and vinegar with a loud bang and probably be pickled :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
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I don't go back to 1910,but.....I used to sniff ammonia for a blocked nose...always had sinus problems.
Had a cold big mortise key put down my back to stop a nose bleed.
Gargled with glycerine of Thymol
Horrible Fennings fever cure...ugh!
Old remedies...but some of them worked.
Not sure about the gunpowder!!!
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*looks for someone to test them out on* :-D :-D
LG I think pirates mixed rum and gunpowder......or maybe I dreamt that :-S
Brenda, I think ammonia was in smelling salts...my Nan used to have them in her bag, and I sneaked a sniff once, never again!!
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Think you're right about ammonia in smelling salts...everyone seemed to carry a little bottle... :-S
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Kitty, Surely the Gunpowder and Rum would be for Constipation. :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
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