I think I’ve just about thought about every kind of medicine we used for sickness and illnesses. Obviously, all of the medicines in each category weren’t used at the same time, but at some point, any or all of them came in handy for whatever ailed us.
I don’t remember that we had chicken pox … we may have, but I’m unaware of that disease coming to visit us.
COLDS
Lemons
Honey
Pine Needles
Cow Dung
Whiskey
Mullen
Zero -10
666
Vicks Vapor Rub
Peppermint Candy
Cough Drops
Coco Quinine
Creomulsion Cough Syrup
Castor Oil (This one, my mother usually had to get the belt out before we’d finally “gag” it down)
And also let me explain about the cow dung use. I guess people reasoned that since the cows roamed the fields and pastures eating every kind of herb and grass that their “cow Pie” was full of every essential plant that we couldn’t possible gather on our own. So this went into the tea for good measure.
Photo: iStockphoto.com/neirfy
MUMPS
Sardines – We ate the fish and rubbed the oil on our enlarged throat.
MEASLES
Tallow or Cooking Oil (to keep the skin moist and reduce itching)
CHEST CONGESTION
Tallow – applied to the check with a hot cloth
Camphor
EARACHE
Sweet Oil
CUTS/SWELLING/SKIN INFECTIONS
Rubbing Alcohol
Hydrogen Peroxide
CHIGGER AND BED BUGS BITES
Yellow Sulfur Powder (ingested)
TICK AND MOSQUITO BITES
Alcohol
HEADACHES/FEVERS
BC Powder
Aspirin
CONSTIPATION/INTERNAL CLEANSING
Castor Oil
Syrup of Black Draught
Milk of Magnesium
Senna Leaf Tea
Jimson Weed
Sassafrass Tea
FEET SOAK
Epson Salt
ACHES/PAINS/SORE JOINTS
Watkins Liniment
SKIN SORES
Sayman Salve
SCALP PROBLEMS
Glover’s Hair Tonic (Dog Mane)
UPSET STOMACH
Pepto Bismol
Alka Seltzer
NOSE BLEEDS
Cold Water
CUTS/SKIN SORES
Don’t remember ever seeing a “band-aid” in our house, but we found clean, white cloth and cotton to wrap any exposed cuts or sores.
PREVENT BLEEDING
Alum
FOOT SPLINTERS
Tweezers (to pull out those occasions splinters that got lodged from sliding across the wood floors)
PERHAPS THE BEST MEDICINE OF ALL
Rest and relaxation
