Here is what Storm was just talking about... Think winter sucks when a stranger sneezes in your face on the subway? At least you can get a Z-pack. Our 19th-century brethren weren’t so lucky. In case crazy racism, gruesome battlefield surgeries, and panning for tiny pieces of gold weren’t sufficient bummers, they often took a DIY approach to medical treatments and household fixes. Because what could go wrong? To deal with conundrums ranging from oozing sores to moth-chewed blankets, homemakers turned to domestic guidebooks—almanac-style compendiums brimming with detailed (albeit dangerous) solutions to tons of dilemmas. 1. Soothe A Sore Throat with Vinegar and Raw Eggs In her 1829 book The Frugal Housewife, Lydia Maria Child, a badass social reformer, novelist, and journalist, waxed poetic about the healing powers of vinegar. If your throat’s feeling raw, she suggests, “inhal(ing) the steam of scalding hot vinegar through the tube of a tunnel.” 2. If you’ve got laryngitis, try chugging frothy eggs. The oddly-titled Things A Woman Wants to Know: An Edwardian Housewife’s Guide to Life advocates beating a fresh egg and thickening it with pulverized sugar. “Eat freely of this, and the hoarseness will soon be relieved,” the author promises. Foodborne illness, be damned. 3. Fight Your Fever with Malt Beer, Coffee, or a Jacket Made of Tree Bark A convenient excuse to toss one back: “The constant use of malt beer, or malt in any way, is said to be a preservative against fevers,” Child claims. Another option, courtesy of Gunn’s Domestic Medicine (1832) is to spike your morning coffee with lemon or lime juice, and drink it on an empty stomach. Gunn was a big fan of this tactic. The writer noted, “in no instance in which the remedy was fairly tried did I ever know of it to fail of success.” If you’re too sick to swig, you can just wrap yourself in a jacket lined with dog-wood, wild cherry, and swamp-poplar bark. It’s kind of like a cozy throw blanket, except itchy, and, you know, generally uncomfortable. But then again, did you ever hear a tree complain about the weather? 4. Ease Your Earache With Onions and Wool A simple solution for sinus congestion giving you ear trouble: just shove an onion in there. (Technically, the onion should be boiled, and you only need to stick the piping-hot center into your helpless ear canal. Think of the little bulb as an edible Q-tip.) Wincing at the thought? There’s another option: cotton balls drenched in sweet oil and paregoric—a form of opium. 5. But Most of All, Just Stuff Your Face When in doubt, self-medicate with doughnuts. My favorite passage from the Edwardian book: In the winter season remember the necessity which exists for an increase in our fatty foods, and don’t neglect the advice to take plenty of fat in cold weather. This is a natural law of diet, and its observance will result in saving us from much illness.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 13:40:00 +0000
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