The Cure for What Ails You . . .

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Once again today I would like to thank you all so very much for all of your prayers and happy thoughts. I was thinking yesterday and I came over all positive, and a wonderful sense of peace about all things settled into my heart. I cannot explain it, but I just feel that everything will be ok. Your prayers and wishes for me are a very big part of that. Todd and I thank you from the very bottom of our hearts.

Even though we may all complain from time to time about the shortcomings of the NHS and how it is failing us, really we are all so very blessed that we have free medical care in this country, and the freedom to go to a Doctor whenever we need to without having to think about if we can afford it or not. This isn’t the case in a great many places in the world, even today. Just something else we take for granted I guess!

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I was looking through one of my many books yesterday evening and I found these quaint little cures and recipes for what ails you and thought I might share them with you all this morning. Some of them are quite interesting!

The Sick Room:

Egg Gruel - Boil eggs from one to three hours until hard enough to grate; then boil new milk and thicken with the eggs, and add a little salt. Excellent in case of nausea. (Really??? Coz reading this actually made me feel more than a tad nauseous!)

Beef Tea - To one pound of lean beef, add one and one half tumblers of cold water; cut the beef in small pieces, cover and let it boil slowly for ten minutes, and add a little salt after it is boiled. Excellent. (I have heard of people being given Beef Tea in the past and now I know what it is!)

Grandmother’s Salve for Everything - Two pounds of rosin and half a teacup of mutton tallow after it is hard, half as much beeswax, and half an ounce of camphor gum; put all together into an old kettle, and let it dissolve and just come to a boil, stirring with a stick; then take half a pail of warm water, just the chill off, pout it in and stir carefully until you can get your hands around it. Two persons must each take half and pull like candy until quite white and brittle; put a little grease on your hands to prevent sticking, and keep them wet all the time. Wet the table, roll out the salve and cut it with a knife Keep it in a cool place. (insert shocked face here … I’m not sure at all how on earth you are supposed to spread it on any type of sore or irritation?)

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Cholera Remedy - Mix in a small bottle equal parts of tinctureof opium (laudanum), rhubarb, capsicum (red pepper, double strength), camphor, and spirits of nitre, essence of peppermint double strength. Shake well and cork tight. Dose: From five to thirty drops every fifteen minutes. Dose for children, from two to ten drops. (Interesting but a tad bit scary sounding.)

Fig Paste for Constipation - One half pound of good figs chopped fine, one half pint of molasses, two ounces powdered senna leaves, one drachm fine powdered coriander seed, one drachm of fine powdered cardamom seed. Put the molasses on the stove and let it come to a boil, then stir in all the rest and bring to a boil again. A teaspoonful once in a while is a dose. It will keep, when covered, for a year. (This one might come in handy, lol!! Now all I have to do is find out how much one drachm is!)

Cure for boils - Isaiah 38:21. Go thou and do likewise. (I just had to look this up to see what they were talking about. Nosy me. “For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay [it] for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.” Now I know, I can die happy. ☺ )

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For Canker Sore Mouth - Burn a corn cob and apply the ashes two or three times a day. (I just knew we shouldn't have thrown out those corn cobs!)

Ring Worm - put a penny into a tablespoon of vinegar; let it remain until it becomes green, and wash the ring worm with this two or three times a day. (I am assuming they mean the vinegar, not the penny)

Cure for Corns - The strongest acetic acid, applied night and morning, will cure hard and soft corns in a week. (Might come in handy some day, you never know)

Cure for Chilblains - Place red hot coals in a vessel, and throw upon them a handful of cornmeal; hold the feet in the dense smoke, renewing the coals and meal, til the pain is relieved. This has been known to make very marked cures when all other remedies have failed. (Now all I have to do is find out what a chillblain is!)

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Cure for Rheumatism and Bilious Headache - Finest Turkey rhubarb, half an ounce, carbonate magnesia, one ounce; mix intimately; (sounds interesting) keep well corked in glass bottle. Dose; one teaspoonful, in milk and sugar, first thing in the morning; repeat til cured. Tried with success. (I prefer to take two aspirin I think.)

Toothache - at a meeting of the London Medical Society Dr. Blake, a distinguished physician, said that he was able to cure the most desperate case of toothache by the application of the following remedy: Alum reduced to an impalpable powder, two drachms; nitrous spirit of ether, seven drachms; mix and apply to the tooth.Tried with success. (I am really glad we have dentists to go to today!)

For Sore Throat - cut slices of salt pork or fat bacon; simmer a few moments in hot vinegar and apply to the throat as hot as possible. When this is taken off, as the throat is relieved, put around a bandage or soft flannel. A gargle of equal parts of borax and alum dissolved in water is also excellent. To be used frequently. (Now where did I leave that pig? I've heard that bacon goes with everything. The mind boggles.)

To Stop Bleeding - A handful of flour bound on the cut.

To Prevent Contagion from Eruptive Diseases - Keep constantly, in plates of saucers, sliced raw onions in the sick room, if possible. As fast as they become discoloured, replace with fresh ones. During any epidemic of skin diseases that are eruptive, onions, except for those taken fresh from the earth, are unsafe, as they are peculiarly sensitive to disease. (I found this quite fascinating)

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I think I know now where the old saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" comes from. Some of these cures sound worse than the complaints! Way back when I lived in London, Ontario . . . there was an old hungarian fellow who used to come and do maintenance work in our home. I had a really bad cold this one time he came and he told me that he never got a cold and that was because every morning he ate a piece of bread and butter with some sliced raw garlic on top. Hmmm . . . he probably never had to worry about Vampires either!

I am slowly bringing some of my recipes from my old Marie's Muses blog onto here, one by one. This is one that has always been one of my favourites. I love cake and I love jam. The two together are pure bliss. I have used blueberry jam in this one, but strawberry, raspberry, cherry or apricot jam are all equally as good!



*Mother’s Coffee Cake with A Lemon Glaze*
Serves 15
Printable Recipe

A deliciously moist cake with a lovely crumb and tasty filling. Tasty because you decide what it is you want it to be filled with. I have chosen to use Wild Blueberry jam here, as that is what I had in my cupboard, and that is what I love most, but you could use strawberry, rhubarb and ginger, lemon curd, raspberry, cherry . . . you decide! It’s delicious any way you fill it!

3 cups plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup buttermilk
(Alternatively you can add 1 TBS of vinegar to a one cup measure and then add milk to fill up to the one cup. Let it sit for five minutes before using)
½ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup fruit preserves of your own choice

GLAZE:
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
2 TBS lemon juice

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease and flour a bundt cake pan or a large loaf pan and set it aside.

Beat together the eggs, oil and milk. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder,soda and salt together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients all at once and mix gently together, without over mixing. It does not have to be smooth, but all the dry needs to be incorporated into the wet.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared cake tin. Top with the jam, being careful not to let it touch the edges of the pan. Spread it as evenly over the batter as you can. Spoon on the remaining half of the batter. Take a knife and carefully dip it into the batter all the way around the pan, or down the pan if you are using a loaf pan, swirling the jam a bit through the batter, but not too much.

Bake in the heated oven for about 35 minutes, or until the cake is well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let rest for five minutes before removing from the pan to a wire rack to cool.

Mix together the Icing sugar and the lemon juice and spoon over the cake while it is still warm. Enjoy with a nice cup of your favourite hot bevie!!!



I'm slow cooking again in The English Kitchen today. It's Butter Roasted Whole Chicken with Lemon and Thyme!

“Hope is a leg of a 3-legged stool with Faith and Charity.”
~Dieter F Uchtdorf