HEALTH Restoration
Chicken soup for everything from colds to having a baby See doctor only in emergency Acne: Apply baby’s urine Backache: Apply hot oatmeal in a sock; place a silver dollar on the sore area, light a match to it; while the match is burning, put a glass over the silver dollar and then slightly lift the glass, and this causes a suction, which is said to lift the pain out
Boils: cooked oatmeal wrapped in a cloth (steaming hot) applied to drain pus; oatmeal poultice
Colds: tea and toast; chest rub; vaporizer; hot lemonade and a tablespoon of whiskey; mustard plasters; Vicks on chest; whiskey; Vicks in nostrils; hot milk with butter, soups, honey, hot toddies, lemon juice, and egg whites; ipecac (“cruel but good medicine”); whiskey with hot water and sugar; soak feet in hot water and sip hot lemonade; boiled wines; coffee with anisette
Colic: warm oil on stomach Coughs: cough syrup (available on stove all winter) made from honey and whiskey; Vicks on chest; mustard plaster on chest; onion-syrup cough medicine; steam treatment; swallow Vicks; linseed poultice on chest; flaxseed poultice on back, red flannel cloth soaked in hot water and placed on chest all night
Cramps: crème de menthe Cuts: boric acid Earache: Heat salt, put in stocking behind the ear Fever: spirits of niter on a dry sugar cube or mix with water; cold baths; alcohol rubdowns; cover with blankets to sweat it out
Table 7–1 continued
(continued)
168 ■ Chapter 7
Headache: Fill a soup bowl with cold water and put some olive oil in a large spoon; hold the spoon over the bowl in front of the person with the headache; while doing this, recite words in Italian and place index finger in the oil in the spoon; drop 3 drops of oil from the finger into the bowl; by the diameter of the circle the oil makes when it spreads in the water, the severity of the headache can be determined (larger = more severe); after this is done 3 times, the headache is gone; or place a hot poultice on forehead; hot facecloth; cold, damp cloth to forehead; in general, stay in bed, get plenty of rest and sleep, a glass of juice about once an hour, aspirin, and lots of food to get back strength; kerchief with ice in it is wrapped around the head; mint tea
High blood pressure: In Italy for high blood pressure, colonies of blood suckers were kept in clay, where they were born; the person with high blood pressure would have a blood sucker put on his fanny, where it would suck blood; it was thought that this would lower his blood pressure; the blood suckers would then be thrown in ashes and would then throw up the blood they had sucked from the person. If the blood sucker died, it alerted the person to see a doctor because it sometimes meant that there was something wrong with the person’s blood
Insect bites: Vaseline or boric acid Menstrual cramps: hot milk sprinkled with ginger; shot of whiskey, glass of warm wine; warm teas; hot-water bottle on stomach
Muscle pain: Heat up carbon leaves (herb) and bundle in a hot cloth to make a pack (soothes any discomfort)
Nausea and other stomach ailments: hot teas; castor oil; hot ginger ale; bay leaf; cup of hot boiled water; potato for upset stomach; baking soda; gruel
Pimples: to draw contents, apply hot flaxseed Poison ivy: yellow soap suds Sore throat: honey; apply Vicks on throat at bedtime and wrap up the throat; paint throat with iodine, honey and lemon, Karo syrup; paint with kerosene oil internally with a rag and then tie a sock around the neck; paint with iodine or Mercurochrome and gargle with salt and water, honey, melted Vicks
Splinters: flaxseed poultice Sprains: beat egg whites, apply to part, and wrap part Stomachache: camilla and maloa (herbs) added to boiled water Stye: hot tea bag to area Sucking thumb: Apply hot pepper to thumb Sunburn: Apply vinegar; put milk on cloth and apply to burn; a cold, wet tea bag on small areas such as eyelids
To build up blood: eggnog with brandy; marsala wine and milk Toothache: whiskey applied topically Upset stomach: herb tea made with herbs sent from Italy