Kanabec History Center - Amy's Corner

Remedies of the Old Days
By Amy Troolin, Research Room Coordinator

These days, it seems, people take pills for just about any ailment they happen to have. Whether we go to the doctor for a prescription or take over-the-counter medicines, these remedies are extremely expensive. In the old days, people usually did not have money to go to doctors or take pills, and even if they did, doctors and pills were often not available. Therefore, they relied on many different kinds of natural medicines, or “folk remedies” as they are often called. Elisabeth Janos’ book Country Folk Medicine contains a wonderful collection of these treatments which are very interesting to read about and share. I doubt that any of these medicines are dangerous, but please do not rely on them or stop going to the doctor if you have a medical problem. This article is meant to be just a fun explanation of how people in the past treated themselves at home.

Just as it is today, the common cold was the top physical complaint of people in the past. They seemed to try everything to get rid of this miserable ailment. Many people relied on skunk oil to cure their colds. Yes, skunk oil. Most people put a few drops of the stuff onto a teaspoon of sugar; others attempted an entire spoonful. Some even rubbed skunk oil on their chests for easier breathing. One woman, according to her grandson, went so far as to mix onion grease with skunk oil, sew the mixture up in a flannel bag, and place that on her children’s and grandchildren’s chests when they had colds. Her grandson said it worked! When people did not have any skunk oil on hand, they turned to bear oil as a second-best remedy. Others used goose grease, chicken fat, butter, or lard both internally and externally to treat colds. People resorted to onion syrup and garlic for cold relief, too. If these remedies did not help a person get rid of a cold, they certainly prevented him or her from getting another one. No one would want to get close enough to spread germs!

When someone in the old days suffered from an upset stomach a typical remedy was ginger tea. People dissolved powdered ginger or chopped ginger root in boiling water and sometimes added milk or a sweetener. Baking soda, too, was supposed to help if it was dissolved in water. Some people also added a bit of vinegar to make the solution bubble. Peppermint, wintergreen, and chamomile teas were also used to treat indigestion as was warm milk and castor oil.

For a headache, people in the old days sliced up raw potatoes, wrapped them in material, and placed them on their foreheads. Supposedly when the slices turned black, the headache would be gone. Sometimes people used cold water or ice, vinegar, or camphorate oil rubbed on the temples.

In the days before modern dental care, many people suffered greatly from cavities and toothaches. Often the tooth would simply be pulled, and that was the end of it. Sometimes, though people would try one of the following remedies for temporary relief. Cloves and clove oil were popular treatments, either placed on cotton which was packed on the tooth or rubbed directly on the tooth. One person remembers, “It burned like the dickins, [but] it would make the ache stop for two or three hours. Others used whiskey to numb the pain from a toothache. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions here. Salt was also popular, whether gargled in a salt-water rinse, placed in a cloth bag near the tooth, or put right into the cavity. (Ouch!)

Cuts were much more dangerous in the past then they are today because infections could be deadly. There was simply nothing available to treat a serious infection. People, therefore, worked very hard to make sure that infections did not happen. Sometimes they would put salt pork on a cut to draw out the poison. Bread and milk poultices were also used for this purpose, as was, believe it or not, manure. People even used pitch and turpentine to stop bleeding and prevent infections. Spiderwebs and puffballs (I assume from dandelions) were also employed to control bleeding.

These are just a few of the “folk remedies” Janos describes in her book; there are many others for everything from bee stings to the mumps. Most people of the old days just did not have the money to be going to the doctor, even if there was one close by, for every ailment they suffered. Therefore, they relied on treatments that had been passed down for generations. Some of them may have worked; others are questionable at best. At any rate, people today can enjoy learning about these old cures and maybe, just maybe, find one that works for them.