• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

REMEDIES

I agree Jean, even with us I reckon. Sometimes it is hard to understand, but all part of the wonderful plan.

What about Vinegar for wasp stings. A nurse told me that one.
 
G G Jean said:
Graham I read that dock leaves grow where ever there are stinnging nettles. Marvelous how everything is ther for a purpose Jean.
Click to expand...

Yes Jean that's very true and they are perfect for Horse Fly bites too but you have to treat them immediately with Dock leaf juice.
 
I remember lying on the sofa at my nans with vinegar and - yes that's it - brown paper on my forehead for my headache. Don't know whether it worked or not too young, but can still smell the vinegar. Talking of remedies though anyone recommend the best for cold sores had quite a few this year.
 
Dad would gargle with TCP (Whatever that stood for) Bluebags were for beestings , and Calamine lotion for sunburn (not reccomended today by firstaiders)
Dock leaves were great for relieving nettle stings...
 
Re: Old Remedies

Golden eye ointment for styes, or rubbing a 22ct gold ring on the eye. Pink lint for drawing out splinter's etc. Cascara's for constipation, Seitzlers powder's for feeling unwell.
 
Re: Old Remedies

One I forgot, was onion heated in the fire and placed in the ear for bursting abcesses, or seven oils warmed and rubbed at the back of the ear.
 
Does anyone remember Kaolin Poultice? Mom used to heat up the tin of Kaolin in a pan of water on the stove, then spread it on a large piece of lint and fold it over making "a poultice". Placed on your chest it would stay warm for a long time. Used for pneumonia and chest infections. The smell was lovely. I do believe that there is still a tin in our house somewhere!!
Amanda
 
I used Golden Eye Ointment for an eye infection last month so its still about. I thought it had been replaced by Brolleen Eye Ointment.
 
Arkrite
The golden eye ointment you used recently (unless it was a very old tube) would have been completely different from the old sort. The new sort contains an antibiotic, whereas the old contained mercury (mercuric oxide I think) , which is what gave it the colour. Mercury is not very good for you.
Mike
 
Then there was Lion Ointment to get rid of veruchas and corns, and Solith crystals in the bath for your rheumatism and sulphur tablets but I can't remember what they were for - other than to break wind that resembled Saltley gasworks.
 
These days the Golden Eye packet mentions Dibrompropamidine Isetionate 0.15% w/w. Try putting that through your spell checker.
I think Sulfur Tablets were used for "cleaning the blood " to rid one of outbreaks of spots and boils or as a preventive. Fresh green vegetables are a nicer alternative.
I think Bazucha Foot cream has survived. It was black in a black and yellow tin. No doubt it would have had a badly needed makeover.
 
I am shocked Mike, imagine putting mercury into the Golden eye ointment. I think most kid's would have used it in the old day's for eye problems.
 
Mike, you can still get Lion Ointment. I have a tube here which I got from Feathergill's Emporium.
 
Maggs
It did have a warning on the box, or at least the one my mother had in her cabinet did (c 1950s I should think). As you can see, i am a bit of a hoarder !!

golden_eye_ointment.JPG
 
Blimey Mike, you are a hoarder, I thought I was bad enough at that. Did people read what was on the box in those day's do you think? I found 'Melrose' in a chemist shop the other day, and I remember having that for chilblain's when I was about 6yrs old.
 
mikejee said:
Maggs
It did have a warning on the box, or at least the one my mother had in her cabinet did (c 1950s I should think). As you can see, i am a bit of a hoarder !!
Click to expand...


The tube is now made of soft plasticky stuff and there is not alot of the ointment inside it.
 
Arkrite said:
Talking of black stuff what about " Zambuck ". Yellow tin with black stripes you put it on you feet but don't know why. Any guesses?
Years ago went to Yugoslavia and trod on a sea urchin. The Pharmacia covered my foot in a black tar like goo. I reckon that was their version of Black Jack. It stained everything it touched. I left my own oil slick behind me.

You put the stuff in the tin on your feet not as I say in my second sentence.
Click to expand...
Hi Arkrite, I am pretty my old Dad used Zambuck for his piles! in which case he would not have put it on his feet, Bernard
 
hmld said:
:?
Until the worse than preposterous "redevelopment" of Birmingham, especially city centre, during the 1960s - all the brutality that involved as evisceration of quality of life - there were at least two herbalists operating as herbal practitioners as well. One was on Broad Street and the other somewhere about what is now the Big Top.
Other than chiropractors, osteopaths, the herbalist was a stalwart for many.
Any memories?
:oops:
Click to expand...

In the late 1960s my father took me to see a herbalist who I think was in one of the roads off Bordesley Green. He saw patients in his own house, unlike today, when practitioners work in clinics and have receptionists!

There was a woman who had a stall selling a huge variety of dried medicinal herbs in the market, and I assumed that she was a qualified herbalist.
 
My mom always gave us butter rolled into a little ball and then covered in sugar for a soar throat. I always threaten my grandkids with it, you should see their faces
 
Patty that brings back awful memories. Maybe that is why I can't even stand sugar in my coffee or tea. Jean.
 
Did mom get you as well then, I remember Glen Peck cough mixture as well it was bright red and tasted lovely got it from Mr Maggs and Topsy's like a junior asprin tasted of strawberry's
 
Patty my mom did it too with the butter and sugar. Like rubbing goose grease on your chest. I remember the cough mixture and think it was cherry flavoured. Jean.
 
I recall that my mother used butter for 'raising' bruises on the head ... it was important, I was told, that the bruise should 'come out' and NOT 'go in' etc. I have no idea as to whether it is a valid medical practise, but I've used it with all my children too.

Apropos of other remedies: I have a wasp nest near my garden-shed, and recently I've been been stung twice, on my bald bonce! On the first occasion I used an expensive, proprietary brand 'anti-sting' ointment, and the pain gradually disappeared over a few hours. Whereas, on the second occasion, I used a vinegar compress and the pain disappeared within minutes! Since then, I've abandoned my 'live and let live' policy, and smoked-out the damned wasp-nest! Prevention being better than cure etc...
 
Hey John my hairdressers is named Bonce. Our vet also said to put on a vinegar solution when our dog was stung. Trouble is we couldn't get near him for an hour as he kept running away the little coward. They used to put butter on burns and no wonder people were left with awful scars. Jean.
 
I remember getting a nasty bump on the head after running into a lamp post, I was looking behind and turned around too late bosh, I got home and mom got the butter out and rubbed a big lump of it onto my head, and she put it on burns, as you said Jean no wonder people got scars the butter would help fry the skin a bit more.
 
What a fascinating thread - it's bringing back old memories. I remember goose fat being applied to burns and scalds. Gee's Linctus for coughs - anyone remember that? J.Collis Brownes mixture for 'gippy tummy'. Kaolin poultice - I remember the tin standing in a pan of bubbling water on the 'stove'.
Friars balsam is still available - I was advised to get some by the vet when my horse had a respiratory infection! I didn't think the horse would play along but he stood like a lamb in the corner of his stable with a towel over his head, breathing over a steaming bucket!! He obviously felt some relief, so I've used it myself since - it ruins the bowl you put it in though!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top