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REMEDIES

Goose grease, raspberry vinegar and tar rope.

My grandad would smear us in goose grease, said it was a good cold remedy.

He also gave us raspberry vinegar mixed with castor oil.

My great grandad had a piece of land adjacent to St Matins passage in Ward End, locally known as Pardoes Yard It was the site of his sandpit, but once filled in he rented it out to Gypsy families and their caravans. Some of the Gypsy men would wear a piece of tar rope around their neck, I am told it prevented colds.
 
There might have been some justificatiion for the tarred rope, in that coal tar contained phenolics which are good disinfectants (Jeyes fluid was originally an extract of coal tar, though not sure if it is now), though whether the vapours from the ropes were enough to kill any bacteria - heaven only knows
 
Replying to something on another thread, I was reminded of my great grandmother and her smelling salts, that she would waft under my nose, giggling all the time. When did they disappear, because I remember football trainers in the fifties in addition to the sponge and cold water, also used to carry smelling salts. Pink lint was that Thermagene, which was pink and put on backs and chests to cure bronchial problems? What was the name of the purple liquid that was painted on Impetago?

Bob
 
mikejee said:
There might have been some justificatiion for the tarred rope, in that coal tar contained phenolics which are good disinfectants (Jeyes fluid was originally an extract of coal tar, though not sure if it is now), though whether the vapours from the ropes were enough to kill any bacteria - heaven only knows
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my grand mother had a cure for everything.. syrup of figs...either it was a cold or we fell and hurt ourselves out came the syrup of figs..we were definitely clean on the inside if not on the outside
 
Most grandmother, irrespective of country, always have had their favourite remedies. Some could be quite alarming - almost dangerous if incorrectly used - but those were the days when there would be little money available to be spent on medicines. That attitude also applied to good housekeeping as well.
There are some more pleasant alternatives of course. Fruit and/or Newcastle Brown Ale are wonderful to keep ones innards 'regular'. :grinning:
 
Bob Davis said:
Replying to something on another thread, I was reminded of my great grandmother and her smelling salts, that she would waft under my nose, giggling all the time. When did they disappear, because I remember football trainers in the fifties in addition to the sponge and cold water, also used to carry smelling salts. Pink lint was that Thermagene, which was pink and put on backs and chests to cure bronchial problems? What was the name of the purple liquid that was painted on Impetago?

Bob
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Purple liquid - Permanganate of Potash?
 
I've still got a bottle of smelling salts from about 1970. I think it's made of ammonia.
I found "Zam-Buk" the other day and bought some just for curiosity, My mother used to put it on all sorts of ailments but it says it's herbal embrocation, antiseptic ointment. It brought back a lot of memories!!
 
mikejee said:
There might have been some justificatiion for the tarred rope, in that coal tar contained phenolics which are good disinfectants (Jeyes fluid was originally an extract of coal tar, though not sure if it is now), though whether the vapours from the ropes were enough to kill any bacteria - heaven only knows
Click to expand...


good old jeyes fluid mike...i still buy it sometimes...our mom used it to wash down the yard she would put some jeyes in a bucket then add boiling water so that it steamed up she would then stand over the bucket taking in the smell for a few mins...:)
 
Bob Davis said:
Replying to something on another thread, I was reminded of my great grandmother and her smelling salts, that she would waft under my nose, giggling all the time. When did they disappear, because I remember football trainers in the fifties in addition to the sponge and cold water, also used to carry smelling salts. Pink lint was that Thermagene, which was pink and put on backs and chests to cure bronchial problems? What was the name of the purple liquid that was painted on Impetago?

Bob
Click to expand...

Maria Magenta said:
Purple liquid - Permanganate of Potash?
Click to expand...


Its gentian violet and it is a dye known for its antibacterial, antifungal, and anthelmintic properties.

Permanganate of Potash or Potassium permanganate as I remember it from chemistry and from the home first aid box. It was also used as an antifungal and for cleaning wounds. My Mom would gargle with it when she had a sore throat. It used to stain everything a reddish brown.

I have used it as a wood stain on mahogany, it looks beautiful when you first do it, but the colour is not lightfast and in a few years the wood takes on a silvery look.
 
Morturn
I thought gentian violet at first. Remember being bright purple over large parts of my body when I got severe sunburn in Ghana. However the internet says ( https://www.healthline.com/health/potassium-permanganate-uses) permanganate is used for impetago. so not sure. If it was Gentian violet then the skin would stay violet (not permanently as I can vouch for thank goodness), but permanganate, although purple in solution, stains skin brown
 
Before the introduction of the NHS, a visit to the doc cost you! Perhaps this is why there were so many home remedies, some of which are still in use today?
 
When my father returned from the war, he had spent four years in India and had contracted Malaria and Dysentry. After a while he began to show a skin problem that was put down to his illnesses in the tropics and as a cure was put on very strong steroid tablets (then in their infancy) and had to take baths in Permanganate. It stained the bath quite purple. None of them did any good, so the doctor resorted to Codeine (the cure-all wonder drug). It was later decided that this had partly led to his early demise. I seem to remember next to the enamelled advert for Virol for anaemic girls on the bridge at Sutton Railway station another enamelled sign for Zam-Buk with references to feet. I have just read Wikipedia on it, lots of entries on Google.

Bob
 
Mike, I think they both were use for simular conditions as an anitseptic. I certianly did do the permanganate foot bath and had the brown feet for a week. Gentian violet stayed purple on your skinn for weeks. We had a family near us whos kids were alwasy coverd in gentian violet
 
Bob Davis said:
When my father returned from the war, he had spent four years in India and had contracted Malaria and Dysentry. After a while he began to show a skin problem that was put down to his illnesses in the tropics and as a cure was put on very strong steroid tablets (then in their infancy) and had to take baths in Permanganate. It stained the bath quite purple. None of them did any good, so the doctor resorted to Codeine (the cure-all wonder drug). It was later decided that this had partly led to his early demise. I seem to remember next to the enamelled advert for Virol for anaemic girls on the bridge at Sutton Railway station another enamelled sign for Zam-Buk with references to feet. I have just read Wikipedia on it, lots of entries on Google.

Bob
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Bob, I do have a great deal of sympathy for your dad, malaria is a nasty parasitic disease that if not treated early could give a lifetime of health problems. There are some quite unpleasant tropical diseases that we don’t have a coevolved resistance to, so even today they can and are quite dangerous.

Codeine of course is an opiate base painkiller, so did not really cure anything other than make you feel better.

The job of the doctors is to amuse the patient and let nature take it course.
 
I don't remember my children getting boils on their knees but for some reason we seemed to get these regularly. A Kaolin poultice was the remedy in our house. It took ages to bathe it off again as it set like cement. I still have a secret store of black-jack too. They sell an 'equivalent' these days but it's white and no match for the old stuff.
 
superdad3 said:
Before the introduction of the NHS, a visit to the doc cost you! Perhaps this is why there were so many home remedies, some of which are still in use today?
Click to expand...
I have the feeling that five shillings (25p) - just post WW2 - was mentioned to me on one occasion.
 
In the very early days of the sub surface (underground) trains of the Metropolitan and District lines, coke was used rather than coal for the steam locomotives. At regular intervals the tunnels were open to daylight and that allowed a fair amount of the smoke and fumes to escape. There were some people, with chest complaints, who found the atmosphere beneficial. I still believe that while it helped at the time it probably shortened their lives.
Slightly off topic - but I believe some people again benefited from the aroma - was that of the hot tar that was sprayed on roadways and then covered with chippings and rolled. It was great fun watching the stem roller at its work. The newer diesel ones did not have the charisma I am afraid. Less majesty and moving parts I suppose.
 
Morturn said:
Goose grease, raspberry vinegar and tar rope.

My grandad would smear us in goose grease, said it was a good cold remedy.

He also gave us raspberry vinegar mixed with castor oil.

My great grandad had a piece of land adjacent to St Matins passage in Ward End, locally known as Pardoes Yard It was the site of his sandpit, but once filled in he rented it out to Gypsy families and their caravans. Some of the Gypsy men would wear a piece of tar rope around their neck, I am told it prevented colds.
Click to expand...
.
Oh thank goodness I didnt have the goose grease treatment, I don't think I could bear it.

Bob Davis said:
Replying to something on another thread, I was reminded of my great grandmother and her smelling salts, that she would waft under my nose, giggling all the time. When did they disappear, because I remember football trainers in the fifties in addition to the sponge and cold water, also used to carry smelling salts. Pink lint was that Thermagene, which was pink and put on backs and chests to cure bronchial problems? What was the name of the purple liquid that was painted on Impetago?

Bob
Click to expand...
I think the purple stuff may have been gentian violet Bob.
 
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when alad , my dear old dad was a demon for bread poultices, boils, inflammation for all and sundry's and they hurt like H***L, still remember my little sister crying all night with one on her arm,
 
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