ExLax, Treatment fit for a king, Bartram's pharmacopoeia, Harvey Young's crusade, Skin care
Why we are still suffering from this centuries old malady is a mystery. Could it be that with all our medical wisdom, the bug (now recognized as a number of viruses including para influenza, respiratory syncytial, &c.) still has free range to the people population inhabiting the earth. Alas, and behold, if you were a pig or a calf, suitable vaccines would have been administered to lessen the onslaught of these diseases (shipping fever, &c). But we undergo treatment which usually involves nothing more than use of a humidifier and rest for the 2-4 days while we (or the patient) suffers from the inability to get adequate breath and thus rattles on intake and wheezes on exhaling, there is little more Medical Practice has to offer. That is, unless the patient has a turn to the worse; then antibiotics, corticosteroids, intubation, &c., &c. come into play.
"Croup, medically called Cynache Trachealis, is an inflammation of the windpipe. ...In the approach of Croup, the cough is rough, and has a peculiar shrill sound, like the crowing of a cock, or the barking of a dog."(1) Now compare this writing to our current day diagnostician: " Acute Laryngotracheobronchitis, an acute viral inflammation of the upper and lower respiratory tracts, characterized by inspiratatory stridor, subglottic swelling, and respiratory distress that is most pronounced on inspiration."(3)
But give science its due. Compare present-day treatments to these: "Treatment - 1) The best remedy ... a wine glass of Lard Oil or Goose Oil will often answer the purpose as an emetic. ... as soon as the emetic begins to operate, it should be promoted with a strong tea of Sumach and Bayberry. ...and the bowels kept freely open perhaps, with Castor Oil and Molasses mixed. ... A plaster of Snuff and Hog's Lard, laid upon the chest is often the best means at hand for relaxing the system and subduing the inflammatory action. ... One of the best remedies (castor oil) given in a dose of a tea-spoonful, every hour, until it operates upon the bowels, is one of the best remedies which has ever been administered. It quickens the secretion of the windpipe, at the same time producing a general relaxation of the system by evacuating the bowels.
Or - 2) Another simple but effective remedy is the Dutch Remedy. Goose oil, and urine, equal quantities. From a tea to a table-spoon of the mixture, according to age. Repeat the dose every 15 minutes, if the first does not vomit in that time."
A common thread emerges when one considers the treatments for most maladies used in the period up to the 1940s. Cleanse the system by purgatives (laxatives and emetics) and the body will rejuvenate itself. Now the common approach is take antibiotics, pain-killers and other high priced medication, and guess what, just like in the "days-of-old" the body will rejuvenate itself. Regardless of which approach you choose, I am sure you may want to consult a doctor if the above treatments just don't seem to be working.
1) Gunn's Newest Family Physician and Book of Health, 1875 2) Dr. Chase's Recipes or Information for everybody, 1866 3) The Merck Manual, 16 ed., pp. 2186, 1992 ABOUT Joe Wortham