Hair Loss? Runny nose? Teething baby? Hot whisky is dandy, but sniffing a moldy sock is the best cure of all. Whatever ails you, try these Victorian Remedies.
Losing your hair? No problem. Just rub an onion on your head. Sour stomach? A glass of warm, soapy water with a pinch of gunpowder will fix you right up.
Are teething issues keeping you up at night? There’s a simple solution: hang a dead mole around your baby’s neck. (Yes, the mammal!) And if you are struggling with depression, Queen Victoria herself found a go-to cure after she lost her beloved husband, Prince Albert. Opium. That will put a smile back on your face. It seemed to work for her.
These gems and many more can be found in Hints on Health From the Victorians, compiled by Constance Moore. The book compiles tips from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, printed in 1861.
About writing the book, Beeton said, “I must frankly own, that if I had known, beforehand, that this book would have cost me the labour which it has, I should never have been courageous enough to commence it.”
When asked why she wrote the book: “I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife’s badly-cooked dinners and untidy ways.” Her book was an immediate best-seller, selling 60,000 copies in its first year and nearly two million by 1868.
The Victorian Martha Stewart
Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management offers an interesting blend of insight, common sense and science by a woman we might call the Victorian Martha Stewart. Her book offers advice on a wide range of topics important to the middle class, including fashion, child-care, gender roles, cooking, the management of servants and of course, these home remedies.
The Feet of a Dead Chicken
Please stay out of cold drafts and away from people who are coughing and sweating profusely. Even the most careful can become ill, so if you come down with fevers and chills, simply press the feet of a dead chicken against your chest and you should recover quickly.
Racing Nellie Bly
Victorian Secrets From Footnotes In History
