Cold.
Pineapple is good for those who catch cold easily. For a cold in the head, place a little pepper powder in a bit of cloth, make a twist out of this and hold it over a flame. Inhale the pepper fumes when it begins to smolie. The first time you use your hot water bottle, add a little glycerine to it. This keeps the rubber soft and makes it last longer.
Lime juice in hot water with honey to taste is otae of the best things for an incipient cold.
Keep a cut onion in the bed-room. This will help to prevent infection of cold and cough.
If a hostess spots any of her guests sneezing or suffering from a cold, the welfare of her other guests and herself should be of vital concern to her. Wisely she should set a raw onion in a bowl, then to conceal the unsightly onion, she should decorate the bowl with artificial flowers and stand it in the center of the room; onion prevents cold from spreading. Raw onion eaten daily purifies the blood, clears the complexion and induces sleep. The pungency of the onion is a good preventive against colds and other infections.
It is wrong to believe the common saying “Feed the cold and starve the fever”. Nothing could be more wrong. Cold can be cured within a week by taking medicine and it will get itself cured within 7 days without any medicine.
Newspaper can serve to ward off the cold in case you haven’t sufficient blankets to put over your mattress. Spread them four fold over the mattress before spreading the sheet.
To prevent a cold, apply mustard oil on the bridge of the nose. In case you catch cold during the rainy season, take plenty of water and citrus fruit juice. Keep your bowels clean by taking a mild laxative. Take a light but nourishing diet and inhale Tincture of Benzoin vapours in small quantities. A very weak brew of tea while hot with a few drops of sour lime juice and honey to taste is very good for an impending cold and sore throat. You may take this instead of the usual tea three or four times a day. Gargling also may be done with weak tea alone.
Raw onions eaten in a salad twice or thrice a day will help to clear stuffed nostrils resulting from ordinary cold and will also give relief ro patients of asthma, nasal and bronchial catarrh. To check an imminent sneeze, press a finger in the middle of the upper lip. The sneeze will surely subside. A simple home remedy for night coughs is honey in a hot drink before bed time. As garlic is an irritant and rebefacient it can be applied with great benefit as a poultice to the chest. Some doctors have advocated giving garlic in boiled milk in some cases of bronchitis and they have obtained good results from this simple procedure. Garlic has been considered a cure for a host of ailments.
Raw garlic possesses antibacterial property against a number of micro organisms including those that are resistant to commonly used antibiotics. The chemical called ‘allium’ found in garlic destroys dangerous bacteria. But the most telling use has been found to be its action in reducing the cholestrol level. The list of ailments which garlic can cure is impressive. Among them it is supposed to ward off colds, bronchitis, rheumatism, quell indigestion and stomach dis-orders, relieve gas and worms, cure sore eyes and ear-ache, purify the blood and remove pimples. Excessive use of garlic is likely to cause ulcers in the mouth, it is learnt. Not more than two or three bulbs are advised for medicinal purposes. Tender leaves of the drumstick tree, likewise, though very useful in treating diabetes, may cause inflammation of the eyes if taken excessively.
