Modern medicine has made life immeasurably easier than it was 250 years ago.
But long before antibiotics and over-the-counter painkillers, America’s founding fathers relied on a host of home remedies to treat everything from headaches to constipation – and some were decidedly strange.
Patients were advised to smear crushed peach pits and rose oil on their foreheads for headaches, drink egg yolks mixed with wine to restore their strength and, in more extreme cases, even undergo bloodletting.
Yet not all of these treatments were misguided. Long before scientists understood germs or inflammation, some remedies were based on principles that still hold up today.
Salt-water gargles for sore throats, plant-based laxatives for constipation and certain botanical treatments remain part of modern medicine in one form or another.
‘Because there were very few diagnostic tools or antibiotics, physicians relied on remedies made from plants, dietary interventions and physical treatments to help cure patients,’ Dr Louis Lerebours, a board-certified family medicine physician, told the Daily Mail.
‘But that does not mean every colonial-era cure belongs in the history books, and some may have merit even today.’
So which of these early American wellness hacks actually worked – and which are best left in the past? The Daily Mail asked experts to separate the science from the folklore.
An 18th-century apothecary shop, where colonial Americans turned for remedies made from sulfur, beeswax, tree bark and brandy
An egg yolk in white wine to give you pep
The combination might turn your stomach, but when housekeeper Eliza Smith introduced the recipe for Tea Caudle in 1727 in the first cookbook published in America, she had a hit.
It was a warm, spiced, sweetened beverage made by combining tea with egg yolks, wine or ale, sugar and spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon.
The eggs provided protein, the wine or ale offered ‘warmth’ and the spices were believed to aid circulation and digestion in people recovering from illness.
Caudles were historically given to women during or after labor to restore strength and were also a popular remedy for chills and fatigue.
While there is little evidence that Tea Caudle itself offered any special medicinal benefits, experts say its popularity may have owed more to the comfort provided by a warm, calorie-rich drink during illness.
‘One of the primary reasons warm drinks remain popular home remedies is that they can genuinely provide comfort when you’re sick, even if they aren’t necessarily treating the underlying cause,’ Dr Brynna Connor, a board-certified family medicine physician specializing in anti-aging and regenerative medicine, told the Daily Mail.
The Compleat Housewife, first published in London in 1727, became the first cookbook printed in the American colonies when a Virginia printer released an edition in Williamsburg in 1742. It wasn’t just a cookbook. It also offered hundreds of medicinal recipes for treating colds, wounds and aches
An 18th Century cold cure
Among the more practical – and surprisingly familiar – remedies of the founding era were sniffing dry salt up the nose and gargling with warm water.
In the 18th century, salt was regarded as a powerful cleanser and antiseptic. Sniffing dry salt was thought to draw excess mucus from the head, while gargling warm water was believed to soothe sore throats and wash away impurities.
The remedy was a simple and accessible way to treat coughs, colds and congestion at a time when there were no decongestants or antibiotics.
Today, doctors still recommend saline nasal rinses for sinus congestion and allergies, while warm salt-water gargles remain a go-to remedy for sore throats.
However, Dr Lerebours warned: ‘It’s not advisable to sniff dry salt. It’ll irritate your nasal mucous membranes and will provide little to no benefit.’
Modern saline rinses use salt water rather than salt crystals to help reduce inflammation and clear nasal passages more safely.
A very gory way to cure a headache
For 18th-century migraine sufferers, bloodletting was seen as a cure – but today we know it only weakened patients without addressing the root cause
For 18th-century Americans suffering from a pounding headache, the remedy was often far more extreme than a modern painkiller.
In Domestic Medicine – first published in 1769 and one of the most widely read household medical guides in colonial America – Scottish physician Dr William Buchan argued that headaches were often caused by an excess of blood or ‘hot bile’, based on the ancient Greek theory of the four humors.
His solution was simple: bloodletting.
Dr Lerebours said: ‘Physicians used bloodletting as a treatment based on their contemporary understanding of the causes of illness.
‘They felt that many of the bodily imbalance conditions they treated would be resolved through this method.’
In Domestic Medicine, Buchan advises bleeding from the jugular vein to relieve pressure in the head, repeating the procedure if the headache persisted.
For milder headaches, he recommended blistering plasters on the neck or behind the ears, or shaving the head and bathing it with vinegar and water. Chronic sufferers were prescribed gentle laxatives to purge excess humors.
Today, bloodletting is known to be ineffective for headaches and can be dangerous.
Yet Buchan’s book shaped medical practice in households across colonial America for decades.
White ointment to help clear the skin
This 1747 guide, The Family Magazine, was a one-stop shop for colonial households—teaching readers how to cook, brew and treat common ailments. Among its remedies: a surprisingly effective ointment for pimples made from sulfur, camphor and beeswax
In 1747, a guide called The Family Magazine offered readers a recipe for treating pimples.
It called for mixing white ointment – a simple base of beeswax and oil – with camphor, sulfur powder, benzoin resin and a few drops of fragrant oils, including Hungary water, oil of rhodium and oil of cloves. The mixture was then applied directly to blemishes.
‘This remedy was truly ahead of its time,’ Dr Lerebours said, claiming it would likely have been highly effective.
The ingredients would have been familiar to any 18th-century apothecary.
Sulfur – still found in some modern acne treatments – has antibacterial and drying properties, while camphor and benzoin were valued for their cooling and soothing effects.
Hungary water – an alcohol-based herbal perfume made mainly from rosemary, often with lavender and other botanicals – acted as a mild astringent, while clove oil was thought to help fight infection while easing discomfort.
The beeswax-and-oil base also served much the same purpose as today’s moisturizers, helping deliver the active ingredients while protecting the skin.
Not everything has stood the test of time, however. Camphor can irritate the skin in high concentrations, and clove oil may trigger sensitivity in some people.
Brandy and bitters to aid digestion
Bitters are used today in cocktails. In the 18th century, patent medicines made from secret recipes, heavily advertised in American newspapers as dubious tonics with names like Dr. Rawson’s Genuine Anti-Bilious and Stomachic Bitters (stock)
From the 1750s to the 1850s, so-called ‘bitters’ were patent medicines made from secret recipes and marketed as cure-alls for everything from indigestion to jaundice.
The idea was hardly new. Nearly 2,000 years earlier, a mixture of gentian root, ginger, St. John’s wort, myrrh, cinnamon and opium blended with honey was used as an antidote to poison before becoming a Roman cure-all – even applied to open wounds.
By the 18th century, bitters were big business. American newspapers were filled with advertisements for tonics with names such as Dr Rawson’s Genuine Anti-Bilious and Stomachic Bitters.
One 1802 ad claimed the elixir would ‘stimulate and strengthen the coats of the stomach and intestines, expel wind, and correct the bile.’
A popular recipe for weak digestion called for steeping Peruvian bark, calamus root, orange peel and coriander seeds in brandy for five or six days before taking a tablespoon diluted in water before meals.
‘Peruvian bark has been a classic example of how traditional remedies can lead to modern medicines through science,’ Lerebours said.
‘It contains quinine, which became one of the first effective treatments for malaria, although this predated our understanding of what causes the disease.’
Calamus root was thought to aid digestion, while the brandy acted as both a preservative and a solvent.
‘While digestive bitters have been used for centuries, the evidence of their effectiveness is mostly anecdotal, and the scientific research is limited,’ Connor said.
Domestic Medicine, first published in Edinburgh in 1769 and in America in 1772, was the 18th-century household’s go-to medical guide
Apple and salt for sore skin
One of the more curious folk remedies of the 18th and 19th centuries involved rubbing a salt-coated apple slice on chilblains – the painful, itchy swellings that develop on fingers and toes after exposure to the cold.
The treatment was simple: slice a juicy apple, dip it in common salt and rub it gently over the affected skin.
It sounds quaint, but there is some logic behind it. Salt helps draw fluid from tissues and has mild antiseptic properties, while apples contain natural acids and sugars that may help soothe irritated skin.
Today, salt-water soaks are still sometimes recommended to calm inflamed skin, although modern treatments for chilblains are generally more effective.
Gentle laxatives from the 18th Century
Constipation – or ‘costiveness’, as William Buchan called it – was blamed on everything from rough red wine and too much horse riding to keeping the body too warm and even ‘intense thought.’
His preferred treatment was surprisingly familiar. Buchan recommended gentle doses of rhubarb two or three times a week, along with teas made from senna and manna, or a mixture of soluble tartar and ‘water-gruel’ – a thin oatmeal drink.
Modern medicine has vindicated some of Buchan’s advice. Senna remains a widely used stimulant laxative, while rhubarb contains natural compounds called anthraquinones that stimulate the bowel in a similar way.
250 years ago, remedies meant sniffing dry salt and steeping tree bark in brandy. Dr Louis Lerebours told the Daily Mail which early American wellness hacks actually worked and which ones belong in the history books
Manna – a sweet sap traditionally harvested from the manna ash tree – acts as a mild osmotic laxative, drawing water into the bowel to soften stools.
Soluble tartar, however, is no longer used to treat constipation, and today doctors are more likely to recommend increasing fiber and fluids, along with proven laxatives such as polyethylene glycol or lactulose if needed.
Chewing tea to relieve heartburn
For 18th-century Americans suffering from heartburn – which Buchan described as ‘an uneasy sensation of heat or acrimony about the pit of the stomach’ – relief came in many forms.
He recommended chewing green tea leaves, particularly for pregnant women, and prescribed milk of magnesia for excess stomach acid – a remedy that remains in use today.
Connor said: ‘Milk of magnesia is another historical remedy that hasn’t changed much over time.’
Other treatments were less familiar.
Powdered oyster shells or ‘crabs-eyes’ – tiny chalky stones found in the heads, or stomach, as some claimed, of crayfish – were thought to neutralize stomach acid, while heartburn caused by gas was treated with aniseed, ginger and cardamom, either chewed or steeped in brandy.
Buchan also believed greasy meals could be eased with a small measure of brandy or rum, although he warned that ale and wine often made symptoms worse.