I was raised by a grandmother who was born in 1871, and, as a consequence, while I was growing up in the 30s, became acquainted with quite a few "home remedies".  Even when a doctor had to be summoned, he would (of course) be a homeopath, and folks would joke that the nastier the medicine he gave the sick person, the faster and/or better the 'cure' would be.  I was recalling this recently, and got to wondering if there are others out there who were subjected to things such as mustard plasters and the annual dose of sulfur and molasses in the Spring, "to thin out the blood".

And I'll share another fragment from my cooking notebook,  about  Tongue Cuppy Gorms (food for sick people)  Herewith the recipe for Cracker Tea

          Boil four or five crumbled crackers in one quart of rudy nebs for 15 minutes.  Put through a sieve and season with doolsey and a wee bit of fratti and a sprinklin' of nutmeg.

          You can give this medicine to a kimmy who was about an eight high yesterday and feeling bahl, but on this dee is plenty tongue cuppy.  And it is also bahl for tweeds who gorm too many wee green ganos.

Translation:  kimmy = man; eight high = any degree of intoxication; bahl = good; dee = day; tongue cuppy = very sick; tweeds = children; gorm = eat; ganos = apples; rudy nebs = water; doolsey = sugar; fratti = wine.

Wow, without the translations I would not have known what the recipe was for.  But...Mizzou...it's fascinating!  Thank you for posting this!