Herb Teas

"...Are made by infusing the dried or green leaves and stalks in boiling water, and letting them stand until cold.  Sweeten to taste.

Sage tea, sweetened with honey, is good for a sore throat, used as a gargle, with a small bit of alum dissolved in it.

Catnip tea is the best panacea for infant ills, in the way of colds and colic, known to nurses.

Pennyroyal tea will often avert the unpleasant consequences of a sudden check of perspiration, or the evils induced by ladies' thin shoes.

Chamomile and gentian teas are excellent tonics taken either cold or hot.

The tea made from blackberry-root is said to be good for summer disorders.  That from green strawberry leaves is an admirable and soothing wash for a cankered mouth.

Tea of parsley-root scraped and steeped in boiling water, taken warm, will often cure strangury and kindred affections, as will that made from dried pumpkin-seed.

Tansy and rue teas are useful in cases of colic, as are fennel seeds steeped in brandy.

A tea of damask-rose leaves, dry or fresh, will usually subdue any simple case of summer complaint in infants.

Mint tea, made from the green leaves, crushed in cold or hot water and sweetened, is palatable and healing to the stomach and bowels."

Common Sense in the Household, Mrs. Marion Harland, 1873.  Available at the Michigan State University website, Feeding America.

(Of the above, I think the only advice I would take is the drinking of mint tea.  I often had it in the Middle East and although I don't know what good it does the stomach and bowels, it's delicious).

Botanical print from Patricia's site.