6.  Steam is Very Useful.  It relaxes the spasm by local contact and by producing general sweating.  Cover the child’s head and a pitcher with a shawl and inhale the steam from the boiling water in pitcher.  You can put in the pitcher one teaspoonful of oil of tar or one to two teaspoonfuls of tincture of benzoin.  This can be kept up for some time.

Cold in the chest. (Acute Bronchitis.  Inflammation of Bronchial Tubes).—­ This is an acute inflammation of the larger and medium sized bronchial tubes.

[Respiratory diseases 31]

Causes.—­Youth and old age are more predisposed to it.  Lack of fresh air and exercise, dusty work, poor general health, dampness and changeable weather in winter and early spring.  It may be secondary to cold, pharyngitis, measles, typhoid fever, malaria, asthma, and heart disease.

Symptoms.—­There is a feeling of oppression with chilliness and pain in the back, a dry, tight feeling beneath the breastbone with a dry harsh cough.  This may cause headache and pain, and a raw feeling in the chest, chiefly in front.  There may be a temperature of one hundred or one hundred three or less.  After a few days there is a thick, sticky secretion; it is profuse.  The other symptoms, except the cough, subside.  This generally stops in ten days in a favorable case, or it may become chronic.  In infants or old people it may extend to the smaller tubes causing broncho-pneumonia.  There is more danger in infants than in older people.

Mothers’ remedies.  Bronchitis, Camphor and Lard for.—­1.  “Grease a cloth well with lard to which has been added some camphor gum, then sprinkle on some dry baking soda and lay it on the chest.  The camphor and lard should be made into a salve, then put on the soda.  The lard and camphor gum penetrates the affected parts, relieving the inflammation and tightness in the chest.  It is well in children to put a layer of cotton cloth over the chest keeping them warm and getting better results from the remedy.”

2.  Bronchitis, Grandmother’s Remedy for.—­

“Hoarhound 5 cents worth
Hops 5 cents worth
Wild cherry bark 5 cents worth
Licorice root 5 cents worth

“Boil and simmer altogether in two quarts of water long enough to get the strength out of the ingredients, strain, add three cups sugar, then add enough good whisky to keep from souring, say a half pint.”  This combination is not only good for bronchitis, but for the cough left from the effects of bronchitis.  The hoarhound, wild cherry bark and licorice root have a very soothing effect on the bronchial tubes, and the hops quiets the nervous system.  This is also good for a common cough.

[32 Mothers’ remedies]