anna, my mother and grandmother gave me a dose (spoonful) of turpentine, and sugar for the croup when I was small. along with it came a hot mustard plaster on my chest. we also used to make our own cough syrup: a slice of onion, spread with sugar, do this until it is stacked high about 8 slices in a bowl, then weigh the top down with a heavy saucer over night...often with a sadiron on top of the saucer. the next day the juice which was pressed out was given as a teaspoon for cough syrup to sooth the throat. the rest of the juice was put in a brown bottle with a cork and kept in a cool place. i was told this story all my life: when my mother was six years old she developed diphtheria. she was so sick all of the family and neighbors were brought to the outside window of the house to see her one last time before she died. my great grandmother at that time gave her turpentine and sugar and continued to do so. my mother coughed up a ball of 'stuff' that looked like a brillo pad (steel wool) and after that happened she began to improve. it took a year for her to recover but her life was saved. moonsister ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----- Original Message ----- From: "anna wilson" <artyndn@cityscope.net> To: <CHEROKEE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 12:10 AM Subject: Re: [Cherokee Circle] old home remedys > turpentine is poison for young children as they tend to breath it in and > get pneumonia. in olden days it was mixed with sugar or honey .to hide the > taste.anna in houston