Health in the Heartland
Necessity created rural home remedies in Northwest Missouri: the need to survive multiple epidemics, the need to be able to rely on oneself, the need to make the most of what is provided, and the need to do as much as possible to limit pain and discomfort. It might be a simple sore throat. One remedy for this was beating the white of two eggs with two teaspoons of white sugar, a pint of lukewarm water, a little nutmeg, and drinking the mixture frequently. Sometimes a tougher, more resilient illness like cancer occurs. In rural Missouri, one recommendation for this consisted of applying a salted egg salve twice a day.
These common remedies of the 1800s may not be taken seriously today, but their significance should not be underestimated. Though eventually doctors distanced themselves from unreliable home remedies, doctors and home remedies shared similar levels of success for much of the 1800s. It is for this reason that Missourians treated all but the most severe injuries with home remedies in the 19th century. In the time between the conflicts of the Civil War and World War Two, rural remedies were necessary in Northwest Missouri to counter illnesses with resources that the general population could obtain.
Though Northwest Missouri faced many epidemics from the 1850s to the 1950s, the most prominent use of home remedies consisted of aid for simpler health issues. Though often not as life threatening as epidemics, these issues still needed to be resolved. Sore throats, like the previous example, needed to be soothed. Rashes needed to be cleared. Toothaches needed to stop hurting. Everyday people needed remedies to get themselves by. Regardless of the proven effects of different remedies, people needed to know they had tried. These people may not have wanted or been able to use a doctor for any number of reasons. Expense was an issue in healthcare in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Distance to a doctor was also a factor because the average time it took for rural Missourians to reach a doctor could range from several hours to several days. With such a long trip, making the journey had to be only for extreme circumstances.
People rarely knew in advance when they would need a remedy so creating and storing them was necessary.
Fear is a powerful motivator, and fear of death due to a disease during an epidemic motivated several home remedies. Three major cholera epidemics took place in the 1800s in Missouri, with varying degrees of devastation. Even for those fortunate enough to be in contact with accepted medicine, doctors often treated the symptoms of the illness, rather than the illness itself due to lack of knowledge concerning many diseases. Warm liquids to treat loss of body heat. Solid foods to help limit vomiting. Both doctors and everyday people treated these symptoms as best they could. During much of these epidemics, doctors knew so little about cholera that they tried many different treatments with little success. A doctor could prescribe anything from opium to bloodletting while expecting 95% of the worst cases treated to end in failure in spite of any action taken by doctors. Smallpox, typhoid fever, croup, scarlet fever, and several others all contributed to waves of illness that had to be constantly considered by doctors of that time. For each of these illnesses there existed home remedies of some sort because people wanted to hope. If a person had an illness, there was always the chance that a simple fix might save their lives. For others, creating a home remedy might save someone’s life. For these reasons and others, home remedies persisted in Northwest Missouri between the conclusion of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
Much like medicine in the 21st century, rural home remedies from the 1850s to the 1950s consisted of using available resources to aid as much as possible. The key phrase being “available resources” because of limited resources in rural Northwest Missouri. The typical, post-Civil War, rural Northwest Missourian possessed a few basic ingredients that often found places in remedies. Common ingredients for many remedies include milk, alcohol, and salt. Rare ingredients, like oranges, gained usage in remedies as well. A study in 1912 confirmed an unhealthy level of impurity and strength in many home remedy ingredients, including alcohol, peppermint oil, and even opium. Poor quality of ingredients meant that, even if a remedy might work otherwise, it might be worse than the illness itself in the wrong quantities. Both, remedies and medications, often took credit away from the body’s own natural recuperative powers.
Many illnesses had at least one form of home remedy, ranging from the simple to the extreme. One remedy for Asthma consisted of drinking mocha, with sugar and milk optional. To heal internal injuries, patients were bled for twelve ounces. Salt water in the patient’s ears treated sunstroke. A remedy for tuberculosis consisted of a brew of hickory and tobacco leaves. Nearly anything and everything within reach of an ill person could be made into a remedy out of desperation for cures.
The historical importance of rural home remedies is evident and many are still present today in one form or another. The existence and reliance on home remedies near the conclusion of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century shows that people were desperate for better health. So desperate that random ingredients and a little faith could be mixed together and called a cure. This desperation, more so than the remedies themselves, is where the historical significance can be attributed. Desperation can lead to passion, and passion, in turn, can lead to progress. Progress is exactly what occurred in the 1930s. In spite of economic hardships and drought, Americans in 1930 experienced the lowest mortality rates in American history up to that point. There was a 6.6 percent drop in the number of deaths from the previous year. This dramatic change is credited to improved hospitals, public health measures, and research. The public as a whole was healthier. Doctors knew enough to treat many diseases rather than just the symptoms. Though home remedies are just one of the many factors that helped medicine progress, just being a factor in a mortality rate drop of 6.6 percent was, is, and will continue to be significant.