Today I have both daughters home with colds. They are so sad, locked up in
their rooms wanting nothing but soup. I heard that a study was done on
chicken soup and that there were deemed to be no medicinal qualities to the
product. Nevertheless, as far back as I can remember, chicken soup has
been the go-to remedy for every sniffle, sneeze and other cold symptom.
There must be some medicinal quality to it or it wouldn’t keep being used.
Once I had a cold when I was little and I could not sleep. My mother was
out of town and my father was looking after me. He went into the kitchen
and came out a little bit later with a cup steaming hot. He told me to
drink it and I did. It tasted like lemon but was very strong. I
finished it and went right to sleep. The next morning I woke up and went
to school. What was the cure? He had made me what he called a “Hot
Totty”. I was very impressed by my father’s healing ability and shared the
story with my mother when she came home. To this day I have not heard what
Dad put in there but I suspect there was a splash of Johnny Walker Scotch.
Mom took Dad aside upstairs and I could hear her muffled voice yelling for one
of the few times in my life. For good or ill, all I can say is I felt
better in the morning. I probably had only the smallest bit of alcohol but
it is no more than I would have had with cough syrup. Though I am not
brave enough to try such remedies on my own children, I can’t help but wonder if
some of the old cures were better or at least as good as what we have
today. After all, for all the talk on television, they still haven’t cured
the common cold. We used wet wash cloths and Tylenol to bring down fevers
when I was young. Now they have dozens of medicines out there that claim
to do the same thing. Who’s to say which is better? It is amazing
with all our modern science that we still must often rely on the body to heal
itself. I am not putting down modern medicine. As I have said many
times, without today’s medicines I would not even be alive right now.
Still, there seems to be some merit to the old ways. Many cultures around
the world use very basic remedies that seem to be effective. Maybe it is
time to try something old before something new.
their rooms wanting nothing but soup. I heard that a study was done on
chicken soup and that there were deemed to be no medicinal qualities to the
product. Nevertheless, as far back as I can remember, chicken soup has
been the go-to remedy for every sniffle, sneeze and other cold symptom.
There must be some medicinal quality to it or it wouldn’t keep being used.
Once I had a cold when I was little and I could not sleep. My mother was
out of town and my father was looking after me. He went into the kitchen
and came out a little bit later with a cup steaming hot. He told me to
drink it and I did. It tasted like lemon but was very strong. I
finished it and went right to sleep. The next morning I woke up and went
to school. What was the cure? He had made me what he called a “Hot
Totty”. I was very impressed by my father’s healing ability and shared the
story with my mother when she came home. To this day I have not heard what
Dad put in there but I suspect there was a splash of Johnny Walker Scotch.
Mom took Dad aside upstairs and I could hear her muffled voice yelling for one
of the few times in my life. For good or ill, all I can say is I felt
better in the morning. I probably had only the smallest bit of alcohol but
it is no more than I would have had with cough syrup. Though I am not
brave enough to try such remedies on my own children, I can’t help but wonder if
some of the old cures were better or at least as good as what we have
today. After all, for all the talk on television, they still haven’t cured
the common cold. We used wet wash cloths and Tylenol to bring down fevers
when I was young. Now they have dozens of medicines out there that claim
to do the same thing. Who’s to say which is better? It is amazing
with all our modern science that we still must often rely on the body to heal
itself. I am not putting down modern medicine. As I have said many
times, without today’s medicines I would not even be alive right now.
Still, there seems to be some merit to the old ways. Many cultures around
the world use very basic remedies that seem to be effective. Maybe it is
time to try something old before something new.
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