November 19, 2014
Martha Lloyd's Whooping Cough Cure
Martha Lloyd's Whooping Cough Cure
With Whooping Cough (Pertussis) reaching epidemic levels in recent years, a push to promote vaccination against it has received renewed publicity. As part of the DTP and DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis) dose, we now have the ability to avoid these illnesses which were, in Jane Austen's time, without prevention or cure. Though that's not to say that there weren't whooping cough "cures" which were recommended, as you'll see below.

A few days ago I had a letter from Miss Irvine, and as I was in her debt, you will guess it to be a remonstrance, not a very severe one, however; the first page is in her usual retrospective, jealous, inconsistent style, but the remainder is chatty and harmless. She supposes my silence may have proceeded from resentment of her not having written to inquire particularly after my hooping cough, &c. She is funny one. Jane Austen to Cassandra, January 7, 1807Fortunately, her friend, Martha Lloyd, had a whooping cough "cure", which she kept in her "household book"-- a personal collection of recipes from friends and relatives. The Oil of Amber in the ingredients is actually distilled from the gemstone, Amber!
Remedy for the Hooping Cough Cut off the hair from the top of the head as large as a crown piece. Take a piece of brown paper of the same size: dip it in rectified oyl of amber, and apply it to the part for nine mornings, dipping the paper fresh every morning. If the cough is not remov'd try it again after three or four days-- this medicine is sometimes used by rubbing it along the backbone. Martha Lloyd
Factual information from Wikipedia.com
Posted in: children, DTP, hooping cough, Jane Austen, Martha Lloyd, oil of amber, paper, pertussis, whooping cough, whooping cough cure