💊 Doctor's Orders 1906

Opium, Laudanum (antidotes)

For an opium overdose: an emetic, vinegar and water, and two or three hours of walking.

From: The 20th Century Home Cook Book
Published: 1906
Yikes Scale: Call poison control

Exactly as printed, 1906

Antidotes-Emetic draught, vinegar and water, dashing cold water on chest and face, walking up and down for two or three hours. LEAD, WHITE LEAD, SUGAR OF LEAD, GOULARD'S EXTRACT. - Antidotes-Epsom salts, castor oil and emetics.

The 20th Century Home Cook Book, 1906. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

None of this reverses an opioid. Walking a semi-conscious person up and down does not clear the drug, and forcing an emetic into someone losing consciousness risks them inhaling it.

The entry immediately below is for lead, white lead and sugar of lead. The fact that a household cookbook needed a lead-poisoning entry says a good deal about the period kitchen.

Notes from the 21st century

Naloxone is the answer now. It reverses opioid overdose within minutes and is available over the counter in much of the US. Call emergency services first.
Laudanum was sold freely. An opium tincture, available without prescription and used for pain, coughs, diarrhoea and fretful infants. Overdose was common enough to need a table entry.
Vinegar was thought to neutralise. The acid-neutralises-alkali principle runs through the whole antidote table. Opium is not an alkali in any sense that helps.

Also in this book

Acid, Sulphuric (Diluted) — Sulphuric acid cut one part in eleven, used for dyspepsia — and as a gargle.
Beer of Sulphuric Acid — A summer drink of diluted acid and orange syrup, which the book calls entirely harmless.
Mercury, Chloride of Calomel — A dosing chart for mercury, in a cookbook, next to the puddings.

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Meat for Invalids

Raw loin beaten in a marble mortar with sweet and bitter almonds and sugar, into a pulp with “a rosy hue, and a very agreeable taste.” Said to keep “even in summer.”

💊 Doctor's Orders Call poison control

The Dixie Cook-Book · 1883

Mercury, Chloride of Calomel

One grain of mercury chloride twice a day as an alterative, four to five as a laxative. The book calls it “a most dangerous medicine” and prints the doses anyway.

💊 Doctor's Orders Call poison control

The 20th Century Home Cook Book · 1906

Stimulants for Opium Poisoning

The home first-aid table treats opium poisoning with “cathartics and stimulants, such as coffee, brandy, and strychnine,” while the patient is walked up and down.

💊 Doctor's Orders Call poison control

Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis's Cook Book · 1914