HAMILTON HEALTH DEPARTMENT ADVICE FROM 1918

To avoid contracting the flu, get plenty of sleep, avoid closed offices, streetcars and gatherings at late hours in poorly ventilated rooms.

Eat “plain and wholesome foods” and frequently wash hands Stay in open air as much as possible.

Kissing should be strictly avoided. Face masks with heavy gauze should be worn in public places at all times.

The masks should be ironed frequently to destroy germs or bacteria.

Keep feet dry and drink plenty of cold water

HOME REMEDIES AT THE TIME

1/2 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp of borax, one ounce of glycerine, ten drops of carbolic acid and six ounces of distilled water. Spray into nostrils with atomizer. Elder blossom and peppermint, one ounce of each poured into a pint of boiling water. Sit for 30 minutes and drink like tea. Goose liver with fried onions layered on a thin piece of gauze or cloth. Place on patient so the mixture could seep from the cloth to the patient. Others tried castor oil, garlic buds, violet-leaf tea or salt water sniffed up the nose.

Some suggested using oil of eucalyptus around the nostrils as some diagnostic tool to check for the illness in its early stages.

“It’s well understood that the only thing that really worked during the 1918 epidemic was TLC, tender loving care.” CHRISTOPHER RUTTY Professor and historian, University of Toronto