My earliest memories of contagious diseases was when chicken pox, scarlet fever or measles infected a family member. The township health officer was notified; he was a farmer who lived about three fourths mile southeast of our place. He would come and nail a quarantine sign on the house entrance door and convey instructions which also stated that after all family members had recovered he would be back to fumigate the house to kill all the germs.
At the proper time he returned with a bag of sulfur and a burner which he set in the center of a room. Some sulfur was poured on the burner which was set afire making an indescribable stench which was to purify the air, destroying all the dangerous germs that might still be living in the corners of the room.
Later in this essay he writes of an even more interesting way to alleviate a cold.
In my early years we had a famous folk remedy for the chest congestion type of colds. Farmers usually were able to trap skunks, and housewives would fry out the skunk fat. This was allowed to cool. The patient's chest was massaged with a liberal layer of this odd smelling mess. The chest was then kept warm with a heavy woolen cloth. It seemed to us that the smell alone would clear out any lung congestion, and speed recovery. Chicken soup was always and still is recommended as good medicine to speed recovery.
This might have prevented a few children from pretending to be ill to stay home from school or get out of chores if this was the cure!
Here is a page out of the Record of Dangerous Diseases, Blendon Township, 1905 - 1931:
