Homemade Cough Syrup

[Reconstructed Rebel]

My grandmother had a family recipe for cough syrup that we were all dosed with at one time or another. It worked great. You immediately stopped coughing. Her daughter, my aunt, who became a registered nurse, asked me one day if l knew the secret ingredient grandmother used. When I said, "No." she said, " Two drops of coal oil, " which you have to know is a very toxic substance to ingest.
This thread is an invitation to post your family's best homemade cures passed down through the generations. We all know, I assume, the power of a piece of fatback to draw out splinters. Surely there is a scientific reason for this because I've never failed to see it work.