As a kid growing up, I don’t remember any kind of sickness that couldn’t be instantly cured by some of those home remedies my mom had at her disposal. She was a firm believer in things her elders had taught her, and her kids were the patients in her home clinic. A drop of kerosene or coal oil in a spoonful of sugar was a common remedy for a sore throat. If you stepped on a rusty nail, which I did more than once, you had to soak your foot in kerosene. I don’t recall, but I would guess that the kerosene ...