Black Draught

Isabella Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861) has a recipe for a black draught:[1] 2587.

Families who make black draught in quantity, and wish to preserve it for some time without spoiling, should add about 2 drachms of spirits of hartshorn to each pint of the strained mixture, the use of this drug being to prevent its becoming mouldy or decomposed.

A simpler and equally efficacious form of black draught is made by infusing 1/2 oz.

of Epsom salts, and 2 drachms of bruised ginger and coriander-seeds, for several hours in a pint of boiling water, straining the liquor, and adding either 2 drachms of sal-volatile or spirits of hartshorn to the whole, and giving 3 tablespoonfuls for a dose to an adult.Black-Draught is also the name of a once-common commercial liquid syrup laxative, sold since the late 19th century, a cathartic medicine composed of a blend of Senna and magnesia.

"Thedford's Black-Draught" was marketed through booklets such as the 1899 "The Ladies Birthday Almanac" by The Chattanooga Medicine Company.