Oxymel

Oxymel, acid-honey, vinegar-honey, an ancient type of preparation consisting of vinegar or vinegar extracts and honey. The purpose of introducing such preparations was that, according to observations, vinegar and extracts made with it did not spoil as easily as aqueous solutions; honey served to sweeten the preparation to make it suitable for internal administration and as a mild irritant to mucous membranes. At present, these preparations are obsolete. In foreign pharmacopoeias, Oxymel simplex is found—a mixture of vinegar with sugar, honey, or syrup, containing (according to the British pharmacopoeia) 4% acetic acid; Oxymel Scillae—a mixture of vinegar extract from sea onion with honey. Oxymel simplex is used as an expectorant, for gargles, and in enemas. Oxymel Scillae is used as a diuretic, expectorant, and in pediatric practice as an emetic (in doses from 4 cm³); it has also been proposed as a cardiac remedy. There are also prescriptions for throat gargles that contain (simple) vinegar-honey.