Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1869-08-12


cred cure for cutaneous disorders, but
that inwardly taken it is poisonous. The
Ghoorkas (Himalaya) believe that the fat
of the tiger is a specific against rheumat-
ism. The Chinese ascribe wonderful med
icinal properties to every part of the tigers
body. Davidson, in his ''Notes taken dur
ing Travels in Africa" says of the be-
zoar: "I had three of the fam
ed serpent-stone brought me to
purchase. They fetch very high prices,
as they are a remedy for the bite Of tho
reptile, and. are used as a most costly, ,medi-
cine. i made several offers. The men had
refused twenty-five ducats for the three-a
large sum for Moor to give and an Arab
to refuse. They are generally brought
from Sudan; these, however, were taken
from m'hoe, which is kind of antelope,
and are called selsi in the Mandingo Ian
guage. They are used as an antidote in
case of poison, and are applied also to
pains and bruises"
Though hard such strange relations to receive,
Who dare deny what thousands dare believer,
In Germany the tongue of the caper-
caile is considered by many an excellent
preservative against the pains of dentition.
Sewn mp in little bag, it is hung round
the infants neck.
Among the Swiss it was generally believ-
ed that few drops of the blood of the
steinbock, poured into glass of wine and
taken before going to bed, produced imme-
diately violent perspiration, and cured
all sorts of diseases. The very ball with
which he was shot had its use for water
into which il was dipped acquired valuable
medical properties. The ge,Rs-ball, sort
of bezoar or morbid secretion, sometimes
found in the stomach of this animal. was
used as a medicine. 1t used to sell for its
weight in gold. Upon its virtues whole
treatises have been written.
The horn of the stag was long supposed
to possess great medicinal virtues, espec-
tally the right or off horn, which it was
said was rarely found, and consequently
was the more highly priced. Michael Dray-
ton, in n note to his description of stag
hunt, says 'the hart weepeth at his dying;
his tears are held to be precious in medi-
cine" Deer horns, when in "velvet," are
eagerly bought by the Chinese being es-
teemed valuable medicament.
Album grGc,un, the white bony excre-
ment of the dog, bleached on the bank,
was long deemed efiicacious in heart pains
and acidities.
Among the Turkomans the horns and
hoofs of the goat arc burned to ashes, and
are then employed for the gelled places on
camels. The blood Of goat was once
thought a sovereign remedy for the stone.
The goat was fed-with ssaxifragous herbs
and such as were conceived of power to
break the stone" The blood of goat,
when fresh and warm had the property, il
was supposed, of making soft the diamond,
the hardest of all stones. The gall of a
bear is valued by the Chinese at its weight
in gold.
'In every tench's head" says Izaak Wal
ton, 'there are two littlestones which for
eign physicians make great use of; but he
is not commended for wholesome meat,
though there be very much use made Of
them for outward application. Rondele-
thus says that at his being at Rome he saw
great crre done by applying a tench to
the f Il of a very sick man" He then calls
the tench ''the physician Of tishes-for the
pike especially; and that the pike, being
either sick or hurt. is cured by the touch
OF the tench. Gesner says that the fat
of a grayling, being set with a little
honey day or two in the sun. in glass
''is very excellent against redness or swar-
thiness or anything that breeds in the eye.
The same authority declares that the '.iaw-
bones and hearts and gall ofPikes are very
medicinable for several. diseases or to stop
blood, to abate fevers, to cure agues, to op-
pose or expel tho infection of the plague"
&c. A writer Of the 18th century says that
''the physicians make the gals and stones
in the heads of carps to be very medicina-
ble.
Mr.. Yarrell in his "History of British
Fishes, states that tho oil extracted from
the ling is used by the poor as medicine,
and Mr. Couch says that those who have
been able to overcome the repugrance ar
Using from its nauseous smell and taste in
sist that it is very effec.ual in severe cases
of rheumatism, when taken in small beer
in doses of from half an ounce to an ounce
and half.
At this time cod-liver oil is generally
used. In Newfoundland the process of
making this article is very simple. The
livers, fresh from the fish and nearly white,
are carefully washed and thrown into q
caldron heated by steam, where they grad
ually dissolve into oil, which is dipped
while hot, and strained first through conf
cal felt bags and then through those of
white moleskin, from which it runs pure
In this state it is bareled for market.
The cuttle-bone of the sepiad8 was for
merly employed as an antiacid by apothe-
carries