Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-09-14
SUPERsTITI0NS OF MEDICINE.
Pleasant prescyiptions-Eyoo s;-Bugs
and T0ad'e-Leg's Riding on Il Bear for
the Nh0opin.-Conch


selected, chiefly in the rural districts OF
. England and Scotland, where ignorance
was the rule, and medical science rare.
+ In some cases, however, doctors OF en-
inent social position were known to re
sort to practices that would now dis
grace the commonest quack. Sir Theo-
dore de Mayence was phvcician to
James l., Charles T., Charles IL, yet he
prescribed adders, bats, whelps, earth
worms, hogs grease, stays marrow,
and thighbOnes OF oxen; also, pulyer-
lied human bones. His celebrated
govt powder contained raspings OF an
unburied human skull
A book published in l7l4, called
Collection Of above three hundred
receipts in cookery, physic, and sur
gerry, and purporting to be written by
persons Of great knowledge and long
experience, has the following prescrip-
tions, among others equallypuerileand
disgusting: can almost iniallIble
drink for weak children " . Put an
ounce of rhubarb and
THREE HUNDRED LIvE-wooD BUGS
into six quarts OF small ale, and drink,
spring and fall, no other drink. Here
is a " Powder for Consumption: "
"Take twelve dozen of the smallest
/ gIgs (eels) You eangct, wipe them very
clean and bake them IL Il well glazed
pan all night, &c Alsoan excellent
saltwater in a consumption Take a
/ peck Of large snails, lay them on a hot
hearth before the fire, let them lie till
they have done kissing and splitting,
then wipe them from the froth and
break them in a mortar; add a quart Of
earth-worms, slit and secured clean,
/ sc.
The cruelty practiced in the prepar
ing Of these revolving prescriptions Is
another sickening feature of these SUI
1 perstitions. In 1850, one William Ell
/ lis published book, in which IS found
the following cure for the kings evil;
"A girl, at Gaddesden, having the evil
/ in her feet in her infancy, ct eleven
I years old
/ LOST ONE or HER TOES
/ by it, and was so bad she could hardly
walk. A beggar woman coming to the
/ door and hearing of it said that If they
| would cut off the hind leg and the fore
4 leg, on the contrary sides OF a toad,
and she wear them in asilken bag about
/ her neck, it would certainly cure her
/ but it was observed, that on the toads
/ losing its legs, it was to be turned
loose abroad, and as it pinned, wasted,
and died, the distempcr would likewise
waste and die, which happened accord
ingly, for the girl was entirely cured by
! il, never having had the evil atterward. "
! In some parts of Scotland, even at the
present day, they collect quantity Of
COMMON GARDES-woRMs,
tie them in cloth bag, and then ex-
pose them to n slow fire, by which they
are gradually roasted alive their de-
composed remains are then applied as
salve to the stomach of children IN
fected with worms. This is done,
probably, on the principal, "hke
cures like" In Lancashire and some
4 OF the adjacent countries the following
was considered a cure for warts " Steal
piece of meat from a butchers shop
or from his tray, and having rubbed
we'll the afflicted parts with the stolen
meat. bury the latter in some secluded
spot. If the whole be done without
/ detection, the warts viii disappear as
the meat decays TO cure a sty on the
/ eyelid, get.
THE TAIL or BLACK CAT,
on the first night OF the new moon, and,
after pulling from it one halr, rub the
/ tip nine times over the pustule. > But
/ the cures for the whooping cough are
perhaps the most singular. In Che
shire a ride upon a bear was considered
IN infallible remedy for it, Most per-
sons, even in the present day, viii be
heye this, especially in the nelghbor-
hood OF the Rocky Mountains. The
remedy would probably cure not only
/ the whoopiug-cough, but every other
/ disease the person might be afflicted
with. In the countries of Norfolk,
Leicester and Northampton, the Gus
was to give.
FRIED MICE
to the patient in the morning, fasting
threo the first morning, then waiting
/ three mornings, and then give the pa
tieut three more rs soon as he had
swallowed nine the cure was worked,
! and thecough would leave him. The
right fOre.fuot Of hare worn constant
+ II in the pocket was considered un eff
/ tectual cure for the Rheumatism. AM
other one against cramp consisted in
wearing about the person the bones of
+ a sheep, popularity known rs the cramp
bone or patella; il was to he worn rs
near the skin MS possible during the
+ day. ANA At night it was to be placed
under the pillow. In the Gospeue of