Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-09-27
supERsTIrIONs OF MEDICINE.
Pleasant Prescrip Wood bugs
and TOads' legs-Ridfng ON a Bear
for the WhOOping- Cough.

The following instances have been Sc
lected, chiefly in the rural districts of
England and Scotland, where ignorance
was the rule and medical science rare.
In some cases, however, doctors OF emf
nent social position were known to resort
to practices that would now disgrace the
commonest quack. Sir Theodore de
Mayence was physician to James L.,
Charles l., and Charles IL, yet he pre-
scribed adders, bats, whelps, earth.
worms, hogs grease, stags marrow, and
thigh-bones of oxen also, pulverlzed
human bones. His celebrated gout pow
der contained raspings of an unburied
human skull.
A book published in l7l4, called a
Collection of above three hundred re.
cipes in cookery, physic and surgery,
and purporting to be written by persons
of great knowledge and long experience,
has the following prescriptions, among
others equally puerile and disgusting;
"An almost infallible drink for weak
children" "Put an ounce of rhubarb
and
THEE HUNDRED LIVE w0oD-BVGs
into six quarts of small ale, and drink,
spring and fall, no other drink" Here
is "Powder for Consumption: Take
twelve dozen of the smallest grigs (ellsl
you can get, wipe them very clean and
bake them in a glazed pan all night,
etc. Also an Excellent snail-water in
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 mortar;
add a quart of earthworms, slit and
secured clean, etc. -.
The cruelty practiced in the preparing
Of these revolving prescriptions is
another sickening feature of these super
stitions. In 1850, one William Ellis pub
lished a book, in which is found the fol
lowing cure for the kings evil: A girl
at Gaddesden having the evil in ber feet
in her infancy, at eleven years old,
LOST ONE OF 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
leg, ON the contrary side of toad, and
she wear them in silken-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 pined, wasted and died, the
distemper would likewise waste and die,
which happened accordingly; for the
girl was entirely cured by it, never hav-
ing had the evil afterward. " In some
parts of Scotland, even at the present
day, they collect quantity OF
COMMON GARDEN WORMS,
tie them in cloth bag, and then expose
them to slow fire, by which they are
gradually roasted alive; their decom-
posed remains are then applied as a
salve to the stomach of children infected
with worms. This is done, probably, on
the principle like cures like In Lam
cashire and some Of the adjacent coun-
ties the following was considered cure
for warts: "Steal piece of meat from q
butchers shop or from his tray, and
and having we'll rubbed the affected
parts with the stolen meat, bury the lat
ter in some secluded spot. If the whole
be done without detection, the warts
will disappear as the meat decays" To
cure sty on the eyelid, "get
THE TAIL OF A BLACK CAT,
on the first night of the new moon, and,
after pulling from it one hair, rub the tip
nine times over the pustule. But the
cures for the whooping cough are per
hans. the most singular. In Cheshire
ride upon a bear was considered an in
fallible remedy for it. Most persons,
even in the present day, will believe
this. especially in the neighborhood OF
the Rocky Mountains. The remedy
would probably cure not only the whoop-
ing cough, but every other disease the
person trying it might be afflicted with;
In the counties of Norfolk, leicester and
Northampton, the custom was to give
FRIED NICE
to the patient in the morning, fasting,
three the first morning, then wait three
mornings, then give the patient three
more. AS soon as he had swallowed
nine, the cure was worked and the
cough would leave him. The right fore
foot of hare, worn constantly IN the
pocket, was considered an effectual cnre
for rheumatism. Another one against
cramp consisted in wearing abont the
person the bone of the sheep, popularity
known as the cramp bone, or .patella II
was to be worn as near the skin as pos
sible during the day, and at night 1t was
to be placed under the pillow. In the
q Gospelle of Diseases, printed by Wyn-
kyn de Worde, it is stated that II a
woman have the smallpox it behooyeth
that her husband buy her -f.
ABLAcK LAMB
of the same year, and afterward bind
her in the skin, and then let him make
his pilgrimage aud offering to st. Aide
gonde, and for truth she shall heal
A story is told of Yorkshire nurse,
who cured a child of the thrush by hold
ing a frog in its mouth that the creature
might imbibe the disease and leave its
own health in exchange. This same in
genious person had occasional attacks
of cramp, which she cured by swallow
ing spiders; she kept a supply Of these
Iinseets in pill box, and swallowed one
whenever she felt an attack coming on.
She cured the whooping cough by OBJ
tanning .,..ssg .graan
PIEBALD HORSE,
carrying the child to it wrapped in a
blanket, and passing it thrice under the
animals body. If this failed, she made
the patient wear hairy caterpillar il a
bag around its neck. These are q few
of the superstitions- of " the old coun-
try" but the list is by no means ex-
hausted.