Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-16
Popular Crazes.

"'Popular crazes,' did you ask
about" was the answer q well-known'
physician made to a question propound-
ed bya Telegram reporter, yesterday.
''There are many kinds of peculiar
crazes, and some of the methods people
take to keep free from disease, or rather
try to, are simply absurd. Take, for
instance, the man who goes the year
round with q pair of sea-beans tied
about his neck, as - preventive to dis
eases of a contagious nature. Some
wear beans, some corn, some horse
chestnuts, and still others a plain piece
of ribbon, all of which &c mere cases
of superstition. There are many who,
when suffering from q cold. will wrap
a wet sock, which they have wor dur
ing the day, about their necks, and re-
tire tor the night. Others wear a dry
sock, and still others a piece Of cloth
saturated with lamp oil. In the coun-
try it is a standard remedy to wear a
piece of salt pork about ones neck
when suffering from q sore throat
This, by the way, is a good remedy.
Some inhale the smoke from burning
cherry wood, and others the smoke
from oak chips in IN open fire place, al
a cure for q cold in the head and nosl
trils. There are a great many persons
who believe that when one gets q thor
ough %drenching with rain, or receives
wet feet, that they should not hasten to
their homes and put on dry clothes, buN
instead should let the wet clothing dry
upon them, as by so doing they believe
they will never take a cold.
''The 'hot water cure which amounts
to a craze in points in the east. where
no breakfast is considered complete
without the addition of a cup of hot wa
ter to rinse and stimulate the stomach
is the latest of a long list of odd cures.
1t is believed by a great many that to
take a drink OF this kind before each
meal, or even a single drink on arts NO
each morning, will cure the worst pos
sible case Of dyspepsia. Speaking of
odd cures and fashions, a few of them
may be recounted. Less than ten wears
ago, a Partisan physician of some note
prescribed for a patient suffering from
u pulmonary complaint a cup Of fresh
calf's blood after breakfast, another at
noon, and n just before supper. The
queer remedy proved e1licacious. The
patient improved under it rapidly,
and finally became a we'll and hearty
person. A statement of the case was
read by the mcrcurial, excitable and
curiosity-loving Parisians, and started
an interest in the blood cure that in a
very short time spread amongall classes
and became a veritable craze. Every
person in any way troubled with weak
lungs became a convert. The slaughter
houses in the suburbs of Paris were
thronged every morning with crowds
made up of all ranks, who actually
fought to procure blood of the dying
animals. There we're delicate women
and men, old and young, who
came, some in their carriages, attend
ed by their servants, and some who
feebly crept along alone. The most
delicately organized persons and the
coarsest were on a common level, and
it appears that the uninviting-looking
fluid was served invariably by brawny-
handed butchers. The great majority
of the patients manifested no repug-
nance to drinking the fluid, and with a
great many a taste for it was developed
that ran into a craving. 1t acted much
like rum on many, and even fowls were
killed by some who were unable to get
blood at the slaughter-houses. The de-
mand was great, and at some places
the blood was sold a5 high prices, each
slaughter house having a large run of
customers, who would reach the .pen'
where TIE killing was going on as carly
as 5 a. NJ. Meanwhile a hot discussion
went on in medical circles over the
merits of the cure. Many celebrated
physicians were draggedin into argument,
and We're taken to see cured patients.
The burden of professional opinion was
against the cure, pronouncing it non
sensical and positively injurious rather
than helpful. This craze reached its
limit in a few weeks, to the grief of the
butchers, who had reaped a golden har.
vest.
"Ihe mud found at a certain n
in Germany, a few years ago, was
discovered suddenly to possess re.
markable medical properties. 1t was
an intensely black, pasty, thick, ''odorif-
mud, but thousands of persons
fastened from all parts OF Europe to
battle in it. To battle in it was simply
to be buried in it for an hour or two,
ouu eAoH w sPeuu seVcIdl uOurS IN u
tub of water to get rid OF the reminis-
cence. The bath is described as being
pleasant, and it's curative effects in
cases of rheumatism, govt. and other
diseases, are we'll attested. The mud
was analysed. and was toundto possess
active properties, magnetic and chemi-
cal. The mud baths have had their
day, and are now visited by only a few
travelling invalids, whom the remedy
does not brighten. Similar to the
mud bath is the sand bath, of which
Joaquin Miller relates a tragic story.
A party of explorers were crossing
the sandy deserts, carrying six of their
comrades, ill OF a peculiar disease.
The sand bath was proposed to them.
They all assented and were buried in
the sand, their heads alone being
left above ground. In this position
they were left, chatting with each.
other, Their comrades having retired
for the night in a tent close by, and
not the least noise was heard. In the
morning they were Mortified to find
that wolves had Visited the camp and
eaten off each sick mans head level
with +ho ryn,nJ