Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1886-05-06
cUMo6sTIss or OCCULT MEDICINE.
rhs Grand Specific Among the jews o
Turkey and Palestine.

rhs Grand Specific Among the jews of
Turkey and Palestine.
Medicine.mongering of one kind and
another has always been a Jewish
speciality, and from the time of the
Babylonian quacks, whose prescriptions
may be found in the Talmud, down to
the present day, the orthodox Jew has
stuck to his belief in popular remedies
and occult physicking with all the
pertinacity of his pertinacious race.
Western Hebrews have emanci-
pated themselves more or less
from these and cognate superstitious
notions; but in southeastern Europe, and
more especially in Palestine, folk-medi-
cine, as it is euphemistically called,
fiourishes in this nineteenth century
among all classes and sections of Jews to
an extent simply incredible TO those I'M
acquainted with the inner life of Oriental
yewdom.
In the congenial atmosphere of eastern
ghetti, the materia medica of archaic
and Old World quackery is still in high
repute; dogs liver, COW heel, earth
worms, hares' feet, goats fat, live ants,
human bones, cocks wings, doves dung,
powdered mummy, wolves entrails and
parings Of asses hoofs rank high among
approved remedies in cases of sickness.
And if variety be, as the adage asserts,
charming, then the popular pharma-
copoeia of the Oriental jew may un-
doubtedly lay claim to that quality, since
its contents range from dogs head
broth to the dew that falls upon Elijah's
grave on Mount Carmel or stew Of
fishes eyes. The chief repositories OF
the system Of occult medicine among the
Jews are the so-called @Gabbetes," elderly
persons whe attend the sick and dying,
and perform the last offices for the dead.
There is few ills to which flesh-Jewish
fesh-is heir but they have a remedy for,
whether it be a wart on the nose or fit
of collie, low fever or brutal husband.
And where they are at fault there is al
ways some "chosid" or "pious man" who
can furnish forth an appropriate pre-
scription of mystic formula of due eff
cacy.
In cases of obstinate and long-standing
illness the grand specific among the Jews
of Turkey and Palestine is the "Indolka"
or "Indolkado." This is kind of cere-
mony, obligation and prayer rolled into
one, and most curious sample Of genu-
inc folk-medicine. The house in which
the patient is lying is cleared from TOP
to bottom, and everybody, relatives and
friends included. leaves it. Even stran-
gers, living in the same court, quit IL for
the time being. When all are gone, and
the sufferer Is quite alone, an elderly
woman accustomed to the business, en-
ters the sick chamber and sees that there
are no religious books about, and nothing
that can suggest devout thought. She
then procures some wheat, barley, salt,
sugar, water, honey and fat, as well as
six eggs. About midnight she
takes the ingredients, excepting
the eggs, mixes them all together,
and spreads q little round about
the bed, on the threshold, and in each o!
the four corners, repeating all the time
the following formula: Il implore Of you,
you masters, to have pity and compass.
sion on the soul of So-and-so, son of So
and-so; forgive the sin he has committed
against you, and restore his soul, his
strength. and his health; let this honey
sweeten your mouth, this wheat feed
your cattle. and this salt create peace
and love between you and u.s." She
then breaks an egg in each corner, pros
| t,ar Iarca1f tha and
it, exclaiming, Let this soul be instead
of that.
The ceremony is repeated three, seven
or nine nights, according as the pa
tent RECEIVERS or no. 1t is an expensive
remedy, the charge Of the person under,
taking 1t being 20 francs. Poor people
content themselves with simply putting
little salt and water on the Doorstep
repeating the same words. In more
serious cases recourse is had to the IN
dolka Gedslah," a somewhat similar Ger
emory. The house is nicely arranged
the sick person dressed in new, whit,
garments, wax tapers are lighted, anc
sweet-smelling spices are strewed abou
the chamber. At midnight black cocl
is slaughtered and the blood is smearec
upon the door-post and walls, while tn,
formula, This soul for that" is repeated
as before. In some instances the cere
mony is performed in every house which
the sufferer has occupied in the cours,
of his life, in order that the offended
powers, to whom the disease is, Of
course. ascribed, may be properly molli
fied.-The Spectator.