Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-02-09
ABOUT MEDIEVAL MEDICINES.
Curious Cures for Common Complaints. The
"Hagst0ne's" Many Virtues.
Mpdinal RooiSfar

Curious Cures for Common Complaints. The
"HagstOnes" Many Virtues.
Medical Register
lover of curiosities of medical Iitera-
ture has unearthed some interesting
practices among the superstitious people
of medieval times. Among other absur-
dities of ignorance it was held that chip
from a galiows on which several per-
sons had been hapged, worn in a bag
around the neck, was a cure for ague. A
halter by which some criminal had been
hung was bound around the temples as an
infallible cure for headache. Tumors OF
the glands were said to be "driven away
by nine blows of a dead mans hand, while
the hand of a man who had been cut
down from the gallows was said to work
wonders in this particular. A ring made
from coffin was applied for the relief of
cramps, which were also said to be dispell-
ed by rusty sword hanging by the
patients bed. If one had the toothache,
one was told to go and drive nails in an
oak tree, which, it is true, would not kill
the pain, but 1t was sure preventive
against future attack.
stone with q hole in it, hung at the
head of one's bed, was said to cure night
mare--the cause of that evil being thought
to be witches, who eat on the patients
stomach; hence, the pendant and stone
was called a "hagstone." The "hag-
stone" was used generally as a safeguard
against all of the ills which are ascribed
to i'm pish interference; and it is astonish-
ing to find many such old practices-the
relics of superstition and ignorance
still kept up by the people who ought TO
know better. Ii is, for instance, a Gus
tom to this day for people of certain
class to steal meat from the butcher, rub
it on warts, and then bury it, the warts
being expected to vanish as the process
of decomposition sets in. The writer re-
members having tried this when a child
at the recommendation of a servant girl,
but, it is needless to say, with unsatis-
factory results. Only stolen meat, and
beef notably, was held to be efficacious.
Pricking wart with pin till the blood
came and then throwing the pin away
was also said TO drive warts away, the
warts being promptly transferred to the
hands of whoever picked up the pin. A
potato carried in the pocket is still rec
commended to rheumatics, aud hundreds
of like practices a1e in vogue at the
present day among the poor and ignor-
ant, especially the immigrants of the
peasant class, with whose ridiculous RENE
dies the physician often has to deal with
summary severity.
The type writer should become one of
the greatest educational means in this
country, the ease with which one can
learn TO operate it placing it within the
capacity of very young children, while
through it they will learn to spell, will
learn to express themselves grammati-
cally and HISTORICALLY more easily than
they can ordinarily, and will learn to
express their ideas on paper. We believe
that a type writer in the family viii be
as effectual in educating the children as
five years of the ordinary schooling
which they receive. The large cost of
the machines has been heretofore seri-
Gus drawback to their Introduction into
families, but there are now some very
cheap machines made which will answer
the purpose as educators while they are
not good enough for business purposes.
Where the parents are able to buy the
better class of machines they should do
so, but every family should have one even
if it is of the cheapest class.