Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-04-24
MEDICAL SUGGESTIONS,
Some Remarkably Queer French vagarics
OF the Olden Times.

some Remarkably Queer French vagarics
OF the Olden Times.
A French writer named Challamel
has recently issued a book entitled "A
Bird's-Eye View of France in the Mid
die Ages ia which ho relates a num-
Der of medical superstitions current in
France in the middle ages, most oil
which are said to prevail at the present
time also. In those days the French
seem to have had unlimited faith Ina
pre%servatives against diseases and in
fallible means Of cure. and it may be
added that they were not alone in their
trustfulness. The following are some
OF the supertitious practices mentioned:
To cure fever they abstained from
both flesh and eggs on Easter and on
other high festivals; they caused a cab
bage stolen for the purpose from a
neighboring garden to be dried on a
pot-hook; they wore one of a dead
mans one as an amulet; they inclosed
a green frog in a bag and hung it to
the sick PERSONS neck; they ate the
first Easter daisy that they found, and
they received the benediction in three
different parishes on the same Sunday.
While telling their beads they searched
for a mullein-stalk and threw it to
the winds; they passed through the
cleft of a tree; they caused a horse to
drink a bucketful of water, and her
drank after him; they crossed a process
sion between the cross and the banner;
they drank holy water on Easter eve
or on the eve of P~entecost; they twined
the hem of a shroud about their arms
OF a mixture Of water from three wells
in a new pot. The people of Provence
had their fisheries blessed on a certain
saints day. On Assumption day the
people of Perigord went before sun
rise, walking backward, to gather nine
sprigs of c%entaury, which they fastened
to a feverish persons neck, after which
they gave him an infusion of the herb
to drink. A toad choked to death on
the eve of st. Johns day had the same
virtue. 1t was common for a feverish
patient to rise early in the morning and
walk backward in a meadow, plucking
a handful of herbs without turning or
looking at them, then throw them be-
hind him AM keep on in his course
without turning back; the result of this
was that the fever attacked the devil.
Another practice was for the fevered
public place. with some mummery;
whoever picked up the coin took the
fever.
The wa ers of several fountains cured
~fevers. and in particular the fountains
De Krignac triumphed over tertians.
To overcome fear one had only to stick
pins in a dead mans shoe. carry a
VOLTS tooth Or eye about, Or ride a
boar. To Danish rheumatism the sick
person caused a miller or his wife to
strike three blows with the hammer,
saying: In nomine Patris,' etc. Bath
ing the painful parts with the water of
the fountain Of Monies caused the pain
to cease. In Landes rheumatics and
paralytic5 were cured Of ills by getting
into certain openings. called e~trines,
in the pillars OF a church. In Brittany
a child was protected against all dis
eases by having his shirt put on damp.
The people of Perioord carefully pre-
served the ashes and embers Of the
yule log, which cures the ma aides of
both man and beast In some districts
the butter made in May was kept as a
vulnerary. Among the peasants of the
Montagne-Noire a white-handied knife
was an infallible remedy for collie.
Epi epsy was cured by attaching a cru
cifix nail to the patients arm, or by
causing him to wear u silver ring or a
medal bearing the names Gaspar, Mel
choir, and Balthasar. For warts there
vas a very simple specific rubbing
them with a waI of hair or of broom,
and wrapping c~hick-peas or pebbles in
Il rag. which the person was to. throw
behind him on a road. Whoever had
toothache touched the aching tooth
with a dead persons tooth. London