Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-02-05
FAITH IN THE SHAMELESS
- 0n1usn Bathed In the vnssuA -
vevly Killed Animal.

- $1,000 Bathed In the vooono %
uewly Killed Animals-
What is known as the slaughtlf
house cure IL one Of the newest freaks
q metropolitan life. Its adopts are
persons afflicted with tormenting bod
~ maladies, more especially those OF
q cutaneous nature. and the form OF
ere which hey practice may be wit
nessed ct some Of the cattle slaughter
sne places which abound in the neigh
bprhood of First venue and Forty
sixth street. Strange, and what would
Be- considered -repulsive spectacles,
were il not for the motive OF them,
ere frequently presented in the places
during the hours of butchering.
Mothers are TO be seen with young
children, troubled and sick with phys
ical infirmities. engaged in bathing
The suffering IN in the viscera OF
freshly killed animals, while they are
yet warm and palpitating with the an
imal heat. The belief prevails that
these dimensions in the carcasses OF
animals are etficacious in restoring
health and strength 10 crippled, weak
and affected parts of the body, more
particularly to the extremities, like
the hands and feet How this queer
belief originated those acquainted
with the subject cannot tell, but that
the baths are stranger and more outre
than the mud baths of the ancients
may be readily understood.
Ii is only on pleasant days that the
believers in the slaughter house cure
make their appearance at the abattolrs.
Mothers are TO be met with on such
DAVIS on their way through Forty-sixth
street and the adjacent thoroughfares,
bringing their little ones with them 10
the cattle pens TO undergo the treat
ment. Give us a bath" is the usual
form of request. and the permission is
rarely refused by the butchers. In
some special instances the applicants
are favored with the privilege of bath
ing their young in the carcaSses before
they have been dressed and while they
are hanging from the hooks.
The proprietor of one Of the slaugh-
ter houses visited by believers in the
cure for the purpose of undergoing
the treatment said that he could not
account for the orr rim Of the custom.
II was ffst heard al subsequent to the
mania for drink g blood, prevalent
here for a long time, and which he
thought might have suggested the
present remedy. The notion that those
engaged in the killing and dressing of
cattle are a robust and vigorous lot Of
men may have had something to do
with the belief.
The heat and vitality of the freshly
killed cattle was no doubt impaired 10
those INDUCING in the singular baths
TO some extent, and where they
were taken regularly beneficial re-
suits, lie thought, might be derived.
He said that he knew of one case of a
child that had been saved from death
by the agency Of the baths, and con-
cluded that there were other cases of
successful cure. Another butcher
said that the baths were not likely to
become popular and that the owners
of the slaughter houses would not like
10 BEE them so, as too many demands
for the cure operation would interrupt
business. As for himself, he did not
have much faith in it. Most Of those
who partook of the baths were the
children of parents residing in the
vicinity, and who were doubtless at
tracted TO the supposed cure by the ac-
feasibility of the shambles, and the
further fact that il cost nothing for the
treatment. The idea Of the baths
might have started with the butchers
themselves, and very probably did.
Both bullock and sheep carcasses we're
used by the believers in the strange
cure, but the preference was for bo-
vines, as they were thought to possess
greater health giving qualities
A medical man who was told Of the
cure thought that the belief was a mere
mania. New York Mercury.