Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1895-06-17
ELKo, NEVADA, MONDAY, JUNE IL, 1895
HERBS AS MEDICINE.
Traditions Regarding Their Poz
tency IN Diseases.
Country Practitioners Who Were Ex-
poriencsd In tho Use OF Natures REM
odies for Human 1lIs - Some
Extfaordinary Potions.

= 14eEooSdAh1Ly y osAoaADs
Barring Gould has contributed to the
Sunday Magazine curious paper en-
titled Country Remedies" from which
we learn that in spite of the revolution
which has taken place in. the materia
medica of the British pharmacopeis in
modern times in favor of mineral med
icines and other more powerful drugs,
village ''wise men" and women still
"cull simples" here and there, and even
continue to inspire neighbors with faith
in their power of healing by divers
'superstitious practices. Nor is the coun-
try peoples confidence in the village
herbalist, in Mr.. Gould's opinion, alto,
gether misplaced. The old race of these
irregular practitioners were, he be-
ieves, endowed with very considerable
and wholesome experience, and they
were the repositories of traditions re-
garding the properties of certain herbs
in the treatment of certain naladies
which were sometimes far from being
mere fanciful. It is noteworthy that to
this day many of our field and wood
plants derive their names from the pop
ular belief in their virtues as specifics
for certain complaints.
Mr.. Gould gives a remarkable ac-
count of one of the last remaining
''wise women" who has long been
known to him. Judging from certain
indications, she belongs to the west
country. Her recipe for sprain will
hardly, we fear, receive respectful con-
sideration. tt is as follows: 1.-TWO
ounces oil of turpentine, two ditto
suillowes, two ditto earthworms, two
ditto nerve, two ditto oppidillidock, two
ditto Spanish tleas" Mr.. Gould opines
that the turpentine, the opodeldoc and
the Spanish flies mot fleas) are the
valuable part of this remarkable pre-
scription. 'Suillowes" is supposed to
stand for squills, which is not of much
use asan external application.
OF the potency of ''earthworms" 1t is
more difficult to Judge, but Mr.. Gould
assures as that it is precisely this de-
coction OF wriggling worms which i'm
presses the west country rustic into
the conviction that the remedy must be
something very wonderful, and the oil
of nerves strikes him as reasonable.
His nerves are suffering; therefore he
must decoct the nerves OF bullocks to
supply what he lacks. The rationale
of the thing seems not unlike that Of
the ''oil of crowbarS' which Mr..
Punch's hairdresser recommended to
the customer whose hair was getting
rather weak" When Mr.. Gould's chill
dren had the whooping cough his
coachman's wife entreated Mrs. Gould
to let her doctor them. She brought
little silk bags to be tied round the
no 0lr nj, fnSnoP
hair cut from the cross on a donkey's
back. This she had learned to believe
was sovereign against whooping cough.
For remedies of THE class Mr.. Gould
has no apology to offer; nor has he any
thing to say for the ''charns" and
cabalistic formula which are still in
some favor In the country-som
samples which he cites certainly do not
say much Tor enlightenment in the west
of England. Fits, when they are "ter
rible bad" are, in the belief of SOME
only to be cured by wearing silver
ring, manufactured from coins which
have come out of seven parishes
Gold, 1t appears, is not efacacious. Mr.
| Gould knows parish in which the
| parish clerk draws--or did till lately
| revenue for the cure OF children will
| fits. This is what he does, or did: III
takes the little sufferer up to the churcl
tower, holds 1t out ut each Of the angle
pinnacles and pronounccs certain
words. What the words are Mr.. Goult
has not learned. Profitable trade sc
crets are apt to be jealously guarded
but he knows that for these mysteriou
practices the parish clerk receives q,
h0uoraY-iY,Yn -.