The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-21
COUNTRY REMEDIES.
Superstitious Rural Confidence in the
Power of Herbs to Cure.

London Daily News
Mr. Baring-Gould has contributed to the
Country Remedies" from which we learn
that in spite Of the revolution which has
British pharmacopoeia in modern times in
favor of mineral medicines and other more
powerful t, drugs s yage wise bse men d tb and
and even continue to inspire neighbors
with faith in their power of healing by
divers superstitious practices. Nor is the
country peoples confidence in the village
hebalist. in Mr. Gould's opinion, altogether
practitioners WERE he believes, endowed
with considerable and wholesome expert
ence, and they were the repositories of ira
herbs in the treatment of certain maladies.
which We're sometimes far from being
this day many of our field and wood plants
derive their names from the popular belief
In their virtues as specifics for certain COM
plants
Mr.. Gould gave a remarkable account of
one Of the last remaining wise women"
from certain indications she belongs to the
West country. Her recipe for a sprain will
alton. 1t is as follows: Two ounces oil
of turpentine, two ditto sullowes, two ditto
pidillidock two ditto Spanish f1eas.'' Mr..
Gould opines that the turpentine, the opo-
deldoc and the Spanish nj 5,f flies not sa are
serpion a ahi !n's is pr to
stand for. sauills, which is not Of much use
OR the potency of "earthworms it is
more difficult to judge: but Mr.. Gould as
S,lres us that 1t is precisely this decOction
of wriggling worms which impresses the
west country rustic into the conviction that
the remedy must be something very won
derful. and the oil of nerves strikes him
as reasonable. His nerves are stiffenine
therefore he must decoct the nerves Of bull
locks to supply what he lacks. The ra-
tionale 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.. Gouds children had the
.whooping cough his coachman's wife en-
treated Mrs. Gould TO let her doctor Them
She brought little silk bags to be tied
round the sufferers necks, each containing
some hair cut from the cross a dom
keys back. This she had learned to be-
lieve was sovereign against whooping
cough.
For remedies of this class Mr.. Gould has
apology to offer nor has he anything
TO say for the charms and cabalistic
formula which are still in some favor in
the country-some samples which he cites
certainly do not say much for enlighten-
ment in the west of England. Fits when
they are terrible bad" are, in the belief
|. of some, only to be cured by wearing a
silver ring, manufactured from coins which
have come out of seven parishes. Gold, 1t
appears, is not efficacious. Mr.. Gould knows
a parish in which the parish clerk draws
or did till lately-a revenue for the cure of
children with fits. This is what he does or
did: He takes the little sufferer up to the
church tower. holds ii out at each of the
angle pinnacles and pronounces certain
words. What the words are Mr. Gould has
not learned. Profitable trade secrets are apt
to be jealousy guarded; but he knows that
for these mysterious practices the parish
clerk receives an honorarium.