The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-11-22
WORTHLESS NOSTRUMs.
so-CalIed Medicines Used by Supersti-
tiOus Persons.

SO-CaIIed medicines used by Supersti-
tious Persons.
Philadelphia Inquirer.
II was attending patient" said young
tack of chagres fever. He was a waiter
on Panama steamer, and l think he
showed symptoms OF alcoholism. Anyhow.
he gave a great deal of trouble. and the
regulation New England superstition for
the cure OF chillS, which 20 impriSon a
sspi, treatment did him apparently but
little good. The mans mother, who was
German woman, was, OF course. most So
licitous about him. After awhile 1 Sus-
cine l prescribed. and before long / was
assured of the fact She was seen to go to
the dispensary. obtain the regular medicine
and throw ii away in the gutter and, sup
posedly. she substituted something else.
taxed her with this, and she did not deny
II. She told me she possessed marvellous
cure, which she had never known to fail.
Il managed somehow to make her show
me what it was. Our hospital chemist an
alyzed 1t, and he said it was perfectly in
ocuous; that there was bitumen in ii, and
under the microscope what seemed to him
to be fragments of bone and cuticle and
shreds of some kind of stuff Then | was
satisfied that the old woman believed in
the virtues of what is designated in books
treating of medicine published as long ago
as the fifteenth century as mumia or por-
tons of embalmed bodies derived from
Egypt or elsewhere. Notwithstanding the
old womans appeals put the whole of the
Stuff-there was not over spoonful-in
the stove. / then sent for a nurse-at my
own expense-who stuck by the patient.
L crammed him with quinine and he at once
got better. My father. who was doctor
before me- told me that when he began In
his profession he came across many cases
where this silly stuff was given.
You must understand continued the
doctor, that even up to the close of the
last century mumia was supposed TO have
specific value, and when it was found
| useless apothecaries were abused because il
was held that they had adulterated it.
There was a French king who sent his
principal surgeon to Egypt so as to obtain
the pure substance"
las WE'LL said the reporter, give a man
with chills and fever the scrapings of an
asphalt pavement"
1T would be just as good providing you
eliminated the gravel. Whether or not
some peculiar charm was supposed to exist
in old bones / can not say. Only this is on
record: An oxford doctor, at the close of
the seventeenth century. having come
across some prehistoric remains in a cairn
containing the skeletons of former race.
ground them all up, and boasted that he
| had made noble medicine
Celebrations in the first place. the
absolute cremation of animals, was carried
| out, and then making solution of what
| was left. that played an important part in
old medicines: These leechdoms; as they
| they were absolutely harmless, for, If the
| calcination We're perfect. all the animal
| matter would have been dissipated, and the
| leechings there would only have been slight
| solutions of the alkaline substances.
up to recent date the Japanese
/ pharmacOpela USED SuCn Things, anu III
| China such leechings are considered good
| as ever. The eye doctor of the old Saxton
| believed in the potency or the wolf, and
| when a patient was losing his sight an
| ointment made out of the right eye of a
wolf was the supposable cure. All kinds of
nostrums were used by the beauties of the
| lady's face had pimples. elephant bones,
| burnt powdered and pounded, with honey,
was the dermatologist cure. Toothacnes
were relieved by calcining the teeth or a
4 nd m local
You had then to take many things on
/ trust said the reporter, and you were
obliged to put implicit faith In the apotne-
:'Well. you have to do that now. How
can l tell If make up particular pre-
| scription. containing some rather unusual
drug or preparation, that the apothecary
has that drug? | never knew country
| apothecary who did not pretend to have
! the entire pharmacopeia in his shop. Did
/ YOU ever hear how Muspratts-l think that
was their name-became the Queens apoth-
tor went around right and left among the
! leading London aDothecaries and ordered
the same prescriptions SUPPOSEDLY IL WAS was
were subjected to analysis, and the concern
| that had the Durest drugs alone had the
royal authority to physic the queen ana
| her family.
''The little apothecary in old Japan had
| about the same stock of goods as the Eng
! liSh one of the fifteenth and sixteenth GEN.
| turtles The queerest of all books is Scotch
| and it's date is 17f2. There are cures, ac-
| cOrding to John MOncrlef, Tor all human
| ills TO be found in his precious volume
| Generally a calcined part OF an ANNA!
does the business or if an animal was not
handy. insects sufficed. Hens feathers
burnt cured burns If you nose bleeds
steep a hare's hair in vinegar, put 1t In
! the nose and il will produce marvellous
| effect If the bleeding even then does not
stop take "a toad dry 1t, and hang with
a string about the party that bleedeth
| Failing with hens feathers or toad, try a
| pulverized spider Suppose you were get
! TING haId then with the blood of a shell
| crab anoint your head. for that .breedeth
| much hair Women with a tendency &c
! grow too visible a down on the upper lips
J would apply the blood Of a bat or little
| frog the powder of a swans bones, or the
| milk of a bitch, and that was a prime
| depliatory.
| NOUS receipt for Lily of the Valley Wa
| ter which the old dominic gives Davie
| the heir of Stevensons kidnapped; the
! flowers put into "a glasse, close stopt, anc
| set into ane hill Of ants for a month; thef
! take il out and you will find a liquor
| which comes from the flowers. which keel
| in vial it is good. i'll or well. and whether
| il in. and for the cholic, great spoonful
! in the hour ,
| '.Oh, the nonsense rife among people /:
simply astonishing. / had a child with 6
| bad whooping cough the other day, and
| brought il around-So L thought-but Il
| seemed didn't. for the mother said to me
| Doctor baby would be coughing still If L
| band drove a carD horse bride around the
child's head and l made believe to take
| her to water. She got better from thai
| very time. "