Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-09
DON EGAL DOCTORS
Little Call for Medical Men in the
Irish Mountains.
PEOPLE ARE UNUSUALLY HEALTHY
Al! Sorts of Queer Remedies When
They Do Get Sick.
MANY INFALLIBLE Gu RES

Copyright 1900 by Seumas MacManus)
Written for The Evening Star
Though every fifty square miles or so of
our mountain districts maintain a gradu-
ated and salaried medical doctor. who is
supposed to look after the health of his
constituents, this gentleman's position IS
with us nearly sinecure. We die only of
old age, and no doctor Is needed to aid its
operations.
Taking advantages Of my privileges as an
Irishman. l may put it this way: We never
get SICK but when we do We need no doc
tor; when we do need doctor we won't
have him. and when we have him, We are
heartily ashamed OF ourselves.
Illness Is so very rare with US that when
one is struck down the exceptional fact is
the topic of conversation both at home and
In the neighboring parishes. If the sick one
be a mantle rarity Of which would as
found people-wellwishers come from far.
after their days work, to upbraid him for
consenting to notions and exhort him to
get up early the morrow morning. take a
good hearty breakfast and in Gods name
go out to his work and shake the notions
off him. In every minor illness the univer-
sal panacea is to go to ones work and
shake 1t off
A Bad Case of EMOTIONS"
1 know a man who has been ill for six
years with some affection of the nerves.
He has within the past few weeks recover
ed sufficiently to muster courage to leave
his bed and go out of the house and take
up his spade. During all those years the
parish had keen pity and kindly sympathy
for his wife and his children. never neglect
Ing to plant her crops in the spring and
reap her harvest in autumn. But having
never known themselves what nerves were.
they had no use for nerves. and no appre-
citation Of them. Micky Glacan was trou-
bled with notions-"Micky's as SCUM as
bell; he has neither pain nor ache-he gives
in himself he has neither pain or ache. It's
the worst case of notions we ever knew.
And it's black pity for his woman" In
all the six years Micky lay he did not ask
for and would not have doctor. He
didn't himself know Che confessed) what
was wrong with him. and it would be hard
for the doctor to know-the doctor would
only go poisoning him with black bottles.
When the doctor is called in it Is only
in extremity. and then rather for forms
sake than for faith in his knowledge and
art. "If poor Pardin should go (Which the
good Lord forbidD don't want him to be
able to cast up to meself again that l left
anything undone." So when things look
their very blacklist and the gathered wis
dom of the parish shakes its head and
says Pardin may not live till morning one
messenger goes for the doctor while an
other hurries for the priest.
For the infrequent ills that Will befall
even our people, however. we have cures
not included in the pharmacopeia prescrib-
ed by the doctors who don't know Latin
declension from a doormat.
In every district there are three or four
old women deeply versed in herbal lore,
women confident Of their powers of curing
anything that 1t is in average mortal power
to cure-women familiar with the curative
properties of yarrow, seven sisters. bog
bine, dandelion. maiden's hair, meadow
sweet, day nettle. elf's tongue and fifty
five other medicinal plants.
Potent Seventh Sons.
Likewise the seventh son of seventh
son is well known by us to be gifted with
extraordinary healing power. And certain
families, too. inherit a supernatural gift
for the healing of particular diseases. The
rose (erysipelas), for instance. is cured by
the application of three drops of the blood
of a MacCathal. Though the whitlo (ery-
sipelas on the handD may be cured by a
herbal compound prepared from nine stalks
of yarrow. nine of cuckoo sorrel and nine
each of the billars (male and female), 1t
should be observed that in cures where nine
units are eventually employed 1t is always
necessary to gather ten in the first instance
and throw the tenth away: AS these cures
have undoubtedly descended to us from ,
pagan days. 1 believe the tenth is intended
as a propitiatory offering to the god of
medicine, who had these herbs in his
charge.
Furthermore. we have our doctors who
cure certain diseases. not by any super
natural powers, but scientifically by virtue
of an inherited secret which Is impaired
from father to eldest son upon his death
bed. Just now there passed my window a
neighbor with his under jaw bandaged. He
is our tailor and has cancer on his under
lip. A week ago he went to poor old
mountain man who Is now In possession
of the cancer cure which has been held by |
his family from time immemorial He paid
the old man the usual fee Of two and a
half dollars for his cancer plaster and had
the plaster applied. The plaster Is now
loosening In the flesh the cancer roots. and
two weeks hence Ut is calculated the can
Ger will have been drawn out root and
branch.
An InfalIible Cure.
The plaster Is. of course, paining the pa
tient, but not considerably The cancer has
only been growing for two years. In
cases where it had been much longer root |
ing the plaster would require a longer time
to work, and would cause keen pain. Those |
who. before seeking the remedy. have let |
the cancer grow for many years may suf- |
fer incalculable palma pain which keeps
them awake night and day when things are |
reaching a crisis. But unless the cancer |
was first permitted to undermine the con-
stitution, this plaster is an infallible cure
1 am intimately acquainted with q number |
of the healed.
Although $50 is the fee for the plaster. |
and half for a special visit from the healer |
should you wish to see him while the plaj- |
ter Is working land he may cross ten miles |
of mountain to the patiently any person I'M |
able to pay this sum may tender what they |
choose or not pay at all; for, poor as this |
old man is, he recognizes that Gods gifts |
should sometimes be used to the glory of |
God.
Simple Hydrophobia Cure.
The cure of the dread hydrophobia is in |
the possession Of a man. too. in the north |
ern mountains of Ireland 1t has been In |
his family for q couple of hundred years. |
Any ono bitten by q mad dog Ia sent. within |