Evening star., 1901-06-01
THE COUNTRY DOCTOR
THE HERES Our GRANDMOTHERS
Used TO GATHER.
Nirtues of ThOrOuGhrort. EIecam
pane. Jimson Leaves and
SnakerOot.

Written for The Evening Star.
..H-rn-m-m,'' the old doctor said cycling
a grip couva!escent; Il think you need
return to first principles. l shall put you
upon a course of bitter-sweets. No. You
need not shake your head. l don't mean
rebound candy. That answers well
enough Tor a little everyday cough. You
are in a strangers hold, wheeling and
putting. with a bowstring apparently twist
Ell across the top of your breathing ap-
paratus.
'.No-I did not have grip patients when
the wise women were teaching me how
much book doctors 90 not know. but we
had influenza then that was mighty close
second. 1t had the same unity in variety
quite the same trick of making each sep
arate victim deadly uncomfortable. in a
way wholly unlike all the rest So neces-
sarily our practice varied My friends the
herf. gatherers had something to suit each
turn Of the tricky disease. If asthmatic
Why. there were dried jimson leaves, Jim
son weed-officialIy daturum stramonfum-
tanl lgh "A deadly poison. is also d fine anti
s. ;.SrIodic The leaves were smoked in a
clean. new CornCOb pipe. the patient being
cautioned never TO smoke the same pipe
twice. nor 10 take more tuan half a dozen
good WhiffS at q time. As in the case Of
tobacco. the poison principle distilIs in the
pipe burning. and CcndcnseS along the in
Ter md IF the pipe stem. Thence it might
te EulatiZrd by the heat "f a fresh charge,
s. safety lay in burning Up the used pipe,
and never fully burning oVt the fresh one
JiwSpu Weed also made mighty fine Oint-
ut for enlarged joints in man or beast
but JGat is beside the mark, and has moth
ms Whatever 10 do with Your case There
are. however. cases whore grip settles in
thu j1iuts-our old-timc influenza had the
am' charming idiosyncrasy. so there We're
t1.k {" whom the Information was vital.
y orr cough. Still t-.N-ly EatarrhaI in
Ci.a-eS need for thOroJg EWurt and elecam-
pane Nv herb gath.vcrs knew thorough
wort as bone-set-soca!ied from its useful
ness in cases of breah-acne fever. Bones
are not easily broken in that. You under
stand. but the pain is quite the same. and
bcne-Set tea is one Of the best specifics of
Ease for it. You must have 4 bunch of the
dry herb well steeped-for twelve hours at
lrast-iN rain water. brought 20 a boil in
edrthen ware. Don't laugh: metal under
certain conditions appears to devitalize We
ter and make il affect a substance differ
entity After the sleeping the tea must be
wei! strained. and made into a thick sirup
wiki cut loaf sugar
Then You must have elecampane-the
fresh root. if possible, though l hardly see
how We can get it, unless some market
farmer will kindly rob his garden bor-
ders for US. pint of The clean root,
washed and scraped must be beaten
smooth in 4 mortar. and mixed with a pint
Of strained honey. Then it must be stirred
we'll with the bone-set sirup. and cooked
almost 10 a candy. The next thing ia IN
take it of the fire, and beat well through
IL half pint of the finest French brandy
E!ecaTnpane. you perhaps do not know
Is one OF the herbs which help to make
abslnthe what it is Combined with lit
tie pure alcohOi-and good brandy furnishes
the purvst / know Oft acts finely on th,
nerves. inducing sleep that is sweet and re-
freshlng- AT the same time its expectorant
quality will help that distressing tightness
Faithfully compounded my prescription
ought To rid you of everything but weak
ness inside three days
After little pause the doctor went on
rUminantly: Maybe Seneca snakeroot-
P"iygdlla senega-might do YOU more good
than the bOneset. But it is problematfc
almighty problematic. although the snake
root is the best stimulating expectorant 7
know anything about. The trouble is to
make sure of getting the. genuine thing
Some herb gdtherers are careless, and
more OF them ignorant. then. too, precious
few of the prOfeSsed herbal druggists can
tell the dry roots apart. There are three
snakerOot. under stand-the Seneca of
which | have sp ken. black snake root or
rattle weed. VIII, n has wholly different
properties. and Virginia snakeroot, which
Is unlike the other two. That is the one
drawback-I cannot wholly depend upon
such herbs may be bought. Even where
one gets the right thing there Is no assur-
ance that it is not old it has lost its
virtue. or that il has been properly picked
or 50 cared for after picking as to retain
It's full strength Sometimes | have wild
idea of going into the business on my own
account. 1t would not be in the least
wild one II | could make sure of co-opera-
tion from my cid friends. But they are for
the most part dead and their herbal wis
dom with them. Besides, the advances of
settlement. clearing and cultivation have
made the business of herb gathering tre-
mendOusly uncertain. But with virgin ter
rlt0ry and trained intelligent and faithful
pickers. there would be fortune-yes, sew
eral fortunes-for the man who brought
natures own cures handiIy TO the healing
OF the world