The Washington times., 1901-11-03
SUPERSTITION In CURES.
Strange Remedies for Diseases
Still in Common Use.

1T is extraordinary to what an extent
superstition survives in regard to the
cure of Diseases" said well-knoyn
practitioner the other day. Many peo-
pie believe. for instance" he continued
tii.t the so-called galvanic ring, worn
on the finger, will cure rheumatism. IL
you notice, you will occasionally see
people with a clumsy-looking silver
ring which has piece of copper let into
the inside, and this, though in constant
contact throughout, Is supposed (aided
by the moisture of the hand) to keep up
gentle but continual galvanic current,
and so to alleviate or remove rheuma-
tism.
There Is, to be sure, an air of science
about this superstition, to which others
just as prevalent can lay no sort OF
claim. You have heard, of course, that
horse chestnut. carried in the pocket,
is also sure cure for rheumatism?
Welil 1 think l may say that hundreds
of persons in this city believe this most
implicitly. There are a number of odd
beliefs concerning ague. One is that Il
cannot be cured by a regular Doctor
that 1t is out of our reach altogether,
and can only be touched by some old
woman's nostrum. 1t is frequently
treated with spiders and cobwebs, and
persons of high intelligence have in the
past, regarded these articles seriously
as remedial measures. Mrs. Delany, for
instance. a cultured British lady, in
letter dated March / 1894, gives these
fvaFa -
"First-Pounded ginger, made into a
paste with brandy, spread on sleeps
leather, and plaster of it laid over the
stomach.
'Second-A spider put into a COOS.
quill, well sealed and secured, and hung
about the child's neck as low as the pit
of his stomach. Either Of these, ! am
assured, will give ease-Probatum est.
Upon this Lady Hanover notes: AL
though the prescription of the spider in
the quill will probably only create
amusement from its apparent absurdi-
ty, considered merely as an old charm,
yet there is no doubt of the medical
virtue of spiders and their webs, which
have been long known to the Celtic in
habitants of Great Britain and ireland
(where particulars are given of the eff
cacy OF spiders webs, rolled up like a
pill, and swallowed when the ague fit
Is coming on).' DR.. Graham, in his Do
mestic Medicine prescribes spiders
webs for ague and intermittent fever.
and also names powder made of spiders
given for the ague; and mentions his
knowledge Of spider having been sewn
up in rag and worn round the neck to
charm away the ague. 1t is a fact that
spiders and cobwebs are said to contain
arsenic, so that there may be, after all,
a basis of truth in the treatment
Fright is also regarded as a cure for
ague. l suppose that on the principle
Of similia similibus curantur it is i'm
agined that the shaking induced by the
fright will counteract and destroy the
shaking of the ague fit, so that this may
be looked upon, in measure, as a
homeopathic remedy An old woman
said that she had been cured in this
manner when young. She had had the
ague for a long time, it seems, and
nothing would cure il. Now it hap
pened that she had a fat pig in the
sty, and fat pig is an important per
sonage in a poor rural Establishment.
Well aware of the Importance of piggy
in her eyes, and determined to give her
as great a shock as possible, her hus-
band came to her with d very long face
as she was tottering downstairs one
day, and told her that the pig was
dead. Horror at this fearful news over
came all other feelings; she forgot all
about her ague and hurried to the scene
of the catastrophe, where she found, to
her great relief, that the pig was alive
and we'll; but the fright had done its
work, and, as she said, from that day
to this (she must have been about
eighty years old) she never had a touch
of the ague, though she had resided on
the same spot.
There are some strange notions, too,
about smallpox" continued the speaker.
Fried mice are relied on as a specific
for ii, and | am afraid that it is consid-
cred necessary that they should be fried
alive. With respect to whooping cough,
it is believed that if you ask a person
riding on piebald horse what to do for
it, his recommendation will be success
full if attended to. l have heard Of
brother practitioner who resided in
country district, and who always rode
piebald horse. When stopped by people
asking for a cure for whooping cough.
his invariabIe answer was, Patience
and water Cruel and perhaps. upon the
whole, it was the best advice that could
be given.
There are many grotesque cures for
that distressing and unsightly atfiiction
known as warts. In the first place,
they are supposed, by a large portion
of our juvenile population who seem
especially liable to the infiiction, to
have a mysterious affinity with toad
frogs know of gentleman who told
me that, when a boy. the landlady OF an
inn where he happened to be took com
passion on his warty hands. and under
took to cure them by rubbing them
with bacon. 1t was necessary. however,
that the bacon should be stolen; so the
good lady took it secretly from her own
larder, which was supposed to answer
the condition sufficiently. If 1 recoliect
rightly. the warts remained as bad as
ever, which was, perhaps, due to the
fact that the bacon was not bona fide
stolen.
Il do not know whether landladies
in general are supposed to have spe-
cial faculty against warts; but 1 knew
of another one who had the credit Of be
ing able to charm them away by count
ing them. 1 was told by boys that she
had actually done so for them. and that
the warts had forthwith disappeared.
had no reason for supposing that they
were telling falsehoods, but suppose