The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-17
C|)R|OS|I|ES
Of MEDICINE
Great Britain Still Retains
Some of Old Theories.
SKULL A GREAT CURATIVE
Hogs Lice and Crabs Eyes
0nIv Recently Dispensed.
SKULL A GREAT CURATIVE

est was aroused by the public auction Of
the recipe of a wen-known pill, says the
London Standard. The secret was sold
mere recipe. though, as was pointed out
at the time. not an unparalleled price The
recipes for the celebrated Worcester sauce
and for the Brakeman method of curing
hams, for instance, originally realized
larger amounts. One fact was, however,
brought home to the public, that the
English are a Notwithstanding people.
The remedies for diseases WERE until
quite recently, often of q crude kind, but
it is believed that common-sense notions
respecting cleanliness, exercise, and diet
have caused many specifics to disappear
before the more excellent way of proven
ton
One is astounded to read that as late
as 176S the london College of Physicians
recognized curative properties in human
skulls, especially if the owners had died
from violence. DR.. Toope of oxford, who
collected skulls from Wiltshire barrows.
gleefully records, Il dug up many bushels
with which 1 made noble medicine"
crates, in his 'Praxis Medica,' recommends
such efiicacious substances as the follow
ing: Earthworms, snakes, toads, vipers,
flesh. skins of hens Sizzards, hogs lice,
dried human flesh. the heart of mole.
and crabs eyes. Crabs eyes, which were
sold at SIS. 4d a pound, are spoken of in
Pechey's Art of Physick G69O as good
20 correct Humours and for the Collie
= ,rphl icp1 ca=
arising from the acid" Carbonate OF
lime, obtained as concretions from the
inside Of crayfish, mixed with arum root
formed the seventeenth century Gas
coigne's powder"
In 1725, a standard work, 'Collectanea
Medica,' gives this recipe for quinsy:
Powder of burnt owls, 2drm.; burnt
swallows, 1drm.; dried and powdered
blood Of white puppy dogs, 2drm." When
one reads of these Sovereign remedies"
there arises unbidden the vision of the
three witches in Macbeth" compromising
their horrid ingredients in caldron.
Or one thinks Of the character in Aims
worth's Tower of London who was for
ever using a strange medly Of drugs, in
the form of potions, poultices, and cleo
tuaries; anG, remembering that the plot
represents the time of the great plague,
one feels certain that there is little carl
cature. People had not learned the truth
of the opinion. afterwards expressed by
Pope, nor did they indeed learn it until
long after the Pope's day
Better to hunt in fields for health
unbought,
Than to fee the doctor for a nauseous
draught;
The wise for health on exercise
depend,
God never meant his work for man
to mend
The virtues of skulls have been referred
20; but there seems to have been a par
tiality for CHASTITY relics in general.
Bones. horns. nails, and teeth of the
dead were the treasures OF old sorcerers,"
says Sir Thomas Browne-we may add,
of old physicians, too. The Rev. G. s.
Tyack, in Lore and Legend of the Eng
fish Church, gives several samples of the
use of such materials in charms and medi-
cine. A woman's front tooth, taken from
a graveyard, was reputed to protect
man from toothache, similarly. mans
front tooth was preventive for a woman.
This superstition. like the next to be
mentioned was common in Shropshire.
a necklace Of elder twigs from church
yard was a talsman against whooping
cough. A ring made of three nails taken
from collins in three different church.
yards was invaluable for rheumatism.
Such beliefs fingered a long time. In the
life of Sir Walter Scott we read how an
admirer proposed TO cure him of inflama
ton of the bowels. Sir Walter was to
e, u nil Of
painfully collected by the admirer from
twelve brooks. We laugh at the remedy.
and still more at the novelists artful
answer, but there was a time when such
silly superstitions were credited by the
learned.
In medieval days a prescription pub
lished under the direction of the Master
of the Rolls advises as 4 cure for fever
that the patient should be placed between
two halves of a hare and a pigeon re-
Gently killed. We are also informed that
IN the reign of Louis XIV the greatest
surgeon OF the day had a sheep skinned
alive in the anti-chamber of a royal lady
for the purpose of applying to her body
the warm and bleeding skin. Briel1eil,
in his Natural History of North Caro-
lima says that the head of a certain
lizard "outwardly applied" was used
80 reduce swelliBgs and ulcers. Toads.
baked. and powdered were remedies for
''tympany and many disorders" Toads
form an important element in Chinese
pharmacy at the present day. The hawks
bll turtle was employed for govt, cpl
iepsy. and sore eyeS-a sufficiently varied
list of evils. Lovelr Edible British Mol
lusks mentions the small grite Of sand
found in the horns Of snails'' as cure
for toothache when inserted IN hollow
teeth. Dried centipedes reduced to pow
der were given to people suffering from
spasms. Frank Bucklapd quotes a pas
sage from an old work. the Century OF
Inventions. loo. 10 show how the old
quacks utilized monkey peas, a kind OF
smphihian wOodlice. or, more probably.
the common species Of that name Nine
Of these creatures were 70 be taken and
Stamped with a little Juice Of woodbine
OF betony-the choice is mysterious-until
the mixture was well stained. Then let
the party that hath the web in his eye
drink il in a morning something warmed"
a gum preservation was formerly made
OF small shells mixed with myrrh. The
fossils known indifferently as thunder
bolts. St Peters fingers. or petrified
Fingers, but scientifically as belemnites
were pulv2ri.ed and taken for nightmare.
Such medicines were as has already been
indicated the prescriptions Of ignorant
men who knew little Of their properties
and. to quote the cynic. the medicines
were PIT into bodies OF which the char
latans knew stiu less. But it might sur
prise some people to learn the curious