Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1905-05-25
SOME QUEER BELIEFS
ODD suPERsTlTloNs THAT sr,Lt
LIVE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

The Peasants Have Recourse to
Many Curious Old Time Charms and
Practices to Keep Illness Away
or to Cure 1t When 1t Comes.
The other day AN aged dame appear
ed at London police court in great
distress. Size had, she walled. "lost
) sacrament shilling"
The magistrate was puzzled "In
what respect" he asked, did sacra-
ment shilling differ from any other
shilling?'
| Whereupcn the applicant explained
that the coin in question was certain
| cure for fits.
1t had been given her by her mother
who had it in turn from her mother
who had got it over 100 years ago
from the clergyman of her parish in
exchange for an ordinary shilling,
which had already been first exchang-
ed for twelve pennies collected from
twelve maidens.
The coin, it appeared, to be effica-
cious had to be worn in bag hung
round the patients neck for seven
times seven times seven days.
Similar strange beliefs linger in
many out of the way corners of Great
Britain
In Devonshire, for instance. the coun.
try folks still make "cramp rings" out
| of old coffin handles, and bracelets
forged out Of nails on which suicides
have hanged themselves are worn by
equity people and deemed singularly
eff1cacious.
Lancashire for the cure of rheumatism.
In Durham cord round the loins is
supposed to ward off toothache.
Among the peasantry of Roxburgh
shire w9:nc'l who are nursing babies
wear round ,hei necks small cords of
blue w.. l.csc ere never removed.
day OF mig t. Ent.l the child is weaned.
by t:.!:iag It's precaution they imag
Inc tnct OK :lsarc good health both
to thc!asc,-,e and their offspring dur
ing tli.t c..,.cs!i eriod. The cords are
handed Cow, fi.o.l mother to daughter
and are esteemed in proportion to their
antiquity.
In Suffolk, to prevent nose bleeding,
people Wear a sken of scarlet thread
round the neck tied with nine knots
down the front. If the patient is q
put on and the knots tied by woman,
while If the patient is a woman then
these eervices must be rendered by
man.
Many curious prescriptions common
in folk medicine have for their object
the transference of the disease from
the patient to one of the lower animals.
For example, in Devonshire and in
Scotland alike when child has whoop-
ing cough some hair is cut from it's
head, put between slices of bread and
butter and given to dog. Then, if
the latter III eating it should cough
as naturally he will-the complaint
will be transferred to the animal, and
the child will recover.
In Cheshire it is by no means uncom-
mon for young frog to be held for
few moments with it's head inside the
mouth Of sufferer from thrush. In
Cumberland and throughout the north
of England generally live fish is sub
stituted for the frog.
Sometimes trees take the place Of
animals. Thus q certain old oak at
Berkhamrstead was long famous for
the cure of ague The transference
was simple, but painful. A lock of
hair was pegged into the wood and
then by q sudden wrench transferred
from the head of the patient to the
tree.
The Welsh peasantry cure toothache
by scarifying the gums with an iron
nail, which is then driven up to the
head in an elm tree and there left.
They also profess to believe that
shrew mouse, touched by sick per-
son and then pegged up alive in
hole previously bored in an alder tree,
will carry off the disease from the pa
tient
In many parts Of England and Scot
land piece Of mad dogs liver cook
ed and administered to the person the
animal has bitten is highly esteemed
as a preventive against hydrophobia,
or the heart will be extracted, dried
over fire and administered in draft
after having been first ground to pow
der.
In Staffordshire, to cure consumption,
an egg is first boiled hard, then the
shell is bored full of holes and it is
buried in an ant heap, the theory being
that as the egg wastes SO shall the
patients complaint vanish and his
strength increase.
To cure warts the Lancashire people
rub them with a piece Of bacon stolen
from shop. But it is essential that
it be stolen. -
Quite recently wellSt to do farmer
was charged with the theft of ham
hasher, value twopence. He pleaded
that he had taken it to rub on wart
from which his daughter suffered and
that 1t would have been no good for his
purpose had he bought it in the ordl-
nary way. The magistrate discharged
| him with a oontion