The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1905-03-07
SOME QUEER BELIEFS
ODD suPERsTiTtohs THAT STILL
LIVE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

The Peasants Have Reeouxse TO
Many Curious old Tfme Charms ana
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. She had. she walled, '.iost
a sacrament shilling"
The magistrate was puzzled. I'm
what respect" he asked, did a sac1a-
ment shilling differ from any other
shtlling?"
Whereupon the applicant explained
that the coin IN question was q certain
cure for fts.
1t had been given her by her mother,
who had 1t in turn from her mother,
who had got 1t over 400 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.
cious had to be worn In a 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
efieacious.
Charmed belts are commonly worn IN
Lancashire for the cure of rheumatism.
In Durham a cord round the ioins Ia
supposed to ward or toothache.
Among the peasantry Of Roxbursh-
shire women who are nursing babies
wear round their nscks small cords Of
blue wool These are never removed,
day or night, until the child LIS weaned.
By taking this precaution they imag-
Inc that they insure good health both
to themselves and their offspring dur
ing that critical period. The cords are
handed down from mother to daughter
and are esteemed in proportion to their
antiquity.
In Suffolk, to prevent nose bleeding,
people wear a skein Of scarlet thread
round the neck. tied with nine knots
down the front If the patient Is
man it Is essential that the thread be
put on and the knots tied By woman,
while If the patient Ia a woman then
these services 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 IL cut from its
head, put between slices Of bread and
butter and given to a dog. Then, II
the latter in eating it should cough
as naturally he will-the complaint
will be transferred to the animal, and
the child will recover
In Cheshire 1t is by no means uncom-
mon for young frog to be held for
few moments with its head inside the
mouth Of sufferer from thrush. In
Cumberland and throughout the north
Of England generally live dsh ia sub
stituted for the frog.
Sometimes trees take the place Of
animals. Thus a certain old oak at
Berkhampstead was long famous for
the cure Of ague. The transferencs
was simple, but painful A lock Of
hair was pegged into the wood and
then by a sudden wrench transferred
from the head of the patient to the
tree.
The Welsh peasantry cure toothache
by scartfying 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 a
shrew mouse. touched by a sick per-
son and then pegged up alive In a
hole previously bored in an alder tree,
will carry or the disease from the pa
tent.
In many parts of England and Scot
land piece Of a 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 a fire and administered in a 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 Ia
buried in an ant heap, the theory being
that as the egg wastes 30 shall the
patients complaint vanish and his
strength increase.
To cure warts the Lancashire people
rub them with piece Of bacon stolen
from shop. But it Is essential that
1t be stolen.
Quite recently a well to do farmer