The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1906-08-02
MEDICAL DELUSTONS
MANY STILL LlNGER FROM THE DARK
AGES OF CREDuuTY.

i@EIuS from acute rheumatism was
taken to the Postgraduate Medical
School and Hospital wearing a pair of
ee!s. long defunct and dried, bv way
Of carriers. He showed much distress
when they were removed by the nurse,
being firmly convinced they would cure
his rheumatism in time.
The laugh Of science to the contrary
Notwithstanding, medical decisions in
surprising number still survive from
the ages Of faith. Any physician who
practices among the poor and ignorant
can testify TO this, and it is in particu-
lar the staff and students Of an insti-
tuition like the Postgraduate Medical
School and Hospital, which receives its
patients largely from the lower east
side, a quarter teeming with variety.
who are made to appreciate most fully
the extent of superstition regarding
remedies for disease.
Italian immigrants are peculiarly in
teresting in this respect. They fire.
Quently attribute stomach trouble to
cats hairs supposed to have been swal-
lowed and persist in eating eggshelIs
to cure it. They also eat snails as a
remedy for consumption. though here
they are supported by a highly respect
able authority of THE Accom-
plished Physician" published in 1856
which declares that snail water, "ow-
Ing to the cool, clammy and glutinous
substance Of the SNAIL" is particularly
grateful to the consumDtives These
Italians use castor oil whenever their
feelings become at all excited, either
by joy or sorrow, burn rolls Of waxed
paper in their ears to cure the earache
and willingly go through the even more
heroic treatment of lighting fires on
their bare stomachs when they have
dyspepsia.
The trouble with these people is mere
y that they have not advanced with
the times, but are still holding beliefs
which are held by the most intelligent
and best educated men of a few cen
turtles ago. An apothecary's shop in
Queen Elizabeth's time was stocked
with things that strike moderns as sin
gular enough, considered as medicine.
These We're crabs claws, foxes lungs,
stays hearts, boars' tusks, sea horses
teeth, elkS' hOOfs, precious stones in
flying fish, tortoises, alligators.
dried tOads, worms, scorpions and even
human mummies. These latter were
quite popular as remedy for epilepsy,
vertigo and palsy besides being sup
posed to heal wounds and mortifica-
mons MINI 70
SI2S in our money, and was a recog-
nized staple of commerce, but, being so
an artificial substitute was
invented which is described by Crollfus
IN his Royal Chemist" as calling for
The carcass Of a young man, some say
red headed, not dying of disease, but
killed" 1t is probable that this ghast-
" recipe was responsible for many of
the mysterious disappearance common
in these thrilling days. Human skulls
sold for as much as II shillings apiece
and were given in the form OF a pow
der, mixed with a little OIL
The most highly esteemed preScrip-
tons of the old time apothecary were
those which cost the most and which
must needs. therefore, include pow
dered precious stones. "Gascon's DOW
der was one of the most costly of
these indictments, being prescribed
by the great physicians for their more
important patients. 1t cost 40 shrllings
5000 an ounce and was made in
equal parts of crabs eyes, pearls, white
amber, oriental bezoar and the black
tips Of crabs claws.
Precious stones, too, were thought to
have much efficacy when worn as anu
lets. The ruby protected its wearer
from plague and pestilence, the anne
thyst kept a man steady and sober,
stopped bleeding, the ONYX
prevented epilepsy, the topaz cured in
iammaion, the opal strengthened
weak eyes, and the emerald prevented
and aided the memory. Con /
corning the emerald an old writer fur
Their testifies: 1T takes away vain and
foolish fears. as Of devils and hobgob-
Inns, folly and anger, and causeth good
If it do so worn about one.
reason viii tell him that being beaten
INTO powder and taken inwardly it will
10 much more"
The use OF herbs and plants as medi- /
zines, of course, agrees with modern /
practice; but the old physicians made
he mistake OF considering them as pos
sessing seml-magical properties. 1t was
believed that they were the dwelling
places Of good and evil spirits which
worked their good and evil wills upon
hose who touched them. The old rhyme /
says:
Trefoil. vervain. Johns wort, dill
flinders witches of their will
And these four plants had extraordi- /
larry regulations in the middle ages for /
both natural and supernatural powers. !
The trefoil IS common in the United /
States today. especially in the south, /
md has certain legitimate medical +
properties. The vervain IS allied to our
native verbena and was anclently be- K
ieved to be effective against all poi !
:ons and the venom of serpents, as well +
IS against bewitched drinks and the /
fF-n Tr vx-o- 3 fco ossS 10 as.,,,e e. ,--sAoL