The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-01-25
WHEN ILL try THESE.
People Believed In Them 255 Years
And They May Still Do Good.


And They May Still Do Good.
A copy of "The London Dispensatory"
by Mich Culpeper, dated 255 years ago,
has come to light in New York an
tique shop. Some of its theories and
prescriptions follw:
'Hounds-tongue cold and dry;
against the biting of dogs. Some say If
you put the herb under your feet with
In your stockings, no dog will bark at
you.
Tree ivy is admirable for i'll effects
coming Of drunkenness and therefore
the poets feigned Bacchus to have his
head bound with them. Your best way
is to boil them in the same liquor you
got your surfeit by drinking.
"Cowslips strengthen the brain,
senses, and the memory exceedingly.
and quell all diseases there as conyul-
sions, palsies, &c.
"The flesh Of vipers being eaten
clears the sight, helps vices of the
nerves, resists poison exceedingly,
neither Is there any better remedy un-
der the sun for their billings than the
head of the viper that bit you, bruised
and applied to the place, and the flesh
eaten, you need not eat above a dram
at a time, and make it up as you shall
be taught in troches of vipers.
"Earthworms are an admirable rem
edy for cut nerves, being applied to
the place. Earthworms made into pow
der and put into hollow tooth makes
it drop out.
ITO draw a tooth without pain, fill
an earthen crucible full of emmets or
ants, call them by which name you
Will, eggs and all, and when you have
burnt them. keep the ashes, with
which il you touch tooth it will fall
out.
'Eels being put into wine or beer
and suffered to die in it, he that drinks
1t will never indure that sort of liquor
again. Grasshoppers being eaten ease
the cholick. Swallows being eaten pre-
serve the sight and preserve from
! Drunkenness.
A fead mouse dried and beaten into
" bD"NCl anu blNtu at u llllle utlp
such as have diabetes. Unicorns horns
repels poison and the pestilance. The
skull of man that was never buried
being beaten into a powder and given
inwardly repels palsies. A ring made
of an elks claw helps the cramp The
froth Of the sea makes teeth white
and helps badness"
DR.. Culpeper deyotes a chapter to
metals. minerals and stones:
Gold is temperate in quality, 1t
wonderfully strengthens the heart
and vital spirits.
"The emerald being worn in a ring
takes away vain and foolish fears, as
Of devils, hobgoblins, &c. 1t takes
away folly and anger, and If It do so,
being worn about one, reason will tell
him that being beaten into a powder
and taken inwardly it will do much
more.
"a diamond is reported to make him
that bears it unfortunate. There is
n stone about the bigness Of a bean
found in the gizard of an old cock
which makes him that bears 1t be-
loved, constant and bold. valiant in
fighting, beloved by women and potent
in sports.
'Lapsls calcidOnius being hung
about the neck helps melancholy IL
lusiOns and melancholy fancies. For
the cure Of warts-rub them with fig
leaves, bury the leaves in the ground
and the warts will consume away"
DR.. Culpeper gives a recipe for pre-
pairing earthworms.
SILT them down the middle" he
writes, "and wash them in white wine
so often till they be cleansed from
their impurities, then dry and keep
them for your use"
The book concludes with an apology
by the author:
"If thou findest me here and there a
little lavish in such expressions as
many like not, pray pardon that, It
is my dialect. | cannot write without
It; | assure thee it was not premed-
itated. If thou thinkest | did II for
gain thou art so wide from the truth
that unless thou change thy opinion
'tis to be feared that truth and you
will not meet again for a long time.
Il weigh not the i'll language OF
those that mind earthly things, wish
them all the richest their hearts can
desire, for they have all their wit al,
ready tits comfortable enough for me
that | am beloved Of the honest; my
reward | expect hereafter in that place