Newark post., 1919-09-10
SOME. REMEDIES OF
OTHER DAYS
EWhile Ancients Followed Cor
rupt Practices They Had
knowledge of Medicine
and Surgery
and Surgery


It is far cry from the advanced
(science of modern therapeutics to the
{ouaint nostrums of the past but there
|are manv now living who can remem-
her the curious methods employed not
|onlv bv superstitious laymen, but by
so-caIled medical men for the treat
ment of disease. For example there
was dried toad which was reputed to
he an unfailing cure for fever. Lest
'vou shudder and turn away in horror
lat this point let it be said that it was
Fortunately for external application
onIv and was placed in the armpit of
the fever patient. Dried and powder
led fox lung was, however, for inter-
hal application and was considered an
aInfaiing remedy for lung and throat
diseases.
In this latter as IN various other
o1d time remedies there is fore
sbadowing of the great principle of
Therapeutics of the present day which
I've owe TO LOUIS ao'eul' ~ iS"hJ
dates further back than this to the
Idav of Paracelsus with his doctrine
Of SIGNATURES" Thus dried and pow
Sdereds fox lungs were good for lung
TROUBLES. the heart of the OK and
o+her animals was good for cardiac
complaints. the earshaped leaves of
the cyclamen We're a specific for her
AILMENTS of the ear and so on. ga
[hair of the dog that bit him" was
nroverbial preventive of hydrophobia.
&The dreaded plague was cured by
drinking a glass of wine in which had
bcen stepped lock of hair from the
ypatient's own head.
For centuries a raw potato or a
horsc chestnut carried in the pocket
was thought to be a great palliative,
if not a complete cure for rheuma-
&tism and moreover to this day there
are those who will talk gravely of the
mower Of the tuber or the nut to alb
SoIl uric acid or other poison. In
couraratively recent times common
anglcworms were an important item
in the materia, medica of supersti-
tiogS Iaymcn. Sometimes they were
to he made up into broth or syrup for
Internal use, but more generally they
were used externally. The approved
method WAS to fill a pint bottle with
he worms, bury it in the ground for
three weeks and eXhume at the end
of that time when the contents of the
lotrle would be liniment of marvel
louy power for the cure of paralysis
There car be no question, say TIE
early writer's of it's curative powers
buff anything could rouse a para
lytic to action it would be such mess
as the bottle was found to contain.
4 sure cure for jaundice was live
spider which was rolled up in a small
ball Of butter and swallowed. Snakes
especially the viper, which was dried
pulverized and used as the basis of {
hearing broth. Most people in Other
respects intelligent have their owr
pet superstition with regard to th'
curing Of warts and the like.
In sDite of these strange and repul
s.ve practices, however, there was
far greater medical and surgica
knowledge in ancient times than W.
are apt to suppose. There were un
earthpd at Kolophon, Greece, SOM
time ago, surgical instruments a
least 20OO years old, including forcep
evidently intended for removing poly
pua and implements for trepannin!
skulls and for raising portions o
skull in cases of fracture.
Another impressive fact on recor
concerning disease in ancient times
found in the first book of Samuel, L
which we are told that the land of tn
Phiiigtines was overrun with rats an
mice and that thereupon the peopl
were smitten with bubonic plague t
punish them for the seizure of tn
Ark Of the Covenant. Thousands O
years later modern science discovere
that rats are the chief source of dis
semination of this disease.