244 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



The oil procured by boiling the bodies of skunks 

 is also a commodity salable to druggists, and worth 

 at present about fifty cents a pound to the maker. 

 The demand has increased of late, the oil (applied 

 externally) having high repute as a relieving agent 

 in diseases of the chest and bronchial tubes, es- 

 pecially croup, for which it has been a household 

 remedy in New England since Colonial days. 

 There is no reason to suppose, however, that it 

 has any medicinal value different from or superior 

 to any other fine animal oil, which easily penetrates 

 the pores and mollifies and lubricates the air-pas- 

 sages ; its supposed special efficacy in bronchial dis- 

 orders is doubtless a superstitious transference to 

 the oil of the unquestioned value in some phases of 

 such disorders of the substance of the scent-glands, 

 a remedy based upon entirely different qualities 

 and effects than are possessed by this oil, or that 

 of the rattlesnake or any other out-of-the-way creat- 

 ure, highly regarded in " old-woman " doctoring. 

 When relief follows an application it may be con- 

 sidered a faith-cure, in so far as any particular 

 effect of this specific kind of oil is concerned. 



However this may be, there is a steady demand 

 for the commodity ; and as a fat skunk will yield 

 a pound and a half, there is profit in making it. 

 Thus the systematic catching of skunks has become 

 a regular business in certain regions, where they 

 are plentiful, and many persons are engaged in it, 

 particularly in Connecticut, New York, and Penn- 



