94 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Eheumatism and the joint pains were treated both by charms and 

 by concoctions. To carry the forefoot of a hare, or a raw potato, or a 

 horse chestnut in one's pocket ameliorated an attack of the severe pain 

 that accompanies all Joint affections. Sailors when attacked by rheu- 

 matism wear a flannel shirt nine times dyed. The landlubber has to be 

 satisfied with sleeping on a hop pillow, or leaning for one night against 

 the bellows. 



Common nostoc, commonly called star- jelly, a trembling gelatinous fungus 

 that springs up suddenly after rain, is by superstitious persons believed to 

 possess virtue as a vulnerary and in pains of joints.^ 



"Walking in fields on Friday before sunrise was advised to patients 

 suffering with gout. Pliny says : 



Podagras vxitigati pede leporis viventis dbsciso si quis secum assidue habeat. 



Dropping of excreted water upon the feet, or appl}dng the lodestone 

 were thought of benefit in this disease. 



D'ou vient que les cTiapons sont plus et plustot gouteux que le coqs si la 

 castration est remedy d la goutte. 



For billiousness and jaundice, quite a number of the most disgusting 

 mixtures were used. Lice seem to have been quite a current specific for 

 this affection; lice served in all manners and form, and in all ways of 

 preparation. Nine lice to be eaten on a slice of bread and butter ;*° or 

 else nine lice swallowed alive,*^ were two of the most conventional ways 

 of taking this medicine. Poor, dirty communities need never complain 

 of jaundice, for they always have the wherewithal to cure it. 



Die of jaundice, yet have the cure about you! — lice, large lice, begot of 

 your own dust and the heat of brick kilns." 



Goose dung made into pills and eaten several times a day was 

 another very tasteful medicament, which was especially in style in 

 Staffordshire. In Franche Comte, hawkweed and carrots are still con- 

 sidered specifics for jaundice. A more convincing recipe is the one 

 recommended by Graham:*^ 



Kaw eggs eaten two at rising, fasting, and one every four hours during the 

 day at times when the stomach is empty. Prohatum est. 



Fall to your cheese-cakes, curds, and clouted cream, 

 Your fool, your flaunes, and swill of ale a stream 

 To wash it from your livers." 



Cancer, it was vaguely believed in certain portions of the world, was 

 due to the growth of a toad-like body in the human organism. The first 

 thing that was, therefore, applied to a cancerous surface was a dried 

 toad. The doctors recommended the following composition : To a yolk 



"Lindley, "Vegetable Kingdom," 1S46. 



*• Narsnet, "A Declaration of Popish Impostures," 1603. 



" Isaac Walton, ' * Complete Angler. ' ' 



"Beaumont and Fletcher, "Thierry and Theodoret, " V., 1, 



"Graham, "Domestic Medicine." 



** Ben Jonson, "Sad Shepherd," I., 7. 



