No. 3. 



Old Times in Medicine. 



101 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Old Times in Medicine. 



The readers of the Cabinet are miich in- 

 debted to the sensible writer over the sig-na- 

 tiire T.,* for his rational, common-sense mode 

 of treating a subject which has too long been 

 held as the exclusive and hereditary property 

 of the scientific and college-tanght physician, 

 to whom we have been accustomed to look 

 with a sort of reverential awe, on account of 

 the sacredness and mystery of the profession. 

 He is deserving of the thanks of the commu- 

 nity, but especially of the fanner, that neg- 

 lected and too often despised member of so- 

 ciety, who is, by many, considered but little 

 better than the soil which he cultivates. 

 These very interesting papers show us that 

 much improvement has been made in the sci- 

 ence of medicine, even within the last few 

 years; but it will be necessary for us to go 

 back to the superlatively ridiculous nostrums 

 which are contained in the old books on this 

 subject, before we can be made to believe that 

 any thing half so absurd and revolting could 

 ever have entered into the head of any ra- 

 tional being, as the innum.erable and disgust- 

 ing cures for disorders that are there recorded 

 with perfect gravity. 



A writer in the Medical Review observes, 

 " The time has passed away, when oil from 

 kittens boiled alive was considered an admi- 

 rable application for wounds; v;hen toads 

 roasted alive were administered for asthma, 

 and the hair of mad dogs for hydrophobia; 

 when the powdered thigh-bone of an exe- 

 cuted felon was considered a specific in dysen- 

 tery, and ointment was applied to the inflict- 

 ing tveapon, in order to cure the wound ! 

 when physicians placed confidence in phy- 

 lacteries, and watched, with intense anxiety, 

 the influence of black and white days, and 

 the aspects of the stars, and when they hur- 

 ried their unfortunate patients to an untimely 

 grave, in attempting to quench the fires of 

 fever and inflammation, by diligently feeding 

 the consuming flame." 



A few more — amongst many hundreds of 

 the same kind — are selected from an old 

 French work, entitled the " Country Farm," 

 translated into English by R. S., and pub- 

 lished by Gervase Markham in 1G16 — with 

 the view of showing the happiness which we 

 ejijoy under that system of light and reason, 

 which is so well and ably advocated by your 

 valuable correspondent T. 



"For epilepsy. Take the powder of a man's 

 skull — especially of that part which is near- 

 est the crown — in neat wine as a drink, hang- 

 ing also about his neck a piece of the skull, 

 and upon his ringer a ring, set with the bone 

 of the foot of the ox. 



* Page 76 of Cabinet for September. 



For king's-evil or leprosy. Cut off the foot 

 of a great toad when the moon is declining, 

 and apply it about his neck which hath the 

 king's-evil, and you will find it very sove- 

 reign for the said disease. 



For inflammation of the eye. A wolfs eye, 

 or the stones that are found in the maws of 

 swallows, have great virtue, if hanged about 

 the neck. 



For a weeping eye. The distilled water 

 of the gall of a man, dropped into the eye. 



For white spots in the eye. Eggs, laid the 

 same day by black hens, roasted and cut up, 

 and mixed with sugar-candy. 



To stay bleeding at the nose. Make neck- 

 laces of the herb Saint Innocent, and hold ia 

 the hand a branch of the holy oak, snuflSng 

 up the powder of a three-cornered stone 

 found in the head of a carp. 



For the tooth-ache. Wear about the neck 

 the tooth of a man, knit within a piece of 

 taffeta : this taketh away the most strong pain 

 of the teeth that may be endured. 



For a hollow tooth. Put into the hole the 

 ashes of earth-worms, or the dung of mice, 

 or of the tooth of a hart, or the brains of a 

 partridge, or the juice of water-cresses! 



For the quinsy. Take a whole swallow's 

 nest, boil it in wine, and with the oil of camo- 

 mile make a cataplasm for the throat: or 

 drink the weight of a French-crown of the 

 tooth of a wild-boar powdered. 



Jaundice. Drink, fasting, the dung of 

 ganders (not geese) well mixed with white 

 wine, for the space of nine days; or carry in 

 the left hand three leaves of the wild rocket. 



For the cholic. There is nothing more 

 sovereign than to wear about him a ring or 

 box of silver, in which is enclosed some part 

 of the skin of an infant newly born ; or the 

 heart of a lark swallowed down while it is 

 fresh and new, or the said heart fastened to 

 some part of the body where it might touch 

 the skin ; or a cataplasm of wolf's dung, or 

 the same drunk with a little wine. 



The flux. The powder of men's bones, to 

 be taken in milk three times a day. 



For ulcers. The dew, in the month of 

 May, gathered before sunrise; or a powder 

 of the dung of a dog that has been fed for 

 three days on bones ; or the powder of a rot- 

 ten post ! 



For the spitting of blood. Fry the dung 

 of a hog with fresh butter, and of that clotted 

 blood which the sick party shall have spat 

 up, and so give of these, thus fried together, 

 to the sick party to eat !" 



Now all this is monstrous — it is frightful, 

 and we cannot be sufficiently thankful tha$ 

 we live in an age when such men as youf 

 correspondent T. devote their time and talents 

 to simplify a science which, even up to this 

 time, has been held, by many, too sacred and 



