HOME REMEDIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20448, 30 June 1928, Page 23

HOME REMEDIES.

SUPERSTITION AS A CURE. Superstitition seems to have been an important “ ingredient ” of some of the many home remedies that were used during colonial times (says a correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle). One instance is that of “ snail water,” the recipe for which was given as follows: —Take a peck of garden shell snails and put them in an oven till they have done making a noise, then take them out and wipe from them the green froth that is upon them, and bruise them, shells and all, in a stone mortar. . . . Then lay in the bottom of the distilling pot angelica (two handfuls) and two handfuls of celandine upon them, to which put two quarts of rosemary flowers, bearsfoot, agrimony, red dock roots, bark of barberries, betony wood, sorrel, of each two handfuls; rue, one handful; then pour over them three gallons of the strongest ale and let it stand all night; in the morning put in three ounces of cloves, beaten, six pennyworth of beaten saffron, and on top of them six ounces of shaved hartshornc; then set on the limbeck and receive the water by pints, which will be nine. Take two teasoonpfuls in four spoonfuls of small beer in the morning, the like in the afternoon. This concoction was given to children internally as a tonic, and was used on them as a lotion for rickets. It was believed that if a drop of the patient’s blood was placed on a piece of linen and treated with certain remedies the effect, would be a sure cure. The Indians healed wounds by treating the instruments with which the wounds were made. If a man cut his foot while chopping wood the axe that did the injury was treated with salve and bound up. Straightway the wounds would heal, it was believed. According to traditions of the early settlers, a sty will disappear from the eye if rubbed with a wedding ring. It is also said that if you pull a hair from the sty it will quickly vanish. Vinegar and bread crumbs is an old-time remedy for corns. Toothache was relieved with tobacco, while ear troubles were cured with daisy juice. Nose-bleed was stopped by dropping a cold key down the victims back or by tying a string around the little fingers, the right finger for the left nostril and vice versa. Hiccoughs were stopped by a spoonful of sugar, or by suddenly startling the sufferer. Castor oil is one of the familiar old remedies. It was once pressed by the housewife from the castor beans she grew in her garden. The old mustard plaster still holds its own. Likewise does the combination of rhubarb and soda, which is now put up according to doctors’ prescriptions for sufferers from digestive ills. Then there is the pood old sassafras tea to build up one’s blood in the spring. Senna and pennyroyal are still used as remedies for various ills they are supposed to cui'e. Aconite tea is credited with “ bringing out measles and chicken pox, while sage .tea is reputed to be able to help the hair preserve its colour.