CHARMS AND MEDICAL LORE
Charms for warding off unseen harm and danger, and for curing bodily
ills were of course much more numerous, and more generally accredited in
the early decades of last century than they are to-day. But even now
some still survive, like the horseshoe, which people still pick up, and
hang over doors and chimney-pieces ‘for luck’, unconscious of the fact
that they are thus preserving an old superstitious device for
counteracting the power of witches. Another curious survival is the
placing of the poker against the top bar of the grate. People who do it
tell you in all seriousness that it draws the fire up by creating a
draught. It really is an ancient charm against witches, as Dr. Johnson
explained to Boswell: ‘“Why, Sir, do people play this trick which I
observe now, when I look at your grate, putting the shovel against it to
make the fire burn?” Johnson. “They play the trick, but it does not make
the fire burn. _There_ is a better (setting the poker perpendicularly up
at right angles with the grate). In days of superstition they thought,
as it made a cross with the bars, it would drive away the witch.”’ _Life
of Dr. Johnson_, Vol. II, p. 376. Again, many educated people habitually
‘touch wood’ if they have given vent to some expression of satisfaction
over their own good health or fortune, or that of any member of their
family. They say with a laugh, ‘I suppose I must touch wood,’ and do it
with no conscious thought of averting the evil eye, but if the trick
were omitted, the speaker would probably feel uncomfortable afterwards.
[Sidenote: _Devices to drive away Witches_]
The various devices for keeping off witches, and for defeating their
craft can only here be illustrated by a few instances. To drive away
witches by means of fire was part of the ceremony of _saining_ once
practised in Scotland at the birth of a child. A fir-candle was
lighted and carried three times round the bed, or if this could not
be done, it was whirled three times round the heads of the mother and
child; a Bible and bread and cheese were placed under the pillow, and
the following words were repeated: May the Almichty debar a’ ill fae
this umman, an be aboot ir an bless ir an ir bairn. In the Shetland
Islands when a woman suspected of witchcraft entered a house, the
inmates--on her leaving--would throw a firebrand after her, at the
same time saying: Twee-tee-see-de, doo ill-vam’d trooker. If ther’s
a witch onywheäre aboot, an ye’r scar’d at she’ll oherlook ye, you
mun goä an pull a dook o’ thack [handful of thatch] oot’n her hoose
eavins, an bo’n it, then she can’t do noht to ye (Lin.). A red-hot iron
thrust into the cream in the churn, or into the fermenting beer in the
brewing-vat expelled the witch that was frustrating the labours of the
dairy-maid, or the brewer. In 1882 a man living in Shropshire found in
a crevice in one of the joists of his kitchen chimney a folded paper,
sealed with red wax, containing these words: ‘I charge all witches and
ghosts to depart from this house, in the great name of Jehovah and
Alpha and Omega.’ A well-known plan for working mischief, practised
by malevolent persons, was to make a small figure in wax, and then
pierce it with innumerable pins. This was supposed to give the victim
severe stabbing pains in the limbs. To reverse this injury the victim
might hang in his chimney a bullock’s heart stuck with pins (Dev.). In
the Somerset County Museum at Taunton may be seen pigs’ hearts full
of pins. If a pig died owing to the _overlooking_ of some malignant
witch, it seems to have been a custom to take its heart, pierce it
with as many pins and thorns as it would hold, and then hang it in the
chimney, in the belief that as the pig’s heart dried up and withered,
so would that of the evil person who had bewitched the pig. I remember,
hardly more than twenty years ago, being told of a man then living near
Banbury, who earned a livelihood by making little images to be stuck
with pins for witchcraft purposes. To crook the thumb (n.Cy.), that is,
to double the thumb within the hand, is a charm against witchcraft; so
also is the use of the expression: It’s Wednesday all the world over
(Sc.). A bunch of ash-keys carried in the hand, or the left stocking
worn wrong-side out, were supposed to be good safeguards against the
power of witchcraft, but the favourite charms were horseshoes, silver,
spittle, and the sign of the cross. A witch who had turned herself
into a hare, for instance, could only be hit by a crooked sixpence, or
a silver bullet. In some districts it was customary to put a silver
coin, or a silver spoon into the churn when the butter would not come.
A newly-calved cow was formerly milked for the first time after calving
over a _crossie-croon shilling_ (Bnff.) to protect her from the evil
eye, a talisman which would seem to combine the efficacy both of silver
and of the sign of the cross. Many old brewers used to make with the
finger the sign of the cross on the surface of the malt in process of
fermentation; and the same sign is still made on the top of the dough
in the kneading-tub, though the origin of the custom may be unknown
to those who continue it in practice. Herrick has put this charm into
rhyme in his _Hesperides_:
This I’ll tell ye by the way,
Maidens, when ye leavens lay,
Cross your dough, and your dispatch
Will be better for your batch.
A writer in _Longman’s Magazine_ in the year 1898 records, as then
extant, a west-country custom of placing a neatly cut cross of birch
wood over cottage doors, on the eve of the 1st of May, to keep off the
witches. The common practice amongst market-women and hawkers of
spitting for luck on the first coin received in the day, is originally a
precautionary charm against witchcraft. It used to be said in
Somersetshire: Nif you do meet wi’ anybody wi’ a north eye, spat dree
times. To spit will avert the ill-luck consequent on passing under a
ladder. To make the sign of the cross with spittle on the sole of the
shoe was supposed to cure the sensation of ‘pins and needles’ in the
foot. We have already noticed the action of spitting in connexion with
the ill-omened appearance of magpies.
[Sidenote: _Protection against Witchcraft_]
Whilst silver was considered to be the efficacious metal for missiles
used against witches, iron and steel were held good for protective
charms. In Lincolnshire it was formerly the custom to leave under the
flag-stone at the entrance of an outer door a hollow place, which was
filled with broken bits of iron, intended to keep off witches. It was
necessary to protect the stable as well as the house, and this was
sometimes done by hanging up implements made of steel or iron, as was
customary in the time of Herrick, cp. _Charm for Stables, Hesperides_,
1648:
Hang up hooks and shears to scare
Hence the hag that rides the mare,
Till they be all over wet
With the mire and the sweat;
This observed, the manes shall be
Of your horses all knot-free.
[Sidenote: _The Horseshoe as a Talisman_]
More commonly, however, the horseshoe was the chosen talisman. In some
districts it was held that the horseshoe was only efficacious if
fastened up with the ends upwards; but this seems not to have been an
invariable rule. Many people to-day, who firmly believe that to find a
horseshoe is lucky, will tell you that the luck will disappear into the
ground if the shoe is hung with the ends pointing downwards; even
positive ill-luck may thereby be drawn upon the house. Others again lay
no stress on the method of preserving the charm. I recently questioned
two natives of Berkshire on this subject, and while one set firm faith
in the importance of fastening the shoe-ends upwards, the other was
quite content to see the charm ‘just slung up on a nail’. Even better
than the horseshoe as a charm to keep the witches out of the stable was
the _adder-stone_ (Sc. n.Cy.), a perforated stone, so called because the
perforation was supposed to be made by the sting of an adder;
_hag-stone_ (Lan.); _holed-_ (Nhb.), or _holey-stone_ (n.Cy.), cp. ‘to
prevent the _ephialtes_ or night-mare, we hang up an hollow-stone in
our stables,’ _Vulgar Errors_, Book V, Chap. XXIV. These holed stones
likewise protected the animals from diseases and the evil eye, but they
must be found already perforated, else they had no efficacy. When in the
course of time witches were forgotten, superstitious minds still
supposed these stones to have peculiar virtues in propitiating luck. As
_lucky stones_, they were hung to the street door-key, for prosperity to
the house and its inmates, and we have already noted that, down to
modern times, anybody who picks one up considers it an omen of luck.
[Sidenote: _Use of Plants as Charms_]
Certain plants were reputed to be noisome to witches, and hence
effective as charms. For example: _cow-grass_ (n.Cy.), the common purple
clover; _dill_, the anet, for: Vervain and dill Hinder witches of their
will (Lin.), an old couplet found in Drayton; pimpernel; and
_shady-night_ (Lin.) the nightshade, are all good for preventing
witchcraft. If a pig, for instance, had been bewitched, a collar made of
nightshade, and put round the neck of the sufferer, would at once cure
it. A _St. John’s nut_ (Sc.), that is two nuts growing together on the
same stalk, was formerly supposed to be a deadly missile against
witches. But most potent of all was the mountain ash, the _quicken_ or
_wicken_ (in gen. dial. use), or _rowan-tree_ (Sc. Irel. n.Cy.), for
witches, it was said, have no power where there is rowan-tree wood.
Hence twigs of this tree were fastened over doors of houses; they were
tied to the horns of cattle, and affixed to their stalls; cowherds and
carters had goads and whipstocks of quicken-wood, to counteract the
witch who could bring the team to a standstill, whence the old sayings:
Woe to the lad Without a rowan-tree gad, and: If your whipstock’s made
of rown You may ride through any town. The churn-staff likewise was made
of this wood lest the cream might be bewitched and no butter be
forthcoming. Sprigs were nailed to the leaven-kits to keep the witches
out of the dough; and pieces of the protective tree were carried in the
bosom, or worn in the pocket as a sure defence against all forms of
witchcraft.
The house-leek used to be planted on the thatched roofs of cottages
under the belief that it was a preservative against thunder and
lightning, and at the present time it is still cherished as bringing
good luck to the house upon the roof of which it grows. A piece of
hawthorn cut on Holy Thursday protects a house from lightning, because:
Under a thorn Our Saviour was born (Shr.). The slough of an adder hung
on the rafters is said to protect a house from fire (Cor.). Small tufts
of dried seaweed, known as Lady’s Trees (Dev. Cor.), were certainly as
late as the year 1891 to be seen on cottage chimney-pieces in fishing
villages as a charm against fire.
[Sidenote: _Remedies for curing Diseases_
_Violent Remedies_]
By reason of the fact that many complaints were supposed to be due to
the malice of pixies, or witches, and to the _overlooking_ of malignant
persons, we find many of the remedies for curing diseases are closely
connected with the foregoing charms against witchcraft. For example,
a flint arrow-head was taken to be an _elf-shot_; if then a sick cow
was thought to have been _elf-shotten_ with one of these missiles,
the proper remedy was to touch her with the arrow-head, and then make
her drink water in which it had been dipped. The same idea no doubt
underlies the following remedy for _rewmatiz_: Take a thunderbolt,
boil for some hours, and then dispense the water to the diseased.
Further, we find the _quicken-wood_ worn in the pocket as a charm
against rheumatism (Cor.); and a double nut for preventing toothache
(Shr.). Even among the home-made herb medicines are some which partake
of the nature of a charm. The following, for example, is a recipe for
allaying a fever: Take a handful of dandelion, agrimony, verjuice, and
rue; mix with powdered crab’s eyes and claws, and some yarrow gathered
off a grave. Boil for some hours, and administer when the moon is on
the wane. Neither more nor less than nine leaves of Adder’s tongue,
_Sagittaria sagittifolia_, must be picked to make the daily cupful
of tea which is a good strengthening medicine. Similarly, nine must
be the number of frogs you must catch for making the frog-soup which
will cure whooping-cough. As, therefore, a hard and fast line cannot
be drawn between charms properly so called, and semi-magic remedies,
perhaps the readiest way to get a clear survey of the various rustic
methods of treating diseases and other afflictions, will be to group
them all under the names of the different diseases. Although many
of the superstitious remedies here to be quoted are now no longer
in use amongst us, yet the ignorant superstition behind them is by
no means dead, even in towns where on every side are doctors, and
nurses, and chemists plying their trades according to the latest
and most approved methods. The _Times_ of Feb. 24, 1911, commenting
on a Local Government Board Report, the material for which had been
furnished to the Department by Medical Officers of Health, quoted
the following statement in reference to Ireland: ‘Disease-charmers
and bone-setters are very prevalent, and cause much suffering and
deformity.’ The _rag-wells_ of Northumberland and Yorkshire are said
to be obsolete, but little more than five years ago there were still
to be seen hung round a certain well in County Kerry, bits torn from
the clothes of people who believed that they had benefited from the
curative properties of the water. An instance of the old practice of
passing a child suffering from rupture through the split trunk of a
growing ash-tree was reported to me from Devonshire last summer. Not
many months ago my gardener’s little girl on one occasion fell out of
bed, and grazed her back against a chair; by way of a remedy, she was
told to wet her finger with spittle, and apply it to the wound. In
October, 1910, a young friend of mine, then in lodgings in Liverpool,
had the misfortune to burn her hand. Her landlady--who held a post as
charwoman in a neighbouring church, and who, as such, received gifts of
old church linen--offered to bind up the wound with a piece of an old
chalice veil; and she subsequently attributed the quick healing of the
burn to the efficacy of her ‘holy linen’. About five or six years ago,
in a country vicarage in the Midlands, a girl I knew was nursing her
brother in the last stages of consumption. Replying to some questions
of mine as to her duties as nurse, she told me that every day she
carried up from the kitchen two buckets filled with fresh spring-water,
and placed them under the patient’s bed, to ward off bed-sores, because
a lady friend, who ‘really knew’, had said that this was a sure
preventive. These are only a few cases that have chanced to come within
my own knowledge, but no doubt numbers more could be found for the
seeking.
[Sidenote: _Phrases denoting State of Health_]
Before passing on to a list of ailments and their cures, it may be
interesting first to look at some typical words and phrases used by
dialect-speakers in describing their state of health. It may be assumed
as a general axiom that a woman never admits to being perfectly well. At
most, she makes a reluctant confession to good health by saying: I’m
pretty middlin’. This one word _middling_, by the aid of a preceding
adverb, and by due adjustment of the speaker’s tone, may be made to
express almost any degree of health. _Middlin’_, _amongst the middlins_,
or _joost middlin’_ implies a moderate state of health; _nobbut
middlin’_ means rather poorly; and _very middlin’_, or _uncommon
middlin’_, means very ill: Sum daays ah’s middlin’, an uther sum as
waffy an’ waake as owt (Yks.). Thoo nobbut lewks varry wawey this
mooanin’! What’s matther wi tha? Ans. Whah, ah’s nobbut middlin’
(e.Yks.). Oh, her idn on’y very middlin’, eens mid zay, her’ve a-got the
browntitus shockin’ bad like.
The following are a few specimen remarks about health gathered from
the dialects: He’s a man that enjoy werry bad health; I bant very well
tü-day, this ’ot wuther mak’th me veel uncommon wangary [limp] (Dev.);
Thankee, I baint no ways marchantable like s’morning, I was a-tookt
rampin’ be-now in my inside (Som. Dev.); Ah feels weeak an’ wanklin’,
ah’s that badly, whahl ah can hardlins tthraal mysen across t’fleear
(Yks.); He’s sairly off on’t (Yks.), i.e. he is very ill; Aye, ah
think ah’s ommost gitten ti t’far end (Yks.); Owd Jim Batley’s varry
owd nah, he’s hung i’ jimmers (w.Yks.), i.e. he is ready to fall to
pieces any moment; Poor owd John’s gettin’ mighty simple [feeble],
’e can ’ardly get alung (w.Cy.); I dawnt zim yü be up tü tha mark
tü-day, Jack, yü lük’th cruel wisht, like a ’apperd ov zoap arter a
’ard day’s wash (Dev.); I be better in myself, Sir, but my poor leg
’ave got that swelth in um as I couldn’t get um along to the top o’ the
town, not if you was to crown mŭ (Wor.); I fare to feel kind o’ tired
like (Ess.); He wor badly, but is brave again now (in gen. dial. use);
She’s charmin’, thankee (sw.Cy.); He’s mending, but he’s not better yet
(n.Cy. Not. Lin.), i.e. not quite recovered from illness; How is your
wife, John, after her groaning? Ans. Finely, Sir, thankee (e.An.); Heaw
arto this mornin’? Ans. Well, awm weantly [hearty], thank yo (Lan.). To
have a pain at the heart (Yks. Lan. e.An.) is to have the stomach-ache,
cp. Fr. _avoir mal au cœur_; to be crippled with the pains (Sc. Nhb.)
is to suffer from rheumatism. A liver complaint was described thus: Dr.
Brown, he says to me, Mrs. Smith, he says, it’s ovverharassment o’ th’
liver at yer sufferin’ from. But the doctor was not always called in to
give an elaborate diagnosis of the case, cp.:
What complaint had he, Betty?
Says hoo, aw caunt tell,
We ne’er had no doctor
He deet of hissel.--Edwin Waugh.
[Sidenote: _Homely Prescriptions_]
For maintaining good health and keeping the doctor out of the house,
there are in use certain homely prescriptions. For example: Ait a happle
avore gwain to bed, An’ you’ll make the doctor beg his bread (Dev.); or
as the more popular version runs: An apple a day Keeps the doctor away.
Sometimes onion is substituted for apple, or, according to an Oxford
version, the apple should be eaten during the day, and an onion at
night. There is an old west-country proverb which bears further
testimony to the health-giving properties of the onion tribe: Eat leekes
in Lide [March] and ramsins [wild garlic] in May, And all the year after
physitians may play. The term _kitchen physic_ (n.Cy. Lin. Som.), food,
good living, is found in early literature, cp. ‘The country people use
kitchen Physick, and common experience tells us that they live freest
from all manner of infirmities that make least use of Apothecaries
Physick,’ Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, 1621. Her don’t want no
doctorin’, ’tis kitchen physic her’s in want o’ (Som.). For a trifling
ailment may be recommended: A haporth o’ thole-weel [endure-well], an’ a
pennorth o’ niver-let-on-ye-hae-it (Irel.).
[Sidenote: _Medicines for General Debility_]
Amongst the medicines for general debility are: a decoction of
dock-root, the common mallow, known as dock-root-tea (Wil. Hmp.),
considered a great purifier of the blood; old-man-tea (Chs.), made from
southernwood; bog-bean-tea (Lakel.), a grand thing fer takkin’ fur off
yer teeth, an’ givin’ ye a stomach; medicines made from feverfew;
gill-tea (War.), a decoction of gill, i.e. ground ivy, heriff, and the
young shoots of nettles, given to children as a spring medicine for nine
successive days, a very bitter and horrible stuff. It cannot, however,
have been so nasty as a mixture formerly known in Durham, called Dean
and Chapter. This consisted of the remnants from every medicine bottle
in the house, poured together, and well shaken, and then administered to
the patient whatever might be the nature of his complaint. A common
ironical saying used in recommending a dose of anything specially
nauseous is: Sup, Simon, it’s excellent broth!
To wash in May-dew was supposed to strengthen the joints and muscles,
the reason given being that the dew had in it all the ‘nature’ of the
spring herbs and grasses, and therefore it must be wonderfully
strengthening. But the more general belief concerning May-dew was that
to get up early on May-morning and wash one’s face in the dew, ensured a
rosy complexion. A cosmetic for beautifying the complexion by removing
freckles used to be distilled from _fevertory_ (Wil.), the common
fumitory, whence the old couplet: If you wish to be pure and holy, Wash
your face with fevertory.
[Sidenote: _Charms and Antidotes_
_Remedies for Boils, Burns, and Colds_
_Cures for Cramp_
_Dropsy and Sore Eyes_
_Fits, Hiccups, Nettle-sting_
_Quinsy, Rheumatism, Rickets_
_Sciatica, Shingles, Sores_
_Bad Legs, Skin-wounds, Styes_
_Thrush, Teething_
_Safeguards against Toothache_
_Old Beliefs about Warts_
_Types of Wart-cure_
_Cures for Wens_
_Remedies for Whooping-cough_]
For an Adder-bite: Apply the contents of two addled goose-eggs; a
poultice compounded of boiled onions and rotten eggs (Shr.); garlic,
the Churl’s Treacle (Chs.), or countryman’s antidote to the bite of
venomous creatures. As an amulet, a _milpreve_ (Cor.), or ball of
coralline limestone, may be worn; or it may be boiled in milk, and
then the milk administered to the patient as an antidote. To repeat
verses 1 and 2 of _Ps._ lxviii was supposed to be efficacious both as
a protection from adders, and as a cure for their bites. In an old
MS. book, once the professional note-book of a Cornish white witch,
occurred the following prescription: ‘A charam for the bit of an ader.
“Bradgty [spotted], bradgty, bradgty, under the ashing leaf,” to be
repeated three times.’ For Ague: Take wood-lice, the species which roll
up on being touched, and swallow them as pills (Nhp.); or wrap a spider
up in a cobweb, and swallow it like a pill (Sus.); place a spider in
a nutshell, and suspend it round the neck in a small bag (Sus. Lan.);
‘take the eare of a mouse and bruise it, then take salte and stamp them
together, and make a pultas with vinegar, and so lay it to the wrists,’
MS. book of recipes, seventeenth century; write this charm on a
three-cornered piece of paper, and wear it round the neck till it drops
off: Ague, ague, I thee defy, Three days shiver, Three days shake, Make
me well for Jesus’ sake; pass on the disease by means of this charm: I
tie my hair to the aspen-tree, Dither and shake instead of me (Lin.).
To stop Bleeding: Apply pulverized selenite, called _staunch_ (Nhp.),
because it is supposed to possess the power of stanching the bleeding
of wounds; or spiders’ webs (Sc. Yks.); for cuts when shaving, use a
_bull-fiest_ (e.An.), or puff-ball; repeat _Ezek._ xvi. 6 (Dev. Cor.);
or this charm: Christ was born in Bethlehem, baptized in the river of
Jordan, and as the waters stood still, so shall the blood stand still
in thee, A-- B--. In the name of the Father, &c. (Dev. Cor.). To cure
Nose-bleeding: Take one or two large toads, put in a cold oven, and
increase the heat till the toads are cooked to a crisp mass. Beat this
to powder in a stone mortar. Place the powder in a box, and use it as
snuff (Dev.); tie the patient’s left garter round the family Bible,
and put a key on the back of the neck (Shr.); repeat nine times these
words: Blood abide in this vein as Christ abideth in the Church, and
hide in thee as Christ hideth from Himself (Dev.). For Boils: Take a
quart of alder-tree berries, stew in two or three quarts of water, and
simmer down to three pints, add liquorice to give a flavour. Dose: one
wineglassful every morning (Glo.). Boils are also cured by creeping on
the hands and knees beneath a bramble which has grown into the soil
at both ends (Dev. Cor.). For Burns: Apply goose-dung, mixed with the
middle bark of an elder-tree, and fried in May butter (Shr.); repeat
three times: Three wise men came from the east, One brought fire, two
carried frost. Out fire! In frost! In the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost (Shr. Dev. Cor.). For a Cold: Drink balm-tea for a feverish
cold, or _organ-tea_ (Dev. Cor.), made from the herb penny-royal,
warranted to be specially efficacious when sweetened with honey, and
with a ‘drap of zomtheng short in’t-’; take at bedtime a hot posset,
made either with buttermilk, or onions, or treacle; or _buttered-ale_
(Nhp. Shr.) made thus: Boil a pint of ale with a lump of butter in
it, beat up two eggs with sugar and spices, then pour the boiling ale
upon the eggs while stirring briskly. For a cough _bramble-vinegar_
[blackberry-] (Lin.) is said to be an excellent specific; and for
a sore throat, let somebody read _Ps._ viii seven times for three
mornings in succession over the patient. For Colic: Stand on your
head for a quarter of an hour (Cor.); mix equal quantities of elixir
of toads and powdered Turkey rhubarb. Dose: half a teaspoonful, taken
fasting, three successive mornings (Dev.). Sloe gin is also to be
recommended. If the sufferer is an infant, administer in small doses,
_cinder-tea_ (Yks. Lan. Glo. Oxf.), that is, sweetened water into which
hot cinders have been dropped. For Consumption: Take herb-medicines
decocted from lungwort (Hmp.), the Jerusalem cowslip; or from _lungs of
oak_ (Hmp.), the hazel-crottles, _Sticta pulmonaria_; or from nettles;
and eat _muggons_ (Sc.), the mugwort, for as the old rhyme says: If
they wad drink nettles in March And eat muggons in May, Sae mony braw
maidens Wadna gang to the clay. Snail soup (Yks.), and broth made of
the flesh of an adder boiled with chicken (Lin.) are also valuable
remedies. My old nurse remembers when she was a young nursemaid, seeing
her master, who was consumptive, swallow baby frogs before breakfast by
way of a cure for his complaint. The treatment proved successful, for
these reminiscences had been called forth by a newspaper notice of the
gentleman’s death in 1910 at the age of eighty-eight! For preventing
Cramp: Wear eel-skin garters (Yks.), especially recommended for use
when bathing; when going to bed place your shoes under the bed with
the soles uppermost (Yks.), or with the toes peeping outwards (Lan.);
or cross your stockings and shoes (Shr.); sleep with your stockings
on, and with a piece of sulphur in each; or go to bed with the skin
of a mole bound round your left thigh; carry in your pocket, or in
a little bag tied round your neck, a _cramp-bone_ (Dur. Nhp. e.An.
Som.), either the patella of a sheep or lamb, or the top vertebra
of a goose, but beware lest it should fall to the ground, for if it
touches the ground, its virtue is lost. The real old historic talisman
is, however, the _cramp-ring_ (n.Cy. Yks. Lin.), a ring made out of
the handles of decayed coffins, and worn as a charm against cramp.
Formerly these rings were consecrated by the kings of England, who were
supposed to cure cramp, the ceremony of the consecration being solemnly
performed on Good Friday. That this faith in the virtue of a ring is
not yet dead is shown by the following advertisement, taken from a
modern periodical: ‘We know our marvellous GALVANIC Ring will cure
you as it has done thousands of others, and to prove this will send
you one on receipt of 1_s._ deposit.... Absolutely cures Rheumatism,
Neuralgia, Lumbago, Sleeplessness, Gout, Nervous Disorders, and kindred
complaints. They are also a certain cure for General Lassitude, no
matter from what cause arising. Worn by Royalty.... Why suffer? Delay
is dangerous. Send for one of our wonderful rings to-day and be cured.’
For Cuts: Apply a poultice made of comfrey. If the sufferer is a man,
use the red comfrey, and if a woman, the white variety (Shr.); or bind
the wound with _cut-leaf_ (Bck. Hmp.), the _Valeriana pyrenaica_, the
upper side of the leaf next the skin for a cut, and the under side for
a gathering. For Diarrhoea: Take a decoction of _slon-root_ (Lei.),
the root of the blackthorn; or raspberry-leaf tea (Wm.); or grate into
milk or brandy a biscuit or small piece of a loaf baked on Good Friday,
and kept throughout the year for this purpose (Yks. Wor. Sus. Dev.).
Good Friday bread is also a specific for the same complaint in calves.
For Dropsy: Drink _besom-tea_ (Som.), an infusion of the leaves
of the red heath broom; or try the following recipe: Take several
large fully-grown toads, place them in a vessel in which they can be
burned without their ashes becoming mixed with any foreign matter.
When reduced to ashes, pound them in a stone mortar. Place the ashes
in a wide-mouthed jar, cork closely and keep in a dry place. Dose.
One teaspoonful of ashes in milk, to be taken at the growing of the
moon for nine mornings (Dev.). For Sore Eyes: Take a handful of the
knobs called _pearls_ (Irel.), which grow at the base of button-grass
stems, crush them in a small quantity of water, and use the water as
an eye-wash; chickweed is also beneficial (Dev.); bathe the eyes with
rain-water caught on Ascension Day (Shr. Wor.); or foment them with
water in which club-moss has been boiled (Cor.), but this is only
efficacious if the moss has been gathered with all due ceremony. The
day for cutting must be the third day of the new moon, the hour must be
sun-down, and the operator, having first carefully washed his hands,
must kneel on the ground. The knife to be used must be shown to the
moon, and then the following words must be repeated: As Christ heal’d
the issue of blood, Do thou cut, what thou cuttest, for good! When
cut, the club-moss must be wrapped in a white cloth, and afterwards
boiled in water from the spring nearest the place where it grew. If
preferred, the club-moss may be mixed with butter made from the milk
of a new cow, and applied as an ointment (w.Cy.). For Fits: Drink an
infusion of _herb-of-grace_ (Lin.), the rue; go to the parish church
at midnight on June 23, and walk through each aisle, then crawl three
times from north to south under the Communion table exactly as the
clock strikes twelve (Dev.); place the foot of a toad in a small bag,
and wear it suspended round the neck (Cor.). As a protective charm
against fits the tongue of a still-born calf, dried and worn in such
a position that it touches the spine, is effective (Yks.); or a ring
made of a _sacrament shilling_ (Shr.), which must be obtained thus: beg
twelve pennies from twelve young unmarried men, and exchange them for a
shilling from the offertory alms. In parts of Yorkshire the _sacrament
piece_ was a half-crown, taken from the Communion alms in exchange for
thirty pennies collected from thirty poor widows. The half-crown was
then perforated to allow of a ribbon being passed through it, and it
was worn round the neck as an amulet. For an attack of Hiccup: Repeat
the following: Hiccough, hiccough, gang away, An’ cum ageean some udder
day When aw brew an’ when aw beeake, An’ than aw’l mak’ a hiccough
ceeake (Lakel.). For Measles: Give as a medicine a mixture called
_crooke_ (Irel.), compounded of porter, sulphur, and sheep’s dung;
pass the patient three times round the body of a live bear (Shr.). To
safeguard a child from the infection of measles, place it on the back
of a donkey, facing the animal’s tail, pull three hairs from the tail,
and hang them in a bag round the child’s neck, and then walk the donkey
up and down a short distance, a thistle being held the whole time over
the child’s head (Yks.). For a Nettle-sting: Rub the affected part with
a dock-leaf, and say the while: Nettle in, dock out, Dock in, nettle
out, Nettle in, dock out, Dock rub nettle out, repeating the charm
rapidly till the pain ceases. Other versions are: Nettle oot, dockan
in; Dockan, dockan, in, Nettle, nettle, out; Docken, docken, inward,
Nettle, nettle, outward; Dock go in, nettle come out; Out ’ettle, in
dock, Dock shall ha’ a new smock, ’Ettle zhant ha’ narrun [ne’er a
one]. The use of this charm was evidently a common custom as far back
as Chaucer’s time, for he introduces the words as a phrase meaning
first one thing and then another, cp. ‘But canstow pleyen raket, to and
fro, Netle in, dokke out, now this, now that, Pandare?’ _Troil. and
Cres._ Bk. IV, ll. 460-1. In this sense, the charm-formula is found
as a proverbial expression in North-country dialects as late as the
first half of the nineteenth century. For Quinsy: Drink an infusion
of _squinancy-berries_ (Lan. Ess.), black-currants, so called because
of their special efficacy in such cases, cp. O.Fr. _squinancie_,
quinsy. Once upon a time there lived on the borders of Worcestershire
and Shropshire a wise man who worked cures, whose method of treating
quinsy was this: he made the patient sit bolt upright in a chair, with
a poached egg on the top of the head, and a string of roasted onions
round the neck, and then he blew a mysterious powder down the poor
victim’s throat through a tobacco-pipe. For Rheumatism: Get a ha’porth
of mustard and boil it in a pint of beer; find a _dunderbolt_ (Cor.),
boil it in water for some hours, and then drink the water, and it will
prove a sovereign remedy. For external application use _viper’s oil_
(Nrf.); or _marsh-mallows-tea_ (Shr.), the latter is specially good
for the ‘swellin’ as comes from rheumatiz’. Charm-cures are: A potato,
preferably a stolen one, carried in the pocket (Shr. Nrf. Dev. Cor.);
or the shoulder-bone of a rabbit sewn up in brown paper (Shr.); or the
right fore-foot of a hare (Nhp.). A _sacramental sixpence_ (Chs.); or a
ring made of three nails taken from three coffins out of three several
churchyards (Shr.), may be worn as a protective talisman. A story is
told of an old woman who wanted to present herself for confirmation,
though it was known that she had been confirmed already at least
twice. When taxed with this she replied: Au knaws au has, but au finds
it good for the rheumatics. For Rickets: Draw the child through a
_holey-stone_ (Yks.), a large upright stone with a hole through it; or
cause the child to undergo the ceremony of _laying_ (Bnff. ne.Sc.), as
follows: the child must be taken before sunrise to a smithy in which
three men, bearing the same name, work. One of the smiths then takes
the child, first lays it in the water-trough of the smithy, and then
on the anvil. While lying on the anvil all the tools are, one by one,
passed over the child. It is then given back to the mother, or nurse,
who washes it once more in the water-trough. In some places the water
was first heated by plunging pieces of hot iron into it, and the child
was given a little of the water to drink, besides being bathed in
it, the anvil part of the ceremony being omitted. In Northumberland,
a _heart-grown_ child, i.e. one sickly and puny from a supposed
bewitchment, was subjected to a somewhat similar process, but in this
case it was important that the blacksmith should be of the seventh
generation in an unbroken line of blacksmiths. The child was laid on
the anvil, and the blacksmith raised his hammer as if about to strike
hot iron, bringing it down gently to touch the child’s body. This was
repeated three times, after which the child was expected to thrive
without further trouble. For Sciatica: The following charm was known in
use as late as the end of the nineteenth century: The patient must lie
on his back on the bank of a river or brook, with his head against the
stream, and a straight ashen staff between him and the water, and these
words must be repeated over him: Boneshave [sciatica] right, Boneshave
strite; As tha watter rins by tha stave, Zo follow boneshave (Dev.).
For Shingles: Burn some barley straw to powder, and put the ashes on
the part affected; or apply grease taken from the wheels of church
bells, called _dodment_ (Wor.), or _bell-coom_ (Bdf.). This is said
to be the sovereign cure. In Shropshire, under the name of _bletch_,
it is an approved remedy for ring-worm. In parts of Lincolnshire a
name for shingles is _cat-jingles_, and children are warned that they
will contract it if they habitually nurse cats. For Smallpox: Take
a bun from the shop of a person whose wife when she married did not
change her name, be careful not to pay for it, nor even say ‘thank
you’, and then give it to the patient to eat (Chs.). For Sores: Apply
crushed leaves of the greater periwinkle; _cut-finger-leaf_ (Wil.),
all-heal, _Valeriana officinalis_; the _vagabond’s friend_ (Lakel.),
the Solomon’s seal; _holy vervain_, _Verbena officinalis_. _Poor Jan’s
leaf_ (Dev.), the house-leek, also called _silgreen_, _singreen_ (Shr.
Oxf. Dor.), pounded and mixed with cream is good as a cooling ointment.
_Featherfew_ (Lin.); and _goose-grass_ (Hnt.), the silver weed, are
both recommended for allaying inflammation. For Bad Legs a _cow-sharn_
poultice (Shr.) is considered efficacious, and this is the recipe
for making it: Tak’ a ’antle o’ wutmil [handful of oatmeal], an’ as
much cow-sharn as’ll mix well together, an’ put it on the leg, it’ll
swage the swellin’ an’ mak’ it as cool as a cowcoomer [cucumber]. A
_foal-sark_ (Yks.), the membranous covering in which a foal is born,
when dried, is much valued as a remedy for sores and skin-wounds.
If you cut yourself, sticking the knife into a flitch of bacon will
prevent the wound taking bad ways (Shr.). A boy who had hurt his hand
with a rusty nail, was told by the Wise-man whom he consulted, to
have the nail first well filed and polished, and that then it must be
rubbed every morning before sunrise, and every evening before sunset.
By following these directions the wound was cured (Nhb.). For a wound
caused by the prick of a thorn the following is a Cornish charm: Christ
was of a virgin born, And he was pricked by a thorn, And it did never
bell [fester] nor swell, As I trust in Jesus this never will. For
Sprains: _crab-varjis_ (Shr.), the juice of the crab-apple, is said
to ‘swage the swellin’’ due to a sprain. An old Northumbrian remedy
was practised by the _stamp-strainer_, a person skilled in the art of
curing sprains by stamping on them. The limb ought afterwards to be
bound up with an eel’s skin. For Stitch in the side: Use an application
of saliva (Shr.), the common remedy for the painful sensation known as
‘pins and needles’. For a Stye in the eye: Rub it outwards from the
nose with a wedding-ring (Som. Dev. Cor.), some say this should be done
exactly three times, some say nine times; or it may be stroked nine
times with a cat’s tail, in which case, if the cat be a black tom-cat,
the cure is more certain. To draw out a Thorn: Apply the cast-off
slough of a viper (Nrf.). For Thrill in the foot: Make the sign of the
cross with your finger on the toe of your shoe (Yks.). If the foot
is ‘asleep’, make the sign of the cross with spittle on the sole of
the shoe (Shr.). For Thrush: Hold a live frog by one of its legs, and
allow it to sprawl about within the mouth of the child suffering from
_frog_, or thrush (Chs. Lin. Shr.), the frog thereby will become the
recipient of the complaint. Take the child to a running stream, draw a
straw through its mouth, and repeat the verse, _Psalm_ viii. 2: ‘Out of
the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because
of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger’
(Dev.); or take it, fasting, on three successive mornings to have its
mouth blown into by a person who never knew his father, that is to say,
a posthumous child (Cor.). A _left twin_, the survivor of two twins,
is thought to possess the power of curing thrush (Sus.). Teething: A
coral necklace round a baby’s throat will ensure easy teething, cp.
‘Though coral doth properly preserve and fasten the teeth in men, yet
it is used in children to make an easier passage for them: and for that
intent is worn about their necks,’ _Vulgar Errors_, Bk. V, Chap. XXIV.
A necklace of beads cut from the root of henbane and placed round the
child’s neck is a Devonshire substitute for coral. Some ten or twelve
years ago I knew a baby that always wore a mysterious black velvet band
round its neck, which the mother said was a certain preventive against
teething troubles, for all her children had worn a like talisman in
infancy, and no one of them had ever had any difficulty in cutting its
teeth. For Toothache: Take a decoction of _elicompane_ (Chs.), the
horse-heal; mix two quarts of rat’s broth, one ounce of camphor, and
one ounce of essence of cloves. Dose: one teaspoonful three times a day
(Dev.); steal some lead from the church roof or windows, and place a
pellet of it in the hollow of the decayed tooth (Dev.); apply a mustard
plaster to the wrist (Shr.). If you light on a briar-boss [gall of the
wild rose] accidental wen yo’ ’an the tuth-ache, an’ wear it in yore
boasom, it’ll cure it (Shr.). To find a _loady-nut_ (Dev.), a double
nut, is lucky, for it will cure toothache; so does a tooth found in
a churchyard, if rubbed on the cheek over the aching spot (Yks.). A
spider enclosed in a nutshell, and worn in a bag hung round the neck
(Wor.); a dead person’s tooth carried in the left waistcoat pocket
(Dev.); and the paw of a mole (Shr.), are all good safeguards against
toothache. If you always put your left stocking and shoe on first, it
prevents toothache. If you cut your nails on a Friday you will never
have toothache, for, as tradition tells, when St. Peter once complained
of the toothache, our Lord told him to cut his nails on a Friday, and
he would be cured. It is well to remember never to perform this task
on a Sunday, for: A man had better ne’er be born Than on the Sabbath
pare his horn. St. Peter seems to have been a kind of patron saint of
sufferers from toothache. An old toothache-charm bearing reference to
him was once common throughout the country, as is testified by the
various versions of it which have been discovered by folklorists. The
charm had to be written out on paper, and worn on the person of the
sufferer, properly under a vest or stays. A Shropshire version is as
follows: ‘As Jesus passed through Jerusalem He saw Peter standing at
the gates and saith unto him, “What aileth thee, Peter?” Peter saith,
“Lord, I have the toothache that I can neither walk, lie, nor stand.”
He saith unto him, “Follow Me, and thou shalt not have the toothache
any more.”’ In Somersetshire it ran: ‘Peter sat on a marble stone,
When by here Jesus came aloan, “Peter what is it makes you for to
quake?” “Lord Jesus, it is the toothake.” “Rise, Peter, and be heled.”’
Scholars affirm that the original of this charm is a Latin one found
in the Anglo-Saxon _Leechdoms_, beginning: ‘Christus super marmoreum
sedebat; Petrus tristis ante eum stabat, manum ad maxillum tenebat....’
For Warts: Rub them with _Devil’s milk_ (Yks.), the great celandine,
also called the _wart-flower_ (Dev.), or _wart-wort_ (Glo. Wil.);
or with _wart-grass_ (Cum. Yks. Der.), the sun-spurge, also called
_wartweed_ (Cum. Yks. Glo. e.An.). These plants, and others which
likewise contain a milky white sap, are the most popular remedies for
curing warts. Other applications are: _frog-spit_ (Yks.), the white
froth deposited on plants by the insect _Cicada spumaria_; the slime
of a common snail (Dev.); fasting spittle (Shr.); and eel’s blood
(Nhb.). It is a common North-country belief that to wash the hands in
water in which eggs have been boiled will most certainly produce warts.
Dr. Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor, and father of the architect
of St. Paul’s, in his marginal notes to Sir Thomas Browne’s _Vulgar
Errors_, makes the following quotation from Lord St. Alban’s ‘natural
historye’: ‘The taking away of warts, by rubbing them with somewhat
that afterwards is put to waste and consume, is a common experiment;
and I do apprehend it the rather because of my own experience.... The
English ambassador’s lady, who was a woman far from superstition, told
me one day, she would help me away with my warts: whereupon she got
a piece of lard with the skin on, and rubbed the warts all over with
the fat side; and amongst the rest, that wart which I had had from my
childhood: then she nailed the piece of lard, with the fat towards the
sun, upon a post of her chamber window, which was to the south. The
success was, that within five weeks’ space all the warts went quite
away: and that wart which I had so long endured, for company.... They
say the like is done by the rubbing of warts with a green elder stick
and then burying the stick to rot in muck. It would be tried with
corns and wens, and such other excrescences.’ This type of wart-cure
was formerly prevalent in very many parts of England. The following
are some of the best-known recipes: Take a large black slug, or snail,
rub it on the wart, and then impale the creature on a thorn-bush, and
leave it there to die and wither away, simultaneously with the decaying
of the snail the wart will consume away and disappear; rub the wart
with the inside of the husk of a broad bean, and then throw the husk
away or bury it in some place disclosed to no one, as the bean-husk
rots, so will the warts; perform the same ceremony with a piece of
stolen meat or bacon; take as many sprigs of elder as there are warts,
with each sprig touch a wart, saying: Here’s a wart, then touch a
place where there is no wart, and add: but here’s none, then bury the
sprigs; rub the warts with ears of wheat, an ear for each wart, then
throw away the ears of wheat to perish at a ‘four-lane end’; make as
many knots in a hair as there are warts, and then throw it away; take
as many stones from a running stream as you have warts, fasten them
securely in a clean white bag, and throw them down on the highway,
then wash each wart in strong vinegar seven successive mornings, and
whoever picks up the bag of stones will get the warts; wrap up in a
parcel as many grains of barley as there are warts, and lay it on a
public road, whoever finds and opens the parcel will inherit the warts;
count the warts over carefully to a passing tramp, and mark the number
inside his hat, when he leaves the neighbourhood, the warts will also
disappear; cut an apple in two, rub one half on the wart and give it to
a pig, and eat the other half yourself; on the night of the new moon,
let some one lead the wart-patient out into the garden, facing that
quarter of the heavens where the moon is, the patient must then stoop
down and rub the warts with soil, returning immediately afterwards to
the house without once looking at the moon, cp. ‘referring unto sober
examination what natural effects can reasonably be expected ... when
for warts we rub our hands before the moon, or commit any maculated
part unto the touch of the dead,’ _Vulgar Errors_, Bk. V, Chap. XXIV;
repeat the words: Ashentree, ashentree, Pray buy these warts of me,
then stick a pin into the tree, and afterwards into the wart, and then
into the tree again, and leave it there. The belief in remedies of
this kind is apparently not yet dead, to judge from a reference in a
speech made last July at a Conference on ‘The Revival of the Gifts of
Healing in the Church’. The speaker, Dr. A. T. Schofield, is reported
to have said that: ‘There could be no doubt that all disease was
partly caused and partly cured by mind. As proof that mental healing
had power over the material diseases, he might instance the wonderful
power it had over the plebeian affliction of warts.’ For Wens: Take a
handkerchief which has been wrapped round the swelling, and throw it
into the grave at the burial service of a person of the opposite sex
to that of the sufferer, as the handkerchief decays in the earth, the
wen will disappear. Formerly the approved cure was the _dead-stroke_
(Nhp.), the stroking by the hand of a person who had just been hanged,
and numbers of people used to congregate round the gallows at an
execution in order to receive this cure. For Whooping-cough, or as
it is termed in the dialects, Chin-cough, or Kink-cough: Administer
medicines made from the juice of _Robin-run-in-the-hedge_ (Irel.), the
goose-grass, or cleavers, boiled with sugar; _golden-locks_ (Hrf.), the
common polypody; _Robin Redbreast’s cushion_ (Sus.), the rose-gall,
or bedeguar; or give wood-lice as pills (Lin.). Other remedies are:
fried mice (Chs. Nrf.); roast hedgehog (Chs.); owl-broth (Yks.); a
decoction made from _pushlocks_ (Sc.), sheep’s droppings, also known
as _lamb-trottle tea_ (Lin.); a few hairs taken from the cross on a
donkey’s back, chopped up fine, and placed between two slices of bread
and butter, and given to the child to eat (Chs. Shr.). Take a clean
pocket-handkerchief and spread it under the nose of a donkey, give
the animal a piece of white bread, take up the crumbs which fall, mix
them with milk, and give the mixture to the child to drink; make the
child eat its food with a _quick-horn_ spoon (ne.Sc.), that is, a
spoon made from the horn taken from a living animal. A woman who has
not changed her name in marriage can cure whooping-cough by giving
the patient something to eat, a cake, or a piece of bread and butter
(Chs.). If the child is fed with bread and butter from the table of
a family the heads of which bear the names of John and Joan, it is
likewise efficacious (Cor.). In a certain district in Staffordshire
children suffering from whooping-cough were often sent to an old couple
whose names were Joseph and Mary in hopes of a gift of food, which
if neither asked for, nor thanked for, was regarded as an effective
remedy. Any one riding a piebald horse has the power to prescribe an
infallible remedy for whooping-cough (Sc. n.Cy. Shr.), and cures are
said to have resulted from the simplest things, such as cold water,
honey, bread and butter, and tea, suggested by riders in answer to the
question: What is good for the chin-cough? Another approved remedy was
to pass the child a certain number of times, usually nine, round the
body of a parti-coloured horse, a donkey, a white cow or mare (Chs.
Shr. Dev.). A child that had ridden on a bear was believed to be proof
against ever taking the disease (Lan.). The bearward of former times
subsisted largely on the moneys given him by the parents of children
that had ridden on the bear as a protection against whooping-cough.
Carry the child into a sheep-fold, and let the sheep breathe on its
face, and then lay the child on the spot of ground from which a sheep
has just arisen, continue this daily for a week, and: ’Tes a zartin
cure (Dev.). Find a briar growing in the ground at both ends, pass
the child under and over it nine times, for three successive mornings
before sunrise, repeating: Under the briar, and over the briar, I wish
to leave the chin-cough here; or pass the child six times under and
over a bramble rooted at both ends, round and round while saying the
Lord’s Prayer, then take half a dozen leaves from the spray, and make
tea of them, and give them to the child to drink (Shr.). This ceremony
performed over a bramble which grows in three counties is considered a
still more potent charm. In parts of Scotland children were sometimes
put through the hoppers of mills. Catch a frog, open its mouth, let the
patient cough into it three times, and then throw the creature over his
left shoulder, and the cough will disappear at once (Chs. Yks. Wor.).
Another way of transferring the disease to a frog is to put the latter
into a jug of water, and make the patient cough into the jug, and this
_smits_ [infects] the frog, and the patient is cured. A woman relating
how she had cured her child after this manner, added: It went to my
heart to hear the poor frog go coughing about the garden afterwards.
The mountain-ash also figures as a remedy for the chin-cough. A small
lock of hair must be cut from the head of the patient, and then placed
in a hole bored in the trunk of the tree, and fastened into it with a
plug (Chs.). Or again, a certain number of _hodmidods_ [small snails]
were passed through the hands of the patient and then threaded on a
string and suspended in the chimney; as the _hodmidods_ died, the cough
would leave the child (Suf.). In Norfolk the mother of the sufferer
would be told to find a dark spider in her own house, and hold it over
the head of her child, repeating three times: Spider, as you waste
away, Whooping-cough no longer stay. The spider must then be hung up
in a bag over the mantelpiece, and when it has dried up, the cough
will be gone. Among curative charms to be worn by the patient are: a
hairy caterpillar, or a small wood-lizard stitched up in a bag, and
tied round the child’s neck (Yks. Shr.); some hairs from a donkey’s
cross sewn up in a strip of flannel, and worn round the throat (Chs.);
an _adder-stone_ (Lin.), an ancient spindle-whorl, believed to be
produced by adders; a string with nine knots in it (Lan.); the small
twigs of an elder growing in a churchyard, cut into lengths of about an
inch, and then threaded into a necklace; a godmother’s stay-lace, or
a godfather’s garter (Shr.), worn round the neck of a child suffering
from whooping-cough.
[Sidenote: _Supposed Powers of Healing_]
The seventh son of a family, born in succession without a girl, was
believed to be born with special aptness for the healing art (Shr. Som.
Dev.). An old man who died at Welshampton about 1868, used to cure
whooping-cough merely by contact with the patient. Sometimes as many as
ten or twelve children were brought to him on one day. He always gave
each child a piece of cake before going away, but he never received any
money from any one for the cures he performed. He attributed his powers
solely to the fact that he was the seventh son of three generations of
seventh sons. In former days it was believed that a seventh son could
_strike_ for the king’s evil (Dev. Cor.).
[Sidenote: _The Water-caster_]
A mediciner much thought of in parts of Yorkshire was the
_water-caster_. Perhaps none of them are left now, but certainly well
within the memory of the present generation a member of the profession
lived in a village near Bradford, where he was frequently consulted for
all sorts of diseases and bodily misfortunes. He pretended to be able to
diagnose the complaint from the _cast_ or appearance of the urine, and
to prescribe accordingly. On one occasion he told a woman that he had
discovered by this means that her child, on whose behalf she had come,
had injured himself by falling down some stairs. Whereupon the mother,
at first unable to trust this astounding perspicacity, put it to the
test by asking the number of the stairs the child had covered in his
fall. ‘Seven,’ replied the water-caster. ‘Your wreng, Mester,’ said the
mother, ‘it wor nine.’ ‘Then you didn’t bring me all the water,’ was the
calm rejoinder. ‘Your reight, Mester, there, ah didn’t bring it all.’ So
the woman went away satisfied that the water-caster was a man of
infallible skill. In reality his marvellous insight was the result of a
very simple expedient. He was only to be seen at certain stated times,
hence he always had several patients arriving at the same hour. He kept
them waiting all together whilst he himself remained behind a boarded
partition, where he was supposed to be occupied with his scientific
researches. Naturally the various sufferers detailed their respective
ills and symptoms to each other, whilst the attentive water-caster
secretly noted them down, to reproduce afterwards with some simple
medical advice in return for pecuniary considerations.
[Sidenote: _Charms against Cattle Disease_]
The best-known charm against cattle diseases in Scotland and the
north of England was the _need-fire_, a virgin flame kindled by the
friction of two pieces of wood. It was formerly raised in one village
and hurriedly carried on from one village to another. A correspondent
of _The Times_, in an article on the Coronation Bonfires, June 13,
1911, says: ‘These “need-fires” have continued in the north of England
within living memory. The writer has spoken with farmers in Cumberland
and Westmorland who in a time of cattle plague have not only seen the
“need-fire” carried from farm to farm, but cattle driven through the
smoke to stop the murrain.’ The word still remains in popular sayings,
such as: To be at a thing like need-fire, to do anything with great
effort or industry; to go like need-fire, to go with great speed;
to work for need-fire, to show great industry or restless activity
(Lakel. Cum. Wm.). Another charm-cure for cattle was the _shrew-ash_
(Lan. Sus. Hmp.). The affected part of the injured or diseased
animal was rubbed with leaves or twigs from an ash-tree in the trunk
of which live mice and shrews had been plugged up, and thus buried
alive. The _thunder-bolts_, and _awf-shots_, which we have already
noticed among charms against human ills, were also used for the cure
of disordered cattle. If an animal died of distemper, a portion of
its flesh cut out and hung in the chimney would serve as a protection
against a recurrence of the complaint (Lan.). For a _foul_ (Chs.), an
inflammation between the claws of a cow’s foot: Cut a sod on which the
diseased foot has stood, the shape of the foot, and stick it on a bush.
For Lameness in a horse, caused by a nail: Thrust the nail into a piece
of bacon, as it rusts, the wound will heal (Wor.). The _quarter-ill_ is
a disease which specially attacks young cattle, affecting them in one
limb or quarter, and usually ending in death. To prevent this, at the
birth of a calf, salt was sprinkled on its back, and an unbroken egg
thrust down its throat (Nhb.). A piece of wood, termed a _scopperil_,
was sometimes put through the dewlap of a beast, and an amulet
suspended from it as a defence against the quarter-ill. Another disease
to which calves are subject is called _speed_ (Yks.), to prevent this,
to nick the calf’s ears before it had seen two Fridays was believed to
be efficacious. A Shropshire method of preventing a cow from fretting
after her calf when it is taken away from her, was to cut a lock of
hair from the calf’s tail and put it into the mother’s ear. This
keepsake was supposed to console her for the loss of her offspring. Ef
your dawg du lose ’is ’air, yiew mix up some oil, gunpowder, and the
ashes of an old shoe--that’ll make ’air grow ’pon a boord.