There is a pretty secret to cure a burn without a scar: “Take sheep’s suet and the rind of the elder-tree, boil both together, and the ointment will cure a burn without leaving a mark.”
FOR THE MEMORY.
The whitest of frankincense beaten fine, and drunk in white wine, wonderfully assisteth the memory, and is profitable for the stomach also.
FOR THE FALLING SICKNESS.
Take a hank of grey yarn, a lock of the patient’s hair, some parings of his nails, and bury them deep in the earth, repeating, in Irish, as a burial service, “Let the great sickness lie there for ever. By the power of Mary and the soul of Paul, let the great sickness lie buried in the clay, and never more rise out of the ground. Amen.”
If the patient, on awaking from sleep, calls out the name of the person who uttered these words, his recovery is certain.
If a person crosses over the patient while he is in a fit, or stands between him and the fire, then the sickness will cleave to him and depart from the other that was afflicted.
FOR CHIN-COUGH.
A griddle cake made of meal, to be given, not bought or made; but a cake given of love or of charity, not for begging; a cake given freely, with a prayer and a blessing; and from the breakfast of a man and his wife who had the same name before marriage; this is the cure.