But nearly every disease or complaint had its cure in days past, and, in a more or less degree, all were nasty.
For the moment let us return to wart-charmers. There is room here for both speculation and research. They did cure warts, of that there is not the least shadow of a doubt. The amount of evidence on record is such that contradiction and disbelief amounts to crass folly, and shows an ignorance of well-authenticated facts. A man I know, whose hand was covered with warts—warts which simply jeered at caustic and all such applications—at last went to the charmer. What did the man do? He simply asked the old chap if he believed he could remove them. Having answered in the affirmative, the charmer just rubbed his hand over the whole lot, muttered some words, and told the warty one to go home—in a fortnight’s time he was wartless. Hundreds of cases could be given. Absolute faith that they would disappear, may have exercised some mental action over the physical, and the trick was done. In this way, if we admit some hypnotic power which they unconsciously used, we may account for many of the wonders which these charmers and wise men worked in days past, often bringing about results at which possibly no one was more surprised than the wise men themselves; but they, like many of to-day, had the sense to hold their peace, and that has often dressed many a conjuring trick with all trappings of philosophy.
It is held to-day, when any one is bitten by a dog, that the only certain remedy against hydrophobia is to have the brute killed at once. For, say they, should the dog in years to come go mad, all those bitten by it will go mad at the same time.
The wearing of silver rings made from a single coin presented at Holy Communion, was once held as a sovereign remedy and preventive against epileptic fits.
The cures for children and others afflicted with worms are many and curious. A few of the more striking will be noticed. A bunch of fine yarrow, gathered from off a maiden’s grave, had to be boiled in water, and a wineglassful of the liquor, with the addition of as much finely powdered glass as would lie on a groat, had to be taken fasting for six alternate mornings, bearing in mind that each morning the patient was not fattening himself on corpse yarrow and broken window-panes; he had also to swallow a stiff glass of salts and senna, which not only made every kind of worm quit its hold of his inside, but left him in a condition almost, if not quite, ready for the worms to commence their attack from the outside. Worms, however, are seized with such a sudden fear when a live trout is brought near them, that they die right off. Hence it is not an uncommon thing for a father to procure a live trout, and lay the same on the stomach of a wormy one. And then, what with the fish kicking and the bairn screaming, the poor worms have no chance, and they know it, and throw up the sponge accordingly.
In days past cramp seems to have awakened people three or four times a week. But sleeping with your stockings on, with a piece of sulphur in each, or the skin of a mole bound round the left thigh, or even crossing your shoes on retiring to rest, would drive the cramp away. Cramp, it would seem, was formerly looked upon as having a very close connexion with the devil, and was often the result of an evil wish, spell, or witch-work. In cases when it arose from any of the latter, something more potent than sulphur and the crossing of shoes had to be resorted to. A silken thread which had been passed round a coffin, care having been taken to thread the silk through the handles, would, if worn round the leg, just below the knee-joint, securely guard the wearer against wicked spells of that nature.
The skin of an eel, if tied round the leg, prevents cramp whilst bathing.
Rings fashioned from any metal accidentally turned up whilst digging a grave, were until quite recently in great repute, especial virtue being attached to one made from a coffin handle. Such rings acted as a charm against almost every kind of evil spell.
Years ago it was commonly believed that there was some kind of sympathy existing between the cause and the injury itself. An illustration of this has been given in the case of a dog-bite, but it had a much wider application; e.g. should any one be injured by a nail, or anything else, the nail, &c., was carefully cleaned, polished, wrapped up, and put away each time after dressing the wound.
I remember a case in point within the last ten years. A plough lad was hurt by the colter, the cutting iron of the plough; the ploughing was stopped, the colter removed, and sent to the blacksmith, with orders to remove all dirt and rust, and to polish all parts to which blood was adhering; and during the recovery, each time the wound was dressed, the colter was cleaned and polished with equal care.