Three drops of the blood of an angry cat gave relief to the epileptic.
The heads of venomous serpents have held an important place in medicine. A strong broth made from them and mixed with salt and spices and one hundred other remedies was employed under the name of theriac as a cure for every conceivable disease.
Curious survivals of this old belief in the efficacy of certain reptiles and insects as cures for human ills occasionally come to light, even in this advanced age. In New England, cobweb pills are supposed to be good for the ague, and in the South a certain knuckle-bone in a pig’s foot is a cure for rheumatism, if it be carried in the pocket or worn suspended from a string around the neck. The spider-web pill originated in China, where all species of insects have certain positive or negative values in medicine.
Among the learned physicians of Pekin it is customary to give two or three scorpions or spiders to a patient ill of fever.
In Ireland, the peasantry swallow small spiders alive to effect cures. From these to the cobweb pill of the New England native was easy.
In Flanders, the live spider is fastened into the empty shell of a walnut and worn around the neck of the patient. As the creature dies, the fever decreases until it is gone entirely.
Among jewels, the ruby was considered good for derangements of the liver, as well as for bad eyes.
The sapphire and emerald were credited with properties which rendered them capable of influencing ophthalmic disorders, and there is a superstitious belief that serpents are blinded by looking at the latter stone.
Temperance advocates, if they have any regard for the beliefs of the Greeks and Romans, might seriously consider the advisability of distributing amethysts among drunkards, for it was supposed that these stones prevented intoxication.
Most of our readers have no doubt heard of the precious jewel which the toad carries in his brain-box, and so-called toad-stones, which were in reality the teeth of fossil fish, were formerly worn in finger-rings as a protection against poisons.