Thursday Thirteen

Since health care is such an issue these days, I thought I'd look up some old-fashioned remedies for various ailments. We'll call this the new medicine . . . for a new age.

Don't try any of these at home. Well, I suppose #3 wouldn't hurt anything unless you're allergic to nuts. But still . . . don't try these remedies.


1. To cure arthritis, carry a potato in your pocket. The potato will not rot, but instead will harden as it absorbs the arthritis. (I might get my husband to try this.)

2. To cure asthma, wear a muskrat skin on the chest with the fur next to the chest. (I presume this is a dead muskrat.)

3. To prevent cancer, eat three almonds a day.

4. To prevent a cold, eat an onion and then wash your hair.

5. To cure a fever, gather a supply of rabbit dung and make a strong tea of the dung in hot water.  Strain and drink the tea every half hour until the sweating stops. (I imagine that the sweating would stop sometime after you quit vomiting at the idea of drinking rabbit dung.)

6. To cure a headache, sleep with a pair of scissors under your pillow.  The next morning the headache will be gone. (That's because you will have cut your fingers open in the night and the bleeding and pain will make you forget your head hurt.)

7. To get rid of lice, (1) put your clothes on an anthill.  Then (2) wash your head in kerosene. (3)  Spring your head with sea salt. (4) Part your the hair. (5) Pour raw whisky on your scalp. (6) Let it stay for 48 hours. (7) Do not smoke or go near the fire. (No kidding! Your hair would go up like a torch with all that alcohol on your head.)

8. To cure rabies, sear the bite with a hot iron to keep from going crazy. (I imagine the pain from that hot iron would make you a little nuts if the rabies didn't.)

9. To cure a sore throat, tie a piece of fatback on a string and swallow the fatback, pulling it up again by the string. Repeat several times. (After you've choked to death on the fatback, you won't care if you have a sore throat.)

10. To cure stuttering, hit the person stuttering in the mouth with a chicken gizzard. (I cannot imagine how this would cure stuttering, but it would certainly cause the person to quit talking and start screaming.)

11. To cure warts, apply a snail. (Live snail? Dead snail? Doesn't say.)

12. Another way to cure warts is to take a tick from a dog and let the tick bit the wart. In two or three days, the wart should be gone. Then put the tick back on the dog. (I think not.)

13. To cure whooping cough, place a pan of fresh chicken droppings under the bed. (Eww.)

Again, these are just for fun. Don't try these so-called remedies, though I am sure someone somewhere has at sometime.

Information from: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-oldremedies/3/


_______

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 536th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.