Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 8, 1897.djvu/423

 Miscellanea. 387

the spot ; the idea of the cross being involved, the spiritual seed of disease is believed to be cast out, and thus the visible signs must necessarily disappear.

In Donegal, dog-fat is considered an excellent remedy for stiff joints.

In County Down, a plant popularly known as "Red Roger" is used to stop bleeding at the nose ; probably the same idea being connected with it as with the scarlet flannel above mentioned.

A band of silk worn round the neck is the preventive against quinsy, used by one gentleman in Shropshire and another in Dor- setshire, where I first heard of it.

In Tipperary, stolen meat rubbed on warts and then buried will cause them to disappear. Also in the same county and King's County, a wedding-ring rubbed on a sty in the eye is said to cure ; but gold seems to have wondrous charms everywhere.

In King's County, the blood of a black cat, if drunk, is a cure for " wild fire." Cats have always been credited in Ireland, even from Celtic times, with mysterious powers.

About Lismore (Ireland), a plant known as " Poverty of the Ground " boiled with fresh milk is said to be a cure for hydro- phobia.

In E. Yorks., among the moor-folk, the small hard seeds of Gromwell {Lithospennnffi officinale) is remedial for stone, when taken internally.

In County Down, nettles are widely used for paralysis of the limbs ; continued excitement by them on the skin is the form of treatment.

In parts of Ireland, hemlock is used for giddiness. There is one man in E. Yorks. who uses the tongue of a fox as a poultice for removing a thorn from the finger.

In Fermanagh, nettle-tea (a decoction of the leaves and tips of Urtica urens) is the cure for measles.

In some parts of \J\s,te.r,/u7icus glaucus is the supposed evictor of jaundice ; but every district has an old man or woman who is considered capable of curing this, the visible sign of another ail- ment, and it must, I imagine, generally fail.

The bagbean and hazel are both said to share in the McGovern of Glans' cure for hydrophobia ; but this is believed to be a remedy hygienic and dietetic in a great measure.

In some parts of Ireland, we find what must be a torture rather

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