Page:Guide to health.djvu/108

 snake-bite, where everybody else, had given up the man for dead, he restored him to life by causing him to be covered up with earth for some time. There is no reason to doubt the veracity of this report. It is well known that great heat is generated in the body by burying it in the earth; and although we cannot explain how exactly the effect is produced, it is undeniable that earth does possess the property of absorbing the poison. Indeed, every case of snake-bite may not be cured in this way; but it should certainly be tried in every case. And I can say from my own experience that, in cases of scorpion-sting and the like, the use of mud is particularly beneficial.

I have myself tried with success the following forms of earth-cure. Constipation, dysentery, and chronic stomach-ache have been cured by the use of a mud-poultice over the abdomen for two or three days. Instant relief has been obtained in cases of headache by applying a mud-bandage round the head. Sore eye has also been cured by the same method; hurts of all kinds, whether accompanied by inflammation or not, have been healed likewise. In the old days I could not keep well without a regular use of Eno's Fruit-salt and the like. But, since 1904, when I learnt the value of earth-cure, I have had not a single occasion to use them. A mud-poultice over the abdomen and