Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/269

 every town and village, who profess not only to know what herbs to prescribe for any given disease, but also to gather them "when their proper planets are ruling." There is, however, much to be added to this medical folk-wisdom which is purely superstitious. Thus, in order to cure warts, we are instructed to put the same number of small pebbles into a bag as there are warts; then to drop the bag where three or four roads meet, and the person who picks it up will obtain the warts in addition. Warts will also disappear soon after they are rubbed with a black snail; but it must afterwards be impaled on a spike of the hawthorn, or no effect will be produced. A farmer, lately resident in Cliviger, found one of his visitors suffering from toothache; and after exhorting him to have more faith in Jesus, gave him the following charm, written on paper, which he was to wear suspended from his neck, and over his heart, in full assurance that he would never again suffer from pain in his teeth. "As St John sat on a stone weeping, Jesus passed by, and saw him, and said, 'Why weepest thou?' And John answered and said, 'Because my tooth doth ache.' Jesus answered and said, 'Whosoever keepeth this charm for the sake of me, his teeth shall never ache again.' The same is good and for ever." Placing a cold iron key on the nape of the neck is frequently practised in order to stop bleeding at the nose. When persons are afflicted with tumours of any kind, they are advised to rub them with a dead man's hand. Smoke from a lime-kiln, the fumes from ammonia, or liquor from a gas-manufactory, are remedies for whooping-cough. This disease is also supposed to be cured by passing the patient nine times round the body of an ass. Those who suffer from rheumatic pains are advised to carry small potatoes in their pockets, which are held not only to cure, but to