As spoken of earlier in the paper folk medicine consists of cures or remedies that ancestors discovered but did not actually test scientifically to see if they would work. They are out of the box sometimes and are different from an herb that you would buy from your pharmacy or grocery store. Folk remedies combine "magical"- belief in special powers associated with properties of objects- and practical cures, such as herbs. Magical being that they would be unrealistic, or not based on what today would be considered scientific.
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Of course our ancestors would have thought as all of the cures and remedies as practical. Such things as certain numbers, places, colors, animals, direction, phrases, time, and measurement would have been considered to have a power that made the medicine work. For example, a cure for a medical condition could be: at 12pm on Monday stand 3' away from a black donkey by a crossroad, toss a rock around the donkey clockwise while repeating "Winnie the Pooh."
Sometimes regular physicians would use folk cures- or ignore certain treatments that might later prove to be useful.
The following examples- which combine what we consider practical with magical were taken from Louisiana In the 1940s:
There is a secret verse In the Book of Ezekiel which, If read, will stop bleeding.
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Treatment (said to cure): Wipe the legs of child with a greasy towel every day.
Charm: squeeze a frog to death in the hand.
Charm: Go towards the bed as If to get Into It, but get under Instead.
Medicine: Tea of L'Herbe Cabri (coatgrass)
Medicine: Instead of water, drink, for three months, tea made of boiled huckleberry leaves.
Treatment: Let the patient smell his left shoe. Rub his right hand.
Charm: Look directly at the point of a knife blade. This will also cure sneezing.
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Urine and salt taken three times a day for three days.
A Negro charm is to make the patient cough In the face of a catfish.
For night sweats place a plan of water under the bed and the sweating will cease.
Apply seven different types of leaves to a bee sting.
Charm: Make nine knots in a tarred rope and tie it around your waist.
Charm: Belt of snakeskin.
Cajun treatment: If you burn your finger while lighting a cigarette, stick it quick behind your ear.
Charm for burns: Read the "fire passages" In the bible. Those who know these passages never reveal them till death, for to do so would cause them to lose the power.
Wash neck, nose and temples with a vinegar soaked cloth
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Nibble on plants such as parsley, alfalfa and other green leafy vegetables.
Brush teeth with baking soda or fresh plowed dirt.
Soak In some warm water.
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Turn your shoes upside down before going to bed.
Give a grouchy person a tea made from violet blossoms.
Take two teaspoons twice a day of apple cider vinegar with a glass of water
Apples
Warm Compress: Soak a washcloth in water and place it over your eye for ten minutes two times a day.
Suck on a lemon
Drink flour and water mixed together.
The following was taken from an article written In 19__ by Alice H. Murphee, M.A. and Mark V. Barrow, M.D., Ph.D. Where they did a research on folk medicine In 1965 on a northern Florida county. The remedies Included below have a possible scientific basis found in books and articles. There was an explanation taken from publications on why that certain remedy maybe useful that was Included.
Common Name |
Usefulness according to county residents |
Usefulness according to the literature |
Onion |
Roasted onion juice for earache |
Juice antiseptic; useful In earache |
Cabbage |
Wilted leaves draws poison from Infected cuts |
Useful for carbuncles |
Gopher or Fever Grass |
For gout, rheumatism; boils; ground Itch; for cuts |
Fever grass |
Black Walnut |
Soak feet for ground Itch |
Contains calcium oxalate |
Pine Tree |
Resin for boils and to stop bleeding; tea for chill and fever, earache |
For hemorrhaging; an antiseptic |
Corn |
Corn shuck tea for measles; for fever; corn silk cigarettes for sore throat |
Contains alkaloids; for fever |
Mustard |
Leaf poultice to chest for pneumonia |
N/A |
Turnip |
Wilted leaf as poultice for cuts |
N/A |
Sweet Potatoe |
Raw potatoe stops diarrhea; raw slice over conjunctivitis |
N/A |
Peach |
Chop heart of seed, fry with lard for earache |
N/A |
The following came from a book titled Dr. Chase's Recipes or Information for Everybody which was published in 1866.
Good sized live toads, 4 In number; put Into boiling water and cook very soft; then take them out and boil the water down to 1/2 pt., and add fresh churned, unsalted butter 1 lb. and simmer together; at the last add tincture of arnica 2 ozs.
Sweet oil, linseed oil, and red lead pulverized, of each 1 oz. (or in these proportions). Put all Into an Iron dish over a moderate fire, stirring constantly, until you can draw your finger over a drop of It on a board when a little cool, without sticking. Spread on cloth and apply as other salves.
Wahoo, bark of the root, and elecampane root, of each 2 ozs.; spikenard root, and tamarack bark (unrossed, but the moss may be brushed off,) of each 4 ozs.; mandrake root 1/2 oz.; blood root 1/4 oz.; mix alcohol 1 pt., with sufficient water to cover all, handsomely, and let stand 2 or 3 days; then pour off 1 qt., putting on water and boiling twice, straining the two water and boiling down to 3 pts.; when cool add 3 lbs. of honey, and alcoholic fluid poured off, with tincture of wine of Ipecac 1 1/2 ozs.; If the couhg should be very tight, double the Ipecac; and wash the feet daily In warm water, rubbing them thoroughly with a coarse towel, and, twice a week, extending the washing and rubbing to the whole body.
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The best rhubarb root, pulverized 1 oz.; peppermint leaf 1 oz.; capsicum 1/8 oz. cover with boiling water and steep thoroughly, strain and add bi-carbonate of potash and essence of cinnamon, of each 1/2 oz.; with brandy (or good whisky) equal In amount to the whole, and loaf sugar 4 oz.
Pure muriatic acid 1 oz.; water 1 oz.; honey 2 ozs.; mix. Take a tooth brush and wet It freely with this preparation, and briskly rub the black teeth, and In a moment's time they will be perfectly white; then Immediately wash out the mouth with water, that the acid may not act upon the enamel of the teeth.
Alcohol 1 qt.; gum guaiac 1 oz.; gums myrrh and camphor, and cayenne pulverized, of each 1/2 oz. Mix. Shake occasionally for a week of 10 days and filter to let settle for use. Apply freely to surface pains, or it may be taken in tea-spoon doses for Internal pains, and repeat according to necessities.
The following lists of medicines came from 1930s WPA Interviews with people who were born into slavery. These Interviews describe folk medications used by slaves and ex-slaves in their treatment of one another.Algaroba wood, alum, black gum, black hall, black haw, black snake root, boneset tea, bull tongue, butterfly root, calamus root, catnip tea, chestnut leaves, chicken manure tea, comfrey, cornshuck tea, dairy vine leaves, dry cow manure, dewberry root tea, dogwood bark tea, elder roots, elderberry leaves, feverfew grass, flat tobacco, garlic, ginger tea, goat pills, goldenrod, turpentine, horehound, Jerusalem oak, jimson weed, life everlasting, lightwood, lobelia oil, Mullen, peach brandy, peach tree leaves, pennyroyal, pine tar, pine tops, poke root, poplar bark tea, queensy's light root, red oak, red pepper, red shank root, red wood, rosemary tea, sage tea, St. John leaves, Samson snake root, sassafras, scurry root, senna, sheep dropping tea, slippery elm, snake root, white pantian tea, wild cherry,willow tea, yellow root
Budock root, percoon root, sassafras, anise seed, balsam apples, birdeye vine, blackberry root tea, blackjack vine, black pepper tea, cactus leaf tea, castor oil plant leaves, catnip leaves, chicken manure tea, Chinaberries, coat grass, cockroach tea, corn shuck tea, cranberries, elder sprouts, fig tree milk, garlic, goldenrod, gum moss, huckleberry leaves, Jack vine tea, Jimson weed, mullen leaves, oak leaf tea, okra blossoms, parsley roots, peach tree leaves, plantain bananan leaves, sage, Saint Jacob's quinine, sea gum, sheep pills (dung), snake root, sumac, swamp lily roots, toad grass, wild Iris roots, wild plum
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Black haw, black snake root, bur vine tea, chestnut tree bark, dewberry, dog-fennel tea, dog wood bark, fennel tea, gum bark, hog hoof, horehound weed, horse mint, Jerusalem weed, life everlasting weed, lobelia, molasses, oil, peach tree leaves, persimmon wine, red oak bark, sage tea, Samson's snake root, sassafras, scaley-barks (Insects), snake root, snake vine, Stinking Jacob, sweetgum buds, turpentine, wild cherry bark, wild sage teas
Cherry bark, comfrey, crowfoot, flagroot, horehound, master weed, May apple, Peter's root, rats vein herb, sweet william, tansy, turpentine, worm seed
Barb-Iron, Barmonia weed, bittercrest weeds and bark, blackerry root, black haw root, black snake root, buck eyes burr vine tea, cactus needles, calamus root, cami weed, camphor, charcoal, cherry bark, chicken gizzard, chinaberry, chinquapin bark, collard leaf, cotton root, dewberry roots, dogwood, dollar-leaf tea, forty notch, horse mint, Jerusalem pak, larkspur, lobelia, marshroot, mayflower roots, onions, peach tree leaves, pine tree resin, poke salad roots, potato weed, prickly pear tea, privet roots, rabbit foot leaves,red conroot, red shank, red oak bark, red pepper tea, rosin weed, sadras root, samson snake root, sassafras, slippery elm, snake root, swamp root, turpentine, violet leaves, wild sage, yucca
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