In treating the different diseases either natural means are employed or charms are resorted to. Among the former the most prominent place is occupied by the deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna), which being a very powerful drug naturally commends itself to general use. The other drugs most frequently used are: lovage (ligusticum), common birthwort (aristolochia clematitis), henbane seed (hyosciamus) root of adder's tongue (ophioglossum), thorn-apple (datura), goosefoot (chenopodium hybridum), flixweed[1] (sisymhrium sophia), celandine (chelidonium majus), bear's-foot (hellehorus), yarrow (achillea millefolium), plantain or rib-grass (plantago), fruit of dwarf-elder (sambucus ebulus), burdock (the kind known as lappa major); also, linseed, the bark or blossom of various trees, horse-radish, capsicum,[2] pepper, "spice," cloves, aniseed, onion, garlic, &c., from among the products of the vegetable kingdom.
These drugs are used in preparing the various ointments, lotions, or baths, or are taken internally according to the nature of the complaint; when taken internally they are invariably, or with very few exceptions, administered in wine or spirits. Our "doctors" very seldom prescribe anything made up of purely mineral ingredients. Their pharmacopœia, however, includes incense, "almanach-tincture," "nothing," tar, gunpowder,[3] brimstone, vinegar, and ashes,[4] all of which are used in small doses, in making up the different kinds of ointments. The only medicaments taken from the animal kingdom are, perhaps: wolfs flesh, fowl's eggs, the outer skin of the hen's gizzard, the white fœces of the dog, the black excrements of the pig, and the ears of the rat.[5] These are taken internally, as a rule.
Some of these medicaments are quite harmless, but when the
- ↑ The Magyar name means "wound-healing leaf," in all probability the same as the "wound-healing grass" in popular tales. See "Knight Rose" in Kriza's Collection.
- ↑ Capsicum powder (paprika) figures on every dinner-table in Hungary instead of pepper, and also plays the same part in Hungarian cookery as curry does in India.
- ↑ A mixture of gunpowder and spirits is also prescribed internally for ague.
- ↑ The kinds of fuel mostly used are wood, turf, moss, and, on the Hungarian lowlands, cow-dung.
- ↑ Live guinea-pigs are said to abstract rheumatism if kept in the same room with the sufferer.—(Budapest.)
