Читать книгу Notes and Queries, Number 75, April 5, 1851 - Various - Страница 3

Cure of Hooping Cough.—There is a superstition in Cheshire that hooping cough may be cured by holding a toad for a few moments with its head within the mouth of the person affected. I heard only the other day of a cure by this somewhat disagreeable process; the toad was said to have caught the disease, which in this instance proved fatal to it in a few hours.

A. H. H.

Charms from Devonshire.—The following charms were obtained from an old woman in this parish, though probably they are all known to you already:

"As our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was riding into Jerusalem, His horse tripped and sprained his leg. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour blessed it, and said,

'Bone to bone, and vein to vein,

O vein, turn to thy rest again!'

M. N. so shall thine, in the Name," &c.

(c.) For stopping Blood.

"Our Blessed Saviour was born in Bethlehem and baptized in the river Jordan.

'The Waters were wild and rude.

The child Jesus was meek, mild, and good.'

He put His foot into the waters, and the waters stopped, and so shall thy blood, in the Name," &c.

(d.) For the Tooth-ache.

"All glory! all glory! all glory! be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

"As our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was walking in the garden of Gethsamene, He saw Peter weeping. He called him unto Him, and said, Peter why, weepest thou? Peter answered and said, Lord, I am grievously tormented with pain, the pain of my tooth. Our Lord answered and said, If thou wilt believe in Me, and My words abide with thee, thou shalt never feel any more pain in thy tooth. Peter said, Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief. In the Name, &c.

"God grant M. N. ease from the pain in his teeth."

(e.) For Fits.—Go into a church at midnight and walk three times round the communion table. This was done in this parish a few years since.

(f.) An inhabitant of this parish told me that his father went into Lydford Church, at twelve o'clock at night, and cut off some lead from every diamond pane in the windows with which he made a heart, to be worn by his wife afflicted with "breastills," i.e. sore breasts.

(g.) The skin cast by a snake is very useful in extracting thorns, &c. from the body, but, unlike I other remedies, it is repellent, not attractive; hence it must always be applied on the opposite side to that on which the thorn entered. In some cases where the skin has been applied on the same side, it has forced the thorn completely through the hand.

Lent Lilies.—Oak Webs, &c.—In this part of Cornwall, the native yellow narcissus, known in most counties, and in the books, as daffodils (the "Daffy Down Dilly" of your correspondent, Vol. iii. p. 220.), are called only by the name of Lent lilies, or simply Lents, and are commonly sold by the poor children, frequently in exchange for pins. The pleasing name reminds one of Michaelmas Daisy (Chrysanthemum), Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), and the beautiful pasque flower (Anemone pulsatilla).

The common beetle called cockchafer is here known only as the oak-web, and a smaller beetle as fern-web. It seems hard to guess why they should be named web (which in Anglo-Saxon means weaver), as they do not, I think, form any cocoon.

H. G. T.

Launceston.