Frontier /pioneer remedies

[Forty Rod]

My daughter is looking for home remedies that folks would have used in frontier /pioneer days.  You know, the "potato against the fevered part and then bury it by moonlight" sort of thing.

What did people do if there weren't any doctors around and no one with real medical knowledge?

I appreciate any help.

[St. George]

No matter what - there were 'always' folks around who were familiar with 'some' manner of doctoring - as there were always folks who knew what roots and herbs would help.

In a self-sufficient environment - you either doctor yourself - or die.

The secrets of herbs, roots and whatnot were passed down from generation to generation - as were the various methods of setting bone or sewing torn flesh.

T'wasn't always 'pretty' - but in general - it usually worked well enough - and that was the object of the exercise.

Your daughter'd be well-served by going to the Public Library and looking up 'home remedies'.
There's a myriad of interesting things and she should be suitably amazed.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Silver Creek Slim]

We always use a mud pack on bee stings.

Slim

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Here's an interesting site on home remedies: http://www.otan.dni.us/webfarm/emailproject/rem.htm

[Noz]

Crushed up mud dobber nests mixed with coal oil or water will cure anything from burns to bee stings.
Vicks rubbed on your chest, stuffed up your nose and taken by the teaspoon will cure any cold.
Cured pork fat, warmed and placed over a puncture wound will "draw" the poison.
Chewing tobacco chewed and swallowed ( small quantity) will eliminate intestinal worms.
Mullen leaves sewn together into a hat and worn to bed will stop headaches.
Tobacco smoke blown into an aching ear will stop the pain.
Plums are a good laxative and blackberrys will stop you up.
Wild carrot (queen ann's lace) and or sassafras will thin your blood and get you going in the spring.
When the shoes came off in the spring many kids had tender feet and received some nasty cuts. I have heard women tell their children that the cut was God's work. If God hadn't of cut their foot then they would have had to carry all the black thick blood (clotting blood) that came out of the cut.
These are just some of the ones I grew up with. Fortunately my grandfather was a doctor so I was not forced to endure most of these

[Oregon Bill]

Tincture of morphia in alcohol or various other mixers was well regarded for supressing coughs and easing breathing in adults and children. Good for colic, too.

[St. George]

Fly larvae - maggots - will effectively debride a wound, cleansing it of infection and dead, decaying flesh.

After his terrible mauling by a bear, and subsequently being left for dead by his hunting companions - including Jim Bridger - his wounds were effectively 'cleaned' by them, and he eventually survived the ordeal.

For more on 'that' - read 'The Song of Hugh Glass' - by John G. Neihardt.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Noz]

St. George, I thought I was the only fan of John Neihardt left in the world. He was teaching his epic poem  Cycle of the West" as a humanity class at the University of Mo in the late 50s and early 60s. I took the class three times because I was facinated by "Little Buffalo".  I had him write a portion of one of his poems "Stranger at the Gate" in the front of the text book for my 6 week old baby daughter(she is now 42). One of the true great teachers I have ever had. I consider the autographed and inscribed bokk as one of my prized possessions.
Have you read "Black Elk Speaks"?

[St. George]

Of course...

It's a bit hard not to - if the history of the West is going to be studied.

Haven't read it in years, though.

You have a treasure in that book - and when they're inscribed like that - you can hear the writer's voice when you read it.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Doc Neeley]

My Grandmother was a Choctaw lady and my mother told me that when she was a child, her mother made her (and her 9 brothers and sisters) wear an "asfidity" (sic)  bag around her neck to ward off illness. She doesn't remember what was in it, only that to her childish nose it stunk to high heavens. The spelling is phonetic as I have never seen the real word.

Must have worked, she turns 90 in November and all but the sibling lost in WWII lived into their 90's (or maybe just the luck of the genetic codes).

[Doc Neeley]

Forty Rod, have her check this website.

http://www.zwamp.com/remed2.htm

[GunClick Rick]

When i had a cold grampa would rub vics all over my chest while a towel was in the oven gettin warm.Then he placed the towel around my kneck that had vics rubbed on the towel and pin with a safety pin.Then he would slab a bunch of vics in the palm of his hands and rub them togther real fast and cup his hands over my nose 3-4times and i would breath it in.The he would tell me the story of chigawampi and dogchompi and i would go off to lala land z z z  z z z z z~~~~~~