CHAPTER XVI.

MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS.

The willingness of neighbors to attend the advent of infants and to prescribe for the many cases of fever and "ager," whooping-cough and itch threatened to keep doctors' profits at a low ebb; but the M. D.'s doubtless were far-sighted and philosophical, as the settlers' solicitude for the suffering was matched by the industrious--if unintentional--methods of distributing diseases in general, and the itch in particular. No one escaped its sociability. Like the militant mother-in-law it made periodical invasions and was a most exacting, disagreeable and unwelcome guest. A guest that did not depart until personal housecleaning was accomplished.

A lotion prepared from the roots of skunk-cabbage was used for the itch, and generous doses of sulphur and molasses were administered to the victim who had "ketched" it. Later a salve containing red precipitate cleared the skin.

One of the recurring and painful juvenile afflictions was the ground-itch. We all went barefooted through the summer season and the cracks which opened on the under side of the toes often seemed to threaten the loss of pedal phalanges. As usual, the remedy was worse than the disease. A greased woolen string, just heavy enough to fill the raw, inflamed and bleeding crack, was tied around the toe and worn until nature came to our relief with healing.

Our powers of resistance and recuperation certainly were phenomenal. When we consider the concentrated daily diet of corn dodger with a dressing so greasy that the children of today would reject it before tasting; when we reflect that this starchy dodger often was immersed in a plateful of maple-syrup or cane-molasses; and for a

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change, buckwheat biscuit prepared without soda and spread over with wild honey in the comb; when we contemplate these flirtations with the demon of indigestion, it is quite wonderful that children lived to maturity, or that elderly people grew aged.

Meat of some sort was the pioneer's long suit and was eaten three times a day, between meals and for midnight lunch at any gathering. Workmen and hunters carried in their pockets a hunk of dried meat to nibble if a meal were missed, or in lieu of tobacco; and the small "younguns" were pacified with a strip of jerked venison.

Remedies.

The old grannies have lost their place as doctors, for such remedies as skunk-oil and goose-grease, sulphur and sorghum, rhubarb and butternut pills, boneset and burdock bitters, sassafras and smartwood tea, slippery-elm salve and plaintain poultices finally have given place to the concoctions of chemistry.

Burdock bitters was a regular spring tonic which everybody took whether sick or well. Various roots, herbs and barks were stewed until the medicinal qualities were liberated. The liquid then was drained off and mixed with maple-syrup and whisky; if the medicine did not kill, it cured. This theory was identical with the method of the old-time physician who prepared Hi-pop-a-lor-um and Lo-pop-a"hi-rum. For the former the bark of the tree was peeled upward and for the latter it was peeled downward; the effect on the patient to be that of either an emetic or a physic.

Well, I at least, did not die from these inflictions; but I remember I once thought I was about to die from an overdose of good stuff. My mother was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and, in accordance with the prevailing tradition, had gained some local celebrity as a home-doctor. She had been preparing the season's supply of butternut pills. The bark had been peeled from the tree,

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placed in a kettle, covered with water and allowed to simmer for a long time to extract its strength. This decoction then was strained, sweetened and boiled down to the consistency of cold molasses. In this case the contents had been poured out and the pot set aside. Quite as a child licks the churn, a brother and I licked this pot. The result can be imagined better than described. It is needless to say, however, we did not repeat the experiment.

The List's Range of "Simples."

The pharmacopea of the pioneer contained a long and complex list of alleged remedies or "simples" for the ill, the ailing, or the victims of accident or belligerency.

There were animal products such as skunk oil, bulls' gall and castorium; vegetables for the double use of food and physic; fruits for preserving or distilling; herbs for cooking or a condiment; weeds and seeds for poultices or teas, with fresh or dried shrub or tree roots and barks, and a part, or all of them, perhaps, combined and infused into bitters.

Bitters mayor may not have been unpalatable. They usually were combined from pleasant, indifferent and disagreeable tasting ingredients, but the quantity of any might have been increased or diminished according to the taste of the person who presided at the mixing caldron.

The winter's supply of various herbs such as water-pepper, pennyroyal and velvet dock, were gathered at their most efficient season. They were dried, tied in bundles and hung about the cabin walls for future use. Barks and buds were best if cut and prepared from shrubs or trees when the sap was up.

Whisky was the base for all bitters and the vehicle for internal and external liquid application. It was, in fact, an all around remedial rejuvenator. Whisky was administered to the hour-old babe and to the octogenarian; it was taken as an eye-opener before breakfast and a victual settler after meals, an exhilarator between them, and as a

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nightcap at bedtime. The liquor may have antidoted a poison or slowly poisoned the patient, and either "straight" or as the body of bitters, whisky served in sociability as it did in sickness.

The pioneers were not confined to one variety of medicinal plants for listed diseases, for instance: teas made from the roots or seeds of burdock, the roots or leaves of plantain, from leaves of smartweed, cucumber seeds or corn silks, stimulated the kidneys. All were diuretic in their action if the right quantity and strength was administered.

The heart was stimulated by wormwood, aniseed, foxglove or dog fennel. Among the many cathartics of greater or less drastic action were: rhubarb, burdock and slippery-elm. When it was necessary to vomit a patient, either the tea of mustard seed, bloodroot (redroot), Indian tobacco (lobelia), or pokeroot was liberally swallowed. Canada hemp (dog bane), or Indian sage (boneset), furnished the dope for a feverish patient, and if the children were afflicted with worms a liberal dose of salty water, or tea from pigweed seed or tansy was essential. Baked powdered egg shell or bone in sweetened water also was said to expel worms, and snakeroot or papoose root or tansy tea assisted menstruation. The former was a prime favorite with midwives, and was administered to hasten parturition. It was a stimulant as well as a laxative.

Pennyroyal.

Pennyroyal is as well known today as in pioneer times, although it is not so abundant in the wild state. Peppermint, spearmint, horsemint (horse-balm or stoneroot), and catmint still are widely used for infant, youth, adult and the aged. The aroma is pleasing and the stimulating properties mild. Headache and stomachache were palliated by the action of peppermint and whisky, and the house cats--Tommy and Tabby--enjoyed good health by eating the leaves and rolling in a bunch of catnip. The mints were said to stimulate or to quiet muscular spasms and allay in

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flammation. Bugle mint or water bugle was taken for coughs and as a tonic and astringent.

Peppermint tea, a few drops of whisky and some flakes of the white substance from chicken droppings mixed together were fed to a colicky, newly arrived infant, or to one whose skin carried a tinge of yellow. A large dose of the same mixture, with the addition of a pint of milk, served to drench a horse suffering with the colic.

Midwives seemed to be merciless with the defenseless, newly born mites of humanity. They sought to save the child from a future attack of fits by administering a few drops of blood from the navel string, mixed with the mother's milk drawn before the first nursing. The infant's urine, likewise, was declared to be a specific for ear or eye trouble if dropped therein.

Sassafras tea--the root bark--stewed in maple sap, furnished a spring-time beverage that was not so bad to take. It was supposed to thin the blood and retone the system after the heavy dieting of winter. A liberal draught was said to relieve a sick stomach, and application was supposed to restore sore eyes.

Indian Tobacco.

Indiana tobacco or lobelia was a common and constant remedy for children as it was used for colds or coughs, and proved to be a good emetic for cases of croup. The flowers, seeds and leaves were used in preparing the medicine in its various forms. Dried, powdered leaves were snuffed by asthmatics, or smoked as a narcotic by nervous patients.

Indian hemp was largely used in bad cases of whooping cough, for fever and ague, and for kidney stimulation. A preparation from the root acted as a cathartic, and in the right quantity was a sedative--especially the oozed resin. The flowers possessed a soothing, almost narcotic property, when they were beaten into a pulp as a poultice. It also was an excellent spring tonic.

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Indian poke was known by its many parts as: pokeberry, pokeroot and pokeweed. It also was known as garget weed, and was used for distemper or an affection of the throat or "swallow" of cattle, and for a cow's caked bag. The plant was known to be a violent poison, but nevertheless it was used for inflammation, and the dried, pulverized root was administered to the sick in doses to cause purging or puking by the patient. Poke-powder also was used on the cucumber, pumpkin and melon vines as a bug killer, although the need for such treatment was not so urgent as it is now. Poke berries were used in our dyeing work, as were the red berries of the sumacs. The rootbark tea of sumac was administered for kidney and bladder troubles.

Elderberries served in bitters, and the fresh flowers for sweating-tea. The dried flowers were steeped with maple syrup and formed the liquid body for other medicines. Poultices from the blossoms were said to relieve boils or burns.
Bitters were not so palatable if chokecherries and the bark from fresh growth of the tree was omitted from the mixture, but the cherry action being astringent, too liberal a supply defeated natural tissue action and made necessary the counteraction of laxatives. As an alterative, cherry bark had a wide range.

The Asafetida Tit.

The preparation of home remedies might have been unnecessary had we been diligent in following the instructions of the asafetida advocates. The "fetta" bag, or "asafetida tit" was credited with the property of warding off all diseases that were "ketchin'." Were it possible for a foul smell and taste to repel the attack of a morbific agent, I am frank to assert that the asafetida guard never could have been passed by the germ scouts of infection and contagion.

A pill of "fetta" the size of a large hazelnut was placed

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in a square of factory. The corners of the cloth were brought together and a string tied about it in the shape of a tit. There was sufficient length of string to extend loosely around the neck of the wearer. The person seeking immunity was instructed to place the asafetida tit in the mouth at regular intervals, or whenever approaching a suspected district of disease. Children were directed to suck the "fetta" bag, as a pacifier, after retiring.

When the disease was "ketched," however, the milky gum or solution was administered in all cases of digestive disorders. It would induce expectoration or act upon the bowels; likewise, it was a nerve sedative and anti-spasmodic, while a change in quantity was a stimulant. Its medicinal possibilities rivaled those of whisky, but the dose was not so easy to take. When we acquired horses, and the beasts "caught" distemper, asafetida was smeared on the bits for their relief, besides being rubbed on the feed boxes and a trace of it sprinkled in the ration.

Mullein.

A crushed, softened preparation from the well known, immense leaved mullein or velvet dock was thought to relieve internal fever or irritation of the skin, and was a mild stimulant. The cured leaves were used as tobacco by the Indians and a few pioneers, as was kinnekinik, mentioned elsewhere. Colt's tail, called flea, or butter-root, was administered as leaf tea for hemorrhages. We were not troubled with fleas, so its use was not necessary as an insecticide.

The leaves, flowers or berries of henbane were narcotic in their action, and poisonous to poultry and people. We were discreetly cautious in handling this species of nightshade, although it was prescribed in many cases of colic, whooping cough, spasms or bed wetting.

Comfrey, called "comfort," was as its name implies, comfort for the wounds on which it was bound, and the root-tea gave comfort to the patient who was suffering with

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a cough. Dill tea, or the chewed seeds, quieted a restless or nervous patient, and furnished the cook with seasoning material.

Elecampane, shortened to "eleck," not only relieved a troublesome stomach and lung fever by furnishing a mild tonic, but in addition it stimulated the infirm and senile, it was asserted. Red puccoon (bloodroot) also served on this line, as in its many others, as an alterative. The roots of skunk cabbage contained an active stimulating property, but in the narcotic quantity relieved muscular contraction in young and old, and was used to antidote snake venom.

Milkweed did not appear in its present profusion until cultivation had considerably advanced. It was thought to be poisonous, but was taken as a sweater or an emetic. The root-juice relieved lung troubles and seemed to assist in clearing the throat and in making breathing easier.

It is not to be supposed that pioneers were honing for trouble in addition to their material privations. They, however, gathered the honewort, a species of parsley which was esteemed as a remedy for swellings. Specifically honewort was listed to cure "hone," a swelling of the jaw or face.

Camomile Tea.

Camomile tea was a common and popular remedy. Sprains were almost a chronic condition among pioneers. As a lotion for application to a sprained member, it brought relief and quiet nerves. It was claimed that incipient swellings could be scattered, or the aching surface surrounding a "bile" reduced to normal by the aid of a camomile poultice. Copious draughts caused one to "throw up" and thereby relieved spasmodic coughing, and it also was tonic in action.

Liverwort, or liverleaf, a three-lobed plant of a greenish purple color, was thought to resemble the human liver, therefore its medicinal qualities pertaining to the liver. Liverwort was said to be a sure cure for "janders," and it

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also was credited with the ability to cure dog bites. Jaundice and biliousness were treated with pie-plant syrup, if the "sure cure" failed. Moreover, liverwort was given for liver rot or worms in sheep, and a poultice was applied to foot-rot. With the development of foot-rot in our flock the first victim was killed and the carcass burned. If others became infected they were isolated, and any member of the family who would care for and cure them claimed the sheep as a reward for his ministrations.

Saffron flowers always were dried during the summer as a forehanded measure, either for home or neighborhood consumption. Saffron tea assisted elimination by stimulating the flow of urine and perspiration. Likewise, it lesened the periodical, physical disturbances of women, as did dog fennel and tansy. It also was thought to cure jaundice and skin eruptions, and was given to infants with the icteric skin tint.

Boneset tea ought to have cured all the ills that man is heir to--or prevented them--if one were to judge by the constancy of its use. The climbing hempweed or Indian sage was bitter to the taste, and for that reason, I suppose, more efficacious in results. It was said to allay fevers, correct dyspeptic conditions, stimulate the kidneys, induce perspiration and to have a general tonic effect on the patient, and also was used as an emetic.

Gentian.

For many years bitterwort or gentian roots served our family as a source of revenue. They were sold in Des Moines or Dubuque to be shipped east. The property of restoring the vigor of youth, as claimed by gentian devotees, was made the butt of many homely jokes. Why should the goddess Aphrodite smile through gentian and not favor other plants? Anyway, we sold the substance that was most salable and took a chance on retaining virility by virtue of individual assurance. We, however, substituted as a tonic ingredient in our bitters, the spignet, or spikenard, a plant

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resembling gentian in points and properties except that the latter was bitter and the former spicy and aromatic.

The additional properties claimed for spignet, as well as for valerian and wild sarsaparilla, its relatives, were stimulative and sudorific. It served as an application for open sores, and was administered to sick dogs. Maria Wiltsey would no sooner have omitted the supply of spignet from her periodical "makin's" of bitters than she would have left the flour from her "salt raisin' " bread. I have known her to "work the woods" for weeks to procure her supply. Time and fatigue were not taken into account when the search for certain unseasonable herbs was being made.

Poultices.

The variety of poultices was innumerable. Many of them were nameless if not unnamable, and the supply was inexhaustible. Covering bruises, "biles" or burns with a soft pad of bruised plantain or live forever leaves or crushed comfrey Toot was expected to insure immediate relief. Hop poultices were applied for almost any ailment or accident. Fumes from the cooked hops were pleasantly sedative, if not narcotic in their effect. The hop pillow also contributed to the quiet comfort of a patient.

The "drawin' " poultice was not so pleasing, even to contemplate. A doughy mixture of crushed mustard seed and buckwheat flour as a counter irritant was warranted to produce a blister equal to the size of the poultice itself. This "smearum" also was entirely reliable in relieving the internal discomfort for which it was applied. Grease or cloth did not protect the poulticed surface, and when the sticky mass was removed from the victim's bare skin, portions of the cuticle usually were torn away, leaving a raw and burning space which was calculated to cause forgetfulness by the patient of his original affliction.

Bruised bull thistle, nettle or horseradish leaves also served as active counter irritants. Thistles and nettles were

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difficult to gather, but their stings were relieved by poultices of sour dock leaves. When feet, legs or hands were nettle-stung we sought a nice, soft, sticky mud puddle, and smeared the stung surface with mud. Softened clay was more effective, however, than mud. It stuck better and retained moisture longer. A coating of mud or a gob of chewed clay was applied to bee stings. Yes, we ate a little clay occasionally to satisfy our unnatural appetites, since at that time slate pencils and chalk were not available. An incantation, "Out nettle, in dock," hurried relief to the nettle stung patient.

Wormwood.

Wormwood-herb tea was taken as a tonic and as a heart stimulant, and was said to be a destroyer of all kinds of worms, either the stomach or intestinal parasites. This fact readily can be believed because of its bitterness and strength. Wormseed was the fruit of any of the goosefoot or pigweed family. There was no resemblance or relationship between the wormwood and wormseed plants. The similarity was in the power to expel worms. It was claimed for wormseed, however, that it was a vermifuge for round worms only. Cheeseweed or mallow was of a sticky consistency when the leaves and buds were crushed, and it .formed a soothing poultice for an inflamed surface. Cheeseweed received the name because of the seeds' resemblance to cheese. A thick syrup from the roots was used as a hody or vehicle in mixing other medicines.

Sweet William tea was a popular remedy with pioneers. Either the vari-colored prairie or the light blue woods variety was used. They grew in such profusion that daily bouquets were gathered in their season, and the bunches then were dried for medicinal purposes. The tea was taken for rheumatism and a liniment from the plant leaves relieved the aching joints. Watermelon and pumpkin seed tea stimulated the kidneys. The ashes from hickory or hard maple wood mixed with water was said to thin the

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blood, while the water from boiled willow, poplar or prickly ash bark acted as a tonic.

Munching Material.

Children almost continuously were munching some of "the dried buds, berries, barks or roots of edible plants in their season. Basswood buds were good eatin', and the inner bark of the slippery elm, when the sap was right, could be bitten and chewed like cheese. The spring hickory sprouts were pulled from the ground, the dirt freed from the tap root, which was about the solidity of a cabbage-stalk heart, and they were eaten with great relish. When we sat about the campfire or fireplace the sweet, simmering sap from the ends of burning logs was collected on the fingers and licked off.

Dried pieplant or dried grapes furnished an acid tartness very different from the foregoing. Dried sweet flag root, held in the mouth, was said to sweeten the breath. The supply of calamus was abundant and really would have been a beneficent contribution to the list if it also could have neutralized a disagreeable foot odor. Medicinally flagroot was prescribed as a stimulant, a nerve tonic and to settle a sick stomach. The stomachs of children, however, had little need for assistance since we seemed to persist in the choice of unripe, instead of ripe fruits, for consumption.

Had mouth, throat, skin or stomach diseases been contagious the whole family or neighborhood would have "ketched" them because of the careless and promiscuous use of household appliances, table utensils and toilet articles.

Edible Herbs.

It is possible the families of pioneers might have gone hungry occasionally, and it is certain they would have been sick oftener, but for the quantities of pot herbs consumed as greens, in addition to the raw fruits and roots already mentioned.

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Artichokes sometimes were cooked or eaten raw by our family, but they furnished a finer field for foraging hogs. Wild leeks and onions provided a strong food for man and beast, but when in addition they were taken second hand from the breath of another or from the milk of the leek-eating cows the double dose was sickening. Notwithstanding the strong smell of the leaves and bulb, the wild onion bore a beautiful, pink, sweet-smelling blossom.

Fresh sheepsorrel and the mints were sought throughout their seasons and the supply of mustard, lamb's quarters, sour dock, horseradish, kale and purslane for greens, kept the pot bubbling most of the summer. Purslane, however, did not appear in its present abundance until cultivation had progressed for several seasons. I believe the dandelion was not a native in these parts, but was introduced by a local physician as a medicinal herb or spring tonic.

Salads were made from the leaves of many of the plants already named, and they were excellent, not to say delicious, when combined with wild peppergrass, or tame pepperpods, Indian cress, fresh wild cucumber pods and nettles or thistles. Of course, the regular salad material such as cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes were supplied from the garden.

Relishes and seasonings for the table were prepared from plants, roots or seeds. Grated horseradish roots or crushed mustard seeds and vinegar made palatable the lean venison or fat pork or served instead of butter on the johnnycake. Pepperworts, red pepper pods or the dried crushed seeds gave warmth to a mixture. Capsicum, moreover, became a medicinal agent as a gargle, and for neuralgia, rheumatism, fever and ague and dyspepsia. It also was administered when one had taken too much fire-water.

Coriander seed, in addition to settling a sour stomach or relieving water brash, was used quite extensively in baking, when cook stoves were used. Caraway seed served in the cooking and as a carminative. Dill seasoned the pickles and quieted the nerves. Sage leaves were placed inside the spitted fowl, and when made into tea, acted as a tonic, in-

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duced perspiration and reduced the flow of sick water from the mouth-or stomach. Sage poultices were applied to an open sore, to a sore throat or to a caked breast and to relieve the flow of milk.

Dried leaves of the wild ginger plant (colt's-foot) , spiced the pumpkin butter when the boughten supply ran short. If one ate too much pumpkin pie, and colic or dyspepsia ensued, a strong dose of ginger tea was taken. Sorrelworts, or the many varieties of docks were freely prepared medicinally, in addition to their use for internal gratification and external application, as already recorded.

Charcoal.

Charcoal was considered to he an excellent remedy as a preventive--that is, if one had a sour stomach, charcoal might absorb the gas and prevent indigestion, or it might neutralize the acids of indigestion, and prevent the final accumulation of poison in the system. At the first complaint or sign of illness, therefore, a few coals from wood slowly burned with little air, were dropped into a cup of water, and the liquid was drunk by the ailing victim. Powdered charcoal was given to sick dogs if their own method of eating grass did not vomit and relieve them. Charcoal as a tooth powder was a success, and a piece of the black substance held in the mouth was said to sweeten the breath. A charcoal poultice laid on a foul-smelling sore, neutralized the offensive odor although the appearance of the affected surface was not improved.

When the absorbent and deodorizing agencies of charcoal were inadequate and when ventilation by way of doors and fireplace did not suffice to neutralize house smells, the smudge-pot was brought into requisition. A handful of coffee, maple sugar or sulphur, whichever was most plentiful, was thrown upon the coals and another portion upon the heated fire-shovel, and this smoking was our method of fumigation. The smell of burning hair or feathers, also, was pretty effective in driving out smells, not to mention driving the family out of doors.

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