Have you ever wondered how the pioneers doctored themselves?  When you think about it there weren’t a whole lot of doctors around back then, so they had to pretty much rely on what they knew, thought they knew or just plain figured out on their own.  Maybe something their father, mother or grandparents told them once.

Let’s see, didn’t grandma tell me that for a large cut on the head I need to wrap little Johnny’s wound with grape leaves and smack him on the butt a few times?

Where would I get grape leaves?

In the mean time little Johnny just might die.  So they would react the best they knew how and most of the time logic would win out and little Johnny would come out a winner.  Midwifes were just common folks who may have already gone through a child birth themselves and so instantly became a very knowledgeable person who could help another woman give birth.  They often times were a little older in the community and with age comes knowledge about all things medical.  That made them the go to person for help when people got sick.

So, what would you do if you were called upon in the middle of the night.  Here is a person desperately in need of help.  They are down, shivering and have a bad cough.  We must make them sweat and break the fever.  Go git me that jar in the back of the cupboard.  I’ll pour him a cup of this and he will begin to sweat almost immediately.  He will be better when the sun comes up.

Well, what is in that magic concoction in the jar at the back of the cupboard?

I found this on a website called “Pioneers West.com”  and on that site there is a part for medicine.  I emailed the owner of the site for permission to use items from his site and he was very gracious to allow me to use it.

For SWEATING Take a lump of cow excrement as large as a hen egg from a cowpie dropped in the month of May. Wrap it in a rag and put it in a pitcher with a little sage, horsemint and other sweating herbs. This will produce a half-gallon of strong tea, but not so strong as to make the patient sick. Drink plenty to cause sweating.

I think that sometimes perhaps the cure is worse than the ailment.

Bears Butt

June 26, 2012