Irish Folk Medicine.
Author: LOGAN, Patrick.
Belfast: Appletree Press, 1999 (reprint). 180 pages. Paperback.
“Folk medicine was long practised in Ireland and has not completely died out. In many ways it has blended into the New Age interest in natural and non-invasive treatments and holistic medicine.
The great mass of the population had no access to a doctor: the local wise woman or bonesetter was the only hope. But folk medicine, particularly before the rise of medical science in the nineteenth century, was always a curious blend of common-sense and nonsense. Practical observation, and natural cures, went hand in hand with useless and often dangerous remedies. To cure a child of dropsy by tying it up in a rope used to hang an innocent man was not likely to help. Whooping cough was not driven away by medicine made from sheep droppings boiled in milk.
Dr Patrick Logan traces a comprehensive range of country cures, both for people and animals, practised in Ireland throughout the centuries. Some go back to early or pre-Christian times and beliefs. Others are much more recent and often perpetuate practices discarded by orthodox medicine. The entire book is a striking testimony to human ingenuity, optimism and endurance.”
ISBN: 0862817676
|
