Browse:Dog (Volume 1, entries 1223–1233)
Dog
Volume 1, entries 1223–1233. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1223
A girl in Jacksonville, Florida, heah 'bout foah yeahs ago, she wus sick. Well, she lingered an' lingered an' lingered. Well, lotta folks thought maybe she wus witchcrafted an' all lak dat, but de chile was tuberculosis like de doctor tole her. De doctor tole her mother that she had de consumption, yo' see, an' she had to be taken a good piece back in heah [inland] to some spring or 'nothah. Well, dere own mother spent a lotta money taken her to dat spring up dere. Still it didn't do any good. So ah came on back an' ah tole her mother, said, "Well, Delia, listen," ah say, "nuthin dis chile eat won't stay on its stomach." Ah say, "Peaches or nuthin like dat hold on her stomach." Ah say, "Jest a little whut chew call gruel soup." Ah say, "Listen heah, try mah remedy." Now, ah had a remedy heah yeahs ago dat a [someone told me]. "Yo' kin take a dog, jest draw a little blood out of him - yo' ain't gotta kill him to git his blood," ah said. "Tuh git his blood, jest draw a little blood like a person draw a little blood outa yo', ' ah said, "an' put 'bout three or foah drops into a aig, see, an' beat de aig up fine. After yo' beat de aig up fine," ah said, "put jest about two or three drops of kerosene, one drop of turpentine, into this aig an' whup it up. After yo' done whup it an' - po' [in] jest about a half a pint of real good whiskey, not moonshine but real good seal whiskey [unbroken revenue stamp on the bottle]." Ah said, "Let her drink it." Ah said, "Now jest give her whut chew call a dose of it - jest lak yo' give her a dose of doctor's medicine." Ah says, "See if dat do any good." Ah say, "Yo' jest try dat."
Entry 1224
Den you kin take and feed dat dog - kill dat dog and get her blood while - if she's howling and gwine on and cuttin' up, and feed it to a person and he'll howl jest like dat dog. He'll howl - you'll put him to howlin', you see, put him to howlin'. He jest howlin' like a dog: [For another method of making a person bark like a dog, see No. 775, p.256.]
Entry 1225
T. B's? There's a Way to kill that.
(How would you do that?)
You take a fat dog, you try to get a bird dog - like anyone got T. B., and you takes and you cut that fat off there and you fry it and get that grease, and you bottle up that grease and you keep it on ice or something like where it won't spoil, you know. And give her, this person that got the T. B., one tablespoorful of that grease for every meal she eats. And because this is - T. B's a germ that gets in your system and medicine can't get there, but this here grease it gets there from that dog and it kills that germ.
Entry 1226
Say yo' could take a dog when she's in heat an' kill her an' if anybody had consumption or T. B. or somethin' lak dat an' cook her unbeknown to 'em an' let 'em eat it, dey say dat would cure 'em.
Entry 1227
Dey use dat for asmee. Boil it, de dog livah - boil it right on de stove an' give 'em de juice of it.
(That cures asthma.)
Entry 1228
A man tole me if a person is crazy or anything, yo' know, an' it's not a natch'al disease, git a dog manure. He did tell me, aftah it so many days old it turns white or yellah-lookin' - something lak dat, an' make a tea out of it an' let them drink it. An' he said that will cure them.
(Any kind of insanity? A person who is crazy?)
Yeah. He tole me tuh use that on mah mothah an' ah haven't did it yet because ah haven't been where she is.
Entry 1229
Whenevah - if yo' have a dog, watch de dog carefully an' see whenevah he has an action. Den yo' git his manure whilst it's fresh an' place it in a quart cup of water an' den yo' boil it down to a pint an' den use it wit a cloth to dab dat in good - dis out-flannen-an't [= anointment (an't) out of (out) flannel (flannen)] it used to cure de piles.
Entry 1230
Ah've heard dat dey could - dey didn't special [specify?] a black dog, but it was yo' could take de drops from a dog - yo' know, his bowel stool, an if a woman has got body trouble, anything like dat, she kin sit down on it, an a-stape [steep? steam?] herself - po' hot water on that bowel stool of that dog, an' dat'd put dat body trouble back up an' hit will nevah come back down no mo'.
(What kind of body trouble do you mean?)
Yo' know lak a woman have female trouble - yo' know her body drop down, yo' know.
(You mean her womb drops down? The inside of her drops down?)
Yes.
(That'll brace it back up?)
Yes.
(You mean in the front? You don't mean in the back?)
Front and back.
Entry 1231
I have seen people use the mess from a white dog to cure people - to cure lockjaw.
(Well, how would they do that?)
Cause, you see, my brother had lockjaw and a white dog done his business and the man told my mother to take it and put it in a cup, an old cup, and pour boiling water on it and let it stand one hour and then drain it and let it get cool, and put spirits of niter in it and his jaws will come unlocked. My mother did that. I've seen it.
(I see. Did you come from Louisiana? Were you born in New Orleans?)
I was born in Bayou [something] Parish Louisiana?
(Where?)
Bayou Lafourche, Assumption Parish. [A few miles down the Mississippi River there is a Lafourche in Lafourche Parish.]
Entry 1232
Even if yo' bald, git de milk from de dog an' bathe de part dat's bald of the cranium an' yore hair will event'lly grow back.
Entry 1233
Well, a dog now, if yo' got de yellah ja'ndice an' yo' can't be cured from doctors, yo' have to catch it - it's hard to ketch - yo' has to ketch dat dog's urinate. An' den yo' take, yo' don't let chure patient know that, but yo ketch his [dog] urinate an' yo' mix it up in his bread an' yo' let him eat that bread, an' it cures the yellah ja'ndice.