Browse:Fish (Volume 1, entries 1255–1258)
Fish
Volume 1, entries 1255–1258. 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 1255
Take fish gall - make a woman miscarry by rubbin' it on her navel. (What kind of fish gall - from any kind of fish?) Any kind of a gall from a fish [gall from any fish]. Put nine drops of it or as many drops as you kin in her navel an' let it stay in dere, an' let her lay flat on her back an' put a silver button ovah it or pearl button ovah it on top of her navel. Dat will make her miscarry.
Entry 1256
Well, you get you a fresh fish - you get the heart, the liver and the gall. You understand? And you lets it out in the sun and dry - see, till you can make a powder with it. Then you smoke yourself with that. You understand, you just stand over it and smoke yourself with it. Then you can use the gall - like someone done did you, put something in your hat like people say they do, steel dust or anything that fail your eyes. They can use this gall and anoint your eyes. [This cure is a variant of the one in Book of Tobit (in Apocrypha) 6:1-8; 11:10-14.]
Entry 1257
Dey say if yo' kin ketch a catfish, yo' know, an' ketch him 'live an' yo' jes' cut 'im open an' git de gall of dat out. An' yo' kin take dat gall an take it an' put it on a person eyes an' cure dere eyes with it. Dat's all de further ah heered 'bout dat.
Entry 1258
Dey take de blood from de catfish an' cure people of de dropsy. Dey take it an' dev put it in some oil, some cookin' oil an' dey take it three times a day. See, de catfish ain't poison, yo' know dat. An' yo' cook dat oil an catfish blood together an' give it to 'em.