Browse:Jimson Weed (Volume 1, entries 1349–1351)
Jimson Weed
Volume 1, entries 1349–1351. 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 1349
Ah want tell yuh dis. Ah got hurt oncest in mah feet so ah couldn't walk. Ah got dese doctors aroun' heah and dey all of 'em say diff'rent things. You know what called to me to do? Yo' know what a jimson weed is? (Yes, I know what it is.) It got cockleburs stuck on it. Pull up de whole jimson weed, put it in a pot and boil it, put a handful of table salt in it, a handful of red peppah, and you suppose to jest bath in it - see, jest as hot as you kin bear it. But ah was in such a bad fix that I drunk a teaspoonful of it before ah went to bed that night. An' ah was [had been] down fer about eight months - ah couldn't walk - an' de next mawnin' ah hit de floor fo' mawning [could stand up and walk]. An' after ah did it, ah talked wit a old experiment [experienced] root doctor and he tole dat would kill any kind of poison. [Presumably informant took bath before drinking tea. See jimson-weed bath, No. 1075, p.405.]
Entry 1350
(What did these people do to get rid of these snakes? Did you say? She got what?) Jimson weed an' ah'ny [ordinary] dock - all dat's a weed an' some Epsom salts, an' mix it together an' rub dat on her laig an' it jis' come right on out.
(Got rid of these things that way?)
Yessuh.
Entry 1351
I know of another lady, she had a swell leg, an' she went right in the back of the field an' she got some bushes - I reckon you have heerd talk about jimson weeds. Well, they got some jimson weeds an' put vinegar on 'em - put 'em in vinegar - an' put 'em to her leg, an' the leg completely went down.
(How did she get that swollen leg?)
She think dat she was hurt.