Antall József – Buzinkay Géza szerk.: Népi gyógyítás Magyarországon / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 7-8. (Budapest, 1975)

Hoppál Mihály—Törő László: Népi gyógyítás Magyarországon (magyar és angol nyelven)

94 Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 7—8. (1975) Finally, the author of Special Domestic Medicines recommended it for snakebite and itches.

2

8 Mother's milk was widely believed to possess special healing powers. In the opinion of the noted medical writer, Máté Juhász, its application to a cataract was beneficial and its consumption by a woman in labour would ease the pains.

2

9 It would be applied to a child's wound by his mother.

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0 A 16th century medical handbook suggested that it cured several ailments linked to sexual organs.

3

1 Human skeletons were sometimes used in medical treatment. One form of its use was consumption in small pieces or powder, particularly of the skull-bone. This recipe was recommended for fright, epilepsy and the shivers.

3

2 Another was the placement of bones in small bags and their use as charms.

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3 Cerumen was used for several specific ailments, primarily for dried lips. It was widely used both among the Hungarians and the Slovaks of Upper Hungary (to-day's Slovakia). Its application was linked to the superstitious belief in the importance of opposite effect, expressed in right and left.

3

4 A number of other human materials were used for unspecified general medical purposes, frequently associated with magicosuperstitious beliefs. These include the nails, human hair, etc.

3

5 Folk medicine also utilized materia medica of mineral origin. Regarding their origins, we can place them in three groups

: First are those which have survived in folk belief as the traces of ancient magic traditions. Their original magic meaning has usually been lost and they survived primarily as an established medical practice. Second are those materials which were taken over from contemporary technical culture and applied to certain medical uses. Third are materials of mineral origin discovered and experimentally tested by ethnomedicine. Salt is unquestionably one of the most widespread materials originating from magic traditions. It was used as medication on wounds, burns and stings.

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6 Another, "negative" medical use was to exclude salt from the diet of the seriously ill or of the patient with a fracture for "nine days" or "nine weeks" according to the magic prescription.

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7 Salt bags were 2

3 Juhász, 1768. 72. and 144. 2

9 Juhász, 1768. 51—52. MS. Doctor Book from Zalavár op. cit. receipt Nr. 73. 3

0 Cs. Pócs, 1964. 193. 3

1 Varjas, 1943. 20, 21, 66, 69, 70. etc. 3

2 Csiszár, 1965. 379—385; Csiszár, 1965/a. 602—603.; Juhász 1768. 60. and 138. 3

3 Wlislockiné 1893. 109. 3

4 Cs. Pócs, 1964. 201. 3

5 Wlislockiné 1893. 117—130. 3

6 Grÿñaeųs, 1965. 386, 388, 389. — In the Ormánság salty bread was placed on cut wounds: Kiss, 1937, 160. 3

7 Cs. Pócs, 1964. 207—210.