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Colonial Ailments Ills, Brews and Concoctions By Brenda Burns Kellow Email Brenda Kellow Editor's Note: This article was first printed in Heritage Quest Magazine, July/August 1997, Issue #70, pages 9-18. Republished here by permission.
accoucherema - birth attendant African consumption --consumption when suffered by a slave ague also called ageremmalarial -- type of fever producing sweating, lethargy, chills, headaches, and blue fingernails allopathy -- method of treating disease by the use of agents producing effects different from those of the disease; leechcraft, therapeutics, art of healing, healing touch, allopathy, naturopathy, nature cure. animal economy -- colonial - term for evacuating the bowels animal magnetism -- folklore; the ability to induce a state of hypnotism anthrax -- carbuncle or malignant boil. Middle English antrax, malignant boil, from Latin anthrax, carbuncle, from Greek.] aperient -- laxative apoplexy -- stroke, affliction, disability, handicap, infirmity, weakness; hemorrhage of a blood vessel in the brain apothecary -- a druggist asfetidia, asafetida -- a strong smelling herb sometimes wrapped in a cloth worn around the neck to ward off colds; also prevents seizures. Also: stench, fetor, fetidity, fetidness, offence to the nose, bad smell, bad odor, foul odor, body odor, armpits, bad breath, halitosis, stink, fumes, smell of death, rancidity, putrefaction bad blood -- syphilis balsam -- used for healing wounds and soothing pain; an aromatic oily or resinous substance used for healing wounds beeswax -- used mixed with medicine, also used to rub or polish furniture. Eating a chunk of beeswax daily rids allergic persons of any symptoms. barrel fever -- a hangover bilious cholera -- cholera characterized by abnormal feces; liver condition bilious fever -- malaria black measlesemrash is of a dark color black plagueembubonic plague; carried by infected rats bleedingemlong used as a cure for diseases; practiced by doctors in earlier times because of the notion that too much blood was the cause of many diseases blinky milk -- soured milk blistere vesicle in skin; a sac filled with pus blood loss -- probably not that of hemophilia. Folk cure: take the fine dust of tea, or the scrapings of the inside of tanned leather. Bind it upon the wound closely, and blood will soon cease to flow. blood poisoning -- septicemia, overwhelming bacterial infection bloody flux -- diarrhea characterized by bloody stools blue mass, mercury mass -- a preparation of metallic mercury with other ingredients, used for making blue pills. blue pill -- a blue colored pill primarily used as a cathartic brain fever -- cerebrospinal meningitis brainy tetter -- dandruff or flaky scalp on the head breakbone fever -- ill health, tropical disease, malarial fever, malaria, ague cholera, yellow fever, blackwater fever, dengue fever, sleeping sickness, hookworm, river blindness, leprosy, beri-beri, Bright's disease -- glomerulonephritis, nephritis, caused by inflammation or injury to the kidneys marked by the presence of albumin in the urine, serious kidney disease Bulgarian buttermilk - thick, sour, yogurt-like milk; very soothing to the stomach burn or scald -- Folk medicine: burn the inside sole of an old shoe to ashes, and sprinkle the ashes on the affected parts. Calomel - A colorless, white or brown tasteless compound, Hg2Cl2, used as a purgative and an insecticide. Also called mercurous chloride. Camp fever - typhus camphor -- a whitish crystalline substance with bitter taste and highly aromatic, used as a medicine canine madness -- hydrophobia, rabies canker -- gangrenous or ulcerous sore. To infect with corruption or decay; also cancer. Carbuncle -- A painful localized bacterial infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissue that usually has several openings through which pus is discharged. Castor oil mixture -- used in folk medicine. Mix one dessert spoonful of both castor oil and magnesia; rub together into a paste makes the taste of the oil almost entirely concealed, and children take it easily. To disguise castor oil, rub together two drops oil of cinnamon with an ounce of glycerine and add an ounce of castor oil. Children think its a treat! A castor oil emulsion for adults consists of mixing one ounce each castor oil and syrup with the yolk of an egg, and oneemhalf ounce orange flower water. Cathartic -- purgative laxative catarrah -- see chincough, serious respiratory disease, rhinitis, sinusitis, cat's blood -- used in folk medicine to treat shingles cattle-plague -- a highly contagious disease affecting cattle
chancre -- A dull red, hard, insensitive lesion that is the first manifestation of syphilis.
chicken breast, pigeon's breast -- rickets chilblains -- frostbite, tissue injury caused by exposure to cold, usually affecting the hands, feet, ears, or nose. Extreme cold causes the small blood vessels in the extremities to constrict, resulting in slowed blood circulation and stagnation, which deprive tissues of nutrients. The condition is aggravated by inactivity and dampness. Severe, untreated frostbite may result in GANGRENE. childbed fever -- puerperal fever, an illness resulting from infection of the endometrium following childbirth or abortion, marked by fever and septicemia and usually caused by unsterile technique chincough -- whooping cough, respiratory disease, cough, cold, sore throat, catarrh, coryza, sinusitis, adenoids, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, tracheitis, emphysema, asthma, pneumonia, farmer's lung, diphtheria, whooping cough, lung cancer, smoker's cough, graveyard cough, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary tuberculosis, consumption chirurgeon, chirurgery -- a surgeon cholera infantum -- plague, acute gastroenteritis in infants occurring in summer and autumn and marked by severe cramps, diarrhea, [galloping trots] and vomiting; caused by poor sanitation cholorea morbus -- plague, an acute infectious disease of the small intestine, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps, severe dehydration, and depletion of electrolytes. The bacteria, which are found in fecal-contaminated food and water and in raw or undercooked seafood, produce a TOXIN that affects the intestines, causing diarrhea, severe fluid and electrolyte loss, and, if untreated, death clergyman's sore throat -- acute laryngitis clysterem clys·ter (klîs¹ter) noun; An enema. [Middle English clister, from Old French clistere, from Latin clyster, from Greek klustêr, clyster pipe, from kluzein, to wash out.] cold plague -- form of influenza with extreme chills common cold -- viral infection of the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, especially the nose and throat. There are numerous viral organisms that may cause the common cold, although there is no known cure or preventive. Folk medicine: boil a common size turnip and put it into a sauce and pour upon it half a cup of molasses. Let it stand 15 minutes. Then turn off the syrup, at the same time squeezing the turnip to express its fluid. The syrup to be drank warm upon going to bed. congestive chills, congestive fever -- a severe form of malaria conjuntivitus -- an acute, very contagious form of conjunctivitis, caused by the hemophilic bacterium Hemophilus aegyptius and characterized by inflammation of the eyelids and eyeballs, also called pinkeye. Consumption -- tuberculosis. An infectious disease of human beings and animals caused by the tubercle bacillus and characterized by the formation of tubercles on the lungs and other tissues of the body, often developing long after the initial infection. Tuberculosis of the lungs, characterized by the coughing up of mucus and sputum, fever, weight loss, and chest pain. Pulmonary. Folk medicine: dissolve chloride of lime in soft water, add a little vinegar, and snuff it up the nose three or four times a day. Cooke's pills -- used as a cathartic; contained calomel, rhubarb and aloe. Cornmeal -- used in folk medicine on burns coryza -- common head cold, coryza, catarrh, hay fever, allergic rhinitis, allergy costiveness -- suffering from constipation or causing constipation cow's milk -- folk remedy cramp colic -- appendicitis cretinism -- hypothyroidism, congenital, a congenital condition caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormone during prenatal development and characterized in childhood by dwarfed stature, mental retardation, dystrophy of the bones, and a low basal metabolism. Also called congenital myxedema. crochet hook, blunt hook -- instrument for hook at end, used to draw out fetus crusted tetter -- impetigo, impetigo, tetters, herpes, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, shingles, dermatitis, eczema, serpigo, ringworm deef -- slang for deaf. Folk medicine: a mixture of onion juice and ant's eggs and dropped into the ear diabetes -- or diabetes mellitus, chronic disorder of carbohydrate metabolism involving INSULIN. Insulinemdependent diabetes (Type 1), which affects children, is usually caused by a deficient secretion of insulin and is treated by insulin injections. Noninsulin diabetes (Type 2), which affects adults, results from the inability of the cells in the body to respond to insulin and can usually be controlled with diet regulation and oral hypoglycemic (sugaremlowering) drugs. Symptoms of diabetes are elevated sugar in the urine and the blood, excessive urination, thirst, hunger, weakness, weight loss, and itching. Diabetes can lead to vascular disease, kidney disease, HYPERTENSION, and BLINDNESS. Uncontrolled diabetes leads to diabetic acidosis: ketones in the blood, confusion, unconsciousness, and possible death. Folk medicine: mix together in equal parts sugar, rosin and alum. Take as much as a penknife will contain three times a day. Dover's pills -- A powdered drug containing ipecac and opium, formerly used to relieve pain and induce perspiration. [After Thomas Dover (1660em1742), British physician.]. drastic -- Taking effect violently or rapidly, a drastic emetic. Dropsy -- cardioemvascular disease, heart disease, congestive heart failure, cardiac disease, hydrocephalus, down's syndrome, mongolism, brain damage, dementia, mental deficiency, edema dyspepsia -- indigestion, digestive disorders, dyspepsia, liverishness, gripe egg draught -- a home remedy given to sick persons and made of milk and an egg egg shells -- used in folk medicine emetic -- cathartic, vomitory, laxative enteric fever -- typhoid fever, noun, an acute, highly infectious disease caused by a bacillus (Salmonella typhi) transmitted chiefly by contaminated food or water and characterized by high fever, headache, coughing, intestinal hemorrhaging, and roseemcolored spots on the skin. Also called enteric fever. Epstein-Barr virus -- Abbr. EBV, herpes virus that is the causative or major cause agent of infectious mononucleosis, also associated with various types of human cancers, particularly lymphomas in immunosuppressed persons, including persons with AIDS. EBV affects certain salivary gland cells and white blood cells (lymphocytes) called B cells ever sore -- death of cells or tissues through injury or disease, especially in a localized area of the body falling bowels or piles -- dilation of the veins in or about the anus, often producing itching, bleeding, and pain. A common disorder associated with conditions such as constipation, pregnancy, and diarrhea, hemorrhoids can be treated with warm baths, ointments, and suppositories; in severe cases, injections, freezing, laser surgery, or traditional surgery may be necessary. Also called hemorrhoids. Folk medicine: apply the oil of hen's eggs to the parts, put them in their proper place, then roast an egg, and lay it on as hot as can be borne. falling disease -- any of various neurological disorders characterized by sudden, recurring attacks of motor, sensory, or psychic malfunction with or without loss of consciousness or convulsive seizures fascination, charmed -- accomplishing a cure with hypnosis rendering the person bewitched, ensorceled, tranced, fascinated, spellbound, under a spell, under a charm fatty liver -- cirrhoris, chronic disease of the liver characterized by the replacement of normal tissue with fibrous tissue and the loss of functional liver cells; can result from alcohol abuse, nutritional deprivation, or infection especially by the hepatitis virus. Felon -- a painful, purulent infection at the end of a finger or toe in the area surrounding the nail. Also called whitlow. [Middle English feloun, probably from Latin fel, gall, bile.] felon in the eye -- a stye, plural sties also styes (stìz), inflammation of one or more sebaceous glands of an eyelid. Folk medicine: rub on the gall of an eel. Fillet -- fil·let (fîl¹ît) noun, a narrow strip of ribbon or similar material, often worn as a headband; a bandage of muslin, linen or soft leather placed around the legs or head of a fetus, often used in breech births flour -- used in folk medicine on burns flux -- medicine, the discharge of large quantities of fluid material from the body, especially the discharge of watery feces from the intestines flux of humor -- hemophilia French pox -- venereal disease, VD, sexually transmitted disease, STD, syphilis, gonorrhea galloping -- developing at an accelerated rate and leading to death; pertains to certain diseases
glandular fevere -- infectious mononucleosis, common, acute, infectious disease, usually affecting young people, caused by Epstein-Barr virus and characterized by fever, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, and lymphocyte abnormalities. glass pox -- An acute contagious disease, primarily of children, that is caused by the varicella-zoster virus and characterized by skin eruptions, slight fever, and malaise. Gleet -- Inflammation of the urethra resulting from chronic gonorrhea and characterized by a mucopurulent discharge. The discharge that is characteristic of this inflammation. goosegrease -- lubricate or salve made from melted fat from a goose gravel -- kidney stones greensickness -- an iron -- deficiency anemia, primarily of young women, characterized by a greenish -- yellow discoloration of the skin. grippe, la grippe -- having sharp pains in the bowels, influenza (flu), killed many people in 1918; acute contagious viral infection characterized by inflammation of the respiratory tract and by fever, chills, muscular pain, and prostration; highly contagious disease caused by a number of different viruses, usually begins abruptly with fever, muscular aches, and inflammation of the respiratory mucous membranes; its more severe forms are bacterial PNEUMONIA and BRONCHITIS. Influenza epidemics have decimated large populations; an outbreak in 1918 killed over 20 million people. grubs, skin worm -- a clogged tubular bodily canal or passage, especially one for carrying a glandular secretion: a tear duct headache -- a headache accompanied by nausea, migraine. Folk medicine: drink half a glass of raw rum or gin, and drink freely of mayweed tea heebeejees -- nervous, apprehensive hemorrhoids or piles -- dilation of the veins in or about the anus, often producing itching, bleeding, and pain. A common disorder associated with conditions such as constipation, pregnancy, and diarrhea, hemorrhoids can be treated with warm baths, ointments, and suppositories; in severe cases, injections, freezing, laser surgery, or traditional surgery may be necessary. Also called falling bowels. Folk medicine: apply the oil of hen's eggs to the parts, put them in their proper place, then roast an egg, and lay it on as hot as can be borne. heroic medicine -- aggressie procedures used in the first half of nineteenth century; based on the idea of baancing vascular tension through depletion and accretion as in venescection and leeching. In the 18th cent., Edward JENNER introduced the concept of VACCINATION, and surgery was transformed into an experimental science. The beginnings of modern medicine date from the 19th cent., with the development of the germ theory of disease; the use of antiseptics and ANESTHESIA in surgery; and a revival of public -- health measures and better sanitation. hip gout -- osteomyelitus; acute or chronic infection of the bone and bone marrow characterized by pain, high fever, and an ABSCESS at the site of infection. The infection, which may be caused by a variety of microorganisms, reaches the bone through an open wound or fracture or through the bloodstream. Hives -- A skin condition characterized by intensely itching welts and caused by an allergic reaction to internal or external agents, an infection, or a nervous condition. Also called nettle rash, urticaria, used as a term for chicken pox or similar disease homeopathy -- system of medicine based on the law of similars-that like is cured by like. In homeopathy a drug that produces the same symptoms as a disease (e.g., quinine given to a healthy person mimics malaria) is used in small doses to treat that disease. Developed by German physician Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), it was popular through the early 20th cent. Although U.S. medical schools no longer recognize this approach, it is used by some European and Asian physicians, and many Americans use homeopathic treatments horns -- scraped animal horn used in folk medicine hospital fever -- any of several forms of infectious disease caused by rickettsia, especially those transmitted by fleas, lice, or mites, and characterized generally by severe headache, sustained high fever, depression, delirium, and the eruption of red rashes on the skin. Also called prison fever, hospital fever, ship fever, typhus fever hospital gangrene -- local death of body tissue. Dry gangrene, the most common form, follows a disturbance of blood supply to the tissues, e.g., in DIABETES or destruction of tissue from injury. Moist gangrene results from an invasion of toxin -- producing bacteria that destroy tissue. Treatment includes rest and ANTIBIOTICS; excision of the diseased area or, in advanced cases, amputation of the affected part may be necessary humid tetter -- Any of various skin diseases, such as eczema, psoriasis, or herpes, characterized by eruptions and itching humor, humour -- The basis of medicine for centuries found in medieval physiology with its notion of the four humors (blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile). These four body fluids were thought to determine a person's temperament, or distinguishing mental and physical characteristics. Thus, if blood was the predominant humor, one had a ruddy face and a disposition marked by courage, hope, and a readiness to fall in love. Such a temperament was called sanguine, the Middle English ancestor of our word sanguine. The sources of the Middle English word were Old French sanguin and Latin sanguineus, the source of the French word. Both the Old French and Latin words meant "bloody," "blood -- colored," Old French sanguin having the sense "sanguine in temperament" as well. Latin sanguineus in turn was derived from sanguìs, "blood," just as English sanguinary is. The English adjective sanguine, first recorded in Middle English before 1350, went on to refer simply to the cheerfulness and optimism that accompanied a sanguine temperament, no longer having any direct reference to medieval physiology hydrochloric acid -- used in folk medicine impetigo -- a contagious bacterial skin infection, usually of children, but not always, characterized by the eruption of superficial pustules and the formation of thick yellow crusts, commonly on the face, also leprosy intermittent fever -- a form of malaria, infectious parasitic disease characterized by high fever, severe chills, enlargement of the spleen, and sometimes ANEMIA and JAUNDICE. It can be acute or chronic and is frequently recurrent itch -- any of various skin disorders, such as scabies, marked by intense irritation and itching jail fever or goal fever -- typhus jalap -- a twining, eastern Mexican vine (Exogonium purga) having tuberous roots that are dried, powdered, and used medicinally as a cathartic king's evil -- A form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes, especially of the neck, that is most common in children and is usually spread by unpasteurized milk from infected cows. Also called struma and goiter; once to be thought to be contacted from the touch of a king or queen laudanum -- A tincture of opium, formerly used as a drug leeching -- various chiefly aquatic bloodsucking or carnivorous annelid worms of the class Hirudinea, of which one species (Hirudo medicinalis) was formerly used by physicians to bleed patients; commonly done as remedy of heroic medicine letting of blood -- a leech used to suck blood from a patient lint -- used in folk medicine on wounds lockjaw -- acute infectious disease of the nervous system caused by TOXINS of the Clostridium tetani bacillus; tetanus may follow the introduction of bacterial spores by any type of injury, including puncture wounds, animal bites, gunshot wounds, lacerations, and fractures. The toxin acts on the motor nerves and causes muscle spasms, most frequently in the jaw (lockjaw) and facial muscles. The disease is treated with an antitoxin or human immune globulin, but it is preferable to prevent tetanus by immunization lues venera -- Any of several contagious diseases, such as syphilis and gonorrhea, contracted through sexual intercourse; a sexually transmitted disease lumbago -- painful condition of the lower back, as one resulting from muscle strain or a slipped disk, sciatica, lumbago, backache lung fever -- pneumonia; acute infection of one or both lungs caused by a bacterium, usually the pneumococcus bacterium, virus, fungus, or other organism. Symptoms include high fever, pain in the chest, difficulty in breathing, coughing, and sputum. Viral pneumonia is generally milder than the bacterial form. lung sickness -- tuberculosis, contagious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, identified by Robert KOCH in 1882. Also known as TB and consumption, the disease primarily affects the lungs, although the intestines, joints, and other parts of the body may also become infected. It is spread mainly by inhalation, occasionally by ingestion through contaminated foods (e.g., unpasteurized milk) and utensils. Symptoms as the disease progresses include fever, weakness, loss of appetite, and, in the pulmonary form, cough and sputum. The incidence of tuberculosis-once affecting millions-greatly decreased in many developed countries with improved sanitation. mania -- manifestation of manic -- depressive illness, characterized by profuse and rapidly changing ideas, exaggerated gaiety, and excessive physical activity, violent abnormal behavior, INSANITY manure -- both animal and fowl manure are used in folk medicine mesmerism -- Hypnotic induction believed to involve animal magnetism miasma -- poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease such as malaria midwife -- a woman who is skilled in and assists other women in the birth of a child milk leg -- painful swelling of the leg occurring in women after childbirth as a result of clotting and inflammation of the femoral veins, also phlebitis milk sickness -- An acute, now rare disease characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain that affects individuals who eat dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot morbo loacteo -- milk sickness mortification -- gangrene, Death and decay of body tissue, often occurring in a limb, caused by insufficient blood supply and usually following injury or disease mustard plaster -- external application of medicinal plaster made with a pastelike mixture of dry, powdered black or yellow mustard, flour, water, and placed on a cloth and used especially as a counterirritant, used in chest colds. Also called sinapism. [French sinapisme, from Late Latin sinâpismus, from Greek sinapismos, use of a mustard plaster, from sinapizein, to apply a mustard plaster, from sinapi, mustard.] nervous prostration -- severe or incapacitating emotional disorder, especially when occurring suddenly and marked by depression nitric acid -- used in folk medicine oyster shells -- crushed, used in folk medicine oysters -- used in folk medicine. Thought to increase sexual behavior. ozaena -- chronic complaint, allergy, hay fever, catarrhpainter's colic -- chronic intestinal pains and constipation caused by lead poisoning, also called lead colic. [So called because the disease is often caused by exposure to lead -- base paint.] palsy -- complete or partial muscle paralysis, often accompanied by loss of sensation and uncontrollable body movements or tremors, A weakening or debilitating influence, in enfeebled condition or debilitated state thought to result from such an influence paregoric -- a camphorated tincture of opium, taken internally for the relief of diarrhea and intestinal pain pernicious fever -- violent death caused by malaria phlebotomy -- the act or practice of opening a vein by incision or puncture to remove blood as a therapeutic treatment, also called venesection phthisic -- a disease characterized by the wasting away or atrophy of the body or a part of the body, tuberculosis of the lungs, no longer in scientific use physic, purge -- medicine. to cause evacuation of (the bowels, to induce evacuation of the bowels in an individual piles -- hemorrhoids, dilation of the veins in or about the anus, often producing itching, bleeding, and pain. A common disorder associated with conditions such as constipation, pregnancy, and diarrhea, hemorrhoids can be treated with warm baths, ointments, and suppositories; in severe cases, injections, freezing, laser surgery, or traditional surgery may be necessary. Also called falling bowels. Folk medicine: apply the oil of hen's eggs to the parts, put them in their proper place, then roast an egg, and lay it on as hot as can be borne. pinkeye -- an acute, very contagious form of conjunctivitis, caused by the hemophilic bacterium Hemophilus aegyptius and characterized by inflammation of the eyelids and eyeballs plague/black death -- Bubonic plague, a general term used for any contagious epidemic disease, but usually used to refer specifically to bubonic plague, or the Black Death, an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Pasteurella pestis (Yersinia pestis), transmitted to humans by fleas from infected rats. Symptoms include high fever; chills; prostration; enlarged, painful lymph nodes (buboes), particularly in the groin; and, in its black form, hemorrhages that turn black. Invasion of the lungs by the bacterium causes a rapidly fatal form of the disease (pneumonic plague), which can be transmitted from one person to another via droplets. Epidemics have occurred throughout history, the best known being the Black Death that swept Europe and parts of Asia in the 14th cent., killing as much as three quarters of the population in less than 20 years. The disease is still prevalent in some areas of the world (an outbreak occurred in India in 1994), but such ANTIBIOTICS as tetracycline and streptomycin have greatly reduced the mortality rate. podagra -- gout, especially of the big toe, condition that manifests itself as recurrent attacks of acute ARTHRITIS, distinguished from other forms of arthritis by the presence of increased uric acid in the body. It may become chronic and deforming. Gout usually begins with an acute attack of pain, inflammation, extreme tenderness, and redness in the affected joint. Treatment includes anti -- inflammatory drugs, high liquid intake, and medication that increases uric acid excretion by the kidneys Pott's disease -- partial destruction of the vertebral bones, usually caused by a tuberculous infection and often producing curvature of the spine, [after Percival Pott (1714 -- 1788), British surgeon.] poltice -- A soft, moist mass of bread, meal, clay, or other adhesive substance, usually heated, spread on cloth, and applied to warm, moisten, or stimulate an aching or inflamed part of the body, commonly for the chest, also called cataplasm proud flesh -- Pathology, swollen flesh that surrounds a healing wound, caused by excessive granulation, [From its swelling up.] puerperal fever -- illness resulting from infection of the endometrium following childbirth or abortion, marked by fever and septic -- ia and usually caused by unsterile technique, also called childbed fever puking fever -- term associated with milk sickness putrid fever -- diphtheria putrid sore throat -- whooping cough; or pertussis, highly communicable, infectious disease, predominantly of childhood, early stage is manifested by symptoms of an upper respiratory infection; after about two weeks, a series of paroxysmal coughs are followed by a characteristic high -- pitched "whoop" as a breath is taken, serious disease, whooping cough may give rise to such complications as PNEUMONIA, convulsions, and brain damage; infants should be immunized against the disease as early as possible. Folk medicine: vinegar, salt, honey, red pepper and sage tea. quinsy -- acute inflammation of the tonsils and the surrounding tissue, often leading to the formation of an abscess, streptococcal tonsillitis remitting fever, remittent fever -- malaria rising -- abscess or boil rubefacient, rubefactant -- counterirritant producing redness of the skin, as by a mustard plaster running scall -- noncontagious inflammation of the skin, eczema, characterized chiefly by redness, itching, and the outbreak of lesions that may discharge serous matter and become encrusted and scaly salivate -- to secrete or produce excessive saliva, as by the use of mercury salt rheum -- eczema sanguinous crusty -- scab, scabies, a contagious skin disease caused by a parasitic mite (Sarcoptes scabiei) and characterized by intense itching scald head -- ringworm of the head screws -- rheumatism, any of several pathological conditions of the muscles, tendons, joints, bones, or nerves, characterized by discomfort and disability, rheumatoid arthritis scrofula -- A form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes, especially of the neck, that is most common in children and is usually spread by unpasteurized milk from infected cows. Also called struma and goiter. scrumpox -- a pustular disease of the skin secret diseases -- sexually transmitted disease (STD) or venereal disease, any of several infectious diseases almost always transmitted through sexual contact. These diseases include Gonorrhea, syphilis, aids, chlamydia, human papillomavirus, trichomoniasis, and genital herpes simplex shaking palsy -- complete or partial muscle paralysis, often accompanied by loss of sensation and uncontrollable body movements or tremors, a weakening or debilitating influence, an enfeebled condition or debilitated state thought to result from such an influence, a progressive nervous disease occuring most often after the age of 50, associated with the destruction of brain cells that produce dopamine and characterized by muscular tremor, slowing of movement, partial facial paralysis, peculiarity of gait and posture, and weakness, also called paralysis agitans, shaking palsy [After James Parkinson (1755 -- 1824), British physician.] ship fever -- any of several forms of infectious disease caused by rickettsia, especially those transmitted by fleas, lice, or mites, and characterized generally by severe headache, sustained high fever, depression, delirium, and the eruption of red rashes on the skin. Also called prison fever, hospital fever, ship fever, typhus fever sick headache -- a headache accompanied by nausea, migraine. Folk medicine: drink half a glass of raw rum or gin, and drink freely of mayweed tea sinapism -- see Mustard Plaster, [French sinapisme, from Late Latin sinâpismus, from Greek sinapismos, use of a mustard plaster, from sinapizein, to apply a mustard plaster, from sinapi, mustard.] skin worm -- pathology, infestation of the intestines or other parts of the body with worms or wormlike parasites; helminthiasis, see grubs sleep -- Folk medicine: to induce sleep, bruise a handful of anise sed and steep them in Red Rose Water. Make it up in little bags and bind one of them to each nostril and it will cause sleep. sloes -- an acute, now rare disease characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain that affects individuals who eat dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot sore and weak eyes -- Folk medicine: take white vitriol [zink sulfate], one ounce; sugar of lead, one ounce; gunpowder, two ounces; put into one quart of lime water, let it settle 24 hours, and it is fit for use sore throat distemper -- Any of various inflammations of the tonsils, pharynx, or larynx characterized by pain in swallowing Spanish fly -- a brilliant green blister beetle (Lytta vesicatoria or Cantharis vesicatoria) of central and southern Europe, cantharides (used with a sing. or pl. verb). A toxic preparation of the crushed, dried bodies of this beetle, formerly used as a counterirritant for skin blisters and as an aphrodisiac. spring tonic -- sassafras tea, a deciduous eastern North American tree (Sassafras albidum) having irregularly lobed leaves and aromatic bark, leaves, and branches, the dried root bark of this plant, used as a flavoring and a source of a volatile oil St. Anthony's Fire -- an acute disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by a species of hemolytic streptococcus and marked by localized inflammation and fever. Also called Saint Anthony's fire, erysipelas St. Vitus Dance -- involuntary movements, tremor, tic, chorea (kôemrê¹e), disease causing involuntary jerky, arrhythmic movements of the face, limbs, or entire body, the childhood disease Sydenham's chorea, or St. Vitus's dance, is usually a complication of RHEUMATIC FEVER. The condition develops slowly, sometimes up to six months after the acute infection has occurred, but it resolves completely. For Huntington's chorea, see HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE stone pock -- acne, an inflammatory disease of the sebaceous glands and hair follicles of the skin that is marked by the eruption of pimples or pustules, especially on the face strangery -- the process of breaking open or bursting, the state of being broken open, a hernia, especially of the groin or intestines, a tear in bodily tissue struma -- A noncancerous enlargement of the thyroid gland, visible as a swelling at the front of the neck, that is often associated with iodine deficiency. Also called goiter stupe -- a hot, wet, often medicated cloth used as a compress, folded cloth soaked in hot water and applied to the skin as a counterirritant sugar diabetes -- insulin -- dependent diabetes mellitus. Folk medicine: mix together in equal parts sugar, rosin and alum. Take as much as a penknife will contain three times a day. sulphur -- a pale yellow nonmetallic element occurring widely in nature in several free and combined allotropic forms. It is used in black gunpowder, rubber vulcanization, the manufacture of insecticides and pharmaceuticals, and in the preparation of sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and sulfuric acid. Used in folk medicine. sulfuric acid -- used in folk medicine swamp sickness -- see milk sickness, an acute, now rare disease characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain that affects individuals who eat dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot tar, also coal tar -- used in folk medicine. The terms tar and pitch are sometimes used interchangeably, pitch is actually a component of tar that can be isolated by heating. Tar from pine wood is used to make soap and medicinals. Coal tar derivatives are used to make DYES, cosmetics, and synthetic flavoring extracts. Pitch tends to be more solid than tar and is used in as a lubricant. thick neck, big neck -- A noncancerous enlargement of the thyroid gland, visible as a swelling at the front of the neck, that is often associated with iodine deficiency. Also called struma toxemia of pregnancy -- eclampsia, high blood presure and seizures turpentine -- used in folk medicine. A yellow to brown semifluid resin exuded from the sapwood of pines, firs, and other conifers. It consists of an essential oil (oil of turpentine) and a type of resin called rosin. When pure, it is a colorless, transparent, oily liquid with a penetrating odor and characteristic taste. Oil of turpentine is used medicinally as a liniment. urinary obstruction -- Folk medicine: steep pumpkin seeds in gin, and drink about three glasses a day urine -- used in folk medicine venesection -- phlebotomy, the act or practice of opening a vein by incision or puncture to remove blood as a therapeutic treatment water pox -- chicken pox, an acute contagious disease, primarily of children, that is caused by the varicella -- zoster virus and characterized by skin eruptions, slight fever, and malaise. Also called varicella white plague -- tuberculosis, especially of the lungs white swelling -- synovitus, inflammation of a synovial membrane, swelling of joints, more often the knees; a clear, viscid lubricating fluid secreted by membranes in joint cavities, sheaths of tendons, and bursae wood ashes -- used in folk medicine worms -- infestation of the intestines or other parts of the body with worms or wormlike parasites; helminthiasis. Folk medicine: take the scales that fall around the blacksmith's anvil, powder them fine, and put them in some sweetened rum. Shake them when you take them, and give a teaemspoonful three times a day. yellow fever -- Any of several forms of infectious disease caused by rickettsia, especially those transmitted by fleas, lice, or mites, and characterized generally by severe headache, sustained high fever, depression, delirium, and the eruption of red rashes on the skin. Also called prison fever, ship fever, typhus fever, yellow jack
yellow jack -- see yellow fever
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