Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 224, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1915 — OLD,BELIEFS ABOUT HEALTH [ARTICLE]

OLD,BELIEFS ABOUT HEALTH

Many Are the Myths to Which People Have Clung Through the Centuries. How many people believe that goM wedding rings rubbed on the eye wtfi cure styes? That green apples cause colic? That earrings Improve sight? That a copper wire round the waist prevents rheumatism ? That only nasty medicines cure? That whisky is good for pretty nearly any ailment? That the moon affects lunatloe? That tuberculosis is hereditary? That measles Is inevitable? That typhoid comes from dead weeds or fish in drinking watar? That red flannel (must be red!) Is good for sore throats? That iewer gas is poison? That smallpox can be telephoned from one person to another? That mosquitoes come from decomposing leaves? That malaria is due to night air? That robust people do not have smallpox? That scarlet fever scales are infectious? That raw beefsteak is good for a black eye? That drinking cow’s blood fresh and warm cures consumption? That the smell from a horse stable cures consumption? That if medicine is good for sick people, it must be still better for well ones? That eating turnips makes one brave? That onions cure or prevent smallpox? That dead bodies necessarily breed a pestilence? That rusty nails produce tetanus (lockjaw)? These and many more like myths make up the fragmentary creeds on health that we have inherited.