Unusual Cures The other day a friend wrote to tell
me about a man he knew who, when he was fishing in a remote part of Scotland, was accosted by a farmer with the request that he should provide him with a live trout to be used to cure a cow of hxmorrhage. There seemed to be no doubt that the trout, a fish of about i lb., was put to the purpose stated, and, forced down the throat of the cow, achieved the object. In return for this extraordinary story I gave an account of one of my grand- father's remedies. A mare that was the despair of the vet because she had a seriously enlarged shoulder was treated with a poultice that consisted of a freshly killed cat dressed with 'sweet oil.' The poultice was worn until it dropped off and the mare was completely cured. The formula came from my great-great-grandfather and was probably prescribed by a witch, but it worked, either by some obscure medicinal effect or pprc faith. I can only suggest that, like so many old remedies (and some not so old), it was close to 100 per cent. faith on the part of the person who administered the cure, and perhaps a little faith on the part of the mare herself.
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