Science Marches On

An “infallible remedy against epilepsy,” published in Paris in 1686:

Take of common polypody dried and powdered, of moss growing from the skull of a man who died by violent means (criminals preferred), of nail-filings from human hands and feet, two drachms each; piony root half an ounce, and of fresh misletoe half an ounce. Boil them together as the moon wanes; cool, strain, and administer in small doses.

Cited in Charles White, Three Years in Constantinople, 1846.

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