In nineteenth-century Britain, the hiccups were cured by spitting on the forefinger of the right hand and making a cross on the front of the left shoe while saying the Lord’s prayer backward. In Ireland, a son born after his father’s death was believed to have the power to cure fevers, as was the seventh son of a seventh son. For the first time, Encyclopedia of Folk Medicine compiles in a single source the aliments, remedies, and sometimes outlandish ...
