Folk Medicine: A Doctor’s Guide to Good Health

188 Pages·1961·6.366 MB·English

by  D. C. Jarvis

FOLK MEDICINE
A Doctor's Guide to Good Health
The tough, hard-living mountain folk of the State
of Vermont have a time-honoured Folk Medicine.
DrJarvis,afifth-generation nativeofVermont, has
livedand practised among thesesturdy people for
overfiftyyears.This book is the result ofhis deep
study of their way of life,and inparticularoftheir
concepts of diet. These he has been able to test
against his formal medical training and prove by
longexperience.
Here he offersa newtheory on the treatment and
prevention ofawidevarietyof ailments- thecom
moncold,hay-fever,arthritis, high blood pressure,
chronic fatigue, overweightand many others- and
holds out a promise of zestful good health for
young and old.
Little wonder then that this absorbing book has
proved immensely popular throughout America
and Britain.
By thesameauthor inPAN Books:
ARTHRITIS AND FOLK MEDICINE
CONDITIONS OF SALE
This book s1aallnot, by way of trade or otherwise, be
lent. reo-sold, hired out orotherwise circulated without
the ~ubljsher's prior consent in any form of bindiDgor
cov&otherthanthatin whichitispublishedandwithout
asimilarconditionincludingthiscondition beingimposed
OD thesubsequentpurchaser
FOLK
MEDICINE
A Doctor's Guideto GoodHealth
D. C. JARVIS, MD
PAN BOOKS LTD : LONDON
First published in 1960by W.H. Allen & Co,
This edition published 1961 by Pan Books Ltd.,
33 Tothill Street, London, S.W.I.
2ndPrinting 1962
3rdPrinting 1962
4th Printing 1962
5th Printing 1963
6th Printing 1963
7th Printing1964
8th Printing 1964
9th Printing 1965
10th Printing 1966
11th Printing 1967
© D. C.Jarvis, 1958
Printed in Great Britain by
Cox& WymanLtd., London, Reading and Fakenham
CONTENTS
PAGE
Foreword 7
1 Definitions 9
2 Environment and the LifeSpan 12
3 The Animal Laws 16
4 Your Beginning 20
5 Your Racial Pattern and Folk Medicine 26
6 First Yardstick of Your Health 45
7 The Instincts of Childhood 51
8 Potassium and Its Uses 58
9 The Usefulness of Honey 95
10 The Usefulness of Kelp 120
11 The Importance of Iodine 133
12 Castor Oil and Corn Oil 146
13 Medical Reasoning Behind Folk Medicine 151
Appendices .
A Further Studies Made on Animals 155
B SomeOther Uses ofApple-Cider Vinegar
in Folk Medicine 175
C Folk Medicineand Beverages 178
D Chemical Analysis of Kelp 181
E Harmful Bacteria and Alkalinity 184
This book is dedicated to
my daughter, SylviaJarvis Smith, and my grandson,
Jarvis Fred Smith
To convey to them through the written word
the folk medicine of Vermont
which one generation of native Vermonters, Jivingclose
to the soil, hands on by word of mouth to
succeeding generations.
FOREWORD
I AMA fifth-generation Vermonter on my mother's side.
My medical collegeand internship days in Burlington
trained meinorganized medicine.When I arrived inBarre,
topursue mychosen specialityofeye,ear, noseand throat,
IrecognizedanothertypeofmedicinewhichI had to know
andunderstandifIwasto gainthe medicalconfidenceand
respect of the inhabitants who lived close to the soil on
back-road farms. This folk medicine had not been part of
my formal training;.but it is deeply a part of Vermont
living.I setaboutlearning itand understandingits origins.
My studies led me to considerable readjustment of
orthodoxapproaches. Forexample,it did notimmediately
makemedicalsenseto methatasorethroatcould becured
in one day bychewingfresh gum ofthe spruce tree. But I
sawthat I would bewisetolearn the principles ofthis folk
medicineand cultivate a willingnessto prescribe its time
honoured remedies where precedent indicated that they
would beas, or more, efficaciousthan the remedies which
organized medicinehad taughtmeto use.
When I discusseda variety of specifictreatments ofthis
indigenous medicine with my colleagues at regional and
national medical-society meetings, they asked me to con
tinue the discussion at greater length bystartinga corres
pondence study group, basing letters on my cumulative
findings.Icarried onthiscorrespondencefor twentyyears.
Membership was limited to fifty persons. Practically all
were nationally known; many were faculty members of
medicalschools.TheletterswentoutTuesdaysandFridays
to a mailinglist in thirty-two states.
Iconceivedthisbookoriginallyto pass on to mydaugh
ter and herdescendantsthe principles and workings ofthis
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folkmedicineastestedinthecourseofmypractice. LaterI
decided to expand it. My wish for it is that it may bring
knowledge and understanding of the nature and long
successfuluses of folk medicine to anyone interested in
daily increased vitality from childhood through maturity
to satisfyinglyactive old age.
I believethatthe.doctor ofthefuture willbeateacheras
wellasphysician. HisrealjobWill beto teach people bow
to be healthy. Doctors will beeven busier than they are
nowbecauseitisalot harderto keeppeoplewellthan itis
tojust getthem overasickness.
Folk medicine has much to give those who reject as
inevitablethe spectre ofphysicalimpairment and weaken
ing,andwhopreferinsteadtoplanto bestrong, active,and
freefrom diseaseto the veryend oftheir days.
D. C. JARVIS
Barre, Vermont
8
CHAPTER ONE
DEFINITIONS
FOLK MEDICINE reaches very far back in time. Nature
opened the first drugstore. Primitive man and the
animals depended on preventive use of its stock ofplants
and herbs to avoid disease and to maintain health and
vigour. Because man and animals were constantly on the
move, Nature's drugstore had branches everywhere.
Whereverinthe world youweresick,youwould findinthe
fieldsits medicines to cure you, its materials for curative
herbal teas and ointments.
Folkmedicinehas beenunfoldinginthe VeT(green)mont
(mountains) since aboriginal times. It adapts very old
physiological and biochemical laws to the maintenance of
health and vigour in the environmental conditions ofVer
mont living. But there is no geographical limit on the
laws,and theirapplicationswillworkwellinmanyenviron
ments.
As with all folk medicine from time immemorial, the
idealisto conditionthe body in its entiretyso thatdisease
willnot attackit. Now and then one findspeopletakingit
for granted that 'folk medicine' is a vague term for a
collection of medical old wives' tales. It is inevitable that
some myths would creep in along the way. For example,
when I was a child, a string of Job's Tears-a species of
grass having round, shiny grains imaginatively said to
resemblethe patienttearsofthe sorelytriedOldTestament
character-frequently were hung by a mother around the
neck ofher child 'tohelp himcut his teeth'. Andofcourse
all of us have heard of the supposedly magical, ifsmelly,
powers of a little sack of asafoetida-the gum-resin sub
stance with the garlicky odour-which, worn around the
neck through the cold winter months, would surely repel
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