In 1844, A trainee dentist named Donald Calder in Edinburgh with no front teeth, made himself dentures to seem more reputable. Poorly-built, his boss advised not to sleep with them in. He ignored the warning and accidentally swallowed them. After a few days of seeking medical help he started to vomit blood and very quickly died.
His false teeth had stabbed him in his aorta.
In January 1856 the Provost of Dingwall had a dinner party that left two Catholic priests and a laird dead. The cook’s servant brought her monkshood (a,b) instead of horseradish (c,d) for the roast beef. The provost had them planted 18″ apart in his garden.
The cliffs of Portpatrick (known locally as heughs) have a cave that was said to cure the infirm (esp. kids with rickets). After bathing the child in a nearby stream under a new moon, you had to dry them off in the cave under Dunskey Castle.
In parts of the Northeast, folk believed disease could be cured by placing 2 live doves on a high cliff “atween the sin an sky” at sunrise. Before that though, you had to split them down the breast and wear them as slippers for a whole day.
After drinking from ditches, Robert Dixon, of Markle, E. Lothian complained of “sour belchings” and “obstinate bowels”. For 2 years he coughed up “fetid slimy matter”. In June 1828 a doctor gave him bicarb and he vomited up a great grey slug, 4 inches long!
He kept it as pet for 5 days. It was “quite lively and vigorous when voided”.
The account is from William Rhind’s 1829 book on intestinal worms. He was clear it was “limax major” (a big slug) rather than one of the more typical invertebrates found in the human gut.
Turra folk on body parts (1890s):
“a muckle tae” (second toe) = domestic abuser
“grey een greedy, blue een needy” (of babies)
A “close-broot man” (monobrow) = immoral man
Nail flecks can forecast the future depending on the finger.
In 1821, James Weir was the most famous baby in Scotland. Because of his extreme size, his parents brought him through to Edinburgh to be exhibited. A happy active child, he sadly died at 17 months. His grave can be seen in Cambusnethan Old Churchyard in Wishaw.
In 1732, William Toshach saved the life of James Blair, an Alloa coal miner after he “applied his Mouth, blowed strongly, and distended his Lungs with Air”. Toshach gave the first account of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in 1744 and popularized it across Europe.
In parts of Sutherland, a cure for toothache was carrying a live earthworm in your mouth, walking to the next parish without speaking, and safely returning the poor worm to the earth. Usually done at night so to not offend folk by not saying hello!
PUDDOCKSTANES. n. Fossilised teeth from ancient fish. Folk believed they grew in the heads of toads and were magical. Used to cure/detect poisoning. Swallowed for constipation, retrieved and reused (and handed down over generations…)
