The Josselins, part 2

Ralph was uncomfortable, if not unwell, most of the time.  In fact, he wrote about whenever he felt well.  Ill-health was the norm, as he and his family had nearly continual colds, unpleasant skin and eye problems, Jane had the discomforts of pregnancy (Beier, 127), and Ralph got sick whenever he traveled (112).
Violets on left and rose bush on right from Primitive Physic garden in Epworth.  Dried rose petals from Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret.

The Josselins used violet cake and syrup of roses orally, plaintain water and sugar as a dressing, and honey on a bee-sting -- all herbal remedies.  Ralph also took mythridate and a Stybium vomit [preparation] for a cold, which he must have gotten from an apothecary.  At the end of his life he took Daffy's Elixer, Talbor's Pills, and another prescription ordered by Dr. Cox.  But most of the time, even for his physical suffering, he took herbs to help -- dressings of red rose leaves and milk covered by burdock leaves, bread, elote leaves, or green tobacco leaves.  He drank "Mrs Spicer's ale," ate nutmeg, and took harshorn drops (118-19).

"A question which is often asked is 'Did these remedies work?'  Certainly modern herbalists and homeopaths rely on substances which would have been familiar to the Josselins. ... The question of whether or not a medicine 'worked' was understood differently by Ralph Josselin than it would be by a modern patient.  The modern patient wants to know whether a medicine will produce a cure, or at least make him or her feel better.  Josselin and his contemporaries expected a medicine to show its strength by producing an immediate result -- usually in the form of multiple stools or vomits.  Thus a remedy could 'work' without curing the patient.  ... Of course, the Josselins hoped that medicine taken during times of illness would help produce a cure." (Beier, 119-20).

In previous centuries, any illness could become lethal.  Fevers (including scarlet fever and fever after childbirth), infections, stomach and colon disorders, tuberculosis, chickenpox, diptheria, syphilis, meningitis, and measles all killed (Porter, Blood, 37).  Ralph Josselin was most terrified by epidemic diseases, such as plague and smallpox, which were deadly.  There were various "cures" but none of them worked, and if one survived smallpox they were horribly disfigured (Beier, 125).  Charles Wesley's 16 month old son died of smallpox and his wife Sally was very upset about her disfigurement (Best, Gary.  Tour of John and Charles Wesley's Bristol.  Bristol, England, 11 October 2012).  The left photo is Gary showing the tombstone for Charles and Sally's 5 infant children who died (their unmarried daughter is also buried here), and the left is Sally before she had smallpox.

 

Fortunately for the early Methodists (and everybody else), plague had receded from England in the 17th century and cholera did not arrive in England until British military and businessmen brought it home in the 1820s.  Medical care focused on the individual and not on treating large numbers of people.  (Hardy, Anne.  "The Medical Response to Epidemic Disease in the Long Eighteenth Century," part of the online series "Epidemic Disease in London", also published in Champion, J.A.I, ed.  Centre for Methoolitan History Working Papers Series, no. 1, 1993.  Accessed on Institute of Historical Research, University of London website on 17 October and 5 November 2012.  www.history.ac.uk/ihr/focus/medical/epihardy.html).

Look back at the first sentence of the last paragraph.  I'll bet some of you reading this don't even know what some of those illnesses are.  Smallpox has been eradicated in the world.  We have vaccinations that nearly everybody gets to prevent diptheria, typhoid, measles, and mumps.  There are newer immunizations to prevent meningitis and chickenpox.  Syphillis and bacterial infections are cured easily by antibiotics.  Fevers leading to death after childbirth are nonexistent in our society, since we now understand the importance of using clean or sterile gloves, instruments and clothing during the birthing process.  When was the last time you heard of someone with scarlet fever?

[If you want to see Gary Best and his thoughts about Christianity in Britain today in less than 3 minutes, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxK6CtytVJo.]