Rural medicine
Original title: Medicina Campestre
Introduction to rural folk medicine in Madeira, noting the medical knowledge of country people and the skill of illiterate women healers.
Country people in Madeira generally possess a certain amount of medical knowledge. Rare is the countrywoman who does not know how to treat herself for certain uterine complaints, and rare too is the one who does not know one or more effective remedies for various minor diseases that frequently afflict children and adults. There are women healers who can skilfully reduce a dislocation, and more than one educated person has benefited from the advice and directions of these women. They are almost always illiterate, yet some of them cannot be denied a certain skill and experience in the art of treating a number of ailments.
Below we give some information on how certain ailments are treated in the Madeiran countryside. Much remains to be said on the subject, which well deserves study by someone whose specialist knowledge makes them better placed than we are to judge the advantages or disadvantages of using particular medicinal agents.