An Udderly Ridiculous Home Remedy

An Udderly Ridiculous Home Remedy


Doug Smith

Copyright 2005 by Doug Smith

Home Remedies - Facts or Quacks?

That's what I recently asked myself. Myths and legends often
have their basis in a grain of truth. So I wondered if home
remedies, alternative treatments, and folklore cures might
also be based on truth. A little research provided these
astounding results!

Itching For A Cure

Edward Jenner is widely credited as the father of the smallpox
vaccination. However, twenty years earlier in 1774, a quick-
thinking English farmer named Benjamin Jesty saved his family
from smallpox using some pretty unorthodox methods.

Waiting Until The Cows Come Home

In 1774 the highly infectious and deadly smallpox disease was
epidemic. Farmer Jesty, immune to the disease because he had
survived it in childhood, feared for the lives of his pregnant
wife and children. Many country folk knew that people who had
previously caught the milder disease of cowpox from an infected
cow did not catch the normally-fatal smallpox disease.

A Desperate Plan

Frantic to find a solution before his family caught the disease,
Jesty took his family to a nearby farm where cows were infected
with cowpox. He injected his family with diseased cowpox cells
from the cows. Because vacca is Latin for cow, this procedure
later became known as vaccination.

This Isn't Bull

The mild cowpox disease came and went in the children. His
pregnant wife had complications and required the aid of the
local doctor. His family did not catch the deadly smallpox
disease, but word leaked out. Poor Jesty was ridiculed by
his neighbors, who expected his family to turn into cows,
or at least grow horns!

Edward Jenner was a tireless crusader in promoting the
benefits of smallpox vaccination. However, it was a
desperate farmer who used his quick wit and country
folklore to save his family 20 years earlier.

Regardless of who history credits, this home remedy
definitely rates as a fact rather than a quack!

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About the Author

Doug Smith is a Chemical Engineer and the webmaster of
http://www.SuperHomeRemedies.com" target="_blank">http://www.SuperHomeRemedies.com">http://www.SuperHomeRemedies.com You get free & natural home
remedies for fungus, lice, acid reflux, cold sores, yeast & more.