Elfshot
Medical condition caused by invisible elves or witches shooting invisible arrows at people or animals.
Plague stones
Hollowed out stones or boulders containing vinegar to disinfect coins, usually placed at or near parish boundaries, relics of medieval plagues.
King’s Evil
Name given in medieval times to scrofula, a swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck caused by tuberculosis.
Mandrake
One of 2500 species of plants belonging to the Solanaceae family. Its psychoactive effects have been known to physicians since ancient times.
Black cat
The numerous folk beliefs about black cats, and cats in general, are often contradictory. Superstitions surrounding black cats are almost certainly some of the most prevalent even today, along with the number thirteen and walking under a ladder.
Hortus Sanitatis
First natural history encyclopedia, published by Jacob Meydenbach in Mainz, Germany in 1491.
Astrological medicine
Astrological botany is based on the notion that if plants or seeds are to be used for medicinal purposes then their planting and collection must be carried out with regard to the positions of the planets and other heavenly bodies, which are at the heart of the disease process.
Fasting spittle
Saliva produced first thing in the morning, before breakfast, used to treat a wide variety of diseases for many hundreds of years.