Paleo Diet: Raw Paleo Diet and Lifestyle Forum
Raw Paleo Diet Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: PaleoPhil on March 11, 2013, 04:55:16 am
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Trollofthedungeon shared this interesting link (at this thread - http://www.rawpaleodietforum.com/general-discussion/old-new-york-gangsters-knew-about-raw-meat/msg106742/#msg106742 (http://www.rawpaleodietforum.com/general-discussion/old-new-york-gangsters-knew-about-raw-meat/msg106742/#msg106742)):
http://www.earlyamericancrime.com/dictionary/black-ointment (http://www.earlyamericancrime.com/dictionary/black-ointment)
Which contains this definition from The American Malefactor’s Dictionary:
black ointment
- pieces of raw meat (“It soothes dogs and men.”).
Sources
Barrère, Albert and Charles G. Leland. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and Cant. [London]: The Ballantyne Press, 1889.
Farmer, John S. and W. E. Henley. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. Abridged from Slang and Its Analogues. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1912.
Matsell, George W. Vocabulum: Or, the Rogue’s Lexicon.. New York: George W. Matsell, 1859.
Partridge, Eric. A Dictionary of the Underworld. New York: Bonanza Books, 1961."
I found this purported explanation of it:
Cassel Dictionary of Slang - Page 121
books.google.com/books?isbn=0304366366
Jonathon Green - 2005
"black ointment n. [mid-19C] (UK Und.) a piece of raw meat. [its use as a cure for black eyes] "
And a876.pal found confirmation of that explanation from one of the sources listed by The American Malefactor’s Dictionary:
A Dictionary of the Underworld
http://books.google.com/books?id=VPBMA1ciCNgC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88#v=onepage&q&f=false (http://books.google.com/books?id=VPBMA1ciCNgC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88#v=onepage&q&f=false)
" 'Pieces of raw meat' (B. & L.); c.: from ca. 1870. Perhaps ex idea of meat poultice for a black eye. (Alexander McQueen.) "
The "meat poultice" term from this source produces many more hits. Based on the sources I looked at, it appears that the raw meat poultice (aka beef poultice, beef bandage, black ointment and the similar fat meat poultice aka bacon poultice) was used to treat not just black eyes, but also boils, infected wounds, splinters, earaches and even cancer of the lip! This is quite supportive of raw meat eating, because it shows that raw meat heals not only internally, but also externally and is thus an amazingly healthful food.
Here are some more links:
Warder, Bushnell & Glessner's Handbook For Farmers: Containing A Collection Of Practical Household Remedies, Hints For The Farm And House, The ... Curing Sick Horses ... Hogs And Poultry ...
By Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Co
published before 1923
http://tiny.cc/a7zqtw (http://tiny.cc/a7zqtw)
"Blackened Eyes - Apply warm bread poultices, and change them often. An application of raw meat will restore the color."
Dr. Chase's recipes; or, Information for everybody: an invaluable collection of about eight hundred practical recipes
A W. 1817-1885 Chase (Author)
"Black eye: This is caused by a blow or bruise. ....
To remove the black color of the eye, bind on a little raw meat; or a poultice made of the root of Solomon's seal."
J M Roberts, Law of Right, Charleston Gazette, Thursday, October 17, 1946, Page 10, newspaperarchive.com, Thursday, October 17, 1946
"They are going to try to apply a salve in the form of a meat poultice."
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeefBandage (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeefBandage)
"The reason behind using a steak was the fact that steak in general is kind of flexible and would form to the contour of your eye socket. (Bags of frozen peas are sometimes used for the same purpose.) Nowadays, most people simply recommend a washcloth soaked in cold water.
The steak treatment may originate in ancient Greek medical theory of the "Four Humors." The beef, being red and bloody, would draw out the swelling."
(http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steak_8114.jpg)
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/TheShipsList/2005-10/1128858520 (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/TheShipsList/2005-10/1128858520)
"Her father had a cancer of the lip and the remedy was a half puond beef poultice to draw out the poison." (19th century Scotland)
The idea that beef or pork, particularly the fatty parts and especially raw, would "draw out" bad stuff from swellings, wounds, cancers, splinters, and so on was apparently pretty common in the past.
The similar term "white ointment" also refers to a topical therapy, but instead of raw red meat, it consists of "5 percent white wax and 95 percent white petrolatum" (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-white-ointment.htm (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-white-ointment.htm)).
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Thanks Phil!
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You're welcome, GS. Have you tried topical raw meat/fat therapy on anything besides your son's eczema?
This topic brought back a memory from my childhood. The Nick Barkley character on "The Big Valley" Western TV show used a raw steak on a black eye he got in a fight. I asked my brother why he was using a steak and my brother commented that it was only because a steak is cold and flexible and it was stupid, because he could have used something cheaper and more convenient, like a bag of ice (presumably a hide bag on a remote 19th century ranch) or cold cloth or some such thing, and the Nick character was just using steak because it was macho. That answer didn't satisfy me at the time. I suspected there was more to it than that, but I forgot about it until now. My curiosity must have been aroused enough to remember it all these years later.
Now I learn that there was indeed more to it, that people believed that raw meat was especially good at healing bruises and that raw meat poultices may reach back all the way to the physician Galen in classical Greece (he reportedly used a cheese-and-bacon poultice, per Health, Disease, and Illness: Concepts in Medicine
By Arthur Leonard Caplan, James J. McCartney, Dominic A. Sisti, June 17, 2004)
Note: the above link to "A Dictionary of the Underworld" is actually to "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" by the same author (2006 edition).