Show 1 RATTLESNAKE I Voodoo Medicines and their Various Villainous Ingredients In-gredients r A handsome well dressed woman entered a Chestnut street apothecary shop yesterday and asked of the prescription pre-scription clerk in a stage whisper Do you keep rattlesnake oil NoH replied the compounder in an audible tone you will have to go to some druggist in the slums for that I commodity Thais the fourth call we have had today or some ode of the various vari-ous voodoo medicines n said tbejclerk turning to tbe reporter and that means just four dollar out of the bosss pocket I asked him tbe other day to let me mix up some of the stuff but he wouldnt have it and stamppd out muttering something about being an honest man and running run-ning reputable business But what ie rattlesnake oil and what is it used for asked the report tr The ingredients can be moat anything any-thing but the compound is usually made of lard goose grease and sometimes some-times a little olive oil and it is generally gener-ally used for rheumatism fits or for exorcising devils Of course there is really no such thing aa rattlesnake oil but to meet the heavy demand for it a great many druggists keep a harmless harm-less compound which they sell as rattlesnake rat-tlesnake oil It is used as an ointment oint-ment and under this name it is almost al-most invariably called for by the negroes although as you have just seep it is occasionally asked for by white women who look intelligent I can only explain this on the ground that they become imbued with the superstition from talking oyer their ailments with their colored servants ser-vants vantsBut C1But rattlesnake oil continued the clerk becoming interested in bis subject is only one of a score of these voodoo medicines and oin ments There is also a great demand among the negroes for dogs fat cats fat possum oil rabbit fat and in abort for the fat and oil of almost every animal and reptile you uan imagine I often have calls from the ignorant Germans and Hungarians for devils sweat and hell powder The ignorant of almost every nationality nation-ality have different speoifio3 for different differ-ent diseases The negroes take the palm however in to number and variety of their charmed medicines Many druggists < < keep a bottle filled with a compound such as I described to you from which all calle for these various oils and Ma are supplied and the druggists in the slums make a good deal from their sale |