Did You Know....? - Curious Cures

The cure for convulsions in medieval Britain was to take a slice of fingernail, a few hairs plucked from the eyebrows and the crown of the head, and tie them together in a cloth. The bundle, with a halfpenny added for good measure, was then left at a crossroads, and whoever picked it up was believed to take on the disease. For obvious reasons, people were reluctant to pick up strange looking parcels at crossroads.