Topic:	Cornish cures
Joy@w-m-a.com Posts: 2 Posted: 25.Jul 2006 - 09:54	A friend of mine is studying alternative medical treatments, and has been told of a hill in Cornwall where, in the past, people with rheumatism would go and sit. This seems to tie in with treatment being offered in the U.S.A. at some radon mines in Boulder, Montana. Does anyone have any ideas where this hill might be ? We'd be grateful for any information.
cledry_maid Posts: 1347 Posted: 25.Jul 2006 - 11:30	Climbing or being passed through Men an Tol 9 times is supposed to cure rheumatism. http://www.bath.ac.uk/~prsrlp/kernunos/england/menantol.htm
Joy@w-m-a.com Posts: 2 Posted: 1.Aug 2006 - 08:32	Many thanks for the info., much appreciated.
Coady Posts: 1824 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 00:17	I think that was always an old joke, Cledry, like "If you HAVE to rub your eye, only use your elbow"...have you TRIED to pass through Men-an-tol? Its hard even if youre healthy!!
Joe Posts: 772 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 13:14	When I used to get tired on the job, my father used to put his boot across my arse. That was his cure for laziness.
Coady Posts: 1824 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 14:35	Excellent Joe! I firmly believe that sort of Cornish Traditional 'booting up the Arse' should form part of the essential curriculum for teaching Cornish Children in thear skools.
marhak Posts: 2754 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 17:53	I know that uranium was mined at Wheal Trenwith, St Ives (where the bloody great car park and new leisure centre are - do the cars glow in the dark?), and close to the viaduct at Ponsanooth. I'm sure that it was mined elsewhere in Cornwall as well. For traditional Cornish cures - it's worth having a good read of Hunt's "Romances and Superstitions in the West of England" (sorry about the title, but that was Hunt, not me); Bottrell's 3 volumes of Traditions of West Cornwall and Margaret Courtney's Cornish Feasts and Folk Lore (all written in the 1870s-1880s).
Masterclass Posts: 875 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 18:55	I am fairly sure that there was a Uranium mine at Grampound Road, or thereabouts, as well. (And I've spent the last 30 minutes trying to rub my eye with my elbow)
Mike Posts: 2476 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 19:46	Yes, Masterclass, Cornwall's most famous - South Terras - between Grampond road and St Stephen. Supplied radium for Marie Curie's original research into radioactivity. radium occurs there as an imprity in the pitchblende. This mine was unique in Cornwall as it was a stand alone U/Ra mine whereas the many others that produced uranium were tin/copper mines in the main eg. Wheal Owls, Polgooth and many in the Gunnislake area.
troll Posts: 567 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 19:47	QuoteI firmly believe that sort of Cornish Traditional 'booting up the Arse' should form part of the essential curriculum for teaching Cornish Children in thear skools. You could let the Cornish 1st XV practise their goal kicks and kill two birds with one stone.
troll Posts: 567 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 19:48	Going back to Uranium, is there enough underground to be mined again?
FlammNew Posts: 1814 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 20:16	Probably not until the other big world producers start running out. Marhak, considering how many tons of ore the Curies processed to produce a tiny amount of radium you could eat the stuff without suffering radiation sickness.
troll Posts: 567 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 20:39	You first Flamm. Would it be a rock cake or a yellow cake?
marhak Posts: 2754 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 20:52	But didn't Marie Curie die from radiation poisoning?
Mike Posts: 2476 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 21:21	Yes, from leukaemia, as a consequence of prolonged radiation exposure.
marhak Posts: 2754 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 22:09	Heavy cake, I would think!
FlammNew Posts: 1814 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 22:34	Yes, but she worked with it for ages an concentrated it. It took literally TONS of ore to concentrate even small samples. How many people in the UK have actually been proved to have died due to the effects of Radon gas?
Coady Posts: 1824 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 22:40	...spookily, probably the same as many of our miners... from Radon poisoning and silicosis. Poor beggars. Coady.
FlammNew Posts: 1814 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 22:58	I repeat, how many have been proved to have died from Radon poisoning? The sudden rush of putting radon extractors on homes which aren't even situated on granite is ludicrous, the amount getting into our homes these days is minute and if you open a window or door a few times a day it'll never build up into a dangerous level.
Coady Posts: 1824 Posted: 16.Aug 2006 - 23:09	Darned if I know....It never struck me as something the Authorities wanted to talk about. Why is it setting a fire under you Flamm? Graham.