Photo by Örebro läns museum, Sweden
Magical medicinal oinment against the rickets
This wooden plate contains a traditional oinment for a magical medicinal cure against the rickets. The plate measures 18,5 cm, and its content is covered with a slice of badly cut glass that used to be sealed with some kind of plaster or mortar, but has later been fastened with a few small nails. For further protection of the content, a femudd - "five-point" - has been drawn into it.
That is about all that is known about this object that can be seen at the Örebro county museum. It appears the content has not been analysed, but one traditional oinment recipe against the rickets contains mercury, mezereon and lard. Lard is a staple in the medicine cabinet in the old Scandinavian farming society, and I use it, too - but I sure wouldn't use any of the other two in my salves!
