say, what???...

i read with some interest each day a column by Dr. Gott re: medical questions.  often his piece is about alternative treatments for common maladies.  the topic for today was warts.  the first suggested solution for warts-- chalk.  for you younger ones who only know chalk in the form of colored sidewalk chalk, i'm referring to the white sticks of calcium carbonate teachers used to write on the board at the front of the classroom before the advent of dry erase boards and markers. dr. gott opined that the chalk acted as a drying agent, causing the wart to drop off after some time.

he went on to review some other "home remedy" type treatments for removing warts.  one method included involved mixing a small bit of "tang" (orange drink of the astronauts) with a bit of water, placing the "tang" poultice on the wart and covering it with a band-aid.

that seems a bit odd to me but my question is this.  how does one decide that using "tang" and a band-aid is going to be an ideal remedy for removing warts?  i admit to having less than a scientific mind. but still, "tang"?

i spent a good part of my youth growing up in the 50's.  modern medicine was still out there on the horizon.  i do remember my granny mac "mopping" my sore throat with a mixture of turpentine, coal-oil and grease.  whoever hatched up that nasty remedy was just a tad this side of demented.  yuck!  i think the idea might have been that i'd find the treatment so bad i'd stop whining about how much my throat hurt. 

back in the time my dad was coming up doctor's were few and folks were forced to come up with their own answers to vexing problems.  it was a process of trial and error i'm assuming.  here, let's try this.  well that didn't do any good, how about we do this, and on and on until some concoction seemed to ease the pain, redness, swelling-- whatever the complaint might be.

the human body is resilient and able to absorb tremendous insult.  grandma's throat mop or a "tang" poultice register barely a blip on the radar screen of healing.  still, what kind of mind conjures up "tang" and a band-aid as a remedy for warts.  maybe it's me who is lacking the vision for dreaming up such a novel approach to common problems like a sore throat or an unsightly wart.  maybe it's just me. aio