[MR] BBC: "Starve a fever, feed a cold"

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Wikipedia offers a short piece on the adage, "Starve a fever, feed a cold."
As the article points out, the first publication of this concept was in
1574.

Although the concept goes all the way back to Hippocrates, it was finally
published by John Withals in his book *A Shorte Dictionarie Most Profitable
for Yong Beginners*.

And the truth of this "wives tale"? Well, it has not been determined
scientifically. A Dutch study mentioned with the Wikipedia article suggests
scientific reasons why it might work. But that's modern science, and beyond
our historical period.

Here's the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_a_cold,_starve_a_fever .

Thank Lady Sarah Sinclair for calling this story to our attention.

Yours Aye,


  Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆