Angle-Worm Oil On His Knee

We interrupt the Jeremiah Wiggins show to bring you a report from Israel Pierce. A veteran of the Civil War, Israel applied for an invalid's pension in the early 1880s because he was partially disabled by rheumatism contracted during his service in the Union Army. Investigation ensued. Much paperwork, many depositions.

This particular deposition, taken in October 1882, brought to my attention something I had never heard of before in all my life: angle-worm oil.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Alice Flora Smedstad.



My transcription:

Israel R. Pierce being sworn says he is applicant for pension, claim No. 349856. That for 5 years immediately preceding his enlistment he lived in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana and was occupied as a farmer. That from the date of his discharge and return home from the army said Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana has been his residence all the time and is now. That he claims pension on account of Rheumatism contracted at and near Atlanta, Ga. in or about June 1864 caused from very great exposure and hardships, hard & forced marches, getting wet & other hardships incident to the service. That he was treated by Surgeon W. Butterworth & also Hospital Steward M.J. Whitman[?] prescribed for him in the army for his Rheumatism but so long a time has elapsed they are unable to remember his case. That he was wasn't treated by Drs. Poffenberger or Robinson of the 99th. That Dr. Vincent of Hobart, Ind. treated him from his discharge until 1870 since which time he has received no medical treatment but has used some liniments of home manufacture such as angle worm oil & skunk's oil which he procured himself & used to limber his right knee joint. He has also tried St. Jacob's Oil. He respectfully asks the acceptance of neighbors Banks & Ragen's testimony filed herewith as to existence of his rheumatism since 1870. They are his nearest neighbors. He also asks their testimony be received proving his soundness at enlistment for the reason that he was at said time an able bodied man and perfectly free from Rheumatism & never required or had the attendance of a physician at said time. Has had no disease since discharge [except] Rheumatism. That from the date of his return home from the army until the present time he has lost 1/3 of his time each year by reason of Rheumatism.

So Israel was treating his rheumatism with oil of angleworm, which is another name for earthworm. And that of home manufacture. How do you manufacture earthworm oil? For a recipe, please consult the Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things. We can imagine Israel (or his wife, Calista) collecting earthworms from their yard, boiling them in wine on the kitchen stove, and rubbing the resulting concoction on his stiff and painful knee.

My first impulse is to declare that the stuff had to be completely useless, aside from the possible placebo effect, but a little internet research turns up articles suggesting that extracts of some species of earthworms might help with skin wounds or inflammation and fever. In Israel's case, however, the stuff was completely useless, or nearly so, since his rheumatism persisted.

I'm trying to find a recipe for skunk oil. "Boil the fat of several skunks and add a couple of tablespoons of male skunk glandular secretion before the oil coagulate[s]," says the Wisconsin Historical Society. Israel would have had to trap or shoot the skunks himself, I suppose. Skunk oil as folk medicine seems to have been used more for diseases of the respiratory system than for sore joints. In Israel's case, again, it didn't cure anything.

And neither did the commercially manufactured St. Jacob's Oil.


Someday I hope to have time for more posts about Israel Pierce, his endless paperwork, and his tragic death.