Re 19th Century Literary Folk Medicine

[Sibelan Forrester]

To Vladimir Tumanov -- my computer crashed, which never happens, and I lost
your original message along with your e-mail address.  I hope the reference
I recall is indeed the sort of thing you inquired about.

Marko Vovchok's "Katerina," one of her "Russian" stories, deals with folk
medicine.  Perhaps someone who knows Vovchok better or has an edition that
includes that story could confirm or correct this, or tell you whether it
was one of the "translations" of her work into Russian that Turgenev
supposedly did.

Katerina, a peasant girl who grows up sad and somehow marked because she
has been taken away from her homeland, teaches herself about the medicinal
properties of plants by trying them out on herself as an adult.  The
knowledge she gains impresses a traditional old woman healer, who teaches
her more.  Illness serves several functions in the story, physical ailments
mesh or contrast with psychological.

Sorry I don't recall more, and also that I don't own a copy of the story --
Vovchok is extremely interesting and a lot of fun to teach.

All the best,

Sibelan