Traditional Medicine

Lemming skin

Lemming skins are used on boils to draw the pus up to the surface. The lemmings should be caught in the summer, then the inner layer of skin is peeled off, the fur is dried and perforated with tiny holes for suction. It is wetted before placing it on the skin. Sometimes a special part of the skin is preferred: the back, the stomach or the right front leg. The fur on the lemming skin rises when the boil is ready to be drained. If a lemming skin is not available, rabbit, squirrel, muskrat or weasel skins may be used instead.