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From the moment when the chilblain and the nest of the Mantis were known by the same name were not the virtues of the latter obvious? So are reputations created. In my own village, and doubtless to some extent throughout the Midi, the tigno the nest of the Mantis, not the chilblain is also reputed as a marvellous cure for toothache.
Of a fair size, of curious structure, and well in evidence on its twig or stone, the nest of the Praying Mantis could hardly escape the attention of the Provençal peasant. It is well known in the country districts, where it goes by the name of tigno; it even enjoys a certain celebrity. But no one seems to be aware of its origin.
None of us, treated with the celebrated unguent, observed the swelling to diminish; none of us found that the pain and discomfort was in the least assuaged by the sticky varnish formed by the juices of the crushed tigno.
It is not easy to believe that others are more successful, but the popular renown of the specific survives in spite of all, probably thanks to a simple accident of identity between the name of the remedy and that of the infirmity: the Provençal for "chilblain" is tigno.
All sufferers from blue and swollen fingers should without fail, according to traditional usage, have recourse to the tigno. Is it really efficacious? Despite the general belief, I venture to doubt it, after fruitless experiments on my own fingers and those of other members of my household during the winter of 1895, when the severe and persistent cold produced an abundant crop of chilblains.
They sew them in the lining of the pocket, lest they should be pulled out with the handkerchief and lost; they will grant the loan of them to a neighbour tormented by some refractory molar. "Lend me thy tigno: I am suffering martyrdom!" begs the owner of a swollen face. "Don't on any account lose it!" says the lender: "I haven't another, and we aren't at the right time of moon!"
By general agreement the rural pharmacopoeia of Provence pronounces the tigno to be the best of remedies against chilblains. The method of employment is of the simplest. The nest is cut in two, squeezed and the affected part is rubbed with the cut surface as the juices flow from it. This specific, I am told, is sovereign.
It is always a surprise to my rustic neighbours when they learn that the well-known tigno is the nest of the common Mantis, the Prègo-Diéu. This ignorance may well proceed from the nocturnal habits of the Mantis. No one has caught the insect at work upon her nest in the silence of the night. The link between the artificer and the work is missing, although both are well known to the villager.
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