Talk:Tar water

In the sentence, "Young Pip was often forced fed it, for bolting food", what does "bolting food" refer to, please?

Seahappy (talk) 04:35, 21 August 2010 (UTC)


 * It means eating very quickly, perhaps without chewing; thus (according to Pip's sister) leading to a need to be "purged". See also bolt. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 09:27, 21 August 2010 (UTC)


 * That is - he "bolted" his food. "Don't bolt your food, or I'll give you tar water! .... tsk, now we will feed you tar water, as punishment for bolting food." DS (talk) 14:35, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

There are no references for the claim that the medicine actually was medieval, all citations are much later. Medical criticism should be cited, and if possible, some data given about what kinds of chemicals tar water really consists of, and what might have been the actual results of the tar water craze Berkeley started (his Siris was immensely popular, having 6 prints in first year, and several translations across Europe, including into Swedish and Polish). It certainly was no panacea but might have been useful nevertheless as a cheap, universally available antiseptic. Also, the article does not say whether tar water has a place in modern folk medicine. --Oop (talk) 18:13, 12 June 2016 (UTC)


 * I do not believe tar-water was used back in medieval times as a medicine, the only references I could find linked its use to fishing nets and ship boards or ropes. I believe a mistake has been made. HealthyGirl (talk) 18:40, 12 June 2016 (UTC)