As the story goes: “It is worth mentioning that one William Hunter, a collier, was cured in the year 1758 of an inveterate rheumatism or gout, by drinking freely of new ale, full of barm and yest (sic). The poor man had been confined to his bed for a year and a half, having almost entirely lost the use of his limbs. On the evening of Handsel Monday, as it is called, (i.e. the first Monday of the New Year), some of his neighbors came to make merry with him. Though he could not rise, yet he always took his share of the ale as it passed round the company, and, in the end, became much intoxicated. The consequence was , that he had the use of his limbs the next morning, and was able to walk about. He lived more that twenty years after this, and never had the smallest return of his old complaiint.”
From: Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britian: Chiefly Illustrating the Origen of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions, by John Brand (Henry G. Bohn, Covent Garden, London, 1853)