Coal Oil and Kerosene as Home Remedies

Who knew that our ancestors considered coal oil a remedy for skin abrasions, bites, or cuts? Any time any of us got hurt at his home, my grandfather would reach for the bottle of coal oil to apply to the wound. Apparently the same curative powers were attributed to kerosene. It is my impression that very early lamp fuel had actually been coal oil (made from coal or shale), but it was soon replaced by kerosene, a distillate of crude oil; the old timers continued to call it coal oil. Who knew?...Ray Harding.