"When cats run home, and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirling sail goes round,
And the whirling sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits
The white owl in the belfry sits."--TENNYSON.
OLD AND NEW.--THE SIGN OF JUPITER.--MODERN IDOLATRY.--ORIGIN OF THE
DAYS OF THE WEEK.--HOW WE PERPETUATE IDOLATRY.--SINGULAR
FACT.--CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES.--"OLD NICK."--RIDICULOUS
SUPERSTITIONS.--GOLDEN HERB.--HOUSE CRICKETS.--A STOOL WALKS!--THE
BOWING IMAGES AT RHODE ISLAND.--HOUSE SPIDERS.--THE HOUSE
CAT.--SUPERSTITIOUS IDOLATRIES.--WONDERFUL KNOWLEDGE.--NAUGHTY
BOYS.--ERRORS RESPECTING CATS.--SANITARY QUALITIES.--OWLS.--A SCARED
BOY.--HOLY WATER.--UNLUCKY DAYS.--THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.--A KISS.
Medicine, above all the other sciences, was founded upon superstition.
Medicine, more than all the other arts, has been practised by
superstitions. Stretching far back through the vista of time to the
remotest antiquity, reaching forward into the more enlightened present, it
has partaken of all that was superstitious in barbarism, in heathenism, in
mythology, and in religion.
In showing the Alpha I am compelled to reveal the Omega.
Let us begin with Jupiter. I know that some wise Æsculapian--no
Jupiterite--will turn up his nose at this page, while to-morrow, if he
gets a patient, he will demonstrate what I am saying, and further, help
to perpetuate the ignorant absurdities which originated with the old
mythologists, by placing "[R]"--the ill-drawn sign of Jupiter--before his
recipe.
[Illustration: THE GOD OF RECIPES.]
De Paris tells us that the physician of the present day continues to
prefix to his prescriptions the letter "[R]," which is generally supposed
to mean "recipe," but which is, in truth, a relic of the astrological
symbol of Jupiter, formerly used as a species of superstitious invocation,
or to propitiate the king of the gods that the compound might act
favorably.
There are still in use many other things which present _prima facie_
evidence of having been introduced when the users placed more faith in
mythological or planetary influence than in any innate virtue of the
article itself. For instance, at a very early period all diseases were
regarded as the effects of certain planetary actions; and not only
diseases, but our lives, fortunes, conduct, and the various qualities that
constitute one's character, were the consequences of certain planetary
control under which we existed. Are there not many who now believe this?
"In ancient medicine pharmacy was at one period only the application of
the dreams of astrology to the vegetable world. The herb which put an ague
or madness to flight did so by reason of a mystic power imparted to it by
a particular constellation, the outward signs of which quality were to be
found in its color or shape." Red objects had a mysterious influence on
inflammatory diseases, and yellow ones on persons discolored by jaundice.
Corals were introduced as a medicine, also to wear about the neck on the
same principle.
These notions are not yet obsolete. Certain diseases are still attributed
to the action of the moon. Certain yellow herbs are used for the
jaundice and other diseases. The _hepatica triloba_ (three-lobed) is
recommended for diseases of the lungs as well as liver (as its first name,
_hepatica_, indicates), and some other medicines for other complaints,
without the least regard to their innate qualities. Corals are still worn
for nose-bleed, red articles kept about the bed and apartments of the
small-pox patient, and the red flag hung out at the door of the house,
though few may know why a _red_ flag is so hung, or that it originated in
superstition.
The announcement of an approaching comet strikes terror to the hearts of
thousands; the invalid has the sash raised that he may avoid first seeing
the new moon through the glass, and the traveller is rejoiced to catch his
first glimpse of the young queen of the night over his right shoulder,
"for there is misfortune in seeing it over the left."
But we are not yet done with ancient symbols.
"The stick came down from heaven," says the Egyptian proverb.
"The physician's cane is a very ancient part of his insignia. It has
nearly gone into disuse; but until very recently no doctor of medicine
would have presumed to pay a visit, or even be seen in public, without
this mystic wand. Long as a footman's stick, smooth, and varnished, with a
heavy gold head, or a cross-bar, it was an instrument with which, down to
the present century, every prudent aspirant to medical practice was
provided. The celebrated gold-headed cane which Radcliffe, Mead, Askew,
Pitcairn, and Baillie successively bore, is preserved in the College of
Physicians, London. It has a cross-bar, almost like a crook, in place of a
knob. The knob in olden times was hollow, and contained a vinaigrette,
which the man of science held to his nose when he approached a sick
person, so that its fumes might protect him from the disease."
The cane, doubtless, came from the wand or caduceus of Mercurius, and was
a "relic of the conjuring paraphernalia with which the healer, in
ignorant and superstitious times, always worked upon the imagination of
the credulous." The present barber's pole originated with surgeons. The
red stripe represented the arterial blood; the blue, the venous blood; the
white, the bandages.
The superstitious ancients showed more wisdom in their selections of
names, as well as in emblems, than we do in retaining them. Heathen
worship and mythological signs are mixed and interwoven with all our arts,
sciences, and literature. Our days of the week were named by the old
Saxons, who worshipped idols--the sun, moon, stars, earth, etc., and to
their god's, perpetual honor gave to each day a name from some principal
deity. Thus we are idolaters, daily, though unconsciously.
I think not one person in a thousand is aware of this fact; therefore I
give a sketch of each.