AMULETS
"He loved and was beloved; what more could he desire as
an amulet against fear?"--BULWER-LYTTON.
"Such medicines are to be exploded that consist of
words, characters, spells, and charms, which can do no
good at all, but out of a strong conceit, as Pomponatius
proves; or the Devil's policy, who is the first founder
and teacher of them."--BURTON.
"Old wives and starres are his councellors; his
nightspell is his guard, and charms his physician. He
wears Paracelsian characters for the toothache; and a
little hallowed wax is his antidote for all
evils."--BISHOP HALL.
"Neither doth Fansie only cause, but also as easily cure
Diseases; as I may justly refer all magical and jugling
Cures thereunto, performed, as is thought, by Saints,
Images, Relicts, Holy-Waters, Shrines, Avemarys,
Crucifixes, Benedictions, Charms, Characters, Sigils of
the Planets and of Signs, inverted Words, &c., and
therefore all such Cures are rather to be ascribed to
the Force of the Imagination, than any virtue in them,
or their Rings, Amulets, Lamens, &c."--RAMESEY.
Attention has already been called to the fact that the characteristic
of the amulet is that it must be worn about the person, while the
talisman may simply be in possession of a person wherever it may be,
or deposited at a certain place by or for the person. The Arabic
equivalent of the word Amulet means "that which is suspended."
The derivation of the word is uncertain, but there are at least two
Latin antecedents claimed for it. Some claim that it is derived from the
barbarous Latin word "amuletum," from amolior, to remove; others
consider that it comes from "amula," the name of a small vessel with
lustral water in it, which the Romans sometimes carried in their pockets
for purification and expiation. Pliny says that many of these amulae were
carved out of pieces of amber and hung about children's necks. Whatever
the derivation of the word, it is doubtless of Eastern origin.
There is also little doubt concerning the early belief in the efficacy
of an amulet to ward off diseases, and to protect against supernatural
agencies. So powerful were they supposed to be that an oath was
formerly administered to persons about to fight a legal duel "that
they had ne charme ne herb of virtue." St. Chrysostom and others of
the church fathers condemned the practice very severely, and the
Council of Laodicea (366) wisely forbade the priesthood from studying
and practising enchantments, mathematics, astrology, and the binding
of the soul by amulets.[89]
Burton has the following passage on the subject: "Amulets, and Things
to be borne about, I find prescribed, taxed by some, approved by
Renodeus, Platerus, and others; looke for them in Mizaldus, Porta,
Albertus, &c.... A Ring made of the Hoofe of an Asse's right
fore-foot carried about, &c. I say with Renodeus they are not
altogether to be rejected. Piony doth help epilepsies. Pretious
Stones, most diseases. A Wolf's dung carried about helps the Cholick.
A spider, an Ague, &c.... Some Medicines are to be exploded, that
consist of Words, Characters, Spells, and Charms, which can do no good
at all, but out of a strong conceit, as Pomponatius proves; or the
Devil's policy, who is the first founder and teacher of them."[90]
"To this kind," says Bingham, "belong all Ligatures and Remedies,
which the Schools of Physitians reject and condemn; whether in
Inchantments or in certain marks, which they call Characters, or in
some other things which are to be hanged and bound about the Body, and
kept in a dancing posture. Such are Ear-rings hanged upon the tip of
each ear, and Rings made of an Ostriche's bones for the Finger; or,
when you are told, in a fit of Convulsions or shortness of Breath, to
hold your left Thumb with your right hand."[91]
Unfortunately the wearing of amulets did not stop with the early
civilizations or even with the Middle Ages. People in our own
supposedly enlightened age indulge in them. The negro carries the hind
foot of a rabbit, and the children see great virtue in a four-leafed
clover; men carry luck pennies, and certain stones are worn in rings
and scarf pins; camphor is worn about the person to avert febrile
contagion, and anodyne necklaces of "Job's tears" and other equally
harmless and inefficacious substances are placed on babies to assist
them in teething. The camphor and necklaces are probably not supposed
to be endowed with magical power, but a mistaken medical virtue is
assigned to them.
There was neither rule nor reason for the composition of most amulets,
and one would have to be well acquainted with the superstitions of the
various ages to account for them. Sometimes the shape, rather than the
material of which they were composed or the inscription on them, was
the efficacious factor. Perhaps material, shape, and inscription would
be combined in one object; or many objects, each purporting to contain
magical properties, might be grouped for special efficacy, as when
inscribed pieces of different stones of peculiar shape were formed
into necklaces or bracelets.
Precious stones were often employed as amulets, and some even ground
them up and took them internally in order to be more sure of their
magical effects. "Butler quotes from Encelius, who says that the
Garnet, if hung about the neck or taken in drink, much assisteth
sorrow and recreates the heart; and the chrysolite is described as the
friend of wisdom and the enemy of folly. Renodeus admires precious
stones because they adorn king's crowns, grace the fingers, enrich our
household stuff, defend us from enchantments, preserve health, cure
diseases, drive away grief, cares, and exhilarate the mind."[92]
Some further quotations portray to us the efficacy of other stones:
"Heliotropius stauncheth blood, driveth away poisons,
preserveth health; yea, and some write that it provoketh
raine, and darkeneth the sunne, suffering not him that
beareth it to be abused."
"A topaze healeth the lunaticke person of his passion of
lunacie."
"Corneolus (cornelian) mitigateth the heate of the
minde, and qualifieth malice, it stancheth bloodie
fluxes."
"A sapphire preserveth the members and maketh them
livelie, and helpeth agues and gowts, and suffereth not
the bearer to be afraid; it hath virtue against venoms,
and staieth bleeding at the nose, being often put
thereto."
Aetius "attributed great obstetrical properties to the
lapis aetites, and gagates stone. The sapphire when
taken as a potion pulverized in milk, cured internal
ulcers and checked excessive perspiration. The amargdine
was highly recommended for strabismus...."
"Jasper, hematite and hieratite stones were strongly
recommended for unusual sanative virtues, but the
sapphire excelled as a remedy for scorpion bites."
"The Bezoar stone had a great reputation in melancholic
affections. Manardus says it removes sadness and makes
him merry that useth it."
"Noblemen wore the smargdum attached to a chain, in the
belief of its potential virtues against epilepsy. The
sard prevented terrible dreams, and the cornelian worn
on the finger or suspended from the neck pacified anger
and provoked contentment. Onyx superinduced troubled
sleep, but fastened to the throat, stimulated the
salivary glands. Saphirs cured internal ulcers and
excessive perspiration, when taken as a potion dissolved
in lacteal fluids."
"Of the stone which hight agate. It is said that it hath
eight virtues. One is when there is thunder, it doth not
scathe the man who hath this stone with him. Another
virtue is, on whatsoever house it is, therein a fiend
may not be. The third virtue is, that no venom may
scathe the man who hath the stone with him. The fourth
virtue is, that the man, who hath on him secretly the
loathly fiend, if he taketh in liquid any portion of the
shavings of the stone, then soon is exhibited manifestly
in him, that which before lay secretly hid. The fifth
virtue is, he who is afflicted with any disease, if he
taketh the stone in liquid, it is soon well with him.
The sixth virtue is, that sorcery hurteth not the man
who has the stone with him. The seventh virtue is, that
he who taketh the stone in drink, will have so much the
smoother body. The eighth virtue of the stone is, that
no bite of any kind of snake may scathe him who tasteth
the stone in liquid."
Even as late as 1624, Sir John Harrington, writing in his "School of
Salerne," says: "Alwaies in your hands use eyther Corall or yellow
Amber, or a chalcedonium, or a sweet Pommander, or some like precious
stone to be worne in a ring upon the little finger of the left hand;
have in your rings eyther a Smaragd, a Saphire, or a Draconites, which
you shall bear for an ornament; for in stones, as also in hearbes,
there is great efficacie and vertue, but they are not altogether
perceived by us; hold sometime in your mouth eyther a Hyacinth, or a
Crystall, or a Garnat, or pure Gold, or Silver, or else sometimes pure
Sugar-candy. For Aristotle doth affirme, and so doth Albertus Magnus,
that a Smaragd worne about the necke, is good against the
Falling-sickness; for surely the virtue of an hearbe is great, but
much more the vertue of a precious stone, which is very likely that
they are endued with occult and hidden vertues."
Precious metals as well as precious stones were used in the
manufacture of amulets. The Scandinavians carried metal effigies
carved out of gold or silver, or incised upon tiles, perpetually as
amulets. They were safeguards against diseases and physical
infirmities. They were also administered internally in cases where
powerful cures were needed. Chaucer says:
"For gold in physic is a cordial,
Therefore he loved gold in special."
The Basilideans, and other sects developed from the Gnostic systems,
assigned great power to stone amulets, and prepared them for their
initiates, who used them for identification and for curative purposes.
They quickly acquired a celebrity undiminished for ages, and were
known under the general name of Abraxas. They were composed of various
materials, glass, paste, sometimes metals, but principally of various
kinds of stones. Through the irresistible might of Abrax, their
supreme divinity, the Basilideans were protected and cured. Clement of
Alexandria strictly interdicted the use of gems for personal
ornamentation, with evident allusion to the Abraxas stones. These
stones had various inscriptions carved upon them, most of which had
some hidden meaning of great puissance. One of them, for example, is
engraven with Armenian letters, and contains a standing invocation for
fruitful delivery; in its medicinal property it was evidently a cure
for sterility.[93]
From the stone itself the word "Abraxas" came to be used as an amulet
when written on paper. The numerical equivalent of the Greek letters
when added together thus, A = 1, B = 2, R = 100, A = 1, X = 60, A = 1,
S = 200, is 365. The significance of this was that the deity was the
ruler of 365 heavens, or of the angels inhabiting these heavens; he
was also ruler over the 365 days of the year. Notwithstanding the fact
that it was referred to by the Greek fathers, the name was evidently
Egyptian in origin, some of the figures on the stones being strictly
Egyptian.
Amulets in the form of inscriptions were called "Characts," the word
Abraxas being an example. The very powerful word "Abracadabra" was
derived from Abraxas, and when written in the proper way and worn
about the person was supposed to have a magical efficacy as an
antidote against ague, fever, flux, and toothache. Serenus Samonicus,
a physician in the reign of Caracalla, recommends it very highly for
ague, instructing how it should be written, and commanding it to be
worn around the neck. It might be written in either of two ways:
reading down the left side and up the right must spell the same word
as at the top; or, having the left side always start the same, reading
up the right side should be the same as the top line. Below are the
two forms:
ABRACADABRA ABRACADABRA
BRACADABR ABRACADABR
RACADAB ABRACADAB
ACADA ABRACADA
CAD ABRACAD
A ABRACA
ABRAC
ABRA
ABR
AB
A
Julius Africanus says that pronouncing the word in the same manner is
as efficacious as writing it. The Jews attributed an equal virtue to
the word "Aracalan" employed in the same way.[94]
Bishop Pilkington, writing in 1561, protests against a then current
practice in this way: "What wicket blindenes is this than, to thinke
that wearing Prayers written in rolles about with theym, as S. Johns
Gospell, the length of our Lord, the measure of our Lady, or other
like, thei shall die no sodain death, nor be hanged, or yf he be
hanged, he shall not die. There is so manye suche, though ye laugh,
and beleve it not, and not hard to shewe them with a wet finger." The
same author observes that our devotion ought to "stande in depe sighes
and groninges, wyth a full consideration of our miserable state and
Goddes majestye, in the heart, and not in ynke or paper: not in
hangyng writtin Scrolles about the Necke, but lamentinge unfeignedlye
our Synnes from the hart."
The following charact was found in a linen purse belonging to a
murderer named Jackson, who died in Chichester jail in February, 1749.
He was "struck with such horror on being measured for his chains that
he soon after expired."
"Ye three holy Kings,
Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,
Pray for us now, and in the hour of our death."
"These papers have touched the three heads of the holy
Kings at Cologne. They are to preserve travellers from
accidents on the road, headaches, falling sickness,
fevers, witchcraft, all kinds of mischief, and sudden
death."
Belgrave prescribes a cure of agues, by a certain writing which the
patient wears, as follows: "When Jesus went up to the Cross to be
crucified, the Jews asked him, saying Art thou afraid? or hast thou
the ague? Jesus answered and said, I am not afraid, neither have I the
ague. All those which bear the name of Jesus about them shall not be
afraid, nor yet have the ague. Amen, sweet Jesus, Amen, sweet Jehovah,
Amen." He adds: "I have known many who have been cured of the ague by
this writing only worn about them; and I had the receipt from one
whose daughter was cured thereby, who had the ague upon her two
years."[95]
Among other written amulets, the first Psalm, when written on doeskin,
was supposed to be efficacious in childbirth. It was necessary,
however, for the writer of such amulets to plunge into a bath as soon
as he had written one line, and after every new line it was thought
necessary that he should repeat the plunge.
The following process for avoiding inflamed eyes is taken from
Marcellus, 380 A. D.: "Write on a clean sheet of paper [Greek:
oubaik], and hang this round the patient's neck, with a thread from
the loom. In a state of purity and chastity write on a clean sheet of
paper [Greek: phyrpharan] and hang it round the man's neck; it will
stop the approach of inflammation. The following will stop
inflammation coming on, written on a clean sheet of paper: [Greek:
roubos rnoneiras reelios os. kantephora kai pantes eakotei]; it must
be hung to the neck by a thread; and if both the patient and operator
are in a state of chastity, it will stop inveterate inflammation.
Again, write on a thin plate of gold with a needle of copper, [Greek:
orno ourode]; do this on a Monday; observe chastity; it will long and
much avail."[96]
In Africa, prayers taken from the Koran are written and worn as
amulets at the present time.
After the death of the philosopher Pascal some manuscript was found
sewed in his doublet. This was a "profession of faith" which he always
wore stitched in his clothing as a sort of amulet.
In the East, generally, the amulet consists of certain names of the
Deity, verses of the Koran, or particular passages compressed into a
very small space, and is to be found concealed in the turban. The
Christians wore amulets with verses selected from the Old and New
Testaments, and particularly from the Gospel of John. The amulets or
charms, called "grigris" by the African priests, are of similar
description. These were used for preservatives against thunderbolts
and diseases, to procure many wives and to give them easy deliveries,
to avert shipwreck or slavery, and to secure victory in battle. One,
to be used for the last purpose, which had belonged to a king of Brak,
in Senegal, was found on his body after he had the misfortune to be
killed in battle with the amulet upon him. It had the following
sentences from the Koran: "In the name of the merciful God! Pray to
God through our Lord Mohammed. All that exists is so only by his
command. He gives life, and also calls sinners to an account. He
deprives us of life by the sole power of his name: these are
undeniable truths. He that lives owes his life to the peculiar
clemency of his Lord, who by his providence takes care of his
subsistence. He is a wise prince or governor."[97]
The Jews used as amulets some sacred name, such as the true
pronunciation of the name of Jehovah, written down. The Mischna
permitted the Jews to wear amulets provided they had been found
efficacious in at least three cases by an approved person. One of the
most famous amulets is that known as "Solomon's Seal."
Ligatures, similar to the earlier amulets, a heritage from the
northern pagan races, were freely applied for the prevention and cure
of maladies.
After imposing invocations and the addition of mystical characters,
these medical charms were presumed to be of the greatest efficacy, and
ready for suspension from the neck. Their efficacy was admitted by
Christians, but they were condemned on account of their pagan and
consequently satanic origin.
Alexander of Tralles recommended a number of amulets, some of which I
will mention later, but admits that he had no faith in them, but
merely ordered them as placebos for rich and fastidious patients who
could not be persuaded to adopt a more rational treatment. Baas tells
us that "A regular Pagan amulet was found in 1749 on the breast of the
prince bishop Anselm Franz of Wurzburg, count of Ingolstadt, after his
death."
Amulets were also worn to protect the wearer from charms exercised by
others. The "Leech Book" gives us one to be worn and another to be
taken internally for this purpose. To be used "against every evil rune
lay, and one full of elvish tricks, writ for the bewitched man, this
writing in Greek letters: Alfa, Omega, Iesvm, BERONIKH. Again, another
dust and drink against a rune lay; take a bramble apple, and lupins,
and pulegium, pound them, then sift them, put them in a pouch, lay
them under the altar, sing nine masses over them, administer this to
drink at three hours."
The powers of the mandragora, as an amulet, place it almost in a class
by itself. Fort tells us that in addition to its power to protect
herds of cattle and horses, to prevent misfortunes of various kinds,
to preserve the exhilarating wine and beer against loss of their
intoxicating property, to render successful commercial negotiations,
and promote infallibly, rapid and enormous influence, "other virtues
of a surprising character were awarded the omnipotent mandragora. It
conciliated affection and maintained friendship, preserved conjugal
fealty and developed benevolence. The immensity of worth inherent in
this mystical medicament, its vital essence, was by no means confined
to sustaining health and providing certain remedies for infirmities;
its power manipulated tribunals and secured judicial favor at court;
and when this resistless amulet was held under the arm by a suitor at
law, however unjust his cause, the vegetable Rune controlled the forum
and obtained the verdict."[98]
It may be well at this point to enumerate at least a number of the
most noted amulets, according to the disease for which they were
supposed to be efficacious.
_Ague._--On account of the periodic character of this disease it was
considered to be a supernatural complaint and hence many unnatural
cures were suggested, among which were a number of amulets. The
Abracadabra amulet was supposed to be especially efficacious in ague.
The chips of a gallows put into a bag and worn around the neck, or
next the skin, have been said to have served as a cure, at least, so
reports Brand.[99] Millefolium or yarrow, worn in a little bag on the
pit of the stomach is reported to have cured this disease, and
Alexander of Tralles advises, for a quartan ague, that the patient
must carry about some hairs from a goat's chin.[100]
Elias Ashmole, in his Diary, April 11, 1681, has entered the
following: "I tooke early in the morning a good dose of Elixir, and
hung three spiders about my neck, and they drove my Ague away. Deo
Gratias!"[101]
Wristbands, called pericarpia, were employed in the cure. Robert Boyle
says he was cured of a violent quotidian ague, after having in vain
resorted to medical aid, by applying to his wrists "a mixture of two
handfuls of bay salt, the same quantity of fresh English hops, and a
quarter of a pound of blue currants, very diligently beaten into a
brittle mass, without the addition of anything moist, and so spread
upon linen and applied to his wrists."[102]
Burton gives us a leaf from his own experience.[103] "Being in the
country in the vacation time, not many years since, at Lindly, in
Leicestershire, my father's house, I first observed this amulet of a
spider in a nut-shell, wrapped in silk, &c., so applyed for an ague by
my mother; whom, although I knew to have excellent skill in
chirurgery, sore eyes, aches, &c., and such experimental medicines, as
all the country where she dwelt can witness, to have done many famous
and good cures upon divers poor folks that were otherwise destitute of
help, yet among all other experiments, this methought was most absurd
and ridiculous. I could see no warrant for it. _Quid aranea cum
Febre?_ For what antipathy? till at length rambling amongst authors
(as I often do), I found this very medicine in Dioscorides, approved
by Matthiolus, repeated by Aldrovandus, _cap. de Aranea, lib. de
Insectis_, I began to have a better opinion of it, and to give more
credit to amulets, when I saw it in some parties answer to
experience."
A narrative of not a little interest, concerning Sir John Holt, Lord
Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, 1709, should be given in
this connection. He was extremely wild in his youth, and being once
engaged with some of his rakish friends in a trip into the country, in
which they had spent all their money, it was agreed they should try
their fortune separately. Holt arrived at an inn at the end of a
straggling village, ordered his horse to be taken care of, bespoke a
supper and a bed. He then strolled into the kitchen, where he observed
a little girl of thirteen shaking with ague. Upon making inquiry
respecting her, the landlady told him that she was her only child, and
had been ill nearly a year, notwithstanding all the assistance she
could procure for her from physic. He gravely shook his head at the
doctors, bade her be under no further concern, for that her daughter
should never have another fit. He then wrote a few unintelligible
words in a court hand on a scrap of parchment, which had been the
direction fixed to a hamper, and rolling it up, directed that it
should be bound upon the girl's wrist and there allowed to remain
until she was well. The ague returned no more; and Holt, having
remained in the house a week, called for his bill. "God bless you,
sir," said the old woman, "you're nothing in my debt, I'm sure. I
wish, on the contrary, that I was able to pay you for the cure which
you have made of my daughter. Oh! if I had had the happiness to see
you ten months ago, it would have saved me forty pounds." With
pretended reluctance he accepted his accommodation as a recompense,
and rode away. Many years elapsed, Holt advanced in his profession of
the law, and went a circuit, as one of the judges of the Court of
King's Bench, into the same county, where, among other criminals
brought before him, was an old woman under a charge of witchcraft. To
support this accusation, several witnesses swore that the prisoner had
a spell with which she could either cure such cattle as were sick or
destroy those that were well, and that in the use of this spell she
had been lately detected, and that it was now ready to be produced in
court. Upon this statement the judge desired that it might be handed
up to him. It was a dirty ball, wrapped round with several rags, and
bound with packthread. These coverings he carefully removed, and
beneath them found a piece of parchment which he immediately
recognized as his own youthful fabrication. For a few moments he
remained silent. At length, recollecting himself, he addressed the
jury to the following effect: "Gentlemen, I must now relate a
particular of my life, which very ill suits my present character and
the station in which I sit; but to conceal it would be to aggravate
the folly for which I ought to atone, to endanger innocence, and to
countenance superstition. This bauble, which you suppose to have the
power of life and death, is a senseless scroll which I wrote with my
own hand and gave to this woman, whom for no other reason you accuse
as a witch." He then related the particulars of the transaction, with
such an effect upon the minds of the people that his old landlady was
the last person tried for witchcraft in that county.[104]
_Calculus._--Boyle tells us[105] that the _Lapis Nephriticus_, a
species of jasper, when bound to the left wrist, was a cure for this
trouble. Others have borne evidence to its efficacy.
_Childbirth._--Among the ancient Britons, when a birth was difficult
or dangerous, a girdle, made for this purpose, was put around the
woman and afforded immediate relief. Until quite recently they were
kept by many families in the Highlands of Scotland. They were marked
with certain figures and were applied with certain ceremonies derived
from the Druids. Women in labor were also supposed to be quickly
delivered if they were girded with the skin which a snake has sloughed
off.[106]
_Cholera._--Bontius declared the _Lapis Porcinus_ to be good for
cholera, but dangerous to pregnant women. If the females of Malaica
held the stone in their hands an abortion was produced. When cholera
was prevalent during the early part of the last century, it was common
in many parts of Austria, Germany, and Italy to wear an amulet at the
pit of the stomach, in contact with the skin. Pettigrew describes one
of these which was sent to him from Hungary. "It consists merely of a
circular piece of copper two inches and a half in diameter, and is
without characters."
_Colic._--Says Pliny, the extremity of the intestine of the ossifrage,
if worn as an amulet, is well known to be an excellent remedy for
colic. A tick from a dog's left ear, worn as an amulet, was
recommended to allay this and all other kinds of pain, but one must be
careful to take it from a dog that is black. Alexander of Tralles
recommended the heart of a lark to be fastened to the left thigh as a
remedy for colic. Mr. Cockayne, the editor of _Saxon Leechdoms_, gives
us further remedies for colic which Alexander prescribed. "Thus for
colic, he guarantees by his own experience, and the approval of almost
all the best doctors, dung of a wolf, with bits of bone in it if
possible, shut up in a pipe, and worn during the paroxysm, on the
right arm, or thigh, or hip, taking care it touches neither the earth
or a bath."[107]
_Cramp._--The following amulets are mentioned as specifics against
cramp:
"--Wear bone Ring on thumb, or tye Strong Pack-thread below your
thigh."
The subject of cramp rings will be considered in another connection.
_Demoniacal Possession._--In the sixth century exorcists frequently
wrote the formula on parchment and suspended it from the neck of the
patient. This was as efficacious as the uttered words.
_Epilepsy._--The elder tree has been the foundation of many
superstitions, chief among which have been some connected with
epilepsy. Blochwick[108] tells us how to prepare an amulet from an
elder growing on a sallow. "In the month of October, a little before
the full moon, you pluck a twig of the elder, and cut the cane that is
betwixt two of its knees, or knots, in nine pieces, and these pieces
being bound in a piece of linen, be in a thread, so hung about the
neck, that they touch the spoon of the heart, or the sword-formed
cartilage; and that they may stay more firmly in that place, they are
to be bound thereon with a linen or silken roller wrapt about the
body, till the thread break of itself. The thread being broken and the
roller removed, the amulet is not at all to be touched with bare
hands, but it ought to be taken hold on by some instrument and buried
in a place that nobody may touch it." Some hung a cross, made of the
elder and the sallow entwined, about the children's neck.
Rings of various kinds have always been supposed to have some
superstitious power. Brand[109] tells us of some of their uses. A ring
made from a piece of silver collected at the communion is a cure for
convulsions and fits of every kind. If the silver is collected on
Easter Sunday its efficacy is greatly increased. This was the receipt
in Berkshire, but in Devonshire silver was not necessary. Here they
prefer a ring made from three nails or screws dug out of a
church-yard, which had been used to fasten a coffin. We are also
informed that another kind of ring will cure fits. It must be made
from five sixpences collected from five different bachelors, conveyed
by the hand of a bachelor to a silversmith who is a bachelor. None of
the persons who gave the sixpences, however, are to know for what
purpose, or to whom, they gave them.[110]
A silver ring contributed by twelve young women, and constantly worn
on one of the pattens fingers, has been successfully employed in the
cure of epilepsy after various medical means failed.[111] Lupton
says: "A piece of a child's navel-string borne in a ring is good
against the falling-sickness, the pains of the head, and the
collick."[112]
Alexander of Tralles recommended for epilepsy a metal cross tied to
the arm, or, in lieu of that, bits of sail-cloth from a shipwrecked
vessel might be tied to the right arm and worn for seven weeks; the
latter was a preventive as well as a cure. Among the ancients,
Serapion prescribed crocodile's dung and turtle's blood as a cure for
this disease.[113] Lemius remarks that "Coral, Piony, Misseltoe, drive
away the falling Sicknesse, either hung about the neck or drunk with
wine."
_Erysipelas._--The elder seems to have been efficacious in erysipelas
as well as in epilepsy, at least so we are told in the "Anatomie of
the Elder." The following is the method of preparing the amulet. It is
to be made of "Elder on which the sun never shined. If the piece
betwixt the two knots be hung about the patient's neck, it is much
commended. Some cut it in little pieces, and sew it in a knot in a
piece of a man's shirt, which seems superstitious."
_Evil-eye._--Coral was supposed to avert the baneful consequences of
the evil-eye, and Paracelsus recommends it to be worn about the necks
of children. Douce has given engravings of several Roman amulets
which were intended to be used against fascinations in general, but
more particularly against that of the evil-eye.[114]
_Eye Diseases._--Cotta relates, so says Pettigrew, "a merrie historie
of an approved famous spell for sore eyes. By many honest testimonies
it was a long time worne as a Jewell about many necks, written in
paper and enclosed in silke, never failing to do sovereigne good when
all other helpes were helplesse. No sight might dare to reade or open.
At length a curious mind, while the patient slept, by stealth ripped
open the mystical cover, and found the powerful characters Latin:
'Diabolus effodiat tibi oculos impleat foramina stercoribus.'"
Vivisection was practised to procure an amulet for sore eyes,
according to the following prescription: "If a man have a white spot,
as cataract, in his eye, catch a fox alive, cut his tongue out, let
him go, dry his tongue and tie it up in a red rag and hang it round
the man's neck." Pliny's way was to "take the tongue of a foxe, and
hange the same about his necke, so long it hangeth there his sight
shall not wax feeble."
Like was also used to cure like, at least in the following directions:
"Take the right eye of a Frogg, lap it in a piece of russet cloth and
hang it about the neck; it cureth the right eye if it bee enflamed or
bleared. And if the left eye be greved, do the like by the left eye of
the said Frogg."[115]
_Fevers._--Charms rather than amulets were employed in fevers, yet we
find that among the ancients Chrysippus believed in amulets for
quartan fevers and Pliny taught that the longest tooth of a black dog
cured quartan fevers.
_Gout._--Alexander of Tralles has preserved for us a remedy for gout
as follows: "A remedy for the gout. Write, on a golden plate at the
wane of the moon, what follows, rolling round it the sinews of a
crane. Put it in a little bag, and wear it near the ankles. The words
are meu, treu, mor, phor, teux, za, zor, phe, lou, chri, ge, ze, ou,
as the sun is consolidated in these names, and is renewed every day;
so consolidate this plaster as it was before, now, now, quick, quick,
for, behold, I pronounce the great name, in which are consolidated
things in repose, iaz, azuf, zuon, threux, bain, choog; consolidate
this plaster as it was at first, now, now, quick, quick."
_Headache._--Pliny's amulet for this disease was an herb picked from
the head of a statue, tied with a red thread, and worn upon the body.
_Hysteria._--Monardes is quoted as saying: "When hysterical persons
feel an attack coming on, they may be relieved by a stone, which will
prevent, if constantly worn about the person, any subsequent attack.
From my knowledge of cases of this kind, I attach credit to this
amulet."
_Melancholy._--Burton has treated much under the name of melancholy,
and in respect of cure mentions several "amulets and things to be
borne about." He recommends for head melancholy such things as
hypericon, or St. John's-wort, gathered on a Friday in the hour of
Jupiter, "... borne or hung about the neck, it mightily helps this
affection, and drives away all fantastical spirits."[116]
_Plague._--During the visitations of the plague, the inhabitants of
London wore, in the region of the heart, amulets composed of arsenic,
probably on account of the theory that one poison would neutralize the
power of the other. Concerning this, however, Herring, in writing
concerning preservatives against the pestilence, says: "Perceiving
many in this Citie to weare about their Necks, upon the region of the
Heart, certaine Placents or Amulets, (as preservatives against the
pestilence,) confected of Arsenicke, my opinion is that they are so
farre from effecting any good in that kinde, as a preservative, that
they are very dangerous and hurtfull, if not pernitious, to those that
weare them." Quills of quicksilver were commonly worn about the neck
for the same purpose, and the powder of toad was employed in a similar
way.
Pope Adrian is reported to have continually carried an amulet composed
of dried toad, arsenic, tormental, pearl, coral, hyacinth, smarag, and
tragacanth. Among the Harleian Manuscripts is a letter from Lord
Chancellor Hatton to Sir Thomas Smith written at a time of an alarming
epidemic. Among other things he writes: "I am likewise bold to
recommend my most humble duty to our dear mistress (Queen Elizabeth)
by this LETTER AND RING, which hath the virtue to expell infectious
airs, and is _to be worn betwixt the sweet duggs_, the chaste nest of
pure constancy. I trust, sir, when the virtue is known, it shall not
be refused for the value."[117]
_Safety from Wounds._--Pettigrew gives us the two following examples:
"De Barros, the historian, says that the Portuguese in vain attempted
to destroy a Malay so long as he wore a bracelet containing a bone set
in gold, which rendered him proof against their swords. This amulet
was afterward transmitted to the Viceroy Alfonso d'Alboquerque, as a
valuable present.
"In the travels of Marco Polo, we read that in an attempt by Kublai
Khan to make a conquest of the island of Zipangu, a jealousy arose
between the two commanders of the expedition, which led to an order
for putting the whole of the inhabitants of the garrison to the sword;
and that in obedience thereto, the heads of all were cut off,
excepting of eight persons, who, by the efficacy of a diabolical
charm, consisting of a jewel or amulet introduced into the right arm,
between the skin and the flesh, were rendered secure from the effects
of iron, either to kill or wound. Upon this discovery being made, they
were beaten with a heavy wooden club, and presently died."[118]
_Scrofula._--Lupton says: "The Root of Vervin hanged at the neck of
such as have the King's Evil, it brings a marvellous and unhoped
help." To this Brand adds: "Squire Morley of Essex used to say a
Prayer which he hoped would do no harm when he hung a bit of vervain
root from a scrophulous person's neck. My aunt Freeman had a very high
opinion of a baked Toad in a silk Bag, hung round the neck."[119]
_Toothache._--People in North Hampshire, England, sometimes wore a
tooth taken from a corpse, kept in a bag and hung around the neck, as
a remedy for toothache.
_Whooping-Cough._--About the middle of the last century there appeared
the following in the _London Athenaeum_: "The popular belief as to the
origin of the mark across the back of the ass is mentioned by Sir
Thomas Browne, in his 'Vulgar Errors,' and from whatever cause it may
have arisen it is certain that the hairs taken from the part of the
animal so marked are held in high estimation as a cure for the
hooping-cough. In this metropolis, at least so lately as 1842, an
elderly lady advised a friend who had a child dangerously ill with
that complaint, to procure three such hairs, and hang them round the
neck of the sufferer in a muslin bag. It was added that the animal
from whom the hairs are taken for this purpose is never worth anything
afterwards, and, consequently, great difficulty would be experienced
in procuring them; and further, that it was essential to the success
of the charm that the sex of the animal, from whom the hairs were to
be procured, should be the contrary to that of the party to be cured
by them."
The _Worcester Journal_ (England), in one of its issues for 1845, had
this astounding item: "A party from the city, being on a visit to a
friend who lived at a village about four miles distant, had occasion
to go into the cottage of a poor woman, who had a child afflicted with
the hooping-cough. In reply to some inquiries as to her treatment of
the child, the mother pointed to its neck, on which was a string
fastened, having nine knots tied in it. The poor woman stated that it
was the stay-lace of the child's godmother which, if applied exactly
in that manner about the neck, would be sure to charm away the most
troublesome cough! Thus it may be seen that, with all the educational
efforts of the present day, the monster Superstition still lurks here
and there in his caves and secret places."[120]
We find that not only human beings but animals profited by amulets. An
amulet is used in the cure of a blind horse which could hardly have
helped on the cure by his faith in it. "The root of cut Malowe hanged
about the neck driveth away blemishes of the eyen, whether it be in a
man or a horse, as I, Jerome of Brunsweig, have seene myselfe. I have
myselfe done it to a blind horse that I bought for X crounes, and was
sold agayn for XL crounes."[121] That was a trick worth knowing.
Brockett tells us that "Holy-stones, or _holed-stones_, are hung on
the heads of horses as a charm against Diseases--such as sweat in
their stalls are supposed to be cured by this application." The
efficacy of the elder also extended to animals, for a lame pig was
formerly cured by boring a hole in his ear and putting a small peg
into it. We are also told that "wood night-shade, or bitter-sweet,
being hung about the neck of Cattell that have the Staggers, helpeth
them."
[89] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 51 and 66 f.
[90] R. Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, pt. II, sec. V.
[91] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, pp. 281 f.
[92] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, p. 70.
[93] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, pp. 94-100.
[94] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 74 f.
[95] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, pp. 278 f.
[96] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_,
pp. 262 f.
[97] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 68 f.
[98] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, p. 182.
[99] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 242.
[100] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_,
p. 252.
[101] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 147.
[102] R. Boyle, _Usefulness of Natural Philosophy_, II,
p. 157.
[103] R. Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, pt. II, sec.
V.
[104] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 96-98.
[105] R. Boyle, _Usefulness of Natural Philosophy_,
Works II, p. 156.
[106] E. Berdoe, _The Origin and Growth of the Healing
Art_, pp. 257 and 259.
[107] _Ibid._, pp. 251 f and 254.
[108] _Anatomie of the Elder_, p. 52.
[109] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 231.
[110] _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1794, p. 889.
[111] _London Medical and Physical Journal_, 1815.
[112] _Book of Notable Things_, p. 92.
[113] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_,
pp. 253 f and 256.
[114] _Illustrations of Shakespeare_, I, p. 493.
[115] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 147.
[116] R. Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, pt. II, sec.
V.
[117] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Surgery and Medicine_, p. 91.
[118] _Ibid._, p. 79.
[119] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 256.
[120] _Ibid._, III, p. 238.
[121] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 148.