Newcastle-on-Tyne, May 19. 1850.
_Charm for Warts_.--Count most carefully the number of warts; take a
corresponding number of nodules or knots from the stalks of any of the
_cerealia_ (wheat, oats, barley); wrap these in a cloth, and deposit
the packet in the earth; _all the steps of the operation being done
secretly_. As the nodules decay the warts will disappear. Some artists
think it necessary that each wart should be _touched_ by a separate
nodule.
This practice was very rife in the north of Scotland some fifty years
since, and no doubt is so still. It was regarded as very
effective, and certainly had plenty of evidence of the
_post-hoc-ergo-propter-hoc_ order in its favour.
Is this practice prevalent in England?
It will be remarked that this belongs to the category of _Vicarious
Charms_, which have in all times and in all ages, in great things and
in small things, been one of the favourite resources of poor mortals
in their difficulties. Such charms (for all analogous practices may be
so called) are, in point of fact, _sacrifices_ made on the principle
so widely adopted,--_qui facit per alium facit per se_. The common
witch-charm of melting an image of wax stuck full of pins before
a slow fire, is a familiar instance. Everybody knows that the
party _imaged_ by the wax continues to suffer all the tortures of
pin-pricking until he or she finally melts away (colliquescit), or
dies in utter emaciation.