universality of the amulet.—scarabs.—beads.—savage amulets.—gnostic and christian amulets.—herbs and animals as charms.—knots.—precious stones.—signatures.—numbers.—saliva.—talismans.—scripts.—characts.—sacred names.—stolen goods.
in the ancient world, as with savages, the whole art of medicine was in many cases the art of preparing and applying amulets and charms.
an amulet (probably the word is derived from the arabic hamalet, a pendant) is anything which is hung round the neck or attached to any other part of the body, and worn as an imagined protection against disease, witchcraft, accidents, or other evils. stones, metals, bits of parchment, portions of the human body, as parings of the finger nails, may constitute these charms. substances like stones, gems, or parchment may have certain words, letters, or signs inscribed upon them. in the east amulets have from the earliest ages been associated with the belief in evil spirits as the causes of diseases. a talisman may for our purpose be considered as the same thing as an amulet. in scott’s tales of the crusaders, there is one of these charms which has the power of stopping blood and protecting the wearer from hydrophobia. charms, enchantments, the ceremonial use of words as incantations, songs, verses, etc., have all been used either with a view of causing, preventing, or curing diseases, and their use of course arose from the belief of primitive, or savage man his present representative, that our maladies have a supernatural origin. an amulet may consist merely of a piece of string tied like a bracelet round the wrist, as in india, where such a charm is commonly worn by school children; it is a talisman against fever, which has been blessed by a brahman, has been sold for a half-rupee, and is highly esteemed by the wearer. our word carminative (a comforting medicine, like tincture of cardamoms) means really a charm medicine, and is derived from the latin carmen, a song-charm. this word enshrines the fact that magic and medicine were once united. the charm, i.e. song, was a spell, whether of words, philtres, or figures, as thus:—
“with the charmes that she saide,
a fire down fro’ the sky alight.”
—gower.
248
charms, amulets, characts, talismans, and the like, are found amongst all peoples and in all times. they unite in one bond of superstitious brotherhood the savage and the philosopher, the sumatrans and the egyptians, the malay and the jew, the catholic and the protestant. the charm differs from the amulet merely in the fact that it need not be suspended. “there is scarcely a disease,” says pettigrew, “for which a charm has not been given.”544 and it is well to note that their greatest effect is always produced on disorders of the nervous system, in which the imagination plays so important a part. charms are also used to avert diseases and other evils; so that the man, sufficiently protected as he supposes by these objects, not only will escape plague and pestilence, but will be invulnerable to bullet and sword. the sumatrans practise medicine chiefly by charms; when called in to prescribe, they generally ask for “something on account,” under the pretext of purchasing the appropriate charm.545
the hoof of the elk is used by the indians and norwegians and other northern nations as a cure for epilepsy. the patient must apply it to his heart, hold it in his left hand, and rub his ear with it.546
“medicine” amongst primitive folk is a synonym for fetich; anything wonderful, mysterious, or unaccountable, is called “medicine” by the north american indians. the medicine-bag is a mystery bag, a charm. in fetiches primitive man recognises something which has a power of a sort he cannot understand straightway; therefore it becomes to him a religious object. “why are any herbs or roots magical?” asks mr. lang; and he correctly answers the question, not by any far-fetched explanations, but by the observation that herbs really do possess medicinal properties (some of them indeed of extreme potency), and the ignorant invariably confound medicine with magic.547 on this theory it is, of course, not necessary to swallow the medicine or apply it as we apply lotions and liniments; it is enough to carry it about as an amulet or charm, for it is the life of the thing which is efficacious, the spirit, which resides in the outward form, which possesses the virtue, not the material object itself. of course, it may be necessary to take the charm internally; but then it is not the physiological action which is looked for, but the magical. dapper, in his description of africa (p. 621), tells of savages who wear roots round their necks as amulets when they sleep out; they chew the roots, and spit the juice round the camp to keep off the wild beasts. at other times they burn the roots, and blow the smoke about for the same purpose. the korannas carry roots as charms against bullets and wild animals. if successful in war, and obtaining249 much booty, they say, “we thank thee, our grandfather’s root, that thou hast given us cattle to eat.”
the bongoes and niam-niams have similar customs.548
general forlong, referring to the serpent buddhism of kambodia, says, that “fetish worship was the first worship, and to a great extent is still the real faith of the great mass of the ignorant, especially about these parts.”549 “probably one-quarter of the world yet deifies, or at least reverences, sticks and stones, ram-horns and charms.”550
the abyssinians are sunk in the grossest superstition; their medical practice is, to a large extent, based on the use of amulets and charms. even leprosy and syphilis are treated by these means, and eye diseases by spitting in the affected organs.551
“fetiches” are claws, fangs, roots, or stones, which the africans believe to be inhabited by spirits, and so powerful for good or evil. the word is derived from the portuguese feiti?o, a charm or amulet.
the tibetans wear amulets upon their necks and arms; they contain nail-parings, teeth, or other reliques of some sainted lama, with musk, written prayers, and other charms.552
barth, travelling in africa, found an english letter which had not reached its destination, used as a charm by a native.553
leaving primitive folk and savage peoples, and turning to the great civilized nations of the past, we find the egyptians, the chald?ans, assyrians, and babylonians not less addicted to the use of amulets, charms, talismans, and philters than their untutored progenitors (assuming with the anthropologists that the savage of to-day represents the primitive people who must have preceded the founders of civilization). the magi, according to pliny,554 prescribed the herb feverfew, the pyrethrum parthenium, to be pulled from the ground with the left hand, that the fevered patient’s name must be spoken forth, and that the herborist must not look behind him. he tells us also that the magi and the pythagoreans ordered the pseudo-anchusa to be gathered with the left hand, while the plucker uttered the name of the person to be cured, and that it should be tied on him for the tertian fever.555
of the aglaophotis, by which some commentators understand the peony (p?onia officinalis), and others the “moly” of homer, pliny says, “by means of this plant, the magi can summon the deities into their presence when they please.” concerning the ach?menis, he says the root250 of it, according to the magian belief as expressed by democritus, when taken in wine, torments the guilty to such a degree during the night, by the various forms of avenging deities, as to extort from them a confession of their crimes. he tells, amongst other marvels, of the adamantis, a plant found in armenia, which, when presented to a lion, will make the beast fall upon its back and drop its jaws. the magi said if any one swallowed the heart of a mole palpitating and fresh, he would at once become an expert diviner. an owl’s heart placed on a woman’s left breast while she is asleep will make her tell all her secrets. for quartan fevers they recommended a kind of beetle taken up with the left hand to be worn as an amulet.556 the use of scarabs or beetles made of steatite, lapis-lazuli, cornelian, etc., as amulets, dates from the most ancient periods of egyptian history. in the fourth egyptian room of the british museum there are specimens of scarabs, with the names of kings and queens dating b.c. 4400-250. the objects are not in all cases as old as the dates of the sovereigns whose names they bear. “the beetle was an emblem of the god khepera, the self-created, and the origin and source from whence sprang gods and men. rā, the sun-god, who rose again daily, was, according to an egyptian myth, a form of khepera; and the burial of scarabs with mummies probably had reference to the resurrection of the dead.”557
some large scarabs which were fastened on the breasts of mummies had inscriptions from the 30th chapter of the book of the dead. the deceased person prays: “let there be no obstruction to me in evidence; let there be no obstacle on the part of the powers; let there be no repulse in the presence of the guardian of the scale.” other amulets consist of papyrus sceptres, buckles of isis, hearts, fingers, etc., in gold and precious stones. they are laid between the bandages of mummies to guard the dead from evil.
professor lenormant explains the magical incantations which were used in connection with these talismans; they had to be “pronounced over the beetle of hard stone, which is to be overlaid with gold and to take the place of the individual’s heart. make a phylactery of it anointed with oil, and say magically over this object, ‘my heart is my mother; my heart is in my transformations.’”558
the ancient egyptians were buried with their amulets as a protection against the evil powers of the other world. mr. flinders petrie, excavating at the pyramid of hawara, discovered on the body of horuta a great number of these charms. he says: “bit by bit the layers251 of pitch and cloth were loosened, and row after row of magnificent amulets were disclosed, just as they were laid on in the distant past. the gold ring on the finger which bore his name and titles, the exquisitely inlaid gold birds, the chased gold figures, the lazuli statuettes, delicately wrought, the polished lazuli and beryl, and carnelian amulets finely engraved, all the wealth of talismanic armoury, rewarded our eyes with a sight which has never been surpassed to arch?ological gaze. no such complete and rich a series of amulets has been seen intact before.”559
anodyne necklaces, made of beads from peony roots, are worn by children in some parts to assist them in teething. the ancient greeks held the peony in great repute; they believed it to be of divine origin, and it was for many centuries held to have the power to drive away evil spirits.560
abydemis, a greek historian who wrote a history of assyria, says that the inhabitants made amulets from the wood of the ash, and hung them round their necks as a charm against sorcery.
in the sanskrit atharvaveda are found charms for diseases, which are influenced by colours. saffron and the yellow-hammer are prescribed for jaundice; red remedies, and especially red cows, for blood diseases.
the extremity of the intestine of the ossifrage, says pliny, if worn as an amulet, is well known to be an excellent remedy for colic. another cure is for the patient to drink the water in which he has washed his feet!561 a tick from a dog’s left ear, worn as an amulet, will allay all kinds of pains, but we must be careful to take it from a dog that is black.562
“pliny says that any plant gathered from the bank of a brook or river before sunrise, provided that no one sees the person who gathers it, is considered as a remedy for tertian ague, when tied to the left arm, the patient not knowing what it is; also, that a person may be immediately cured of the headache by the application of any plant which has grown on the head of a statue, provided it be folded in the shred of a garment, and tied to the part affected with a red string.”563
the cyclamen was cultivated in houses as a protection against poison. pliny remarks that it was an amulet.564 vivisection was practised in connection with charms. “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.”
alexander trallianus was not able to rise above the absurdities of252 the amulet. he recommends bits of old sailcloth from a shipwrecked vessel to be tied to the right arm and worn for seven weeks as a protection against epilepsy. he advises the heart of a lark to be fastened to the left thigh as a remedy for colic; for a quartan ague, the patient must carry about some hairs from a goat’s chin. he admits that he has no faith in such things, but merely orders them as placebos for rich and fastidious patients who could not be persuaded to adopt a more rational treatment.565
dr. baas tells us that “a regular pagan amulet was found in 1749 on the breast of the prince bishop anselm franz of würzburg, count of ingolstadt, after his death.”566
gnostic and christian amulets.
gnosticism is responsible for the introduction of many wonder-working amulets and charms. this system of philosophy was a fantastical combination of orientalism, greek philosophy, and christianity. the teaching was that all natures were emanations of the deity, or ?ons. on some of the gnostic amulets the word mythras was inscribed, on others serapis, iao, sabaoth, adonai, etc.
notwithstanding the fact that the spirit of christianity in its early days was strenuously opposed to all magical and superstitious practices, the nations it subdued to the faith of christ were so wedded to their ancient practices that they could not be entirely divorced from them, and thus in the case of amulets and charms it was necessary to substitute christian words and emblems in place of the heathen words and symbols previously in use.
anglo-saxon charms and amulets were used by the monks of glastonbury abbey, who treated disease. in the “leech book”567 we find a holy amulet “against every evil rune lay,568 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,569 and lupins, and pulegium, pound them, then sift them, put them in a pouch, lay them under the altar, sing nine masses over them, put the dust into milk, drip thrice some holy water upon them, administer this to drink at three hours.... if a mare570 or hag ride a man, take lupins, and garlic, and betony, and frankincense, bind them on a fawn skin, let a man have the worts on him, and let him go into his house.” for typhus fever the patient is to drink of a decoction253 of herbs over which many masses have been sung, then say the names of the four gospellers and a charm and a prayer. again, a man is to write in silence a charm, and silently put the words in his left breast and take care not to go indoors with the writing upon him, the words being emmanuel, veronica.
mr. cockayne, the editor of saxon leechdoms, has pointed out that the greatest scientific men of antiquity, even those who set themselves against the prevailing medical superstitions of their times, and did their utmost to establish observation and experiment in opposition to speculation and old wives’ fables, were by no means liberated from a belief in magic and incantations. chrysippus believed in amulets for quartan fevers.571 serapion, one of the chiefs of the empiric school, prescribed crocodile’s dung and turtle’s blood in epilepsy. soranos will not use incantations in the cure of diseases, yet he testifies that they were so employed. pliny has an amulet for almost every disorder. he tells of a chief man in spain who was cured of a disease by hanging purslane root round his neck; he teaches that an amulet of the seed of tribulus cures varicose veins; that the longest tooth of a black dog cures quartan fevers; or you may carry a wasp in your left hand or half a dozen other equally absurd things for the same purpose. a holly planted in the courtyard of a house keeps off witchcrafts; an herb picked from the head of a statue and tied with a red thread will cure headache, and so on.572
josephus tells a tale which was probably the foundation of what was afterwards told about the mandrake. xenocrates had a fancy for advising people to eat human brains, flesh or liver, or to swallow for various complaints the ground bones of parts of the human frame. alexander of tralles says that even galen did homage to incantations.573 he gives his words: “some think that incantations are like old wives’ tales; as i did for a long while. but at last i was convinced that there is virtue in them by plain proofs before my eyes. for i had trial of their beneficial operations in the case of those scorpion-stung, nor less in the case of bones stuck fast in the throat, immediately, by an incantation thrown up. and many of them are excellent, severally, and they reach their mark.” yet galen is angry with pamphilos for “his babbling incantations,” which were “not merely useless, not merely unprofessional, but all false: no good even to little boys, not to say students of medicine.”574254
alexander of tralles frequently prescribes amulets and the like. mr. cockayne calls them periapts. “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 nor a bath. a lark eaten is good. the thracians pick out its heart, while alive, and make a periapt, wearing it on the left thigh. a part of the c?cum of a pig prepared with myrrh, and put in a wolf’s or dog’s skin, is a good thing to wear. a ring with hercules strangling a lion on the median stone575 is good to wear.
“a bit of a child’s navel, shut up in something of gold or silver with salt, is a periapt which will make the patient at ease entirely. have the setting of an iron ring octagonal, and engrave upon it, ‘flee, flee, ho, ho, bile, the lark was searching’; on the head of the ring have an n576 engraved; this is potent, and he thinks it must be strange not to communicate so powerful an antidote, but begs it may be reserved from carnal folk, and told only to such as can keep secrets and are trusty. for the gout he recommends a certain cloth—?κ τ?ν καταμην?ων; also the sinews of a vulture’s leg and toes tied on, minding that the right goes to the right, the left to the left; also the astragali of a hare, leaving the poor creature alive; also the skin of a seal for soles?ια], on gold-leaf, when the moon is in libra; also a natural magnet found when the moon is in leo. write on gold-leaf, in the wane of the moon, ‘mei, threu, mor, for, teux, za, zon, the, 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, chook; consolidate this plaster as it was at first, now, now, quick, quick.’577 255
“then bits were to be chopped off a chameleon, and the creature living was to be wrapped up in a clean linen rag, and buried towards the sunrise, while the chopped bits were to be worn in tubes; all to be done when the moon was in the wane. then again for gout, some henbane, when the moon is in aquarius or pisces, before sunset, must be dug up with the thumb and third finger of the left hand, and must be said, i declare, i declare, holy wort, to thee; i invite thee to-morrow to the house of fileas, to stop the rheum of the feet of m. or n., and say i invoke thee, the great name, jehovah, sabaoth, the god who steadied the earth and stayed the sea, the filler of flowing rivers, who dried up lot’s wife and made her a pillar of salt, take the breath of thy mother earth and her power, and dry the rheum of the feet or hands of m. or n. the next day, before sunrise, take a bone of some dead animal, and dig the root up with this bone, and say, i invoke thee by the holy names, iao, sabaoth, adonai, elai; and put on the root one handful of salt, saying, ‘as this salt will not increase, so may not the disorder of n. or m.’ and hang the end of the root as a periapt on the sufferer,” etc.578
although alexander of tralles was an enlightened and skilful physician, he recommended for epilepsy a metal cross tied to the arm; and went to the magi for assistance in his art, and was recommended to use jasper and coral with root of nux vomica tied in a linen cloth as an amulet. it seems strange that, although hippocrates and the scepticism of the epicureans had apparently destroyed the faith in magicians amongst the learned, that men should have so soon reverted to the absurdities from which they had been delivered; but there is an element in our nature which can only be satisfied by that which magic represents, and even in the present age of science we have reverted to the same things under the names of spiritualism, theosophy, and occultism.
it would be grossly unfair to the catholic church to complain of the slavery in which it kept the minds of the ignorant barbarians whom it had converted from paganism to christianity. when we read of medicine masses, of herbs and decoctions placed under the altar, of holy water mixed with drugs, and the sign of the cross made over the poultices and lotions prescribed, we are apt to say that the priests merely substituted one form of superstition for another, which was a little coarser. a little reflection will serve to dispel this idea. a belief in magic influence is, as we have abundantly shown, inseparable from the minds of primitive and savage man. it is as certain that a savage will worship his fetish, pray to his idol, and believe in disease-demons, and their expulsion by charms and talismans, as that he will tattoo or paint his body, stick feathers in his hair, and rings in his nose and ears; it is part of the evolution of man on his way to civilization. to suddenly deprive a savage or barbarian of all his magic remedies, his amulets and charms, would be as foolish as it would be futile: foolish, because many amulets and charms are perfectly harmless, and help to quiet and soothe the patient’s mind; futile, because whatever the ecclesiastical prohibition,256 the obnoxious ceremonies would certainly be practised in secret. it was therefore wiser for the church to compromise the matter, to wink at innocent superstitions, and endeavour to substitute a religious idea such as the sign of the cross would imply, for the meaningless, if not idolatrous, ceremonies of a pagan religion. let us never forget that the church delivered the nations from “the tyranny and terror of the poisoner and the wizard.”
herbs, animals, etc., as amulets.
burton, in his anatomy of melancholy, mentions several “amulets and things to be borne about” as remedies for head-melancholy, such 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.” a sheep or kid’s skin whom a wolf worried must not be worn about a man, because it is apt to cause palpitation of the heart, “not for any fear, but a secret virtue which amulets have.” “peony doth cure epilepsy, precious stones most diseases; a wolf’s dung borne with one helps the colic; a spider an ague, etc. being in the country,” he says, “in the vacation time, not many years since, at lindley, in leicestershire, my father’s home, i first observed this amulet of a spider in a nut-shell lapped in silk, etc., so applied for an ague by my mother; whom, although i knew to have excellent skill in chirurgery, sore eyes, aches, etc., and such experimental medicines, as all the country where she dwelt can witness, to have done many famous and good cures upon diverse 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 alderovandus, cap. de aranea, lib. de insectis, and 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.”579
the common fumitory (fumaria capreolata) is said to derive its name from fumus, smoke, “because the smoke of this plant was said by the ancient exorcists to have the power of expelling evil spirits.”580
the elder had many singular virtues attributed to it; if a boy were beaten with an elder stick, it hindered his growth; but an elder on which the sun had never shined was an amulet against erysipelas.581257
knots as charms.
marcellus, a medical writer, quoted by mr. cockayne in his preface to saxon leechdoms, vol. i, p. xxix., gives an example of knots as charms. “as soon as a man gets pain in his eyes, tie in unwrought flax as many knots as there are letters in his name, pronouncing them as you go, and tie it round his neck.”
precious stones as charms.
the origin of the superstitious belief in the magic power of precious stones has always been traced to chald?a. pliny582 refers to a book on the subject which was written by lachalios, of babylon, and dedicated to mithridates.
the eagle stone (?tites) is a natural concretion, a variety of argillaceous oxide of iron, often hollow within, with a loose kernel in the centre, found sometimes in an eagle’s nest. this was a famous amulet, bringing love between a man and his wife; and if tied to the left arm or side of a pregnant woman it ensured that she should not be delivered before her time. women in labour were supposed to be quickly delivered if they were girded with the skin which a snake casts off.583
the bezoar stone had a great reputation in melancholic affections. manardus says it removes sadness and makes him merry that useth it.584
“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 this 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.”585
signatures.
colours have always had a medical significance, from their connection with the doctrine of “signatures.” white was cooling; red was hot. red flowers were given in disorders of the blood; yellow in bile disturbance.258 the bed-hangings in small-pox and scarlet-fever cases were commonly of a red colour; the unhappy patient’s room was hung about with red drapery. he had to drink infusions of red berries, such as mulberries. avicenna said that as red bodies move the blood everything of a red colour is good for blood disorders.
numbers.
magic numbers as charms were in use in anglo-saxon medicine. “if any thing to cause annoyance get into a man’s eye, with five fingers of the same side as the eye, run the eye over and fumble at it, saying three times, ‘tetunc resonco, bregan gresso,’ and spit thrice. for the same, shut the vexed eye and say thrice, ‘in mon deromarcos axatison,’ and spit thrice; this remedy is ‘mirificum.’ for the same, shut the other eye, touch gently the vexed eye with the ring finger and thumb, and say thrice, ‘i buss the gorgon’s mouth.’ this charm repeated thrice nine times will draw a bone stuck in a man’s throat. for hordeolum, which is a sore place in the eyelid of the shape of a barley-corn, take nine grains of barley and with each poke the sore, with every one saying the magic words, κυρια κυρια κασσαρια σουρωφβι; then throw away the nine, and do the same with seven; throw away the seven, and do the same with five, and so with three and one. for the same, take nine grains of barley and poke the sore, and at every poke say, ‘φε?γε, φε?γε κριθ? σε δι?κει, flee, flee, barley thee chaseth.’ for the same, touch the sore with the medicinal or ring finger, and say thrice, ‘vigaria gasaria.’ to shorten the matter, blood may be stanched by the words, ‘sicycuma, cucuma, ucuma, cuma, uma, ma, a.’ also by ‘stupid on a mountain went, stupid, stupid was;’ by socnon socnon; σοκσοκαμ συκιμα; by ψα ψε ψη ψε ψη ψα ψε. for toothache say, ‘argidam margidam sturgidam;’ also, spit in a frog’s mouth, and request him to make off with the toothache. for a troublesome uvula catch a spider, say suitable words, and make a phylactery of it. for a quinsy lay hold of the throat with the thumb and the ring and middle fingers, cocking up the other two, and tell it to be gone.”
nine is the number consecrated by buddhism, three is sacred among brahminical and christian people. pythagoras held that the unit or monad is the principle and the end of all. one is a good principle. two, or the dyad, is the origin of contrasts and separation, and is an evil principle. three, or the triad, is the image of the attributes of god. four, or the tetrad, is the most perfect of numbers and the root of all things. it is holy by nature. five, or the pentad, is everything; it stops the power of poisons, and is redoubted by evil spirits. six is a fortunate number. seven is powerful for good or evil, and is a sacred number.259 eight is the first cube, so is man four-square or perfect. nine, as the multiple of three, is sacred. ten, or the decad, is the measure of all it contains, all the numeric relations and harmonies.586
cornelius agrippa wrote on the power of numbers, which he declares is asserted by nature herself; thus the herb called cinquefoil, or five-leaved grass, resists poison, and bans devils by virtue of the number five; one leaf of it taken in wine twice a day cures the quotidian, three the tertian, four the quartan fever. he believed that every seventh son born to parents who have not had daughters is able to cure the king’s-evil by touch or word alone.587
girdles.
amongst the ancient britons, says meryon,588 when a birth was attended with difficulty or danger, girdles were put round the woman, which were made for the purpose, and which gave her immediate relief. many families in the highlands of scotland kept such girdles until quite recently. they were marked with cabalistic figures, and were applied with certain ceremonies, which came originally from the druids.
spittle.
levinus lemnius says of saliva: “divers experiments show what power and quality there is in man’s fasting spittle, when he hath neither eat nor drunk before the use of it; for it cures all tetters, itch, scabs, pushes, and creeping sores; and if venomous little beasts have fastened on any part of the body, as hornets, beetles, toads, spiders, and such like, that by their venome cause tumours and great pains and inflammations; do but rub the places with fasting spittle, and all those effects will be gone and dismissed.”589
sir thomas browne is not quite sure that fasting saliva really is poisonous to snakes and vipers.590
in saxon leechdoms a cure for the gout runs thus: “before getting out of bed in the morning, spit on your hand, rub all your sinews, and say, ‘flee, gout, flee, etc.’”591
spittle was anciently a charm against all kinds of fascination. pliny says it averted witchcraft. theocritus says,—
“thrice on my breast i spit, to guard me safe
from fascinating charms.”
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fishermen and costermongers often spit on the first money they take, for good luck.592
talismans.
talismans, says fosbrooke,593 are of five classes, 1. the astronomical, with celestial signs and intelligible characters. 2. the magical, with extraordinary figures, superstitious words, and names of unknown angels. 3. the mixed, of celestial signs and barbarous words, but not superstitions, or with names of angels. 4. the sigilla planetarum, composed of hebrew numeral letters, used by astrologers and fortune tellers. 5. hebrew names and characters. these were formed according to the cabalistic art. pettigrew gives a hebrew talisman,594 which runs thus: “it overflowed—he did cast darts—shaddai is all sufficient—his hand is strong, and is the preserver of my life in all its variations.”
scripts.
sir john lubbock says that “the use of writing as a medicine prevails largely in africa, where the priests or wizards write a prayer on a piece of board, wash it off, and make the patient drink it. caillie met with a man who had a great reputation for sanctity, and who made his living by writing prayers on a board, washing them off, and then selling the water, which was sprinkled over various objects and supposed to protect them.”595
mungo park relates similar facts.596
sir a. lyall says that a similar practice exists in india, where, however, the native practitioner may sometimes be seen mixing croton oil in the ink with which he writes his charms. “in africa,” says lubbock, “the prayers written as medicine or as amulets are generally taken from the koran.” it is admitted that they are no protection against firearms; but this does not the least weaken faith in them, because, as guns were not invented in mahomet’s time, he naturally provided no specific against them.597
among the kirghiz atkinson says that the mullas sell such amulets at the rate of a sheep for each scrap of written paper,598 and similar charms are in great request among the turkomans599 and in afghanistan.600
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the very curious account of the trial of jealousy in numbers vi. 11-31 may be studied in this connection as showing the extreme antiquity of the writing charm. in the case of the woman suspected of having committed adultery “the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the lord: and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water: and the priest shall set the woman before the lord, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, if no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse: but if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, the lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; and this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: and the woman shall say, amen, amen. and the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water: and he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter. then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the offering before the lord, and offer it upon the altar: and the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. and when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. and if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. this is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled; or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.”
this is quite evidently taken from the customs of african tribes.262 as the egyptians gave the jews their knowledge of the medical arts, and as this knowledge was doubtless largely intermingled with african ideas, it is easy to see how the ordeal of the bitter curse-water found its way into the mosaic ritual.
of scripts as amulets we find that anything written in a character which nobody could read was worn as an amulet against disease or danger. thus the anglo-saxon ms., known as the vercelli ms., by some means found its way to a place near milan, where no one could decipher it. when that discovery was made, the next step was to cut up its precious pages for amulets, and so many of its leaves have perished.
after the death of pascal, the philosopher, a writing was found sewn into his doublet. this was a “profession of faith” which he wore as a sort of amulet or charm, and his servants believed that he always had it stitched into a new garment when he discarded the old one.601
“mais ce qui montre que ce n’est par un simple engagement tel qu’on en peut prendre avec soi-même, c’est la forme étrange que pascal lui a donnée. pour quiconque a vu les écrits de ce genre de la part d’hallucinés, le premier coup d’?il montre que l’écrit de pascal appartient à cette catégorie. d’ailleurs, il porte l’énonciation manifeste d’une vision en ces termes: ‘depuis environ dix heures et demie du soir jusque environ minuit et demi, feu.’ ainsi, ce jour-là, le lundi 23 novembre, 1654, pendant environ deux heures, pascal eut la vision d’un feu qu’il prit pour une apparition surnaturelle, et sa conviction fut si forte qu’elle le détermina à entrer plus avant qu’il n’avait fait jusqu’alors dans les voies de la dévotion et du rigorisme janséniste.”602
characts.
of the species of charms known as characts we have many examples in the practice of anglo-saxon physicians. in the preface to the herbarium of apuleius, used at glastonbury, mr. cockayne, the editor, gives the following from marcellus, 380 a.d., to avoid inflamed eyes: “write on a clean sheet of ουβαικ, 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 φυρφαραν, 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: ρουβο?, ρνονειρα? ρηελιο? ω?· καντεφορα· και παντε? ηακοτει; 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 a263 thin plate of gold with a needle of copper, ορνω ουρωδη; do this on a monday; observe chastity; it will long and much avail.
characts are amulets in the form of inscriptions, and are to be found in all the old houses still existing in edinburgh.603 the name of god is one of the commonest characts.
rabbi hama gives a sacred seal with divine names written in hebrew, which he declares will cure not only all kinds of diseases, but heal all griefs whatsoever. the seals are figured in morley’s life of cornelius agrippa.604
when a charact or charm lost its original meaning, it came to bear that of something worn for its supposed efficacy in preserving the wearer from danger in mind or body, and now means a mere trinket to hang on a watch chain. one of the most famous of ancient charms was the name of the supreme deity of the assyrians. this was the abracadabra, which was supposed to have a magical efficacy as an antidote against ague, fever, flux, and toothache.605 it was written on parchment, and arranged as follows:—
a b r a c a d a b r a
a b r a c a d a b r
a b r a c a d a b
a b r a c a d a
a b r a c a d
a b r a c a
a b r a c
a b r a
a b r
a b
a
this was suspended round the neck by a linen thread. the word abraxas, or abrasax, was engraved on antique stones, and used as amulets or charms against disease. sometimes mystical characters and figures were added, as the head of a fowl, the arms and bust of a man terminating in the body and tail of a serpent. it is of egyptian origin, and is referred to by the greek fathers. the egyptians used it to dispossess evil spirits and to cure diseases.606
abraxas is the president of the 365th heaven, and is thus evidently a sun myth. apollo is the sun in mythology, and he was the god of physic or healing.607
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brande, in his popular antiquities, gives the following charm from a manuscript of the date of 1475:608—
“here ys a charme for wyked wych. in nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. amen. per virtutem domini sint medicina mei pia crux ? et passio christi ?. vulnera quinque domini sint medicina mei ?. virgo maria mihi succurre, et defende ab omni maligno demonio, et ab omni maligno spiritu. amen. ? a ? g ? l ? a ? tetragrammaton. ? alpha, ? oo, ? primogenitus, ? vita, vita. ? sapiencia, ? virtus, ? jesus nazarenus rex judeorum, ? fili domini, miserere mei. amen. ? marcus ? matheus ? lucas ? johannes mihi succurrite et defendite. amen. ? omnipotens sempiterne deus, hunc n. famulum tuum hoc breve scriptum super se portantem prospere salvet dormiendo, vigilando, potando, et precipue sompniando ab omni maligno demonio, eciam ab omni maligno spiritu ?.”
one of the most famous charms of this kind is the “solomon’s seal.”
solomon's seal
amongst the cabalists an amulet, with the names “senoi, sansenoi, semongeloph,” upon it, was fastened round the neck of the new-born child.609
the first psalm, when written on doeskin, was supposed to help the birth of children; but the writer of such psalm amulets, as soon as he had written one line, had to plunge into a bath. “moreover,” says mr. morley, “that the charm might be the work of a pure man, before every new line of his manuscript it was thought necessary that he should repeat the plunge.”610
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sacred names as charms.
some of the jews accounted for the miracles of healing wrought by our saviour by declaring that he had learned the mirific word, the true pronunciation of the name jehovah; this word stirs all the angels and rules all creatures. they said that he had gained admission to the holy of holies, where he learned the sacred mystery, wrote it on a tablet, cut open his thigh, and having put the tablet in the wound, closed the flesh by uttering the mystic name. the names of angels and evil spirits were also held to be potent by the cabalists. the name of a bad angel, schabriri, was used when written down as a charm to cure ophthalmia.
stolen property as a charm.
in mr. andrew lang’s delightful custom and myth he says that he once met at dinner a lady who carried a stolen potato about with her as a cure for rheumatism. the potato must be stolen, or the charm would not work.
a small piece of beef, if stolen from a butcher, is supposed by some persons to charm away warts.
