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Title: Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing
Author: George Barton Cutten
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THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF MENTAL HEALING
by
GEORGE BARTON CUTTEN, Ph.D.
(Yale)
President Of Acadia University
Illustrated
New York
Charles Scribner's Sons
1911
[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF REPRESENTING THE GALLIC ÆSCULAPIUS
DISPATCHING A DEMON]
Copyright, 1911, by
Charles Scribner's Sons
Published February, 1911
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY
OF
Artemus Wyman Sawyer, D.D., LL.D.
PRESIDENT OF ACADIA UNIVERSITY
1869-1896
HE HID FROM US HIS HEART WHILE WE THOUGHT THAT HE LOVED
ONLY HIS STUDIES; WE LATER LEARNED THAT HE LAID
EMPHASIS ON THAT WHICH HE LOVED ONLY LESS--TRUE
KNOWLEDGE, IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT INTRODUCE
IT TO THOSE THAT HE LOVED MOST--HIS
PUPILS. HE TAUGHT AS NONE OTHER
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Introduction--Mental Healing 3
II. Early Civilizations 19
III. The Influence of Christianity 35
IV. Relics and Shrines 61
V. Healers 110
VI. Talismans 138
VII. Amulets 158
VIII. Charms 189
IX. Royal Touch 224
X. Mesmer and After 249
XI. The Healers of the Nineteenth Century 273
Index 309
PREFACE
The present decade has experienced an intense interest in mental
healing. This has come as a culmination of the development along these
lines during the past half century. It has shown itself in the
beginning of new religious sects with this as a, or the, fundamental
tenet, in more wide-spread general movements, and in the scientific
study and application of the principles underlying this form of
therapeutics.
Many have been led astray because, being ignorant of the mental
healing movements and vagaries of the past, the late applications,
veiled in metaphysical or religious verbiage, have seemed to them to
be new in origin and principle. No one could consider an historical
survey of the subject and reasonably hold this opinion. It is on
account of the ignorance of similar movements, millenniums old, that
so much, if any, originality can be credited to the founders.
The object of this volume is to present a general view of mental
healing, dealing more especially with the historical side of the
subject. While this is divided topically, the topics are presented in
a comparatively chronological order, and thereby trace the development
of the subject to the present century.
The term "mental healing" is given the broadest possible use, and
comprehends any cures which may be brought about by the effect of the
mind over the body, regardless of whether the power back of the cure
is supposed to be deity, demons, other human beings, or the individual
mind of the patient.
It is hoped that this may contribute to the knowledge of a subject
which is of such wide-spread popular interest.
George Barton Cutten.
Wolfville, Nova Scotia,
_December 1, 1910._
ILLUSTRATIONS
Bas-relief representing the Gallic Æsculapius
dispatching a demon _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
Cure through the Intercession of a Healing Saint 72
Valentine Greatrakes 134
Sir Kenelm Digby 152
King's Touch-pieces 226
F. A. Mesmer 252
John Alexander Dowie 276
George O. Barnes 290
Mary Baker Eddy 302
THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF
MENTAL HEALING
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION--MENTAL HEALING
"'Tis painful thinking that corrodes our
clay."--ARMSTRONG.
"Oh, if I could once make a resolution, and determine to
be well!"--WALDERSTEIN.
"The body and the mind are like a jerkin and a jerkin's
lining, rumple the one and you rumple the
other."--STERNE.
"I find, by experience, that the mind and the body are
more than married, for they are most intimately united;
and when the one suffers, the other
sympathizes."--CHESTERFIELD.
"Sublime is the dominion of the mind over the body, that
for a time can make flesh and nerve impregnable, and
string the sinews like steel, so that the weak become so
mighty."--STOWE.
"The surest road to health, say what they will, Is never
to suppose we shall be ill; Most of those evils we poor
mortals know From doctors and imagination
flow."--CHURCHILL.
The fact that there is a reciprocal relation between mental states and
bodily conditions, acting both for good and ill, is nothing new in
human experience. Even among the most crude and unobserving,
traditions and incidents have given witness to this knowledge. For
centuries stories of the hair turning white during the night on
account of fright or sorrow, the cause and cure of diseases through
emotional disturbances, and death, usually directly by apoplexy,
caused by anger, grief, or joy, have been current and generally
accepted. On the other hand, irritability and moroseness caused by
disordered organs of digestion, change of acumen or morals due to
injury of the brain or nervous system, and insanity produced by bodily
diseases, are also accepted proofs of the effect of the body on the
mind.
Recent scientific investigation has been directed along the line of
the influence of the mind over the body, and to that phase of this
influence which deals with the cure rather than the cause of disease.
In addition to what the scientists have done along this line, various
religious cults have added the application of these principles to
their other tenets and activities, or else have made this the chief
corner-stone of a new structure. There are some reasons why this
connection with religion should continue to exist, and why it has been
a great help both to the building up of these particular sects and the
healing of the bodies of those who combine religion with mental
healing.
We must not forget that in early days the priest, the magician, and
the physician were combined in one person, and that primitive
religious notions are difficult to slough off. Shortly before the
beginning of the Christian era there were some indications that
healing was to be freed from the bondage of religion, but the
influence of Jesus' healing upon Christians, and the overwhelming
influence of Christianity upon the whole world, delayed this movement,
so that it did not again become prominent until the sixteenth
century. About this time, when therapeutics as a science began to
shake off the shackles of religion and superstition, another startling
innovation was noticeable, viz., the division of mental healing into
religious and non-religious healing. This change came gradually, and
as is usual in all reform, certain prophets saw and proclaimed the
real truth which the people were not able to follow or receive for
centuries.
Paracelsus, who lived during the first half of the sixteenth century,
wrote these shrewd words: "Whether the object of your faith is real or
false, you will nevertheless obtain the same effects. Thus, if I
believe in St. Peter's statue as I would have believed in St. Peter
himself, I will obtain the same effects that I would have obtained
from St. Peter; but that is superstition. Faith, however, produces
miracles, and whether it be true or false faith, it will always
produce the same wonders." We have also this penetrating observation
from Pierre Ponponazzi, of Milan, an author of the same century: "We
can easily conceive the marvellous effects which confidence and
imagination can produce, particularly when both qualities are
reciprocal between the subject and the person who influences them. The
cures attributed to the influence of certain relics are the effect of
this imagination and confidence. Quacks and philosophers know that if
the bones of any skeleton were put in the place of the saint's bones,
the sick would none the less experience beneficial effects, if they
believed they were near veritable relics."
What seemed to be a movement whereby mental healing should be divided
so that only a portion of it should be connected with religion proved
to be too far in advance of its time, and not until the advent of
Mesmer was this accomplished. Healing other than mental, however, did
obtain its freedom at this time. While Mesmer and his followers
emphasized non-religious mental healing, it should not be thought that
mental therapeutics was ever entirely separated from the church. There
have always been found some sects which laid particular emphasis on
it, and both Roman Catholic and Protestant orthodox Christianity have
always admitted it. It has been considered, even if not admitted, that
the power of the Infinite was more clearly shown by the healing of the
body than by the restoration of the moral life. It is natural, then,
that the sects which showed this special proof of God's presence and
power would grow faster than their spiritual competitors, but that
they would decline more rapidly and surely than those which espoused
more spiritual doctrines.
On the other hand, it is not difficult to see why mental healing would
be helped by its connection with religion. Religion grips the whole
mind more firmly than any other subject has ever done, and when one
accepts the orthodox conception of God, he naturally expects to come
in contact with One whose sympathies are in favor of the cure of his
diseases, and whose power is sufficient to bring about this cure. With
this basis there is set up in the mind of the patient an expectancy
which has always proven to be a most valuable precursor of a cure. The
devout religious attitude of mind is one most favorable for the
working of suggestion, and persons of the temperament adapted to the
religious expression most valued in the past are those who could be
most readily affected by mental means. For these reasons, it can be
easily understood why mental healing has continued to be associated
with religion, and why when thus associated it has been so successful.
To those not very familiar with mental healing, it has seemed strange
that any law could be formulated which would comprehend every variety.
In the following pages many different forms will be described, and in
examining the subject it will be found that many and varied are the
explanations given for the results produced. We find also a general
distrust of all the others, or else a claim that this particular sect
is the only real and true exponent of mental healing, and that it
produces the only genuine cures. Those which claim to be Christian
sects, however divergent the direct explanation of their results, give
the final credit to God, and base their _modus operandi_ upon the
Bible--in fact, they claim to be the direct successors of Jesus and
his disciples in this respect.
We find, however, that the healer connected with the Christian sect
has no advantage over his Mohammedan or Buddhist brother, and that
neither is able to succeed better than the non-religious healer in all
cases. We recognize that when one class of healers fails in a case
another may succeed, but the successful one is just as liable to fail
in a second case when the first one cures. What particular form of
suggestion is most effective in any given case depends upon the
temperament of the individual and his education, religious training,
and environment. When we consider the whole matter we are forced to
the conclusion that mental cures are independent of any particular
sect, religion, or philosophy; some are cured by one form and some by
another. Not the creed, but some force which resides in the mind of
every one accomplishes the cure, and the most that any religion or
philosophy can do is to bring this force into action.
As a general rule, one sharp distinction is noticed between the
religious and the non-religious healers, viz., the religious healer
sees no limit to his healing power, and affirms that cancer and
Bright's disease are as easily cured, in theory at least, as neuralgia
or insomnia; the non-religious healer, sometimes designated as the
"scientific healer," on the contrary, recognizes that there are some
diseases which are more easily cured than others, and that of those
others some are practically incurable by psycho-therapeutic methods.
The line has been drawn in the past between functional and organic
diseases, the former including diseases where there is simply a
derangement of function, like indigestion, and the latter
comprehending the diseases where the organ is affected, like ulcer of
the stomach. The more we know about diseases the less sure we seem to
be about their classification; some of which we were formerly sure
have recently caused us considerable doubt. For example, we have
formerly classed cancer as an organic disease and consequently
incurable by mental means. The question is now asked, "Is cancer an
organic disease, or is it some functional derangement of the
epithelium tissue which causes it to grow indefinitely until it
invades some vital organ?"
A further question arises due to further study. Some of the latest
investigators claim that most if not all persons have cancer at some
time in life, but that anti-toxin or some other remedy is supplied by
the body itself, and the growth is stopped and the tissue absorbed.
The question then seems to be pertinent, "If the body can produce the
cure within itself, and this would be functional, why cannot mental
means stimulate the body to produce it?" or "Does not mental influence
stimulate the body to produce it?" What the cancer experts tell us of
the wide-spread extension of the disease and its spontaneous cure, the
tuberculosis experts affirm of tuberculosis, and certainly of the
latter disease spontaneous cures are not uncommon. We also know that
mental influence may, in fact does, have an indirect but no less
beneficial influence in the cure of tuberculosis. From these examples
one seems to be forced to either one of two conclusions, either of
which is contrary to generally accepted ideas, viz., first, that these
are not organic diseases; or, second, organic diseases are aided or
cured by means of mental healing. In general, however, the distinction
holds good; the so-called functional cases are amenable to cure by
mental means, and the organic are much less so.
Coming back, then, to the common law which underlies all cases or
forms of mental healing, we find two general principles upon which it
is built--the power of the mind over the body, and the importance of
suggestion as a factor in the cure of the disease. The law may be
tersely stated in the first person as follows: My body tends to adjust
itself so as to be in harmony with my ideas concerning it. This law is
equally applicable to the cause or cure of disease by mental means. To
apply this law in a universal way as far as mental healing is
concerned, we should notice that however the thought of cure may come
into the mind, whether by external or auto-suggestion, if it is firmly
rooted so as to impress the subconsciousness, that part of the mind
which rules the bodily organs, a tendency toward cure is at once set
up and continues as long as that thought has the ascendancy.
Hack Tuke quotes Johannes Müller, a physiologist who lived during the
first half of the last century, as follows: "It may be stated as a
general fact that any state of body which is conceived to be
approaching, and which is expected with certain confidence and
certainty of occurrence, will be very prone to ensue, as the mere
result of the idea, if it do not lie beyond the bounds of
possibility." This is a fair statement of the law from the stand-point
of consciousness, but does not include all of the vast influence of
subconscious ideas which are so potent in the cure of diseases by
mental means. Müller's observation was in advance of his times, but
could not be expected to include the results of the latest researches
of modern science.
For a great many years physicians have recognized that not only are
all diseases made worse by an incorrect mental attitude, but that some
diseases are the direct result of worry and other mental disturbances.
The mental force which causes colored water to act as an emetic, or
postage-stamps to produce a blister, can also produce organic diseases
of a serious nature. The large mental factor in the cause of diseases
is generally admitted, and it seems reasonable to infer that what is
caused by mental influence may be cured by the same means. There is
no restriction in the power of the mind in causing disease, and should
we restrict the mind as a factor in the cure? The trouble seems to be
in the explanation. People ask, "How can the mind have such an effect
upon the body?" and to the answer of this question we must now turn
our attention.
We all recognize that involuntarily certain bodily effects take place.
We blush when we do not wish to; we betray our fears by our blanched
faces. Some other factors of mind than the conscious mental processes
have charge, and rule certain functions. The heart, the respiratory
apparatus, the glands, and digestive organs all carry on their regular
functions during sleep and also better without our direction when we
are awake. What is the explanation of this? We have recently been
saying that the subconsciousness rules these physical organs, and
through this that the effects already referred to take place. So much
has been written recently regarding the subconsciousness that anything
more at this time would be superfluous; suffice it to say that the
general conclusions on that subject are accepted as the basis of faith
cure. We may, however, go further in our endeavor to explain.
In such mental troubles as psychasthesia much has lately been heard
about psycho-analysis and re-education. What does that mean in the
language of the psychology of a few years ago? In cases of
unreasonable fears or phobias, for example, there is a firmly rooted
system of ideas which refuses to depart at the command of
consciousness. We analyze the mental store to find out the cause of
the unreasonable persistence, and sometimes, quite frequently in fact,
have to resort to hypnosis or hypnodization to find the initial
trouble. It is then corrected, and re-education consists in living
over again from the first experience, the events connected with that
fear and correcting them up to date. In this process minutes only are
used where the original experiences took weeks. Putting it in other
words, we have certain systems of ideas; as a psychological fact of
long standing we know that other elements may be injected into that
system so as to change it, or that one system may be destroyed and
another system built up to take its place. This is the secret of cures
of this nature--of mental troubles--the irritating factor, the thorn
in the mind, is extracted.
We have heard in modern psychology of the hot and cold places in
consciousness, or, to use other terms for the same idea, the central
and peripheral ideas, meaning the ideas which dominate consciousness,
and those which are in the background. The mind can readily attend to
only one thing at a time; if that be pain, for example, that takes up
all of our attention. On the other hand, if for some reason some other
ideas suddenly become central, then the pain is driven away to the
periphery and we say we have no pain, or we have less pain. The
sufferer from neuralgia experiences no pain as he responds to the fire
alarm, and the toothache stops entirely as we undergo the excitement
and fear of entering the dentist's office. Serious lesions yield to
profound emotion born of persuasion, confidence, or excitement; either
the gouty or rheumatic man, after hobbling about for years, finds his
legs if pursued by a wild bull, or the weak and enfeebled invalid will
jump from the bed and carry out heavy articles from a burning house.
The central idea is sufficient to command all the reserve energy, and
that idea which has suddenly and unexpectedly become central may
remain so. What Chalmers called "the expulsive power of a new
affection" in the cure of souls, is the precise method of operation in
the cure of some bodily ills.
I have here made two suggestions which may help to show how mental
healing may be brought about. Not simply the alleviation of bodily
ills, but the complete cure may result from the influence on the
subconsciousness. A large number of cures are brought about by faith
in certain religious practices, this faith amounting to a certainty in
the minds of the patients before the cure is started or while it is in
progress. Trustful expectation in any one direction acts powerfully
through the subconsciousness because it absorbs the whole mind, and
thus competition with other ideas, either consciously or
subconsciously, is largely excluded. It is this which acts in mental
healing under the caption of faith, although some abnormal conditions
may also arise to assist the suggestion.
That this confident expectation of a cure is the most potent means of
bringing it about, doing that which no medical treatment can
accomplish, may be affirmed as the generalized result of experiences
of the most varied kind, extending through a long series of ages. It
is this factor which is common to methods of the most diverse
character. It is noticeable that any system of treatment, however
absurd, that can be puffed into public notoriety for efficacy, any
individual who by accident or design obtains a reputation for a
special gift of healing, is certain to attract a multitude of
sufferers, among whom will be many who are capable of being really
benefited by a strong assurance of relief. Thus, the practitioner with
a great reputation has an advantage over his neighboring physicians,
not only on account of the superior skill which he may have acquired,
but because his reputation causes this confident expectation, so
beneficial in itself.
There have been fashions in cures as in other things. At one time a
certain relic, or healer, would attract and cure, and shortly
afterward it would be deserted and inefficacious, not because it had
lost its power, but because it had lost its reputation, and the
people had consequently lost their faith in it. Some other relics
would then acquire a reputation, spring into popular favor, and the
crowds would flock to them. We have many modern instances of this
kind. If sufficient confidence in the power of a concoction, a shrine,
a relic, or a person can be aroused, genuine cures can be wrought
regardless of the healing properties of the dose.
The whole system of mental therapeutics may be divided into two parts;
what we may designate as metaphysical cure denies that either matter
or evil exists, and heals by inspiring the belief that the disease
cannot assail the patient because he is pure spirit; the other class,
faith cure, recognizes the disease, but cures by faith in the power of
divinity, persons, objects, or suggestion.
Without doubt the best example of the former theory and the most
successful application of it are found in Christian Science. Perhaps
it is not so difficult to understand the frame of mind which brought
about this theory on the part of Mrs. Eddy. Here was an hysterical,
neurotic woman who knew nothing all her life but illness and
misfortune. She had suffered much from many physicians and was none
the better but rather worse. One physician had called her disease one
thing, another had designated it another, until confusion and
uncertainty were increased with every physician consulted. She began
to despair of ever either knowing about her disease or of having it
cured. As a last resort she went to Quimby, and he told her there was
no disease and no need of suffering. He denied the suffering, and she
accepted his teaching; she followed him in denying disease and then
matter, and kept on with her theory of negation and denial until she
evolved her present theory. It was a natural reaction from all
conceivable pains characteristic of hysteria, to no pain; from all
conceivable diseases which different physicians had opined, to no
disease; from the infirmity of body with its inhibitory discomfitures,
to no body. The history of the founder of Christian Science is its
best _raison d'être_, especially from a psychological stand-point, and
the rather strange thing is that a reaction from an abnormality, going
as it naturally does to another abnormality, should find a response in
the religious cravings of so many; the philosophy undoubtedly would
not attract as it does were there not connected with it, in the
practical working of the system, the lure of mental healing.
Faith cure, the other form of mental healing, has such a variety of
forms that it is practically impossible to describe a typical one.
Faith in some power, or, what amounts to the same thing, the
uncritical reception of suggestions concerning the cure, is the common
factor in all forms.
The question naturally arises, Which is the best form of mental
healing? There is no best form for all diseases and all persons. For
example, it matters not how new associational systems are formed so
long as they are substituted for the pernicious ones. It may be in the
common experiences of every-day life, through the pleading of a
friend, during sleep or trance, in some abnormal state of a hypnotic
character, or during religious ecstasy, and we cannot well say in any
given case that one form will be more efficacious than another. Mental
healing creates nothing new, but simply makes use of the normal
mechanism of the mind and body. The question then is, What method of
mental healing is most likely to stimulate the mental mechanism so
that physiological processes will be set up leading to a cure? The
great power of faith and expectancy may decide the question, and the
answer may be in favor of the form in which the patient has the most
faith, either on account of its reputation, or on account of some
prejudice on the part of the patient.
CHAPTER II
EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
"The office of the physician extends equally to the
purification of mind and body; to neglect the one is to
expose the other to evident peril. It is not only the
body that by its sound constitution strengthens the
soul, but the well-regulated soul by its authoritative
power maintains the body in perfect health."--PLATO.
"Aristotle mapped out philosophy and morals in lines the
world yet accepts in the main, but he did not know the
difference between the nerves and the tendons. Rome had
a sound system of jurisprudence before it had a
physician, using only priest-craft for healing. Cicero
was the greatest lawyer the world has seen, but there
was not a man in Rome who could have cured him of a
colic. The Greek was an expert dialectician when he was
using incantations for his diseases. As late as when the
Puritans were enunciating their lofty principles, it was
generally held that the king's touch would cure
scrofula. Governor Winthrop, of colonial days, treated
'small-pox and all fevers' by a powder made from 'live
toads baked in an earthen pot in the open
air.'"--MUNGER.
"There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not
at some time been said by some philosopher. Fontenelle
says he would undertake to persuade the whole republic
of readers to believe that the sun was neither the cause
of light or heat, if he could only get six philosophers
on his side."--GOLDSMITH.
A glance at the history of medicine will show three fairly well
defined periods. The beginning of the first is hidden in the uncertain
days of prehistoric ages and the period continues down to early
Christian times--perhaps the end of the second century when Galen
died. The second period extends from this time to the fifteenth or
sixteenth centuries, and the third period embraces the last three or
four centuries. The second period was almost wholly stationary, and
this, we are ashamed to say, was largely due to the prohibitive
attitude of the church. The science of medicine, then, is almost
wholly the result of the investigations and study of the last period.
This means that medicine is one of the youngest of the sciences, while
from the very nature of the case it is one of the oldest of arts.
From the beginning of the art of therapeutics, mental healing has been
a large factor in the cure. This was not recognized, of course, for
only in the last century has the psychic element been admitted to any
extent as a therapeutic agent. We can read back now, however, and see
what a large element this really was. The cruder the art, the more
powerful was the mental influence. The ways of primitive therapeutics
are completely hidden from us except what we can gather from the races
which retained their primitive practices in historic times. We can
well understand, though, that the concoctions of medicine-men and
witch-doctors could have little effect except in a suggestive way.
Snakes' heads, toads' toes, lizards' tails, and beetles' wings have a
small place in the pharmacopoeia of to-day, except as placebos, and
it is extremely doubtful if they were ever valuable for any other
purpose.
The object of the primitive practitioner seems to have been to make an
impression upon the patient either by the explanation of his disease
or by the effort made to effect a cure. The explanation most
frequently given was that demons were responsible for the trouble, and
the cure of the disease was an attempted exorcism of the demon. The
more fantastic the ceremony, the more likely the cure, on account of
the mental influence upon the patient. The primitive man's religion
and therapeutics were inextricably interwoven and, unless we make an
exception of the past few years, this has always been an unprofitable
union for one or both. All the early civilizations with the exception
of the Greeks, as well as the Christian nations up to the sixteenth
century, were handicapped by this partnership, and it was only by
divorcing the two that therapeutics was able to make the great advance
during the last period. The nature of the primitive religions was
responsible to a great extent for the nature of the method of healing,
therefore, appeasing the offended deity and exorcising the demon were
therapeutic as well as religious ceremonies.
The Chinese of to-day, except in some of the seaboard cities, must be
classed among the earliest civilizations, for their mode of living has
not changed much in the last two or three milleniums. Their system of
medical practice partakes of the character of that found among the early
people, with some slight modifications which show some relationship to
the European practice during the Dark Ages.
All sorts of disgusting doses are administered, and incantations and
exorcisms are among the most effective methods of healing. For
example, Hardy reports that a missionary told him of his being called
in to see a man suffering from convulsions; he found him smelling
white mice in a cage, with a dead fowl fastened on his chest, and a
bundle of grass attached to his feet. This had been the prescription
of a native physician.
Medicines are made from asses' sinews, fowls' blood, bears' gall,
shaving of a rhinoceros' horn, moss grown on a coffin, and the dung of
dogs, pigs, fowl, rabbits, pigeons, and bats. Cockroach tea, bear-paw
soup, essence of monkey paw, toads' eyebrows, and earth-worms rolled
in honey are common doses. The excrement of a mosquito is considered
as efficacious as it is scarce, and here, as in Europe in the Middle
Ages, the hair of the dog that bit you is used to heal the bite and to
prevent hydrophobia. An infusion from the bones of a tiger is believed
to confer courage, strength, and agility, and the flesh of a snake is
boiled and eaten to make one cunning and wise. Chips from coffins
which have been let down into the grave are boiled and are said to
possess great virtue for catarrh. Flies, fleas, and bedbugs prepared
in different ways are given for various diseases. Medicines are given
in all forms, and not infrequently pills are as large as a pigeon's
egg. If any of these medicines ever had any beneficent effect it must
have been through mental rather than through physical means.
Nevius has left us in no doubt concerning the belief in demons among
the Chinese, and of the effect this belief has on their theory of
disease. Certain forms are daily observed to drive away the evil
spirits. For this purpose Taoist priests are hired to recite formulæ,
ring bells, and manipulate bowls of water, candles, joss-sticks, and
curious charms. Sometimes the family insists that one of the priests
shall ascend a ladder, the rounds of which are formed of swords or
knives with the sharp edge uppermost, and go through his exorcisms at
the top. Instead of the priest, the mother may make a fire of paper
and wave a small garment of her sick child over it.
A relative or friend of a sick person will visit a temple and beat the
drum, which notifies the god that there is urgent need of his help. To
be sure that the god hears, his ears are tickled, and the part of the
image which corresponds to the afflicted part of the sick person's
body is rubbed. Some ashes from the censor standing before the image
may be taken to the sick-room and there reverenced. Holy water is
brought from the temple, boiled with tea, and drunk as a certain cure
for disease. Spells are written on paper and burned; the ashes are
then put into water and drunk as medicine. Charms and magical tricks
of all kinds are tried in order to drive away the demon.
There were schools of medicine in Egypt in the fifteenth century
before the Christian era, and the Egyptians made great progress in the
study and practice of medicine. Notwithstanding this, we find many
examples of mental healing, or at least attempts at healing by mental
means, among the recipes and prescriptions which have come down to us.
Poor and superstitious persons, especially, had recourse to dreams, to
wizards, to donations, to sacred animals, and to exvotos to the gods.
Charms were also written for the credulous, some of which have been
found on small pieces of papyrus, which were rolled up and worn, as by
the modern Egyptians.
The Ebers papyrus, an important and very ancient manual of Egyptian
medicine, has thrown much light on early Egyptian practices. It shows
that an important part of the treatment prior to 1552 B. C., consisted
in the laying on of hands, combined with an extensive formulary and
ceremonial rites. The physicians were the priests, and among the
interesting contents of this manuscript are several formulæ to be used
as prayers while compounding medicaments. Some of the prescriptions
given here are accompanied by exorcisms which were to be used at the
same time. Many of the prescriptions could have had little but mental
influence because the remedies recommended consisted of horrible
mixtures of unsavory ingredients, the theory, if we can judge by the
medicines, being that the more disgusting the dose the more
efficacious the remedy; this is true from a mental stand-point.
Demonism was not unknown; in fact, it underlay much of the treatment.
People did not die, but they were assassinated. The murderer might
belong to this or to the spirit world. He might be a god, a spirit, or
the soul of a dead man that had cunningly entered a living person. The
physician must first discover the nature of the possessing spirit, and
then attack it. Powerful magic was the weapon used, and the healer
must be an expert in reciting incantations and skilful in making
amulets. On account of this, the Egyptians became the most skilled in
magic of any people, and have their equals only in the Hindus of
to-day. The experiences of Joseph and Moses, as recorded in the Bible,
give us some idea of their skill at that time. After the exorcism the
physician used medicine to relieve the disorders which the presence of
the strange being had produced in the body.
Maspéro gives us the following information: "The cure-workers are
divided into several categories. Some incline towards sorcery, and
have faith in formulas and talismans only; they think they have done
enough if they have driven out the spirit. Others extol the use of
drugs; they study the qualities of plants and minerals, describe the
diseases to which each of the substances provided by nature is
suitable, and settle the exact time when they must be procured and
applied; certain herbs have no power unless they are gathered during
the night at the full moon, others are efficacious in summer only,
another acts equally well in winter or summer. The best doctors
carefully avoid binding themselves exclusively to either method."[1]
Among the early Egyptians the human body was divided into thirty-six
parts, each of which was thought to be under the particular government
of one of the aerial demons, who presided over the triple divisions of
the twelve signs. The priests practised a separate invocation for each
genius, which they used in order to obtain for them the cure of the
particular member confided to their care. We have the authority of
Origen for saying that in his time when any part of the body was
diseased, a cure was effected by invoking the demon to whose province
it belonged. Perhaps this is why the different parts of the body were
assigned to the different planets, and later to different saints. It
undoubtedly accounts for the fact that an Egyptian physician treated
only one part of the body and refused to infringe on the domain of his
brother physician.
Incubation was commonly practised at the temples of Isis and Serapis
as it was afterward among the Greeks. This "temple sleep" was closely
akin in its effects to hypnotism and was undoubtedly efficacious in
the case of some diseases.
The Babylonian system of therapeutics was not unlike the Egyptian as
far as incantations were concerned. Many of these have been
discovered. The formulas usually consist of a description of the
disease and its symptoms, a desire for deliverance from it, and an
order for it to depart. Some draughts were given which may have had
some medicinal effect, but they were supposed to be enchanted drinks.
Knots were supposed to have some magical effect on diseases, and
conjurations were also wrought by the power of numbers. The Book of
Daniel shows the official recognition given to magicians, astrologers,
and sorcerers.
The Jews seem to have got their early medical knowledge from the
Egyptians, and changed it only in so far as their religion made it
necessary, for with them as with others the healing art was a part of
the religion, and the Levites were the sole practitioners. Much
valuable medical knowledge was mixed with much that could only have
had a mental influence. Disease was considered a punishment for sin,
and hence the cure was religious rather than medical. The disease
might be inflicted by God direct, and the cure would be a proof of his
forgiveness; it might also be inflicted by Satan or the spirits of the
air with the permission of Jehovah, and the cure would then be brought
about by exorcism.
There seems to have been a rather elaborate system of demonology among
the Jews, who were at one time the chief exponents of the doctrine,
and consequently the principal exorcists. Among the Jews a prominent
"demoness of sickness is Bath-Chorin. She touches the hands and lower
limbs by night. Many diseases are caused by demons." According to
Josephus, "to demons may be ascribed leprosy, rabies, asthma, cardiac
diseases, nervous diseases, which last are the specialty of evil
demons, such as epilepsy." Incantations were in use among the later
Jews, and amulets of neck-chains like serpents and ear-rings were
employed to protect the wearers against the evil eye and similar
troubles.
In India, medicine became a separate science very early, according to
the sacred books, the Vedas. Notwithstanding this, demonology played a
large part in the production of disease according to their theories,
and religious observances were helpful in the cures.
Among the oldest documents which we possess relative to the practice
of medicine, are the various treatises contained in the collection
which bears the name of Hippocrates (460-375 B. C.). He was the first
physician to relieve medicine from the trammels of superstition and
the delusions of philosophy.
The Greeks undoubtedly believed in demons, but, different from the
nations around them, considered the demons to be well-intentioned.
Homer (c. 1000 B. C.) speaks frequently of demons, and in one instance
in the Odyssey tells of a sick man pining away, "one upon whom a
hateful demon had gazed." Empedocles (c. 490-430 B. C.) taught that
demons "were of a mixed and inconstant nature, and are subjected to a
purgatorial process which may finally end in their ascension to higher
abodes." Yet he attributed to them nearly all the calamities,
vexations, and plagues incident to mankind. Plato (427-347 B. C.)
writes of demons good and bad, and Aristotle (384-322 B. C.), the son
of a physician, speaks directly of "demons influencing and inspiring
the possessed." Socrates (470-399 B. C.) claimed to have continually
with him a demon--a guardian spirit.
In Greece, in early days, physicians were looked upon as gods. Even
after the siege of Troy, the sons of the gods and the heroes were
alone supposed to understand the secrets of medicine and surgery. At a
late period Æsculapius, the son of Apollo, was worshipped as a deity.
When we speak of the art of healing in Greece, one naturally thinks of
the apparent monopoly of the Æsclepiades, who ministered unto the
Grecian sick for centuries.
The original seat of the worship of Æsculapius was at Epidaurus, where
there was a splendid temple, adorned with a gold and ivory statue of
the god, who was represented sitting, one hand holding a staff, the
other resting on the head of a serpent, the emblem of sagacity and
longevity; a dog crouched at his feet. The temple was frequented by
harmless serpents, in the form of which the god was supposed to
manifest himself. According to Homer, his sons, Machaon and
Podalirius, who were great warriors, treated wounds and external
diseases only; and it is probable that their father practised in the
same manner, as he is said to have invented the probe and the
bandaging of wounds. His priests, the Æsclepiades, however, practised
incantations, and cured diseases by leading their patients to believe
that the god himself delivered his prescriptions in dreams and
visions; for this imposture they were roughly satirized by
Aristophanes in his play of "Plutus." It is probable that the
preparations, consisting of abstinence, tranquillity, and bathing,
requisite for obtaining the divine intercourse, and, above all, the
confidence reposed in the Æsclepiades, were often productive of
benefit.
The excavations of Cavvadias at Epidaurus have furnished us with much
interesting material concerning the cures performed at this ancient
shrine, five hundred years before the beginning of the Christian era.
If the modern physician still recognizes Æsculapius as his patron
saint, he must have great respect for mental healing. It appears
certain from inscriptions found upon "stelæ" that were dug up at
Epidaurus and published in 1891, that the system of Æsculapius was
based upon the miracle-working of a demi-god, and not upon medical art
as we now know it. The _modus operandi_ was unique in some details.
The patients, mostly incurables, came laden with sacrifices. After
prayer, they cleansed themselves with water from the holy well, and
offered up sacrifices. Certain ceremonial acts were then performed by
the priests, and the patients were put to sleep on the skins of the
animals offered at the altar, or at the foot of the statue of the
divinity, while the priests performed further sacred rites. The son of
Apollo then appeared to them in dreams, attended to the particular
ailments of the sufferers, and specified further sacrifices or acts
which would restore health. In many cases the sick awoke suddenly
cured. Large sums of money were asked for these cures; from one
inscription we learn that a sum corresponding to $12,000 was paid as a
fee. The record of the cure was carved on the temple as at Lourdes
to-day, _e.g._:
"Some days back, a certain Caius, who was blind, learned from an
oracle that he should repair to the temple, put up his fervent
prayers, cross the sanctuary from right to left, place his five
fingers on the altar, then raise his hand and cover his eyes. He
obeyed, and instantly his sight was restored, amid the loud
acclamations of the multitude. These signs of the omnipotence of the
gods were shown in the reign of Antoninus."
"A blind soldier, named Valerius Apes, having consulted the oracle,
was informed that he should mix the blood of a white cock with honey,
to make up an ointment to be applied to his eyes for three consecutive
days. He received his sight, and returned public thanks to the gods."
"Julian appeared lost beyond all hope, from a spitting of blood. The
gods ordered him to take from the altar some seeds of the pine, and to
mix them with honey, of which mixture he was to eat for three days. He
was saved, and came to thank the gods in the presence of the
people."[2]
It was not until five centuries later, when credulity concerning
miracles was on the wane, that the priests began to study and to apply
medical means in order to sustain the reputation of the place, and to
keep up its enormous revenues.
Temples similar to this one at Epidaurus existed at numerous places,
among which were Rhodes, Cnidus, Cos, and one was to be found on the
banks of the Tiber. The temple at Cos was rich in votive offerings,
which generally represented the parts of the body healed, and an
account of the method of cure adopted. From these singular clinical
records, Hippocrates, a reputed descendant of Æsculapius, is reported
to have constructed his treatise on Dietetics.
For a long time after the age of Hercules and the heroic times,
invalids in Greece sought relief from their sufferings from these
descendants of Æsculapius in the temples of that god, which an
enlightened policy had raised on elevated spots, near medicinal
springs, and in salubrious vicinities. Those men who pretended in
right of birth to hold the gift of curing, finally learned the art of
it. The preservation in the temple of the history of those diseases,
the cure of which had been sought by them, aided greatly in this happy
culmination.
Of Æsculapius himself, it is said that he employed the trumpet to cure
sciatica; he claimed that its continued sound made the fibres of the
nerves to palpitate, and the pain vanished. In line with this
treatment, Democritus affirmed that diseases are capable of being
cured by the sound of a flute, when properly played.
Herbs were also used among the Greeks, but almost wholly in the form
of charms rather than on account of what we claim now as real
medicinal value. For example, great virtues were ascribed to the herb
alysson which was pounded and eaten with meat to cure hydrophobia. If
suspended in the house, it promoted the health of the inmates and
protected both men and cattle from enchantments; when bound in a piece
of scarlet flannel round the necks of the latter, it preserved them
from all diseases.
There seems to have been no independent school of Roman medicine. From
early times there was a very complicated system of superstitious
medicine, as a part of the religion, which is supposed to have been
borrowed from the Etruscans. This comprehended both the theory and
cure of disease. The Romans got along for centuries without doctors;
in fact, doctors were a Grecian importation, not made until about two
centuries before Christ.
[1] G. Maspéro, _Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria_,
chap. VII.
[2] E. Berdoe, "A Medical View of the Miracles at
Lourdes," _Nineteenth Century_, October, 1895.
CHAPTER III
THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY
"The Alchemist may doubt the shining gold
His crucible pours out,
But faith, fanatic faith, once wedded fast
To some dear falsehood,
Hugs it to the last."
"Death is the cure of all diseases. There is no _catholicon_
or universal remedy I know, but this, which though nauseous
to queasy stomachs, yet to prepared appetites is nectar, and
a pleasant potion of immortality."--BROWNE.
"I'll tell you what now of the Devil:
He's no such horrid creature; cloven-footed,
Black, saucer-ey'd, his nostrils breathing fire,
As these lying Christians make him."--MASSINGER.
"If the cure be wrought, what matters it to the happy
invalid ... whether the cure is wrought by the touch of
the Divine hand or the overpowering influence of a great
idea upon the nervous system? If our hunger be appeased,
it matters little whether it is by manna rained down
from heaven, or a wheaten loaf raised from the harvest
field. Miraculous water from the rock does not quench
the thirst better than that which bubbles from the
village spring."--BERDOE.
The advent of the Christian religion into the world, while purporting
to minister especially to the spiritual life, had a wide-reaching and
potent influence on the art of healing the body. We cannot sum up the
effect by saying that this influence was either wholly good or
bad--its relation to therapeutics was a mixed one. It can be
truthfully said that nothing has retarded the science of medicine
during the past two thousand years so much as the iron grip of
decadent orthodoxy, and, on the other hand, no power has caused men
and women so to sacrifice time, money, and even life itself for the
care and nurture of the sick, as the example and precepts of Jesus
Christ.
For eighteen centuries this paradoxical position was held by the
church, and the antithetical attitudes of hindrance and help continued
to exist. As valuable as was the spirit instilled into the hearts of
His followers by the tenderness of the Master, it was never sufficient
to counterbalance the deterrent effects of the religion which they
espoused. The retardation was caused by two related beliefs which
permeated the church: The first was the doctrine of the power of
demons in the lives of men, especially in the production of disease;
and the second was the prevalence of the idea of the possibility and
probability of the performance of miracles, particularly in the
healing of diseases.
A rather complicated science of demonology had come down from
primitive sources through Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek
civilization, although the demons of the Greeks were principally good
spirits. At the time of Christ, however, the Jews were the most ardent
advocates of demonology, and hence the chief exorcists. They expelled
demons partly by adjuration and partly by means of a certain
miraculous root named Baaras. They considered it nothing at all out
of the ordinary to meet men who were possessed by demons, and just as
common an experience to see them healed by having the demon exorcised.
Josephus assures us that in the reign of Vespasian he had himself seen
a Jew named Eleazar perform an exorcism; by means of adjuration and
the Baaras root he drew a demon through the nostrils of a possessed
person, who fell to the ground on the accomplishment of the miracle,
while on the command of the magician the demon, to prove that it had
really left its victim, threw down a cup of water which had been
placed at a distance.
Knowing as we do the close relationship between Judaism and
Christianity, it does not surprise us to discover that the Christians
inherited the doctrine and practice of the Jews in this matter. This
is more readily understood when we remember the connection of Jesus
with cases of demoniacal possession, and Paul's frequent references to
the spirits of the air. Following the example of their Master,
Christians everywhere became exorcists. Through the influence of
Philo's writings, Jewish demonology was propagated among Christian
converts, and the Gnostics quickly absorbed and spread the notion of
preternatural interposition. Next to the belief in the second coming
of Christ, the doctrine which most influenced the action of the early
church was that of a spiritual world and its hierarchy. Terrestrial
things were ruled by all sorts of spiritual beings.
Some philosophers, as well as the founders of different religions,
expelled demons, and the Christians fully recognized the power
possessed by the Jewish and gentile exorcists; the followers of
Christ, however, claimed to be in many respects the superior of all
others. The fathers maintained the reality of all pagan miracles as
fully as their own, except that doubt was sometimes cast on some forms
of healing and prophecy. Demons which had resisted all the
enchantments of the pagans might be cast out, oracles could be
silenced, and unclean spirits compelled to acknowledge the truth of
the Christian faith by the Christians, who simply made the sign of the
cross, or repeated the name of the Master.
The power of the Christian exorcists was shown by still more wonderful
feats. Demons, which were sometimes supposed to enter animals, were
expelled. St. Hilarion (288-371), we are told, courageously confronted
and relieved a possessed camel. "The great St. Ambrose [340-397] tells
us that a priest, while saying mass, was troubled by the croaking of
frogs in a neighboring marsh; that he exorcised them, and so stopped
their noise. St. Bernard [1091-1153], as the monkish chroniclers tell
us, mounting the pulpit to preach in his abbey, was interrupted by a
crowd of flies; straightway the saint uttered the sacred formula of
excommunication, when the flies fell dead upon the pavement in heaps,
and were cast out with shovels! A formula of exorcism attributed to a
saint of the ninth century, which remained in use down to a recent
period, especially declares insects injurious to crops to be possessed
of evil spirits, and names, among the animals to be excommunicated or
exorcised, moles, mice, and serpents. The use of exorcism against
caterpillars and grasshoppers was also common. In the thirteenth
century a bishop of Lausanne, finding that the eels in Lake Leman
troubled the fishermen, attempted to remove the difficulty by
exorcism, and two centuries later one of his successors excommunicated
all the May-bugs in the diocese. As late as 1731 there appears an
entry on the municipal register of Thonon as follows: '_Resolved_,
that this town join with other parishes of this province in obtaining
from Rome an excommunication against the insects, and that it will
contribute _pro rata_ to the expense of the same.'"
Scripture was cited to prove the diabolical character of some animals
during the Middle Ages. Says White: "Did anyone venture to deny that
animals could be possessed by Satan, he was at once silenced by
reference to the entrance of Satan into the serpent in the Garden of
Eden, and to the casting of devils into swine by the Founder of
Christianity himself."[3]
Notwithstanding the pleasing theory adopted by the earlier Christian
writers that the powers of darkness were unable to harm the faithful
without the permission of divinity, to whom demoniacal spirits were
ultimately subjected, unlimited power was conceded to those beings who
existed under divine sanction. Demoniacal æons or emanations were
acknowledged to be the primitive source of earthly sufferings,
pestilence among men, sickness and other bodily afflictions, but
inflicted with the consent of God, whose messengers they were.
Early Christian writers boldly asserted that all the disorders of the
world originated with the devil and his sinister companions, because
they were stirred with the unholy desire to obtain associates in their
miseries. It was impossible to fix a limit to the number of these
malevolent spirits constantly provoking diseases and infirmities upon
men. They were alleged to surround mankind so densely that each person
had a thousand to his right and ten thousand to the left of him.
Endowed with the subtlest activity, they were able to reach the
remotest points of earth in the twinkling of an eye.
According to Salverte, Tatian, a sincere defender of Christianity, who
lived in the second century, "does not deny the wonderful cures
effected by the priests of the temples of the Polytheists; he only
attempts to explain them by supposing that the pagan gods were actual
demons, and that they introduced disease into the body of a healthy
man, announcing to him, in a dream, that he should be cured if he
implored their assistance; and then, by terminating the evil which
they themselves had produced, they obtained the glory of having worked
the miracle."[4]
So firm was the belief that Christians could exorcise these demons
that from the time of Justin Martyr (100-163), for about two
centuries, there is not a single Christian writer who does not
solemnly and explicitly assert the reality and frequent employment of
this power. In his Second Apology, Justin says: "And now you can learn
this from what is under your own observation. For numberless demoniacs
throughout the whole world, and in your city, many of our Christian
men exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified
under Pontius Pilate, have healed and do heal, rendering helpless and
driving the possessing demons out of the men, though they could not be
cured by all the other exorcists, and those who used incantations and
drugs."
Irenæus (130-202) held that mankind, through transgressions of divine
command, fell absolutely from the time of Adam into the power of
Satan. On the other hand, he assures us that all Christians possessed
the power of working miracles; that they prophesied, cast out devils,
healed the sick, and sometimes even raised the dead; that some who had
been thus resuscitated lived for many years among them, and that it
would be impossible to reckon the wonderful acts that were daily
performed.[5]
Tertullian (160-220) insisted that a malevolent angel was in constant
attendance upon every person, but in writing to the pagans in a time
of persecution he challenged his opponents to bring forth any person
who was possessed by a demon or any of those prophets or virgins who
were supposed to be inspired by a divinity. He asserted that all
demons would be compelled to confess their diabolical character when
questioned by any Christians, and invited the pagans, if it were
otherwise, to put the Christian immediately to death, for this, he
thought, was the simplest and most decisive demonstration of the
faith.
Lecky tells us of the attitude of the fathers toward demonism in the
following words: "Justin Martyr, Origen, Lactantius, Athanasius, and
Minucius Felix, all in language equally solemn and explicit, call upon
the pagans to form their own opinions from the confessions wrung from
their own gods. We hear from them, that when a Christian began to
pray, to make the sign of the cross, or to utter the name of his
Master in the presence of a possessed or inspired person, the latter,
by screams and frightful contortions, exhibited the torture that was
inflicted, and by this torture the evil spirit was compelled to avow
its nature. Several of the Christian writers declare that this was
generally known to pagans."[6]
Origen (185-254) said: "It is demons which produce famine,
unfruitfulness, corruptions of the air, pestilence; they hover
concealed in clouds in the lower atmosphere, and are attracted by the
blood and incense which the heathen offer to them as gods." He
thought, though, that Raphael had special care of the sick and the
infirm. Cyprian (186-258) charged that demons caused luxations and
fractures of the limbs, undermined the health, and harassed with
diseases. Up to this time it was the privilege of any Christian to
exorcise demons, but Pope Fabian (236-250) assigned a definite name
and functions to exorcists as a separate order. To-day the priest has
included in his ordination vows those of exorcist. Gregory of
Nazianzus (329-390) declared that bodily pains are provoked by demons,
and that medicines are useless, but that demoniacs are often cured by
laying on of consecrated hands. St. Augustine (354-430) said: "All
diseases of Christians are to be ascribed to these demons; chiefly do
they torment fresh-baptized Christians, yea, even the guiltless
new-born infants."
Baltus[7] says: "De tous les anciens auteurs ecclésiastiques, n'y en
ayant pas un qui n'ait parlé de ce pouvoir admirable que les Chrétiens
avoient de chasser les démons," and Gregory of Tours (538-594) says
that exorcism was common in his time, having himself seen a monk named
Julian cure by his words a possessed person. This testimony of
Gregory's concerning the prevalence of exorcisms at the end of the
sixth century is interesting in view of the facts that the Council of
Laodicea, in the fourth century, forbade any one to exorcise, except
those duly authorized by the bishop, and that in the very beginning of
the fifth century a physician named Posidonius denied the existence of
possession. The fathers of the church, however, ridiculed the solemn
assertion of physicians that many of these alleged demoniacal
infirmities were attributable to material agencies, and were fully
persuaded in their own minds that demons took possession of the
organism of the human body.
At about this time, such a broad-minded man as Gregory the Great
(540-604) solemnly related that a nun, having eaten some lettuce without
making the sign of the cross, swallowed a devil, and that, when
commanded by a holy man to come forth, the devil replied: "How am I to
blame? I was sitting on the lettuce, and this woman, not having made the
sign of the cross, ate me along with it." This is but an example of the
ideas concerning the entrance of demons into the possessed.[8] Besides
the possibility of being taken into the mouth with one's food, they
might enter while the mouth was opened to breathe. Exorcists were
therefore careful to keep their mouths closed when casting out evil
spirits, lest the imps should jump into their mouths from the mouths of
the patients. Another theory was that the devil entered human beings
during sleep, and at a comparatively recent period a king of Spain,
Charles II (1661-1700), kept off the devil while asleep by the presence
of his confessor and two friars.[9]
Shortly before the reign of Gregory, there came into vogue the fashion
of exorcising demons by means of a written formula rather than by the
earlier means of making the sign of the cross and invoking the name of
Jesus. The theory of demonology was never very clear nor consistent.
By some it was claimed that in the practice of the magical arts evil
spirits provided cure for sickness, others maintained that they could
not heal any diseases, and hence the true test of Christianity was the
ability to cure bodily ills. A compromise position was that demons
were only successful in eliminating diseases which they had themselves
caused. There was not a little doubt in some cases about the character
of the possessing spirits, and it behooved people to be careful;
demons might use men as habitations, and while posing as good angels
vitiate health and provoke disease.
At the beginning of the seventh century, we have an account of an
exorcism by St. Gall (556-640), and during the Carlovingian age the
healing at Monte Cassino was based on the Satanic origin of disease.
When the conversion of northern races to Christianity began,
demonology received a stimulus. An unlimited number of demons, similar
in individuality and prowess, were substituted for the pagan demons,
and the pagan gods were added as additional demons. When proselytes
were taken into the church, care was taken to exorcise all evil
spirits. During the baptismal service the Satanic hosts, as
originators of sin, vice, and maladies, were expelled by insufflation
of the officiating clergyman, the sign of the cross, and the
invocation of the Triune Deity. The earliest formulas for such
expulsion directed a double exhalation of the priest.[10]
In all epidemics of the Middle Ages, such persons as were afflicted by
pestilent diseases were declared contaminated by the devil, and
carried to churches and chapels, a dozen at a time, securely bound
together. They were thrown upon the floor, where they lay, according
to the attestation of a pitying chronicler, until dead or restored to
health.
Unsound mind was universally accepted as a specific distinction of
diabolical power, and caused by the corporeal presence of an impure
spirit. Imbeciles and the insane were, throughout the Middle Ages,
especially conceded to be the abode of avenging and frenzied demons.
In aggravated cases, the actual presence of the medicinal saint was
necessary; in less vexatious maladies, the bare imposition of hands,
accompanied by plaintive prayer, quickly healed the diseased.[11]
As early as the fifth century before Christ, Hippocrates of Cos
asserted that madness was simply a disease of the brain, but
notwithstanding the reiteration of this scientific truth the church
repudiated it, and as late as the Reformation, Martin Luther
maintained that not only was insanity caused by diabolical influences,
but that "Satan produces all the maladies which afflict mankind." Even
much later, however, when other diseases were assigned a physical
origin, insanity was still thought to be demoniacal possession. As
late as Bossuet's time, lunacy was thought to be the work of demons.
The cultured and progressive Bishop of Meaux, while trying to throw
off the shackles of superstition, delivered and published two great
sermons in which demoniacal possession is defended. To show how the
idea has clung, notwithstanding the advancement and enlightenment of
late years, we may notice a trial which took place at Wemding, in
southern Germany, in 1892, of which White tells us.
"A boy had become hysterical, and the Capuchin Father
Aurelian tried to exorcise him, and charged a peasant's
wife, Frau Herz, with bewitching him, on evidence that
would have cost the woman her life at any time during
the seventeenth century. Thereupon the woman's husband
brought suit against Father Aurelian for slander. The
latter urged in his defence that the boy was possessed
of an evil spirit, if anybody ever was; that what had
been said and done was in accordance with the rules and
regulations of the Church, as laid down in decrees,
formulas, and rituals sanctioned by popes, councils,
and innumerable bishops during ages. All in vain. The
court condemned the good father to fine and
imprisonment."[12]
I cannot refrain from quoting in this connection the now famous
epitaph of Lord Westbury's, suggested by the decision given by him as
Lord Chancellor in the case against Mr. Wilson in which it was charged
that the latter denied the doctrine of eternal punishment. The court
decided that it did "not find in the formularies of the English Church
any such distinct declaration upon the subject as to require it to
punish the expression of a hope by a clergyman that even the ultimate
pardon of the wicked who are condemned in the day of judgment may be
consistent with the will of Almighty God." The following is the
epitaph:
"RICHARD BARON WESTBURY,
Lord High Chancellor of England.
He was an eminent Christian,
An energetic and merciful Statesman,
And a still more eminent and merciful Judge.
During his three years' tenure of office
He abolished the ancient method of conveying land,
The time-honored institution of the Insolvents' Court,
And
The Eternity of Punishment.
Toward the close of his earthly career,
In the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
He dismissed Hell with costs,
And took away from Orthodox members of the
Church of England
Their last hope of everlasting damnation."[13]
In the Middle Ages there was a strange and incongruous mixture of
medicine and exorcism. Notice the following prescriptions:
"If an elf or a goblin come, smear his forehead with
this salve, put it on his eyes, cense him with incense,
and sign him frequently with the sign of the cross."
"For a fiend-sick man: When a devil possesses a man, or
controls him from within with disease, a spew-drink of
lupin, bishopwort, henbane, garlic. Pound these
together, add ale and holy water."
"A drink for a fiend-sick man, to be drunk out of a
church bell: Githrife, cynoglossum, yarrow, lupin,
flower-de-luce, fennel, lichen, lovage. Work up to a
drink with clear ale, sing seven masses over it, add
garlic and holy water, and let the possessed sing the
_Beati Immaculati_; then let him drink the dose out of a
church bell, and let the priest sing over him the
_Domine Sancte Pater Omnipotens_."[14]
Three methods of driving out demons from the insane were used: the
main weapon against the devil and his angels has always been exorcism
by means of ecclesiastical formula and signs. These formulas
degenerated at one time to the vilest cursings, threatenings, and
vulgarities. A second means was by an effort to disgust the demon and
wound his pride. This might simply precede the exorcism proper. To
accomplish this purpose of offending the demons, the most blasphemous
and obscene epithets were used by the exorcist, which were allowable
and perfectly proper when addressing demons. Most of these are so
indecent that they cannot be printed, but the following are some
examples:
"Thou lustful and stupid one,... thou lean sow,
famine-stricken and most impure,... thou wrinkled beast,
thou mangy beast, thou beast of all beasts the most
beastly,... thou mad spirit,... thou bestial and foolish
drunkard,... most greedy wolf,... most abominable
whisperer,... thou sooty spirit from Tartarus!... I cast
thee down, O Tartarean boor,... into the infernal
kitchen!... Loathsome cobbler,... dingy collier,...
filthy sow (_scrofa stercorata_),... perfidious boar,...
envious crocodile,... malodorous drudge,... wounded
basilisk,... rust-colored asp,... swollen toad,...
entangled spider,... lousy swineherd (_porcarie
pedicose_),... lowest of the low,... cudgelled ass,"
etc.[15]
The pride of the demon was also to be wounded by the use of the
vilest-smelling drugs, by trampling underfoot and spitting upon the
picture of the devil, or even by sprinkling upon it foul compounds.
Some even tried to scare the demon by using large-sounding words and
names.
The third method of exorcism was punishment. The attempt was
frequently made to scourge the demon out of the body. The exorcism was
more effective if the name of the demon could be ascertained. If
successful in procuring the name, it was written on a piece of paper
and burned in a fire previously blessed, which caused the demons to
suffer all the torments in the accompanying exorcisms. All forms of
torture were employed, and in the great cities of Europe, "witch
towers," where witches and demoniacs were tortured, and "fool towers,"
where the more gentle lunatics were imprisoned, may still be seen.
The treatment of the insane in the Middle Ages is one of the darkest
blots on the growing civilization.
The exorcism being completed, when some of the weaker demons were put
to flight an after service was held in which everything belonging to
the patient was exorcised, so that the demon might not hide there and
return to the patient. The exorcised demons were forbidden to return,
and the demons remaining in the body were commanded to leave all the
remainder of the body, and to descend into the little toe of the right
foot, and there to rest quietly.
After the Reformation, two contests shaped themselves in the matter of
exorcisms. The Protestants and the Roman Catholics vied with each
other in the power, rapidity, and duration of the exorcisms. Both put
forth miraculous claims, and with as much energy denied the power of
the other. They agreed in one thing, and that was the erroneous
position and teaching of the physicians. This, however, was but a
continuation of that rivalry between the advancement of science and
the conservation of theology, which is as old as history. In our
examination of the influence of Christianity upon mental healing, it
may be well for us to glance at the discouraging attitude of
Christianity toward medicine.[16]
The usurpation of healing by the church, which was a most serious
drawback to the therapeutic art, will be traced in the following
chapters; there are, however, some other ways in which the church
retarded the work of physicians. Chief among these was the theory
propagated by Christians that it was unlawful to meddle with the
bodies of the dead. This theory came down from ancient times, but was
eagerly accepted by the church, principally on account of the doctrine
of the bodily resurrection. In addition to this, surgery was forbidden
because the Church of Rome adopted the maxim that "the church abhors
the shedding of blood." A recent English historian has remarked that
of all organizations in human history, the Church of Rome has caused
the spilling of most innocent blood, but it refused to allow the
surgeons to spill a drop.
Monks were prohibited the practice of surgery in 1248, and by
subsequent councils, and all dissections were considered sacrilege.
Surgery was considered dishonorable until the fifteenth or sixteenth
centuries. The use of medicine was also discouraged. Down through the
centuries a few churchmen and many others, especially Jews and Arabs,
took up the study. The church authorities did everything possible to
thwart it. Supernatural means were so abundant that the use of drugs
was not only irreligious but superfluous. Monks who took medicine were
punished, and physicians in the thirteenth century could not treat
patients without calling in ecclesiastical advice.
We are told that in the reign of Philip II of Spain a famous Spanish
doctor was actually condemned by the Inquisition to be burnt for
having performed a surgical operation, and it was only by royal favor
that he was permitted instead to expiate his crime by a pilgrimage to
the Holy Land, where he died in poverty and exile.
This restriction was continued for three centuries, and consequently
threw medical work into the hands of charlatans among Christians, and
of Jews. The clergy of the city of Hall protested that "it were better
to die with Christ than to be cured by a Jew doctor aided by the
devil." The Jesuit professor, Stengal, said that God permits illness
because of His wish to glorify Himself through the miracles wrought by
the church, and His desire to test the faith of men by letting them
choose between the holy aid of the church and the illicit resort to
medicine.
There was another reason for the antagonism of the church to
physicians; the physicians in this case were inside the church. The
monks converted medicine to the basest uses. In connection with the
authority of the church, it was employed for extorting money from the
sick. They knew little or nothing about medicine, so used charms,
amulets, and relics in healing. The ignorance and cupidity of the
monks led the Lateran Council, under the pontificate of Calixtus II,
in 1123, to forbid priests and monks to attend the sick otherwise than
as ministers of religion. It had little or no effect, so that Innocent
II, in a council at Rheims in 1131, enforced the decree prohibiting
the monks frequenting schools of medicine, and directing them to
confine their practice to their own monasteries. They still disobeyed,
and a Lateran Council in 1139 threatened all who neglected its orders
with the severest penalties and suspension from the exercise of all
ecclesiastical functions; such practices were denounced as a neglect
of the sacred objects of their profession in exchange for ungodly
lucre. When the priests found that they could no longer confine the
practice of medicine to themselves, it was stigmatized and denounced.
At the Council of Tours in 1163, Alexander III maintained that through
medicine the devil tried to seduce the priesthood, and threatened with
excommunication any ecclesiastic who studied medicine. In 1215,
Innocent III fulminated an anathema against surgery and any priest
practising it. Even this was not effectual.[17]
What we see in connection with dissection and surgery and medicine was
repeated at a later date with inoculation, vaccination, and
anæsthetics. There were the same objections by the church on
theological grounds, the same stubborn battle, and the same
inevitable defeat of the theological position.
So long as disease was attributed to a demoniacal cause, so long did
exorcisms and other miraculous cures continue, and so far as these
cures were efficacious, they must be classed as mental healing.
Probably they continued longer in insanity and mental derangement on
account of the beneficent and soothing effect of religion upon a
diseased mind. Priestly cures of all kinds were largely, if not
wholly, suggestive, and no history of mental healing would be complete
without a résumé of ecclesiastical therapeutics. Many vagaries of
healing which the church introduced might be mentioned to show to what
extent the people may be misled in the name of religion. For example,
the doctrine of signatures, to be later discussed, was disseminated by
priests and monks, and if these medicines were ever effective it must
have been by mental means.
The demon theory of disease, which began before the age of history,
and continued down through the savage ages and religions, through the
early civilizations, through the gospel history, and dominated early
Christianity, was finally, in the sixteenth century, to be vigorously
assailed and largely overcome. The cost of this was considerable;
attached as it was to the Christian church, it seemed necessary to
destroy the whole Christian fabric in order to unravel this one
thread. Atheism, therefore, was rampant, and science and atheism
became almost synonymous, and continued so until the church freed
science from its centuries of bondage and allowed it to develop so as
to be again in these days a co-laborer.
In pleasing contrast to the destructive and deterrent efforts of the
church against the development of medicine is the helpful care of the
sick exercised by Christians. The example of Jesus as shown by his
tender sympathy, his helpful acts, and his instruction to his
followers, bore fruit in the relief and care of sufferers by
individuals and religious asylums. About the year 1000 and later, the
infirmaries which were attached to numerous monasteries, and the
_hospitia_ along the routes of travel which opened their doors to sick
pilgrims, were but the development of a less portentous attempt on the
part of individuals and societies to care for the sick. The Knights of
St. John, or the Hospitalers as they were called, assumed as their
special duty the nursing and doctoring of those in need of such
attention, especially of sick and infirm pilgrims and crusaders.
Hospitals for the sick, orphanages for foundlings, and great
institutions for the proper care of paupers developed with immense
strides, and during the twelfth century expanded into gigantic
proportions. In the ensuing age, the mediæval mind was fired with a
faith in the efficacy of unstinted charity; members of society, from
holy pontiff to the humblest recluse by the wayside, rivalled each
other in gratuities of clothing and food, founding of hospitals, and
endowment of beneficent public institutions. St. Louis's highest claim
to pious glory arose from his restless and unstinted charities to the
indigent and sick. Even the lepers, which were shunned or segregated,
were treated by Christian institutions; and saints and saintesses
found pious expression for their humility in personal attendance and
even loving embraces of these unsightly beings covered with repulsive
sores. For the last millennium there has not been a time when
Christian love and benevolence have not sought the opportunity of
ministering to the sick.
One can easily recognize the effect which this fact would have on
mental healing. The church fostered the ideas of exorcism and the
cures by relics and shrines, and deprecated the use of medicine. If
the hospitals and infirmaries were almost wholly in the hands of the
monks and churchmen, there was little hope for the development of
other than ecclesiastical mental healing. The untold good which
Christian ministrations to the sick accomplished must be acknowledged,
but it was not an unmixed benefit to the race as a whole.
We may more easily see, perhaps, the connection between the church and
the development of medicine, and the despotic power of the church in
this regard, when we remember that physicians were formerly a part of
the clergy, and it was not until 1542 that the papal legate in France
gave them permission to marry. In 1552 the doctors in law obtained
like permission. An early priestly physician has survived to fame by
the name of Elpideus, sometimes confused with Elpidius Rusticus. He
was both a deacon of the church and a skilled surgeon, and was very
favorably mentioned by St. Ennodius as a person of fine culture. He
was sufficiently dexterous and skilful to heal the Gothic ruler,
Theodoric, of a grievous illness.[18] Salverte gives us additional
examples: "Richard Fitz-Nigel, who died Bishop of London, in 1198, had
been apothecary to Henry II. The celebrated Roger Bacon, who
flourished in the thirteenth century, although a monk, yet practised
medicine. Nicolas de Farnham, a physician to Henry III, was created
Bishop of Durham; and many doctors of medicine were at various times
elevated to ecclesiastical dignities."[19]
The grip of the church accomplished its purpose, and science,
especially the science of medicine, was strangled, almost to the
death. Even the people of the time recognized the shortcomings of the
physicians. Henricus Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), writing in 1530,
said with pleasant irony that physic was "a certaine Arte of
manslaughter," and that "well neare alwaies there is more daunger in
the Physition and the Medicine than in the sicknesse itselfe." He also
gives the following picture of a fashionable doctor of his time: "Clad
in brave apparaile, having ringes on his fingers glimmeringe with
pretious stoanes, and which hath gotten fame and credence for having
been in farre countries, or having an obstinate manner of vaunting
with stiffe lies that he hath great remedies, and for having
continually in his mouth many wordes halfe Greeke and barbarous....
But this will prove to be true, that Physitians moste commonlye be
naught. They have one common honour with the hangman, that is to saye,
to kill menne and to be recompensed therefore."[20]
[3] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science with
Theology_, II, p. 113.
[4] E. Salverte, _Philosophy of Magic_ (trans.
Thompson), II, p. 94.
[5] W. E. H. Lecky, _History of European Morals_, I, p.
378.
[6] _Ibid._, I, p. 383.
[7] _Réponse a l'histoire des oracles_, p. 296.
[8] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science with
Theology_, II, p. 101.
[9] H. T. Buckle, _History of Civilization in England_,
II, p. 270.
[10] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, p. 201.
[11] For a full discussion of this subject, see A. D.
White, _History of the Warfare of Science with
Theology_, II, pp. 97-134.
[12] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science
with Theology_, II, p. 128.
[13] Nash, _Life of Lord Westbury_, II, p. 78.
[14] Cockayne, _Leechdoms, Wort-cunning, and Star-craft
of Early England_, II, p. 177.
[15] M. H. Dziewicki, "Exorcizo Te," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXIV, p. 580.
[16] For a full discussion of this subject, see A. D.
White, _History of the Warfare of Science with
Theology_, II, pp. 1-167.
[17] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with the
History and Practice of Surgery and Medicine_, pp. 51 f.
[18] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, pp. 142 f.
[19] E. Salverte, _Philosophy of Magic_ (trans.
Thompson), II, p. 96.
[20] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 151.
For further references to the effect of demonism, see J.
F. Nevius, _Demon Possession and Allied Themes_; J. M.
Peebles, _The Demonism of the Ages and Spirit
Obsessions_; articles on "Demon," "Demonism,"
"Demoniacal Possession," and "Devil," in the _Catholic
Encyclopedia_, the _New International Encyclopedia_, and
the _Encyclopedia Britannica_.
CHAPTER IV
RELICS AND SHRINES
"A fouth o' auld knick-knackets,
Rusty airn caps and jinglin' jackets,
Wad haud the Lothians three, in tackets,
A towmond guid;
An' parritch pats, and auld saut backets,
Afore the flood."--BURNS.
"For to that holy wood is consecrate
A virtuous well, about whose flowery banks
The nimble-footed fairies dance their rounds
By the pale moonshine, dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, so to make them free
From dying flesh and dull mortality."--FLETCHER.
"Ne was ther such another pardoner,
For in his male he hadde a pilwebeer,
Which that he saide was oure lady veyl;
He seide, he hadde a gobet of the seyl
That seynt Peter hadde, whan that he wente
Uppon the see, til Jhesu Crist him pente.
He hadde a cros of latoun ful of stones,
And in a glas he hadde pigges bones.
But with these reliques, whanne that he fond
A poure persoun dwelling uppon lond,
Upon a day he gat him more moneye
Than that the persoun gat in monthes tweye.
And thus with feyned flaterie and japes,
He made the persoun and the people his apes."--CHAUCER.
A wide-spread movement developed in the early church as a result of
which innumerable miracles of healing were credited to the power of
saints, indirectly through the medium of streams and pools of water
which were reputed to have some connection with a particular saint,
or through the efficacy still clinging to the relics of holy persons.
On account of the growth of the belief in demonism in the Christian
church, and the need of supernatural means to counteract diabolic
diseases, saintly relics came into common use for this purpose, and
afterward when demonism was not so thoroughly credited as the cause of
diseases, relics were still considered to hold their power over
physical infirmities. In addition to this, the missionary efforts and
successes of the church had some influence in establishing and
continuing cures by relics and similar means. The missionaries found
that their converts had formerly employed various amulets and charms
for the healing of diseases, and that they continued to have great
faith in them for that purpose. To wean them from their heathen
customs, Christian amulets and charms had to be substituted, or, as
was sometimes the case, the heathen fetich was continued, but with a
Christian significance.
The early Scandinavians carried effigies carved out of gold or silver
as safeguards against disease, or applied those made out of certain
other materials, as the mandragora root or linen or wood, to the
diseased part as a cure of physical infirmities. Some of these images
were carried over into Christianity, for in Charlemagne's time,
headache was frequently cured by following the saintly recommendation
to shape the figure of a head and place it on a cross. Fort tells us
that "The introduction of Christianity among the Teutonic races
offered no hindrance to a perpetuation, under new forms, of those
social observances with which Norse temple idolatry was so intimately
associated. Offering to proselytes an unlimited number of demoniacal
æons, similar in individuality and prowess to those peopling the
invisible universe, Northern mythology readily united with Christian
demonology."[21]
The relics of the saints came to be the favorite substitute for the
heathen charms. With the acceptance of the demoniacal cause of
disease, exorcism by relics gradually grew in importance until it was
firmly established and a preferred form in the sixth and subsequent
centuries. Down to this time there still existed a feeble recognition
of a possible system adapted to the cure of maladies, so far, perhaps,
as the practice was restricted to municipalities. The rapid
advancement of saintly remedies, consecrated oils, and other puissant
articles of ecclesiastical appliance, enabled and encouraged numerous
churchmen to exercise the Æsculapian art; this, together with the ban
put upon physicians and scientific means, soon gave the church the
monopoly of healing. Perhaps the most thorough attestation of the
contempt into which physicians had fallen, compared with saintly
medicists, is the fact that cures were invariably attempted after
earthly medicine had been exhausted.[22]
Islam, Buddhism, and other religions have their shrines where some
pilgrims are undoubtedly cured, but Christianity seems to have had the
most varied and numerous collection. As early as the latter part of
the fourth century miraculous powers were ascribed to the images of
Jesus and the saints which adorned the walls of most of the churches
of the time, and tales of wonderful cures were related of them. The
intercessions of saints were invoked, and their relics began to work
miracles.[23]
St. Cyril, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and others of the early church
fathers of note maintained that the relics of the saints had great
efficacy in the cure of diseases. St. Augustine tells us: "Besides
many other miracles, that Gamaliel in a dream revealed to a priest
named Lacianus the place where the bones of St. Stephen were buried;
that those bones being thus discovered, were brought to Hippo, the
diocese of which St. Augustine was bishop; that they raised five
persons to life; and that, although only a portion of the miraculous
cures they effected had been registered, the certificates drawn up in
two years in the diocese, and by the orders of the saint, were nearly
seventy. In the adjoining diocese of Calama they were incomparably
more numerous."[24] This great and intellectual man also mentions and
evidently credits the story that some innkeeper of his time put a drug
into cheese which changed travellers who partook of it into domestic
animals, and he further asserts after a personal test that peacock's
flesh will not decay.
St. Ambrose declared that "the precepts of medicine are contrary to
celestial science, watching, and prayer." When the conflict between
St. Ambrose and the Arian Empress Justina was at its height, the
former declared that it had been revealed to him that relics were
buried in a certain spot which he indicated. When the earth was
removed, there was exposed a tomb filled with blood, and containing
two gigantic skeletons with their heads severed from their bodies.
These were pronounced to be the remains of St. Gervasius and St.
Protasius, two martyrs of gigantic physical proportions, who were said
to have been beheaded about three centuries before. To prove beyond
doubt the genuineness of these relics, a blind man was restored to
sight by coming in contact with them, and demoniacs were also cured
thereby. Before being exorcised, however, the demons, who were
supposed to have supernatural and indubitable knowledge, declared that
the relics were genuine; that St. Ambrose was the deadly enemy of
hell; that the doctrine of the Trinity was true; and that those who
rejected it would certainly be damned. To be sure that the testimony
of the demons should have its proper weight in the controversy, on the
following day St. Ambrose delivered an invective against all who
questioned the miracle.[25]
Late researches concerning the Catacombs of Rome have thrown much
light upon the early use of relics. The former opinion of the
Catacombs was that they were used for secret worship by the persecuted
Christians, but now we know that they were burial-places under the
protection of Roman law, with entrances opening on the public roads.
Their chapels and altars were for memorial and communion services.
Great reverence was felt for the bodies of all Christians, so that for
the first seven centuries the bodies were not disturbed, and relics,
in the modern sense of the word, were unknown. People prayed at the
tombs, or if they wished to take something away, they touched the tomb
with a handkerchief, or else they took some oil from the lamps which
marked the tombs. These mementos were regarded as true relics, so that
when the Lombard Queen, Theodelinda, sent the abbot John for relics to
put in her cathedral at Monza, he came back with over seventy little
vials of oil, each with the name of the saint from whose tomb the oil
was procured, and many of them are still preserved.
The oil from altar lamps was of therapeutic value, as St. Chrysostom
tells us in speaking of the superiority of the church over ordinary
houses. "For what is here," he asks, "that is not great and awful?
Thus both this Table [the altar] is far more precious and delightful
than that [any table at home], and this lamp than that; and this they
know, as many as have put away diseases by anointing themselves with
oil in faith and due season." If the body of a saint lay beneath the
altar, the oil was then known as the "Oil of the Saints," and was even
more efficacious for healing. Notice the following quotations on the
subject taken from Dearmer's work.
"Far more common are stories of healing by oil from a
lamp burnt in honor of Christ or the saints. The
following examples are from the East. The wounded hand
of a Saracen was healed by oil from a lamp before the
icon of St. George."
"St. Cyrus and St. John appeared to a person suffering
from gout, and bade him take a little oil in a small
ampulla from the lamp that burnt before the image of
the Saviour, in the great tetrapyle at Alexandria, and
anoint his feet with it."
"Similar stories are found in Western writers. Thus
Nicetius of Lyons, by means of the oil of the lamp
which burnt daily at his sepulchre, restored sight to
the blind, drove demons from bodies possessed, restored
soundness to shrunken limbs," etc.
"An epileptic was cured by oil from the lamp that burnt
night and day at the tomb of St. Severin."
"It was revealed to a blind woman, that oil from the
lamp of St. Geneviève would restore her sight, if the
warden of the church were to anoint her with it. A week
after she brought a blind man, who was healed in the
same manner."[26]
At the time of Gregory of Tours, application was made of sainted
reliquaries as a remedy against the devil and his demons. Gregory
narrates the miraculous efficacy of a small pellet of wax, taken from
the tomb of St. Martin, in extinguishing an incendiary fire started by
his Satanic majesty, which was instigated by malicious envy, because
this omnipotent talisman was in the custody of an ecclesiastic! This
Turonese bishop records many instances of cures being effected at
Martin's tomb. He himself was relieved of severe pains in the head by
touching the disordered spot with the sombre pall of St. Martin's
sepulchre. This remedy was applied on three different occasions with
equal success. Once he was cured of an attack of mortal dysentery by
simply dissolving into a glass of water a pinch of dust scraped from
the tomb of St. Martin and drinking the strange concoction. At another
time, his tongue having become swollen and tumefied, it was restored
to its natural size and condition by licking the railing of the tomb
of this saint. He knew of others who had been equally successful. An
archdeacon, named Leonastes had sight restored to his blind eyes at
the tomb of St. Martin, but unfortunately the fact that he later
applied to an Israelitish physician caused his infirmity to return.
Even a toothache was cured by St. Martin's relics.
The following is an apostrophe to the relics of St. Martin by Bishop
Gregory: "Oh ineffable theriac! ineffable pigment! admirable antidote!
celestial purge! superior to all drugs of the faculty! sweeter than
aromatics! stronger than unguents together; thou cleanest the stomach
like scammony, the lungs like hyssop, thou purgest the head like
pyre-thrig!"[27]
From the end of the fifth century the exercise of the medical art was
almost exclusively appropriated by cloisters and monasteries, whose
occupants boldly vended the miraculous remedial properties of relics,
chrism, baptismal fluids, holy oil, rosy crosses, etc., as of
unquestioned virtue. In these early days living saints seem to have
rivalled dead ones in their power over diseases, but of these we shall
speak in a later chapter.
A renewed interest sprang up when pilgrims began to return from their
journeys to Palestine, bringing with them, as was natural, some
souvenirs of their sojourn. A most interesting quotation from Mackay
reveals the condition of these times. "The first pilgrims to the Holy
Land brought back to Europe thousands of apocryphal relics, in the
purchase of which they had expended all their store. The greatest
favorite was the wood of the true cross, which, like the oil of the
widow, never diminished. It is generally asserted, in the traditions
of the Romish Church, that the Empress Helen, the mother of
Constantine the Great, first discovered the veritable '_true cross_'
in her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Emperor Theodosius made a present
of the greater part of it to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, by whom it
was studded with precious stones and deposited in the principal church
of that city. It was carried away by the Huns, by whom it was burnt,
after they had extracted the valuable jewels it contained. Fragments,
purporting to have been cut from it, were, in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, to be found in almost every church in Europe, and would, if
collected together in one place, have been almost sufficient to have
built a cathedral. Happy was the sinner who could get a sight of one
of them; happier he who possessed one! To obtain them the greatest
dangers were cheerfully braved. They were thought to preserve from all
evils and to cure the most inveterate diseases. Annual pilgrimages
were made to the shrines that contained them and considerable revenues
collected from the devotees.
"Next in renown were those precious relics, the tears of the Saviour.
By whom and in what manner they were preserved, the pilgrim did not
enquire. Their genuineness was vouched by the Christians of the Holy
Land, and that was sufficient. Tears of the Virgin Mary, and tears of
St. Peter, were also to be had, carefully enclosed in little caskets,
which the pious might wear in their bosoms. After the tears, the next
most precious relics were drops of the blood of Jesus and the martyrs,
and the milk of the Virgin Mary. Hair and toe-nails were also in great
repute, and were sold at extravagant prices. Thousands of pilgrims
annually visited Palestine in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to
purchase pretended relics for the home market. The majority of them
had no other means of subsistence than the profits thus obtained. Many
a nail, cut from the filthy foot of some unscrupulous ecclesiastic,
was sold at a diamond's price, within six months after its severance
from its parent toe, upon the supposition that it had once belonged to
a saint or an apostle. Peter's toes were uncommonly prolific, for
there were nails enough in Europe, at the time of the Council of
Clermont, to have filled a sack, all of which were devoutly believed
to have grown on the sacred feet of that great apostle. Some of them
are still shown in the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The pious come
from a distance of a hundred German miles to feast their eyes upon
them."[28]
While some of these relics enumerated by Mackay seem to be such
apparent frauds that none could credit them, they were surpassed in
audacity by one offered for sale at a monastery in Jerusalem. Here
was presented to the prospective buyers one of the fingers of the Holy
Ghost.[29]
In addition to the popular relics already noted, an extensive and
lucrative trade was carried on in iron filings from the chains with
which, it was claimed, Peter and Paul were bound. These filings were
deemed by Pope Gregory I as efficacious in healing as were the bones
of saints or martyrs.[30]
[Illustration: CURE THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF A HEALING SAINT]
As an example of healing at shrines in early days, I will reproduce
Bede's description of a cure effected at the tomb of St. Cuthbert in
698. "There was in that same monastery a brother whose name was
Bethwegan, who had for a considerable time waited upon the guests of
the house, and is still living, having the testimony of all the
brothers and strangers resorting thither, of being a man of much piety
and religion, and serving the office put upon him only for the sake of
the heavenly reward. This man, having on a certain day washed the
mantels or garments which he used in the hospital, in the sea, was
returning home, when on a sudden about halfway, he was seized with a
sudden distemper in his body, insomuch that he fell down, and having
lain some time, he could scarcely rise again. When at last he got up,
he felt one-half of his body from the head to the foot, struck with
palsy, and with much difficulty he got home with the help of a staff.
The distemper increased by degrees, and as night approached became
still worse, so that when day returned, he could not rise or walk
alone. In this weak condition, a good thought came into his mind,
which was to go to church, the best way he could, to the tomb of the
reverend Father Cuthbert, and there on his knees, to beg of the Divine
Goodness either to be delivered from that disease, if it were for his
good, or if the Divine Providence had ordained him longer to lie under
the same for his punishment, that he might bear the pain with patience
and a composed mind. He did accordingly, and supporting his weak limbs
with a staff, entered the church, and prostrating himself before the
body of the man of God, he with pious earnestness, prayed, that
through his intercession, our Lord might be propitious to him. In the
midst of his prayers he fell as it were, into a stupor, and as he was
afterwards wont to relate, felt a large and broad hand touch his head
where the pain lay, and by that touch all the part of his body which
had been affected with the distemper, was delivered from the weakness,
and restored to health down to his feet. He then awoke, and rose up in
perfect health, and returning thanks to God for his recovery, told the
brothers what had happened to him; and to the joy of them all,
returned the more zealously, as if chastened by his affliction, to
the service which he was wont before so carefully to perform. The very
garments which had been on Cuthbert's body, dedicated to God, either
while living, or after he was dead, were not exempt from the virtue of
performing cures, as may be seen in the book of his life and miracles,
by such as shall read it."[31] It should be noticed that in this
account God alone seemed to have been the healer.
Nearly every country had its long list of saints, each with his
special power over some organ or disease. This saintly power, however,
was not applied directly, but through their relics or through shrines
consecrated to them. Melton, in his _Astrologaster_, says: "The saints
of the Romanists have usurped the place of the zodiacal constellations
in their governance of the parts of man's body, and that 'for every
limbe they have a saint.' Thus St. Otilia keepes the head instead of
Aries; St. Blasius is appointed to governe the necke instead of
Taurus; St. Lawrence keepes the backe and shoulders instead of Gemini,
Cancer, and Leo; St. Erasmus rules the belly with the entrayles, in
the place of Libra and Scorpius; in the stead of Sagittarius,
Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, the holy church of Rome hath
elected St. Burgarde, St. Rochus, St. Quirinus, St. John, and many
others, which governe the thighes, feet, shinnes, and knees."
But the influence of the saints is distributed more minutely, as
_e. g._, "_Right Hand_: the top joint of the thumb is dedicated to God,
the second joint to the Virgin; the top joint of the fore-finger to
St. Barnabas, the second joint to St. John, and the third to St. Paul;
the top joint of the second finger to Simon Cleophas, the second joint
to Tathideo, the third to Joseph; the top joint of the third finger to
Zaccheus, the second to Stephen, the third to the evangelist Luke; the
top joint of the little finger to Leatus, the second to Mark, the
third to Nicodemus." Thus the body was cared for.
Pettigrew makes the following enumeration which shows the division of
labor among the saints in the Middle Ages. In this, not the different
portions of the body but the various diseases and infirmities are
distributed.
"The following list, though doubtless very imperfect, will yet serve to
show how general was the appropriation of particular diseases to the
Roman Catholic saints:
St. Agatha, against sore breasts.
St. Agnan and St. Tignan, against scald head.
St. Anthony, against inflammations.
St. Apollonia, against toothache.
St. Avertin, against lunacy.
St. Benedict, against the stone, and also for poisons.
St. Blaise, against the quinsey, bones sticking in the throat, etc.
St. Christopher and St. Mark, against sudden death.
St. Clara, against sore eyes.
St. Erasmus, against the colic.
St. Eutrope, against dropsy.
St. Genow and St. Maur, against the gout.
St. Germanus, against diseases of children.
St. Giles and St. Hyacinth, against sterility.
St. Herbert, against hydrophobia.
St. Job and St. Fiage, against syphilis.
St. John, against epilepsy and poison.
St. Lawrence, against diseases of the back and shoulders.
St. Liberius, against the stone and fistula.
St. Maine, against the scab.
St. Margaret and St. Edine, against danger in parturition.
St. Martin, against the itch.
St. Marus, against palsy and convulsions.
St. Otilia and St. Juliana, against sore eyes and
the headache.
St. Pernel, against the ague.
St. Petronilla, St. Apollonia, and St. Lucy, against the toothache.
----, and St. Genevieve, against fevers.
St. Phaire, against hemorrhoids.
St. Quintan, against coughs.
St. Rochus, and St. Sebastian, against the plague.
St. Romanus, against demoniacal possession.
St. Ruffin, against madness.
St. Sigismund, against fevers and agues.
St. Valentine, against epilepsy.
St. Venise, against chlorosis.
St. Vitus, against madness and poisons.
St. Wallia and St. Wallery, against the stone.
St. Wolfgang, against lameness."[32]
Wax from the tapers illuminating the altar which enclosed St. Gall's
mortal remains was an instantaneous cure for toothache, diseased eyes,
and total deafness; a vase used by the martyred Willabrod for bathing
thrice a year, still holding its partially solidified water by divine
invocation after her death, had great remedial energy in diverse
ailments; the water in which the ring of St. Remigius was immersed
cured certain obstinate fevers; and the wine in which the bones of the
saints were washed restored imbeciles to instant health. In the
thirteenth century, hairs of saints, especially of St. Boniface, were
used as a purge, and a single hair from the beard of St. Vincent,
placed about the neck of an idiot, restored normal mental operations.
With the water in which St. Sulpicius washed her hands aggravated
infirmities were instantly cured; and in the twelfth century, an
invalid being advised in a dream to drink the water in which St.
Bernard washed his hands, the Abbot of Clairvaux went to him, gave him
the wash water, and healed an incurable disease. Flowers reposing on
the tomb of a saint, when steeped in water, were supposed to be
especially efficacious in various diseases, and those blooming in
aromatic beauty at the tomb of St. Bernard instantly cured grievous
sicknesses.[33] The belt of St. Guthlac, and the belt of St. Thomas
of Lancaster, were sovereign remedies for the headache, whilst the
penknife and boots of Archbishop Becket, and a piece of his shirt,
were found most admirably to aid parturition. Fragments of the veil of
the saintess Coleta, and the use of her well-worn cloak, immediately
cured a terrible luxation, and a cataleptic patient was restored to
sanity by drinking from her cup.
To show how thoroughly the idea of the efficacy of these relics must
have been indued in the thought of the times, White quotes the
following: "Two lazy beggars, one blind, the other lame, try to avoid
the relics of St. Martin, borne about in procession, so that they may
not be healed and lose their claim to alms. The blind man takes the
lame man on his shoulders to guide him, but they are caught in the
crowd and healed against their will." He also says: "Even as late as
1784 we find certain authorities in Bavaria ordering that anyone
bitten by a mad dog shall at once put up prayers at the shrine of St.
Hubert, and not waste his time in any attempts at medical or surgical
cure."[34]
In addition to what Dr. White says here about the treatment for
threatened hydrophobia in the eighteenth century, we find a curious
mixture of science and superstition in the nineteenth century in
connection with the same trouble. Early in this century physicians
discovered that the most effectual remedy against the bite of a rabid
animal was the cauterization of the wound with a red-hot iron. In
Tuscany, however, the iron which they heated was one of the nails of
the true cross, and in the French provinces it was the key of St.
Hubert. This, though, was only to be used in the hands of those who
could trace their genealogy to this noble saint. At the abbey of St.
Hubert, in the diocese of Liege, the intercession of the saint still
continued to be sufficient to effect a cure, provided it was seconded
by some religious ceremonies, and a diet which would reassure the
patient.
After the discovery of the "true cross," portions of this relic were
much used for aid in any emergency. In addition to sanitary and
healing powers, fragments suspended to a tree manifested the proper
location of sacred edifices. St. Magnus, who seems to have carried
pieces around with him, completely vanquished demons who frequented a
locality selected for a chapel. Eyesight was restored to a humble
merchant seeking the blood-stained marks upon the chapel of this same
St. Magnus. The blind man was feeling his uncertain way to the place,
where these discolorations reappeared more distinctly after each
washing with heavy layers of lime.
St. Louis, almost in the agonies of earthly dissolution, with rigid
body, rigorous limbs, and fluctuating spirit, was brought to full
health by the application to his moribund body of a piece of the true
cross, about the year 1244; and later in the century miracles took
place at his tomb. M. Littré, in his _Fragment de Medecine
Rétrospective_, describes seven miracles which occurred at his tomb,
some of which cures, however, were very gradual. We are also told that
when a humble hunchback bowed the knee in adoration at the tomb of St.
Andreas, his irresistible faith instantly released him from his
unnatural rotundity. In 1243 a Ferrara writer was at Padua, and while
attending vespers at the tomb where the sainted body of the Minorite
Anthony reposed, he affirms that he saw a person who had been mute
from his birth recover his voice and speak audibly.
Saintly remedies were used to cure hemorrhages, readjust luxations,
unite fractures, remove calculi, moderate the agonizing pangs of
parturition, restore vision to the blind, and hearing to the deaf--in
fact, in an endeavor to perform cures which modern medicine and
surgery are counting among their greatest and most recent triumphs.
Some things even more strange were attempted: paradoxical as it may
seem, they were used to cover up crime. Fort tells us that among nuns
and consecrated women in convents, some erring sisters applied the
preventive talismanic influence of a sacred shirt or girdle to
suppress the manifestation of conventual irregularities of a sexual
character. Animals as well as human beings were treated for sickness,
and relics were used to free captive birds and animals. At a banquet,
a costly urn was shattered by ecclesiastics, and through the power of
Odilo it was restored to its original integrity. At the tombs of both
St. Severin and St. Gall, when the light had been quenched, miraculous
fire burst forth to renew the splendor.[35]
The allotment of certain diseases to certain saints did not end with
the Middle Ages. I have in my hand a little manual entitled: _De
l'Invocation miraculeuse des Saints dans les maladies et les besoins
particuliers, par Mme. la Baronne d'Avout_, published in 1884. An
invocation is given for every day in the year to some particular
saint, who is thought to be especially efficacious in the cure of some
specific disease. I shall quote but one for illustration.
"30 MAI
S. HUBERT DE BRÉTIGNY
Près Noyons (Oise).
Honoré au diocèse de Beauvais.
"L'illustre saint Hubert, apôtre des Ardennes, fut son
protecteur et lui donna son nom. Il lui obtint les plus
heureuses dispositions pour la vertu. Lui aussi hérita
du pouvoir de guérir de la rage.
"Les habitants de Noyon et des environs n'ont pas cessé
de recourir à son intercession. Les personnes qui
touchent ses reliques ou portent sur elles son nom béni
espérent échapper pendant leur vie aux atteintes des
démons, de la rage et du tonnerre.
"À Aire, diocèse de Fréjus, on invoque aussi sainte
Quitère contre la rage.
INVOCATION
"Dieu tout-puissant, qui avez formé le coeur de vos
saints avec une admirable bonté, afin qu'ils deviennent
pour nous une source de bienfaits et de consolation;
assistez-nous dans le pressant besoin où nous nous
trouvons et sauvez-nous de la mort, par les prières at
les mérites de saint Hubert de Brétigny, afin que nous
puissions vous louer et vous bénir. Par N.-S. J.-C.
Ainsi soit-il.
"_Saint Hubert, qui préservez de la morsure des bêtes
enragées, ou qui guérissez leur morsures mortelles,
priez pour tous les affligés qui vous invoquent._"
While there was probably some advance when the saints of the church
took the place of the zodiacal constellations in the government of the
human body, the church prevented the development along scientific
lines, although there were many ramifications of saintly influence.
Not the least among these was the healing efficacy of holy wells,
pools, and streams, which had been empowered in some way by the
saints. In some cases the bones of holy men have been buried in
different parts of the continent, and after a certain lapse of time,
water was said to have oozed from them, which soon formed a spring and
cured all the diseases of the faithful.
Perhaps the cure of leprous Naaman by bathing in the Jordan, and the
restoration of the sight of the blind man by washing in the Pool of
Siloam may have served as examples which the credulous were only too
ready to follow. We must also note, however, as a reason for their
use, that in classical times the greater number of thermal waters,
more frequently used then than in the present day, remained
consecrated to the gods, to Apollo, to Æsculapius, and, above all, to
Hercules, who was named Iatricos, or the able physician. At any rate,
many wells and fountains were dedicated to different saints, and
various rites were performed there at Easter and other particular
days, where offerings were also made to the saints.
In Ireland, many such sacred places have been visited by the sick for
centuries, and England and Scotland have them also. Not only in the
British Isles, but in all parts of Europe they were much frequented in
the Middle Ages, and they are not without their visitors to-day. As
late as 1805 the eminent Roman Catholic prelate, Dr. John Milner, gave
a detailed account of a miraculous cure performed at a sacred well in
Flintshire. Gregory of Tours was one of the first to notice the
healing power of springs in connection with the saints. He asserted
that the diseases of the sick and infirm were banished upon the
contact of a few drops of water drawn from a spring dug by St.
Martin's own hands.
From Fosbrooke's _British Monachism_ we learn that "on a spot called
Nell's Point, is a fine well, to which great numbers of women resort
on Holy Thursday, and, having washed their eyes in the spring, they
drop a pin into it. Once a year, at St. Mardrin's well, also, lame
persons went on Corpus Christi evening, to lay some small offering on
the altar, there to lie on the ground all night, drink of the water
there, and on the next morning to take a good draught more of it, and
carry away some of the water each in a bottle at their departure. At
Muswell Hill was formerly a chapel, called our Lady of Muswell, from a
well there, near which was her image; this well was continually
resorted to by way of pilgrimage. At Walsingham, a fine green road was
made for the pilgrims, and there was a holy well and cross adjacent,
at which pilgrims used to kneel while drinking the water. It is
remarkable that the Anglo-Saxon laws had proscribed this as
idolatrous. Such springs were consecrated upon the discovery of cures
effected by them. In fact," Fosbrooke adds, "these consecrated wells
merely imply a knowledge of the properties of mineral waters, but,
through ignorance, a religious appropriation of their properties was
made to supernatural causes."
"Holywell, in the county of Flint," we are informed by Salverte,
"derives its name from the Holy Well of St. Winifred, over which a
chapel was erected by the Stanley family, in the reign of Henry VII.
The well was formerly in high repute as a medicinal spring. Pennant
says that, in his time, Lancashire pilgrims were to be seen in deep
devotion, standing in the waters up to the chin for hours, sending up
prayers, and making a prescribed number of turnings; and this excess
of piety was carried so far, as in several instances to cost the
devotees their lives."[36]
Pennant also tells us of a small spring outside the bathing well at
Whiteford, which was once famed for the cure of weak eyes. The patient
made an offering of a crooked pin, and at the same time repeated some
words. The well still remains, but the efficacy of its waters is lost.
In recounting his tour of Wales, the same author describes the church
of St. Tecla, virgin and martyr, at Llandegla. He says: "About two
hundred yards from the church, in a Quillet called Gwern Degla, rises
a small spring. The water is under the tutelage of the Saint, and to
this day held to be extremely beneficial in the falling sickness. The
patient washes his limbs in the well; makes an offering into it of
four-pence; walks round it three times; and thrice repeats the Lord's
Prayer. These ceremonies are never begun till after sun-set, in order
to inspire the votaries with greater awe. If the afflicted be of the
male sex, like Socrates, he makes an offering of a cock to his
Æsculapius, or rather to Tecla Hygeia; if of the fair sex, a hen. The
fowl is carried in a basket, first round the well; after that into the
church-yard; when the same orisons and the same circum-ambulations are
performed round the church. The votary then enters the church; gets
under the communion table; lies down with the Bible under his or her
head; is covered with the carpet or cloth, and rests there till break
of day; departing after offering sixpence, and leaving the fowl in the
church. If the bird dies, the cure is supposed to have been effected,
and the disease transferred to the devoted victim."[37]
"At Withersden," says Hasted, "is a well, which was once famous, being
called St. Eustache's well, taking its name from Eustachius, Abbot of
Flai, who is mentioned by Matt. Paris, An. 1200, to have been a man of
learning and sanctity, and to have come and preached at Wye, and to
have blessed a fountain there, so that afterwards its waters were
endowed by such miraculous power, that by it all diseases were
cured."[38] Unfortunately, wells do not always benefit the bathers.
Lilly[39] relates that in 1635 Sir George Peckham died in St.
Winifred's Well, "having continued so long mumbling his pater nosters
and Sancta Winifreda ora pro me, that the cold struck into his body,
and after his coming forth of that well he never spoke more."
The people of the Highlands of Scotland regarded fountains with
particular veneration. According to the Statistical Account of
Scotland, the minister of Kirkmichael, Banffshire, said: "The sick who
resort to them for health, address their vows to the presiding powers,
and offer presents to conciliate their favor. These presents generally
consist of a small piece of money, or a few fragrant flowers. The same
reverence in ancient times seems to have been entertained by every
people in Europe." Near Kirkmichael there was a fountain dedicated to
St. Michael, and once celebrated for its cures. "Many a patient have
its waters restored to health, and many more have attested the
efficacy of their virtues. But, as the presiding power is sometimes
capricious, and apt to desert his charge, it now lies neglected,
choked with weeds, unhonored and unfrequented."[40]
The most noted well in Perthshire is in Trinity Gask. Again from the
Statistical Account we quote: "Superstition, aided by the interested
artifices of Popish Priests, raised, in times of ignorance and
bigotry, this well to no small degree of celebrity. It was affirmed
that every person who was baptized with the water of this well would
never be seized with the plague. The extraordinary virtue of Trinity
Gask well has perished with the downfall of superstition."[41]
Pinkerton, in speaking of the river Fillan in Scotland, says: "In this
river is a pool consecrated by the ancient superstition of the
inhabitants of this country. The pool is formed by the eddying of the
stream round a rock. Its waves were many years since consecrated by
Fillan, one of the saints who converted the ancient inhabitants of
Caledonia from paganism to the belief of Christianity. It has ever
since been distinguished by his name, and esteemed of sovereign virtue
in curing madness. About two hundred persons afflicted in this way are
annually brought to try the benefits of its salutary influence. These
patients are conducted by their friends, who first perform the
ceremony of passing with them thrice through a neighbouring cairn: on
this cairn they then deposit a simple offering of clothes, or perhaps
a small bunch of heath. More precious offerings used once to be
brought. The patient is then thrice immerged in the sacred pool. After
the immersion, he is bound hand and foot, and left for the night in a
chapel which stands near. If the maniac is found loose in the morning,
good hopes are conceived of his full recovery. If he is still bound,
his cure remains doubtful. It sometimes happens that death relieves
him, during his confinement, from the troubles of life."
Mrs. Macaulay,[42] speaking of a consecrated well in St. Kilda, called
Tobirnimbuadh, or the spring of diverse virtues, says that "near the
fountain stood an altar, on which the distressed votaries laid down
their oblations. Before they could touch sacred water with any
prospect of success, it was their constant practice to address the
genius of the place with supplication and prayer. No one approached
him with empty hands.... Shells and pebbles, rags of linen or stuffs
worn out, pins, needles, or rusty nails were generally all the tribute
that was paid."
Collinson[43] mentions a well in the parish Wembton, called St. John's
Well, to which in 1464 "an immense concourse of people resorted: and
... many who had for years labored under various bodily diseases, and
had found no benefit from physick and physicians, were, by the use of
these waters (after paying their due offerings), restored to their
primitive health."
Brome, in his _Travels_, 1700, observes: "In Lothien, two miles from
Edinburg southward, is a spring called St. Katherine's Well, flowing
continually with a kind of black fatness, or oil, above the water,
proceeding (as it is thought) from the parret coal, which is frequent
in these parts; 'tis of a marvellous nature, for as the coal, whereof
it proceeds, is very apt quickly to kindle into a flame, so is the
oil of a sudden operation to heal all scabs and tumors that trouble
the outward skin, and the head and hands are speedily healed by virtue
of this oil, which retains a very sweet smell; and at Aberdeen is
another well very efficacious to dissolve the stone, to expel sand
from the reins and bladder, being good for the collick and drunk in
July and August, not inferiour, they report, to the Spaw in
Germany."[44]
Grose tells us of a well dedicated to St. Oswald, between the towns of
Alton and Newton. The neighbors have the opinion that a sick person's
shirt thrown into the well will prognosticate the outcome of the
disease; if it floats the sick one will recover, if it sinks he will
die. To reward the saint for the information, they tear a rag off the
shirt and hang it on the briers near by; "where," says the writer, "I
have seen such numbers as might have made a fayre rheme in a
paper-myll." Similar practices are related by other authors. Ireland
formerly had a sanctified well in nearly every parish. They were
marked by rude crosses and surrounded by fragments of cloth left as
memorials. St. Ronague's Well, near Cork, was very popular at one
time. Near Carrick-on-Suir is the holy well of Tubber Quan, the waters
of which are reputed to have performed many miraculous cures. The
well was dedicated to two patron saints, St. Quan and St. Brogawn.
These saints are supposed to exert a special influence the last three
Sundays in June. "It is firmly believed," says Brand, "that at this
period the two saints appear in the well in the shape of two small
fishes, of the trout kind; and if they do not so appear, that no cure
will take place. The penitents attending on these occasions ascend the
hill barefoot, kneel by the stream and repeat a number of paters and
aves, then enter it, go through the stream three times, at a slow
pace, reciting their prayers. They then go on the gravel walk, and
traverse it round three times on their bare knees, often till the
blood starts in the operation, repeat their prayers, then traverse
three times round a tree on their bare knees, but upon the grass.
Having performed these exercises they cut off locks of their hair and
tie them on the branches of the tree as specifics against headache."
After being three times admonished in a dream, a man washed in St.
Madern's Well in Cornwall and was miraculously cured, so say Bishop
Hall and Father Francis. Ranulf Higden, in his _Polychronicon_,
relates the wonderful cures performed at the holy well at Basingwerk.
The red streaks in the stones surrounding it were symbols of the blood
of St. Wenefride, martyred by Carodoc.
The Scotch considered certain wells to have healing properties in the
month of May. In the Sessions Records (June 12, 1628) it is reported
that a number of persons were brought before the Kirk Sessions of
Falkirk, accused of going to Christ's Well on the Sundays of May to
seek their health, and the whole being found guilty were sentenced to
repent "in linens" three several sabbaths. "In 1657 a number of
persons were publicly rebuked for visiting the well at Airth. The
custom was to leave a piece of money and a napkin at the well, from
which they took a can of water, and were not to speak a word either in
going or returning, nor on any account to spill a drop of the water.
Notwithstanding these proceedings, many are known to have lately
travelled many miles into the Highlands, there to obtain water for the
cure of their sick cattle."[45]
To-day, probably the most efficacious waters are to be found at the
sacred fountain at La Salette and at the holy spring at Lourdes.
We have another specific form of healing which should be noticed. It
was especially common in Eastern churches, and was found to some
extent in the West. I refer to Incubation, or "Temple-sleep." This
practice came down through early civilizations and was an adopted
practice among Christians. The patient went to some church well known
for its cures, which was provided with mattresses or low couches, and
attended by priests and assistants. Devotions being finished he lay
down to sleep. Sometimes he slept immediately, at other times sleep
must be wooed by fast and vigil. At any rate, during the sleep he
dreamed that the saint touched him, or prescribed some remedy, and in
the first case he awoke cured, and in the second the prescribed
medicine brought about the relief.
Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote about 640 as follows:
"Cyrus appeared to the sick man in the form of a monk, not in a dream,
as he appears to many; but in a waking vision, just as he was and is
represented. He told the patient to rise and to plunge into the warm
water. Zosimos said it was impossible for him to move, but when the
order was repeated, he slid like a snake into the bath. When he got
into the water, he saw the saint at his side, but when he came out,
the vision had vanished." Beside the cure of this paralytic at the
church of Cyrus and John, he mentions the cure of many other diseases
by this method of incubation. Among them are dumbness, blindness,
barrenness, possession, scrofula, dyspepsia, a broken leg, deformities
of limbs, lameness, gout, diseases of the eyes, cataract, ulcer, and
dropsy.
Among the churches of Greece and southern Italy incubation is still
common. The climate may have some effect in limiting the area of this
practice. Miss M. Hamilton furnishes us with some modern examples. In
speaking of a new picture of St. George in the church at Arachova, she
says: "It is a votive offering of a Russian, who came a paralytic to
Arachova in July, 1905. He spent several weeks praying and sleeping in
the church, and departed completely cured. The festival of St. George
is held on April 23rd. They have three days of dancing and feasting,
and at night all suppliants bring their rugs and sleep round the
shrines in the church. Every year many of the sick are found to be
cured when morning comes."
The Church of the Evangelestria, our Lady of the Annunciation, is
visited by about forty-five thousand pilgrims every year. It is
situated at Tenos, and Miss Hamilton tells us what she saw during her
visit there in 1906:
"On the morning before Annunciation Day this year, the
pilgrims could be seen making their way to the church.
Among them were cripples, armless, and legless,
half-rolling up the street; blind people groping their
way along; men and women with deformities of every kind;
one or two showing the pallor of death on their faces
were being carried up on litters. These evidently were
coming to Tenos as a last resource, when doctors were of
no avail. Other pilgrims were ascending after their own
fashion, according to vows they had made. One woman
toiled laboriously along on her knees, kissing the
stones of the way, and clasping a silver Madonna and
Child. Last year her daughter had been seized with
epilepsy, and she vowed to carry in this way this
offering to the Madonna of Tenos if she would cure her
daughter. The girl recovered and the other now with
thankful heart was fulfilling her part of the bargain.
"The eve of Annunciation Day is the time when the
Panagia is believed to descend among the sick and work
miraculous cures among them. Then all the patients are
gathered together in the crypt or in the upper church.
The Chapel of the Well is the popular place for
incubation. There is more chance for miraculous cure
there than in the church. The little crypt can
accommodate only a comparatively small number, but they
are packed together as tightly as possible. From the
entrance up to the altar, they lie in two lines of three
or four deep, with a passage down the middle large
enough for only one person. Down the narrow way two
streams of people press the whole evening. They worship
at the shrines along the wall, purchase holy earth from
the spot where the picture was discovered, drink at the
sacred well, and are blessed by the priest at the altar.
The cripples and the sick desiring healing have been
engaged all day in such acts of worship; they have
received bread and water from the priests in the upper
church, paid homage to the all-powerful picture, offered
their candles to the Madonna, and all the time sought to
endue themselves with her presence. Now at night, still
fixing their thoughts upon her, and permeated by this
spirit of worship, they settle down to sleep in order
that she may appear to them in a dream.
"Disappointment, of course, awaits the vast majority,
but on the evening of the vigil all are filled with
hope. They know the precedents of former years, how such
things have happened to some unfortunate people among
the pilgrims every year. Usually eight or nine miracles
take place, and lists of them are published for
distribution....
"The church records contain accounts of the miracles
which now amount to many hundreds. They are practically
all of the type I have described--cure during a vision
while incubation was being practised. For example, the
case of a man from Moldavia is on record. He had become
paralyzed during a night-watch, and the doctor could
effect no relief. He was taken to the Chapel of the
Well, and when asleep he thought he heard a voice
telling him to arise. He awoke, thought it was a dream,
and fell asleep again. A second time he heard a voice,
and saw a white-robed woman of great beauty entering the
church. In his fear he rose and walked about. His
recovery was so complete that he could walk in the
procession round the town the following day."[46]
The medicinal power imputed to the sainted relics and shrines would
naturally be considered very valuable. So it proved. Wealth flowed to
a conventual treasury or a cathedral chapter where were deposited
fragments of the martyred dead endowed with miraculous puissance. When
the Frankish forces sacked Constantinople at the beginning of the
thirteenth century, the principal object of their ferocious cruelties
and vigilant searches was the acquisition of precious relics.
Concerning these relics Fort gives the following account:
"These relics, captured in Constantinople, were divided
by the troops under Marquis de Montfort, with the same
justice as prevailed in the division of other booty. In
this way the Venetians were enabled to enrich their
metropolis with a piece of the sainted cross, an arm of
St. George, part of the head of St. John the Baptist,
the entire skeleton of St. Luke, that of the prophet St.
Simeon, and a small bottle of Jesus Christ's blood. The
Greek capital from the remotest times appears to have
monopolized this traffic in sacred wares, claiming to
possess a fragment of the stone on which Jacob slept,
and the staff transformed into a serpent by Moses.
"Here also were guarded the Holy Virgin's vestments, her
spindle, drops of her milk, the cradle in which the
Saviour had lain, a tooth from his adolescent jaw, a
hair of his beard, a particle of the bread used in the
Last Supper, and a portion of the royal purple worn by
him before Pilate. Naturally clerical adventurers among
the occidental Crusaders, pending the sacking of the
Byzantine city, sought out most zealously these valuable
remnants of pristine glory, and in obtaining them were
by no means scrupulous with menaces and violence. When
scattered through Western Europe, in the monasteries and
other religious places, their curative properties
increased the pilgrimages thither of the sick and
diseased."[47]
He further gives us more in detail[48] an idea of the continual
accumulation of riches which were derived from the exposure of these
relics to the sick and infirm and the consequent growth in wealth of
the monasteries and cathedrals. The monastic system was probably most
responsible for the change from the simple adoration of the early
Christians to the use of relics as a miraculous means of healing.
Those which were transported with elaborate ceremonies, enclosed in a
magnificent stone sarcophagus, and covered by an edifice of imposing
proportions were almost sure to bring to their custodians great
wealth. It is said that when the body of St. Sebastian, which was
legitimately obtained from Rome, together with the purloined remains
of St. Gregory, reached the cloister of Soissons, so great was the
crowd of invalids who were cured, and so generous were they in their
donations, that the monks actually counted eighty measures of money
and one hundred pounds in coin. The great value of such objects may be
calculated when it is remembered that in the year 1056 securities
amounting to ten thousand solidi were pledged for the production of
the relics of St. Just and St. Pastor, consequent upon the legal
decision of ownership between Berenger, a French ruler, and a
Narbonnese archbishop. The Reichberg annals provide a further example.
They state that the emperor demanded certain hostages, or the holy arm
of St. George, as a suitable guarantee for the institution of a public
mart in Germany.
Venetian merchants were among the first to realize the commercial
value of relics, and enjoyed a lucrative traffic in this holy
merchandise. It was not until the eleventh century, however, that the
government of Venice founded public marts or fairs for the commercial
exchange of saintly relics, although Rome and Pavia had long conducted
such enterprises. These fairs were placed under the tutelary
protection of some patron saint, the Venetians, of course, thus
honoring St. Mark. They were not always particular how these relics
were procured, for it is stated that when negotiations for the
exchange of a well-preserved body of St. Tairise proved unsuccessful,
because the Greek monks who possessed it refused absolutely to sell or
barter, these enterprising traders quietly stole the desired skeleton.
Relics provided a suitable method of acquiring ecclesiastical fortunes
for denuded cloisters or impoverished nunneries; and if the old relics
lost their power it was not difficult to procure episcopal assurance
of the miraculous powers of new ones. For the procuring of special
funds the venerated objects were taken from place to place, under
priestly surveillance, presented to the sick and infirm with assurance
of relief, and with the demand for large sums of money.
We can easily understand, then, why such donations were regarded as
most precious presents, and chronicled in the conventual records as
events of high importance. As early as the ninth century, documentary
evidence of authenticity frequently accompanied a gift of relics, and
furnished legal proof of ownership.
The gift of St. Peter's knife to a German monastery by a benevolent
abbot was deemed a most illustrious act. About the same time a noble
pilgrim succeeded, after great importunity and a lavish outlay of
money, in obtaining trifling particles of the relics of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, which he enclosed in a priceless box and donated to
the monastery of St. Gall. This gift was considered the greatest event
of the year, but when it is considered that this and similar presents
insure in the community, where they are deposited uninterrupted peace,
unstinted plenty, absence of catastrophies, and the cure of diseases,
their value is explained.
The commercial aspect of ecclesiastical cures, however, was discovered
by other than priestly or monkish eyes, and different forms began to
be presented. Of these White says: "Very important among these was the
Agnus Dei, or piece of wax from the Paschal candles, stamped with the
figure of a lamb and consecrated by the Pope. In 1471 Pope Paul II
expatiated to the Church on the efficacy of this fetich in preserving
men from fire, shipwreck, tempest, lightning, and hail, as well as in
assisting women in childbirth; and he reserved to himself and his
successors the manufacture of it. Even as late as 1517 Pope Leo X
issued, for a consideration, tickets bearing a cross and the
following inscription: 'This cross measured forty times makes the
height of Christ in his humanity. He who kisses it is preserved for
seven days from falling-sickness, apoplexy, and sudden death.'"[49]
The enormous revenues procured through the means of relics, and the
lack of certain means of identifying them, would naturally encourage
the imposition of fraud. The crime would not appear so great after one
experience, for the perpetrators could readily see that it really made
no difference so far as efficacy in the cure of diseases was
concerned, whether or not the relics were genuine. The history of some
of the relics unfortunately proves them not to be relics at all, or at
least not to be the relics which the faithful supposed them to be.
Notice a few instances. In a magnificent shrine in the cathedral at
Cologne are the skulls of the three kings, or wise men from the East,
who brought gifts to the infant Lord. They have rested here since the
twelfth century and have been the source of enormous wealth and power
to the cathedral chapter. Not to be outdone by the cathedral, for the
church of St. Gereon a cemetery has been depopulated, and the bones
thus procured have been placed upon the walls and are known as the
relics of St. Gereon and his Theband band of martyrs! Further
competition arose in the neighboring church of St. Ursula. Another
cemetery was despoiled and the bones covering the interior of the
walls are known as the relics of St. Ursula and her eleven thousand
virgin martyrs. Anatomists now declare that many of the bones are
those of men, but this made no more difference in their healing
efficacy in the Middle Ages than the fact that the relics of St.
Rosalia at Palermo, famed for their healing power, have lately been
declared by Professor Buckland, the eminent osteologist, to be the
bones of a goat.
Two different investigations have been conducted by the French courts
concerning the fountain of La Salette, and in both cases the miracles
which make the shrine famous were pronounced to be fraudulent. The
recent restoration of the cathedral at Trondhjem has revealed a tube
in the walls, not unlike the apparatus discovered in the Temple of
Isis at Pompeii; the healing power of this sacred spring was augmented
by angelic voices which issued from the supposedly solid walls.[50]
While the golden age of the therapeutic use of relics was from the
sixth to the sixteenth centuries, modern times, with its physicians,
hospitals, and drugs, has not been deprived of this method of cure.
Mackay, writing in the latter half of the past century, touches this
subject.
At Port Royal, in Paris, is kept with great care a thorn, which the
priests of that seminary assert to be one of the identical thorns
that bound the holy head of the Son of God. How it came there, and by
whom it was preserved, has never been explained. This is the famous
thorn which the long dissensions of the Jansenists and the Molenists
have made celebrated, and which worked the miraculous cure upon
Mademoiselle Perier, an account of which is so interesting that I give
it. The cure occurred on March 14, 1646.
"A young pensioner in the monastery, by name Margaret
Perier, who for three years and a half had suffered from
a lachrymal fistula, came up in her turn to kiss it; and
the nun, her mistress, more horrified than ever at the
swelling and deformity of her eye, had a sudden impulse
to touch the sore with the relic, believing that God was
sufficiently able and willing to heal her. She thought
no more of the matter, but the little girl having
retired to her room, perceived a quarter of an hour
after that her disease was cured; and when she told her
companions, it was indeed found that nothing more was to
be seen of it. There was no more tumor; and her eye,
which the swelling (continuous for three years) had
weakened and caused to water, had become as dry, as
healthy, as lively as the other. The spring of the
filthy matter, which every quarter of an hour ran down
from nose, eye, and mouth, and at the very moment before
the miracle had fallen upon her cheek (as she declared
in her deposition), was found to be quite dried up; the
bone, which had been rotted and putrified, was restored
to its former condition; all the stench, proceeding from
it, which had been so insupportable that by order of the
physicians and surgeons she was separated from her
companions, was changed into a breath as sweet as an
infant's; and she recovered at the same moment her sense
of smell....
"Mons. Felix, Chief Surgeon to the King, who had seen
her during the month of April, was curious enough to
return on the 8th of August, and having found the cure
as thorough and marvellous as it had seemed to him at
the time, declared under his hand that 'he was obliged
to confess that God alone had the power to produce an
effect so sudden and extraordinary.'"[51]
Mackay gives the following account of the distribution of relics about
the middle of the nineteenth century: "Europe still swarms with these
religious relics. There is hardly a Roman Catholic Church in Spain,
Portugal, France, or Belgium, without one or more of them. Even the
poorly endowed churches of the villages boast the possession of
miraculous thighbones of the innumerable saints of the Romish
calendar. Aix-la-Chapelle is proud of the veritable _châsse_, or
thighbone of Charlemagne, which cures lameness. Halle has a thighbone
of the Virgin Mary; Spain has seven or eight, all said to be undoubted
relics. Brussels at one time preserved, and perhaps does now, the
teeth of St. Gudule. The faithful who suffered from the toothache, had
only to pray, look at them, and be cured."[52]
The miracles performed at the tomb of the Deacon Paris in the cemetery
of St. Médard are of comparatively recent occurrence, and well
attested. For example, we have the case of "la demoiselle Coirin,"
which, to say the least, is out of the ordinary. "In 1716," says
Dearmer, "this lady, then aged thirty-one, fell from her horse;
paralysis and an ulcer followed; by 1719 the ulcer was in a horrible
condition; in 1720 her mother refused an operation preferring to let
her die in peace. In 1731--after fifteen years of an open breast--she
asked a woman to say a novena at the tomb of François de Paris, to
touch the tomb with her shift, and to bring back some earth. This was
done on August 10th; on the 11th she put on the shift and at once felt
improved; on the 12th she touched the wound with the earth and it at
once began to heal. By the end of August the skin was completely
healed up, and on September 24th she went out of doors."[53]
Among the most noted relics at the present time are the Holy Coat of
Treves,[54] the Winding-sheet of Christ at Besançon, and the Santa
Scala at Rome. The last are said to be the steps which Jesus ascended
and descended when he was brought before Pontius Pilate, and are held
in great veneration. It is sacrilegious to walk upon them; the knees
of the faithful alone must touch them, and that only after they have
reverently kissed them. Cures are still performed by all these relics.
The two shrines at present best known and which have proved most
efficacious are those of Lourdes in France[55] and St. Anne de Beaupré
in the province of Quebec. Lourdes owes its reputed healing power to a
belief in a vision of the Virgin received there during the last
century. Over 300,000 persons visit there every year, and no small
proportion of them return with health restored as a reward for their
faith. At Lourdes and many other shrines bathing forms a part of the
ceremony, and on account of the unsanitary conditions in the former
place, there is some danger that the French Government will cause its
abandonment. Charcot, who established the Salpétrière hospital where
hypnotism was so successfully used, sent fifty or sixty patients to
Lourdes every year. He was firmly convinced of the healing power of
faith. One commendable feature of the management at Lourdes is the
opportunity given for investigation; in fact, this is courted. Most of
the sick bring medical details of their diseases; an examining
committee of medical men examine them after they arrive there and
after the cure. About two hundred and fifty doctors visit there every
year, and the widest opportunity is given to them for examination of
the cases, regardless of their nationality or religious belief or
scepticism. This attitude might well be assumed by these in control of
other shrines or of healing cults.
In America thousands flock to the shrine of St. Anne de Beaupré
annually. Here are to be found bones, supposed to be the wrist bones
of the holy mother of the Virgin, and many sufferers are able to
testify to their value in the healing of various diseases.
On all parts of the Continent there are shrines of more or less renown
as healing centres. In Normandy the springs of Fécamp or Grand-Andely
are much frequented; in Austria, at Mariazell, Styria, the church is
visited by two hundred thousand pilgrims a year, and has been a centre
of healing since 1157; in Italy, the church of S. Maria dell' Arco,
near Naples, has been a local Lourdes for four hundred years, and
here, as at Amalfi, Palermo, and other places, the ancient practice of
incubation is still prevalent. The adherents of the Eastern Church
also have their shrines, and among the visitors to the shrines of
Greece, many pilgrims are rewarded for their faith by being healed.
It is curious to remark the avidity manifested in all ages, and in all
countries, to obtain possession of some relic of any person who had
been much spoken of, if for nothing more than for his crimes.[56]
Snuff-boxes made from Shakespeare's mulberry-tree, twigs from
Napoleon's willow, or bullets from the field of Waterloo have all been
much sought after. Souvenirs of everything and anything are still much
in demand. It is within the last decade that a foreign war-ship
anchored in New York harbor, and after the officers courteously opened
the ship for the inspection of visitors they found that even their
silver toilet articles and plate had been carried away by the relic
maniacs. A United States admiral, rather more facetiously than
patriotically, remarked that "the American people of to-day would
steal anything but a cellarful of water." I suppose the remark, so far
as it applies to the relic-crazed crowd, would be as applicable to any
other people of any other time.
We have a right to ask, in closing this chapter, how it was possible
for men to believe in the power of relics to cure diseases. The
practice seems to have developed from the reasoning that the saints
who helped men while in the imperfections of the flesh, could be of
even more benefit when they were with God in the perfections of the
spiritual life. St. Augustine (426), for example, speaks of comparing
the wonders performed by pagan "deities with our dead men," and that
the miracles wrought by idols "are in no way comparable to the
wonders wrought by our martyrs." Some might agree with this, and yet
find no warrant for using relics. There was, however, the remembrance
of the dead man who was restored to life by contact with the bones of
Elisha, and of the handkerchiefs and aprons which touched Paul's body
and were thereby filled with healing efficacy. Even to-day we do not
fail to recognize the value of the association of places and objects,
and one finds it difficult to enter Westminster Abbey, for instance,
without feeling a thrill on account of the sacred clay reposing there.
When we remember the beginning of the use of relics in the catacombs
we can better understand the development of the practice.
[21] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
p. 201.
[22] _Ibid._, pp. 142 and 156.
[23] G. P. Fisher, _History of the Christian Church_, p. 117.
[24] W. E. H. Lecky, _History of European Morals_, I, pp. 378 f.
[25] _Ibid._, I, p. 379.
[26] P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 268 f.
[27] J. Moses, _Pathological Aspects of Religions_, p. 133.
[28] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, II, pp. 303 f.
[29] J. W. Draper, _History of the Conflict Between Religion and
Science_, p. 270.
[30] J. Moses, _Pathological Aspects of Religions_, pp. 132 f.
[31] Bede, _Ecclesiastical History_, ed. J. A. Giles, bk. IV, chap.
XXXI.
[32] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with the History and
Practice of Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 55-57.
[33] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
pp. 224 f., 273-277, 457.
[34] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science with Theology_,
II, pp. 40 f.
[35] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
p. 273.
[36] E. Salverte, _The Philosophy of Magic_ (trans. Thompson), II, p.
93.
[37] _Tour of Wales_, I, p. 405.
[38] Hasted, _Kent_, III, p. 176.
[39] _History of His Life and Times_, p. 32.
[40] _Statistical Account of Scotland_, VII, p. 213, and XII, p. 464.
[41] _Ibid._, XVIII, p. 487.
[42] C. S. Macaulay, _History of St. Kilda_, p. 95.
[43] _Somersetshire_, III, p. 104.
[44] I am much indebted to J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, pp. 1-17,
for some of the quotations used in the discussion of this subject.
[45] _Superstitions Connected with ... Medicine and Surgery_, pp.
57-61.
[46] I am indebted to P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 278-281,
314-318, for the material on incubation. For fuller study, see L.
Deubner, _De Incubatione_, and M. Hamilton, _Incubation_.
[47] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the Middle Ages_,
p. 227.
[48] _Ibid._, pp. 210-214, 226 f., 278.
[49] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science with Theology_,
II, p. 30.
[50] _Ibid._, II, pp. 21, 29, 43.
[51] P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 374 f.
[52] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, II, p. 304.
[53] P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 105 f.
[54] R. F. Clarke, _The Holy Coat of Treves_.
[55] A. T. Myers and F. W. H. Myers, "Mind Cure, Faith Cure, and the
Miracles at Lourdes," _Proceedings Society Psychical Research_, IX,
pp. 160-409; E. Berdoe, "A Medical View of the Miracles at Lourdes,"
_Nineteenth Century_, October, 1895; J. B. Estrade, _Les apparitions
de Lourdes, Souvenirs intimes d'un témoin_; H. Bernheim, _Suggestive
Therapeutics_, pp. 200-202; A. Imbert-Gourbyzee, _La Stigmatisation,
l'extase divine, et les miracles de Lourdes_, II, chaps. XXI and
XXVII; E. Zola, _Lourdes_.
[56] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, II, p. 306.
CHAPTER V
HEALERS
"This is an art
Which doth mend nature--but
The art itself is nature."--_Winter's Tale._
"Some are molested by Phantasie; so some, again, by
Fancy alone and a good conceit, are as easily
recovered.... All the world knows there is no virtue in
charms, &c., but a strong conceit and opinion alone, as
Pomponatius holds, which forceth a motion of the
humours, spirits, and blood, which takes away the cause
of the malady from the parts affected. The like we may
say of the magical effects, superstitious cures, and
such as are done by montebanks and wizards. As by wicked
incredulity many are hurt (so saith Wierus), we find, in
our experience, by the same means, many are relieved."
In discussing the subject of healers one must keep in mind the fact
that the healers of the first millennium of our era were almost wholly
exorcists, on account of the prevailing theory, and even after that
time exorcism, on the one hand, and the faith in relics and shrines on
the other, formed the principal means of cure. It is therefore
difficult to differentiate the other healers from the exorcists, and
to decide whether certain cures were performed by healers or by
relics.
Another difficulty confronts us. Many authentic cures have probably
been wrought by saints, but unfortunately most of those performed by
them have little contemporary evidence to support them, but rest on
the very shaky testimony of tradition. White,[57] in a keen analysis,
shows how the legends of miraculous cures have grown around great
benefactors of humanity, taking Francis Xavier as a pertinent example.
We must also remember, however, that what are called miracles formed
part of the evidence which led to the canonization of a saint, and a
large number of healing miracles was usually included in the list. The
procedure of the court connected with the canonization was conducted
with the greatest rigor. Sitting as examiners were learned and upright
men from all nations, and the witness must be irreproachable as far as
character was concerned. The two witnesses required for each miracle
must testify concerning the nature of the disease and the cure, and
sign the deposition after it had been read to them. Following that,
the examiners sifted the evidence in a hypercritical way and
emphasized the weak places. Benedict XIV justly said: "The degree of
proof required is the same as that required for a criminal case, since
the cause of religion and piety is that of the commonweal." Some
consideration must be thus given to this testimony, but the value of
it depends on the number of years elapsing after the cures were
performed and the direct connection of the witnesses with the cure in
question.
The craving for the miraculous in bodily cures prejudiced many
historians, especially when the desire to emphasize the importance of
the church was uppermost in the minds of the writers. We can consider,
though, the material at hand, always recognizing that marvellous cures
can be performed when the authority of the physician has all the
weight of an infallible church behind it and the patient is credulous.
We must notice in this connection that the healers up to the time of
the magnetizers depended on religious ceremonies for their efficiency,
with the exception of those who endorsed and propagated "sympathetic
cures."
As we well know, the first healing among Christians was done by Jesus
himself and the apostles; after this for two centuries the exorcists
performed most of the cures. We have accounts of one non-Christian
healer whose cures have probably been handed down to us on account of
his exalted position. Tacitus and Suetonius describe how Vespasian
(9-79) healed in at least two cases. The first was a blind man well
known in Alexandria. In the second case the historians disagree; one
says it was a leg and the other a hand which was diseased and cured.
According to the story, the god Serapis revealed to the patients that
they would be cured by the emperor. Tacitus says that Vespasian did
not believe in his own power and it was only after much persuasion
that he was induced to try the experiment.[58]
The Christians, however, were not to be outdone as healers. Irenæus
(130-202) gives a long list of infirmities which were cured by the
representatives of the church, and in writing, about the year 180,
draws a comparison between them and the heretics. "For they [the
heretics] can neither confer sight on the blind nor hearing on the
deaf, nor chase away all sorts of demons (except those which are sent
into others by themselves--if they can ever do as much as this): nor
can they cure the weak, or the lame, or the paralytic; or those who
are distressed in any other part of the body, as has often been done
in regard to bodily infirmity. Nor can they furnish effective remedies
for those external accidents which may occur. And so far are they from
being able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them (and the
Apostles did by means of prayer, as has been frequently done in the
brotherhood on account of some necessity--the entire church in that
particular locality entreating with much fasting and prayer, the
spirit of the dead man has returned, and he has been bestowed in
answer to the prayers of the saints--) that they do not even believe
that this could possibly be done." He further says: "Others again heal
the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole.
Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and
remained among us for many years."
The great Origen (185-254), writing when he would be certain to have
his words most severely criticised, says, after referring to the
miracles of the apostles: "And there are still preserved among
Christians traces of that Holy Spirit which appeared in the form of a
dove. They expel evil spirits, and perform many cures, and foresee
certain events, according to the will of the Logos." In another of his
works we find the following: "For they [the Jews] have no longer
prophets or miracles, traces of which to a considerable extent are
still found among Christians, and some of them more remarkable than
ever have existed among the Jews; and these we ourselves have
witnessed."
As has already been seen, different methods were used by various
healers, and we must not omit a brief account of healing by unction.
The very definite instructions laid down in the Epistle of James were
evidently strictly carried out in the early church, but the first
definite mention of anointing after that made by Mark and James is
found in the writings of Tertullian (160-220). He speaks of the pagan
emperor Severus being graciously mindful of Christians: "For he sought
out the Christian Proculus, surnamed Torpacion, the steward of
Euhodias, and in gratitude for his having once cured him by
anointing, he kept him in his palace till the day of his death."[59]
If the Christians anointed pagans it is legitimate to suppose that
they also anointed fellow-Christians, and that if this was performed
without special mention about the end of the second century, it must
have been common from the time of James to that period. It is probable
that during the first seven centuries of our era the practice of
praying with the sick and anointing them with oil never ceased. There
may be some objection to our considering the subject of anointing with
oil as purely mental healing, but according to the instructions given
for its use there was scarcely enough oil employed to be of benefit
otherwise, and especially as food. Mental healing, then, is the
rationale of the cures.
Puller[60] gives us three of the earliest incidents of healing by
unction, the original accounts all being written by contemporaries and
friends. Some time between the years 335 and 355, St. Parthenius,
Bishop of Lampsacus, anointed a man who was described as "altogether
withered." The account says: "Then getting up, he gently and gradually
softened the man's body with the holy oil, and straightway made him to
rise up healed." Refinus, a well-known writer and an eye-witness to
this healing, tells of St. Macarius of Alexandria and four monks
restoring, about the year 375, "a man, withered in all his limbs and
especially in his feet." He says: "But when he had been anointed all
over by them with oil in the Name of the Lord, immediately the soles
of his feet were strengthened. And when they said to him, 'In the name
of Jesus Christ ... arise, and stand on thy feet, and return to thy
house,' immediately arising and leaping, he blessed God." Some years
later, Palladius, the friend of St. Chrysostom, writes of another of
St. Macarius's cures which he witnessed: "But at the time that we were
there, there was brought to him from Thessalonica a noble and wealthy
virgin, who during many years had been suffering from paralysis. And
when she had been presented to him, and had been thrown down before
the cell of the blessed man, he, being moved with compassion for her,
with his own hands anointed her during twenty days with holy oil,
pouring out prayers for her to the Lord, and so sent her back cured to
her own city."
The Sacramentary of Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis, Egypt, written about
350, provides for the consecration of bread and water, as well as oil,
for healing; and in a prayer concerning oil and water there contained,
the following words are used: "Grant healing power upon these
creatures, that every fever and every demon and every sickness may
depart through the drinking and the anointing, and that the partaking
of these creatures may be a healing medicine and a medicine of
complete soundness in the Name of the Only begotten, Jesus Christ,"
etc. The Apostolic Constitutions of about 375 contain a prayer of
consecration used over oil and water brought by members of the
congregation, as follows: "Do thou now sanctify this water and this
oil, through Christ, in the name of him that offered or of her that
offered, and give to these things a power of producing health and of
driving away diseases, of putting to flight demons, of dispersing
every snare through Christ our Hope," etc.
About 390, St. Jerome wrote a life of St. Hilarion (291-371) in which
the latter is thus set forth as a healer: "But lo! that parched and
sandy district, after the rain had fallen, unexpectedly produced such
vast numbers of serpents and poisonous animals that many, who were
bitten, would have died at once if they had not run to Hilarion. He
therefore blessed some oil, with which all the husbandmen and
shepherds touched their wounds and found an infallible cure."
Oil was not always employed for anointing, but might be drunk by the
sick, and this use of it was made in healing a girl, by St. Martin of
Tours, about 395. St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre (418-448), when the
physicians were powerless during a plague, blessed some oil and
anointed the swollen jaws of those who were sick, whereupon they
recovered; and St. Genevieve of Paris, who died about 502, used to
heal the sick with oil.
In Bede's biography of St. Cuthbert we find an instance of this saint
healing a girl about the year 687. A young woman was troubled for a
whole year with an intolerable pain in her head and side which the
physicians were unable to relieve. Cuthbert "in pity anointed the
wretched woman with oil. From that time she began to get better, and
was well in a few days."
At the beginning of the eighth century the anointing of the sick began
to decline, largely on account of the changed attitude of the church.
At this time this ceremony began to be used for spiritual ills rather
than for bodily diseases. Before long, anointing was monopolized by
the church for spiritual advantage, and is still so used by the Roman
Catholic Church in the ceremony of Extreme Unction.
In returning to the more direct methods of healing, we find that St.
Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390) confirmed the reports of the marvellous
cures wrought by the martyrs, Cosmo and Damian, who were beheaded in
303. During the life of Gregory of Tours (538-594), the healing
efficacy of the saints' relics was rivalled by the miraculous aid
rendered to the sick by St. Julian. The solitude of the holy anchorite
was interrupted by the persistent and despairing clamor of the sick to
whom he gave health. The great Turonese pontiff also tells us that
one day Aredius, traversing Paris, found Chilperic prostrate with a
grievous fever. The royal sufferer sought the saint's prayers as an
irresistible curative.
The daughter of a Teutonic nobleman was brought to St. Gall (556-640)
seriously ill with an incurable disorder, presenting the livid
appearance of an animated cadaver. The saint approached the
unconscious invalid as she reclined on her mother's knee, and assuming
the bended attitude of invocation by her side, made a fervent prayer
and evoked the demon producing the sickness to instantly depart. The
effort was all that was desired. Shortly after this, about the year
648, St. Vardrille, the founder of Fontanelle, exercised his remedial
potency in healing the palsied arm of a forester whose indiscreet zeal
had induced him to transfix the sainted abbot with a lance.
We have rather a strange case from the beginning of the seventh
century, where the moral and mental element seems to have been strong.
Abbe Eustasius returning from Rome, whither a mission of Clothair II
had called him, was urgently summoned by the sorrowful parent of a
Burgundian maiden, in the last agonies of a frightful malady, to
appear and cure the moribund daughter. On answering the call he found
that the child had in her youth been consecrated by the vows of
chastity, and on account of this shrunk from a marriage sanctioned by
her parents. Eustasius reproached the father for his efforts to
violate the solemn obligations of the virgin, and upon obtaining a
formal renunciation of further attempts to coerce her into matrimony,
the saint, by personal intercession, obtained a complete cure.
It was found that certain remedies in the hands of certain saints were
efficacious, but they did not have the same power if administered by
others. For instance, Franciscus de Paula succored an anchylosed joint
by the energetic surgery of three dried figs which he gave the
suffering patient to eat. Similarly, a maiden grieving under a
cancerous disease which surgical skill had frankly admitted was
incurable, was restored to robust vigor by the administering of some
mild herbs. This savored rather too much of medicine, and other holy
healers used more orthodox means. Hugo the Holy abstracted a serpent
from the infirm body of a woman by the use of holy water, and Coleta,
the saintess, awakened from the dreamless slumber of death more than
one hundred slain infants by the efficacy of a cross.
Even such a serious disorder as leprosy was said to have been healed
by saintly care. St. Martin, who gave special attention to sufferers
with this disease, cured a leper by kissing him, we are told. Toward
the middle of the sixth century, St. Radegonde displayed her faith by
first washing the repulsive sores and afterward applying her pure lips
to them. On one occasion an insolent leper asserted that unless his
putrefying limbs were kissed by this candidate for canonical honors he
could not be cured.[61]
Bede (673-735), the great English historian, in his careful way tells
us of cures performed by St. John of Beverly during the first part of
the eighth century. According to this record, St. John cured a dumb
youth, who had never spoken a word, by the sign of the cross on his
tongue, and he afterward had "ready utterance." He used holy water on
a woman so that, like Peter's wife's mother, she arose and ministered
to them, healed a friend who was injured by being thrown from a horse,
cured a nun of a grievous complaint, and restored a servant, an
account of which I shall give in Bede's words:
"The bishop went in and saw him in a dying condition,
and the coffin by his side, whilst all present were in
tears. He said a prayer, blessed him, and on going out,
as is the usual expression of comforters, said, 'May you
soon recover.' Afterwards when they were sitting at
table, the lad sent to his lord, to desire he would let
him have a cup of wine, because he was thirsty. The
earl, rejoicing that he could drink, sent him a cup of
wine, blessed by the bishop; which, as soon as he had
drunk, he immediately got up, and shaking off his late
infirmity, dressed himself, and going in to the bishop,
saluted him and the other guests, saying, 'He would also
eat and be merry with them.' They ordered him to sit
down with them at the entertainment, rejoicing at his
recovery. He sat down, ate and drank merrily, and
behaved himself like the rest of the company; and living
many years after, continued in the same state of
health."[62]
Skipping a few centuries, we find that Bernard of Clairvaux
(1091-1153), the most prominent figure of the twelfth century,
performed an abundance of cures, as his biographers testify. "The
cures were so many that the witnesses themselves were unable to detail
them all. At Doningen, near Rheinfeld, where the first Sunday of
Advent was spent, Bernard cured, in one day, nine blind persons, ten
who were deaf or dumb, and eighteen lame or paralytic. On the
following Wednesday, at Schaffhausen, the number of miracles
increased."[63] Concerning these cures Morison says: "Thirty-six
miraculous cures in one day would seem to have been the largest
stretch of supernatural power which Bernard permitted to himself. The
halt, the blind, the deaf, and the dumb were brought from all parts to
be touched by Bernard. The patient was presented to him, whereupon he
made the sign of the cross over the part affected, and the cure was
perfect."[64]
The following case in which details are more fully given is of much
interest: "At Toulouse, in the church of St. Saturninus, in which we
were lodged, was a certain regular canon, named John. John had kept
his bed for seven months, and was so reduced that his death was
expected daily. His legs were so shrunken that they were scarcely
larger than a child's arms. He was quite unable to rise to satisfy the
wants of nature. At last his brother canons refused to tolerate his
presence any longer among them, and thrust him out into the
neighbouring village. When the poor creature heard of Bernard's
proximity, he implored to be taken to him. Six men, therefore,
carrying him as he lay in bed, brought him into a room close to that
in which he was lodged. The abbot heard him confess his sins, and
listened to his entreaties to be restored to health. Bernard mentally
prayed to God: 'Behold, O Lord, they seek for a sign, and our words
avail nothing, unless they be confirmed with signs following.' He then
blessed him and left the chamber, and so did we all. In that very hour
the sick man arose from his couch, and running after Bernard, kissed
his feet with a devotion which cannot be imagined by any one who did
not see it. One of the canons, meeting him, nearly fainted with
fright, thinking he saw his ghost."
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), the great founder of the Franciscan
Order, was not less famed for his miracles of healing than for his
Christ-like life and his stigmata. Among those cured were epileptics,
paralytics, and the blind. A typical case of cure by this humble saint
is given to show his method and its results: "Once when Francis the
Saint of God was making a long circuit through various regions to
preach the gospel of God's kingdom he came to a city called
Toscanella. Here ... he was entertained by a knight of that same city
whose only son was a cripple and weak in all his body. Though the
child was of tender years he had passed the age of weaning; but he
still remained in a cradle. The boy's father, seeing the man of God to
be endued with such holiness, humbly fell at his feet and besought him
to heal his son. Francis, deeming himself to be unprofitable and
unworthy of such power and grace, for a long time refused to do it. At
last, conquered by the urgency of the knight's entreaties, after
offering up prayer, he laid his hand on the boy, blessed him, and
lifted him up. And in the sight of all, the boy straightway arose
whole in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and began to walk hither
and thither about the house."[65]
St. Thomas of Hereford (1222-1282) was the last Englishman to be
officially canonized. The extant documents of his canonization record
no less than four hundred and twenty-nine miracles alleged to have
been performed by him. The following case of resurrection from the
dead occurred, however, twenty-one years after his death. I quote the
account in full:
"On the 6th of September, 1303, Roger, aged two years
and three months, the son of Gervase, one of the warders
of Conway Castle, managed to crawl out of bed in the
night and tumble off a bridge, a distance of
twenty-eight feet; he was not discovered till the next
morning, when his mother found him half naked and quite
dead upon a hard stone at the bottom of the ditch, where
there was no water or earth, but simply the rock, which
had been quarried to build the castle. Simon Waterford,
the vicar, who had christened the child, John de Bois,
John Guffe, all sworn witnesses, took their oaths on the
Gospel that they saw and handled the child dead. The
King's Crowners (Stephen Ganny and William Nottingham)
were presently called and went down into the moat. They
found the child's body cold and stiff, and white with
hoar-frost, stark dead, indeed. While the Crowners, as
their office requires, began to write what they had
seen, one John Syward, a near neighbour, came down and
gently handled the child's body all over, and finding it
as dead as ever any, made the sign of the cross upon its
forehead, and earnestly prayed after this manner:
'Blessed St. Thomas Cantelope, you by whom God has
wrought innumerable miracles, show mercy unto this
little infant, and obtain he may return to life again.
If this grace be granted he shall visit your holy
sepulchre and render humble thanks to God and you for
the favor.' No sooner had Syward spoken these words,
than the child began to move his head and right arm a
little, and forthwith life and vigor came back again
into every part of his body. The Crowners, and many
others who were standing by, saw the miracle, and in
that very place, with great admiration, returned humble
thanks to God and St. Thomas for what they had seen. The
mother, now overjoyed, took the child in her arms, and
went that day to hear mass in a church not far off,
where, upon her knees, she recognized with a grateful
heart that she owed the life of her infant to God and
St. Thomas. Her devotion ended, she returned home, and
the child, feeling no pain at all, walked as he was wont
to do up and down the house, though a little scar still
continued in one cheek, which after a few days, quite
vanished away."[66]
St. Catharine of Siena (1347-1380) obtained considerable reputation as
a healer, principally, however, in the line of exorcism; this, though,
meant the cure of any disease. Like St. Paul, she was one of a large
number of saints who healed others but did not cure herself; she died
at the age of thirty-three. A woman was presented to the immaculate
saintess for prompt remedy; by the virtue of divine magic a demon was
forced from each part of her body where he had taken refuge, but
resisting absolute ejectment from this carnal abode, made a desperate
conflict in the throat, where by uninterrupted scratches he reproduced
himself in the form of an abscess.
On another occasion the saint was more successful. Laurentia, a maiden
of youthful years, placed by her father within the sheltering walls of
a cloister, to assume ultimately monastic vows, was quickly captured
by an errant demon. As an irrefutable demonstration of the impure
origin of her infirmity, an annalist asserts, this spirit promptly
answered in elegant Latinity all questions propounded; but the
strongest confirmation of this belief was the miraculous ability which
enabled her to disclose the most secret thoughts of others, and
divulge the mysterious affairs of her associates. St. Catharine at
length liberated the suffering female from her diabolical tenant. More
extraordinary claims are made for her. It is said that she stayed a
plague at Varazze, and healed a throng at Pisa.[67]
Raimondo da Capua, her faithful friend and constant companion, wrote
her biography and gives us different instances of remarkable cures
performed by her. For example, he tells us that Father Matthew of
Cenni, the director of the Hospital of la Misericordia, was stricken
when the plague was raging in Siena in 1373, and of his marvellous
cure.
Perhaps we had better allow him to tell of Catharine's power in his
own words:
"One day on entering, I saw some of the brothers carrying Father
Matthew like a corpse from the chapel to his room; his face was
livid, and his strength was so far gone that he could not answer me
when I spoke to him. 'Last night,' the brothers said, 'about seven
o'clock, while ministering to a dying person, he perceived himself
stricken, and fell at once into extreme weakness.' I helped to put
him on his bed; ... he spoke afterwards, and said that he felt as if
his head was separated into four parts. I sent for Dr. Senso, his
physician; Dr. Senso declared to me that my friend had the plague,
and that every symptom announced the approach of death. 'I fear,'
he said, 'that the House of Mercy (Misericordia) is about to be
deprived of its good director.' I asked if medical art could not
save him. 'We shall see,' replied Senso, 'but I have only a very
faint hope; his blood is too much poisoned.' I withdrew, praying God
to save the life of this good man. Catharine, however, had heard of
the illness of Father Matthew, whom she loved sincerely, and she
lost no time in repairing to him. The moment she entered the room,
she cried, with a cheerful voice, 'Get up, Father Matthew, get up!
This is not a time to be lying idly in bed.' Father Matthew roused
himself, sat up on his bed, and finally stood on his feet. Catharine
retired; and the moment she was leaving the house, I entered it, and
ignorant of what had happened, and believing my friend to be still
at the point of death, my grief urged me to say, 'Will you allow a
person so dear to us, and so useful to others, to die?' She appeared
annoyed at my words, and replied, 'In what terms do you address me?
Am I like God, to deliver a man from death?' But I, beside myself
with sorrow, pleaded, 'Speak in that way to others if you will, but
not to me; for I know your secrets; and I know you obtain from God
whatever you ask in faith.' Then Catharine bowed her head, and
smiled just a little; after a few minutes she lifted up her head and
looked at me full in the face, her countenance radiant with joy, and
said, 'Well, let us take courage; he will not die this time,' and
she passed on. At these words I banished all fear, for I understood
that she had obtained some favor from heaven. I went straight to my
sick friend, whom I found sitting on the side of his bed. 'Do you
know,' he cried, 'what she has done for me?' He then stood up and
narrated joyfully what I have here written. To make the matter more
sure, the table was laid, and Father Matthew seated himself at it
with us; they served him with vegetables and other light food, and
he, who an hour before could not open his mouth, ate with us,
chatting and laughing gaily."
None of Catharine's biographers fail to relate wonderful instances of
her healing power.[68]
Martin Luther (1483-1546), the great leader of the Reformation, and
St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552), the leader of the Counter-Reformation,
were both healers, so it is said. Luther's cure of his friend and
helper, Melanchthon, by prayer for and encouragement of the patient,
is well known. Xavier's miracles were legion, but have been somewhat
discredited by a recent author.[69] I add but one example. "A certain
Tomé Paninguem, a fencing-master, says, I knew Antonio de Miranda, who
was a servant of the Father Francis, and assisted him when saying
Mass. He told me that when going one night on business to Combature,
he was bitten by a venomous serpent. He immediately fell down as
though paralyzed and became speechless. He was found thus lying
unconscious. Informed of the fact, Father Francis ordered Antonio to
be carried to him: and when he was laid down speechless and senseless,
the Father prayed with all those present. The prayer finished, he put
a little saliva with his finger on the bitten place on Antonio's foot,
and at the same moment, Antonio recovered his senses, his memory and
his speech, and felt himself healed. I have since heard details of
this occurrence from the mouths of several eye-witnesses."[70]
If we accept Görres's account,[71] the most remarkable instance of
curative power possessed by a saint is that afforded by St. Sauveur of
Horta (1520-1567). Outside of this one work I have been unable to find
any reference to this saint, so I will give a sketch of his apparently
remarkable life. He was born in Catalonia, and received the first part
of his name from a presentiment of his sponsors that he was to be a
savior of men, and the second part because he entered the monastery at
Horta. A short time after he finished his novitiate, people in some
way got the idea that he had a wonderful gift of healing, and soon
patients came to him in crowds from all parts of the country. He
continued healing for several years. At one time during the feast of
the Annunciation he cured six thousand persons, and at another time he
found ten thousand patients, from viceroy to laborer, waiting for him
at Valencia before the convent of St. Marie de Jesus. Notwithstanding
his apparently great success, his brother monks complained to the
bishop concerning the dirt and disorder caused by the crowds, and
after a reprimand he was sent at midnight to the monastery at Reus,
where he was known as Alphonse and assigned to the kitchen. In spite
of this, crowds continued to come and he was transferred from
monastery to monastery, but always with the same result--the crowd
sought him to be healed. He was known as simple, open, and obedient in
his relations with men, and austere toward himself. He was patient and
resigned, compassionate toward the poor and sick, and full of zeal for
their conversion. The number of patients he is said to have cured is
incredible, and it is even said that he resuscitated three dead
persons. After his death miracles were performed at his tomb. Why he
was not in favor with his superiors and his brother monks is unknown;
his friends say they were jealous; his enemies, that his cures were
not genuine.
St. Philip Neri (1551-1595), the founder of the Oratorians, was
renowned as a healer. He cured Clement VIII of gout by touching and
prayer, a woman of cancer of the breast by the mere touch and
assurance, a man of grievous symptoms such as loss of speech and
internal pain by simply laying on of hands, and many similar and
equally serious cases. The following case was counted nearly equal to
a resurrection: "In 1560 Pietro Vittrici of Parma, being in the
service of Cardinal Boncompagni, afterward Pope Gregory XIII, fell
dangerously ill. He was given up by the physicians, and was supposed
to be as good as dead. In this extremity he was visited by Philip who,
as soon as he entered the sick man's room, began, as was his wont, to
pray for him. He then put his hand on Pietro's forehead, and at the
touch he instantly revived. In two days' time he was out of the house
perfectly well and strong and went about telling people how he had
been cured by Father Philip."[72]
George Fox (1624-1691), the founder of the Quakers, performed some
simple cures of which he himself tells us. The most famous case was
that of the cure of a lame arm by command, the account of which we
take from his pen. He thus records it: "After some time I went to the
meeting at Arnside where Richard Meyer was. Now he had been long lame
of one of his arms; and I was moved by the Lord to say unto him, among
all the people, 'Prophet Meyer stand up upon thy legs' (for he was
sitting down) and he stood up and stretched out his arm that had been
lame a long time, and said: 'Be it known unto all you people that this
day I am healed.' But his parents could hardly believe it, but after
the meeting was done, had him aside and took off his doublet; and then
they saw it was true. He soon after came to Swarthmore meeting, and
there declared how the Lord had healed him. But after this the Lord
commanded him to go to York with a message from him; and he disobeyed
the Lord; and the Lord struck him again, so that he died about
three-quarters of a year after."[73] The cure evidently was not
permanent.
Valentine Greatrakes (1628-1683) was born in Affane, Ireland. He was
the son of an Irish gentleman, had a good education, and was a
Protestant. In 1641, at the outbreak of the Irish rebellion, he fled
to England, and from 1649-1656 he served under Cromwell. In 1661,
after a period of melancholy derangement, he believed that God had
given him power of curing "king's evil" by touching or stroking and
prayer. After some success with this disease, he added to his list
ague, epilepsy, convulsions, paralysis, deafness, ulcers, aches, and
lameness, and for a number of years he devoted three days in every
week, from 6 A. M. to 6 P. M., to the exercise of his healing gifts.
The crowds which thronged around him were so great that the
neighboring towns were not able to accommodate them. He thereupon left
his house in the country and went to Youghal, where sick people, not
only from all parts of Ireland but from England, continued to
congregate in such great numbers that the magistrates were afraid they
would infect the place with their diseases.
In some instances he exorcised demons; in fact, he claimed that all
diseases were caused by evil spirits, and every infirmity was, with
him, a case of diabolic possession. The church endeavored to prohibit
his operations but without avail. He was invited to London, and,
notwithstanding that an exhibition before the nobility failed,
thousands flocked to his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. In the
"Miscellanies" of St. Evremond a graphic sketch is given of his work.
The results of his healing are there summed up as follows:
"So great was the confidence in him, that the blind
fancied they saw the light which they did not see--the
deaf imagined that they heard--the lame that they
walked straight, and the paralytic that they had
recovered the use of their limbs. An idea of health
made the sick forget for a while their maladies; and
imagination, which was not less active in those merely
drawn by curiosity than in the sick, gave a false view
to the one class, from the desire of seeing, as it
operated a false cure on the other from the strong
desire of being healed. Such was the power of the
Irishman over the mind, and such was the influence of
the mind over the body. Nothing was spoken of in London
but his prodigies; and these prodigies were supported
by such great authorities that the bewildered multitude
believed them almost without examination, while more
enlightened people did not dare to reject them from
their own knowledge."
That there were real cures, however, seems most probable. The Bishop
of Dromore testifies thus from his own observation: "I have seen pains
strangely fly before his hands till he had chased them out of the
body; dimness cleared, and deafness cured by his touch. Twenty persons
at several times, in fits of the falling sickness, were in two or
three minutes brought to themselves.... Running sores of the 'King's
evil' were dried up; grievous sores of many months' date in a few days
healed, cancerous knots dissolved, etc." [74]
The celebrated Flamstead, the astronomer, when a lad of nineteen,
went into Ireland to be touched by Greatrakes, and he testifies that
he was an eyewitness of several cures, although he himself was not
benefited. In a letter to Lord Conway, Greatrakes says: "The King's
doctors, this day (for the confirmation of their majesties' belief),
sent three out of the hospital to me, who came on crutches; but,
blessed be God! they all went home well, to the admiration of all
people, as well as the doctors."[75]
Several pamphlets were issued by medical men and others criticising
his work, and in 1666 he published a vindication of himself entitled
"A Brief Account." This contained numerous testimonials by Bishop
Wilkins, Bishop Patrick, Dr. Cudworth, Dr. Whichcote, and others of
distinction and intelligence. After the retirement of Greatrakes, John
Leverett, a gardener, succeeded to the "manual exercise," and declared
that after touching thirty or forty a day, he felt so much goodness go
out of him that he was fatigued as if he had been digging eight roods
of ground.
About the same time that Greatrakes was working among the people of
London, an Italian enthusiast, named Francisco Bagnone, was operating
in Italy with equal success. He had only to touch the sick with his
hands, or sometimes with a relic, to accomplish cures which astonished
the people.
Hardly less famous than Greatrakes was Johann Jacob Gassner
(1727-1779). He was born at Bratz, near Bludenz, and became Roman
Catholic priest at Klösterle. He believed that most diseases were
caused by evil spirits which could be exorcised by conjuration and
prayer. He began practising and soon attracted attention. In 1774 he
received a call from the bishop at Ratisbon to Ellwangen, where by the
mere word of command, "Cesset" (Give over), he cured the lame and
blind, but especially those who were afflicted with epilepsy and
convulsions, and who were thereby supposed to be obsessed. His cures
were not permanent in some cases, and before he died he lost power and
respect.
[57] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science
with Theology_, II, pp. 5-22.
[58] W. E. H. Lecky, _History of European Morals_, I,
pp. 347 f.
[59] P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, pp. 252 f. I am
indebted to this excellent book for my material on the
subject of Unction, as well as for many other quotations
in this chapter.
[60] F. W. Puller, _Anointing of the Sick_, pp. 155-158.
[61] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, gives this and the other incidents just
quoted. See pp. 155, 160, 272, 275, 327.
[62] Bede, _Ecclesiastical History_, bk. V, chap. V.
[63] Quoted by P. Dearmer, _Body and Soul_, p. 359.
[64] J. Cotter Morison, _Life and Times of St. Bernard_,
pp. 422 and 460, for this and the following incident.
[65] Thomas of Celano, _Lives of St. Francis of Assisi_
(trans. A. G. F. Howell).
[66] _Dublin Review_, January, 1876, pp. 8-10.
[67] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, pp. 278 f.
[68] See J. Butler, _Life of St. Catharine of Siena_,
for many examples.
[69] See A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science
with Theology_, already referred to.
[70] Jos. Marie Cros, _St. François de Xavier, Sa vie et
ses lettres_, II, p. 392.
[71] Görres, _La mystique divine naturelle et
diabolique_ (trans. Sainte-foi), I, pp. 470-473.
[72] P. J. Bacci, _Life of St. Philip Neri_ (trans.
Antrobus), II, p. 168.
[73] G. Fox, _Journal_, I, p. 103.
[74] J. Moses, _Pathological Aspects of Religions_, p.
188.
[75] E. Salverte, _The Philosophy of Magic_ (trans.
Thompson), II, p. 81.
CHAPTER VI
TALISMANS
"He had the ring of Gyges, the talisman of invisibility."
--HAMERTON.
"The quack astrologer offers, for five pieces, to give
you home with you a Talisman against Flies; a Sigil to
make you fortunate at gaining; and a Spell that shall as
certainly preserve you from being rob'd for the future;
a sympathetic Powder for violent pains of the
Tooth-ache."--_Character of a Quack Astrologer._
"So far are they distant from the true knowledge of
physic which are ignorant of astrology, that they ought
not rightly to be called physicians, but deceivers; for
it hath been many times experimented and proved that
that which many physicians could not cure or remedy with
their greatest and strongest medicines, the astronomer
hath brought to pass with one simple herb, by observing
the moving of the signs."--FABIAN WITHERS.
In the minds of most persons the terms talisman, amulet, and charm are
synonymous. This may be more or less true as far as they are used
to-day, but in the days when these terms meant something in real life
there was a distinction. The talisman was probably at first an
astronomical figure, but later the term became more comprehensive.
Pope portrays this astrological import in his couplet,
"Of talismans and sigils knew the power,
And carefully watch'd the planetary hour."
The amulet was always carried about the person, while the other two
might be in the possession of the person in the case of the talisman,
or, in the case of the charm, if a material object it could be placed
entirely outside of one's care. The talisman and amulet must be a
compound of some substance, the charm might be a gesture, a look, or a
spoken word. Notice the example of charms according to Tennyson's
words,
"Then, in one moment, she put forth the charm
Of woven paces and of waving hands."
They were all used for defensive purposes, _i. e._, to keep away evil,
in the form of demons, disease, or misfortune, but they might,
especially the talisman, also attract good. Their power was of a
magical character, and was exercised in a supernatural manner.
The idea of the talisman probably originated from the belief that
certain properties or virtues were impressed upon substances by
planetary influences. "A talisman," says Pettigrew, "may in general
terms be defined to be a substance composed of certain cabalistic
characters engraved on stone, metal, or other material, or else
written on slips of paper." Hyde quotes a Persian writer who defines
the Telesm or Talismay as "a piece of art compounded of the celestial
powers and elementary bodies, appropriated to certain figures or
positions, and purposes and times, contrary to the usual manner."
We are told by Maimonides that images or idols were called Tzelamim on
account of the power or influence which was supposed to reside in
them, rather than on account of their particular figure or form.
Townley has opined that the reason for the production of astrological
or talismanic images was probably the desire of early peoples to have
some representation of the planets during their absence from sight, so
that they might at all times be able to worship the planetary body
itself or its representative. To accomplish this purpose, the
astrologers chose certain colors, metals, stones, trees, etc., to
represent certain planets, and constructed the talismans when the
planets were in their exaltation and in a happy conjunction with other
heavenly bodies. In addition to this, incantations were used in an
endeavor to inspire the talisman with the power and influence of the
planet for which it stood.
Pettigrew says: "The Hebrew word for talisman (magan) signifies a
paper or other material, drawn or engraved with the letters composing
the sacred name Jehovah, or with other characters, and improperly
applied to astrological representations, because, like the letters
composing 'The Incomparable Name,' they were supposed to serve as a
defence against sickness, lightning, and tempest. It was a common
practice with magicians, whenever a plague or other great calamity
infested a country, to make a supposed image of the destroyer, either
in gold, silver, clay, wax, etc., under a certain configuration of the
heavens, and to set it up in some particular place that the evil might
be stayed."[76]
The Jewish phylacteries must therefore be considered talismans and not
amulets. The writings contained in them are portions of the law and
are prepared in a prescribed manner. Three different kinds are used:
one for the head, another for the arm, and the third is attached to
the door-posts. The following is a Hebrew talisman supposed to have
considerable power: "It overflowed--he did cast darts--Shadai is all
sufficient--his hand is strong, and is the preserver of my life in all
its variations."[77]
Arnot gives an account of some Scottish talismans not unlike the
phylacteries of the Jews, which were for use on the door-posts. "On
the old houses still existing in Edinburgh," he says, "there are
remains of talismanic or cabalistical characters, which the
superstitious of earlier days had caused to be engraven on their
fronts. These were generally composed of some text of Scripture, of
the name of God, or, perhaps, of an emblematic representation of the
resurrection."[78]
The connection of astrology, or, as he calls it, "astronomy," and the
talisman with medicine is well portrayed by Chaucer in his picture of
a good physician of his day. He says:
"With us there was a doctor of phisike;
In al the world, was thar non hym lyk
To speke of physik and of surgerye,
For he wos groundit in astronomie.
He kept his pacient a ful gret del
In hourys by his magyk naturel;
Wel couth he fortunen the ascendent
Of his ymagys for his pacient."
Fosbrooke has divided talismans into five classes, examples of some of
which I have already given. They are: "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 superstitious, 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."
The doctrine of signatures bears a close resemblance to talismans,
and some believe that talismans have largely grown out of this
doctrine. Dr. Paris[79] defines the doctrine as the belief that "every
natural substance which possesses any medical virtues indicates, by an
obvious and well-marked external character, the disease for which it
is a remedy or the object for which it should be employed." Southey
says,[80] "The signatures [were] the books out of which the ancients
first learned the virtues of herbs--Nature having stamped on divers of
them legible characters to discover their uses." Some opined that the
external marks were impressed by planetary influences, hence their
connection with talismans; others simply reasoned it out that the
Almighty must have placed a sign on the various means which he had
provided for curing diseases.
Color and shape were the two principal factors in interpreting the
signatures. White was regarded as cold and red as hot, hence cold and
hot qualities were attributed to different medicines of these colors
respectively. Serious errors in practice resulted from this opinion.
Red flowers were given for disorders of the sanguiferous system; the
petals of the red rose, especially, bear the "signature" of the blood,
and blood-root, on account of its red juice, was much prescribed for
the blood. Celandine, having yellow juice, the yellow drug, turmeric,
the roots of rhubarb, the flowers of saffron, and other yellow
substances were given in jaundice; red flannel, looking like blood,
cures blood taints, and therefore rheumatism, even to this day,
although many do not know why _red_ flannel is so efficacious.
Lungwort, whose leaves bear a fancied resemblance to the surface of
the lungs, was considered good for pulmonary complaints, and
liverwort, having a leaf like the liver, cured liver diseases.
Eye-bright was a famous application for eye diseases, because its
flowers somewhat resemble the pupil of the eye; bugloss, resembling a
snake's head, was valuable for snake bite; and the peony, when in bud,
being something like a man's head, was "very available against the
falling sickness." Walnuts were considered to be the perfect signature
of the head, the shell represented the bony skull, the irregularities
of the kernel the convolutions of the two hemispheres of the brain,
and the husk the scalp. The husk was therefore used for scalp
wounds, the inner peel for disorders of the meninges, and the
kernel was beneficial for the brain and tended to resist poisons.
Lilies-of-the-valley were used for the cure of apoplexy, the signature
reasoning being, as Coles says, "for as that disease is caused by the
drooping of humors into the principal ventrices of the brain, so the
flowers of this lily, hanging on the plants as if they were drops, are
of wonderful use herein."
Capillary herbs naturally announced themselves as good for diseases
of the hair, and bear's grease, being taken from an animal thickly
covered with hair, was recommended for the prevention of baldness.
Nettle-tea is still a country remedy for nettle rash; prickly plants
like thistles and holly were prescribed for pleurisy and stitch in
the side, and the scales of the pine were used in toothache, because
they resemble front teeth. "Kidney-beans," says Berdoe, "ought to have
been useful for kidney diseases, but seem to have been overlooked
except as articles of diet." Poppy-heads were used "with success" to
relieve diseases of the head, and the root of the "mandrake," from its
supposed resemblance to the human form, was a very ancient remedy for
barrenness and was evidently so esteemed by Rachel, in the account
given in Genesis 30:14 ff.
In the treatment of small-pox red bed coverings were employed in
order to bring the pustules to the surface of the body. The patient
must be indued with red; the bed furniture and hangings should be red
and red substances were to be looked upon by the patient; burnt
purple, pomegranate seeds, mulberries or other red ingredients were
dissolved in their drink. John of Gladdesden, physician to Edward II,
prescribed the following treatment as soon as the eruption appeared:
"Cause the whole body of your patient to be wrapped in scarlet cloth,
or any other red cloth, and command everything about the bed to be
made red." He further says that "when the son of the renowned King of
England (Edward II) lay sick of the small-pox I took care that
everything around the bed should be of a red color; which succeeded so
completely that the Prince was restored to perfect health, without a
vestige of a pustule remaining."
The Emperor Francis I, when infected with smallpox, was rolled up in a
scarlet cloth, by order of his physicians, as late as 1765;
notwithstanding this treatment he died. Kampfer says that "when any of
the Japanese emperor's children are attacked with the small-pox, not
only the chamber and bed are covered with red hangings, but all
persons who approach the sick prince must be clad in scarlet gowns."
By a course of reasoning similar to that used in the treatment of
small-pox, it was supposed that flannel dyed nine times in blue was
efficacious in removing glandular swellings.[81]
The astrological factor in talismans was most important because it
was considered that certain stars and planets in certain relations
produced certain diseases and contagious disorders. Astrologers, for
example, attributed the plague to a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter
in Sagittarius, on the tenth of October, or to a conjunction of Saturn
and Mars in the same constellation, on the twelfth of November. Burton
makes the most generous melancholy, as that of Augustus, to come from
the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Libra; the bad, as that of
Catiline, from the meeting of Saturn and the moon in Scorpio. If these
disorders were produced by planets it was reasonable to suppose that
they could be cured by planets.
The virtue of herbs depended upon the planet under which they were
sown or gathered. For example, verbena or vervain should be gathered
at the rising of the dog-star, when neither the sun nor the moon
shone, but an expiatory sacrifice of fruit and honey should previously
have been offered to the earth. If this was carried out it had power
to render the possessor invulnerable, to cure fevers, to eradicate
poison, and to conciliate friendship. Notice also, that black
hellebore, to be effective, was to be plucked not cut, and this with
the right hand, which was then to be covered with a portion of the
robe and secretly to be conveyed to the left hand. The person
gathering it was to be clad in white, to be barefooted, and to offer a
sacrifice of bread and wine.
Not only the planets and the stars, but the moon has had a potent
influence on medicine. For instance, mistletoe was to be cut with a
golden knife, and when the moon was only six days old. Brand[82]
quotes from _The Husbandman's Practice, or Prognostication Forever_,
published in 1664, the following curious passage, "Good to purge with
electuaries, the moon in Cancer; with pills, the moon in Pisces; with
potions, the moon in Virgo; good to take vomits, the moon being in
Taurus, Virgo, or the latter part of Sagittarius; to purge the head by
sneezing, the moon being in Cancer, Leo, or Virgo; to stop fluxes and
rheumes, the moon being in Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorne; to bathe when
the moon is in Cancer, Libra, Aquarius, or Pisces; to cut the hair off
the head or beard when the moon is in Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius, or
Pisces."
The Loseley manuscripts provide us with further examples. "Here
begyneth ye waxingge of ye mone, and declareth in dyvers tymes to let
blode, whiche be gode. In the furste begynynge of the mone it is
profetable to yche man to be letten blode; ye ix of the mone, neyther
be nyght ne by day, it is not good." They also tell of a physician
named Simon Trippe, who wrote to a patient in excuse for not visiting
him, as follows: "As for my comming to you upon Wensday next, verely
my promise be past to and old pacient of mine, a very good
gentlewoman, one Mrs. Clerk, wch now lieth in great extremity. I
cannot possibly be with you till Thursday. On Fryday and Saterday the
signe wilbe in the heart; on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, in the
stomake; during wch time it wilbe no good dealing with your ordinary
physicke untill Wensday come sevenight at the nearest, and from that
time forwards for 15 or 16 days passing good."[83]
Not unlike this is an incident of the year 686, given by Bede, where
"a holy Bishop having been asked to bless a sick maiden, asked 'when
she had been bled?' and being told that it was on the fourth day of
the moon, said: 'You did very indiscreetly and unskilfully to bleed
her on the fourth day of the moon; for I remember that Archbishop
Theodore, of blessed memory, said that bleeding at that time was very
dangerous, when the light of the moon and the tide of the ocean is
increasing; and what can I do to the girl if she is like to die?'"[84]
"So great, indeed," says Fort, "became the abuse of medical astrology,
whether by the direct juxtaposition of stellar influence, or through
apposite images, that a celebrated Church Council at Paris declared
that images of metal, wax, or other materials fabricated under certain
constellations or according to fixed characters--figures of peculiar
form, either baptized, consecrated, or exorcised, or rather desecrated
by the performance of formal rites at stated periods which it was
asserted, thus composed, possessed miraculous virtues set forth in
superstitious writings--were placed under the ban and interdicted as
errors of faith."[85]
We shall see that magnetism developed from astrology, and some other
forms of mental healing from magnetism. One of these, sympathetic
cures, was talismanic in its character, and therefore I give a brief
account of its method of working, in this place.
Sympathetic cures probably started with Paracelsus, although Von
Helmont tells us that the secret was first put forth by Ericcius
Wohyus, of Eburo. As a development from magnetism the former
originated the "weapon salve" which excited so much attention about
the middle of the seventeenth century. The following was a receipt
given by him for the cure of any wound inflicted by a sharp weapon,
except such as had penetrated the heart, the brain, or the arteries.
"Take the moss growing on the head of a thief who has been hanged and
left in the air; of real mummy; of human blood, still warm--of each,
one ounce; of human suet, two ounces; of linseed oil, turpentine, and
Armenian bole--of each, two drachms. Mix all well in a mortar, and
keep the salve in an oblong, narrow urn." With the salve the weapon
(not the wound), after being dipped in blood from the wound, was to be
carefully anointed, and then laid by in a cool place. In the meantime,
the wound was washed with fair, clean water, covered with a clean soft
linen rag, and opened once a day to cleanse off purulent matter. A
writer in the _Foreign Quarterly Review_ says there can be no doubt
about the success of the treatment, "for surgeons at this moment
follow exactly the same method, _except_ anointing the weapon!"
[Illustration: SIR KENELM DIGBY]
The weapon-salve continued to be much spoken of on the Continent, and
Dr. Fludd, or A Fluctibus, the Rosicrucian, introduced it into
England. He tried it with great success in several cases, but in the
midst of his success an attack was made upon him and his favorite
remedy, which, however, did little or nothing to diminish the belief
in its efficacy. One "Parson Foster" wrote a pamphlet entitled
"Hyplocrisma Spongus; or a Spunge to wipe away the Weapon-salve," in
which he declared that it was as bad as witchcraft to use or recommend
such an unguent; that it was invented by the devil, who, at the last
day, would seize upon every person who had given it the least
encouragement. "In fact," said Parson Foster, "the Devil himself gave
it to Paracelsus; Paracelsus to the emperor; the emperor to the
courtier; the courtier to Baptista Porta; and Baptista Porta to Dr.
Fludd, a doctor of physic, yet living and practising in the famous
city of London, who now stands tooth and nail for it." Dr. Fludd, thus
assailed, took up his pen and defended the unguent in a caustic
pamphlet.
The salve changed into a powder in the hands of Sir Kenelm Digby, the
son of Sir Edward Digby who was executed for his participation in the
Gunpowder Plot. Sir Kenelm was an accomplished scholar and an able
man, but at the same time a most extravagant defender of the powder of
sympathy for the healing of wounds. This powder came into sudden and
public notoriety through an accident to a distinguished person. Mr.
James Howell, the well-known author of the Dendrologia, in endeavoring
to part two friends in a duel, received a severe cut on the hand.
Alarmed by the accident, one of the combatants bound up the cut with
his garter and conveyed him home. The king sent his own surgeon to
attend Mr. Howell, but in four or five days the wound was not
recovering very rapidly and he made application to Sir Kenelm. The
latter first inquired whether he possessed anything that had the blood
upon it, upon which Mr. Howell produced the garter with which his hand
had been bound. A basin of water in which some powder of vitriol had
been dissolved was procured, and the garter immediately immersed in
it, whereupon, to quote Sir Kenelm, Mr. Howell said, "I know not what
ails me, but I find that I feel no more pain. Methinks that a pleasing
kind of freshness, as it were a wet cold napkin, did spread over my
hand, which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me
before." He was then advised to lay away all plasters and keep the
wound clean and in a moderate temperature.
To prove conclusively the efficacy of the powder of sympathy, after
dinner the garter was taken out of the basin and placed to dry before
the fire. No sooner was this done than Mr. Howell's servant came
running to Sir Kenelm saying that his master's hand was again
inflamed, and that it was as bad as before. The garter was again
placed in the liquid and before the return of the servant all was well
and easy again. In the course of five or six days the wound was
cicatrized and a cure performed.
This case excited considerable attention at court, and on inquiry Sir
Kenelm told the king that he learned the secret from a much-travelled
Carmelite friar who became possessed of it while journeying in the
East. Sir Kenelm communicated it to Dr. Mayerne, the king's physician,
and from him it was known to even the country barbers. Even King
James, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Buckingham, and many other
noble personages believed in its efficacy.
It would be a waste of time, had we space, to present fully Sir
Kenelm's profound and lengthy explanation of the cure. He tried to
make the cure more reasonable and acceptable by bringing forth certain
alleged phenomena which he thought proved sympathy, and were therefore
analogous in character. Surgeon-General Hammond calls attention to the
fact that these inferences were invariably false. "It is a very
curious circumstance," says he, "that of these, there is not one which
is true. Thus he is wrong when he says that if the hand be severely
burnt, the pain and inflammation are relieved by holding it near a hot
fire; that a person who has a bad breath is cured by putting his head
over a privy and inhaling the air which comes from it; that those who
are bitten by vipers or scorpions are cured by holding the bruised
head of either of those animals, as the case may be, near the bitten
part; that in times of great contagion, carrying a toad, or a spider,
or arsenic or some other venomous substance, about the person is a
protection; that hanging a toad about the neck of a horse affected
with farcy dissipates the disease; that water evaporated in a close
room will not be deposited on the walls, if a vessel of water be
placed in the room; that venison pies smell strongly at those periods
in which the 'beasts which are of the same nature and kind are in
rut'; that wine in the cellar undergoes a fermentation when the vines
in the field are in flower; that a table-cloth spotted with mulberries
or red wine is more easily whitened at the season in which the plants
are flowering than at any other; that washing the hands in the rays of
moonlight which fall into a polished silver basin (without water) is a
cure for warts; that a vessel of water put on the hearth of a smoky
chimney is a remedy for the evil, and so on--not a single fact in all
that he adduces. Yet these circumstances were regarded as real, and
were spoken of at the times as irrefragable proofs of the truth of Sir
Kenelm's views."[86]
We need have no doubt concerning the operation of sympathetic cures,
for Sir Kenelm has told us of their virtue in his own words.[87] His
method was what was called the cure by the wet way, but the cure could
also be effected in a dry way. Straus, in a letter to Sir Kenelm,
gives an account of a cure performed by Lord Gilbourne, an English
nobleman, upon a carpenter who had cut himself severely with his axe.
"The axe, bespattered with blood, was sent for, besmeared with an
anointment, wrapped up warmly, and carefully hung up in a closet. The
carpenter was immediately relieved, and all went well for some time,
when, however, the wound became exceedingly painful, and, upon
resorting to his lordship it was ascertained that the axe had fallen
from the nail by which it was suspended, and thereby become
uncovered."
Dryden in "The Tempest" (Act V, Sc. I) makes Ariel say, in reference
to the wound received by Hippolito from Ferdinand:
"He must be dress'd again, as I have done it.
Anoint the sword which pierced him with this weapon-salve,
and wrap it close from air, till I have
time to visit him again."
And in the next scene we have the following dialogue between
Hippolito and Miranda:
"_Hip._ O my wound pains me.
_Mir._ I am come to ease you.
[_She unwraps the sword._
_Hip._ Alas! I feel the cold air come to me;
My wound shoots worse than ever.
[_She wipes and anoints the sword._
_Mir._ Does it still grieve you?
_Hip._ Now methinks, there's something
Laid just upon it.
_Mir._ Do you find ease?
_Hip._ Yes, yes, upon the sudden, all the pain
Is leaving me. Sweet heaven, how I am eased!"
Werenfels says: "If the superstitious person be wounded by any chance,
he applies the salve, not to the wound, but, what is more effectual,
to the weapon by which he received it. By a new kind of art, he will
transplant his disease, like a scion, and graft it into what tree he
pleases."
The practice at the time was varied and general. All sorts of
disgusting ingredients were gathered together to form the salve. Some
idea of the condition of the science of medicine at that time may be
gathered when we remember that a serious discussion was long
maintained between two factions in the sympathetic school concerning
the question "whether it was necessary that the moss should grow
absolutely in the skull of a thief who had hung on the gallows, and
whether the ointment, while compounding, was to be stirred with a
murderer's knife."
There is no doubt that the sympathetic cures were really the most
rapid and effective. The modern surgeon wonders how a wound ever
healed prior to this treatment. There seemed to be little that could
be imagined to prevent a wound from healing that the pre-sympathetic
surgeon did not try. When the manipulations, doses, and treatments
were transferred from the wound to the weapon, they did not injure the
weapon, and did give the wound a chance to heal. In fact, leaving out
the weapon part of the treatment, which could have none but a mental
influence, the treatment would be recommended to-day. The wound was
kept clean, the edges were brought in apposition, temperature was
modified, and rest given. Under these circumstances, wounds which the
surgeon had irritated so as to take weeks to heal, united in as many
days. Mark this, however: the wounds treated were simple incisions,
the ones which most readily united if cleansed, brought together, and
left alone. Gunshot and similar wounds were not treated by this
process.[88]
[76] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected
with ... Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 63 f.
[77] _Gentleman's Magazine_, LVIII, pp. 586 and 695.
[78] H. Arnot, _History of Edinburgh_.
[79] _Pharmacologia_, p. 51.
[80] _The Doctor_, p. 59.
[81] For a discussion on the doctrine of signatures see
T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions_, etc., pp. 33 f.; E.
Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_, pp. 327
and 416 f.; A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of
Science with Theology_, II, pp. 38 f.; Eccles,
_Evolution of Medical Science_, pp. 140 f.
[82] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 153. In
references to this work, the edition used was that
edited by W. Carew Hazlitt.
[83] _The Loseley Manuscripts_, pp. 263 f., quoted by
Berdoe.
[84] Bede, _Ecclesiastical History_, bk. V, chap. III.
[85] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, p. 299.
[86] W. A. Hammond, _Spiritualism and Nervous
Derangement_, p. 175.
[87] Sir Kenelm Digby, _A late discovery made in solemne
assembly of nobles and learned men, at Montpellier, in
France, touching the cure of wounds, by the Powder of
Sympathy_, etc.
[88] I am indebted to T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions
Connected with the History and Practice of Surgery and
Medicine_, pp. 201-213; C. Mackay, _Extraordinary
Popular Delusions_, pp. 266-268; W. A. Hammond,
_Spiritualism and Nervous Derangement_, pp. 170-176; for
the material on the subject of sympathetic cures.
CHAPTER VII
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 amulæ 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 rêelios ôs· kantephora kai pantes êakotei]; 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:
ornô ourôdê]; 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 Athenæum_: "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.
CHAPTER VIII
CHARMS
"With the charmes that she saide, A fire down fro' the
sky alight."--GOWER.
"She drew a splinter from the wound, And with a charm
she staunch'd the blood."--SCOTT.
"Thrice on my breast I spit to guard me safe From
fascinating Charms."--THEOCRITUS.
"Mennes fortunes she can tell; She can by sayenge her
Ave Marye, And by other Charmes of Sorcerye, Ease men of
the Toth ake by and bye Yea, and fatche the Devyll from
Hell."--BALE.
"I clawed her by the backe in way of a charme, To do me
not the more good, but the less harme."--HEYWOOD.
Charms, as already noticed, are not unlike amulets in significance and
similarity of power. The amulet must consist of some material
substance so as to be suspended when employed, but the charm may be a
word, gesture, look, or condition, as well as a material substance,
and does not need to be attached to the body. The word "charm" is
derived from the Latin word "carmen," signifying a verse in which the
charms were sometimes written, examples of which will be given later.
The medical term "carminative," a comforting medicine, really means a
charm medicine, and has the same derivation.
A charm has been defined as "a form of words or letters, repeated or
written, whereby strange things are pretended to be done, beyond the
ordinary power of nature." It can be seen, though, that this
definition is not sufficiently comprehensive.
For ages, people have had great faith in odd numbers. They have often
been used as charms and for medicine. Some one says: "Some
philosophers are of opinion that all things are composed of number,
prefer the odd before the other, and attribute to it a great efficacy
and perfection, especially in matters of physic: wherefore it is that
many doctors prescribed always an odd pill, an odd draught, or drop to
be taken by their patients. For the perfection thereof they allege
these following numbers: as 7 Planets, 7 wonders of the World, 9
Muses, 3 Graces, God is 3 in 1, &c." Ravenscroft, in his comedy of
"Mammamouchi or the Citizen Turned Gentleman," makes Trickmore as a
physician say: "Let the number of his bleedings and purgations be odd,
_numero Deus impare gaudet_" [God delights in an odd number].
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 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 dreaded by evil spirits. Six is
a fortunate number. Seven is powerful for good or evil, and is a
sacred number. Eight is the first cube, so is man four-square or
perfect. Nine, as the multiple of three, is sacred. Ten, or the
decade, is the measure of all it contains, all the numerical relations
and harmonies.[122]
Cornelius Agrippa wrote on the power of numbers, which he declares is
asserted by nature herself; thus the herb called cinquefoil, or
five-leafed 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.[123]
The seventh son of a seventh son was supposed to be an infallible
physician as the following quotations would indicate: "The seventh son
of a seventh son is born a physician; having an intuitive knowledge of
the art of curing all disorders, and sometimes the faculty of
performing wonderful cures by touching only." "Plusieurs croyent qu'en
France, les septièmes garçons, nez de légitimes mariages, sans que la
suitte des sept ait esté interrompue par la naissance d'aucune fille,
peuvent aussi guérir des fièvres tierces, des fièvres quartes, at
mesme des écrouelles, après avoir jeûné trois ou neuf jours avant que
de toucher les malades. Mais ils font trop de fond sur le nombre
septenaire, en attribuant au septième garçon, préférablement à tous
autres, une puissance qu'il y a autant de raison d'attribuer au
sixième ou au huitième, sur le nombre de trois, et sur celuy de neuf,
pour ne pas s'engager dans la superstition. Joint que de trois que je
connois de ces septième garçons il y en a deux qui ne guérissent de
rien, et que le troisieme m'a avoué de bonne foy, qu'il avoit eu
autrefois la reputation de guérir de quantité des maux, quoique en
effet il n'ait jamais guery d'aucun. C'est pourquoy Monsieur du
Laurent a grande raison de rejetter ce prétendu pouvoir, et de la
mettre au rang des fables, en ce qui concerne la guérison des
écrouelles."[124]
Charms were used to avert evil and counteract supposed malignant
influences of all kinds, but it is in their connection with diseases
of the body that we are chiefly interested. There is scarcely a
disease for which a charm has not been given, but it will be seen that
those which are most affected by charms are principally derangements
of the nervous system, or those periodical in character--diseases, in
fact, which have proved to be most easily influenced by suggestion.
Charms might be of the most varied composition. The material was
selected from the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom, and might
consist of anything to which any magical property was considered to
belong. Rags, old clothes, pins, and needles were frequently employed
in this way. Sir Walter Scott had in his possession a pretended charm
taken from an old woman who was said to charm and injure her
neighbor's cattle. It consisted of feathers, parings of nails, hair,
and similar material, wrapped in a lump of clay.
The theory of _similia similibus curantur_ seems to have entered into
mediæval medicine, and especially into the manufacture of charms. The
following prescriptions are examples: "The skin of a Raven's heel is
good against gout, but the right heel skin must be laid upon the right
foot if that be gouty, and the left upon the left.... If you would
have man become bold or impudent let him carry about with him the skin
or eyes of a Lion or Cock, and he will be fearless of his enemies,
nay, he will be very terrible unto them. If you would have him
talkative, give him tongues, and seek out those of water frogs and
ducks and such creatures notorious for their continuall noise
making."[125]
King also tells us that "Hartes fete, Does Fete, Bulles fete, or any
ruder beastes fete should ofte be eaten; the same confort the sinewes.
The elder these beastes be, the more they strengthen." It is
noticeable that not age but youth is now honored, and to-day only
calves' feet are accorded medicinal value.
Fort[126] gives the following account of the origin of cabbalism:
"Towards the close of the fourth century an unknown scholiast
collected the exegetical elucidations, explanations and
interpretations produced by the Gemara, and united them to the Mishna,
as a commentary out of which arose the Talmud. The word 'cabbala,'
whose original significance was used in the sense of reception, or
transmission, obtained at a later period the meaning of secret lore,
because the metaphysical and theosophic idealities which had been
developed in the Rabbinical schools, were communicated only to a few,
and consequently remained the undisputed property of a limited and
close organization." From this there developed a varied and
complicated system of words and numbers which showed their power in
all forms of magical marvels. Not the least common or puissant of
these was the healing of the sick.
Knots were sometimes used as charms, and Cockayne gives us an example
in the preface of _Saxon Leechdoms_: "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."
Long before and long after New Testament days when Jesus used spittle
on the blind, and the time when Vespasian healed the blind by the same
means, spittle was considered a most efficacious remedy for various
diseases. Levinus Lemnius tells us: "Divers experiments shew 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 place with fasting Spittle,
and all those effects will be gone and dispersed. Since the qualities
and effects of Spittle come from the humours, (for out of them is it
drawn by the faculty of Nature, as Fire draws distilled Water from
hearbs) the reason may be easily understood why Spittle should do such
strange things, and destroy some creatures."[127]
In _Saxon Leechdoms_ a cure for gout runs thus: "Before getting out of
bed in the morning, spit on your hand, rub all your sinuews, and say,
'Flee, gout, flee,' etc." Sir Thomas Browne, however, is not quite
sure that fasting spittle really is poisonous to snakes and vipers.
Alexander of Tralles tells us that even Galen did homage to
incantations, and quotes him as saying: "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."
Even before our day, however, there were some sceptics. Andrews,
quoting Reginald Scot, says: "The Stories which our facetious author
relates of ridiculous Charms which, by the help of credulity, operated
Wonders, are extremely laughable. In one of them a poor Woman is
commemorated who cured all diseases by muttering a certain form of
Words over the party afflicted; for which service she always received
one penny and a loaf of bread. At length, terrified by menaces of
flames both in this world and the next, she owned that her whole
conjuration consisted in these potent lines, which she always repeated
in a low voice near the head of her patient:
'Thy loaf in my hand,
And thy penny in my purse,
Thou art never the better--
And I am never the worse.'"
Lord Northampton quite fittingly inquires: "What godly reason can any
Man alyve alledge why Mother Joane of Stowe, speaking these wordes,
and neyther more nor lesse,
'Our Lord was the fyrst Man,
That ever Thorne prick'd upon:
It never blysted nor it never belted,
And I pray God, nor this not may,'
should cure either Beasts, or Men and Women from Diseases?"[128]
Perhaps it would be well for us to treat the subject of charms as we
have that of amulets, and present the different charms under the
heading of the diseases which they were supposed to cure.
_Ague._--Many charms were given for this disease, some of which seem
to us to-day most ridiculous. Brand gives a quotation from the _Life
of Nicholas Mooney_ who was a notorious highwayman, executed with
others at Bristol, in 1752. It is as follows: "After the cart drew
away, the hangman very deservedly had his head broke for attempting to
pull off Mooney's shoes; and a fellow had like to have been killed in
mounting the gallows to take away the ropes that were left after the
malefactors were cut down. A young woman came fifteen miles for the
sake of the rope from Mooney's neck, which was given to her, it being
by many apprehended that the halter of an executed person will charm
away the ague and perform many other cures."
Pettigrew relates that "In Skippon's account of a 'Journey through the
Low Countries,' he makes mention of the lectures of Ferrarius and his
narrative of the cure of the ague of a Spanish lieutenant, by writing
the words FEBRA FUGE, and cutting off a letter from the paper every
day, and he observed the distemper to abate accordingly; when he cut
the letter F last of all the ague left him. In the same year, he says,
fifty more were reported to be cured in the same manner."
Another charm for ague was only effective when said up the chimney on
St. Agnes Eve, by the eldest female of the family. It was as follows:
"Tremble and go!
First day shiver and burn.
Tremble and quake!
Second day shiver and learn:
Tremble and die!
Third day never return."[129]
Pliny said: "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." Lodge, in glancing at the
superstitious creed with respect to charms, says: "Bring him but a
Table of Lead, with Crosses (and 'Adonai,' or 'Elohim,' written in
it), and he thinks it will heal his ague."
Mr. Marsden, while among the Sumatrans, accidentally met with the
following charm for the ague: "(Sign of the cross.) When Christ saw
the cross he trembled and shaked and they said unto him, hast thou
ague? and he said unto them, I have neither ague nor fever; and
whosoever bears these words, either in writing or in mind, shall never
be troubled with ague or fever. So help thy servants, O Lord, who put
their trust in thee!"
From Douce's notes, Mr. Brand informs us that it was usual with many
persons about Exeter who had ague "to visit at dead of night the
nearest cross road five different times, and there bury a new-laid
egg. The visit is paid about an hour before the cold fit is expected;
and they are persuaded that with the Egg they shall bury the Ague. If
the experiment fail, (and the agitation it occasions may often render
it successful) they attribute it to some unlucky accident that may
have befallen them on the way. In the execution of this matter they
observe the strictest silence, taking care not to speak to anyone,
whom they may happen to meet. I shall here note another Remedy against
the Ague mentioned as above, viz., by breaking a salted Cake of Bran
and giving it to a Dog, when the fit comes on, by which means they
suppose the malady to be transferred from them to the Animal."[130]
This and similar methods were designated transplantation.
_Bites of Venomous Animals._--It is an old medical superstition that
every animal whose bite is poisonous carries the cure within itself,
but external charms were also used. It was thought that the poison of
the Spanish fly existed in the body, while the head and wings
contained the antidote. "A hair of the dog that bites you" is the cure
for hydrophobia, the fat of the viper was the remedy for its bite, and
"three scruples of the ashes of the witch, when she had been well and
carefully burnt at a stake, is a sure catholicon against all the evil
effects of witchcraft."[131]
Serpents' bites, which were always considered very dangerous, were
said to be healed by people called sauveurs, who had a mark of St.
Catharine's wheel upon their palates. Snake stones, originally brought
from Java, were supposed to absorb the poison by being simply placed
over the bite. Russel mentions a charm against mosquitoes, used in
Aleppo. It consisted of certain unintelligible characters inscribed on
a little slip of paper, which was pasted over the windows or upon the
lintel of the door. One family has obtained, through heredity, the
power of making these charms, and they distribute them on a certain
day of the year without remuneration.
Navarette was told that the best remedy against scorpions was to make
a commemoration of St. George when going to bed. This, he says, never
failed, but he also rubbed the bed with garlic. The following is given
as a cure for the sting of the scorpion: "The patient is to sit on an
ass, with his face to the tail of the animal, by which the pain will
be transmitted from the man to the beast." Or again, a person who was
bitten by either a tarantulla or a mad dog must go nine times round
the town on the Sabbath, calling upon and imploring the assistance of
the saint. On the third night--the prayers being heard and granted,
and the health restored--the madness was removed. The prayer was as
follows:
"Thou who presidest over the Apulian shores,
Thou who curest the bites of mad dogs,
Thou, O Sacred One, ward off this cruel plague,
This dismal gnawing of dogs.
Get thee far hence, O madness, O fury."[132]
_Burns._--The following is "A Charme for a burning":
"There came three angels out of the east;
The one brought fire, the two brought frost--
Out fire; in frost;
In the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost.
--Amen."[133]
_Childbirth._--Many superstitious practices have grown up around this
condition. In 1554, Bonner, Bishop of London, forbade "a mydwife of
his diocese to exercise any witchecrafte, charmes, sorcerye,
invocations, or praiers, other than such as be allowable and may stand
with the lawes and ordinances of the Catholike Church." In 1559, the
first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, an inquiry was instituted
"whether you knowe any that doe use charmes, sorcery, enchauntementes,
invocations, circles, witchecraftes, southsayinge, or any lyke craftes
or imaginacions invented by the devyl, and specially in the tyme of
woman's travaylle." Two years before this, the midwives took an oath
among themselves, so Strype tells us, not to "suffer any other bodies'
child to be set, brought, or laid before any woman delivered of child
in the place of her natural child, so far forth as I can know and
understand. Also I will not use any kind of sorcerye or incantation in
the time of the travail of any woman."
The eagle stone and iris were supposed to promote an easy delivery,
and the sardonyx was laid _inter mammas_ to procure an easy birth; a
sardonyx formerly belonged to the monastery of St. Albans to be used
for this purpose. In some countries, during childbirth, the men lie
in, keep their beds, and are attended as if really sick, sometimes as
long as six weeks.[134]
_Chorea._--Of all the charms against this disease, St. Vitus' dance,
none seemed so effectual as an application to the saint. In the
translation of Naogeorgus, Barnabe Googe says:
"The nexte is VITUS sodde in oyle, before whose ymage faire
Both men and women bringing hennes for offring doe repaire:
The cause whereof I doe not know, I think, for some disease
Which he is thought to drive away from such as him doe please."
_Colic._--This disorder was cured by a person drinking the water in
which he had washed his feet; we might well consider the cure worse
than the disease.
_Consumption._--Shaw[135] speaks of a cure for consumptive diseases
used in his time in Moray. "They pared the Nails of the Fingers and
Toes of the Patient, put these Parings into a Rag cut from his
clothes, then waved their Hand with the Rag thrice round his head
crying _Deas soil_, after which they buried the Rag in some unknown
place." Dr. Baas[136] declares that natural pills of rabbit's dung
were in use on the Rhine as a cure for consumption.
"There is a disease," says the minister of Logierait, writing in 1795,
"called Glacach by the Highlanders, which, as it affects the chest and
lungs, is evidently of a consumptive nature. It is called Macdonald's
disease, 'because there are particular tribes of Macdonalds, who were
believed to cure it with the Charms of their touch, and the use of a
certain set of words. There must be no fee given of any kind. Their
faith in the touch of a Macdonald is very great.'"[137]
_Cramp._--Among the many charms for cramp, the following is taken from
_Pepys' Diary_:[138]
"Cramp be thou faintless,
As our Lady was sinless
When she bare Jesus."
_Demoniacal Possession._--To know when a person is possessed, try the
following, says King: "Take the harte and liver of a fysshe called a
Pyck, and put them into a pot wyth glowynge hot coles, and hold the
same to the patient so that the smoke may entre into hym. If he is
possessed he cannot abyde that smoke, but rageth and is angry." "It is
good also to make a fyre in hys chamber of Juniper wood, and caste
into the fire Franckincense and S. John's wort, for the evill spirits
cannot abyde thys sent, and Waxe angry, whereby may be perceived
whether a man be possessed or not."[139] I am afraid that possession
would be sadly common if either of these tests were applied.
_Dislocation._--Among the oldest charms we have is one given by Cato
the Censor for the reduction of a dislocated limb, and passed on to us
by Pettigrew.
"A dislocation may be cured by this charm. Take a reed four or five
feet long; cut it in the middle, and let two men hold the points
towards each other for insertion. While this is doing repeat these
words: _In Alio S. F. Motas væta, Daries Dardaries Astataries
Dissunapitur_. Now jerk a piece of iron upon the reeds at their
juncture, and cut right and left. Bind them to the dislocation or
fracture, and it will effect a cure."[140]
_Dropsy._--Toads were formed into a powder called Pulvis Æthiopicus,
the mode of preparation being given in Bates's Pharmacopoeia. This
powder was used externally, and also given internally in cases of
dropsy and other diseases.
_Epilepsy._--The liver of a dead athlete was a sovereign remedy
against epilepsy in early days. In Lincolnshire a portion of a human
skull taken from a grave was grated and given to epileptics as a cure
for fits, and the water in which a corpse had been washed was given to
a man in Glasgow for the same purpose.[141] Another remedy was also
proposed: "If a man be greved wyth the fallinge sicknesse, let him
take a he-Wolves harte and make it to pouder and use it: but if it be
a woman, let her take a she-Wolves harte."[142]
John of Gladdesden, who was court physician from 1305-1317, spoke thus
concerning epilepsy: "Because there are many children and others
afflicted with the epilepsy, who cannot take medicines, let the
following experiment be tried, which I have found to be effectual,
whether the patient was a demoniac, a lunatic, or an epileptic. When
the patient and his parents have fasted three days, let them conduct
him to church. If he be of a proper age, and of his right senses, let
him confess. Then let him hear Mass on Friday, and also on Saturday.
On Sunday let a good and religious priest read over the head of the
patient, in the church, the gospel which is read in September, in the
time of vintage, after the feast of the Holy Cross. After this, let
the priest write the same gospel devoutly, and let the patient wear it
about his neck, and he shall be cured. The gospel is, 'This kind goeth
not out but by prayer and fasting.'"[143]
Among some African tribes the foot of an elk is considered a splendid
remedy against epilepsy. One foot only of each animal possesses
virtue, and the way to ascertain the valuable foot is to "knock the
beast down, when he will immediately lift up that leg which is most
efficacious to scratch his ear. Then you must be ready with a sharp
scymitar to lop off the medicinal limb, and you shall find an
infallible remedy against the falling sickness treasured up in his
claws." The American Indians and mediæval Norwegians also considered
this a sure remedy. The person afflicted, however, must apply it to
his heart, hold it in his left hand, and rub his ear with it.[144]
_Evil-eye._--Children were supposed to be most susceptible to the
evil-eye. Charms and amulets were furnished against fascination in
general. Certain figures in bronze, coral, ivory, etc., representing a
closed hand with the thumb thrust out between the first and second
fingers called the _fig_, were common. In Henry IV, Part II, Pistol
says:
"When Pistol lies, do this; and fig me, like
The bragging Spaniard."
_Eye Diseases._--Among the early Germans, ambulatory female medicists
were not uncommon, and they cured largely through charms. The
following is a charm used for eye diseases:
"Three maidens once going
On a verdant highway;
One could cure blindness,
Another cured cataract,
Third cured inflammation;
But all cured by one means."[145]
_Fevers._--This charm was used for fever: "Wryt thys Wordys on a
lorell lef[+]Ysmael[+]Ysmael[+] adjuro vos per Angelum ut soporetur
iste Homo N. and ley thys lef under hys head that he wete not therof,
and let hym ete Letuse oft and drynk Ip'e seed smal grounden in a
morter, and temper yt with Ale."[146]
"The fever," says Werenfels, "he will not drive away by medicines,
but, what is a more certain remedy, having pared his nails and tied
them to a crayfish, he will turn his back, and as Deucalion did the
stones from which a new progeny of men arose, throw them behind him
into the next river."[147]
The "Leech book"[148] says that for typhus fever the patient is to
drink of a decoction 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 a charm in silence, and just as silently put
the words in his left breast and take care not to go in-doors with the
writing upon him, the words being EMMANUEL VERONICA. The Loseley MSS.
prescribe the following for all manner of fevers: "Take iii drops of a
woman's mylke yt norseth a knave childe, and do it in a hennes egge
that ys sedentere (or sitting), and let hym suppe it up when the evyl
takes hym."
_Goitre._--The dew collected from the grave of the last man buried in
a church-yard has been used as a lotion for goitre, and a
correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ for May 24, 1851, furnishes two
remedies then in use at Withyam, Sussex. "A common snake, held by its
head and tail, is slowly drawn by someone standing by nine times
across the front part of the neck of the person affected, the reptile
being allowed, after every third time, to crawl about for awhile.
Afterwards the snake is put alive in a bottle, which is corked
tightly, and then buried in the ground. The tradition is, that as the
snake decays, the swelling vanishes. The second mode of treatment is
just the same as the above, with the exception of the snake's doom. In
this case it is kidded, and its skin, sewn in a piece of silk, is worn
round the diseased neck. By degrees the swelling in this case also
disappears."
_Headache._--In Brand's day, the rope which remained after a man had
been hanged and cut down was an object of eager competition, being
regarded as of great virtue in attacks of headache, and Gross says:
"Moss growing on a human skull, if dried, powdered, and taken as
snuff, will cure the Headach." Loadstone was also recommended as a
sovereign remedy for this malady. Pliny said that any person might 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.
_Hemorrhage._--The following charm has been used to stop bleeding at
the nose and other hemorrhages:
"In the blood of Adam Sin was taken,
In the blood of Christ it was all shaken,
And by the same blood I do the charge,
That the blood of (insert name) run no longer at large."
Pepys in his _Diary_ gives us a Latin charm of which the following is
a translation:
"Blood remain in Thee,
As Christ was in himself;
Blood remain in thy veins,
As Christ in his pains;
Blood remain fixed,
As Christ was on the crucifix."
Brand, the historian of Orkney, says: "They have a charm whereby they
stop excessive bleeding in any, whatever way they come by it, whether
by or without external violence. The name of the Patient being sent to
the Charmer, he saith over some words, (which I heard,) upon which the
blood instantly stoppeth, though the bleeding Patient were at the
greatest distance from the Charmer. Yea, upon the saying of these
words, the blood will stop in the bleeding throats of oxen or sheep,
to the astonishment of Spectators. Which account we had from the
Ministers of the Country."
Boyle says: "Having been one summer frequently subject to bleeding at
the nose, and reduced to employ several remedies to check that
distemper; that which I found the most effectual to stanch the blood
was some moss of a dead man's skull, (sent for a present out of
Ireland, where it is far less rare than in most other countries,)
though it did but touch my skin, till the herb was a little warmed by
it."[149]
Brand gives "A charme to staunch blood: Jesus that was in Bethleem born,
and baptyzed was in the flumen Jordane, as stente the water at hys
comyng, so stente the blood of thys man N. thy servvaunt, thorw the
virtu of thy holy Name [+] Jesu [+] & of thy Cosyn swete Sent Jon. And
sey thys charme fyve tymes with fyve Pater Nosters, in the worschep of
the fyve woundys."[150]
"In the year 1853," says Berdoe, "I saw among the more precious drugs
in the shop of a pharmaceutical chemist at Leamington a bottle
labelled in the ordinary way with the words, Moss from a Dead-Man's
Skull. This has long been used, superstitiously, dried, powdered, and
taken as snuff, for headache and bleeding at the nose."
_Herpes._--Turner[151] notices a prevalent charm among old women for
the shingles, and which is not uncommonly heard of to-day. It was to
smear on the affected part the blood from a black cat's tail.
He says that in the only case when he saw it used it caused
considerable mischief.
_Incubus._--Stones with holes through them were commonly called
hag-stones, and were often attached to the key of the stable door to
prevent witches riding the horses. One of these suspended at the head
of the bed was celebrated for the prevention of nightmare. In the
"Leech book"[152] we find the following: "If a mare or hag ride a man,
take lupins, 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."
Notice the following from Lluellin's poems:
"Some the night-mare hath prest
With that weight on their brest,
No returnes of their breath can passe,
But to us the tale is addle,
We can take off her saddle,
And turn out the night-mare to grasse."
_Insomnia._--In the Loseley MSS. we find a receipt "For hym that may
not slepe. Take and wryte yese wordes into leves of lether: Ismael!
Ismael! adjuro te per Angelum Michaelum ut soporetur homo iste; and
lay this under his bed, so yt he wot not yerof and use it allway
lytell, and lytell, as he have nede yerto."
_Jaundice._--This disease was sometimes cured by transplantation, and
Paracelsus gives us a method for carrying this out. Make seven or
nine--it must be an odd number--cakes of the newly emitted and warm
urine of the patient with the ashes of ash wood, and bury them for
some days in a dunghill.
In the journal of Dr. Edward Browne, transmitted to his father, Sir
Thomas Browne, we read of a magical cure for jaundice: "Burne wood
under a leaden vessel filled with water; take the ashes of that wood,
and boyle it with the patient's urine; then lay nine long heaps of the
boyled ashes upon a board in a ranke, and upon every heap lay nine
spears of crocus: it hath greater effects than is credible to any one
that shall barely read this receipt without experiencing."[153]
_Madness._--The early inhabitants of Cornwall used "to place the
disordered in mind on the brink of a square pool, filled with water
from St. Nun's well. The patient, having no intimation of what was
intended, was, by a sudden blow on the breast, tumbled into the pool,
where he was tossed up and down by some persons of superior strength
till, being quite debilitated, his fury forsook him; he was then
carried to church, and certain masses were sung over him. A similar
practice of the people of Perthshire is noticed by Sir Walter Scott in
_Marmion_.
"Thence to St. Fillan's blessed well,
Whose spring can frenzied dreams dispel,
And the crazed brain restore."
_Marasmus._--Mr. Boyle relates the case of a physician whose wan face
betokened a marasmus, and who was induced to try a method not unlike
the sympathetic cures. "He took an egg and boiled it hard in his own
warm urine; he then with a bodkin perforated the shell in many
places, and buried it in an ant-hill, where it was kept to be devoured
by the emmets; and as they wasted the egg, he found his distemper to
abate and his strength to increase, insomuch that his disease left
him."[154]
_Rickets._--The most common method of dealing with this disease was by
drawing the children through a split tree. The tree was afterward
bound up and, as it healed and grew together, the children acquired
strength; at least, so 'twas said. Sir John Cullum saw the operation
performed and says that the ash tree was selected as most preferable
for the purpose. "It was split longitudinally about five feet: the
fissure was kept open by the gardener, whilst the friend of the child,
having first stripped him naked, passed him thrice through it, almost
head foremost. This accomplished, the tree was bound up with
packthread, and as the bark healed, so it was said the child would
recover. One of the cases was of rickets, the other a rupture."
Drawing the children through a perforated stone was also a cure for
rickets, providing that two brass pins were carefully laid across each
other on the top edge of this stone.[155]
_Sciatica._--Sleeping on stones on a particular night was formerly
practised in Cornwall to cure all forms of lameness. Boneshave was the
term used for sciatica in Exmoor, where the following charm was used
for its cure: The patient must lie on his back on the bank of a river
or brook, having a straight staff lying by his side between him and
the water, and must have the following words repeated over him:
"Boneshave right,
Boneshave straight.
As the water runs by the stave
Good for Boneshave."[156]
_Scrofula._--Scrofula, or "king's-evil," was best cured by the touch
of the sovereign, but, if this could not be accomplished, a naked
virgin could cure it, especially if she spit three times upon it.
Stroking the affected parts nine times with the hand of a dead man,
particularly of one who had suffered a violent death as a penalty of
his crime, especially if it be murder, was long practised, and was
said to be efficacious in curing scrofula.
_Sweating Sickness._--Aubrey[157] gives a selection of the favorite
prescriptions in use against the sweating sickness. Among them was the
following: "Another very true medicine.--For to say every day at seven
parts of your body, seven paternosters, and seven Ave Marias, with one
Credo at the last. Ye shall begyn at the ryght syde, under the right
ere, saying the '_paternoster qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen
tuum_,' with a cross made there with your thumb, and so say the
paternoster full complete, and one Ave Maria, and then under the left
ere, and then under the left armhole, and then under the left hole,
and then the last at the heart, with one paternoster, Ave Maria with
one Credo; and these thus said daily, with the grace of God is there
no manner drede hym."
_Thorns._--Three metrical charms have been used for troubles of this
kind. _Pepys' Diary_ records "A charme for a thorne":
"Jesus, that was of a Virgin Born,
Was pricked both with nail and thorn;
It neither wealed, nor belled, rankled nor boned;
In the name of Jesus no more shall this."
Another form of the same is this:
"Christ was of a Virgin born,
And he was pricked with a thorn;
It did neither bell, nor swell;
And I trust in Jesus this never will."
Brand gives another thus:
"Unto the Virgin Mary our Saviour was born,
And on his head he wore the crown of thorn;
If you believe this true and mind it well,
This hurt will never fester, nor yet swell."[158]
_Toothache._--King in his interesting article recites this cure:
"Seeth as many little green frogges sitting upon trees as thou canst
get, in water: take the fat flowynge from them, and when nede is,
anoynt the teth therwyth. The graye worms breathing under wood or
stone, having many fete, these perced through with a bodken and then
put into the toth, alayeth the payne."[159] A nail driven into an oak
tree is reported to be a cure for this pain, and bones from a
church-yard have from ancient times been used as charms against this
disease.
An early idea was that toothache was caused by a worm and that henbane
seed roasted would cure it. The following from "The School of Salerne"
formulates this superstition:
"If in your teeth you hap to be tormented,
By meane some little wormes therein do breed,
Which pain (if heed be tane) may be prevented,
Be keeping cleane your teeth, when as you feede;
Burne Francomsence (a gum not evil sented),
Put Henbane unto this, and Onyon seed,
And with a tunnel to the tooth that's hollow,
Convey the smoke thereof, and ease shall follow."
Even to-day, I suppose, druggists sell henbane seed for this purpose.
The seed is used by sprinkling it on hot cinders and holding the open
mouth over the rising smoke. The heat causes the seed to sprout, and
thus there appears something similar to a maggot, which is ignorantly
supposed by the sufferer to have dropped from the tooth.[160]
_Warts._--The cures for warts are many and varied. There have been
many charms devised for their removal. Grose gives directions to
"Steal a piece of beef from a butcher's shop, and rub your wart with
it, then throw it down the necessary house, or bury it, and as the
beef rots, your warts will decay."[161] Some have great faith in
having a vagrant count them, mark the number on the inside of his hat,
and then when he leaves the neighborhood he takes the warts with him.
Coffin water was also considered good for them.
"For warts," says Sir Thomas Browne, "we rub our hands before the
moon, and commit any magulated part to the touch of the dead. Old
Women were always famous for curing warts; they were so in Lucian's
time."[162]
Sir Kenelm Digby, in a work already referred to, says: "One would
think that it were folly that one should offer to wash his hands in a
well-polished silver basin, wherein there is not a drop of water, yet
this may be done by the reflection of the moonbeams only, which will
afford it a competent humidity to do it; but they who have tried it,
have found their hands, after they are wiped, to be much moister than
usually; but this is an infallible way to take away warts from the
hands, if it be often used."
Black gives us several ways of charming away warts. He says:
"Lancashire wise men tell us for warts to rub them with a cinder, and
this tied up in paper, and dropped where four roads meet, will
transfer the warts to whoever opens the parcel. Another mode of
transferring warts is to touch each wart with a pebble, and place the
pebbles in a bag, which should be lost on the way to church; whoever
finds the bag gets the warts." A common Warwickshire custom was to rub
the warts with a black snail, stick the snail on a thorn bush, and
then, say the folks, as the snail dies so will the wart
disappear.[163]
Warts, on the other hand, seem in certain cases to be considered
lucky. In "Syr Gyles Goosecappe, Knight," a play of 1606, Lord Momford
is made to say: "The Creses here are excellent good: the proportion
of the chin good; the little aptnes of it to sticke out; good. And the
wart aboue it most exceeding good."
_Wen._--A newspaper of 1777 reports: "After he (Doctor Dodd) had hung
about ten minutes, a very decently dressed young woman went up to the
gallows in order to have a wen in her face stroked by the Doctor's
hand; it being a received opinion among the vulgar that it is a
certain cure for such a disorder. The executioner, having untied the
Doctor's hand, stroked the part affected several times therewith."
At the execution of Crowley, a murderer of Warwick, in 1845, a similar
scene is described in the newspapers: "At least five thousand persons
of the lowest of the low were mustered on this occasion to witness the
dying moments of the unhappy culprit.... As is usual in such cases (to
their shame be it spoken) a number of females were present, and
scarcely had the soul of the deceased taken its farewell flight from
its earthly tabernacle, than the scaffold was crowded with members of
the 'gentler sex' afflicted with wens in the neck, with white
swellings in the knees, &c., upon whose afflictions the cold clammy
hand of the sufferer was passed to and fro for the benefit of his
executioner."[164]
_Whooping-Cough._--It was a common belief in Devonshire, Cornwall, and
some other parts of England, that if one inquired of any one riding on
a piebald horse of a remedy for this complaint, whatever he named was
regarded as an infallible cure. In Suffolk and Norfolk, a favorite
remedy was to put the head of a suffering child for a few minutes into
a hole made in a meadow. It must be done in the evening with only the
father and mother to witness it.
A child in Cornwall received the following treatment: "If afflicted
with the hooping cough, it is fed with the bread and butter of a
family, the heads of which bear respectively the names of John and
Joan. In the time of an epidemic, so numerous are the applications,
that the poor couple have little reason to be grateful to their
godfathers and godmothers for their gift of these particular names.
Or, if a piebald horse is to be found in the neighbourhood, the child
is taken to it, and passed thrice under the belly of the animal; the
mere possession of such a beast confers the power of curing the
disease."
We have an account of a cure for whooping-cough in a Monmouthshire
paper about the middle of the nineteenth century. "A few days since an
unusual circumstance was observed at Pillgwenlly, which caused no
small degree of astonishment to one or two enlightened beholders. A
patient ass stood near a house, and a family of not much more rational
animals was grouped around it. A father was passing his little son
under the donkey, and lifting him over its back a certain number of
times, with as much solemnity and precision as if engaged in the
performance of a sacred duty. This done, the father took a piece of
bread, cut from an untasted loaf, which he offered the animal to bite
at. Nothing loath, the Jerusalem poney laid hold of the piece of bread
with his teeth, and instantly the father severed the outer portion of
the slice from that in the donkey's mouth. He next clipped off some
hairs from the neck of the animal, which he cut up into minute
particles, and then mixed them with the bread which he had crumbled.
This very tasty food was then offered to the boy who had been passed
round the donkey so mysteriously, and the little fellow having eaten
thereof, the donkey was removed by his owners. The father, his son,
and other members of his family were moving off, when a bystander
inquired what all these 'goings on' had been adopted for? The father
stared at the ignorance of the inquirer, and then in a half
contemptuous, half condescending tone, informed him that 'it was to
cure his poor son's whooping-cough, to be sure!' Extraordinary as this
may appear, in days when the schoolmaster is so much in request, it is
nevertheless true."
There is a belief in Cheshire that, if a toad is held for a moment
within the mouth of the patient, it is apt to catch the disease, and
so cure the person suffering from it. A correspondent of _Notes and
Queries_ speaks of a case in which such a phenomenon actually
occurred; but the experiment is one which would not be very willingly
tried. Brand informs us that "Roasted mice were formerly held in
Norfolk a sure remedy for this complaint; nor is it certain that the
belief is extinct even now. A poor woman's son once found himself
greatly relieved after eating three roast mice!"[165]
_Worms._--A Scotch writer in the last half of the seventeenth century
observed: "In the Miscellaneous MSS. ... written by Baillie Dundee,
among several medicinal receipts I find an exorcism against all kinds
of worms in the body, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
to be repeated three mornings, as a certain remedy."[166]
[122] S. B. Gould, _Curious Myths of the Middle Ages_,
p. 273.
[123] H. Morley, _Life of Cornelius Agrippa_, I, p. 165.
[124] M. Thiers, _Traité des Superstitions_, p. 436.
[125] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 147.
[126] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, p. 72.
[127] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, pp. 229 f.
[128] _Ibid._, III, pp. 228 and 237.
[129] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 94 f.
[130] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, pp. 252 f.
[131] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_,
p. 416.
[132] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Surgery and Medicine_, pp. 104-106.
[133] _Pepys' Diary_, I, p. 323.
[134] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 113-115.
[135] _History of Moray_, p. 248.
[136] _History of Medicine_, p. 159.
[137] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, pp. 240 and
248.
[138] I, p. 324.
[139] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 149.
[140] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, p. 77.
[141] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Medical Art_,
pp. 397 and 414.
[142] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 147.
[143] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing
Art_, p. 327.
[144] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 84 f.
[145] G. F. Fort, _History of Medical Economy During the
Middle Ages_, p. 196.
[146] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 237.
[147] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, p. 92.
[148] II, p. 139.
[149] _Ibid._, pp. 112 f.
[150] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, pp. 237,
241, and 268.
[151] _Diseases of the Skin_, p. 82.
[152] II, p. 139.
[153] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, p. 103.
[154] _Ibid._, p. 102.
[155] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, pp. 249 f.
[156] _Ibid._, p. 245.
[157] _History of England_, II, p. 296.
[158] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 264.
[159] E. A. King, "Medieval Medicine," _Nineteenth
Century_, XXXIV, p. 148.
[160] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_,
pp. 414 f.
[161] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, p. 108.
[162] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 241.
[163] Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_,
pp. 415 f.
[164] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 241.
[165] _Ibid._, p. 239.
[166] _Ibid._, p. 240.
CHAPTER IX
ROYAL TOUCH
"Men may die of imagination,
So depe may impression be take."--CHAUCER.
"When time shall once have laid his lenient hand on the
passions and pursuits of the present moment, they too
shall lose that imaginary value which heated fancy now
bestows upon them."--BLAIR.
"The king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to
him as it does to me; the element shows to him as it
doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions;
his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but
a man; and though his affections are higher mounted than
ours, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like
wing."--SHAKESPEARE.
_Malcolm._ Comes the king forth, I pray you?
_Doctor._ Ay, sir: there are a crew of wretched souls,
That stay his cure: their malady convinces
The great assay of art; but at his touch,
Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand,
They presently amend.
_Malcolm._ I thank you, doctor. [Exit _Doctor._
_Macduff._ What's the disease he means?
_Malcolm._ 'Tis call'd the evil:
A most miraculous work in this good king,
Which often, since my here remain in England,
I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven,
Himself best knows; but strangely-visited people,
All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
The mere despair of surgery, he cures;
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers: and 'tis spoken,
To the succeeding royalty he leaves
The healing benediction.--_Macbeth_, Act iv, Sc. 3.
Perhaps we have no better example of the effect of the belief in
healers than that presented by what was known as "king's touch." It is
typical of the cures performed by healers, and on that account I shall
give a rather full account of the phenomenon.
Touching by the sovereign for the amelioration of sundry diseases was
a currently accepted therapeutic measure. The royal touch was
especially efficacious in epilepsy and scrofula, the latter being
consequently known as "king's-evil." So far as we are able to trace
this practice in history, it began with Edward the Confessor in
England and St. Louis in France. There has been not a little dispute
concerning its real origin. "Laurentius, first physician to Henry IV,
of France, who is indignant at the attempt made to derive its origin
from Edward the Confessor, asserts the power to have commenced with
Clovis I, A. D. 481, and says that Louis I, A. D. 814, added to the
ceremonial of touching, the sign of the cross. Mezeray also says, that
St. Louis, through humility, first added the sign of the cross in
touching for the king's evil."[167]
[Illustration: KING'S TOUCH-PIECES]
William of Malmesbury gives the origin of the royal touch in his
account of the miracles of Edward the Confessor. "A young woman had
married a husband of her own age, but having no issue by the union,
the humours collecting abundantly about her neck, she had contracted a
sore disorder, the glands swelling in a dreadful manner. Admonished in
a dream to have the part affected washed by the king, she entered the
palace, and the king himself fulfilled this labour of love, by rubbing
the woman's neck with his fingers dipped in water. Joyous health
followed his healing hand; the lurid skin opened, so that worms flowed
out with the purulent matter, and the tumour subsided. But as the
orifice of the ulcers was large and unsightly, he commanded her to be
supported at the royal expense until she should be perfectly cured.
However, before a week had expired, a fair new skin returned, and hid
the scars so completely, that nothing of the original wound could be
discovered; and within a year becoming the mother of twins, she
increased the admiration of Edward's holiness. Those who knew him more
intimately, affirm that he often cured this complaint in Normandy;
whence appears how false is the notion, who in our times assert, that
the cure of this disease does not proceed from personal sanctity, but
from hereditary virtue in the royal line."[168] The fact that Edward
was a saint as well as a king throws some light on the subject, for
many miracles were attributed to him. Jeremy Collier maintained that
the scrofula miracle is hereditary upon all his successors, but we
find that not blood but royal prestige was the secret. He said "that
this prince cured the king's evil is beyond dispute: and since the
credit of this miracle is unquestionable, I see no reason why we
should scruple believing the rest.... King Edward the Confessor was
the first that cured this distemper, and from him it has descended as
an hereditary miracle upon all his successors. To dispute the matter
of fact, is to go to the excesses of skepticism, to deny our senses,
and be incredulous even to ridiculousness."[169]
The quotation given above from William of Malmesbury is the earliest
mention of the gift of healing by the royal touch. No historian at or
near the time of Edward has alluded to the supposed power vested in
him. Not even the bull of Pope Alexander III, by which Edward was
canonized about two centuries after his decease, makes any allusion
whatever to the cures effected by him through the imposition of hands.
English and French writers have disagreed not only regarding the
origin, but also regarding the real possession of the power, the
English denying it to the French kings and the French with equal vigor
restricting it to their own sovereigns. There seems to be little doubt
that the sovereigns of both nations made cures, but the healing was
confined to these two royal families; the intermarriages in the two
families probably account for the belief in the transmission of the
gift, regardless of the origin.
The ability to heal certain diseases passed down from reign to reign
notwithstanding the religious belief, the character, or the legitimate
succession of the sovereign, to the time of Queen Anne. It must not be
supposed that the practice was continuous for the seven centuries from
Edward the Confessor to Anne: we have no record whatever of the first
four Norman kings attempting to cure any one by the imposition of
hands, and we know that William III refused to attempt healing. Andrew
Boorde defines king's-evil as an "euyl sickenes or impediment," and
advises as follows: "For this matter let euery man make frendes to the
Kynges maiestie, for it doth pertayne to a Kynge to helpe this
infirmitie by the grace the whiche is geuen to a Kynge anoynted." In
his _Introduction to Knowledge_ (1547-1548) he continues: "The Kynges
of England by the power that God hath gyuen to them, dothe make sicke
men whole of a sickeness called the kynges euyll."[170]
There is a curious passage in Aubrey in which he says: "The curing of
the King's Evil by the touch of the king, does much puzzle our
philosophers, for whether our kings were of the house of York or
Lancaster, it did the cure for the most part." Sir John Fortescue, in
defending the House of Lancaster against the House of York, claimed
that the crown could not descend to a female because the Queen was not
qualified by the form of anointing her to cure the disease called the
king's-evil. It must have been very comforting to all concerned to find
that the power to cure disease by the royal touch had not been affected
by the change of sex of the reigning sovereign.
The gift was not impaired by the Reformation, and an obdurate Roman
Catholic was converted on finding that Elizabeth, after the Pope's
excommunication, could cure his scrofula. Elizabeth, however, could
not bring herself fully to accept the reality of these cures. She
continued the practice on account of the pressure of public opinion,
but upon one occasion she told a multitude of afflicted ones who had
applied to her for relief, "God alone can cure your diseases." Dr.
Tooker, the Queen's chaplain, though, certified freely to his own
knowledge of the cures wrought by her, as did also William Cowles, the
Queen's surgeon. Robert Laneham's letter, concerning the Queen's visit
to Kenilworth Castle, relates how, on July 18, 1575, her Majesty
touched for the evil, and that it was a "day of grace." "By her
highnes accustumed mercy and charitee, nyne cured of the peynfull and
daungerous diseaz, called the king's euill; for that Kings and Queenz
of this Realm withoout oother medsin (saue only by handling and
prayerz) only doo cure it."
James I wished to drop it as a worn-out superstition, but was warned
by his advisers that to do so would be to abate a prerogative of the
crown; the practice therefore continued, and good testimony exists as
to the cures wrought by him. The following is an extract from a letter
from John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton, ambassador at The Hague,
dated London, 14th November, 1618: "The Turkish Chiaus is shortly
coming for the Hagh. On Tuesday last he took leave of the king, and
thanked his majesty for healing his sonne of the kinges evill; which
his majesty performed with all solemnity at Whitehall on Thursday was
sevenight." Charles I also enjoyed the same power, notwithstanding
the public declaration by Parliament "to inform the people of the
superstition of being touched by the king for the evil." When a
prisoner he cured a man by simply saying, "God bless thee and grant
thee thy desire," the Puritans not permitting him to touch the
patient. Whereupon it is asserted by Dr. John Nicholas on his own
knowledge, the blotches and humors disappeared from the patient's body
and appeared in the bottle of medicine which he held in his hand.
Charles's blood had the same efficacy. This sovereign substituted in
some cases the giving of a piece of silver instead of the gold, which
was usually presented to the patient. Badger says that this king
"excelled all his predecessors in the divine gift; for it is manifest
beyond all contradiction, that he not only cured by his sacred touch,
both with and without gold, but likewise perfectly effected the same
cure by his prayer and benediction only." In his reign the gift was
exercised at certain seasons of the year, Easter and Michaelmas being
at first set apart for this purpose. A further regulation, which is
quite suggestive, was that the patient must present a certificate to
the effect that he had never before been touched for the disease.
The following incident is related concerning Charles I: "A young
gentlewoman of about sixteen years of age, Elizabeth Stevens, of
Winchester, came (7 October, 1648) into the presence-chamber to be
touched for the evill, which she was supposed to have; and therewith
one of her eyes (that namely on the left side) was so much indisposed,
that by her owne and her mother's testimony (who was then also
present), she had not seene with that eye of above a month before.
After prayers, read by Dr. Sanderson, the maide kneeled downe among
others, likewise to be touched. And his majestie touched her, and put
a ribbon, with a piece of money at it, in usuall manner, about her
neck. Which done, his majesty turned to the lords (viz., the duke of
Richmond, the earl of Southampton, and the earl of Lindsey) to
discourse with them. And the said young gentlewoman of her own accord
said openly: 'Now, God be praised! I can see of this fore eye.' And
afterwards declared she did see more and more by it, & could, by
degrees, endure the light of the candle. All which his majestie, in
the presence of the said lords & many others, examined himself, &
found to be true. And it hath since been discovered that, some months
agone, the said young gentlewoman professed that, as soon as she was
come of age sufficient, she would convey over to the king's use all
her land; which to the valew of about £130 _per annum_, her father
deceased had left her sole heyre unto."[171]
Charles II, perhaps the most unworthy of English monarchs, was by far
the busiest healer, and even while in exile in the Netherlands he
retained the power to cure. In one month he touched two hundred and
sixty at Breda, and Lower said: "It was not without success, since it
was the experience that drew thither every day a great number of those
diseased even from the most remote provinces of Germany." An official
register of the persons touched was kept for every month in his reign,
but about two and a half years appear to be wanting. The smallest
number he touched in one year was 2,983; that was in 1669. In 1682 he
touched 8,500 persons. In 1684 the throng was such that six or seven
of the sick were trampled to death. The total number touched in his
reign was 92,107.[172] It is instructive to note, however, that while
in no other reign were so many people touched for scrofula and so many
cures vouched for, in no other reign did so many people die of that
disease.[173]
John Browne, surgeon in ordinary to his majesty and to St. Thomas's
Hospital, and author of many learned works on surgery and anatomy,
published accounts of sixty cures due to this monarch. He says a
surgeon attested the reality of the disease before the miracle was
performed, to exclude impostors who were seeking the gold, for, in
addition to the regular formula, the king hung about the neck of the
person touched a ribbon to which was attached a gold coin.
Notwithstanding these stringent measures, some were able to impose on
the king, for the coins were often found in the shops, having been
sold by the recipients. Says Brand: "Barrington tells us of an old man
who was a witness in a cause, and averred that when Queen Anne was at
Oxford, she touched him whilst a child for the evil. Barrington, when
he had finished his evidence, 'asked him whether he was really cured?
upon which he answered with a significant smile, that he believed
himself never to have had a complaint that deserved to be considered
as the Evil, but that his parents were poor, and had no objection to
the bit of gold.'"[174]
While it was not unknown before, the presentation of a piece of gold
was first generally introduced in the reign of Henry VII. It probably
descended from a practice common in the time of Edward III, whose
coin, the rose-noble, is said to have been worn as an amulet to
preserve from danger in battle. The angel-noble of Henry VII, valued
at ten shillings, appears to have been the coin given; it was in
common use and not made especially for this purpose. It had the figure
of the Archangel Michael on one side and a ship in full sail on the
other. Before hanging it on the patient's neck the monarch always
crossed the sore with it. The outlay for gold coins presented to the
afflicted on these occasions rose in some years as high as £10,000. So
great was the expense that after the reign of Elizabeth the size of
the coin was reduced. Touching pieces of the time of Charles II are
not rare even now.
In 1684 Surgeon John Browne published a curious work entitled
_Adenochoiradelogia: or an Anatomick-Chirurgical Treatise on Glandules
and Strumæs, or King's Evil Swellings_. In this the author traces the
gift of healing from our Saviour to the apostles, and thence by a
continuous line of Christian kings and governors, and holy men,
commencing with Edward the Confessor, whom he regards as the first
curer of scrofula by contact or imposition of hands. After referring
to his majesty in most flattering terms, he continues concerning "the
admirable effects and wonderful events of his royal cure throughout
all nations, where not only English, Dutch, Scotch, and Irish have
reaped ease and cure, but French, Germans, and all countreyes
whatsoever, far and near, have abundantly seen and received the same:
and none ever, hitherto, I am certain, mist thereof, unless their
little faith and incredulity starved their merits, or they received
his gracious hand for curing another disease, which was not really
evermore allowed to be cured by him; and as bright evidences hereof, I
have presumed to offer that some have immediately upon the very touch
been cured; others not so easily quitted from their swellings till the
favor of a second repetition thereof. Some also, losing their gold,
their diseases have seized them afresh, and no sooner have these
obtained a second touch, and new gold, but their diseases have been
seen to vanish, as being afraid of his majesties presence; wherein
also have been cured many without gold; and this may contradict such
who must needs have the king give them gold as well as his touch,
supposing one invalid without the gift of both. Others seem also as
ready for a second change of gold as a second touch, whereas their
first being newly strung upon white riband, may work as well (by their
favour). The tying the Almighty to set times and particular days is
also another great fault of those who can by no means be brought to
believe but at Good Friday and the like seasons this healing faculty
is of more vigour and efficacy than at any other time, although
performed by the same hand. As to the giving of gold, this only shows
his majesties royal well-wishes towards the recovery of those who come
thus to be healed."[175] He refers to some "Atheists, Sadducees, and
ill-conditioned Pharisees" who disbelieved, and he gives the letter of
one who went, a complete sceptic, to satisfy his friends, and came
away cured and converted.
Browne includes the following case which seems to him conclusive: "A
Nonconformist child, in Norfolk, being troubled with scrofulous
swellings, the late deceased Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich, being
consulted about the same, his majesty being then at Breda or Bruges,
he advised the parents of the child to have it carried over to the
king (his own method being used ineffectively); the father seemed very
strange at this advice, and utterly denied it, saying the touch of the
king was of no greater efficacy than any other man's. The mother of
the child, adhering to the doctor's advice, studied all imaginable
means to have it over, and at last prevailed with her husband to let
it change the air for three weeks or a month; this being granted, the
friends of the child that went with it, unknown to the father, carried
it to Breda, where the king touched it, and she returned home
perfectly healed. The child being come to its father's house, and he
finding so great an alteration, inquires how his daughter arrived at
this health. The friends thereof assured him, that if he would not be
angry with them, they would relate the whole truth; they, having his
promise for the same, assured him they had the child to be touched at
Breda, whereby they apparently let him see the great benefit his child
received thereby. Hereupon the father became so amazed that he threw
off his Nonconformity, and expressed his thanks in this manner:
'Farewell to all dissenters, and to all nonconformists; if God
can put so much virtue into the king's hand as to heal my child,
I'll serve that God and that king so long as I live, with all
thankfulness.'"[176] It is unfortunate that we have a change of air
and food to consider in this case, else we might have a good example
of a real miracle.
Friday was usually set apart in this reign as the regular day for
healing, but, in addition to this, special portions of the church year
were reserved for the exercise of this gift. Very careful examinations
were made by the surgeons, and those who were found to be suffering
from the evil were presented with a ticket by the surgeon which
entitled them to receive the healing touch of the king. If the king's
touch were really efficacious, one might think that the disease should
have been wholly exterminated during this reign, so great were the
number touched. On the contrary, the deaths were more numerous, and on
account of the neglect of medical and surgical means it spread very
widely.
James II, it is said by Dr. Heylin, also wrought cures upon babes in
their mothers' arms, and the fame of these cures was so great that the
year before James was dethroned, a pauper of Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, petitioned the general assembly to enable him to make the
voyage to England to be healed by the royal touch. In one of his
progresses James touched eight hundred persons in Chester Cathedral.
William III evidently thought of the matter as a superstition, and on
one occasion he touched a patient, saying to him, "God give you better
health and more sense"; notwithstanding the incredulity of the
sovereign, Whiston assures us that the person was healed. With honest
good sense, however, William refused to exercise the power which most
of his subjects undoubtedly thought he possessed, and many protests
were made, and much proof was adduced concerning "the balsamic virtues
of the royal hand." This refusal to continue the practice of touching
brought upon him the charge of cruelty from the parents of scrofulous
children, while bigots lifted up their hands and eyes in holy horror
at his impiety.
Dr. Samuel Johnson was one of the last persons to receive the
imposition of royal hands; when a boy of four and a half years, he was
touched by Queen Anne, together with about two hundred others, on
March 30, 1712. In his case at least the touch was inefficacious, for
he was subject to scrofula all his life. Boswell says:[177] "His
mother, yielding to the superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful
to think, prevailed so long in this country, as to the virtue of the
royal touch; a notion which our kings encouraged, and to which a man
of such inquiry and such judgment as Carte could give credit, carried
him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. Mrs.
Johnson, indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the
celebrated Sir John Floyer, then a physician in Litchfield." At this
time few persons but Jacobites believed in king's touch as a miracle.
Dr. Daniel Turner, though, relates that several cases of scrofula
which had been unsuccessfully treated by himself and Dr. Charles
Bernard, sergeant-surgeon to her majesty, yielded afterwards to the
efficacy of the queen's touch.
During the reign of Anne the sceptics outnumbered the believers and at
her death the practice was discontinued. Among the unbelievers was the
above-mentioned Dr. Charles Bernard, an account of whose conversion is
given by Oldmixon as follows: "Yesterday the queen was graciously
pleased to touch for the King's evil some particular persons in
private; and three weeks after, December 19, yesterday, about twelve
at noon her majesty was pleased to touch, at St. James', about twenty
persons afflicted with the King's evil. The more ludicrous sort of
skeptics, in this case, asked why it was not called the queen's evil,
as the chief court of justice was called the Queen's Bench. But
Charles Bernard, the surgeon who had made this touching the subject of
his raillery all his lifetime till he became body surgeon at court,
and found it a good perquisite, solved all difficulties by telling his
companions with a fleer '_Really one could not have thought it, if one
had not seen it_.' A friend of mine heard him say it, and knew well
his opinion of it."[178]
In 1745 there was an attempted revival of the practice when Prince
Charles Edward exercised this prerogative of royalty.
Henry VII was the first monarch to establish a particular ceremony to
be observed at the healings. He probably derived this from an old form
of exorcism used for the dispossessing of evil spirits. This was
altered at various times but may still be found in the prayer-book of
the reign of Queen Anne. Indeed, it was not until some time after the
accession of George I that the University of Oxford ceased to reprint
the office of healing, together with the Liturgy.
The routes to be travelled by royal personages and the days on which
the miracle was to be wrought were fixed at sittings of the Privy
Council, and the clergy of all the parish churches of the realm were
solemnly notified. They, in turn, informed the people, and the
sufferers along the way had many days in which to cherish the
expectation of healing, in itself so beneficial. The ceremony was
conducted with great solemnity and pomp. It has been vividly described
by Macaulay as follows: "When the appointed time came, several divines
in full canonicals stood round the canopy of state. The surgeon of the
royal household introduced the sick. A passage of Mark 16. was read.
When the words 'They shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall
recover,' had been pronounced, there was a pause and one of the sick
was brought to the king. His Majesty stroked the ulcers and swellings,
and hung round the patient's neck a white ribbon to which was fastened
a gold coin. The other sufferers were led up in succession; and as
each was touched the chaplain repeated the incantation, 'They shall
lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover.' Then came the
epistle, prayers, antiphonies, and a benediction."
Evelyn, in his _Diary_, gives us the form employed by Charles II in
July, 1660, as follows: "His Majestie first began to touch for evil
according to costume, thus--His majestie sitting under his state in
the Banquetting House, the Chirurgeons cause the sick to be brought or
led up to the throne, where they kneeling, the King strokes their
faces or cheekes with both his hands at once, at which instant a
Chaplaine in his formalities says: 'He put his hands on them and he
healed them.' This is sayed to every one in particular. When they have
all been touched they come up againe in the same order; and the other
Chaplaine kneeling, and having angel-gold strung on white ribbon on
his arme, delivers them one by one to his Majestie, who puts them
about the necks of the touched as they passe, whilst the first
Chaplaine repeats: 'That is the true light who came into the world.'
Then follows an Epistle (as at first, a Gospel) with the Liturgy,
prayers for the sick with some alteration, lastly the blessing: and
the Lo. Chamberlaine and Comptroller of the Household, bring a basin,
ewer, and towel for his Majestie to wash."[179]
The belief in the efficacy of the king's touch was general, and Lecky
tells us its genuineness "was asserted by the privy council, by the
bishops of two religions, by the general voice of the clergy in the
palmiest days of the English Church, by the University of Oxford, and
by the enthusiastic assent of the people. It survived the ages of the
Reformation, of Bacon, of Milton, and of Hobbes. It was by no means
extinct at the age of Locke, and would probably have lasted still
longer, had not the change of dynasty at the Revolution assisted the
tardy scepticism."[180]
In France there was the same belief in the efficacy of the royal
touch. Philip I exercised the gift, but the French historians say that
he was deprived of the power on account of the irregularity of his
life. Laurentius reports that Francis I, when a prisoner in Spain,
cured a great number of people of struma (scrofula). A paraphrase of
the Latin verse which Lascaris wrote concerning this event is as
follows:
"The king applies his hand, diseases fly,
And though a captive, still the powers on high
Regard his touch. This striking proof is giv'n,
That they who bound him are the foes of Heav'n."
Concerning the touching by the kings of France, Pettigrew says: "In
the church of St. Maclou, in St. Denys, Heylin (_Cosmograph._, p. 184)
says the kings of France, with a fast of nine days and other penances,
used to receive the gift of healing the king's evil with nothing but a
touch. Philip de Comines states, that the king always confessed before
the cure of the king's evil. Butler (_Lives of the Saints_, vol. VIII,
p. 394) says, 'The French kings usually only perform this ceremony on
the day they have received the holy communion.' The historians who
write under the first two families of the French kings are altogether
silent as to the kings' curing the evil by the touching. (_Veyrard
Trav._, p. 109.) Philip of Valois is reported to have cured 1400 people
afflicted with the king's evil. Of Louis XIII, it was said that he had
assigned all his power to Cardinal Richelieu, except that of curing
the king's evil. Carte says, some of the French writers ascribe the
gift of healing to their king's devotion toward the relics of St.
Marculf, in the church of Corbigny, in Champagne: to which the kings
of France, immediately after their coronation at Rheims, used to go in
solemn procession. A veneration was also paid to this saint in
England, and a room in memory of him, in the palace of Westminster,
has frequently been mentioned in the Rolls of Parliament, and which
was called the Chamber of St. Marculf, being, as Carte conjectures,
probably the place where the kings used to touch for the evil. This
room was afterward called the Painted Chamber. The French kings
practised the touch extensively. Gemelli, the traveller, states, that
Louis XIV touched 1600 persons on Easter Sunday, 1686.[181] The words
he used were, 'Le Roy te touche, Dieu te guérisse.' Every Frenchman
received fifteen sous, and every foreigner thirty. The French kings
kept up the practice to 1776."[182]
"Servetus," says Hammond, "who was not of a credulous mind, says in
the first edition of his _Ptolemy_, published in 1535, that he had
seen the king touch many persons for the disease, but he had never
seen any that were cured thereby. But the last clause of this sentence
excited the ire of the censor, and in the next edition, published in
1541, the words '_an sanati fuerint non vidi_' were changed to
'_pluresque sanatos passim audivi_': 'I have heard of many that were
cured.' Testimony in support of miracles has often been manufactured,
but the natural obstinacy and truthfulness of Servetus would not admit
of his giving his personal endorsement at the expense of his
convictions."[183]
Within the last half-century we have had an example of the value of
the royal touch. When cholera was raging in Naples in 1865, and the
people were rushing from the city by thousands, King Victor Emmanuel
went the rounds of the hospitals in an endeavor to stimulate courage
in the hearts of his people. He lingered at the bedside of the
patients and spoke encouraging words to them. On a cot lay one man
already marked for death. The king stepped to his side, and pressing
his damp, icy hand, said, "Take courage, poor man, and try to recover
soon." That evening the physicians reported a diminution of the
disease in the course of the day, and the man marked for death out of
danger. The king had unconsciously worked a marvellous cure.[184]
It seems certain that there was not the efficacy in king's touch which
was claimed for it, or it would not have been discontinued after
having held sway for over seven hundred years. No doubt the
quasi-religious character of the office of the sovereign helped much
in the belief, and when such men as Charles II were able to heal,
little connection between religion and healing could longer be thought
possible, as far as the healing by king's touch was concerned.
The Hallowing of Cramp Rings was not unlike the king's touch. It is
described by Bishop Percy in his _Northumberland Household Book_,
where we have the following account: "And then the Usher to lay a
Carpett for the Kinge to Creepe to the Crosse upon. An that done,
there shal be a Forme sett upon the Carpett, before the Crucifix, and
a Cushion laid upon it for the King to kneale upon. And the Master of
the Jewell Howse ther to be ready with the Booke concerninge the
Hallowing of the Crampe Rings, and Amner (Almoner) muste kneele on
the right hand of the King, holdinge the sayde booke. When that is
done the King shall rise and goe to the Alter, wheare a Gent. Usher
shall be redie with a Cushion for the Kinge to kneele upon; and then
the greatest Lords that shall be ther to take the Bason with the Rings
and beare them after the Kinge to offer."
In the Harleian Manuscripts there is a letter from Lord Chancellor
Hatton to Sir Thomas Smith, dated September 11, 158-, about a
prevailing epidemic, and enclosing a ring for Queen Elizabeth to wear
between her breasts, the said ring having "the virtue to expell
infectious airs."
Andrew Boorde, already quoted, says: "The Kynges of England doth
halowe euery yere crampe rynges, the whyche rynges, worne on ones
fynger, dothe helpe them the whyche hath the crampe."[185] Also, "The
kynges majesty hath a great help in this matter, in hallowynge crampe
rynges, and so given without money or petition."
In the account of the ceremony given by Hospinian, he states that "it
was performed upon Good Friday, and that it originated from a ring
which had been brought to King Edward by some persons from Jerusalem,
and one which he himself hath long before given privately to a poor
petitioner who asked alms of him for the love he bore to St. John the
Evangelist. This ring was preserved with great veneration in
Westminster Abbey, and whoever was touched by this relic was said to
be cured of the cramp or of the falling sickness." Burnet informs us
that Bishop Gardiner was at Rome in 1529, and that he wrote a letter
to Ann Boleyn, by which it appears that Henry VIII blessed the cramp
rings before as well as after the separation from Rome, and that she
sent them as great presents thither.
"Mr. Stephens, I send you here cramp rings for you and Mr. Gregory and
Mr. Peter, praying you to distribute them as you think best.--Ann
Boleyn."[186]
This ceremonial was practised by previous sovereigns and discontinued
by Edward VI. Queen Mary intended to revive it, and, indeed, the
office for it was written out, but she does not appear to have carried
her intentions into effect.
[167] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with the
History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 154
f.
[168] E. Berdoe, _The Origin and Growth of the Healing
Art_, p. 372.
[169] _Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain_, I, p.
225.
[170] Quoted by Berdoe, _ibid._, p. 371.
[171] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, pp. 257 f.
[172] T. B. Macaulay, _History of England_, III, pp. 378
f.
[173] A. D. White, _History of the Warfare of Science
with Theology_, II, p. 47.
[174] J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, III, p. 256.
[175] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with the
History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery_, pp.
182-184.
[176] Quoted by H. Tuke, _Influence of the Mind upon the
Body_, pp. 359 f.
[177] _Life of Johnson_, I, p. 42.
[178] _History of England_, II, p. 302.
[179] Vol. I, p. 323.
[180] W. E. H. Lecky, _History of European Morals_, I,
p. 364.
[181] This was at Versailles.
[182] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with the
History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery_, pp. 156
f.
[183] W. A. Hammond, _Spiritism and Nervous
Derangement_, p. 150.
[184] C. L. Tuckey, _Treatment by Hypnotism and
Suggestion_, p. 30.
[185] E. Berdoe, _The Origin and Growth of the Healing
Art_, p. 371.
[186] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, p. 117.
CHAPTER X
MESMER AND AFTER
"Some deemed them wondrous wise,
And some believed them mad."--BEATTIE.
"A perfect medicine for bodies that be sick
Of all infirmities to be relieved;
This heleth nature and prolongeth lyfe eke."
Probably no one would claim that the phenomena now grouped under the
head of hypnotism were unknown before the end of the sixteenth
century. They are as old as man, yes, probably older, since we know
that some of the same phenomena apply to animals. But the claim might
well be made that while isolated facts of this kind were well known,
especially in the East, no scientific collaboration and explanation
were attempted until this time.
As with all other departments of science, we may trace a gradual
development. Astrology of old taught the influence of the stars upon
men, which doctrine was accepted by the great physician Theophrastus
Paracelsus (1490-1541). This, however, was only part of his belief:
the human body was endowed with a double magnetism; one portion
attracted to itself the planets and was nourished by them, the result
of which was the mental powers; the other portion attracted and
disintegrated the elements, from which process resulted the body. He
also claimed that the magnetic virtue of healthy persons attracted the
enfeebled magnetism of the sick. With this theory of animal magnetism,
it was only natural that he should value the use of the magnet very
highly in the cure of diseases. This dual theory of magnetic cures,
that of the magnetic influence of men on men and of the magnet on man,
was prevalent for over a century, and found its latest exponent in
Mesmer.
Following Paracelsus, Glocenius, Burgrave, Helinotius, Robert Fludd,
and Kircher believed that the magnet represented the universal
principle by which all natural phenomena might be explained. This
principle, existing as it did in the human body, was an important
factor in health and disease. The great chemist Von Helmont
(1577-1644) taught more precisely that a power resided in man by which
he could magnetically affect others, and thereby cure the sick who
were most influenced by it. He published a work on the effects of
magnetism on the human frame.
About the same time Balthazar Gracian, a Spaniard, boldly proclaimed
his views. "The magnet," he said, "attracts iron; iron is found
everywhere; everything, therefore, is under the influence of
magnetism.... It is the same agent which gives rise to sympathy,
antipathy, and the passions." Baptista Porta (1543-1615), one of the
originators of the weapon-salve, had also great faith in the magnet.
So effective was his work on the imaginations of his patients that he
was considered a magician and prohibited from practising by the court
of Rome. Sebastian Wirdig, professor of medicine at the University of
Rostock, in Mecklenburg, wrote a treatise on "The New Medicine of the
Spirits" which he presented to the Royal Society of London in 1673. He
maintained that a magnetic influence took place, not only between the
celestial and terrestrial bodies, but between all living things. The
whole world was under the influence of magnetism: life was preserved
by magnetism, death was the consequence of magnetism.
Maxwell (1581-1640) propagated somewhat the same doctrine. He was a
firm believer in sympathetic cures, and assumed a vital spirit of the
universe which related all bodies. It was probably from this that
Mesmer got his idea of what he called the universal fluid. It would
seem, however, that Maxwell was aware of the great influence of
imagination and suggestion. He said: "If you wish to work prodigies,
abstract from the materiality of beings--increase the sum of
spirituality in bodies--rouse the spirit from its slumbers. Unless you
do one or other of these things--unless you can bind the idea, you can
never perform anything good or great." About the same time, in Italy,
Santanelli propagated the theory of a universal fluid. Everything
material possessed a radiating atmosphere which operated
magnetically. He also recognized, however, the great influence of the
imagination.
[Illustration: F. A. MESMER]
About the year 1771, Father Hell, a Jesuit, and professor of astronomy
at the University of Vienna, became famous through his magnetic cures,
and invented steel plates of a peculiar form which he applied to the
naked body as a cure for several diseases. In 1774 he communicated his
system to Mesmer, the man who, more than any one else, drew the
world's attention to the investigation of mental healing. Various
estimates have been made of Mesmer's character and he frequently has
been condemned. He was fond of display, but it is doubtful if he was
more avaricious than most persons who lived before and have lived
since. He was evidently honest in his scientific investigations and
opinions, and this is our main concern.
Friederich Antony Mesmer (1733-1815) was born at Mersbury, in Swabia,
and studied medicine at the University of Vienna. He read freely the
books written by the authors already mentioned, and accepted much of
their teaching. His originality consisted principally in applying to
the sick this universal principle, by means of contact and passes,
while his predecessors infused the vital spirit through the use of
talismans and of magic boxes. He took his medical degree in 1766 and
chose as the subject of his inaugural dissertation "The Influence of
the Planets in the Cure of Diseases." In this dissertation he
maintained "that the sun, moon, and fixed stars mutually affect each
other in their orbits; that they cause and direct in our earth a flux
and reflux not only in the sea, but in the atmosphere, and affect in a
similar manner all organized bodies through the medium of a subtle and
mobile fluid, which pervades the universe, and associates all things
together in mutual intercourse and harmony." This influence, he said,
was particularly exercised on the nervous system, and produced two
states, which he called _intension_ and _remission_, which seemed to
him to account for the different periodical revolutions observable in
several maladies.
Eight years later he met Father Hell, and after trying some
experiments with his metallic plates was astonished at his success. He
continued working with Hell for some time, but they finally
quarrelled, and shortly afterward he stumbled upon his theory of
animal magnetism. After this he no longer used the magnet in healing.
The Academy of Science at Berlin examined his claims, but their report
was far from favorable or flattering. Nevertheless, writing to a
friend from Vienna, he said: "I have observed that the magnetic is
almost the same as the electric fluid, and that it may be propagated
in the same manner, by means of intermediate bodies. Steel is not the
only substance adapted to this purpose. I have rendered paper, bread,
wool, silk, stones, leather, glass, wood, men, and dogs--in short,
every thing I touched--magnetic to such a degree, that these
substances produced the same effects as the loadstone on diseased
persons. I have charged jars with magnetic matter in the same way as
is done with electricity." About this time he was nominated a member
of the Academy of Bavaria.
Leaving Vienna and travelling through Swabia and Switzerland, he met
Gassner and witnessed some of his cures. Mesmer claimed that they were
performed by his newly discovered magnetism. He arrived in Paris in
1778 and found this city more receptive to his arts. He at first
established himself in an humble quarter of the city and began to
expound his theory. The following year he published a paper in which
he summed up his claims in twenty-seven assertions to which he rigidly
held through his life. His doctrines were well received, and acquired
an impetus at the beginning by the conversion of one of the leading
physicians of the faculty of medicine, Deslon, the Comte d'Artois'
first physician.
Pupils and patients now flocked to him. The crowd was so great that
Mesmer employed a _valet toucheur_ to magnetize in his place. This was
not sufficient; he then invented the famous _baquet_, or trough,
around which thirty persons might simultaneously be magnetized. This
_baquet_ is described as follows: "A circular, oaken case, about a
foot high, was placed in the middle of a large hall, hung with thick
curtains, through which only a soft and subdued light was allowed to
penetrate; this was the _baquet_. At the bottom of the case, on a
layer of powdered glass and iron filings, there lay full bottles,
symmetrically arranged, so that the necks of all converged toward the
centre; other bottles were arranged in the opposite direction, with
their necks toward the circumference. All these objects were immersed
in water, but this condition was not absolutely necessary, and the
_baquet_ might be dry. The lid was pierced with a certain number of
holes, whence there issued jointed and moving iron branches, which
were to be held by the patients. Absolute silence was maintained. The
patients were ranged in several rows round the _baquet_, connected
with each other by cords passed round their bodies, and by a second
chain, formed by joining hands."[187]
Additional features were provided to heighten the effect of the
magnetic charm. "Richly stained glass shed a dim religious light on
his spacious saloons, which were almost covered with mirrors. Orange
blossoms scented all the air of his corridors; incense of the most
expensive kinds burned in antique vases on his chimney-pieces; æolian
harps sighed melodious music from distant chambers; while sometimes a
sweet female voice, from above or below, stole softly upon the
mysterious silence that was kept in the house and insisted upon from
all visitors."[188]
Bailly, the historian and celebrated astronomer, an eye-witness,
describes the results. "Some patients remain calm and experience
nothing; others cough, spit, feel slight pain, a local or general
heat, and fall into sweats; others are agitated and tormented by
convulsions. These convulsions are remarkable for their number,
duration, and force, and have been known to persist for more than
three hours. They are characterized by involuntary, jerking movements
in all the limbs, and in the whole body, by contraction of the throat,
by twitchings in the hypochondriac and epigastric regions, by dimness
and rolling of the eyes, by piercing cries, tears, hiccough, and
immoderate laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of
languor or dreaminess, by a species of depression, and even by stupor.
"The slightest sudden noise causes the patient to start, and it has
been observed that he is affected by a change of time or tune in the
airs performed on the pianoforte; that his agitation is increased by a
more lively movement, and that his convulsions then become more
violent. Patients are seen to be absorbed in the search for one
another, rushing together, smiling, talking affectionately, and
endeavoring to modify their crises. They are all so submissive to the
magnetizer that even when they appear to be in a stupor, his voice, a
glance, or a sign will rouse them from it. It is impossible not to
admit, from all these results, that some great force acts upon and
masters the patients, and that this force appears to reside in the
magnetizer. This convulsive state is termed the _crisis_. It has been
observed that many women and few men are subject to such crises; that
they are only established after the lapse of two or three hours, and
that when one is established, others soon and successively begin.
"When the agitation exceeds certain limits, the patients are
transported into a padded room; the women's corsets are unlaced, and
they may then strike their heads against the padded walls without
doing themselves any injury." Notwithstanding these means, thousands
were healed of their diseases.
"It is impossible," says Baron Dupotet, "to conceive the sensation
which Mesmer's experiments created in Paris. No theological
controversy, in the earlier ages of the Catholic Church, was ever
conducted with greater bitterness." He was called a quack, a fool, and
a demon, while his friends were as extravagant in his praise as his
foes in their censure. After this great excitement, his life may
largely be summed up in his challenges to different societies, the
appointment of commissions, their examinations, and their reports.
On the advice of Deslon he challenged the Faculty of Medicine,
proposing to select twenty-four patients, of whom twelve should be
treated according to the old and approved methods and twelve
magnetically, the cures to prove the efficacy of the treatment. The
faculty declined to accept the conditions. Deslon asked his colleagues
on the faculty to summon a general meeting to examine the matter.
Through the influence of M. de Vauzesmes, the meeting was very hostile
to him, and he was condemned and threatened with having his name
removed from the list of licensed physicians if he did not reform.
Mesmer now wrote to Marie Antoinette suggesting that the government
furnish him with houses, land, and a princely fortune to enable him to
carry on his experiments untroubled. The government finally offered
him a pension of 20,000 francs, and the cross of the order of St.
Michael, if he had made any discovery in medicine, and would
communicate it to the physicians whom the king should name. Mesmer
refused the conditions and left Paris.
Deslon was then called upon to renounce animal magnetism, but instead,
invited investigation. In 1784 the government appointed a commission
to inquire into magnetism, consisting of members from the Faculty of
Medicine and the Academy of Sciences. Franklin, Lavoisier, and Bailly
were members, the last named being chosen reporter. Another
commission, composed of members of the Royal Society of Medicine, was
charged to make a distinct report on the same subject. After
experimenting for five months the first commission presented two
reports, one public and the other secret, neither of which was
favorable. The Royal Society of Medicine presented its report a few
days later, and agreed with the first commission with the exception of
one member, Laurent de Jussieu, who dissented and published a separate
report of a more favorable nature. The gist of the commissions'
reports was that imagination, not magnetism, accounted for the
results.
Soon after the commissions started their investigations, Mesmer
returned to Paris at the invitation of his friends, who proposed to
open a subscription for him for 10,000 louis. Immediately it was
over-subscribed by over 140,000 francs. He came with the
understanding that he was to give lectures and to reveal the secret of
animal magnetism. The lectures and secrets were not satisfactory.
After the commission reported he left Paris and returned to his own
country where he was little heard of during the remainder of his life
which ended in 1815.
Whatever may be said of Mesmer, there seems to be no doubt about the
honesty of his most famous pupil, the Marquis de Puységur, and to him
we are indebted for a forward step. When Mesmer left Paris, the
marquis retired to his estate near Soissons, and employed his leisure
in magnetizing peasants. He magnetized his gardener, a young man named
Victor, and after experimenting upon him claimed that during the state
Victor exhibited marvellous telepathic and clairvoyant phenomena.
Unable to attend all the patients who applied to him, he followed
Mesmer's plan of magnetizing a tree. An elm on the village green was
chosen, and round this patients gathered on stone benches as around
Mesmer's _baquet_.
Following Mesmer's theories very closely, the contribution he made was
in the recognition of the likeness between the magnetized state and
that of somnambulism, so that he designated this state "artificial
somnambulism." He also modified the conditions of inducing this
state, and simple contact or spoken orders were substituted for the
use of the _baquet_. The effect was therefore milder, and instead of
hysteria and violent crises accompanied by sobs, cries, and
contractions, there was peaceful slumber. He recognized the rapport
between operator and subject, and amnesia on awaking, and other
phenomena now well known, but he still held to the Mesmeric theory of
the existence of a universal fluid which saturated all bodies,
especially the human body. It was electric in nature, and man could
display and diffuse this electric fluid at will.
While the Marquis de Puységur was using the elm tree near Soissons,
the Chevalier de Barbarin was successfully magnetizing people without
paraphernalia. He sat by the bedside of the sick and prayed that they
might be magnetized; his efforts were successful. He maintained that
the effect of animal magnetism was produced by the mere effort of one
human soul acting upon another; and when the connection had once been
established the magnetizer could communicate his influence to the
subject regardless of the distance which separated them. Numerous
persons adopted this view, calling themselves Barbarinists after their
leader. In Sweden and Germany they were called _spiritualists_, to
distinguish them from the followers of de Puységur, who were called
_experimentalists_.
About the same time a doctor of Lyons, Pététin, experimented with
magnetism. After his death a paper written by him was published
describing catalepsy and sense transference. Numerous magnetic
societies were founded in the principal cities of France. In
Strasburg, the Society of Harmony, consisting of more than one hundred
and fifty members, published for years the result of their work. The
disturbance incident to the Revolution and the wars of the Empire
which followed repressed the investigations of magnetism in France for
several years.
In England the advent of magnetism seems to have taken place about
1788. In that year one Dr. Mainandus, who had been a pupil first of
Mesmer and later of Deslon, arrived in Bristol and gave public
lectures on the subject. People of rank and fortune soon came from
different cities to be magnetized or to place themselves under his
tuition. He afterward established himself in London where he was
equally successful in attracting and curing people. So much curiosity
was excited by the subject that, about the same time, a man named
Holloway gave a course of lectures on animal magnetism in London.
Large crowds gathered to hear him at the rate of five guineas for each
pupil.
Loutherbourg, the painter, and his wife entered upon a similar work.
"Such was the infatuation of the people to be witnesses of their
strange manipulations," says Mackay, "that at times upwards of three
thousand persons crowded round their house at Hammersmith, unable to
gain admission. The tickets sold at prices ranging from one to three
guineas." Loutherbourg later became a divine healer. From 1789 to 1798
magnetism attracted little or no attention in England. At the latter
date a Connecticut Yankee, Benjamin Douglas Perkins, invented
"metallic tractors." The Society of Friends built a hospital called
the "Perkinean Institute" where all comers might be magnetized free of
cost.
About 1786 animal magnetism appeared in two different places in
Germany--on the upper Rhine and in Bremen. At this time Lavater paid a
visit to Bremen and exhibited the magnetizing process to several
doctors. Bremen was for a long time a focus of the new doctrine, and
thereby was brought into bad repute. About the same time the doctrine
spread from Strasburg over the Rhine provinces. Among those active in
experiments were Böckmann of Carlsruhe, Gmelin of Heilbronn, and
Pezold of Dresden. Soon it spread all over Germany. In 1789 Selle of
Berlin brought forward a series of experiments made at the Charité
(Hospital), in which he confirmed some of the alleged phenomena but
excluded the supernormal.
Notwithstanding the early dislike, animal magnetism flourished in
Germany during the first twenty years of the nineteenth century. In
1812 the Prussian government sent Wolfart to Mesmer at Frauenfeld, to
acquaint himself with the subject. He returned to Berlin an ardent
adherent of Mesmer and introduced magnetism into the hospital
treatment. From this magnetism flourished so much in Berlin that, as
Wurm relates, the Berlin physicians placed a monument on the grave of
Mesmer at Mörsburg, and theological candidates received instruction in
physiology, pathology, and the treatment of sickness by vital
magnetism. The well-known physician Koreff was interested in magnetism
and often made use of it for healing purposes. Magnetism was
introduced everywhere, especially in Russia and Denmark. In
Switzerland and Italy it was at first received with less sympathy, and
in 1815 the exercise of magnetism was forbidden in the whole of
Austria.
In 1813 the naturalist Deleuze published a book entitled _Histoire
critique du magnétisme animal_. Like his predecessors, he was chiefly
interested in the therapeutic value of magnetism, and insisted that
faith was necessary for effective treatment. On account of this
condition any demonstration was impossible. He still held to the idea
of a pervading fluid and maintained that the depth of the magnetic
sleep depended upon the amount of the magnetic charge. Shortly after
the appearance of Deleuze's book, interest in animal magnetism
increased, and several journals dealing exclusively with the subject
were started.
With the death of Mesmer in 1815 ended the first period in the history
of the phenomena known as animal magnetism. Up to this time the
generally accepted theory was that of a vital fluid which permeated
every thing and person and through which one person influenced
another. The second period extended from 1815-1841 when Braid
discovered and formulated the method of operation. The third period
reached from 1841-1887 during which there was careful and scientific
study of the whole subject, and hypnotism came into repute as a
healing measure. I am inclined to posit a fourth period, 1887 to the
present time, for Myers' hypothesis of a subliminal self, or the
theory of the subconsciousness, has made a great difference in the
theory of hypnotism.
The second period began when Abbe Faria in 1814-15 came from India to
Paris and gave public exhibitions, publishing the results of some of
his experiments. He seated his subjects in an armchair, with eyes
closed, and then cried out in a loud commanding voice, "Sleep." He
used no manipulations and had no _baquet_, but he boasted of having
produced five thousand somnambulists by this method. He opined that
the state was caused by no unknown force, but rested in the subject
himself. He agreed with the present generally accepted theory that all
is subjective.
Following Faria, Bertrand and Noizet paved the way for the doctrine of
suggestion notwithstanding their inclination toward animal magnetism.
Experiments were performed at the Hôtel-Dieu in 1820 but later were
prohibited. Through the influence of Foissac in 1826 the Academy of
Medicine appointed a committee to examine the subject, and in 1831 a
report acknowledging the genuineness of the phenomena was made, and
therapeutic effects were frankly admitted. In 1837 the Academy
appointed another commission to examine still further, for the members
as a whole were not convinced. The report of this commission was
largely negative.
After this the younger Burdin, a member of the Academy, proposed to
award from his own purse a prize of 3,000 francs to any person who
could read a given writing without the aid of his eyes, and in the
dark. The existence of animal magnetism must stand or fall on this
test. That was the difficulty during this period: the whole dispute
was waged about, and experiments consisted in tests of, clairvoyance,
transposition of the sense of sight, and other mystical phenomena,
instead of dealing with the state as such. This, of course, made the
struggle much easier for the opponents of mesmerism, but was largely
the fault of the magnetizers. The Burdin prize was not awarded, and in
1840 Double proposed that the Academy should henceforth pay no further
attention to animal magnetism, but treat the subject as definitely
closed. This was certainly unfair and unscientific, but was the
attitude assumed.
At the beginning of this period another series of tests was being
performed in Germany, but after 1820 the belief in magnetism declined
more and more. It flourished longest in Bremen and in Hamburg where
Siemers was its advocate. From 1830-1840 Hensler and Ennemoser were
the chief exponents in Bavaria. As the scientific investigators
withdrew from the study, the charlatans and frauds entered the field,
and the marvellous and occult were emphasized, so that in 1840 little
general attention was paid to the subject.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the London physicians Elliotson and
Ashburner, magnetism could obtain little footing in England during
this period. Numerous investigations were made, however, and several
publications were sent forth. Townshend, Scoresby, and Lee are names
prominent in the study of the subject in England at this time. In the
next period, though, an Englishman gives the impetus necessary for the
successful pursuit of the study.
In 1841 the French magnetizer, La Fontaine, gave some public
exhibitions in Manchester which attracted the attention of a physician
by the name of James Braid. Through the aid rendered by Braid, animal
magnetism blossomed into a science. He directed the subject into its
proper field: he eschewed the occult and mysterious, and emphasized
observation and experiment. It was Braid who gave us the word
"hypnotism." At first a sceptic, he began experimenting and proved
that fixity of gaze had in some way such an influence on the nervous
system of the subject that he went off into a sleep. He therefore
opined that the transmission of a fluid by the operator had no part in
the matter.
He further showed that an assumed attitude changed the subject's
sentiments in harmony with the attitude, and that the degree of sleep
varied with different persons, and with the same person at different
times. He also noted the acuteness of the senses during hypnosis, and
that verbal suggestion would produce hallucinations, emotions,
paralysis, etc. Therapeutics was a subject in which he was naturally
interested, and his experiments on different diseases were frequent
and valuable. Braid made some mistakes, as was natural, but his
discoveries covered the field so well and his ideas were so sound
that too much credit cannot be ascribed to him. At first he thought
hypnotism (Braidism) was identical with animal magnetism, but later
made the mistake of considering it analogous, and the two flourished
side by side and independently.
Animal magnetism was first introduced into America in 1836 by Mr.
Charles Poyan, a French gentleman. A few years later a certain Dr.
Collyer lectured upon it in New England. New Orleans was, however, for
a long time its chief centre. In 1848 Grimes, working independently,
appears to have arrived at about the same conclusions as Braid. He
showed that most of the hypnotic phenomena could be produced in the
waking state in some subjects, by means of verbal suggestion. The
phenomena were known under the name of electro-biology. In 1850
Darling went to England and introduced electro-biology, but it was
soon identified with Braidism, and in 1853 Durand de Gros, who wrote
under the pseudonym of Philips, exhibited the phenomena of
electro-biology in several countries, but aroused little attention.
Azam of Bordeaux and Broca of Paris made some experiments following
Braid's method, and several times performed some painless operations
by this means. They were followed by numerous others in all European
countries and in America. In fact, the interest in the subject became
general, and as more was known about it, fewer objections were heard.
Societies were formed for the study of hypnotism, publications were
started devoting all their space to the exposition and discussion of
it, and as this third period advanced, its scientific value was more
and more recognized from the stand-points of psychology, pathology,
and therapeutics.
In a brief résumé like this it would be impossible to name even the
chief experimenters in the different countries who contributed to this
period, but some names stand out so prominently that they should be
emphasized, for they must be reckoned in importance with Braid's.
Liebeault, whose book, _Du Sommeil_, _etc._, was published in 1866,
has been called the founder of the therapeutics of suggestion. While
suggestion in both waking and hypnotic states had been applied long
before Liebeault's day, it was he who first fully and methodically
recognized its value. We are also indebted to him for stimulating in
the study of hypnosis Bernheim and other prominent investigators.
Liebeault at the head of the School of Nancy was not less known than
Charcot at the Salpêtrière.
Charcot was indefatigable in his researches, but was led away in his
conclusions by artifacts. For example: three states were produced in
the hypnotic subject which Charcot considered to be symptomatic and
characteristic. They were catalepsy, lethargy, and somnambulism.
Certain physical excitations, such as rubbing the scalp or exposing
the eyes to a bright light, were thought to be all that was necessary
to change the subject from one stage to another. It has since been
shown that not only were the states of catalepsy, lethargy, and
somnambulism produced by suggestion, but the physical stimuli were
simply suggestions and signs by which the subject knew that a
particular change was expected, and, in harmony with hypnotic action,
the expected change came about. Not only did Charcot make this
mistake, but some of his followers of the Salpêtrière School continued
to be deceived for years afterward.
Hardly a conclusion of Charcot's remains to-day, and yet so earnest
was he in his investigations and so untiring in his experiments, that
many of his facts contributed much to our knowledge of the subject
even if his theories have been rejected. Binet, Féré, and other
followers of his have contributed much to the science and literature
of the subject. The latter half of this period is not unknown to us
to-day, and as the names connected with it are familiar, it remains
for me to mention but one more name, that of the one who ushered in
the fourth period, F. W. H. Myers.
From its beginning Myers was prominently connected with the Society
for Psychical Research and occupied the offices of president and
secretary. He held the latter position at the time of his death in
1901. In 1887 he formulated his theory of the subliminal self or
subliminal consciousness, a theory which has come to be more and more
accepted, and the value of which has received increasing appreciation.
It has been known as the "subconscious self" or the "subconsciousness"
probably more than by Myers's original title; and his theory has been
modified by some subtractions and additions, but it is generally
accepted to-day and its exposition has helped solve many problems in
abnormal psychology. In no department has it contributed more than in
that of hypnotism, for by it this state has been partially explained.
For a number of years Charcot and his followers put forward a
physiological theory of hypnotism which waged war with that of the
Nancy School, under Liebeault, but even before Charcot's death he
recognized the validity of the Nancy claims while still clinging to
his own. Few if any espouse Charcot's claims to-day. The general
psychological theory of Nancy, which bases the results on suggestion,
is that currently accepted, while a theory not very different from
that of animal magnetism has been held by some of those who accepted
the spiritualistic hypothesis, notably among whom was Myers.
Hypnotism to-day is recognized as the product of a long line of
erroneous theory and zigzag development, but the wheat has largely
been sifted and the chaff thrown to the winds of antiquity. Its
therapeutic and psychological value is duly recognized by science
to-day.[189]
[187] Binet and Féré, _Animal Magnetism_, p. 8.
[188] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, I,
p. 278.
[189] Many works and encyclopedic articles on hypnotism
have been consulted in the preparation of this chapter,
all of which were valuable, and few of which stand out
prominently.
CHAPTER XI
THE HEALERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
"Medical cannot be separated from moral science, without
reciprocal and essential mutilation."--REID.
"Man is a dupeable animal. Quacks in medicine, quacks in
religion, and quacks in politics know this, and act upon
that knowledge. There is scarcely anyone who may not,
like a trout, be taken by tickling."--SOUTHEY.
"Canst thou minister to a mind diseas'd,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?"--SHAKESPEARE.
"Joy, temperance, and repose,
Slam the door on the doctor's nose."--LONGFELLOW.
There seems to have been a great development of mental healing during
the nineteenth century. The healing by shrines, relics, and charms
diminished in the latter part of the century on account of the
lessening of superstition and the better understanding of mental laws,
but additional work has thereby been laid upon the healers. The
development of hypnotism and the exposition of the laws underlying it,
the collection and publication of cases of cures by mental means, the
lessening of faith in noxious doses of drugs, the increase of nervous
diseases which are most easily helped by suggestive therapeutics, the
attempted duplication of apostolic gifts on the part of some sects and
the general reaction against the materialism of the early part of the
century as shown in the great revival of psychical study and research
have all been factors in the demand for mental medicine.
The healers have been of various kinds. Having already dealt with the
mesmerizers and hypnotizers, we shall now look only at the classes of
independent and generally less scientific investigators and
experimenters. Some have not been regular healers but healed only
incidentally, as, _e. g._, the revivalists; some have followed James
5:14 f. in anointing with oil and praying--of these and others, some
have had institutions for housing the patients; some have been
peripatetic healers; some have simply used prayer; some have
established their systems on metaphysical bases and been the founders
of sects; some have combined the results of scientific investigations
in an endeavor to help mankind. Many of these have simply followed the
ways of their predecessors of former centuries, but a few started on
new lines of procedure. Whatever the method, they have all,
consciously or unconsciously, depended upon the influence of the
patient's mind over his own body, and the now better understood laws
of suggestion.
The revivals were eighteenth and nineteenth century phenomena, and in
discussing the part which their leaders have taken in healing we may
well include the experience of Wesley. As a mere incident in his
revival work, John Wesley (1703-1791), the great founder of Methodism,
appeared in the rather unenviable role of exorcist. It is to his
credit that he was not led away from his primary purpose by this
experience, but returned to his preaching without any effort to add
healing to his gifts. The account of his encounter with the demons can
best be given by quoting his own words, as found in his Journal.
"October 25 [1739]. I was sent for to one in Bristol who was taken ill
the evening before. She lay on the ground furiously gnashing her teeth
and after a while roared aloud. It was not easy for three or four
persons to hold her, especially when the name of Jesus was named. We
prayed. The violence of her symptoms ceased, though without a complete
deliverance." Wesley was sent for later in the day. "She began
screaming before I came into the room, then broke out into a horrid
laughter, mixed with blasphemy, grievous to hear. One who from many
circumstances apprehended a preternatural agent to be concerned in
this, asking, 'How didst thou dare to enter into a Christian?' was
answered, 'She is not a Christian, she is mine.' Then another
question, 'Dost thou not tremble at the name of Jesus?' No words
followed, but she shrunk back and trembled exceedingly. 'Art thou not
increasing thy own damnation?' It was faintly answered, 'Ay! Ay!'
which was followed by fresh cursing and blasphemy ... with spitting,
and all the expressions of strong aversion." Two days later Wesley
called and prayed with her again, when "All her pangs ceased in a
moment, she was filled with peace, and knew that the son of wickedness
was departed from her." On October 28 he exorcised two more demons
whom he had evidently (unconsciously) been the means of producing in
two neurotic girls. He had a few other experiences in healing, but
always in an incidental way.
[Illustration: JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE]
Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) had at least one experience as a healer.
During revival services at Antwerp, N. Y., in 1824, two insane women
were cured, but Finney was directly concerned in the restoration of
only one of them. Of this he gives an account in his memoirs. "There
were two very striking cases of instantaneous recovery from insanity
during this revival. As I went into meeting in the afternoon of one
Sabbath, I saw several ladies sitting in a pew, with a woman dressed
in black who seemed to be in great distress of mind; and they were
partly holding her, and preventing her from going out. As I came in,
one of the ladies came to me and told me she was an insane woman.... I
said a few words to her; but she replied that she must go; that she
could not hear any praying, or preaching, or singing; that hell was
her portion, and she could not endure anything that made her think of
heaven. I cautioned the ladies, privately, to keep her in her seat, if
they could, without her disturbing the meeting. I then went into the
pulpit and read a hymn. As soon as the singing began, she struggled
hard to get out. But the ladies obstructed her passage; and kindly but
persistently prevented her escape.... As I proceeded ... all at once
she startled the congregation by uttering a loud shriek. She then cast
herself almost from her seat, held her head very low, and I could see
that she 'trembled very exceedingly.' ... As I proceeded she began to
look up again, and soon sat upright, with face wonderfully changed,
indicating triumphant joy and peace.... She glorified God and rejoiced
with amazing triumph. About two years after, I met with her, and found
her still full of joy and peace."[190]
The so-called "Mountain Evangelist," George O. Barnes, who was born in
1827, added healing to his other revival efforts. After leaving the
Presbyterian Church he did his work mostly in Kentucky as an
independent minister, and there anointed with oil according to James
5:14 f. In his records little is said about the cures, but the daily
number of anointings is given, amounting to at least five thousand in
all. He believed that the devil, not God, sends sickness: God is the
great healer. The anointing was simply a matter of faith. His formula
varied and was very simple, as _e. g._, "Dear daughter, in Jesus's
precious name I anoint thee with this oil of healing for thy maladies.
Oh, go on thy way rejoicing. Be of good cheer. He is the great healer.
He will make thee whole. He hath commanded it. Lean thy whole weight
on Him."[191] His views may be judged by the following extract from a
sermon of his on "Our Healer": "Oh, the hospitals and drug-stores, the
bitter doses, the pains and racks, the tortures--great God, may this
people believe to-day that thou hast nothing to do with this, that all
came in with sin, and the devil manages it all; and wherever we are
afflicted God stands by wringing His hands, and saying, '... Return to
me, O backsliding children. Come back to me, and I will keep the devil
off of you.'"[192] I take also some extracts from his daily record.
"July 19 [1881]. John and I took a long walk.... I shall
not repeat the experiment, for I got many chiggers on
me, which are tormenting me from head to foot while I
write, I think because I trusted the pennyroyal to keep
them off me instead of the Lord. It was not wilful, but
a slip of forgetfulness, yet a door wide enough for
Satan to enter a little bit. Now, instead of trying
pennyroyal to get me rid of them, I will trust the Lord
only.
"July 20. The chiggers gave exquisite torment. I shall
never trust in pennyroyal again.
"July 21. Satan tried to get me wavering on the eye
question, but the dear Lord set me up more firmly than
ever.
"July 24. We have gotten into a little trouble by
carelessly trying to help the dear Lord take care of his
little organ. A key was silent, and yesterday Marie
tried to remedy it. There was a good deal of taking out
of keys, and dusting--result, two keys silent now, and
one that won't be silent, but goes on in a bass wail
through every song. So much for meddling with the dear
Lord's work. We trust Him, when the lesson is learned,
to set the little machine all right again.... The dear
Lord cured the little organ this afternoon while we were
at dinner; at least it was all right, as Marie with a
happy smile informed me before she began to sing the
first song. I gave thanks for it in the opening prayer,
and then told the people all about it.
"July 27. Satan is not a little busy with me, injecting
doubts as to the right to trust for eyes. Faith still
quenches all his fiery darts, although it sorely tries
me to be thus inactive in these long summer days,
without reading my beautiful edition of Young's
Concordance, useless at the bottom of my trunk. My
Revised New Testament I can only get at through
others."[193]
Leaving now the revivalists, let us take up the cases of others not
revivalists who used anointing for healing. In her native hamlet of
Maennedorf, Switzerland, Dorothea Trudel (1813-1862), the descendant
of some generations of faith healers, cured many. Soon people began to
come to her from near and far and, finally, at the solicitation of a
"patient" of rank, she purchased a home where the afflicted could be
near her. In 1856 the health authorities interfered. She was fined; an
appeal was taken and, finally, she was permitted to carry on her work
in connection with the home under some formal restrictions. During the
course of the trial some authenticated cases of cure were produced:
"one stiff knee, pronounced incurable by the best surgeons of France,
Germany, and Switzerland; a leading physician testified to the
recovery of a hopeless patient of his own; a burned foot, which was
about to be amputated to prevent impending death, was healed without
means. The evidence was incontrovertible, and the cases numerous. The
cure was often contemporaneous with the confession of Christ by the
unbelieving patient; but duration of the sickness varied with each
case. Lunatics were commonly sent forth cured in a brief while."
Nothing miraculous was claimed and no war was waged against
physicians. It was not asserted that a cure was infallibly made, but
it was pointed out as a simpler and more direct method. The means
employed were gentleness, discipline, Bible reading, prayer, and
anointing. After the death of Dorothea the home continued under the
supervision of Mr. Samuel Zeller.
Charles Cullis (1833-1892), a young physician of Boston, suffered a
crushing bereavement in the death of his wife shortly after their
marriage, and then vowed to devote his life to charity. Inspired by
Müller's _Life of Trust_ he established a number of charitable
institutions, relying on prayer and faith for their support. Some of
these institutions were for the cure of the sick, and in connection
with these, and otherwise, Dr. Cullis anointed and prayed with all who
came to him. Every summer a camp-meeting was held at Old Orchard
Beach, Maine, where the large collections gathered were the subject of
annual comment. He was followed in his work by Rev. A. B. Simpson, of
New York, who now conducts it. The latter was formerly a Presbyterian
minister but is now an independent. He still heals and takes
up collections. From the efforts of Cullis and Simpson have
come the Christian and Missionary Alliance and other similar
organizations with Pentecost as the text and apostolic gifts as the
much-sought-after prize. The proof of success is found in healing,
speaking with tongues, trances, visions, and other abnormal phenomena.
The "Holy Ghost and Us" movement, with headquarters at Shiloh, Maine,
was an outgrowth of the Christian and Missionary Alliance propaganda.
Rev. F. W. Sanford (1863- ) was born on Bowdoinham Ridge, Maine. He
graduated at Bates College in 1886 and attended Cobb Divinity School
for a short time. His ordination took place in 1887, after which he
held two pastorates of three years each, presumedly in Free Baptist
churches. In 1891, while attending meetings at Old Orchard, he was
inspired to start "a movement on strictly apostolic lines, which was
to sweep the entire globe." He started on this new work early in 1893
with Shiloh, Maine, as the centre. Relying on faith alone, several
buildings were erected and paid for, among which is Bethesda--a Home
of Healing: "For those who believe God told the truth when He said,
'The prayer of Faith shall save the sick.'" In an account of the
healing we read: "We have seen ... in at least one case, the
restoration of the dead to life." Quite a following embraced the
doctrine at one time, but lately there has been a considerable
decline.
An institution for faith healing was established in the north of
London by Rev. W. E. Boardman (1810-1886). He called it "Bethshan" or
the "Nursery of Faith" and refused to permit it to be called a
hospital. The usual method of treatment was by anointing with oil and
prayer, but it was claimed that many also were healed by
correspondence. The results professed were very extravagant, among the
cases being cancer, paralysis, advanced consumption, chronic
rheumatism, and lameness of different kinds. As a proof of the cure of
the last named affliction, numerous canes and crutches left behind by
the healed were on exhibition.[194]
It is said that Lord Radstock practised healing through anointing in
Australia about the same time.
There have been a number of prominent healers who have used prayer,
and perhaps the laying on of hands, as the means for healing, and have
usually eschewed anointing. Among these was Prince Hohenlohe
(1794-1849). His was probably the greatest name in mental healing in
the nineteenth century. He was born in Waldenburg and educated at
several institutions. He was ordained priest in 1815 and officiated
at Olmütz, Munich, and other places. In 1820 he met a peasant, Martin
Michel, who had performed some wonderful cures, and in connection with
him effected a so-called miraculous cure on a princess of
Schwarzenberg who had been for some years a paralytic.[195] From this
experience he became enthusiastic in healing, and he acquired such a
fame as a performer of miraculous cures that multitudes flocked from
different countries to receive the benefit of his supposed
supernatural gifts. In one year (1848-49) there were eighteen thousand
people who obtained access to him. His name and his titles probably
had not a little to do with his wide influence. They were Alexander
Leopold Franz Emmerich, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst,
Archbishop and Grand Provost of Grosswardein, Hungary, and Abbot of St.
Michael's at Gaborjan.
The testimony concerning his cures is from reliable witnesses. Notice
the letter written by the ex-King of Bavaria to Count von Sinsheim,
describing his own case:
My dear Count:
There are still miracles. The ten last days of the last
month, the people of Würzburg might believe themselves
in the times of the Apostles. The deaf heard, the blind
saw, the lame freely walked, not by the aid of art, but
by a few short prayers, and by the invocation of the
name of Jesus.... On the evening of the 28th, the number
of persons cured, of both sexes, and of every age,
amounted to more than twenty. These were of all classes
of the people, from the humblest to a prince of the
blood, who, without any exterior means, recovered, on
the 27th at noon, the hearing which he had lost from
his infancy. This cure was effected by a prayer made for
him during some minutes, by a priest who is scarcely
more than twenty-seven years of age--the Prince
Hohenlohe. Although I do not hear so well as the
majority of the persons who are about me, there is no
comparison between my actual state and that which it was
before. Besides, I perceive daily that I hear more
clearly.... My hearing, at present, is very sensitive.
Last Friday, the music of the troop which defiled in the
square in front of the palace, struck my tympanum so
strongly, that for the first time, I was obliged to
close the window of my cabinet.
The inhabitants of Würzburg have testified, by the most
lively and sincere acclamations, the pleasure which my
cure has given them. You are at liberty to communicate
my letter, and to allow any one who wishes, to take a
copy of it.
Bruckenau, _July 3d, 1822_. Louis, _Prince Royal_.
Professor Onymus, of the University of Würzburg, reported a number of
cases cured by Prince Hohenlohe, which he himself witnessed. He gives
the following:
"Captain Ruthlein, an old gentleman of Thundorf, 70
years of age, who had long been pronounced incurable of
paralysis, which kept his hand clenched, and who had not
left his room for many years, has been perfectly cured.
Eight days after his cure he paid me a visit, rejoicing
in the happiness of being able to walk freely.
"A man, of about 50, named Bramdel, caused himself to be
carried by six men from Carlstadt to the Court at
Stauffenburg. His arms and legs were utterly paralyzed,
hanging like those of a dead man, and his face was of a
corpse-like pallor. On the prayer of the Prince he was
instantly cured, rose to his feet, and walked perfectly,
to the profound astonishment of all present.
"A student of Burglauer, near Murmerstadt, had lost for
two years the use of his legs; he was brought in a
carriage, and though he was only partially relieved by
the first and second prayer of the Prince, at the third
he found himself perfectly well.
"These cures are real and they are permanent. If any one
would excite doubts of the genuineness of the cases
operated by Prince Hohenlohe, it is only necessary to
come hither and consult a thousand other eye and ear
witnesses like myself. Every one is ready to give all
possible information about them."[196]
The Mormons, under the leadership of Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805-1844),
were healing the sick about the time that Prince Hohenlohe was
performing his miracles on the other side of the water. Smith was born
in Sharon, Vermont. The Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints) was founded in 1830 in Palmyra, New York, and moved
from there to Kirkland, Ohio; Independence, Missouri; Nauvoo,
Illinois; and thence to Utah. Smith was successively first elder,
prophet, seer, and revelator. The year the church was founded Smith
began his healing career as an exorcist, casting the devil out of
Newel Knight in Colesville, New York. Following this, there was a firm
belief in demoniacal possession, and exorcism was practised by both
Smith and his followers, principally by means of command. This
exorcism led up to faith healing.
Smith's maternal uncle, Jason Mack, was a firm believer in healing by
prayer and practised it; later, the Oneida Community of Perfectionists
in western New York cured by faith; both of these facts would be known
to the founder of Mormonism. After adopting faith healing he soon
became proficient in the art. Numerous well-attested cures were
performed by Smith and his followers in other places. Elder Richards
advertised in England "Bones set through Faith in Christ," and Elder
Phillips made the additional statement that "while commanding the
bones, they came together, making a noise like the crushing of an old
basket." All forms of disease were treated, but not always
successfully, as may be inferred from Smith's own words: "The cholera
burst forth among us, even those on guard fell to the earth with their
guns in their hands.... At the commencement I attempted to lay on
hands for their recovery, but I quickly learned by painful experience,
that when the great Jehovah decrees destruction upon any people, makes
known His determination, man must not attempt to stay his hand." The
means employed varied, but included at different times prayer,
command, laying on of hands, consecrated handkerchiefs and other
cloths, baptism, and infrequently anointing.[197]
Crossing the ocean again, we find Johann Christolph Blumhardt
(1805-1880) performing wonderful acts of healing. He assumed his first
independent charge in 1838 when he became pastor of the village church
at Moettlinger, Wurtemberg. He was known afterward as Pastor
Blumhardt. Among his parishioners was Gottliebin Ditters, generally
thought to be possessed by an evil spirit. After two years prayer and
care for this woman, he saw her restored to peace of mind. This was
the beginning of a life of faith in the efficacy of prayer for
healing. After the restoration of Gottliebin a spontaneous and
entirely unexpected revival took place in Moettlinger. Multitudes came
from afar to hear this sincere man preach his simple sermons, and in
many cases bodily disease left those who confessed and upon whom
Blumhardt laid his hands. It became noised about that those who
repented, with whom the pastor prayed and upon whom he laid his hands,
would be healed. "One morning a mother rushed to his house, saying
that she had by an accident scalded her child with boiling soup. The
infant was found screaming with agony. He took the child in his arms,
prayed over it, and it grew quiet. It had no further pain, and the
effects of the scalding were quickly gone. Another child was nearly
blind with disease. A neighboring pastor, when consulted, said to the
parents: 'If you believe Jesus can and will heal your child, by all
means go to Blumhardt, but if you have not got the faith, don't do it
on any account; let an operation be performed.' 'Well, we have faith,'
they said, and went to Blumhardt. Three days after it was perfectly
well." These events could not fail to attract attention, and miracles
or healings from his prayers were of constant occurrence. In 1852
Blumhardt moved to Boll, Wurtemberg, and until his death he continued
his healing. He did not despise human means of healing, but he stoutly
held that Jesus would answer the prayer of faith uttered for and by
the sick.
About the middle of the century Father Mathew (1790-1856) attracted a
large number of persons who were in need of healing. He was best
known as the famous apostle of temperance, and was to Ireland in the
nineteenth century what Wesley was to England in the eighteenth. He
also travelled over England and Scotland and spent two years in
America. In one period of nine months he induced two hundred thousand
persons to take the temperance pledge. Among other things he cured
blindness, lameness, paralysis, hysteria, headache, and lunacy. After
his death the same diseases which he had cured during his lifetime
were just as effectively relieved by visiting the good father's tomb,
in the firm belief that a miracle would be performed. From the
following cure, his first one, it will be seen that the discovery of
his healing power was rather accidental.
"A young lady, of position and intelligence, was for
years the victim of the most violent headaches, which
assumed a chronic character. Eminent advice was had but
in vain; the malady became more intense, the agony more
excruciating. Starting up one day from the sofa on which
she lay in a delirium of pain, she exclaimed--'I cannot
endure this torture any longer; I will go and see what
Father Mathew can do for me.' She immediately proceeded
to Lehanagh, where Father Mathew was then sick and
feeble. Flinging herself on her knees before him she
besought his prayers and blessing. In fact, stung by
intolerable suffering she asked him to cure her. 'My
dear child, you ask me what no mortal has power to do.
The power to cure rests alone with God. I have no such
power.' 'Then bless me, and pray for me--place your hand
on my head,' implored the afflicted lady. 'I cannot
refuse to pray for you, or to bless you,' said Father
Mathew, who did pray for and bless her, and place his
hand upon her poor throbbing brow. Was it faith?--was it
magnetism?--was it the force of imagination exerted
wonderfully? I shall not venture to pronounce what it
was; but that lady returned to her home perfectly cured
of her distressing malady. More than that--cured
completely, from that moment, forward."[198]
About the same time, Mrs. Elizabeth Mix, a negro woman living in
Connecticut, achieved great fame through her healing by prayer. Many
testified to the efficacy of her prayers and bewailed her death.
[Illustration: GEORGE O. BARNES]
Francis Schlatter (1856-1909) was a native of Alsace, France. He was
born a Roman Catholic and, so far as he was affiliated with any
denomination, always remained one. When a year old, he was blind and
deaf and was cured by his mother's prayers. He came to America in
1891, and first settled at Jamestown, Long Island. Early in 1893 he
moved to Denver, Colorado, and in the following July he felt impelled
by inner promptings to start out, he knew not whither. Probably
mentally unbalanced, he wandered through the wilderness of the great
Southwest without shoes or hat. Fasts, temptations, visions, arrests
and imprisonments, and healings combined to furnish his experience
during these wanderings, always, as he said, being led by the Father.
In July, 1895, he arrived at Las Lunas, New Mexico, where he first
attracted public attention as a healer. From here he went to
Albuquerque, where he treated as many as six hundred persons in a day,
many very effectively. After forty days' fast, which was broken by a
hearty meal of solid food, he went to Denver and here reached the
pinnacle of his fame and success. At the home of a sympathizer, daily
from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M., he treated those who came to him, always
without any remuneration. From two thousand to five thousand people
would congregate in line, reaching nearly around a city block, five or
six abreast, but he was never able to treat more than two thousand in
a day. Crowds came from other cities, and some few from great
distances, even the New England States. He stood inside a fence, and
as each one came along he held the patient's hand for a short time;
lifting up his eyes, he prayed and then assured the sufferer of
relief within a certain time. Through the mail and in other ways he
received handkerchiefs which he blessed and returned with assurance of
relief through them. Not all cases handled were restored to health or
even noticeably eased, but large numbers testified to cures, some of
which came immediately and others by degrees. He did not preach.
Although he never claimed it, when asked, "Are you the Christ?" he
always replied, "I am." He wore a beard and long hair, and dressed in
the plainest clothes. In appearance he looked not unlike the pictures
of the traditional Christ. Afterward he appeared in different parts of
the United States, but never with the same success in healing as in
Denver.[199]
The once famous Dr. Newton arrived in Boston in 1859 on one of his
visits, and caused an extraordinary sensation. Astonishing results
were reported in the way of cures. The lame, having no further need of
crutches, left them behind; the blind were cured, and several chronic
cases were relieved. He had many followers and disciples among whom
was "Dr." Bryant, who settled in Detroit and healed there. Rev. J. M.
Buckley, D.D., met Dr. Newton on a Mississippi steam-boat, when the
latter was returning from Havana with his daughter who was very low
with consumption, and the father doubted if she would reach home
alive. When asked "Doctor, why could you not heal her?" he replied "It
seems as if we cannot always affect our own kindred." At this time he
denounced his pupil, Dr. Bryant, as an "unmitigated fraud who had no
genuine healing power."
"If Bryant be an unmitigated fraud, how do you account
for the cures which he makes?" asked Dr. Buckley.
"Oh!" said the doctor, "they are caused by the faith of
the people and the concentration of their minds upon his
operations with the expectation of being cured. Now,"
said he, "nobody would go to see Bryant unless they had
some faith that he might cure them, and when he begins
his operations with great positiveness of manner, and
when they see the crutches he has there, and hear the
people testify that they have been cured, it produces a
tremendous influence on them; and then he gets them
started in the way of exercising, and they do a good
many things that they thought they could not do; their
appetites and spirits revive, and if toning them up can
possibly reduce the diseased tendency, many of them will
get well."
Said Dr. Buckley: "Doctor, pardon me, is not that a
correct account of the manner in which you perform your
wonderful works?"
"Oh, no," said he; "the difference between a genuine
healer and a quack like Bryant is as wide as the
poles."[200]
Father John of Cronstadt (1829-1908) was a saintly man, and furnishes
us with an example of the healers among the Orthodox Church of the
East. He was famed in all Russia for his sanctity, and was so thronged
by crowds for his healing power that he often had to escape by side
doors after celebrating the communion. His cures were many, but I
choose his own account of one as an example.
"A certain person who was sick unto death from
inflammation of the bowels for nine days, without having
obtained the slightest relief from medical aid, as soon
as he had communicated of the Holy Sacrament, upon the
morning of the ninth day, regained his health and rose
from his bed of sickness in the evening of the same day.
He received the Holy Communion with firm faith. I prayed
to the Lord to cure him. 'Lord,' said I, 'heal thy
servant of his sickness. He is worthy, therefore grant
him this. He loves thy priests and sends them his
gifts.' I also prayed for him in church before the altar
of the Lord, at the Liturgy, during the prayer: 'Thou
who hast given us grace at this time, with one accord to
make our common supplication unto thee,' and before the
Holy Mysteries themselves. I prayed in the following
words: 'Lord, our life! It is as easy for thee to cure
every malady as it is for me to think of healing. It is
as easy for thee to raise every man from the dead as it
is for me to think of the possibility of the
resurrection of the dead. Cure, then, thy servant Basil
of his cruel malady, and do not let him die; do not let
his wife and children be given up to weeping.' And the
Lord graciously heard, and had mercy upon him, although
he was within a hair's breadth of death. Glory to thine
omnipotence and mercy, that thou, Lord, hast vouchsafed
to hear me!"[201]
For the past century and a half healing has been carried on among the
Pennsylvania Germans by means of a superstitious practice known as
"Pow-wow." A book called _The Sixth Book of Moses, or Black Art_ is
said to be the basis of the practice. The practitioners are usually
women of the most ignorant, degraded, and, not infrequently, immoral
class, and in harmony with this, a firm belief in witchcraft is
entertained by them. Notwithstanding this, they are employed at times
by intelligent and respectable people, even by those whose standing in
the community might well guarantee a disbelief in such incantations.
The healers treat for burns, erysipelas and all skin diseases, goitre,
tumors, rheumatism, and some other similar troubles. They have
different formulas for the various diseases, and the belief is current
that if a healer should reveal the formula to her own sex, she would
lose her power, and if she told more than one of the opposite sex,
the power would be taken from her. The following is the method of
operating for burns:
"Take a piece of red woolen yarn and wrap it into the
shape of a ball. Pass it slowly around the burn and
while doing so, repeat three times, 'The fire burneth,
water quencheth, the pain ceaseth.' After which reverse
the movement and repeat the words again three times.
Then take the yarn upstairs, pull out the chimney-stop,
put the yarn in the chimney, and as soon as it
disappears the burn is healed."
There have been a number of cases of local healers and I give two
examples: "At the time of the prevalence of cholera in Canada, a man
named Ayers, who came out of the States, and was said to be a graduate
of the University of New Jersey, was given out to be St. Roche, the
principal patron saint of the Canadians, and renowned for his power in
averting pestilential diseases. He was reported to have descended from
heaven to cure his suffering people of the cholera, and many were the
cases in which he appeared to afford relief. Many were thus
dispossessed of their fright in anticipation of the disease, who
might, probably, but for his inspiriting influence, have fallen
victims to their apprehensions. The remedy he employed was an
admixture of maple sugar, charcoal, and lard."[202]
"The _Month_ for June, 1892, published an account, by the late Earl of
Denbigh, of a cure worked by a member of a family named Cancelli of
Lady Denbigh in 1850. She was suffering severely from rheumatism, and
the Pope (Pius IX) mentioned to the Earl that near Foligno there was a
family of peasants who were credited with a miraculous power of curing
rheumatic disorders. Lord Denbigh succeeded in getting one of the
family, an old man, to come, and learned from him the legend of the
cure. The belief was that in the reign of Nero, the Apostles Peter and
Paul took refuge in the hut of an old couple named Cancelli, near
Foligno, and, as a proof of gratitude, gave to the male descendants of
the family living near the spot the power of curing rheumatic
disorders to the end of time. Lord Denbigh described how the old man
made a solemn invocation, using the sign of the cross, and, in fact,
Lady Denbigh did recover at once. In a few days the pains returned,
but she made an act of resignation, and they then left her, and never
returned with any acuteness."[203]
What we may designate "Metaphysical Healing" originated with Phineas
Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866). The movement was important, not so much
on account of what Quimby himself was able to accomplish by it, as
because of the work that has been carried on since by at least three
of his pupils. He was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and in early
life was a watch and clock maker. In 1840 he began experimenting with
mesmerism, and accounts of these experiments were published in the
Maine papers of that time. After this he developed a system of mental
healing of his own, practising it in different towns in Maine for some
years. About 1858 he settled as a practitioner in Portland and
remained there until his death. I shall quote brief extracts in his
own words, which portray his system.
"My practice is unlike all medical practice. I give no
medicine, and make no outward applications. I tell the
patient his troubles, and what he thinks is his disease;
and my explanation is the cure. If I succeed in
correcting his errors, I change the fluids of the system
and establish the truth, or health. The truth is the
cure. This mode of practice applies to all cases."
"The greatest evil that follows taking an opinion for a
truth is disease."
"Man is made up of truth and belief; and, if he is
deceived into a belief that he has, or is liable to
have, a disease, the belief is catching, and the effect
follows it."
"Disease being made by our belief, or by our parents'
belief, or by public opinion, there is no formula to be
adopted, but every one must be reached in his
particular case. Therefore it requires great shrewdness
or wisdom to get the better of the error. Disease is our
error and the work of the devil."[204]
Quimby made many wonderful and mostly speedy cures, and although he
wrote out his system, it has never been published. Among his patients
was Mrs. Patterson from Hill, New Hampshire, who went to Portland in
1862. She had been a confirmed invalid for six years. To quote her own
words, published in the _Portland Evening Courier_ in 1862, she made a
rapid recovery. "Three weeks since I quitted my nurse and sick room en
route for Portland. The belief of my recovery had died out of the
hearts of those who were most anxious for it. With this mental and
physical depression I first visited P. P. Quimby, and in less than one
week from that time I ascended by a stairway of one hundred and
eighty-two steps to the dome of the City Hall, and am improving _ad
infinitum_. To the most subtle reasoning, such a proof, coupled, too,
as it is with numberless similar ones, demonstrates his power to
heal." Mrs. Patterson, afterward Mrs. Eddy, proclaimed after his death
a doctrine very similar to Quimby's. She called it "Christian
Science," a name Quimby applied to his teaching, although usually he
called it "Science of Health."
Another patient of Quimby's was Julius A. Dresser, who visited him
first in 1860. Of him Mr. Dresser says: "The first person in this age
who penetrated the depths of truth so far as to discover and bring
forth a true science of life, and publicly apply it to the healing of
the sick, was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby of Belfast, Me."
Rev. W. F. Evans was still another patient and disciple of Quimby's.
His testimony is as follows: "Disease being in its root a wrong
belief, change that belief and we cure the disease.... The late Dr.
Quimby, of Portland, one of the most successful healers of this or any
age, embraced this view of the nature of disease, and by a long
succession of most remarkable cures ... proved the truth of the
theory.... Had he lived in a remote age or country, the wonderful
facts which occurred in his practice would have now been deemed either
mythical or miraculous."
These three, Messrs. Evans and Dresser and Mrs. Eddy, proved to be
Quimby's most famous patients and disciples. Evans became a noted and
voluminous writer on mental healing, Mr. Dresser has been identified
with the New Thought movement of which his son H. W. Dresser is
probably the best exponent, and Mrs. Eddy ruled the Christian
Scientists with a rod of iron.
Warren F. Evans visited Quimby twice in the year 1863, and at these
times obtained his knowledge of Quimby's methods. Up to this time he
had been a Swedenborgian clergyman, and his beliefs enabled him the
better to grasp the new doctrines. On the occasion of the second visit
he told his healer that he thought he could cure the sick in this way,
and Quimby agreed with him. On returning home he tried it, and his
first attempts were so successful that he became a practitioner, using
only mental means, and continued in this work. He wrote several books
on the subject of mental healing, the first one, _The Mental Cure_,
appearing in 1869, six years before Mrs. Eddy's _Science and Health_.
Perhaps, strictly speaking, the New Thought movement does not come
within the scope of our subject, except as we see in it an outgrowth
and application of the Quimby doctrine, for two reasons. In the first
place, its purpose is mental hygiene rather than cure, and it is all
the more valuable for that. Of course, in establishing hygienic
practices many disorders are cured, but prevention is the main
feature. The second reason why we might perhaps not include it in a
résumé of the healers is that it is intended to be for the use of the
individual to prevent his employing a healer of any kind. The same
objection, however, would do away to some extent with a discussion of
Christian Science. The principles of New Thought are that the mind has
an influence on the body, and that good, sweet, pure thoughts have a
salutary effect, but the opposite ones injure the body. Don't worry,
don't think of disease, don't look for trouble, but fill the mind
with the opposite positive thoughts and life will be happy and the
body will be well. The doctrines are expounded differently by the
various leaders, and emphasis is laid on different points, some
emphasizing more fully the religious aspects of the movement, for
example. The principal writers on the subject are H. W. Dresser, R. W.
Trine, H. Wood, and H. Fletcher.
Mrs. Mary A. Morse Baker Glover Patterson Eddy (1821-1910) was born at
Bow, New Hampshire. After a precocious and neurotic childhood, she
united with the Congregational Church when seventeen years of age. At
the age of twenty-two she married George Washington Glover, probably
the best of her husbands. His death, six months later, was followed by
the birth of her only child and a ten years' widowhood. During this
time she stayed with her relatives and had long periods of illness,
principally of an hysterical character. She then experimented to some
extent with mesmerism and clairvoyance. In 1853 she married Dr. Daniel
Patterson, an itinerant dentist, from whom she got a divorce, and as
Mrs. Patterson she went first to "Dr." Quimby in 1862. She visited
Quimby again in 1864, at which time, with some others, she studied
with him. After Quimby's death she began teaching what she then called
his science. For the next few years she wandered from town to town
about Boston in straitened circumstances, healing, teaching, and
endeavoring to found an organized society. It was not, however, until
1875 that the organization was formed in Lynn, and later in the same
year appeared her _Science and Health_. The years since then have been
filled with controversies in the law courts and newspapers, caresses
and blows from the ruling hand of Mother Eddy, and numerous
developments from small beginnings, until now over one hundred
thousand are identified with the organization. These are almost
without exception proselytes from other churches.
[Illustration: MARY BAKER EDDY]
Mrs. Eddy's doctrines are founded on a metaphysical theory known as
subjective idealism, and advanced centuries before her birth. It
posits the all-comprehensiveness of mind and the non-existence of
matter. If bodies do not exist, diseases cannot exist, and must be
only mental delusions. If the mind is freed of these delusions the
disease is gone. This was Quimby's method of procedure already quoted.
In _Science and Health_ she says that the object of treatment is "to
destroy the patient's belief in his physical condition." She also
advises: "Mentally contradict every complaint of the body." She
continues: "All disease is the result of education, and can carry its
ill effects no further than mortal mind maps out the way. Destroy
fear," she says, "and you end the fever." However, as with other
healers, practice and theory are two different things. Listen further:
"It would be foolish to venture beyond our present understanding,
foolish to stop eating, until we gain more goodness and a clearer
comprehension of the living God." Again: "Until the advancing age
admits the efficacy and the supremacy of Mind, it is better to leave
the adjustment of broken bones and dislocations to the fingers of the
surgeon, while you confine yourself chiefly to mental reconstruction,
and the prevention of inflammation and protracted confinement."[205]
With the exception of Christian Science, no modern religious movement
has come so prominently before the public and gained so many adherents
in a short time as the Christian Catholic Apostle Church of Zion, and
both movements owe their popularity solely to their healing. John
Alexander Dowie (1847-1907), the founder of this sect, was born in
Edinburgh, Scotland, but in 1860, with his parents, he went to
Australia, returning for two years to his native city for college
study. In 1870 he was ordained to the Congregational ministry. He
served three churches, and after some political activity was offered a
portfolio in the Australian cabinet of Sir Henry Parks. In 1882 he
went to Melbourne and established a large independent church, building
a tabernacle for worship. About this time he became a firm believer in
Divine Healing in direct answer to prayer. He arrived in San Francisco
in 1888 and spent two years in organizing branches of the Divine
Healing Association of which he was president. He went to Chicago in
1890 and continued there holding meetings for some years. In 1895 he
broke away from the International Divine Healing Association, which he
had been chiefly instrumental in organizing, and insisted that his
followers should not remain in the churches. The following year the
Christian Catholic Church was organized. Of this organization Mr.
Dowie was known as General Overseer, then as Prophet, and in 1904 as
First Apostle. He also proclaimed himself in general as the messenger
of the Covenant and Elijah the Restorer. In 1900 Mr. Dowie said:
"About twenty-two thousand have been baptized by triune immersion up
to the present, and this includes practically all the members." This,
however, was a great exaggeration. In 1901 the head-quarters of the
church was moved to Zion City, forty-two miles north of Chicago. He
preached the threefold gospel of Salvation, Healing, and Holy Living.
Dowie differed from Christian Science in proclaiming the reality of
disease, the distinctive feature of his doctrine being that all bodily
ailment is the work of the Devil, and that Christ came to destroy the
works of the Devil. His contempt for external means may be judged from
the title of a pamphlet, _Doctors, Drugs, and Devils_; nevertheless,
he used physicians at least to diagnose cases at different times, a
licensed medical doctor, Speicher, being associated with him from the
beginning of his work in Chicago. Dentists are a factor of Zion City,
and it is said he also used an oculist. According to his doctrine
there are four methods of cure: "The first is the direct prayer of
faith; the second, intercessory prayer of two or more; the third, the
anointing of the elders, with the prayer of faith; and the fourth, the
laying on of hands of those who believe, and whom God has prepared and
called to that ministry." In addition to this, teaching is the basis
of all other methods. The first ten years of his healing he is said to
have laid hands on eighteen thousand sick, and he declared that the
greater part of them were fully healed. In some of his later years he
said in an issue of his paper: "I pray and lay hands on seventy
thousand people in a year." That would make one hundred and
seventy-five thousand in two and a half years; but in the time
preceding the statement he reported only seven hundred cures.
Evidently very few were helped. However, in Shiloh Tabernacle at Zion
City are exhibited on the walls crutches, canes, surgical instruments,
trusses, and almost every form of apparatus used by the medical
profession, presented by people who have now no further use for them
on account of their being healed.[206]
Our study began with the mental therapeutics of over a millennium
before the birth of Christ; let us now close with that of the
twentieth century after, in giving some account of the so-called
Emmanuel Movement. In 1905 there was formed in connection with
Emmanuel Church, Boston, a tuberculosis class for the alleviation of
unfortunates of this kind. In this experience it was found that
certain psychic and social factors greatly aided in a cure, and in the
following year, 1906, the work expanded into what has been called the
"Emmanuel Movement." It is an attempt to combine the wisdom and
efforts of the physician, the clergyman, the psychologist, and the
sociologist, to combat conditions most frequently met in a large city.
In the medical phase of the work mental healing has had a large place,
and has been emphasized most in the popular presentation of the
movement, and so far as the idea has spread, it has been almost wholly
in connection with this aspect. What the future of this will be is
uncertain, but it seems probable that its most valuable service will
be in stimulating the physicians to take up the work which properly
belongs to them--the work of therapeutics in all its branches, mental
and physical.
[190] C. G. Finney, _Memoirs_, pp. 108 f.
[191] W.T. Price, _Without Scrip or Purse, or the
"Mountain Evangelist," George O. Barnes_, p. 451.
[192] _Ibid._, p. 610.
[193] _Ibid._, pp. 301 ff.
[194] J. M. Buckley, "Faith Healing and Kindred
Phenomena," _Century_, XXXII, pp. 221 f.
[195] _Encyclopedia Britannica_, article "Hohenlohe."
[196] D. H. Tuke, _Influence of the Mind upon the
Body_, pp. 355 ff.
[197] I. W. Riley, _The Founder of Mormonism_, chaps.
VIII and IX.
[198] J. F. Maguire, _Father Mathew_, pp. 529 f.
[199] _Biography of Francis Schlatter, The Healer_.
[200] J. M. Buckley, "Faith Healing and Kindred
Phenomena," _Century_, XXXII, pp. 221 f.
[201] Father John, _My Life in Christ_ (trans.
Goulaeff), p. 201.
[202] T. J. Pettigrew, _Superstitions Connected with ...
Medicine and Surgery_, p. 53.
[203] E. Berdoe, _Origin and Growth of the Healing Art_,
p. 482.
[204] J. A. Dresser, _The True History of Mental
Science_; A. G. Dresser, _The Philosophy of P. P.
Quimby_.
[205] G. Milmine, _Mary Baker G. Eddy_.
[206] R. Harlan, _John Alexander Dowie_.
* * * * *
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
ABRAXAS, 165 ff.
Ague, 168, 172 f., 197 ff.
Amulets, Chapter VII--
definition of, 138 f., 158 f.
Astrology, 141 f., 146 ff.
BAQUET, Mesmer's, 255 f.
Bites of venomous animals, 200 f.
Burns, 201.
CABBALISM, 194.
Calculus, 176 f.
Cancer, 9 f.
Canonization, 111.
Catacombs, 66.
Characts, 166 ff.
Charms, Chapter VIII--
composition of, 193.
definition of, 189 f.
Childbirth, 162, 168, 177, 202.
Cholera, 177.
Chorea, 203.
Christianity, influence of, Chapter III.
Christian Science, 16 f., 298 f., 302 f.
Colic, 177 f., 203.
Consumption, 203 f.
Cramp, 178, 204, 246 ff.
Cross, true, 69, 79 f.
DEMONOLOGY--
and animals, 38 f.
and Apostolic Fathers, 40 ff.
and Dark Ages, 44 ff.
Christian, 37 ff.
Jewish, 36 f.
Diseases, functional and organic, 9.
Dislocations, 204 f.
Dropsy, 205.
EMMANUEL MOVEMENT, 306 f.
Epilepsy, 178 f., 205 ff.
Erysipelas, 180 f.
Evil eye, 181, 207.
Exorcism, 49 ff., 126 f., 134 f., 275, 286.
by amulets, 178.
by charms, 204.
by relics, 63.
Eye disease, 168 f., 181 f., 207.
FAITH, 14 f.
Faith cure, 16, 17.
Fevers, 166, 182, 208.
GEMS, 161 ff., 176.
Goitre, 209.
Gout, 182 f.
HEADACHE, 183, 209 f.
Healers, Chapter V--
and exorcism, 110.
by unction, 114 ff.
Christian, 113 ff.
Mesmeric, Chapter X.
of nineteenth century, Chapter XI.
Hemorrhage, 210 f.
Herpes, 211 f.
Hypnotism, Chapter X.--
controversy over, 257 ff.
historic periods of, 264 f.
Mesmer and, 252 ff.
scientific period of, 267 f.
Hysteria, 183.
INCUBATION, 26, 92 ff.
Greek, 93 ff.
Incubus, 212.
Insanity, 162, 183, 213.
Insomnia, 212.
JAUNDICE, 212 f.
MAGNETISM, 249 ff.
Mandragora, 171 f.
Marasmus, 214.
Medicine and church, 53 ff.
Babylonian, 27.
Chinese, 21 ff.
Egyptian, 24 ff.
Greek, 28 ff.
History of, 19 f.
Indian, 28.
Jewish, 27.
Primitive, 4, 20.
Roman, 34.
Melancholy, 183.
Mental healing, explanation of, 7 ff.
Mesmerism. See Hypnotism.
Metaphysical cures, 16, 297 ff.
NUMBERS, 190 ff.
OIL OF SAINTS, 66 f.
PERICARPIA, 173.
Phylacteries, 141.
Plague, 183.
Pools, 83 ff., 92.
Prayer, 274 f., 280 ff., 283 f., 288, 291, 294.
Psycho-analysis, 12 f.
RE-EDUCATION, 12 f.
Relics, 5, Chapter V--
and Church Fathers, 64 f.
cost of, 96 ff.
fraud among, 101 f.
from Holy Land, 69 ff.
Religion and Healing, 4 ff., 21, Chapter III.
Revivalists, 274 ff.
Rickets, 214 f.
Rings, 179 f., 184, 246 ff.
Royal Touch, Chapter IX--
ceremony of, 240 ff.
origin of, 225 ff.
SAINTS AND DISEASES, 74 ff., 81 f.
Sciatica, 215.
Scrofula, 185, 215, Chapter IX.
Shrines, Chapter IV--
modern, 106 f.
Sick, care of, 57 f.
Signatures, 56, 142 ff.
Spittle, 195.
Subconsciousness, 11, 12, 14.
Suggestions, 8, 251 f.
Sweating sickness, 215.
Sympathetic cures, 150 ff.
TALISMANS, Chapter VI--
definition of, 138 ff., 142.
Therapeutics. See Medicine.
Thorns, 216.
Toothache, 166, 186, 217 f.
Touch pieces, 233 f.
UNCTION, 144 ff., 274, 280.
WARTS, 218 f.
Weapon-salve, 151 ff.
Wells, holy, 83 ff.
Wen, 219 f.
Whooping-cough, 186, 220 ff.
Worms, 223.
Wounds, 184 f.
* * * * *
INDEX OF NAMES
ABRAHAM, 100.
Adam, 41.
Adrian, Pope, 184.
Æsculapius, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 63, 83, 86.
Agatha, St., 75.
Agnan, St., 75.
Agrippa, 59, 191.
Albans, St., 202.
Albertus Magnus, 159, 164.
Alboquerque, A. d'. 185.
Alexander III, 55, 227.
Alexander of Tralles, 171, 173, 178, 180, 182, 196.
Ambrose, St., 38, 64, 65, 66, 70.
Andreas, St., 80.
Andrews, 196.
Anne, Queen, 228, 233, 239, 240.
Anne, St., de Beaupré, 106, 107.
Anthony, St., 75, 80.
Antoinette, Marie, 258.
Antoninus, 31.
Apes, Valerius, 32.
Apollo, 29, 31, 83.
Apollonia, St., 75, 76.
Aquarius, 74.
Aredius, 119.
Aries, 74.
Aristophanes, 31.
Aristotle, 19, 29, 164.
Armstrong, 3.
Arnot, H., 141.
Ashburner, 267.
Ashmole, E. 173.
Athanasius, 42.
Aubrey, 215, 228.
Augustine, St., 43, 64, 108.
Aurelian, Father, 48.
Avertin, St., 75.
Ayers, 296.
Azam, 269.
BAAS, 171, 203.
Bacci, P. J., 132.
Bacon, F., 242.
Bacon, R., 59.
Badger, 230.
Bagnone, F., 136.
Bailly, 256, 259.
Balsius, St., 74.
Baltus, 43.
Barbarin, de, 261.
Bargrave, 250.
Barnabas, St., 75.
Barnes, G. O., 277.
Barrington, 233.
Barros, de, 184.
Bates, 205.
Bath-Chorin, 28.
Becket, 78.
Bede, 72, 74, 118, 121, 122, 149.
Belgrade, 168.
Benedict, St., 75.
Benedict XIV, 111.
Berdoe, E., 32, 35, 106, 129, 145, 146, 148, 169, 174, 177, 180, 200, 205,
211, 218, 226, 228, 297.
Berenger, 98.
Bernard, Dr. C., 239, 240.
Bernard of Clairvaux, 122, 123.
Bernard, St., 38, 77.
Bernheim, H., 106, 270.
Bertrand, 265.
Binet, 255, 270.
Bingham, 160.
Black, 219.
Blair, 224.
Blaise, St., 75.
Blochwick, 178.
Blumhardt, J. C., 287 f.
Boardman, W. E., 282.
Böckmann, 263.
Bois, John de, 125.
Boleyn, A., 247, 248.
Boncompagni, Cardinal, 132.
Boniface, St., 77.
Bonner, Bishop, 202.
Bontius, 177.
Boorde, A., 228, 247.
Bossuet, 47.
Boswell, 239.
Boyle, R., 173, 176, 211, 214.
Braid, 264, 267, 268, 269.
Bramdel, 285.
Brand, J., 90, 147, 160, 168, 173, 179, 185, 195, 197, 199, 200, 204, 208,
209, 211, 215, 216, 218, 220, 232, 233.
Brand the Historian, 210.
Broca, 269.
Brockett, 187.
Brogawn, St., 91.
Browne, Dr. E., 213.
Browne, J., 233, 234, 236.
Browne, Sir T., 35, 186, 195, 213, 218, 236.
Bryant, Dr., 292 f.
Buckingham, Duke of, 153.
Buckland, Prof., 102.
Buckle, H. T., 45.
Buckley, J. M., 283, 292, 293.
Bulwer-Lytton, 158.
Burdin, 266.
Burgarde, St., 74.
Burgrave, 250.
Burnet, 247.
Burton, R., 158, 159, 160, 173, 183.
Butler, 243.
Butler, A., 161.
Butler, J., 129.
CAIUS, 31.
Calama, 64.
Calixtus II, 55.
Cancelli, 296.
Capricornus, 74.
Capua, Raimondo da, 127, 128, 129.
Carodoc, 9.
Catharine, St., 126, 127.
Cato the Censor, 204.
Chalmers, 14.
Chamberlain, J., 230.
Charcot, 106, 270.
Charles I, 230, 231.
Charles II, 232, 234, 241, 246.
Charles II of Spain, 45.
Charles Edward, Prince, 240.
Chaucer, 61, 142, 164, 224.
Chesterfield, 3.
Chilperic, 119.
Christopher, St., 75.
Chrysippus, 182.
Chrysostom, St., 67, 116, 159.
Churchill, 3.
Cicero, 19.
Clairvaux, Abbot of, 77.
Clara, St., 76.
Clarke, R. F., 105.
Clement of Alexandria, 165.
Clement VIII, Pope, 132.
Cleophas, Simon, 75.
Clerk, Mrs., 148.
Clothair II, 119.
Clovis I, 225.
Cockayne, 178, 194.
Coirin, la demoiselle, 105.
Coles, 144.
Coleta, 78, 120.
Collier, J., 226.
Collinson, 89.
Collyer, Dr., 268.
Comines, P. de, 243.
Conway, Lord, 135.
Cosmo, 118.
Cotta, 181.
Cowles, W., 229.
Cromwell, O., 113.
Cros, J. M., 130.
Crowley, 220.
Cudworth, Dr., 136.
Cullis, C., 281.
Cullum, Sir J., 214.
Cuthbert, St., 72, 73, 74, 118.
Cyprian, 43.
Cyril, St., 64.
Cyrus, St., 67, 159, 116.
DAMIAN, 118.
Darling, 268.
Dearmer, P., 67, 68, 96, 105, 115, 121.
Delenze, 264.
Democritus, 33.
Denbigh, Earl of, 296.
Deslon, 254, 258, 262.
Deubner, L., 96.
Deucalion, 208.
Digby, Sir E., 151.
Digby, Sir K., 151 ff., 155, 218.
Ditters, G., 287.
Dodd, Dr., 219.
Donce, 181, 199.
Dowie, J. A., 304 f.
Draper, J. W., 72.
Dresser, A. G., 298.
Dresser, H. W., 300, 301.
Dresser, J. A., 298, 299.
Dromore, Bishop of, 135.
Dryden, 155.
Dundee, B., 223.
Dupotel, Baron, 257.
Durham, Bishop of, 59.
Dziewicki, M. H., 51.
ECCLES, 146.
Eddy, Mrs., 16, 299, 300, 301, 302.
Edine, St., 76.
Edward the Confessor, 225, 226, 227, 228, 234.
Edward II, 145.
Edward III, 234.
Edward VI, 248.
Eleazar, 37.
Elisha, 109.
Elizabeth, Queen, 184, 202, 229, 234, 247.
Elliotson, 267.
Elpideus, 59.
Empedocles, 29.
Encelius, 161.
Ennemoser, 266.
Ennodius, St., 59.
Erasmus, St., 74, 76.
Estrade, J. B., 106.
Euhodias, 114.
Eustachius, 86.
Eustasius, Abbe, 119, 120.
Eutrope, St., 76.
Evans, W. F., 299 f.
Evelyn, 241.
Evremond, St., 134.
FABIAN, POPE, 43.
Faria, 265.
Farnham, N. de, 59.
Fecamp, 107.
Felix, Minucius, 42.
Felix, Mons, 104.
Ferdinand, 155.
Féré, 255, 270.
Ferrarius, 198.
Fiage, St., 76.
Fillan, St., 88, 213.
Finney, C. G., 276, 277.
Fisher, G. P., 64.
Fitz-Nigel, R., 59.
Fletcher, 61.
Fletcher, H., 301.
Floyer, Sir J., 239.
Fluctibus, A., 151.
Fludd, Dr., 151, 250.
Foissac, 265.
Fontenelle, 19.
Fort, G. F., 46, 59, 63, 77, 80, 81, 96, 97, 121, 127, 149, 165, 171, 172,
194, 207.
Fortescue, Sir J., 228.
Fosbrooke, 84, 142.
Foster, Parson, 151.
Fox, G., 132 f.
Francis, Father, 91.
Francis I, Emperor, 146.
Francis I, King, 243.
Francis, St., 124.
Franklin, 259.
Franz, A., 171.
GALEN, 19, 196.
Gall, St., 46, 77, 81, 100, 119.
Gamaliel, 64.
Ganny, S., 125.
Gardiner, Bishop, 247.
Gassner, J. J., 136, 254.
Gemelli, 244.
Gemini, 74.
Genevieve, St., 68, 76, 118.
Genow, St., 76.
George I, 240.
George, St., 67, 94, 97, 98.
Gereon, St., 101.
Germain, St., 117.
Germanus, St., 76.
Gervasius, St., 65.
Gilbourne, Lord, 155.
Giles, St., 76.
Glocenius, 250.
Gmelin, 263.
Goldsmith, 19.
Googe, B., 203.
Görres, 130.
Gower, 189.
Gracian, B., 250.
Greatrakes, V., 133 ff.
Gregory, Mr., 248.
Gregory, of Nazianzus, 43, 118.
Gregory, of Tours, 44, 68, 69, 83, 118.
Gregory, St., 98.
Gregory the Great, 44, 45, 72.
Gregory XIII, Pope, 132.
Grimes, 268.
Gros, D. de, 269.
Grose, 90, 218.
Gudule, St., 104.
Guffe, John, 125.
Guthlac, St., 77.
HALL, BISHOP, 91, 158.
Hamerton, 138.
Hamilton, Miss M., 93, 94, 96.
Hammond, W. A., 153, 154, 157, 244, 245.
Hardy, 22.
Harlan, R., 306.
Harrington, Sir J., 163.
Hasted, 86.
Hatton, Lord Charles, 184, 247.
Helen, Empress, 70.
Helinotius, 250.
Hell, 252, 253.
Helmont, von, 150.
Henry II and III, 59.
Henry IV, 225.
Henry VII, 85, 234, 240.
Henry VIII, 247.
Hensler, 266.
Hercules, 33, 83.
Herring, 183.
Herz, Frau, 48.
Heylin, Dr., 238, 243.
Heywood, 189.
Higden, Ranulf, 91.
Hilarion, St., 38, 117.
Hippo, 64.
Hippocrates, 28, 32, 47.
Hippolito, 155.
Hobbes, 242.
Hohenlohe, Prince, 283 f.
Holloway, 262.
Holt, Sir J., 174 f.
Homer, 29, 30.
Hospinian, 247.
Howell, A. G., 124.
Howell, J., 152 f.
Hubert, St., 78, 79, 81, 82.
Hugo, 120.
Hyacinth, St., 76.
Hyde, 139.
Hygeia, Tecla, 86.
IATRICOS, 83.
Imbert-Gourbyzee, 106.
Innocent II, 55.
Innocent III, 55.
Irenæus, 41, 113.
Isaac, 100.
JACKSON, 167.
Jacob, 97, 100.
James, 114, 115.
James I, 229.
James II, 153, 238.
Jerome, of Brunsweig, 187.
Jerome, St., 117.
Joane, Mother, of Stowe, 197.
Job, St., 76.
John, 66, 123.
John, Father, of Cronstadt, 294 f.
John, of Gladdesden, 145, 206.
John, St., 67, 74, 75, 76, 93, 97.
John, St., of Beverly, 121.
Johnson, Dr. S., 238 f.
Johnson, Mrs., 239.
Joseph, 25, 75.
Josephus, 28, 37.
Julian, 32, 44.
Juliana, St., 76, 118.
Julius Africanus, 166.
Jussieu, L. de, 259.
Just, St., 98.
Justina, Empress, 65.
KAMPFER, 146.
King, E. A., 60, 173, 182, 187, 193, 204, 205, 217.
Kircher, 250.
Koreff, 263.
Kublai Khan, 185.
LACIANUS, 64.
Lactantius, 42.
La Fontaine, 267.
Laneham, R., 229.
Lascaris, 243.
Laurent, du, 192.
Laurentia, 127.
Laurentius, 225, 243.
Lavater, 263.
Lavoisier, 259.
Lawrence, St., 74, 76.
Leatus, 75.
Lecky, W. E. H., 42, 65, 113, 242, 243.
Lee, 267.
Lemnius, L., 195.
Leo, 74.
Leo, Pope, 100.
Leonastes, 68.
Leverett, John, 136.
Liberius, St., 76.
Libra, 74.
Liebeault, 269, 270, 271.
Lilly, 86.
Lindsey, Earl of, 231.
Littre M., 80.
Lluellin, 212.
Locke, 242.
Lodge, 198.
London, Bishop of, 59.
Longfellow, 273.
Louis I, 225.
Louis XIII, 244.
Louis, Prince, 285.
Louis, St., 79.
Loutherbourg, 262.
Lucian, 218.
Lucy, St., 76.
Luke, 75, 97.
Lupton, 180, 185.
Luther, Martin, 47, 129.
MACARIUS, St., 116.
Macaulay, C. S., 89.
Macaulay, Mrs., 89.
Macaulay, T. B., 232, 241.
Macdonald, 204.
Machaon, 30.
Mack, J., 286.
Mackay, C., 69, 71, 100, 104, 108, 157, 256, 262.
Madern, St., 91.
Magnus, St., 79.
Maimonides, 140.
Mainadus, Dr., 262.
Maine, St., 76.
Marcellus, 168.
Margaret, St., 76.
Maria, S. dell 'Arco, 107.
Mark, 75, 99, 114.
Marsden, 199.
Martin, St., 68, 69, 76, 78, 83, 117, 120.
Martyr, Justin, 41, 42.
Marus, St., 76.
Mary, 71.
Mary, Queen, 248.
Maspéro, G., 25, 26.
Massinger, 35.
Matthew, Father, 127, 128, 289 f.
Maur, St., 76.
Maxwell, 251.
Mayerne, Dr., 153.
Meaux, Bishop of, 47.
Melanchthon, 129.
Melton, 74.
Mesmer, 6, 250.
Meyer, R., 133.
Mezeray, 225.
Michel, M., 283.
Milmine, G., 304.
Milner, John, Dr., 83.
Milton, 242.
Miranda, 155.
Miranda, A., de, 130.
Mix, E., 290.
Mizaldus, 159.
Momford, Lord, 219.
Monardes, 183.
Montfort, Marquis, 97.
Mooney, N., 197.
Morison, 122, 123.
Morley, H., 191.
Morley, Squire, 185.
Moses, 25, 69, 72, 97.
Moses, J., 135.
Müller, Johannes, 11.
Munger, 19.
Murmerstadt, 285.
Myers, A. T., 106.
Myers, F. W. H., 106, 265, 271.
NAAMAN, 83.
Nabonnese, 98.
Napoleon, 108.
Navarette, 201.
Neri, St. Philip, 132.
Nevius, J.F., 60.
Newton, Dr., 292.
Nicetius, 67.
Nicholas, Dr. J., 230.
Nicodemus, 75.
Noizet, 265.
Northampton, Lord, 197.
Nottingham, William, 125.
Nun, St., 213.
Odilo, 81.
Oldmixon, 239.
Onymus, Prof., 285.
Origen, 26, 42, 43, 114.
Oswald, St., 90.
Otilia, St., 74, 76.
PALLADIUS, 116.
Paninguem, Tomé, 130.
Paracelsus, 5, 150, 151, 181, 212, 249, 250.
Paris, Deacon, 105.
Paris, Dr., 142.
Parthenius, St., 115.
Pascal, 169.
Pastor, St., 98.
Patrick, Bishop, 136.
Patterson, Mrs., 298.
Paul III, Pope, 100.
Paul, St., 37, 72, 75, 126.
Paula, Franciscus de, 120.
Peckham, Sir G., 86.
Peebles, J. M., 60.
Pennant, 85.
Pepys, 201, 204, 210, 216.
Percy, Bishop, 246.
Perier, Mademoiselle, 103.
Perkins, B. D., 262.
Pernel, St., 76.
Peter, 248.
Peter, St., 5, 71, 72, 100, 121.
Petétin, 261.
Petronilla, St., 76.
Pettigrew, T. J., 55, 75, 76, 139, 140, 141, 146, 157, 159, 162, 167, 170,
176, 177, 181, 184, 198, 201, 202, 204, 205, 207, 208, 213, 218, 225,
236, 244, 248, 296.
Pezold, 263.
Phaire, St., 76.
Philip I, 243.
Philip II of Spain, 54.
Philip of Valois, 244.
Phillips, Elder, 287.
Philo, 37.
Pilate, Pontius, 41, 97, 105.
Pilkington, Bishop, 167.
Pinkerton, 88.
Pisces, 74.
Pistol, 207.
Pius IX, Pope, 296.
Platerus, 159.
Plato, 19, 29.
Pliny, 159, 177, 182, 183, 198, 209.
Podalirius, 30.
Polo, Marco, 185.
Pomponatius, 160.
Ponponazzi, Pierre, 25.
Pope, 138.
Porta, B., 151, 159, 251.
Posidonius, 44.
Poyan, C, 268.
Price, W. T., 278.
Protasius, St., 65.
Puller, 115.
Puységur, Marquis de, 260, 261.
Pythagoras, 190.
QUAN, ST., 91.
Quimby, P. P., 17, 297 ff., 302, 303.
Quintan, St., 76.
Quirinus, St., 74.
RACHEL, 145.
Radegonde, 121.
Radstock, Lord, 283.
Ramesay, 158.
Raphael, 43.
Ravenscroft, 190.
Refinus, 115.
Reid, 273.
Remigius, St., 77.
Renodeus, 159, 160, 161.
Richards, Elder, 287.
Richelieu, Cardinal, 244.
Richmond, Duke of, 231.
Riley, I. W., 287.
Roche, St., 296.
Rochus, St., 74, 76.
Romanus, St., 76.
Rosalia, St., 102.
Ruffian, St., 76.
Russel, 200.
Rusticus, Elpidius, 59.
Ruthlein, Captain, 285.
SAGITTARIUS, 74.
Salverte, E., 40, 41, 59, 83, 85, 136.
Samonicus, S., 166.
Sanderson, Dr., 231.
Sanford, F. W., 281 f.
Saturninus, St., 123.
Sauveur, St., of Horta, 130 f.
Schlatter, F., 290.
Scoresby, 267.
Scorpius, 74.
Scott, R., 196.
Scott, W., 189, 193, 213.
Sebastian, St., 76, 98.
Selle, 263.
Senso, Dr., 128.
Serapion, 180.
Severin, St., 67, 81.
Severus, 114.
Servetus, 244.
Shakespeare, 108, 224, 273.
Shaw, 203.
Siemers, 266.
Sigismund, St., 76.
Simeon, St., 97.
Simpson, A. B., 281.
Sinsheim, Count von, 284.
Skippon, 198.
Smith, Joseph, Jr., 286 f.
Smith, Sir T., 184, 247.
Socrates, 29, 86.
Sophronius, 93.
Southampton, Earl of, 231.
Southey, 143, 273.
Stengal, 54.
Stephen, St., 64, 75.
Stephens, 248.
Sterne, 3.
Stevens, E., 231.
Stowe, 3.
Straus, 155.
Strype, 202.
Styria, 107.
Sulpicius, St., 77.
Syward, John, 125, 126.
TACITUS, 112.
Tairise, St., 99.
Tathiedo, 75.
Tatian, 40.
Taurus, 74.
Tecla, St., 85.
Tennyson A., 139
Tenos, Madonna of, 95.
Tertullian, 42, 114.
Theocritus, 189.
Theodelinda, 66.
Theodoric, 59.
Theodosius, 70.
Thiers, M., 192.
Thmuis, Bishop, 116.
Thomas, of Celano, 124.
Thomas, St., 77.
Thomas St. of Hereford, 125.
Tignan, St., 75.
Tooker, Dr., 229.
Torpacion, 114.
Townley, 140.
Townshend, 267.
Trickmore, 190.
Trine, R. W., 301.
Trippe, S., 148.
Trundel, D., 279 f.
Tuckey, C. L., 245.
Tuke, H., 11, 237, 286.
Turner, 211.
Turner, Dr. D., 239.
URSULA, ST., 102.
VALENTINE, 76.
Vanzesmes, de, 258.
Vardrille, St., 119.
Venise, St., 76.
Vespasian, 37, 112, 195.
Victor, 260.
Victor Emmanuel, 245.
Vincent, St., 77.
Vittrici, Pietro, 132.
Vitus, St., 76, 203.
WALDERSTEIN, 3.
Wallery, St., 76.
Wallia, St., 76.
Waterford, Simon, 125.
Wenefride, St., 91.
Werenfels, 156, 208.
Wesley, J., 275, 276.
Westbury, Lord, 48, 49.
Whichcote, Dr., 136.
White, A. D., 39, 44, 47, 48, 52, 78, 100, 101, 110, 146, 233.
Wierus, 110.
Wilkins, Bishop, 136.
Willabrod, 77.
William III, 228, 238.
William of Malmesbury, 225, 227.
Wilson, Mr., 48.
Winthrop, Governor, 19.
Wirdig, S., 251.
Withers, F., 138.
Wohyus, E., 150.
Wolfart, 263.
Wolfgang, St., 76.
Wood, H., 301.
XAVIER, ST. FRANCIS, 111, 129, 130.
ZACCHEUS, 75.
Zeller, S., 280.
Zola, E., 106.
Zosimos, 93.
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