SOME SUPERSTITIONS OF HYDROPHOBIA. 179 



phobid, or had the disease causing the fear of water, and had lately- 

 been bitten by a mad dog. I asked toward what part of the sea they 

 wished to carry him. Did they intend his death ? ' Nay, rather,' 

 said the mariner, ' he shall presently return whole ; and such is the 

 blessing of the sea, that such a kind of madness it will presently cure.' 

 I offered them some money to take me along with them as a compan- 

 ion and witness. When we had sailed about an Italian mile, the 

 mariners did open a hole in the bottom, whereby the whole ship was 

 almost sunk, even to the brim ; indeed, they used the brine to recoct 

 Spanish salt. And when, as that hole was now again exactly shut, 

 two men, withdrawing the end of the sail-yard, lifted up the top 

 thereof, and bore the old man on high ; but thence they let him down 

 headlong into the sea ; and he was under the water about the space 

 of a miserere^ whom afterward they twice more plunged, about the 

 space of an angelical salutation. But they then placed him on a 

 smooth vessel, with his back upward, covered with a short cloak. I 

 did think that he was dead ; but the mariners derided my fear, for, 

 his bonds being loosened, he began to cast up all the brine which he 

 had breathed in, and presently he revived. He was a cooper, of 

 Ghent, and, being thenceforth freed from his madness, lived safe and 

 sound. Also the mariners did relate that the Dutch, by a raw her- 

 ring salted, applied to the bite of a mad dog for three days' space and 

 renewed, do take away all fear of madness. When this has been 

 neglected, at least by the beheld manner of plunging they are all 

 cured." 



Fleming states that in Syria, at the present day, when a person is 

 affected with hydrophobia, he is confined in a dark room, great care 

 being taken to keep him tranquil, and prevent his seeing any red-col- 

 ored object ; and, if he thus survives for a certain period, he is cast 

 from an eminence into the sea. This treatment would appear almost 

 as effectual as another plan once pursued with hydrophobic patients, 

 viz., smothering them between feather-beds. 



A mere enumeration of all the absurd devices and medicaments 

 employed from time immemorial to prevent or cure hydrophobia, 

 would fill many pages. Charms, incantations, amulets, and mysteri- 

 ous religious rites, have had a large share in such preservative meas- 

 ures. One of the more modern and most remarkable superstitions 

 connected with this subject is the reputed cure of hydrophobia by a 

 pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Hubert, in the Ardennes a custom 

 prevailing even now in Belgium, and dating back to the ninth cen- 

 tury. According to the legend, the stole of St. Hubert/by which the 

 miracle is accomplished, was brought from heaven by an angel, who 

 presented it to the saint while he was praying at the tomb of St. 

 Peter, in Rome. At the same time he received also a golden key 

 from St. Peter, by which he became endowed with a special power 

 over evil spirits. Van Helmont thus alludes to the miraculous powers 



