NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 457 



of similar efficacy were the so-called " conception billets " sold by the 

 Carmelite monks. They contained a formula upon consecrated paper, 

 at which the devil might well turn pale. Buried in the corner of a 

 field, one of these was thought to give protection against bad weather 

 and destructive insects.* 



But highest in repute during centuries was the Agnus Dei a piece 

 of wax blessed by the pope's own hand, and stamped with the well- 

 known device representing the " Lamb of God."f Its powers were so 

 marvelous that Pope Urban V thought three of them a fitting gift 

 from himself to the Greek emperor. In the Latin doggerel recount- 

 ing their virtues, their meteorological efficacy stands first, for especial 

 stress is laid on their power of dispelling the thunder. This stress 

 thus laid by Pope Urban, as the infallible guide of Christendom, on 

 the efficacy of this fetich, gave it great value throughout Europe, and 

 the doggerel verses reciting its virtues sank deep into the popular 

 mind. J It was considered a most potent means of dispelling hail, 

 pestilence, storms, conflagrations, and enchantments ; and this feeling 

 was deepened by the rules and rites for its consecration.* So solemn 

 was the matter, that the manufacture and sale of this particular fetich 

 was, by a papal bull of 1471, reserved for the pope himself, || and he 

 only performed the required ceremony in the first and seventh years 

 of his pontificate. Standing un mitred, he prayed : " O God, . . . we 

 humbly beseech thee that thou wilt bless these waxen forms, figured 

 with the image of an innocent lamb, . . . that, at the touch and sight 

 of them, the faithful may break forth into praises, and that the crash 

 of hailstorms, the blast of hurricanes, the violence of tempests, the 

 fury of winds, and the malice of thunderbolts may be tempered, and 

 evil spirits flee and tremble before the standard of thy holy cross, 

 which is graven upon them." A 



* See Rydberg, " The Magic of the Middle Ages," translated by Edgren, pp. 64-66. 



f They are still in use in the Church, and may be found described in any ecclesiastical 

 cyclopaedia. 



\ " Tonitrua magna terret, Inimicos nostros domat, 



Et peccata nostra delet ; Pra?gnantem cum partu salvat, 



Ab incendio preeservat, Dona dignis multa confert, 



A submersione servat, Utque malis mala defert. 



A morte cita liberat, Portio, quamvis parva sit, 



Et Cacodsernones fugat, Ut magna tamen proficit." 



See these verses cited in full faith, so late as 1743, in Father Vincent of Berg's "En- 

 chiridium," pp. 23, 24, where is a full account of the virtues of the Agnus Dei, and in- 

 structions for its use. 



# A full account of these rites, with the consecrating prayers and benedictions which 

 gave color to this theory of the powers of the Agnus Dei, may be found in the ritual of 

 the Church. I have used the edition entitled " Sacrarum ceremoniarum sive rituum 

 Sanctte Romans Ecclesias libri tres," Rome, 1560, in folio. 



1 See Rydberg, " Magic of the Middle Ages," p. 63. 



A " Deus, . . . te suppliciter deprecamur, ut . . . has cereas formas, innocentissimi 

 agni imagine figuratas, benedicerc . . . digneris, ut per ejus tactum et visum fideles in- 



