MAGICAL MEDICAL PRACTISE 169 



appropriately included in the same list. One of them is used when the 



first collar is placed upon a colt's neck, and it is supposed to prevent 



the equine vice known as ' balking,' and to cause the animal to work 



satisfactorily. It is as follows : 



Refuse not to pull while the Jews keep Saturday for Sunday. In the name 

 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen. 



The other is used to prevent the depredations of thieves and burglars 

 and the approach of deadly enemies. If one has a house or a field 

 which he wishes to protect he should walk around it three times, re- 

 peating the incantation each time. It is thought that any one attempt- 

 ing to cross the line thus made will be paralyzed, in his tracks, and will 

 have to stand there until released by the sorcerer. This must be done 

 before sunrise; otherwise the offender may die. The charm is as 

 follows : 



When Mary lay in child-bed and Joseph was about to flee aioay, Joseph 

 cried out and said: ' There goes a thief in our house who wants to steal the 

 child.' And Mary said: 'St. Peter bade, St. Peter said, "I have bound him in 

 God's hand." Whosoever would, in twenty-three hours, steal from me or do 

 any hurt to my life shall stand there till I tell him to go away.' In the name 

 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen. 



About seventy years ago the writer's grandfather removed his family 

 from South Carolina to the west, and on the eve of his departure a 

 neighbor gave him this charm for the protection of the wagon-camp 

 at night, but its virtue was never tested. In South Carolina it seems 

 still to be used, and there are two or three recent stories of watermelon 

 thieves having been caught in this way. One relates that at daybreak 

 the thief was seen standing, unable to move or even to drop the bag 

 of stolen melons on his shoulder. 



There are also formulas for the cure of cancer and for the removal 

 of warts, but these the writer has not been fortunate enough to secure. 

 A very old lady of his acquaintance, Mrs. R — , from whom some of the 

 formulas mentioned were obtained, says that she was cured of cancer 

 many years ago by one Adam Boland, of Newberry County, who was a 

 famous ' user ' in his day. In her case the ' using ' was done when 

 she was not present. She says that Boland, after repeating the charm 

 and the name of the patient three times, always took an axe and cut 

 into the heart of a pine tree in order to ascertain whether the treatment 

 would prove successful. If the tree lived the patient would recover; 

 otherwise, the charm was powerless. Mrs. R — gives some further 

 particulars of interest. Her daughter learned a few of the formulas 

 when a child and used them frequently and successfully to relieve her 

 father's illness, although he had no faith in the practise. The charms 

 lose their force if taught by a younger person to an older one; the 

 learner should always be younger than the teacher. The point of view 

 from which many persons look on these superstitious methods of treat- 

 ment is well illustrated by a remark of Mrs. R — . She says : 



