i7o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



I don't see why ' using ' shouldn't be as efficient as prayer, since the three 

 highest names [Father, Son, and Holy Ghost] are always used. At any rate 

 it can do no harm, if it does no good; and in this respect it differs from the 

 drugs used by physicians. 



If we look for practises analogous to these mentioned here the 

 abundance of material is found to be overwhelming. The use of 

 charms and incantations for the cure of disease may be noted in all 

 ages since the dawn of history and among peoples of all grades of cul- 

 ture. Pepys gives several, current in his day, which are very similar 

 in character to those given above; for example, the following, for stop- 

 ping blood: 



Sanguis mane in te 

 Sicut Christus fuit in se; 

 Sanguis mane in tua vena 

 Sicut Christus in sua poena; 

 Sanguis mane fixus 

 Sicut Christus quando fuit crucifixus. 



He also gives one for a burn which is almost identical with one of 



those now in use in South Carolina : 



There came three angels out of the East; 

 The one brought fire, the other brought frost. 



Out, fire; in, frost. 

 In the name of the Father, Son, and 



Holy Ghost. Amen. 



Eeginald Scot in ' The Discoverie of Witchcraft,' published in 



1584, records an accredited method: 



To heale the King's or Queen's evill, or any other sorenesse of the throte: 

 Let a virgine, fasting, laie hir hand on the sore and saie: Apollo denieth that 

 the heate of the plague can increase where a naked virgine quencheth it, and 

 spet three times upon it. 



This is interesting as showing the survival of a formula dating 

 from pre-Christian times. There is very good reason' for believing 

 that the incantations of the ' users ' of the present day may claim an 

 equal antiquity. Like some of the festivals of the church, they had 

 their origin in heathen times, and the introduction of Christianity did 

 not suffice to shake their hold on the popular mind. In old Germany 

 neither Charlemagne's conquest nor the priest who followed it could 

 put a period to the use of staves carved with mystic runes and devoted 

 to the purposes of divination and incantation. The oak, the ash and 

 the willow preserved their sacred character; and in the old heathen 

 formulas for the cure of disease, the only change effected by Christi- 

 anity was the substitution of the ' three highest names' (Father, Son 

 and Holy Ghost) for those of Thor, Woden and other heathen deities. 

 The following heathen and Christian versions of a popular charm for 

 sprains will illustrate the change effected : 



Old Version. 



Phol and Woden 

 went to the wood; 

 there was of Balder's colt 

 his foot wrenched; 



