ART. 15. 



HISTORY OF MEDICINE EXHIBITS WHITEBREAD. 



13 



Section of a tree grown on the Government grounds near the naval hospital, 

 Norfolk, Ya. — The tree had been tapped, human (negro) hair inserted in the 

 liole, the hole plugged and sealed with clay. Four inches of new growth 

 formed over the plug. Reckoning by count of the annual rings, the plug was 

 inserted more than 50 years before it was found. The operation upon the 

 tree was doubtless performed either (1) to relieve headache by transferring 

 it to the tree by means of the hair; or (2) to cause pain in the head of the 

 original possessor of the hair, the lock having been obtained by an enemy, 

 placed in the hole made in the tree, and the plug driven down hard upon it. 



Fig. G. — Indian Fetich. 



If you can get a few strands of your enemy's hair, bore a hole 

 in a tree, put them in, and plug up the hole ; you can thus give 

 him a headache which can not be relievetl until the hair is taken 

 out of the tree. Encyclopedia of Superstitions. (See pi. 2.) Cat. 

 No. 143,207, U.S.N.M. 

 Disease transference. — For warts : Rub the warts with a cinder ; tlie cinder 

 then to be tied up in a paper and dropped where four roads meet. The 

 warts will be transferred to whoever opens the parcel. Berdoe, " The Origin 

 and Growth of the Healing Art." Cat. No. 142,209. U.S.N.M. 



Signatures. — Some outward sign appearing upon plants, minerals, 

 and other objects, belieA-ed to point to their medicinal uses. This 

 belief is very evident in oriental medical practice, and was prevalent 

 in European countries up to the eighteenth century. 



