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In process of time, an improvement 
was made upon this mode of charming 
away diseases, by adding to it the use 
of certain herbs and plants. But still a 
great deal of mummery was employed 
in gathering and administering these 
medicines. Thus, the Druids, in 
gathering the plant solago,, or black 
hellebore, would not use any cutting 
instrument. It Was to be plucked with 
the right hand, which was to be covered 
with a portion of their robe, then to be 
conveyed secretly into the left; and, 
lastly, as a necessary circumstance, the 
officiating Druid was to be clad in 
white, be barefooted, and offer a sacri- 
fice of bread and wine. Of course, the 
plant thus mystically gathered, was a 
catholicon. Vervain, a plant much used 
in magical operations, and occasionally 
even now employed as an amulet, was 
obtained with equal formality. It was 
to be gathered at the rising of the dog- 
star, and at break of day, before the sun 
was up—an expiatory sacrifice of fruit 
and honey having been previously 
offered to the earth. Persons rubbed 
with this were considered invulnerable 
to the attacks of fevers and all sorts of 
maladies: it possessed, also, the power 
of reconciling the hearts of such as were | 
at enmity. 
Every one is acquainted with the } 
solemnity of the ceremonies which these 
early priests and physicians of our own 
isle employed in gathering the misle- 
toe; which was esteemed of so much 
value, that they believed the gods ex. | 
pressly sent it down from heaven for ] 
the advantage and felicity of man. It 
was considered as a specific against the ‘ 
epilepsy, apoplexy and vertigo; anda 
water was distilled from it, which was’ 
deemed (like Solomon’s Balm of 
Gilead, and some other compounds 
that I could mention) a remedy for 
all maladies. ‘ 
_ Numerous additional examples might 
be adduced of the prevalence and pecu- 
liarity of these medicinal charms in the 
rude and early ages of the world. Even 
now their existence is very common 
‘among the Indian nations, which. are 
yet uncivilized. In most parts of Africa, 
the priests or marabouts carry on a 
considerable traffic in vending charms, 
which they call grigris, and which are 
made to answer every contingency. 
They afford protection from thunder- 
bolts and diseases: they procure many 
wives, and provide for their easy delive- 
ries; they prevent shipwreck in fishery, 
Improvement of Medical and Surgical Science. 
(July 1, 
and slavery in war; and they ensure 
success in battle. The following en- 
graving represents a grigris which be- 
longed to a Turk; it is inscribed with. 
sentences from the Koran, of which 
this is a translation. . 
“In the name -of the merciful’ God! 
Pray to God, through our Lord Mahomet. 
All that exists is only so by his command. 
He gives life, and also calls sinners to 
account. He deprives of life, by the sole 
power of his name :—these are undeniable 
truths. He that lives, owes his life to the 
peculiar clemency of his Lord, who, by his 
providence, takes care of his subsistence. 
He is a wise prince.” 
This, among others, was collected by 
Sir Ashton Lever, and was rolled up 
in linen. Grigris of this description 
were probably made in imitation of the 
phylacteries of the ‘Jews, which were 
rolls or slips of parchment, with some 
sentences of scripture written upon 
them, in obedience to the command, 
“to bind them for a sign upon their 
hands, and to be as frontlets between 
their eyes.” 
But it is not only among the rude 
savages of India that the virtue of 
medicinal charms is implicitly credited. 
The illiterate and simple natives of this 
great 
