352 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



with oil. The receipt given by Albertus Magnus for this 

 purpose was of a different nature. It consisted of a non- 

 conducting calcareous paste, which was made to adhere to 

 the skin by the sap of the marsh-mallow, the slimy seeds 

 of the flea-bane, and the white of an egg. 



As the ancients were acquainted with the incombus- 

 tibility of asbestos or amianthus, and the art of weaving 

 it into cloth, it is highly probable that it was employed 

 in the performance of some of their miracles, and it is 

 equally probable that it was subsequently used, along 

 with some of the processes already described, in enabling 

 the victims of superstition to undergo without hazard the 

 trial of ordeal by fire. In every country where this bar- 

 barous usage prevailed, whether in the sanctuary of the 

 Christian idolater, or in the pagan temple of the Bramin, 

 or under the wild orgies of the African savage, Providence 

 seems to have provided the means of meeting it with im- 

 punity. In Catholic countries this exculpatory judgment 

 was granted chiefly to persons in weak health, who were 

 incapable of using arms, and particularly to monks and 

 ecclesiastics who could not avail themselves of the trial 

 by single combat. The fire ordeal was conducted in the 

 church under the inspection of the clergy : mass was at 

 the same time celebrated, and the iron and the victim^ 

 were consecrated by the sprinkling of holy water. The 

 preparatory steps were also under the direction of the 

 priests. It was necessary that the accused should be 

 placed three days and three nights under their care, both 

 before and after the trial. Under the pretence of prevent- 

 ing the defendant from preparing his hands by art, and 

 in order to ascertain the result of the ordeal, his hands 

 were covered up and sealed during the three days which 

 preceded and followed the fiery application ; and it has 

 been plausibly conjectured by Beckmann, that during the 

 first three days the preventative was applied to those 



