BOUUKE.] CORDS USED IN PARTURITION. 571 



of Scotland. They were impressed with several mystical figures; and 

 the ceremony of binding- them about the woman s waist was accom 

 panied with words and gestures, which showed the custom to have 

 been of great antiquity, and to have come originally from the Druids. &quot; 1 



&quot;But my girdle shall serve as a riding knit, and a fig for all the 

 witches in Christendom.&quot; 2 The use of girdles in labor must be ancient. 



&quot;Ut inulier concipiat, homo vir si solvat semicinctiim suum et earn 

 praeciugat.&quot; 3 &quot; Certain est quod partum mirabiliter facilirent, sive instar 

 cinguli circumdentur corpori.&quot; These girdles were believed to aid labor 

 and cure dropsy and urinary troubles. 4 



&quot;The following customs of childbirth are noticed in the Trait6 des 

 Superstitions of M. Thiers, vol. 1, p. 320 : Lors qu une femme est preste 

 d accoucher, prendre sa ceinture, aller a 1 Eglise, Her la cloche avec cette 

 ceinture et la faire sonner trois coups afin que cette femine accouche 

 heureusement. Martin de Aries, Archidiacre de Pampelonne (Tract. 

 de Superstition) asseuro que cette superstition est fort en usage dans 

 tout son pays. &quot; 5 



In the next two examples there is to be found corroboration of the 

 views advanced by Forloug that these cords (granting that the princi 

 ple upon which they all rest is the same) had originally some relation 

 to ophic rites. Brand adds from Leviuus Lemnius : &quot;Let the woman 

 that travels with her child (is in her labour) be girded with the skin 

 that a seFpeut or a snake casts off, and then she will quickly be delivered.&quot; 6 

 A serpent s skin was tied as a belt about a woman in childbirth.&quot; lude 

 puerpera? circa collum aut corporern apposito, victoriam in puerperii 

 conflictu habuerunt, citissimeque liberate fuerunt.&quot; 7 



The following examples, illustrative of the foregoing, are taken from 

 Flemmiug : The skins of human corpses were drawn off, preferably by 

 cobblers, tanned, and made into girdles, called &quot;Cingula&quot; or Chiroth- 

 ecse, which were bound on the left thigh of a woman in labor to expe 

 dite delivery. The efficacy of these was highly extolled, although 

 some writers recommended a recourse to tiger s skin for the purposes 

 indicated. This &quot;caro humaiio&quot; was euphemistically styled &quot; mummy&quot; 

 or &quot;mumia&quot; by Von Helmout and others of the early pharmacists, when 

 treating of it as an internal medicament. 



There was a &quot; Ciugulum excorio humano&quot; bound round patients during 

 epileptic attacks, convulsions, childbirth, etc., and another kind of belt de 

 scribed as &quot;ex cute humana conficiunt,&quot; and used in contraction of the 

 nerves and rheumatism of the joints, 8 also bound round the body in cramp. 9 



i Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 67. 

 Ibid., p. 170. 



3 Sextus Placitus, De iledicamcutia ox Aniuialibus, Lyons, 1537, pages not numbered, article &quot;de 

 Puello et PueUao Virgine.&quot; 



4 EtniiUler, Opera Omnia, Lyons, 1(J90, vol. 2, p. 279, Scliroderii Dilucidati Zoologia. 



5 Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 68, footnote. 



6 Ibid., p. 67. 



7 Paracelsus, Chirurgia il inora, in Opera Omnia, Geneva, 1662, vol. 2, p. 70. 

 Ibid., p. 174. 



Beckherius. Medicus Hicrocosinus, London, 1660, p. 174. 



