SUPERSTITION 



5636 



SUPERSTITION 



consciousness, foamed at the mouth, or raved 

 in delirium, was the explanation of possession 

 by a spirit resorted to. The term epilepsy 

 means seizure and refers to the possession by 

 a spirit. (See WITCHCRAFT.) The astrological 

 notions invaded medicine and led to the belief 

 in the moon as a cause of insanity, in defer- 

 ence to which notion we still use the word 

 lunacy (from luna, the moon), and the belief 

 prevails that sleeping in the moonlight is pe- 

 culiarly dangerous. It is another phase of this 

 belief that associated certain days with the 

 medical practices. An ancient manuscript men- 

 tions twenty-eight days "which were revealed 

 by the Angel Gabriel to good Joseph, which 

 ever have been remarked to be very fortunate 

 days either to let blood, cure wounds, use mer- 

 chandises, sow seed, build houses, or take jour- 

 neys." (These good and bad days are really of 

 Egyptian origin.) So medicines had to be taken 

 at prescribed times and ceremonies. In such 

 practice there is much room for the operation 

 of a mental attitude. The patient was im- 

 pressed by the weird and minute prescriptions, 

 and his confidence of benefit expected (see 

 FAITH CURE) was doubtless more effective in 

 many cases than the potion or operation. It 

 was this confusion of scientific fact and super- 

 stitious belief that Voltaire satirized when he 

 said that incantations, together with a sufficient 

 amount of arsenic, would doubtless kill your 

 neighbor's sheep. 



To illustrate the mixture of science and 

 superstition the following may be cited from a 

 letter of an M.D. of date 1581: "On Friday 

 and Saturday, the sign will be in the heart; 

 Monday and Tuesday in the stomach; during 

 which time it will be no good to take your 

 ordinary physic." (The different parts of the 

 body were associated with the signs of the 

 zodiac, as may still be seen in the picture of 

 the human body and the astrological signs in 

 an old-fashioned almanac.) In an almanac of 

 1571 one may read : "No part of a man's body 

 ought to be touched with the Chirurgicall in- 

 struments or cauterie actuall or potencial, when 

 the Sunne or Moone or the Lo'rd of the As- 

 cendant is in the same signs that ruleth that 

 part of the man's body." 



Medical Superstitions. The principle of 

 analogy is variously illustrated in medicine. 

 On the side of cure it appears in the doctrine 

 'of signature, by which eyebright (the flower 

 having the appearance of an eye) is prescribed 

 for eye trouble; walnuts (the shell like the 

 skull, the kernel like the brain) for diseases of 



the brain; or in the practice of Chinese physi- 

 cians to administer the tops, middles, and roots 

 of plants for diseases of the head, chest, and 

 legs respectively. The doctrine of sympathy 

 was systematized in that country in the remark- 

 able idea of treating not the wound but the 

 weapon that inflicted it; as the salve was ap- 

 plied to the weapon, the wound would heal. 

 The phrase "to take a hair of the dog that bit 

 you" reflects the similar notion that by means 

 of the hair one may cure the bite. Direct trans- 

 fer is practiced by literally wishing or by contact 

 placing the diseases upon an animal or an ob- 

 ject, and thus relieving the patient. Recent 

 cases are reported in which children attacked 

 by whooping cough were required to cough in 

 the face of a live catfish kept in a tub for 

 that purpose. Similarly by analogy the fact 

 that a loadstone will draw to it particles of 

 iron has led to the belief that it will also draw 

 rheumatism out of the body. When the mag- 

 net was relatively unknown, it was accredited 

 with mystic powers; and European peasants 

 carried one to avert and cure disease. Yet the 

 faith is no different from that which leads 

 credulous people to-day to pay handsomely for 

 "electric" belts and similar fraudulent devices. 

 (For the part that the magnet has played in 

 allied practices, see HYPNOTISM.) 



An interesting medical superstition, likewise 

 with an ancient history, is the notion that un- 

 usual and uncanny objects will have powerful 

 medical effects. The most nauseous concoc- 

 tions were brewed as medicines. This practice 

 is well preserved in the formula of the witches' 

 caldron in Macbeth: "eye of newt, toe of frog, 

 lizard's leg, scale of dragon, gullet of a shark, 

 a tiger's entrails, slips of yew gathered in the 

 eclipse of the moon," "root of hemlock, digged 

 in the dark," "liver of blaspheming Jew," "nose 

 of a Turk, and Tartar's lips," "finger of birth- 

 strangled babe:" 



"Cool it with a baboon's blood 

 Then the charm is firm and good." 



Medical potions and charms (love potions or 

 love philtres particularly) were not clearly dis- 

 tinguished; and the drugs used often combined 

 with incantations or superstitious directions 

 were impressive because of the mystic setting 

 in which they were prescribed. 



Present-day Superstitious Thought and 

 Practice. The wide range of superstitious 

 thought and practice may be further illustrated 

 by a survey of current practices, sometimes 

 followed with full belief in their virtue, more 

 commonly in a playful half-belief not unmixed 



