VULGAR SPECIFICS 8i 



VULGAR SPECIES AND THERAPEUTIC SUPERSTITIONS* 



By max KAHN, M.A., MD., Pii.D. 



DIRECTOn OP THE CHEMICAL LABOBATOKY, BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL, NEW YORK CITY, 

 INSTRUCTOR IN BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



THE searcli for the cause of things and events exists since the 

 appearance of man on the face of the earth. The inability to 

 explain things reasonably and convincingly induced the thinkers of 

 ancient times to use their imaginative faculties. The ancient explainers 

 of natural phenomena were the poets. 



The restless mind of man ever seeking a reason to account for the marvels 

 presented to his senses adopts one theory after another, and the rejected explana- 

 tions encumber the memory of nations as myths, the significance of which has 

 been forgotten.* 



The continual strife with the elements, the dreadful toils and 

 dangers of man's life, the inclemency of nature — were all attributed to 

 a perverse divinity or demon, who delighted to inflict pain and misery 

 upon brief-lived mortals. Such a divinity needed worship and sacrifice 

 to propitiate him. Humanity began to fear the devil before they 

 imagined the god. The " earthworms " created the gods of goodness to 

 protect themselves against the spirit of evil which they had incarnated. 



With fear began superstition, which is based upon fear and igno- 

 rance. The desire to know the mysterious future has given rise to a 

 great deal of the world's store of credulity in the supernatural. The 

 ancient philosopher who desired to divine the future by means of 

 geometrical figures, the pretty maiden who counts the petals of the 

 daisy or dandelion to learn whether her lover will be constant, and the 

 business man who allows the clairvoyant to pass on the lines of his 

 hand — are the ordinary examples in life of the vain endeavor to raise 

 the curtain that hides what is to be. Living beings fear death — a 

 rational fear. In order to prolong life, the body is to be kept healthy, 

 illnesses are to be avoided and, if disease does afilict an individual, the 

 sickness is to be cured. This is all rational. But illnesses are almost 

 inevitable in man's life, and diseases are not always cured or curable. 

 Instead of combating disease logically, men of all classes drew upon 

 their imagination and hashed various absurd means and methods of 

 treating their ailments. 



Coeval with the birth of superstition was the birth of magic. The 

 charlatan who could unscrupulously play upon the feelings of his 

 ignorant audience had quite a mighty following in every locality where 



* Baring-Gould, "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages," p. 151. 



VOL. LXXXII.— 6. 



