No. XIII.] APPENDIX. 219 



never to employ a false mental impression, as the effects of employing 

 false mental impressions are most dangerous. Here is a charm which is 

 supposed effectually to ward off all ill, physical or moral, from a child so 

 protected. It consists of the berries of the mountain-ash, tied round with 

 red thread, with the following couplet : 



" Rowan tree, and red thread, 

 Drives the witches at their sped." 



Here are amulets used for a similar purpose. I show you also an Abraxas, 

 a power presiding over 365 others, which is supposed to have wonderful 

 efficacy. Here are the casts of all the royal-touch pieces known at the 

 British Museum; and I am enabled to exhibit to you an original coin 

 from the museum of the great London antiquary, Mr. Charles Roach Smith : 

 this, although as recent as the reign of Queen Anne, has been so much 

 worn, to ward off the dreadful scourge of scrofula, that the impression is 

 quite abraded. Here is a cast of a touch-piece of the Pretender, who, think- 

 ing that he had right to the English crown, had also equal right to confer 

 the royal cure by touch. Do not think that spells, charms, or superstitions 

 are at an end. In your professional career you will frequently be astonished 

 at their use. I hold in my hand an engine of that character, called an 

 Homoeopathic Medicine Chest (applause), which has already produced so 

 many cures, according to the statement of its owner, that their enumeration 

 would occupy me till to-morrow. In an examination of the chest this 

 morning, I perceived the bottle labelled camphor had no odour ; that of 

 musk had lost, in a similar manner, its physical properties a single grain 

 of musk will fill a large room with odour for twenty years, and yet here 

 was not the slightest scent to be discovered. The idea flashed across my 

 mind, that these little globules were all made alike, and I transferred over 

 to the laboratory about 100 globules, containing two or three substances 

 which were not likely to have become injured by keeping, and the presence 

 of which could most readily be detected. The united skill of two or 

 three chemists failed to demonstrate by ordinary means the smallest 

 trace of the assumed substances. (Much applause and laughter.) The 

 evidence on this point is negative ; but yet it appears to me improbable, 

 that 100 globules should contain a substance easy of detection, and yet not 

 give immediate indication to chemical tests. 



I do not doubt that the owner really effected cures with this chesfc ; 

 nor do I doubt that the amulets, abraxas, and royal touch-pieces, produced, 

 in some cases, a similar effect ; but I do most earnestly warn you never to 

 lend yourself to produce a false mental impression, for the human mind 

 has been in the bondage of astrology and witchcraft, and may again 

 return to its former degraded position. Look, I pray you, at this book ; 

 see how accurately it gives the position of the stars for good and evil, 

 when to apply medicine, to stop a flux, or to cause a purge, and let that be 

 sufficient to warn you from the horrible effects of superstition, and deter 

 you from ever using charms, amulets, homceopathic globules, the com- 

 bination of stars, or any other mental abominations. 



Man is composed of integral matter, held together by internal forces, 

 so that the first investigation that we must undertake is, to inquire into 

 the nature of the matter, and the character of the forces. This study 



