314 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



objects in this way, such, for instance, as ghttering pebbles, 

 coloured stones, pearls, and coral. Here the spirits were 

 to be won over by the beauty of the ornament, so that they 

 would lay aside their enmity and become friendly and help- 

 ful. To still another class belong those amulets representing 

 a hand raised on high with the palm outward, figuring the 

 gesture of one who seeks to ward off approaching danger, 

 and also the numerous phallic amulets, especially popular 

 in Italy in ancient times, and still used there in a modified 

 form as a protection against the Evil Eye. This latter type 

 is believed to have been intended to express derision and 

 contempt, the wearer believing that witches and evil spirits 

 were robbed of their power when they were treated as despi- 

 cable and contemptible.* 



This idea is not altogether so foolish as it may seem to be, 

 for we know to-day that the mental attitude of an individual 

 is a very potent factor in conserving health or inducing dis- 

 ease, and if those who fancied themselves to be the victims 

 of witchcraft or demoniacal possession could only be made to 

 laugh at their tormentors, they would probably soon be cured 

 of their imaginary, and perhaps even of their real, ailments. 



Pliny frequently mentions the medicinal uses of teeth, 

 both human and animal. Quite naturally, according to 

 primitive ideas, a tooth was thought to be a sovereign remedy 

 for toothache. The best effect was attained by burning a 

 tooth taken from some one of the same sex as the sufferer, 

 and fumigating the painful tooth with the smoke. For 

 uterine diseases an effective cure was promised if the first 

 tooth lost by a child was set in an arm-band and continually 

 worn on the arm. It was, however, requisite that this 

 tooth should not have been permitted to fall to the ground. f 



*Schurtz, " Urgeschichte der Kultur," Leipzig und Wien, 1900, p. 599. 

 tC. Plinii Secundi, Naturalis historia. Lib. XXVIII, cap. 4, Venetia, 1507, Fol. 208 

 verso. 



