222 SIMPLES AND SIMPLERS. 



cians. Men hug their medical notions in as close an 

 embrace as the doctrines of their religious faith, and exer- 

 cise their reason in regard to the one no more than in 

 regard to the other. Indeed, the ancient union of prophet 

 and physician in one profession caused medicine and 

 religion to be intimately associated in the minds of the 

 people. Hence the sanctity of an herb, caused by its 

 consecration in certain religious ceremonies, was often 

 considered better proof of its efficacy in the cure of dis- 

 eases than any practical experience of its virtues. The 

 remedial reputation of precious stones had a religious 

 origin. They were supposed, on account of their purity 

 and splendor, to be the residence of good spirits, and con- 

 sequently useful as amulets to expel disease. These fol- 

 lies of human reason have not been wholly confined to 

 the ignorant. The celebrated John Wesley, being worn 

 down by excessive apostolic labors, visits the country, 

 and after a few months' rustication is greatly relieved. 

 He records this fact in his journal as the triumph of 

 " sulphur and supplication " over his infirmities, and 

 attributes his cure to daily prayers and a plaster of egg 

 and brimstone, rather than to Dr. Fothergill's prescription 

 of " country air, rest, milk diet, and horse exercise." 



I am a believer in medicines and in medical science ; 

 and though quackery is a fated appendage of the healing 

 art, as swindling and counterfeiting are the inevitable 

 accompaniments of trade, and though it continues to cause 

 great destruction of life, the loss of life would be still 

 greater if medicines were entirely unknown and unem- 

 ployed. But, as if intended as a safeguard to the danger- 

 ous arts of quacks, Providence has benevolently supplied 

 the fields with thousands of innocuous herbs, and merci- 

 fully endowed mankind with faith in their remedial power, 

 that they may amuse themselves, when sick, with harm- 

 less decoctions containing the semblance of physic in the 



