82 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



human beings suffered and hoped. . The establishment of the Eoman 

 Church in England did not cause the old Anglo-Saxons to abandon 

 their ancient rites and ceremonies. The inhabitants still clung to the 

 mysterious lore of the Druids, and were only able to attach themselves 

 fully to the new belief by retaining quite a number of the heathen 

 superstitions. Long after the coming of the Catholic missionaries to 

 the British Isles, there throve in merrie England hundreds of magicians 

 who were feared even more than the holy fathers. The ignorant per- 

 son ever loves to compromise. He is never certain which god is the 

 true god, and in order not to take chances, he sacrifices to more than 

 one divinity, lest he be left in the lurch. Palmists, fortune tellers, 

 necromancers, magicians, clairvoyants are always secure of a very com- 

 fortable livelihood, if they do but settle in those centers where igno- 

 rance abounds. For, indeed, they seem all omnipotent to the credulous 

 mind. They can predict the future ; they can prescribe for the patient 

 when the learned physician has given up hope; they can sell love- 

 philters; they can cast evil spells upon our enemies; they can give us 

 an amulet which we can wear and be forever protected against fearful 

 maladies; they can grant good luck, and tell us how to avoid dangers 

 and pitfalls. 



Above all, let us repeat, they can give us an amulet, or charm, to 

 wear which will make us fearless of disease. 



The selling of amulets by magicians is a very lucrative business 

 even in the present day. Sometimes it is not the necromancer, but the 

 church, which sells charms to its adherents. The word amulet has quite 

 a variety of derivations from the Eoman and Arabian tongues. Amulets 

 were so called by the Latins because of their supposed efficacy in allay- 

 ing evil; " amuletum quod malum amolitur." Some think that the 

 word is derived from the Latin amula, which is a small vessel of lustral 

 water carried about by the Eomans. In the Arabian language, hamalet 

 means that which is suspended. 2 Certain charms are supposed to be 

 valid against all evils or ailments, others are efficacious only in certain 

 specific instances. 



People are afraid more often of an imaginary, possible misfortune 

 than they are of the present state of infelicity. Joseph Addison says : 



As if the natural calamities of life were not sufficient for it, we turn the 

 most indifferent circumstances into misfortunes, and surfer as much from trifling 

 accidents as from real evils. I have known the shooting of a star spoil a night's 

 rest; and have seen a man in love grow pale, and lose his appetite, upon the 

 plucking of a merry-thought. A screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family- 

 more than a band of robbers; nay, the voice of a cricket hath struck more terror 

 than the roaring of a lion. There is nothing so inconsiderable which may not 

 appear dreadful to an imagination that is filled with omens and prognostics. A 

 rusty nail or a crooked pin shoot up into prodigies. 



2 William Jones, "Credulities Past and Present," London, 1898. 



