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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



" Suppose you know nothing, say there is an ' obstruction ' of the liver. Per- 

 haps he will reply, 1 Nay, master, it is my head or legs that trouble me.' 

 Repeat that it comes from the liver ; and especially use the word ' obstruc- 

 tion,' for patients do not understand it, which is very important." * 



Regardless of the statement of Hippocrates, the belief in demons and 

 evil spirits lingered on through the ages, so that many drugs had the 

 virtue of expelling them. Thus the common St. John's Wort {Hypericum 

 perforatum) was also called Fuga dcemonum, and " was gathered on the 

 eve of St. John's day, June 21, to be hung up at windows as a preservative 

 against thunder and evil spirits, and given internally against mania." t 



The habit of making drugs as nauseous as possible, especially as 

 emetics, appears to have had the same origin, viz. to expel the demon of 

 the illness by making its internal abode as unpleasant as possible. 



The desire for having the medicine " strong " originated in the same 

 way. % Another method of driving out the spirit was by pommelling the 

 patient vigorously. Modern massage is a refined method derived from 

 the ancient practice. Fumigation with detestable odours was also practised. 

 This is mentioned in the Book of Tobit (ch. viii.) when his son Tobias 

 took the " ashes of the perfumes, and put the heart and the liver of 

 the fish thereupon, and made a smoke therewith. The which smell when 

 the evil spirit had smelled, he fled into the utmost parts of Egypt." Thus 

 he saved himself from the fate of his wife's previous seven husbands, 

 whom the spirit had slain. 



Charms and incantations have always played an important part, and 

 the question arises, what was their origin ? 



The word "charm" is derived from the Latin carmen, a song, and 

 "incantation" from canto, "to sing," and it is to music and singing to 

 which they are, at least in part traceable, for " music hath charms to 

 soothe the savage breast." It was the soothing influence of a gentle 

 musical voice which probably was found to have a beneficial effect on the 

 patient, just as a lullaby sends a fractious baby to sleep. 



Prayers, too, were probably another source. The Hebrew words for 

 "charming" signify "soft whispering," as of prayers uttered in a low 

 voice, the same word being used for prayer (Is. xxvi. 16) as for charming 

 serpents (Ps. lviii. 5). Then it would seem that subsequently superstition 

 placed the charming power in the mere ivords instead of in the musical 

 accent of the voice ; and that words of "magical songs" were engraved 

 on gems and jewels, and worn on persons as " charms " or " amulets " (an 

 Arabic word signifying "carried"). They not only "enchanted" but 

 averted the effects of the "enchantments" of others; and so the super- 

 stitious uses spread and were enlarged. 



Charms and incantations have been grouped under seven kinds, as 

 follows : 



L Those addressed to the herbs themselves or the spiritual beings 

 supposed to preside over their virtues : e.g. to Betony, Henbane for gout, 



* De Cautelis Medici, fifteenth century ; Withington, Medical History from the 

 Earliest '.rimes, p. 230. 



t Prior's Popular Names of British Plants, p. 195. 



X A physician in Egypt instructed an Arab how to take Seidlitz powders which he 

 gave liini ; bul as one <lul not seem "strong" enough, the patient took four of each 

 paper at once ! 



