Chapter M: C. H. Gaidoz takes exception to this interpretation. In his opinion, (11)

“Powder of a man’s bones, burnt, chiefly of the skull that is found in the earth, given, cureth the epilepsy. The bones of a man cureth a man, the bones of a woman, cureth a woman.” But the patient had to abstain from wine for nine days.—(“The Poor Man’s Physician,” John Moncrief, Edin. 1716, p. 70.)

“Os hominis adustum,” a cure for epilepsy (Avicenna, vol. i. p. 330 a 18); “Mumia” (idem, vol. i. p. 357, a 55); “Ossa hominis in potu data” (idem, vol. i. p. 371, a 6).

Epilepsie. “Take pilles made of the skull of one that is hanged.”—(Reg. Scot. “Discoverie,” p. 175.)

The skulls of ancestors were used as drinking cups by the Tibetans, according to Rubruquis, in Purchas (vol. i. p. 23).

“Among primitive people the head is peculiarly sacred.”—(“The Golden Bough,” Frazer, vol. i. p. 187.)

Dr. Bernard Schaff gives the following formula for the cure of fevers: “Take a human skull from among those not enclosed in tombs, and calcine it in a crucible or in the open fire; administer in doses of from one scruple to half a dram an hour or two before the paroxysm of the fever.” He adds that among the common people the belief prevailed that the skull should be obtained at the early dawn of day, about the time of the winter solstice, and with the ceremonies (_sacris_) peculiar to that season, that it should be picked up in silence; but for his part he does not believe in such things.

“Recipitur cranium humanum ex ipsis quoque sepulchrorum claustris depromptum (vulgus addit tempore matutino ante Solis ortum sub sacris angeronæ, hoc est, ore tacito, aufferatur, quod tamen, cum aliquam sapere videatur superstitionem, imitari nolui) et vel igne aperto, vel in crucibulo, calcinatur, usquedem colorem acquirat cineritium pulverisatum hocce cranium adhibetur a ℈ i. ad ʒ; i. vel ii. horas ante paroxysmi principio.”—(“Ephem. Phys. Medic.,” Leipzig, 1694, vol. ii. p. 93.)

The skull of a malefactor who had died on the scaffold or wheel, and which had been exposed in the open air long enough to make it perfectly dry and white, was considered a specific in epilepsy, being much superior for that purpose to the skulls obtained from graveyards.

Soldiers thought that if they drank from a human skull before going into battle they would secure immunity from the weapons of the enemy. This belief undoubtedly came into Europe with the Scythians.

“Milites putant, si quis ex cranio humano hauriat potum fore ut sit immunis ab insultis armorum.”—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 268, 269.)

Etmuller also shows that these skulls were ground up and administered to epileptic patients, many modes of preparation and administration being given.

Flemming wrote that human skull was considered a potent remedy in all ailments for which practitioners would administer human brain,—that is, in nerve troubles and in epilepsy. Preferably, the skull should be taken from a corpse which had died a violent death,—“Quæ e cadavere violenta morte extincto est desumta.” It was an ingredient in many preparations bearing the high-sounding titles of “majesterium epilepticum,” “specificum cephalicum,” etc. As a powder, ground raw or calcined, it was sometimes administered as a febrifuge and in paralysis.—(“De Remediis,” p. 10.)

Mr. W. W. Rockhill states that the Lamas of Thibet use skulls in their religious ceremonies, but reject those which smell like human urine. “Blood of a dead man’s skull” used to check hemorrhage.—(Pettigrew, “Med. Superst.,” p. 113.)

“There is a divination-bowl,—an uncanny object, made of the inverted cranium of a Buddhist priest.”—(“Tidbits from Tibet,” in the “Evening Star,” Washington, D. C., Nov. 3, 1888, describing the W. W. Rockhill collection in the National Museum.)

Before the coming of the whites the savages of Australia employed human skulls as drinking-vessels,—“human skulls with the sutures stopped up with a resinous gum.”—(“Native Tribes of S. Australia,” Adelaide, 1879, received through the kindness of the Royal Society, Sydney, New South Wales, F. B. Kyngdon, Secretary.)

“The powder of a man’s bones, and particularly that made from a skull found in the earth, was esteemed in Scotland as a cure for epilepsy. As usual, the form runs that the bones of a man will cure a man, and the bones of a woman will cure a woman. Grose notes the merits of the moss found growing upon a human skull, if dried and powdered and taken as snuff, in cases of headache.” (Black, “Folk-Medicine,” p. 96.) He also informs us that the same beliefs and the same remedy obtained in England and Ireland.

“Among the articles which may be regarded more as household furniture ... are the dried human skulls, which are found wrapped in banana-leaves in the habitation of nearly every well-regulated Dyak family. They are hung up on the wall, or depend from the roof. The lower jaw is always wanting, as the Dyak finds it more convenient to decapitate his victim below the occiput, leaving the lower jaw attached to his body.”—(“Head-Hunters of Borneo,” Carl Bock, London, 1881, p. 199.)

The careful manner in which the Mandans preserved the skulls of their dead, as narrated by Catlin, is recalled to mind.

MOSS GROWING ON HUMAN SKULLS.

The medicinal use of the moss growing on the skulls of those who had died violent deaths is mentioned by Von Helmont.—(“Oritrika,” p. 768.)

Etmuller speaks of the _usnea_, or moss, growing on the skull of a malefactor, which was given in cases of epilepsy (vol. ii. p. 273).

Flemming regarded such moss, if taken from the skull of a malefactor, who had been hanged or broken on the wheel, as of great efficacy in epilepsy, in brain troubles, and as a styptic for hemorrhages (p. 11).

“Such a moss, if dried, powdered, and taken as snuff, will cure the headache.”—(Brand, “Popular Antiquities,” vol. iii. p. 277, article “Physical Charms,” quoting Grose. The same reference is given by Pettigrew, “Medical Superstitions,” p. 86.)

HUMAN BRAIN.

The human brain, dissolved or distilled in spirits of wine, was employed in nerve troubles and as an anti-epileptic.—(Flemming, “De Remediis ex Corpore Humano desumtis,” p. 10.)

LICE.

One might infer that habits of personal cleanliness did not prevail in England two centuries ago, judging from the terms of the following prescription, which seemingly takes as a matter of course that the patient could at any time obtain the insects needed:—

“For the cure of sore eyes ... take two or three lice out of one’s head; put them under the lid.”—(“Rare Secrets in Physicke,” collected by the Comtesse of Kent, London, 1654, p. 75.)

The author of this work knows, from disagreeable personal experience and observation, that the Indians of North America very generally were addicted to the disgusting practice of cleaning each other’s heads and putting all captured prey in their mouths. Such an office was considered a very delicate attention to be paid by a woman to her husband or lover, or from male friend to male friend, while on a campaign. No instance was noted of the use in a medical sense of these troublesome parasites.

MOSS GROWING ON THE HEAD OF A STATUE.

“It is asserted that a plant growing on the head of a statue gathered in the lappet of any one of the garments, and then attached with a red string to the neck, is an instantaneous cure for the headache.” (Pliny, lib. xxiv. c. 106.) This would seem to be germane to the idea of moss growing on the human skull.

WOOL.

“The ancient Romans attributed to wool a degree of religious importance even; and it was in this spirit that they enjoined that the bride should touch the door-posts of her husband’s house with wool.”—(Pliny, lib. xxix. cap. 10.)

In Cumberland, England, a reputed cure for earache is the application of a bit of wool from a black sheep, moistened in cow’s urine. Possibly it is a modified form of this latter notion that is found at Mount Desert, where it is said that the wool must be wet in new milk; while in Vermont, to be efficacious, it is thought that the wool must be gathered from the left side of the neck of a perfectly black sheep. In other localities, negro’s wool is a reputed cure for the same pain.

It seems almost incredible, whatever their origin, that remedies of so offensive a character as many of those above given can still retain a place even in the rudest traditional pharmacopœia; but there seems to be in the uneducated human mind a sort of reverence for or faith in that which is in itself disagreeable or repulsive. This idea apparently rules instead of rational judgment in the selection of many popular remedies in the shape of oils of the most loathsome description, such as “skunk-oil,” “angle-worm oil” (made by slowly rendering earth-worms in the sun), “snake-oil” of various kinds, etc.—(“Animal and Plant Lore,” Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, in “Popular Science Monthly,” New York, September, 1888, p. 658.)

* * * * *

In the application of human blood and human skulls just presented, one feature must be patent to the most superficial student; in the treatment of epilepsy, the blood or the skull was, preferentially, to be that of a dying gladiator or a criminal. There was evidently a reason for this, beyond mere expediency.

Gladiatorial games were instituted as sacred games, in which the victims to be offered in sacrifice were determined by the destiny of the combat. Long after man’s better reason and better nature had revolted against the loathsome rites of human sacrifice, religion and custom still held him in their clutches. He would not offer up his own progeny, as of yore, but he still continued to immolate captives taken in war, as so many gladiators had been, or offenders against the laws.

The victim generally shared with the sacrificing priest the honor of representing the deity in whose name his life was to be taken. Consequently he became holy; everything belonging to him became “medicine,” and in no disease could it be administered more efficaciously than in epilepsy,—the essentially “sacred disease” (morbus sacer) sent direct from the gods.

Moreover, criminals executed for violations of the laws of conquering nations, or for infractions of the discipline, or contempt of the doctrines of a triumphant religion, might, by the conquered rustics, who still cherished a half-concealed veneration for the old rulers and supplanted rites, be looked upon as martyrs, whose bones, blood, and crania would relieve disease and drive away misfortune.

The idea of sanctity, too, attached to “innocent maids and boys,” whose undefiled blood might rectify the polluted fluid that coursed languidly through the veins of the leper.

The belief that the gods are to be gratified and propitiated by the spectacle of human suffering, especially when self-inflicted, has been current from the first ages of the world, and will most probably last, in one form or another, as long as the world shall last. It has cropped out in every shape, from the rigorous abstinence of the ascetic to the brutal flagellation of the fanatical devotee, and from that to the emasculation of the Galli, the Khlysthi, and the Hottentot, and the self-immolation of the servant of Juggernath. Maurice enumerates five different kinds of meritorious suicide yet recognized in Hindostan, and we have no reason for refusing to believe that our own ancestors were saturated with the same false notions, which, retaining their hold upon the minds of an illiterate peasantry, would surround with the mystery of holiness any act of self-destruction attributable to mania or other impulse supposed to be from on high.

BONES AND TEETH.—MARROW.

“If a circle is traced round an ulcer with a human bone, it will be effectually prevented from spreading.”—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. c. 11.)

Etmuller believed that by the use of an unbroken human bone it was possible to induce as copious a purgation as might be desired. “Beneficio ossis humani integri potest fieri purgatio artificialis tanta quantum volumus,” etc.—(Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 273.)

“‘Holy oyle of dead men’s bones,’ good for the ‘falling sickness.’”—(“The Newe Jewell of Health,” George Baker, Chirurgeon, London, 1576, black letter, p. 170.)

Beckherius prescribed human bones in medicine.—(See “Med. Microcos.,” p. 252 _et seq._)

Etmuller, not content with prescribing the bones ground into powder, also directed the administration of human marrow (vol. ii. p. 268).

HUMAN TEETH.

“A tooth taken from a body before burial,” worn as an amulet, cured toothache.—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. c. 12.)

“The first tooth that a child has shed,” worn as an amulet, protects from pain in the uterus.—(Idem, lib. xxviii. c. 7.)

Pounded dead men’s teeth were used in fumigating the genitalia of persons “ligated” by witchcraft.—(See Frommann, “Tract. de Fascin.,” p. 965.)

Etmuller taught that the teeth were similar to the bones, and used in the alleviation of the same infirmities. Those drawn from the jaws of a man who had died a violent death were highly commended for all sickness brought on by witchcraft, as well as for loss of virility. “Ossibus similes sunt dentes, qui ipsi ex homine imprimis violenta morte interempto commendatur ad morbos per veneficium, si nimium et illis fiat suffitus; item in impotentia” (vol. ii. p. 273).

“Si dentes pueri, imprimis cum cadunt, suspendantur antequam ad terram deveniant et ponantur in lamina argenti et suspendantur supra mulieres eas prohibent impregnari et parere” (idem, p. 263).

Teeth are worn as amulets by pregnant women or ground into powder, and taken in a potion; in both forms, believed to be useful in averting the plague. Powdered teeth, drunk in wine, cured epilepsy, and restored impaired virility.—(Flemming, “De Remediis,” p. 13.)

“Knock a tooth that is pulled out into the bark of a young tree.”—(Grimm, “Teutonic Mythology,” vol. iii. p. 1173.)

Human teeth, bones, and other parts of dead bodies are still used by the negroes in our Southern States in their “voudoo” ceremonies, and as charms, in the old-time belief that their possession secures a man invisibility. See an article on this subject in the “Evening Star,” of Washington, D. C., January 1, 1889.

“In North Hants, a tooth taken from the mouth of a corpse is often enveloped in a little bag and worn around the neck to secure the wearer against headache.... In the northeast of Scotland, the sufferer was required to pull with his own teeth a tooth from the skull.”—(“Folk-Medicine,” Black, p. 98.)

The use of human teeth and fingers as “charms,” “amulets,” and “medicine,” will be treated of in another work, at greater length. At present it will be sufficient to call attention to the great potency associated in the minds of the American aborigines with such relics. The author obtained, in one of General Crook’s campaigns, in a battle with the Northern Cheyennes, in northern Wyoming, in the winter of 1876, a necklace of human fingers, the prized adornment and “medicine” of the chief medicine-man. This curious link between the savagery of America and the superstitions of Europe is now in the National Museum, Washington, D. C.

Flemming prescribed the ground bones of criminals (raw or burnt), as an internal medicine for gout, dysentery, etc.; but he did not limit himself to human bones, as he expressly states that, as a substitute, the bones of horses, asses, or other beasts could be employed. (“De Remediis,” p. 12.)

TARTAR IMPURITIES FROM THE TEETH.

Paullini goes so far as to recommend the use of the tartar impurities from the teeth, and the dirt from soiled stockings, as a remedy for nose-bleed. (Paullini, p. 52.)

In this he most probably follows an ancient line of practice, of which other authors have neglected to give a detailed account. Galen and others have shown that the scrapings from the body, and all other “sordes” were used medicinally, and there was no reason why dental tartar should not be added to the materia medica.

RENAL AND BILIARY CALCULI.—HUMAN BILE.

Calculi were used in the treatment of calculary troubles and in childbirth.—(Pliny, lib. xxvii. cap. 9. See also Galen.)

Prescribed for stone in the bladder or kidneys by Beckherius.—(“Med. Microcosmus,” pp. 167-170.)

Flemming advocates the same use of them.—(“De Remediis,” p. 23.)

“A man’s stone, drunk fasting, is most powerful of any to break the stone and expel it with the urine.”—(“The Poor Man’s Physician,” Moncrief, p. 131.)

Flemming also used biliary calculi in the cure of yellow jaundice.—(“De Remediis,” p. 14.)

Human bile was used internally in epilepsy, and externally in deafness and ulcerations of the ear.—(Idem.)

BEZOAR STONES.—LYNCURIUS.

From the most ancient times there were used in the medical practice of Europe certain stones, known as belemnites, thunder-stones, lyncurius, etc., believed to be efficacious in treatment of stone in the bladder. This lyncurius was regarded as the coagulated urine of the lynx, and under that phase of the case properly comes within the scope of this volume.—(See “Pomet on Drugs,” English translation, London, 1738, p. 408.)

The “bezoar” stone, so frequently alluded to by old writers, was simply excrementitious matter hardened in an animal’s stomach.

COSMETICS.

Pigeon’s dung was applied externally for all spots and blemishes on the face. (Pliny, lib. xxx. cap. 9.) Mouse-dung, externally, for lichens. (Idem.) “Brand Marks” (stigmata) were removed by using pigeon’s dung diluted in vinegar. (Idem, lib. xxx. cap 10.) Crocodile-dung, or “crocodilea,” removed blemishes from the face. (Idem, lib. xxxviii. caps. 29, 50.) It also removed freckles.

“An application of bull-dung, they say, will impart a rosy tint to the cheeks, and not even crocodilea is better for the purpose.”—(Idem, lib. xxviii. cap. 50.)

Galen alludes to the extensive use as a cosmetic, by the Greek and Roman ladies, of the dung of the crocodile; in the same manner, the dung of starlings that had been fed on rice alone was employed.—(Galen, “Opera Omnia,” Kuhn’s edition, lib. xxx. p. 308.)

Dioscorides prescribed crocodile-dung as a beautifier of the faces of women.—(“Mat. Med.,” vol. i. p. 222 _et seq._)

Bull-dung was used by women as a cosmetic to remove all facial blemishes.—(Sextus Placitus, “De Med. ex Animal.,” article “De Tauro.”)

The urine of a boy took away freckles from a face washed with it. “Ad profluvium mulieris, si locum sæpe lotio viri laverit.” For birthmarks on children take the crust which gathers on urine standing in chamber-pots, break up and bake; place the child in the bath, and rub the marks well. “Ad maculas infantium, matellæ quæ crustem ex lotio duxerint, fractæ et coctæ, in balneo infantem, si ex eo unxeris omnia supra-scripta emendat.”—(Idem, “De Puello et Puella Virgine.”)

Beckherius approved of the use of the meconium of infants to erase birthmarks.—(“Med. Microcos.,” p. 113.)

Etmuller states that from cow-dung, as well as from human ordure, by repeated digestion and distillation and sublimation, was prepared “Zibethum Occidentale,” so named by Paracelsus. From this was distilled the “water of all flowers,” so termed because the cattle had eaten so many flowers in their pasturage. This was passing good as a cosmetic to remove pimples and all kinds of blotches.

Human ordure itself was made use of for the same purpose (vol. ii. p. 171).

“’Tis stale to have a coxcomb kiss your hands
While yet the chamber-lye is scarce wiped off.”

(“Ram Alley,” Ludowick Barry, London, 1611, edition of
London, 1825.)

Dog-urine was prescribed to restore the color of the hair.—(Avicenna, vol. ii. p. 333, a 50.)

“Alopecia” (baldness) was cured by mouse-dung (idem, vol. i. p. 360, b 50), and by “stercus caprarum.”—(Idem, vol. i. p. 389, b 53.)

“Urina canis putrefacta conservat nigredinem capillorum.”—(Idem, vol. ii. p. 333, a 50.)

Réclus says that even now, in Paris, many people who have within reach the best of toilet waters prefer to use urine as a detersive.—(See “Les Primitifs,” p. 72, “Les Inoits Occidentaux.”)

The Ove-herero, living south of Angola, West Africa, rub their bodies with dry cow-dung to impart lustre.—(“Muhongo,” interpreted by Rev. Mr. Chatelain.)

“Aqua omnium florum” was distilled from the dung of cows dropped in the month of May. “Verno seu Maiali tempore ... ex stercore recenti vaccæ herbas depascentis.” (Etmuller, vol. ii. p. 249.) “Ex hoc ipso stercore, eodem modo atque ex stercore humano per digestionem et sublimationem, repetitam potest preparari Zibethum Occidentale, sic dictum a Paracelso, quoniam suavem spirat instar Zibethi. Destillatur aqua ex hoc stercore quæ vocatur aqua omnium florum, quia bos innumeris floribus vescitur; hæc aqua omnium florum est singulare cosmeticum applicatum externe delendis nævis et maculis in facie.”—(Etmuller, vol. ii. pp. 249, 250.)

Some people added to this a “water distilled from the sperm of frogs.”—(Idem, vol. ii. p. 171, 172.)

Catamenial blood was supposed to be a remedy for pimples on the face. (Idem, p. 265.) In portions of Northern Mexico the women apply it to their faces as a beautifier.

Cow-dung was very generally relied upon in this sense. The dung of a black cow entered into the composition of the celebrated “Eau de Mille Fleurs.” The ordure of small lizards was also used to smooth out the wrinkles from the faces of old women.

Fox-dung and the dung of sparrows and starlings were in use for softening the hands. Arabian women use as a cosmetic a mixture of saffron and chicken-dung. Cow-dung is sometimes as aromatic as musk. It used to be employed to restore the odor to old and faded musk, or to hang the latter in a privy, where it would re-acquire its former strength; but would not retain it long (see under “Latrines”).

To improve the complexion Paullini recommended a water distilled from human excrements; also the worms that grow therein distilled to a water. The cosmetic of country wenches is their own urine.

Human excrements have peculiar salts more strengthening and useful than soap. A young girl improved her complexion wonderfully by washing her face in cow-dung and drinking her brother’s urine fresh and warm, while fasting (pp. 263, 264).

Other cosmetics commended by Paullini were human ordure, externally; the ordure of a young boy, internally; “Eau de Millefleurs,” the excreta of lizards, crocodiles, foxes, sparrows, starlings, chickens, or of cows gathered in May, externally.

See also pages 172, 207.

For the eradication of freckles Paullini also recommended the external application of the excrement of donkeys, dogs, chickens, crocodiles, foxes, or pigeons.

Schurig was a champion of “Aqua ex stercore distillata,” for all facial embellishment.—(“Chylologia,” p. 762.)

“Il y a plus; les femmes les plus belles s’en sont barbouillé le visage, et Saint Jérome le reproche durement aux dames de son temps.” In a footnote is added this explanation: “On a employé des excrémens de quelques lézards d’Egypte comme cosmétique, à cause de leur odeur musquée.” (“Bib. Scat.,” p. 21.) “Merde de Lézard c’est le cordilea, excrément du stellion du Levant, employé comme cosmétique.”—(Idem, p. 123.)

“Wash the face with the diaper on which a new-born babe has urinated for the first time, it will remove freckles.”—(Cape Breton, Mrs. Fanny D. Bergen, Cambridge, Mass.)

This belief in the cosmetic power of the first renal discharge of a child is generally diffused all over the United States.

“Enfin, les nourrices entre nous, ont l’habitude de frotter la figure de leurs nourrissons avec les langes imbibés de leur urine. Cela les fait venir beau, disent-elles, cela combat en tout cas, certaines efflorescences cutanées chez les enfants, par l’ammoniaque.”—(Personal letter from Doctor Bernard, Cannes, France.)

Prof. Patrice de Janon states that the ladies of his native place, Carthagena, South America, to his personal knowledge, were in the habit of using their own urine as a face lotion, and to beautify and soften the skin.

Horse-dung was another face lotion.—(“A Rich Storehouse or Treasurie for the Diseased,” Ralph Blower, London, 1616, p. 106.)

Goose-dung is in repute in the State of Indiana for removing pimples.—(Mrs. Bergen.)

Mr. Sylvester Baxter says that young women in Massachusetts, at least until very recently, have employed human urine as a wash for the preservation of the complexion.

“Water that stands in the concavity of a patch of cow-dung” is the belief in Walden, Mass., according to Mrs. Bergen, who thus shows a transplantation of the same belief which has lingered in Europe from remote ages.

XLII.

AMULETS AND TALISMANS.

As a connecting link between pharmacy proper and the antidotes to the effects of witchcraft, and at the same time fully deserving of a separate place on its own merits, may be inserted a chapter upon talismans and amulets made of excrementitious materials.

“From the cradle, modern Englishmen are taught to fight an angry battle against superstition, and they treat a talisman or charm with some disdain and contempt. But let us reflect that those playthings tended to quiet and reassure the patient, to calm his temper, and soothe his nerves,—objects, which, if we are not misinformed, the best practitioners of our own day willingly obtain by such means as are left them.

“Whether a wise physician will deprive a humble patient of his roll of magic words or take from his neck the fairy stone, I do not know; but this is certain, that the Christian church of that early day, and the medical science of the empire by no means refused the employment of these arts of healing, these balms of superstitious origin.

“The reader may enjoy his laugh at such devices, but let him remember that dread of death and wakeful anxiety must be hushed by some means, for they are very unfriendly to recovery from disease.”—(“Saxon Leechdoms,” vol. i. p. 11.)

Cat-dung, “to be attached to the body with the toe of a horned owl” and “not to be removed until the seventh paroxysm is passed,” was the amulet recommended by Pliny for the cure of the quartan fever.—(Lib. xxviii. c. 66.)

Sextus Placitus, “De Puello et Puella Virgine,” recommends the use of calculi to aid in the expulsion of calculi, either ground into a powder or hung about the patient’s neck as an amulet; in the latter case, he says, the cure is more gradual.

Roman matrons used a small stone found in the excrement of a hind “attached to the body as an amulet,” as “a preventive of abortion.”—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. c. 77.)

In retarded dentition, there was a bag suspended from the infant’s neck, in which was a powder, made of equal parts of the dung of hares, wolves, and crows.—(Schurig, “Chylologia,” p. 820).

“Wolf’s dung, borne with one, helps the colic.”—(Burton, “Anatomy of Melancholy,” vol. ii. p. 134.)

Burton, in his “Anatomy of Melancholy,” 1621, p. 476, has the following passage on this subject: “Amulets I find prescribed; taxed by some, approved by others.”—(Quoted by Brand, “Pop. Ant.” vol. ii. p. 324, article “Amulets.”)

No explanation can be ventured upon for the following charm, which had a very extended dissemination throughout Europe, and can be traced back to “Saxon Leechdoms,” vol. x. p. 33.

“Many magic writings are simply invocations of the devil.... A woman obtained an amulet to cure sore eyes. She refrained from shedding tears and her eyes recovered. On a zealous friend opening the paper, these words were found: “Der teufel kratze dir die augen aus, und scheisse dir in die löcher,” and, naturally, when the woman saw that it was in this she had trusted, she lost faith, began to weep again, and in due time found her eyes as bad as ever. (“Folk Medicine,” Black, p. 171.) The same charm was also, in other places, written in Latin, in this form: “Diabolus effodiat tibi oculos, impleat foramina stercoribus.” It is quoted by Pettigrew, in ”Medical Superstitions,” p. 102; also by Brand, “Pop. Ant.” vol. iii. p. 324, article “Characts.”

Translated into English it is thus rendered by Reginald Scot:—

“The devil pull out both thine eyes,
And etihs in the holes likewise.”

“Spell the word backward and you shall see this charm.”—(“Discoverie of witchcraft,” London, 1651, p. 178.)

“For diphtheria, a poultice consisting of the fresh excrement of the hog, is worn about the neck for one night.” (Fayette County.)—(“Folk-Lore of the Penn’a Germans,” in “Journal of American Folk-Lore,” 1889, p. 29, W. J. Hoffman, M. D.)

For diseases in the kidneys, as an amulet χαραβραωθ, which means “viscera” in Hebrew: “In cubili canis urinam faciat qui urinam non potest continere, dicatque dum facit, ne in cubili suo urinam ut canis faciat.”—(“Saxon Leechdoms,” vol. i. p. 31. See also under Grand Lama, love-philters, mistletoe, witchcraft.)

Each and every one of the remedies inserted here under the title of “Witchcraft,” might with perfect propriety have been comprehended under the caption of “Pharmacy,” but the intention was to differentiate the two in the hope of attaining greater clearness in treatment. Under “Pharmacy,” therefore, have been retained all remedies for the alleviation of known disorders, while under “Witchcraft” are tabulated all that were to be administered or applied for the amelioration of ailments of an obscure type, the origin of which the ignorant sufferer would unhesitatingly seek in the malevolence of supernatural beings or in the machinations of human foes possessed of occult influences. Side by side with these, very properly go all such aids as were believed to insure better fortune in money-making, travelling, etc.

“A mixture of ape’s-dung and chameleon-dung was applied to the doors of one’s enemy.... He will, through its agency, become the object of universal hatred.”—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. c. 29.)

“The excrements (i. e. of the hyena) which have been voided by the animal at the moment when killed, are looked upon as counter-charms to magic spells.”—(Idem, c. 27.)

“For young girls they (i. e. the magicians) prescribe nine pellets of hare’s dung to ensure a durable firmness to the breasts.”—(Idem, c. 77.)

Doctor Dupouy believes that when the Druids “were forced to take refuge in dense forests far removed from the people, persecuted by the Romans, barbarians, and Christians, they progressively became magicians, enchanters, prophets, and charmers, condemned by the Councils and banished by the civil authority. It is at this epoch that evil spirits were noticed prowling around in the shadows of night and indulging in acts of obscene depravity.... In the seventh century Druidism disappeared, but the practice of magic, occult art, and the mysterious science of spirits were transmitted from generation to generation but lessened in losing the philosophical character of ancient times.”—(“Le Moyen Age Médical,” or its translation, “Physicians in the Middle Ages,” T. C. Minor, M. D., Cincinnati, Ohio, p. 38.)

XLIII.

WITCHCRAFT.—SORCERY.—CHARMS.—SPELLS.—INCANTATIONS.—MAGIC.

There is but one method of arriving at a correct understanding of what witchcraft was, as known to civilized communities, and that is by placing it under the lens of investigation as a mutilated and distorted survival of a displaced religion.

The very earliest records of man’s thought, the alabaster and earthen tablets of Chaldea and Assyria, allude to the evil eye, to incantations, and to the fear of evil spirits, witches, and sorcerers.

“Nevertheless, the Chaldean tablets do not leave us without any insight into witchcraft, as their formulæ were destined to counteract the effects of the sorceries of this impious art, as well as the spontaneous action of demons.”—(“Chaldean Magic,” François Lenormant, London, 1877, p. 59; for the Chaldean’s dread of the Evil Eye, see the same work, p. 61.)

“One fine series (i. e. of Chaldean tablets) deals with remedies against witchcraft.”—(“The Chaldean Account of Genesis,” George Smith, New York, 1880, p. 28.)

“There is finally a third species of magic, thoroughly diabolical in character, and openly acknowledging itself as such. This kind helps to perpetuate ... by still believing in their power and transforming them into dark practices, the rites of adoration of the ancient gods, considered as demons after the triumph of the new religion, the exclusive spirit of which repudiates all association with the remains of the old worship. The enchanter in this case, far from considering himself an inspired and divine personage, consents, provided he reaps all the benefit of his magic practices, to be nothing more than the tool of the bad and infernal powers. He himself sees devils in the ancient gods evoked by his spells, but he nevertheless remains confident of their protection; he engages himself in their service by compacts, and fancies himself going to a witch-dance in their company. The greater part of the magic of the Middle Ages bears this character and perpetuates the popular and superstitious rites of paganism in the mysterious and diabolical operations of sorcery. It is the same with the magic of most Mussulman countries. In Ceylon, since the complete conversion of the island to Buddhism, the ancient gods of Sivaism have become demons, and their worship a guilty sorcery practised only by enchanters.”—(“Chaldean Magic,” Lenormant, p. 77.)

Human and animal filth are mentioned in nearly every treatise upon witchcraft, under three different heads:—

Firstly, as the means by which the sorcery is accomplished.

Secondly, as the antidote by which such machinations are frustrated.

Thirdly, as the means of detecting the witch’s personality.

Much that might have been included within this chapter has been arranged under the caption of “Love-Philters” and “Child-Birth,” and should be examined under those heads.

The subject of amulets and talismans is another that is so closely connected with the matter of which we are now treating, that it must be included in any investigation made in reference to it.

Exactly where the science of medicine ended, and the science of witchcraft began, there is no means of knowing; like Astrology and Astronomy, they were twin sisters, issuing from the same womb, and travelling amicably hand in hand for many years down the trail of civilization’s development; long after medicine had won for herself a proud position in the world of thought and felt compelled through shame to repudiate her less-favored comrade in public, the strictest and closest relations were maintained in the seclusion of private life.

“Among the counter-charms too are reckoned the practice of spitting into the urine the moment it is voided.”—(Pliny, lib, xxviii. cap. 7.)

“Goat’s dung attached to infants, in a piece of cloth, prevents them from being restless, female infants in particular.” (Idem, cap. 78.) This was probably a survival from times still more ancient, when infants were sometimes suckled by goats, and it was a good plan to have them thoroughly familiarized with the smell,—the hircine or caprine odor.

“In cases of fire, if some of the dung can be brought away from the stalls, both sheep and oxen may be got out all the more easily, and will make no attempt to return.”—(Idem, cap. 81.)

The adepts in magic expressly forbid a person, when about to make water, to uncover the body in the face of the sun or moon, or to sprinkle with his urine the shadow of any object whatsoever. Hesiod gives a precept recommending persons to make water against an object standing full before them, that no divinity may be offended by their nakedness being uncovered. Osthanes maintains that every one who drops some urine upon his foot in the morning will be proof against all noxious medicaments.—(Idem, lib. xxviii. cap. 19.)

The adepts in the magical art also believed that “it is improper to spit into the sea, or to profane that element by any other of the evacuations that are inseparable from the infirmities of human nature.”—(Idem, lib. xxx. cap. 6, speaking of the disinclination of the Armenian magician, Tiridates, to visit the Emperor Nero by sea.)

The Thibetans share these scruples. Among the things prohibited to their “Bhikshuni,” or monks and nuns, are: “Ne pas se soulager dans de l’eau quand on n’est pas malade, n’y cracher, n’y moucher, y vomir, ni y jeter quoi que soit de sale.”—(“Pratimoksha Sutra,” translated by W. W. Rockhill, Paris, 1884, Soc. Asiatique.)

It was believed that a dog would not bark at a man who carried hare’s dung about his person.—(See Pliny, lib. xxx. cap. 53.)

“The therionaca ... has the effect of striking wild beasts of all kinds with a torpor which can only be dispelled by sprinkling them with the urine of the hyena.” (Idem, lib. xxiv. cap. 102.) The hyena was regarded as an especially “magical” animal.—(Idem, lib. xxviii.)

“The magicians tell us that, after taking the ashes of a wild-boar’s genitals in urine, the patient must make water in a dog-kennel, and repeat the following formula: ‘This I do that I may not wet my bed, as a dog does.’”—(Idem, lib. xxviii. cap. 60.)

Some of these ideas would appear to have crossed the Atlantic. In the United States, a generation or less ago, boys were wont to urinate “criss-cross” for good luck, and were careful not to let any of their urine fall on their own shadows.—(Col. F. A. Seelye, Anthropological Society, and others, Washington, D. C.)

In Minden, Westphalia, Germany, boys will urinate criss-cross, and say, “Kreuspissen, morgenstirbstein-Jude” (“Let us piss criss-cross, a Jew will die to-morrow”).—(Personal letter from Dr. Franz Boas, Clark University, Worcester, Mass.)

“Nor ever defile the currents of rivers flowing seaward, nor fountains, but specially avoid it.”—(“Opera et Dies,” Rev. J. Banks, London, 1856, p. 115.)

“Sorcerers try to procure some of a man’s excrement, and put it in his food in order to kill him.”—(“Muhongo,” a boy from Angola, Africa, personal interview, interpretation by Rev. Mr. Chatelain.)

“Muhongo” also said that to “add one’s urine, even unintentionally, to the food of another bewitches that other, and does him grievous harm.”

Democritus says of the stone “aspisatis:” “Patients should wear it attached to the body with camel’s dung.” (Quoted in Pliny, lib. xxvii. cap. 54.) The same book tells us that stones of this kind were worn generally by gladiators, Milo of Crotona being mentioned as one. What “aspisatis” was cannot be learned.

“Another thing universally acknowledged, and one which I am ready to believe with the greatest pleasure, is the fact that if the door-posts are only touched with the menstruous fluid, all spells of the magicians will be neutralized.”—(Pliny, lib. xxviii. cap. 24.)

“Osthanes, who accompanied Xerxes, the Persian king, in his expedition against Greece, ... the first person, so far as I can ascertain, who wrote upon magic.” (Idem, lib. xxx. cap. 3.) He adds, speaking of magic: “Britannia still cultivates this art, and that with ceremonials so august that she might almost seem to have been the first to communicate them to Persia.”—(Idem, lib. xxx. cap. 4.)

For the relief of infants from phantasm, wrap some goat-dung in a cloth and hang it about the child’s neck. “Ad infantes qui fantasmatibus vexantur, capræ stercus in panno involutum, et collo suspensum remedium est infantibus qui fantasmata patiuntur.”—(Sextus Placitus, “De Capro.”)

“With Plinius was contemporary Joseph or Josephus. The tales about the mandrake, much later on, and found in the Saxon herbarium, are traceable to what he says of the Baaras,—an herb that runs away from the man that wants to gather it, and won’t stop until one throws on it οὖρον γυναικὸς ἢ τὸ ἔμμηνον αἷμα, for nastiness is often an element of mysteries; and even then it kills the dog that draws it out. It is not certain that mandrake berries are meant in Genesis, xxx. 14.”—(“Saxon Leechdoms,” vol. i. p. 16.)

Dulaure says that the repute in which mandrake was held was due to its resemblance to the human form, and to the lies told to the superstitious about it, one being that “ils disent qu’il est engendré dessous un gibet de l’urine d’un larron pendu.”—(“Des Différens Cultes,” Paris, 1825, vol. ii. p. 255, footnote.)

“For a man haunted by apparitions work a drink of a white hound’s thost or dung in bitter ley; wonderfully it healeth.” (“Saxon Leechdoms,” vol. i. p. 365.) This same “thost,” or dung, was recommended in the treatment of nits and other insects on children, for dropsy (internally), and to drive away the “Dwarves,” who were believed to have seized upon the patient afflicted with convulsions.

“Doors of houses are smeared with cow-dung and nimba-leaves, as a preservative from poisonous reptiles.”—(Moor’s “Hindu Pantheon,” London, 1810, p. 23.)

“In some parts of Western Africa, when a man returns home after a long absence, before he is allowed to visit his wife he must wash his person with a particular fluid, and receive from the sorcerer a certain mark on his forehead, in order to counteract any magic spell which a stranger woman may have cast upon him in his absence, and which might be communicated through him to the women of his village.”—(“The Golden Bough,” Frazer, vol. i. p. 157.)

We are not informed what this “particular fluid” was, but enough has been adduced concerning the African’s belief in the potency of human urine in cases similar to the above to warrant the insertion at this point.

“On returning from an attempted ascent of the great African mountain, Kilimanjaro, which is believed by the neighboring tribes to be tenanted by dangerous demons, Mr. New and his party, as soon as they reached the borders of the inhabited country, were disenchanted by the inhabitants, being sprinkled with ‘a professionally prepared liquor, supposed to possess the potency of neutralizing evil influences, and removing the spell of wicked spirits.’”—(Idem, vol. i. p. 151, quoting Charles New, “Life, Wanderings, and Labors in Eastern Africa.”)

That the Eskimo believed in the power of human ordure to baffle witchcraft would seem to be intimated in the following from Boas: “Though the Angekok understood the schemes of the old hag, he followed the boy, and sat down with her. She feigned to be very glad to see him and gave him a dishful of soup, which he began to eat. But by the help of his tornaq [that is, the magical influence which aided him] the food fell right through him into a vessel which he had put between his feet on the floor of the hut. This he gave to the old witch, and compelled her to eat it. She died as soon as she had brought the first spoonful to her mouth.”—(“The Central Eskimo,” Franz Boas, in “Sixth Annual Report” Bureau of Ethnology, Washington.)

“Osthanes, the magician, prescribed the dipping of our feet, in the morning, in human urine, as a preventative against charms.”—(Brand, “Pop. Ant.,” vol. iii. p. 286.)

Frommann writes that human ordure, menses, and semen were mixed in the food of the person to be bewitched.—(“Tractatus de Fascinatione,” p. 683.)

On another page this list is increased to read that human ordure, urine, blood, hair, nails, bones, skulls, and the moss growing on the last-named, as well as animal excrement, were among the materials employed in witchcraft.—(Idem, p. 684.)

If fried beans be thrown into excrement, for each bean thus wasted a pustule will appear on the fundament of the thrower. “Pisa frixa injecta excrementis tot pustulas in podice excitant quot pisa.” (Idem, p. 1023.) The following passage is not fully understood: “Vesicatorio excrementis adhuc calentibus imposito intestina corrosione afficiuntur.” It seems to mean that the entrails will be affected with corrosion when hot excrement is placed in a bladder, probably after the manner of some of the sausages of which we have elsewhere taken notes. Hot ashes or cinders thrown upon recently voided excrement will cause inflammation and pustules in ano. For the same reason we can cause those who are absent to purge without using medicine upon them. “Cineres calidi, vel prunæ candentes scybalis recentibus injecta inflammationem et pustulas in ano excitant.... Eadem ratione absentes sine medicamentis purgari posse, scribit Tilemannus de Mater. Medic. p. 251. (Idem, p. 1623.) Frommann also adds that this fact was well known to the English and French, as well as to the Germans.”—(Idem, p. 1037.)

Human ordure and urine were burned with live coals as a potent charm. The person whose excreta had been burned would suffer terrible pains in the rectum. But this could be used in two ways, for love as well as hatred could be induced by this means, between married people and between old friends.—(Paullini, pp. 264, 265.)

For the use of urine by the Eskimo to ward off the maleficence of witches, turn back to citations taken from Rink’s “Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo,” where it is shown that they still use it with this object in cases of childbirth. See, also, the notes taken from the writings of Dr. Franz Boas.

A bone from the leg or thigh of a man who had died a violent death, emptied of its marrow, and then filled with human ordure, closed up with wax, and placed in boiling water, compelled the unfortunate ejector of the excrement to evacuate just as long as the bone was kept in the water, and it could even be so used that he would be compelled to defile his bed every night. “Os ex pede, vel brachio, vel femore hominis violenta morte interempti, et hoc exempta medulla impletur cum stercore alicujus hominis, foramina obturantur cum cera et sic in aquam calidam immittitur, hoc quamdiu jacet in aqua calida, tamdiu expurgatur iste, cujus stercus fuit inclusum, adeo ut sic aliquem usque ad mortem purgare possimus, potest etiam fieri alio modo ut quis omni nocte lectum suum maculet, sed est ludicrum.”—(Etmuller, vol. ii. pp. 272, 273.)

The small bones of the human leg are used in the sorcery of the Australians. (See “Native Tribes of South Australia,” Adelaide, 1879, p. 276; received through the kindness of the Royal Society, Sydney, New South Wales, F. B. Kyngdon, Secretary.)

“In order to produce a flux in the belly, it was only necessary to put a patient’s excrement into a human bone, and throw it into a stream of water.” The above is quoted from the medical writings of “Peter of Spain, who was archbishop, and afterwards pope, under the name of John XXI.”—(“Physicians of the Middle Ages,” T. C. Minor, p. 6.)

Schurig names many authors to show that in cases of “incivility,” such as the placing of excrement at the door of one’s neighbor, the person offended had a sure remedy in his own hands. He was to take some of the excrement of the offending party, mix it with live coals or hot ashes, and throw it out in the street; or he could burn pepper and wine together, with such fecal matter; or he could heat an iron to white heat, insert it in the excrement, and as fast as it cooled repeat the operation; as often as this was done, so often would the guilty one suffer pains in the anus. Other remedies were, to mix spirits of wine and salt together, sprinkle upon the offensive matter, then place a red-hot iron above it, and confer the same pains, which would not leave the offending person’s anus during the whole of that day, unless he cured himself with new milk. Or small peas could be heated in a frying-pan, and then thrown out with fresh excrement; as many as there were peas, so many would be the pains endured by the delinquent. The following are some of the paragraphs in the original from Schurig: “Contra incivilitatem quorundam qui loca consueta et fores aliorum stercoribus suis commaculant, pro correctione inservire potest, si fimus eorundem simpliciter prunis aut cineribus calidis injectus vel etiam vino adusto et pipere simul insperso uratur vel cremetur; aut si vero vel aliud ferrum in ignem ut ignescat, immittatur, ac dein ferrum illud candens in excrementa illa infigatur; frigefactum denuom calefiat eademque opera sæpe repetatur; tunc tantis cruciatibus nates depositoris illius incivilito vexabit, quantas vix prunæ ipsæ partibus iisdem admotæ inussissent.... Excrementis hominis recentibus prunas candentes vel cineres calidos injectos inflammationem, tenesimum, et pustulas excitare, non Anglis et Gallis tantum sed et Germanis atque ex his nostratibus etiam est notissimum,” etc. The names of the authorities cited by Schurig are not repeated.—(“Chylologia,” pp. 790, 791.)

“The Australians believe that their magicians ‘possess the power’ to create disease and death by burning what is called ‘nahak.’ Nahak means rubbish, but principally, refuse of food. Everything of the kind they bury or throw into the sea, lest the disease-makers should get hold of it.” (“Native Tribes of South Australia,” Adelaide, 1879, p. 23.) Reference to “Nahak” is to be found in “Samoa,” Turner, p. 320.

The old home of the Cheyennes of Dakota was in the Black Hills; and there the Sioux believed that the Cheyennes were invincible, because their medicine-men could make everything out of buffalo manure.—(Personal Notes of Captain Bourke.)

Although Livingston’s “Zambesi” is filled with allusions to witchcraft, there is no instance given of the employment of any of the remedies herein described.

“The belief in witchcraft, and in the efficacy of charms and incantations, was strong among the middle and lower classes of Germany about forty years ago.... In the winter of 1845-46, I attended a night-school in my native town, Schorndorf, in the little kingdom of Wurtemburg. There was a blacksmith-shop in the near neighborhood of the school, where work was kept up until a late hour of the night. The miniature fireworks created by the sparks flying from the blows of the immense hammers wielded by the dusky and weird-like forms of the sons of Vulcan, were one of the principal amusements of the schoolboys, and we used to stand at a distance in the dark, before school opened, gazing with awe and wonderment at the brilliant and noisy scene before us. The master blacksmith, on account of his irascible disposition, was not much in favor with us, and it was agreed upon to play him a trick. So one evening while the smiths were at their supper and the smithy unattended, two of the boys smeared the hammer-handles with excrement. The indignation of the smiths was of course great, and with curses and imprecations on the guilty parties they commenced to clean their implements, when suddenly stopped by the master, who, with a fiendish smile on his face, declared that he had concluded to make an example of the offenders. He bade the apprentice to work at the bellows, and then, one after the other, he held the smeared hammer-handles over the forge fire, turning and twisting them the while, and uttering some unintelligible incantations in a low and solemn voice, the workmen standing round him with awe and terror on their sooty countenances. When the ceremony was over, the master declared that it was rather hard on the culprits, whose rectums must be in a frightful condition, but that, unless an example were made, such dirty tricks might be repeated, and this would serve as a warning to the boys in general. We boys had been tremblingly watching the whole proceedings, expecting that some fearful catastrophe would befall us, and I need not state that we were somewhat disappointed when we found ourselves unscathed, although it upset our belief in humbugs of this kind.”—(Personal letter from Mr. Charles Smith, Washington, D. C.)

“Amongst some of the Brazilian Indians, when a girl attains puberty, ... if she have a call of nature, a female relative takes the girl on her back and carries her out, taking with her a live coal, to prevent evil influences from entering the girl’s body.”—(“The Golden Bough,” Frazer, vol. ii. p. 231.)

“To unbewitch the bewitched, you must spit into the pisse-pot where you have made water.”—(Reg. Scot, “Disc. of Witchcraft,” p. 62.)

“The Shamans of the Thlinkeets of Alaska keep their urine until its smell is so strong that the spirits cannot endure it.”—(Franz Boas, in “Journal of American Folk-Lore,” vol. i. p. 218.)

In the third volume of the “History of the Inquisition,” by Henry C. Lea, New York, 1888, there is a chapter on “Sorcery and Occult Arts,” but there is no allusion to the use of excrement in any form. Neither is there anything to be found in Dalyell’s “Superstitions of Scotland,” Edinburgh, 1834.

The sacred drink, “hum,” of the Parsis, has “the urine of a young, pure cow” as one of the ingredients. (See Max Müller’s “Biographies of Words,” London, 1888, p. 237.) This sacred drink is also used “as an offering during incantations.”—(Idem.)

Schurig (“Chylologia,” p. 815) states that horse-dung was sometimes used in “sympathetic magic:” “Interdum etiam ad Sympathiam magicam adhibetur;” and he recites an instance wherein a certain farmer, whose meadows were overrun by the horses of his neighbors, was enabled by taking a portion of the dung they had dropped and hanging it up in his chimney, to drive them all into a consumption. The following seems to have been in the nature of an incantation closely allied to the above. “Two Yakut chiefs contended for supremacy; one, named Onagai, defeated and banished his rival, who escaped with only his wife and two mares. This second chief, Aley, collected carefully the dung of his mares, and when the wind blew towards Onagai’s dwelling, made fires of the dung, the smell of which allured the strayed cattle to his dwelling.”—(Sauer, “Exped. to the N. parts of Russia,” London, 1802, p. 133. This “Aley,” according to Tartar tradition, was skilled in magic art. See idem, p. 135.)

“He who wishes to revenge himself by witchcraft endeavors to procure either the saliva, urine, or excrements of his enemy, and after mixing them with a powder, and putting them into a bag woven in a particular form, he buries them.”—(Krusenstern’s “Voy. round the World,” Eng. trans., London, 1813, vol. i. p. 174, speaking of the island of Nukahiva.)

Langsdorff says that in the Washington islands, when a man desires to bewitch an enemy, he endeavors to procure “some of his hair, the remains of something he has been eating, and some earth on which he has spit or made water.”—(“Voyages,” London, 1813, p. 156.)