Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery Part 11

Yon's a sure charm," said she, "that will hold the Old One as fast as t'

church tower, when next he comes to shake un." The chronicler of this curious incantation calls attention to the a.s.sociation of the name of G.o.d with two heathen personages: Wodan, the chief ruler, and Loki, the spirit of evil, in the mythology of the North.

The early Saxons in England knew little of scientific medicine, and relied on indigenous herbs. They were much addicted to the use of wizard _spells_, a term which originated with them; and were too ignorant to adopt the skilled methods of the pract.i.tioners of Greece and Italy.

The invention of some especially forceful words for exorcising fiends and illnesses was ascribed to Robert Grosseteste (about 1175-1253), Bishop of Lincoln; and the fact that a learned prelate should devote attention to the subject is strong testimony to its importance in medieval times. There is indeed abundant evidence that throughout that period verbal charms were very commonly worn, whether devotional sentences, prayer formulas written on vellum, or mystic letters, words, and symbols inscribed on parchment.[132:1] For many centuries medical practice consisted largely of prayers and incantations, the employment of charms and talismans, and the performance of superst.i.tious rites.

Until the seventeenth century these methods were more or less in vogue.

Thus, a verse from the Lamentations of Jeremiah was thought to be a specific for rheumatism.[133:1]

The Atharva-Veda, one of the ancient Vedas, or religious books of the Hindus, contains hundreds of healing-spells, as well as formulas to secure prosperity, in expiation of sin, and as safeguards against robbers and wild beasts. They are repeated either by the person expecting a.s.sistance therefrom, or by a magician for his benefit. Of the therapeutic verses brief examples are here given:

(A charm against fever.) "O _Takman_ (fever), along with thy brother _balasa_, along with thy sister cough, along with thy cousin _paman_, go to yonder foreign folk!"

(A charm against cough.) "As a well-sharpened arrow swiftly to a distance flies, thus do thou, O Cough, fly along the expanse of the earth!"

(A charm against the demons of disease.) "O amulet of ten kinds of wood, release this man from the demon and the fit which has seized upon his joints!"

While reciting the above formula, a talisman consisting of splinters from ten kinds of wood is fastened upon the patient, and ten of his friends rub him down.[133:2]

The following translation of an old Scottish incantation against disease is taken from a collection of charms, chiefly of the Outer Hebrides Islands, and included by Alexander Carmichael in his "Carmina Gaelica," Edinburgh, 1900.

Peter and James and John, The Three of sweetest virtues in glory, Who arose to make the charm, Before the great gate of the City, By the right knee of G.o.d the Son, Against the keen-eyed men, Against the peering-eyed women, Against the slim, slender, fairy darts, Against the swift arrows of fairies.

Two made to thee the withered eye, Man and woman in venom and envy, Three whom I will set against them.

Father, Son, and Spirit Holy.

Four-and-twenty diseases in the const.i.tution of man and beast.

G.o.d sc.r.a.pe them, G.o.d search them, G.o.d cleanse them, From out thy blood, from out thy flesh, From out thy fragrant bones, From this day, and each day that comes, Till thy day on earth be done.

FOOTNOTES:

[111:1] A. J. L. Jourdan, _Histoire de la Medecine_, tome ii, p. 139.

[112:1] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, art. "Babylonia."

[112:2] Francois Lenormant, _Chaldean Magic_, p. 45.

[112:3] Hermann Peters, _Pictorial History of Pharmacy_.

[113:1] A. Laurent, _La Magie et le Divination chez les Chaldeo-a.s.syriens_, p. 33.

[113:2] Francois Lenormant, _Chaldean Magic_, p. 244.

[114:1] Book vi, 452.

[115:1] _Lowell Inst.i.tute Lecture_; Boston, November, 1906.

[116:1] John Thrupp, _The Anglo-Saxon Home_, p. 277.

[116:2] Jacob Grimm, _Teutonic Mythology_, p. 1177.

[116:3] _The Unconscious Mind_, pp. 348-349.

[118:1] _Journal of Science_, vol. xiii, p. 101; 1876.

[118:2] _Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers_, p. 219.

[118:3] Alfred Wiedmann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, p. 272.

[119:1] Francois Lenormant, _Chaldean Magic_, p. 12.

[119:2] Johann Hermann Baas, _The History of Medicine_, tr. by H. E.

Henderson, p. 23.

[119:3] R. Dunglison, _History of Medicine_, p. 23.

[119:4] _Boston Transcript_, March 4, 1900.

[120:1] A. Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, vol. i, p. 96.

[120:2] Larousse, _Grand Dictionnaire_, art. "Incantation."

[120:3] T. Witton Davies, _Magic, Divination, and Demonology_, p. 62.

[121:1] John Potter, _Antiquities of Greece_, vol. ii, p. 244.

[121:2] Georg Conrad Horst, _Zauber-Bibliothek_, vol. iii, p. 62.

[122:1] Alfred C. Garratt, M.D., _Myths in Medicine_, p. 47; _Dublin University Magazine_, Feb., 1874, p. 221.

[122:2] J. P. Mahaffy, _Greek Antiquities_, p. 71.

[123:1] J. B. Thiers, _Traite des Superst.i.tions_, p. 420.

[124:1] Herbert Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, vol. iii, p. 37.

[124:2] _The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire._

[125:1] M'Clintock and Strong, _Biblical Cyclopaedia_, art.

"Incantations."

[125:2] Kurt Sprengel, _Histoire de la Medecine_, tome i, p. 123.

[126:1] Rodolfo Lanciani, _A Manual of Roman Antiquities_, p. 357.

[126:2] Frank Granger, _The Worship of the Romans_, p. 227.

[127:1] C. W. King, _The Gnostics and their Remains_, p. 316.

[128:1] _Archaeologia_, vol. x.x.x, pp. 427-28; 1884.