Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery Part 4

E. W. Lane, in "Modern Egyptians," says that the composition of these characts is founded chiefly upon magic, and devolves usually upon the village schoolmasters. They consist of verses from the Koran, and "names of G.o.d, together with those of angels, genii, prophets, or eminent saints, intermixed with combinations of minerals, and with diagrams, all of which are supposed to have great secret virtues."

One of the most popular Egyptian methods of charming away disease is similar to a practice already mentioned as in use among less civilized peoples.

The sacred texts are inscribed on the inner surfaces of earthenware bowls, in which water is stirred until the writing is washed off. Then the infusion is drunk by the patient, and without doubt the subsequent benefit is exactly commensurate with the strength of his faith in the remedy.

FOOTNOTES:

[30:1] Joseph Addison, _On the pleasures of the Imagination_.

[31:1] _The Jewish Encyclopaedia._

[31:2] G. Maspero, _The Dawn of Civilization_, p. 214.

[32:1] Larousse, _Dictionnaire_, art. "Charme."

[32:2] Matthew, viii, 8, 13, 16.

[33:1] _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, art. "Medicine," T. K. Cheyne and J.

Sutherland Black.

[33:2] Elworthy, _The Evil Eye_, p. 400.

[33:3] Elias Owen, _Welsh Folklore_, p. 245.

[34:1] Robley Dunglison, _Medical Dictionary_, p. 202.

[35:1] _Notes and Queries_, 4th series, vol. vii, p. 443. For other versions of this charm see W. G. Black, _Folk-Medicine_, p. 82; Pettigrew, _Medical Superst.i.tions_, p. 57.

[35:2] Book i, ch. 13.

[36:1] _Notes and Queries_, 5th Series, vol. i, pp. 325, 375.

[37:1] _Boston Transcript_, May 2, 1900.

[37:2] London, 1652, p. 231.

[37:3] Monier-Williams, _Religious Thought in India_, p. 197.

[38:1] C. W. King, _Early Christian Numismatics_, p. 179.

[38:2] _Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, Washington, D. C., 1887-8, p. 453.

[38:3] R. M. Lawrence, _The Magic of the Horse-Shoe_, p. 300.

[39:1] _Religions of Primitive Peoples_, p. 93.

[39:2] _A Discourse concerning the Nature and Substance of Devils and Spirits_, p. 70; 1665.

[39:3] M'Clintock and Strong, _Cyclopaedia_, art. "Incantation."

[39:4] D. G. Brinton, _Religions of Primitive Peoples_, p. 91.

[40:1] Lady Wilde, _Ancient Charms, Cures, and Usages of Ireland_.

[41:1] Dr. Hugo Magnus, _Superst.i.tion in Medicine_.

[41:2] Otto A. Wall, M.D., _The Prescription_.

[42:1] H. D. Traill, _Social England_, vol. ii, p. 112.

[42:2] George F. Fort, _Medical Economy of the Middle Ages_, p. 195.

[42:3] Vol. iii, p. 322.

[43:1] Johannes Janssen, _History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages_.

[44:1] _Teutonic Mythology_, vol. iii, p. 1223.

[44:2] Andrew Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, vol. i, p. 101.

[44:3] T. Witton Davies, _Magic, Divination, and Demonology_, p. 127.

[44:4] Proverbs, xvii, v. 22.

[45:1] London _Spectator_.

[45:2] M'Clintock and Strong, art. "Incantation."

[46:1] _Travels_, p. 56.

[46:2] Mary H. Kingsley, _Travels in West Africa_, p. 304.

[46:3] _Melusine_, t. ix, p. 132; 1898.

[46:4] Thomas Patrick Hughes, _A Dictionary of Islam_, art. "Da'wah."

[46:5] London, 1898.

[48:1] _Academy_, vol. x.x.xi, p. 291; 1887.

[48:2] Michael L. Rodkinson, _History of Amulets, Charms, and Talismans_.

[48:3] George H. Bratley, _The Power of Gems and Charms_.

[49:1] Sir John Lubbock, _The Origin of Civilization_.

[49:2] _Travels_, vol. i, p. 357.