St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-07-25
TALISMANS AND CHARMS.
How Popular Superstition is Kept
Alive Everywhere.
EmpiricIsm and Quackery - Faith in
Metal Rings and Other .Scnseless
Charms-Inhuence Of Imagi.
nation Over Disease.

Perhaps no class OF SuperStltlOns eX-
hibits human eredulity and weakness in
a broader light than that connected with
the history of medicine and surgery.
Until within a comparatively recent Pc
rod the medical practice of many civ
iiized country was little else than tis-
sue of superstitious beliefs and specula-
tive conceits, and such even at the pres
ent day is the character of the healing
art in many parts of the world. Like
other general features in the history of
mankind, these beliefs are founded upon
certain principles in our nature erring
through that ignorance which progress
.siye experience and reason are destined
to dissipate. Man naturally seeks to
avoid disease from the pain which it Gre
,ates, and the consequent fear of death
urges him to grasp at any proffered
remedy. His own anxiety, increased by
that of his friends, makes him prone to
believe, and credulity is weakness ever
ready to be practiced upon by the selfish
and designing. Thus quackery and en-
p.ricism originate. There is. however,
another cause of the superstitions in
medicine equally general with that al
ready mentioned, namely, the unknown
origin of many of the maladies which
assail us. The causes of external inju-
r.es are seen and known; those of inter-
nal or constitutional disease are obscure.
In rude ages such Affections are regard
ed as judgments and the work of malig-
nant spirits; hence charms, incantations
and divinations are the curative means
resorted to. If the patient die it is his
fate: if he survive (whether from the
disease having run its course or from
the force of Imagination acting upon his
bodily system), the charm is considered
efficacious, and what is said to have
cured one it is but reasonable to apply
to thousands. Thus it is that empiri-
cism and superstition get established and
retain the hold even long after science
has taught us to laugh at their absurd
ity. 1t may, therefore, be curious to
collect a few details respecting past
medical practice and its still surviving
superstitions.
One of the earliest and most preva-
lent of these beliefs was that which at
tributed medical virtues to rings made
of certain metals and fabricated after a
certain fashion. Won HeImont. who
wrote in the latter part of the Seven.
teenth century, affirmed that he was
possessed of metal, of which if ring
were made and worn, not only the pain
attendant upon hemorrhoids would
cease, but that in twenty-four hours.
whether internal or external, they would
vanish altogether. This faith in metal
rings is still far from being extinct even
in this country. Some years ago young
man in Plainfield, n. j., of about twen-
ty-three years of age. evidently in bad
state Of health, went to q silversmith's s
shop. wishing the proprietor of the es-
tablishment to make him strong ring
out of several pieces of silver which he
brought with him BY questioning him
little the silversmith ascertained that
he had been long subject TO fits; that
nothing which he had hitherto tried had
afforded him any relief, and that he had
been advised by q neighbor to try q
charm which she had known had been
efficacious IN several instances. The
charm was that he must beg seven diff
ferent pieces of silver from seven differ
ent persons: that strong ring must be
made containing part Of each of the
pieces; that the person who made it
must have no other reward for his labor
than the pieces which were left after
the ring had been made; that he must
wear the ring upon the forefnger of the
right hand. and that he might then have
no further fear of recurrence of fits.
The young man also said that the ply
sician who attended him had signified
his assent to the trial. The silversmith
asked him if he could really bring him.
self to think that it could be of any sery-
ice to him. He replied that. when he
thought of it reasonably, he must con-
Tess he did not see how it could; but
that, as he had been SO tormented
with the fits, and as everything that
he had tried had been Of no serv-
ice. he was willing to try any