The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-06-20
TALISMANS AND CHARMS.
How Popular Superstition is Kept
Alive Everywhere.
E"-irio,sl. and Ouackery = Faith in
Metal Rings and Other senseIess
Charms-Innuence of Imagi-
nation Over Disease.

Charms-Innuence of Imagi-
nation Over Disease.
Perhaps no class of supersttions ex
hibits human credulity and weakness ii
a broader light than that connected witt
the history of medicine and surgery
Until within comparatively recent pc.
Rod the medical practice of many a civ
ilized country was little else than It's
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
:, ..nese beliefs are founded upon
certain principles in our nature--errne
through that ignorance which progress
etrpssience and reason are destined
70 dlsslpate. Man naurally seeks to
AVOID disease from the pain which it ere
a1es' ana the consequent fear of death
uSes MN 10 grasp at any prollered
.eneuy, Ills own anxiety increased by
sllat OF ms friends, makes him prone to
oeiieye, and credulity is syeakness ever
ready to be practiced- a5on bv the selfish
ana Designing Thus quackery and EN-
p ansi orlglhate. There is. however,
9osFiepA15rhse 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 iniu-
rles 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, lamentations
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
'eiiicacious, 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 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 Helmont who
wrote in the latter part of the Seven
teenth century, affirmed that he was
possessed of a metal, of which if ring
were made and worn, not only the pain
attendant upon hemcrrhoids 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 TWEEN
ty-three years of age, evidently in a bad
state of health, went to silversmith s
shop, wishing the proprietor of the es-
Enlistment to make him strong ring
out OF several pieces of silver which he
brought with him By questioning him
a 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 neighbor to try
charm which she had known had been
efiicacious in several instances. The
charm was that he must beg seven diff
ferent pieces of silver from seven differ
cnt 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 serv-
ice to him. He replied that, when he
thought OF it reasonably, he must con-
less 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,
thing, for drowning men catch at
straws. The silversmith forthwith I'M
dertook to make him the ring, but on
condition that he would call after he
had worn it for while to let him know
II it had been the means of conquering
his mortal enemy or not. In about
three months afterward the young man
was passing the shop when the silver
smith called him in. He told him that
perhaps he (the silversmith) might
doubt what he stated, but that, never
theless, it was perfectly true that from
;hefime of putting on the ring until
then hehad never once had fit. though
before that time he had had three or
four week, and that he was rapidly
recovering his health. The silversmith
was greatly amused with this confession,
for the ring which he made did not CON
tain q particle of the silver which had
been brought to him. The ring was
made by the silversmith himself from
the shank Of an old silver spoon, and
Jet tie patient assured himself that he
was cured.
Upon rejecting upon this remarkable
superstition one must evidently arrive
at the conclusion that the whole cause
of the cure was strong effort of the
imagination. The young man forced
himself to believe in the potency of the
charm, and in doing so exerted an in
f1uence over the nervous energy which
pIoouccu inc ueSlTcu Tosuib. May not
his species of confidence account for
many alleged cures from the use of
charmsP Sometimes superstition ac-
commodities itself to a change in the
he public mind, and thus endures long
after its original form has ceased to be
regarded. II Is by no means uncommon
to- meet with educated people who wear
rings composed Of zinc and copper,
ITCH ere supposed 70 have favorable
erx3 in rheumatic affections, merely
loofneo p1aies q thsDs metals with q