The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-12-02
sUPERsTIrIoNs OF MANKIND.

~
At the November meeting OF the folk
lore society, in the rooms of the Quad
riga club, last night, there was an in
teresting discussion of the question,
How can the current superstltlons of
Maryland and Virginia be best collect
ed?" The principal paper of the even
ing was by DR.. Charles G. Bombaugh
on Medical superstitions." AT the out
set he showed how the present is linked
with the past by the survival of many
superstitions inherited from the middle
ages, and of others traceable to a re-
mote antiquity. He gave a variety of
illustrations to show that they have not
been confined to the ignorant classes,
but that they have frequently infiu-
enced and governed the actions Of men.
of education. Though this is not so no.
iticeable in the present age, it was large
ly in evidence among learned men up to
comparatively recent period. Three
of the greatest of the English philoso-
phers-Francis Bacon, John Locke and
Isaac Newton--have left behind album
dant proof of their belief in secret and
occult arts. The master mind of all
Lord Bacon, in his Sylvia Sylvarum-di-
lates at length upon the value of the
sympathetic ointments of his day,
which We're applied. not to the wound
occasoned by a weapon, but to the
weapon itself Sir Walter Scott gives a
vivid picture of this in the case Of the
wounded Deloraine, in the Lay Of the
Last Minstrel Robert Boyle, the in
ventor of the air-pump, applied pow
dered moss from a human skull to ar
rest bleeding of the nose, not as a snuff,
but to his wrists.
After reviewing fads and caprices,
from barefoot walks in the dewy grass
of the early morning to metallic tract
ors. and tracing to superstitious prac-
tees in olden time some of the habits of
the medical men at the present day the
speaker passed on to the love philters
and love powders of young men and
maidens to cause sympathetic fond
ness. On the other hand, he quoted
from Plato and Virgil to show the re-
verse effect of nostrums, which We're
| used to wean lovers from their attach
| ments by exciting antipathy and dis
gust. He then discussed, at length, the
amulet, and it's astrological expression,
the talisman. OF the great variety or
| forms in which this charm has been
presented from the early history of
Egypt and Persia down to the present
time, the three pronged red coral APP
pears to have the most tenacity. In re-
counting the fayorite mascots Of our
time, the prominence of the rabbits left
hind foot in the recent political cam
paign was noted. That the amulet still
appeals to credulity in this community
was shown in the trial of Professor"
Jules in the criminal court.
The absurd doctrine of signatures is
traced to the Chaldeans. The royal
touah for kings evil, scrofula, had a
lease of life from Edward the Confessor
to Queen Anne, and then descended to
the ignoble hands Of the seventh son of
a seventh son. In the folk-medicine of
| Cornwall and Hampshire, the healing
power of seventh sonship is still be-
lieved in. Astrology came in for a
large share of the speakers notice
| Burton, in his Anatomy of MeIancho-
4 ly," indorses the opinion of Paracelus,
that a physician without the knowl-
edge of stars can neither understand
the cause or cure of any disease" But
| astrology, with all the prestige of a
formidable history behind 1t, was not
| strong enough to withstand the satiri-
cal filings of Dean Swift, in his BECKER
staff Papers"
A brief review of the grotesque and
offensive constituents of the old mate
ria mediea showed that they outrivaled
the ingredients of the witches caldron
in Macbeth" Among the amusing in
stances given was that of the gypsy
woman, as described by Cervantes, who
| undertook to cure dog bites on the
sirnilibus principle. Take hair of
the dog that bit YOU The speaker
then passed ON to the curious supersti-
tons of the Pennsylvania Dutch, quo
ting from Mrs. Gibbons book on the
customs, beliefs and dialects Of our
German neighbors in Pennsylvania.
Many of their medical customs are pc
culiar to themselves, but others, such
as the pow-pow, brought from the Pal
atinate, find their analogs elsewhere.
The pow-pow has been in use among
the North American aborigines and the
Eskimos from time immemorial
After quoting some of the proverbs
and aphorisms from Rays collection,
DR.. Bombaugh concluded with the fol-
lowing remarks: "And now the ever
recurring question, What is all this
worth?' naturally arises. Hallam, in his
History of the Middle Ages says: Tt
must not be supposed that these absur-
dities We're produced, as well as nour-
ished, by ignorance. In most cases
they were the work of deliberate i'm
posture From either point of view il
may be asked, Have not thousands of
sufferers been relieved of their distress
through these puerilities that super
sede the employment of reason?' His
tory answers affirmatively, and, at the
same time, raises the veil that we may
see the reason why And therein we
find collateral agencies at work; we
see the stone of rejection become the
head of the corner.
1--WE note that while the sympathetic
ointment was applied to the weapon
the edges of incised wounds were care
fully eleansed, and so held in apposi-
ton by adhesive straps or bandages as
to unite by what surgeons call first in
tention. In the treatment of laeerated
and punctured wounds, we note the
same attention to cleanliness. The ole
women who charmed for burns an6
| scalds used the formula:
There came three angels out of the