The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-08-25
WAYS OF THE ORIENT.
Queer Ideas About Alleyiating
Bodily Suffering.
MAGIC CURES OF THE TURKS.


Children Are subjected--B Bunches Of
Garlic and Strings Of Blue Beads as
| Panaceas Against All Kinds Of Ills.
A stone strikes some part of the body
of an oriental and inhicts wound
The train of ideas that this accident
would produce in his mind would run
something like this: The stone Is the
cause of pain, the cause of the wound.
IL is the principal origin of the trouble.
But the essence of every origin Is hid
den, secret and therefore sacred The
stone becomes an awe inspiring fetch.
The wound Is neglected The fetch
has to be propitiated. This simple H.
lustratlon is borne out and supported
by everyday experience which med
zeal men encounter In the east
Another instance may be derived
from among the lower classes of the
Greek population of Constantinople. A
child falls and cuts his head The
first thought of the parent Is to be sure
not to wash and to bind mp the wound,
still less to call medical assistance,
however grave the cut may turn out
to be. This Is always an afterthought,
which very often comes so late that
the. help of a surgeon can prove of no
use.
The first thing the father or mother of
the Injured child thinks of doing is TO
pour over the shoulder upon the place
of the accident llbation of wine or
sugared water and-to whisper I'm per
forming this some mysterious formula
supposed to possess supernatural eff
cacy against every form of evil.
The Moslems are addicted to the
queerest practices for purposes of heal
ing or allevlatlng bodily pain. A Turk.
for instance, I'm distress or suffering
from some disease, however severe,
knows of no better remedy than to fix
piece of his dress, torn off with true
oriental equanimity to an iron bar Of
some saints tomb or TO drink water
from tumbler into which he has pre-
viously put sheet OF paper with writ
] ings from the Koran. Sometimes he
: will take Jar the interior of which
+ has been written all over with strange
Q formulate and signs. He VIII then Oil
Z 1t with water. wait till these formulate
anu oiSio hhNt bttb thpiOuBhiN
solved and drink the singular solution
: with an absolute faith in its wonder
working efficacy
Sheltered by the somber expresses
OF the great Mohammedan cemetery at
Scutari Uhe ancient Chrysopolis on the
Aslatic coast of the Bosporus) there
stands In picturesque solitude the tomb
e Of horse Every Friday afternoon
Turkish mothers carry to that tomb
their crippled children to be submitted
by a select "khodja" priesD to an ex-
, traordlnary course Of treatment. These
: children are dragged, with their dis
eased limbs dangling over the hillock,
: from one end of the tomb to the other
and then back again in the same fash
e ion. The occult influence emanatlng
( from this hillock Is supposed to be an
i all efficient panacea.
: 1t is not difficult to trace In this case
4 the crude imperfect association OF
. ideas. The horse has long been con-
e sidered an emblem of vigor. typifying,
e as Ruskin says, "the flow and force
y of life" Hence the belief of the orl-
entail, inherited, no doubt, from the
e Greeks, in the all conquering virtue
and influence of occult and mysterious
l. efiiuvla which are supposed to emanate
constantly from a horses tomb.
i The wearing of necklace OF blue
beads or of garlic as potent means
of keeping away disease or of warding
off the evil eye Is quite a universal
matter Of sincere belief In the whole
II of Turi,ay rrbio ounarotittnn a, eha rad
u as is well known, by the lower classes
: OF many country in civilized eastern
Q Europe. There, however 1t Is not SO
universal and hagrant as In the orient.
There Is scarcely house In the
Z Moslem, Greek and Armenian districts
Of the population of Constantinople
: which has not hanging above its en-
u trance door collection of garlic and
II scarcely beast of toll which has not
attached to some part OF It string
OF blue beads. Among the uneducated
it is impossible to find an Individual
q who does not pin absolute faith to the
u all healing power of such charms,
d especially of blue beads, which are
supposed TO be an unfaillng panacea
against every possible III.
II Less general Is the belief In the east
In the baleful influence of the planets
9 Saturn and Mars upon the constitution
of the human body, upon Its four car
dlnal humors-biood, phlegm, yellow
bile and black bile. These planets are
considered by some orientals, especial
ly In the far south, as the unmistak-
able causes of all sorts of ailments.
Woe unto him who begins any work
when Saturn or Mars is in the ascend
u ant.-Cleveland Plain Dealer.