Magic and healing / [C.J.S. Thompson].

  • Thompson, C. J. S. (Charles John Samuel), 1862-1943.
Date:
[1947]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Magic and healing / [C.J.S. Thompson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    for the eyes, or for swellings. An ointment was also made from club-moss after it had been mixed with butter made from the milk of a new cow. The ceremony described for the gathering was similar to that per¬ formed when collecting other plants, and is partly pagan as regards the phase of the moon, while the prayer shows how the rite was afterwards christianized. It is well-known, and a fact still recognized, that plants to be employed for medicinal purposes are most active and best gathered just before coming into flower. The Romans, when gathering the first anemone of the year, uttered the words: “I gather thee for a remedy against disease,” for they believed the anemone to be a protection against sickness and it is thus referred to in the lines: The first spring bloom anemone she has doubtless wove To keep him safe from pestilence where he should rove. Another plant of classic interest was the peony, or “healing plant” of the Greeks, which was associated with Asklepios their deity of medicine. It is supposed by some early writers to have been named after Paeon, the first physician of the gods and a pupil of Asklepios, who attributed to it remarkable virtues. According to the mythological story, Paeon first received the flower from the mother of Apollo on Mount Olympus and with it cured Pluto of a wound he had received in a combat with Hercules. Paeon’s success in healing aroused so much jealousy in x4sklepios that he secretly compassed his death, but Pluto transferred his body into the flower which he called Peony. The ancient Greeks believed it was a plant of divine origin caused by an emanation from the moon, for it shone during the night, drove away evil spirits and protected the habitations of man. This gave rise to a belief that evil-spirits and demons avoided the places where it grew and it became customary to wear small pieces of the root, fashioned like beads to be worn round the neck, to protect the wearer from evil influences. This superstition persisted until recent times in the form of necklaces of beads turned from peony root which were placed round the necks of babies especially when teething, to prevent convulsions. Known as the “Anodyne necklaces” they were exploited and advertised in the seven¬ teenth and eighteenth centuries. Peony had also a wide reputation for curing epilepsy, which virtue thus is referred to by Lord Bacon: “It hath beene long received and con¬ firmed by divers trialls that the root of the male piony dried and tied to the necke doth helpe the falling sicknesses and likewise the incubus we call the mare.” Charms played a prominent part in the prevention of the evil effects caused by the bites of venomous reptiles and some of the early and curious spells are worth recording. Here is one believed to be of great