Girdles : their origin and development, particularly with regard to their use as charms in medicine, and midwifery / by Walter J. Dilling, M.B., Ch. B., lecturer in pharmacology, Aberdeen University.

  • Dilling, Walter James, 1886-1950
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Girdles : their origin and development, particularly with regard to their use as charms in medicine, and midwifery / by Walter J. Dilling, M.B., Ch. B., lecturer in pharmacology, Aberdeen University. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    collection of fragmentary and widely scattered instances, it is felt that adherence must be given to the maxim of “ no con¬ clusion is better than a false conclusion.” I shall, therefore, coniine myself to stating the various customs which have prevailed amongst different peoples who employed them, noting such cases as were connected with religious ceremonials, and making comments on the relationships exhibited by the usages in the several centres. It will be observed that the number 3 recurs again in the ritual of the obstetric girdles; such cases have not been specially selected, and although I am inclined to the belief that this number has had a distinct signification with regard to the obstetric girdles, I am no less cognisant of the fact that “ 3 ” has been from the distant past a figure which has, as a sacred number, played a role in most legendary customs. No unassailable evidence has been found which would indicate the reason of its persistence in the structure of the girdle, and, if I have suggested its possible connection with the three stars of Orion’s Belt symbolised in the Brahmana sacrificial cord, this must be understood as a tentative hypothesis. Another suggestion which might meet the case is that it was in this connection of phallic significance, but circumstantial evidence being wanting, no verdict can be given on the case. Doubtless, if one had been able to obtain fuller descriptions of the girdles, and some specimens of the more ancient examples, answers to these problems would have been forthcoming. These preliminary remarks will indicate what may have been the foundations of the belief in girdles as obstetric aids, and the details may be obtained from the ensuing description of the examples I have collected. Amongst the Hindus, on the occasion of a birth, a charm is bound about the belly of the woman in labour; this charm, which is written by a “skilful man,” takes the form of a double equilateral triangle, or a collection of magic words arranged in three rows of three such as the example shown :— lirom hrom hrom h rom hrom hrom hrom Name of the woman is written here. klom klom klom hrom kom kom