Folk lore : $b or, Superstitious beliefs in the west of Scotland within this centuryNapier, James
History
Folk lore : $b or, Superstitious beliefs in the west of Scotland within this century
Napier, James
Folklore -- Scotland; Scotland -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Such theories left ample room for the creation of all sorts of cure
charms, and when such ideas prevailed among the educated in the medical
profession, we need not be surprised that they still survive among many
uneducated persons, although two centuries have gone since. In 1714 one
of the most eminent physicians in Europe, Boerhaave, wrote of chemistry
and medicine:--"Nor even in this affair don't medicine receive some
advantage; witness the cups made of regulus of antimony, tempered with
other metals which communicate a medicinal quality to wine put in them,
and it is ten thousand pities the famous _Van Helmont_ should have been
so unkind to his poor fellow creatures in distress as to conceal from us
the art of making a particular metal which he tells us, made into rings,
and worn only while one might say the Lord's Prayer, would remove the
most exquisite haemorrhoidal pains, both internal and external, quiet the
most violent hysteric disorders, and give ease in the severest spasms
of the muscles. 'Tis right, therefore, to prosecute enquiries of this
nature, for there is very frequently some hidden virtues in these
compositions, and we may make a vast number of experiments of this kind
without any danger or inconvenience."
As it illustrates the theories just mentioned, we notice here the
influence attributed to the wonderful Lee Penny. This famous charm is a
stone set in gold. It is said to have been brought home by Lochart of
Lee, who accompanied the Earl of Douglas in carrying Robert the Bruce's
heart to the Holy Land. It is called Lee Penny, and was credited with
the virtue of imparting to water into which it was dipped curative
properties, specially influential to the curing of cattle when diseased,
or preventing them taking disease. Many people from various parts of
Scotland whose cattle were affected have made application within these
few years for water in which this stone has been dipped. It is believed
that this stone cannot be lost. It is still in the possession of the
family of Lochart.
Ague, it was believed, could be cured by putting a spider into a goose
quill, sealing it up, and hanging it about the neck, so that it would be
near the stomach. This disease might also be cured by swallowing pills
made of a spider's web. One pill a morning for three successive mornings
before breakfast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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