Dr. Samuel McComb, in "Religion and Medicine,"[16:1] remarks that the efficacy of the amulets and charms of savages depends upon the fact that they are symbols of an inner mental state, the objects to which the desire or yearning could attach itself--in a word, they are auto-suggestions, done into wood and stone. Professor Hugo Münsterberg has said that the less a patient knows about the nature of suggestion, the more benefit he is likely to experience therefrom; but that, on the contrary, a physician may obtain the better results, the more clearly he understands the working of this therapeutic agent. It is also doubtless true that much good may result from the employment of suggestion by a charlatan, in the form of a written medical charm, both parties being alike profoundly ignorant of the healing influence involved. In the Talmud, two kinds of medical amulets are specified, viz: the "approved" and the "disapproved." An approved amulet is one which has cured three persons, or which has been made by a man who has cured three persons by means of other amulets.[17:1] A belief in the healing power of amulets was very general among the Hebrews in the later periods of their history. No people in the whole world were more addicted to the use of medicinal spells, exorcisms, and various enchantments. The simpler amulets consisted of pieces of paper, with a few words written upon them, and their use was quite general. Only one of the approved kind was permitted to be worn abroad on the Sabbath.[17:2] The Talmud therefore permits the use of superstitious modes of healing, the end sought justifying the means, and the power of mental influence being tacitly recognized. This principle is faithfully carried out to-day, says a writer in the "Journal of Biblical Literature,"[18:1] in all rural communities throughout the world. The Hebrew law-makers did not make a concession to a lower form of religion by endorsing magical remedies, but merely shared the contemporary belief in the demoniac origin of disease. The patient was regarded as being in a condition of enchantment or fascination,--under a spell, to use the popular phrase. To dissolve such a spell, recourse was had to amulets, written charms, or the spoken word of command. FOOTNOTES: [4:1] Carolus Christianus Krause, _De Amuletis Medicis Cogitata Nonnulla_, vol. iii, p. 4. Lipsia, 1758. [4:2] Jo. Christianus Teutscherus, _De Usu et Abusu Amuletorum_. Lipsiensis, 1720. [4:3] _Century Dictionary._ [5:1] John William Draper, _History of the Intellectual Development of Europe_, vol. i, p. 392. [6:1] _Chambers's Journal_, vol. xvi, p. 57; 1861. [6:2] George F. Fort, _Medical Economy during the Middle Ages_, p. 78. [7:1] _The Reliquary_, vol. vii, p. 162; 1893. [7:2] James Townley, _The Reasons of the Law of Moses_, vol. ii, p. 944. [7:3] _Exercitationum Anatomico-Chirurgicarum Decades Duæ. De Amuletis._ Lugd: Batavorum, 1708. [7:4] _Encyclopédie des Gens du Monde_, art. "Amulette."