Wherever the living man turns up the remains of past ages, superstition is shown to belong to them through the appearance of amulets; and no matter whether the subjects be Pagan or Christian--for still we find this proof of weakness. Even in our own day, men will carry these things under some creed that allows or custom which defends their use. It is a pity such persons do not feel, as they must know, that he is nearest heaven whose conduct is his talisman. Many of the ancient amulets are in other shapes than rings; often in the form of perforated cylinders, worn round the neck; and we presume they were set in rings for convenience. Werenfels, in his Dissertation on Superstition,[167] where he speaks of a superstitious man, says: “He will make use of no herbs but such as are gathered in the planetary hour. Against any sort of misfortune he will arm himself with a _ring_, to which he has fixed the benevolent aspect of the stars and the lucky hour that was just at the instant flying away, but which, by a wonderful nimbleness, he has seized and detained.” A ring, being a circle, was given to the initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries as an amulet possessed of the power to avert danger.[168] We find amulets referred to in Isaiah: “In that day will the Lord take from them the ornaments of the feet-rings and the net works and the crescents, the pendents and the bracelets and the thin veils, the tires and the fetters and the zones and the perfume boxes and the _amulets_.” Fosbroke[169] says that the makers of talismanic rings generally used to have the sealing part made of a square shape; we, however, find many of an oval form. “Amulet” with us, is _talisman_ with the Arabians. The Jews were extremely superstitious in the use of them to drive away diseases; and the Mishna forbids them, unless received from an approved man who had cured at least three persons by the same means. The use of charms and amulets to cure diseases or avert danger and mischiefs, both from the body and the fruits of the earth, was even common among ignorant and superstitious Christians: for Constantine had allowed the heathen, in the beginning of his reformation, for some time, not only to consult their augurs in public, but also to use charms by way of remedy for bodily distempers, and to prevent storms of rain and hail from injuring the ripe fruits, as appears from the very law where he condemns the other sorts of magic (that tended to do mischief) to be punished with death. St. Chrysostom thundered against the use of amulets and charms, as did St. Basil and Epiphanius, which shows that this piece of superstition, of _trying to cure diseases without physic_, was deeply rooted in the hearts of many Christians.[170] We here give an enlarged specimen of one of these complicated amulets--an amulet against evil, to act favorably and fortunately.[171] [Illustration: (Amulet of Protection)]