Although Alexander of Tralles was an enlightened and skilful physician, he recommended for epilepsy a metal cross tied to the arm; and went to the Magi for assistance in his art, and was recommended to use jasper and coral with root of nux vomica tied in a linen cloth as an amulet. It seems strange that, although Hippocrates and the scepticism of the Epicureans had apparently destroyed the faith in magicians amongst the learned, that men should have so soon reverted to the absurdities from which they had been delivered; but there is an element in our nature which can only be satisfied by that which magic represents, and even in the present age of science we have reverted to the same things under the names of Spiritualism, Theosophy, and Occultism. It would be grossly unfair to the Catholic Church to complain of the slavery in which it kept the minds of the ignorant barbarians whom it had converted from paganism to Christianity. When we read of medicine masses, of herbs and decoctions placed under the altar, of holy water mixed with drugs, and the sign of the cross made over the poultices and lotions prescribed, we are apt to say that the priests merely substituted one form of superstition for another, which was a little coarser. A little reflection will serve to dispel this idea. A belief in magic influence is, as we have abundantly shown, inseparable from the minds of primitive and savage man. It is as certain that a savage will worship his fetish, pray to his idol, and believe in disease-demons, and their expulsion by charms and talismans, as that he will tattoo or paint his body, stick feathers in his hair, and rings in his nose and ears; it is part of the evolution of man on his way to civilization. To suddenly deprive a savage or barbarian of all his magic remedies, his amulets and charms, would be as foolish as it would be futile: foolish, because many amulets and charms are perfectly harmless, and help to quiet and soothe the patient’s mind; futile, because whatever the ecclesiastical prohibition, the obnoxious ceremonies would certainly be practised in secret. It was therefore wiser for the Church to compromise the matter, to wink at innocent superstitions, and endeavour to substitute a religious idea such as the sign of the cross would imply, for the meaningless, if not idolatrous, ceremonies of a pagan religion. Let us never forget that the Church delivered the nations from “the tyranny and terror of the poisoner and the wizard.” HERBS, ANIMALS, ETC., AS AMULETS.