Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery

Primitive Psycho-Therapy and
Quackery, by

Robert Means Lawrence This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere
at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
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Title: Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery
Author: Robert Means Lawrence
Release Date: November 2, 2007 [EBook #23293]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Transcriber's Notes: [Rx] in this text represents the symbol used today
to designate a prescription. [ounce] represents a symbol for ounce, a
symbol that looks like a short 7 on top of a 3. Words in Greek in the
original are transliterated and placed between +plus signs+. Words

italicized in the original are surrounded by underscores. A complete list
of corrections follows the text.

PRIMITIVE PSYCHO-THERAPY AND QUACKERY
BY
ROBERT MEANS LAWRENCE, M.D. AUTHOR OF "THE MAGIC
OF THE HORSE-SHOE," ETC.
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge 1910
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY ROBERT MEANS LAWRENCE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published October 1910
They have observed but little, who have not remarked how much
Imagination contributes to give success to the curative power of a
medicine. VICESIMUS KNOX, D.D. Winter Evenings, I, p. 154.
The mind has the same command over the body, as the master over the
slave. ARISTOTLE.

PREFACE
Certain historic modes of healing, including the use of medical amulets
and charms, which have been regarded from early times as magical
remedies, belong properly to the domain of Psychical Medicine. For the
therapeutic virtues of medical amulets are not inherent in these objects,
but are due to the influence exerted by them upon the imaginative
faculties of the individuals who employ them. They afford powerful
suggestions of healing. In this volume the writer has sought to
emphasize the fact that the efficiency of many primitive therapeutic

methods, and the success of charlatanry, are to be attributed to mental
influence. The use of spells and incantations, the practice of laying-on
of hands, the cult of relics, mesmerism, and metallo-therapy, have been
important factors in the evolution of modern mental healing. The
method of their operation, a mystery for ages, is revealed by the word
suggestion. Thus may be traced some of the steps in the development
of psycho-therapy. One ruling force, namely, the power of the
imagination, has always been the potent therapeutic agent, whether in
the word of command, in medical scripts, or in the methods of
quackery. R. M. L.
177 BAY STATE ROAD, BOSTON, MASS. May 20, 1910.

CONTENTS
I. MEDICAL AMULETS 3
II. TALISMANS 19
III. PHYLACTERIES 24
IV. THE POWER OF WORDS 30
V. THE CURATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE IMAGINATION 53
VI. THE ROYAL TOUCH 73
VII. THE BLUE-GLASS MANIA 93
VIII. THE TEMPLES OF ESCULAPIUS 97
IX. STYPTIC CHARMS 105
X. HEALING-SPELLS IN ANCIENT TIMES 111
XI. MEDICINAL RUNIC INSCRIPTIONS 135
XII. METALLO-THERAPY 139

XIII. ANIMAL MAGNETISM 143
XIV. ANCIENT MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS 155
XV. REMEDIAL VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO RELICS 165
XVI. THE HEALING INFLUENCE OF MUSIC 172
XVII. THE HEALING INFLUENCE OF MUSIC (continued) 185
XVIII. QUACKS AND QUACKERY 201
XIX. QUACKS AND QUACKERY (continued) 223
APPENDIX: SOME NOTED IRREGULAR PRACTITIONERS:
PARACELSUS 243
HEINRICH CORNELIUS AGRIPPA VON NETTESHEIM 249
JEROME CARDAN 251
GIUSEPPE BALSAMO 253
VALENTINE GREATRAKES 255
JOHANN BAPTIST VAN HELMONT 260
ROBERT FLUDD 263
MICHEL DE NOTREDAME 265
WILLIAM LILLY 268
JOHANN JOSEPH GASSNER 271
INDEX 273

PRIMITIVE PSYCHO-THERAPY AND QUACKERY
CHAPTER I
MEDICAL AMULETS
Among the various subjects which belong to the province of medical
folk-lore, one of the most interesting relates to amulets and protective
charms, which represent an important stage in the gradual development
of Medicine as a science. And especially noteworthy among medical
amulets are those inscribed with mystic sentences, words, or characters,
for by their examination and study we may acquire some definite
knowledge of the mental condition of the people who made use of
them.
Satisfactorily to explain the derivation of the English word "amulet"
has taxed the ingenuity of etymologists, and its origin is admittedly
obscure. According to some authorities, the Latin amuletum was
derived from amoliri, to avert or repel; but the greater weight of
evidence points to the Arabic verb hamala, meaning "to carry." The
definitions usually given embody both of these ideas; for amulets, in
the ancient medical conception of the term, were any objects,
ornamental or otherwise, worn on the bodies of men or animals, and
believed to neutralize the ill effects of noxious drugs, incantations,
witchcrafts, and all morbific agencies whatever.[4:1] To the Oriental
mind amulets symbolize the bond between