Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery | Page 2

a protective power and
dependent mundane creatures; they are prophylactics against the forces
of evil, and may be properly characterized as objects superstitiously
worn, whose alleged magical potency is derived from the faith and
imagination of the wearer.[4:2]
The use of amulets has been attributed to religious sentimentality or
religiosity. The latter word has been defined as "an excessive
susceptibility to the religious sentiments, especially wonder, awe, and
reverence, unaccompanied by any correspondent loyalty to divine law
in daily life."[4:3]
Any one desirous of moralizing on the subject may find a theme

presenting aspects both sad and comical. When, however, one reflects
that amulets, in some one of their protean forms, have been invested
with supernatural preventive and healing powers by the people of all
lands and epochs, and that they have been worn not only by kings and
princes, but by philosophers, prelates, and physicians of eminence as
well, it is evident that the subject deserves more than a passing
consideration.
It would be vain to seek the origin of their employment, which lies
hidden behind the misty veil of remote antiquity. The eastern nations of
old, as is well known, were much addicted to the use of amulets; and
from Chaldea, Egypt, and Persia the practice was transmitted westward,
and was thus extended throughout the civilized world. Among the great
number of popular amulets in ancient times, many were fashioned out
of metals, ivory, stone, and wood, to represent deities, animals, birds,
and fishes; others were precious stones or cylinders inscribed with
hieroglyphics; necklaces of shell or coral, crescent- or hand-shaped
charms, and grotesque images. Their virtues were derived either from
the material, from the shape, or from the magic rites performed at the
time of their preparation. According to a popular belief, which
prevailed throughout the East in the earlier centuries of the Christian
era, all objects, whether inanimate stones and metals, or brutes and
plants, possessed an indwelling spirit or soul, which was the cause of
the efficiency of all amulets.[5:1] They were therefore akin to fetishes,
in the present acceptation of the term; for a fetish, as defined in the
classification of medicines and therapeutic agents in the collections of
the National Museum at Washington, D. C., is a material object
supposed to be the abode of a spirit, or representing a spirit, which may
be induced or compelled to help the possessor.
According to Juvenal ("Satires," Book III, v, 1), Grecian athletes wore
protective charms in the arena, to counterbalance the magical devices
of their opponents. It is probable that the ethics of modern athletic
contests would not countenance such expedients. But so implicit was
the confidence of the Roman citizen in his amulet, that a failure to avert
sickness or evil of any sort was not attributed to inherent lack of power
in the charm itself, but rather to some mistake in the method of its

preparation.[6:1]
In the time of the Emperor Hadrian (A. D. 76-138), and of his
successors, the Antonines, the resources of occult science, known only
to the initiated few, were believed to be sufficiently powerful, through
the agency of spells and charms, to control the actions of evil
spirits.[6:2] The early Christians readily adopted the pagan custom of
wearing amulets as remedies against disease, and as bodily safeguards,
in spite of the emphatic condemnation of the Church.
Origen (A. D. 186-253), a native of Alexandria, wrote that in his time it
was customary for a person ailing from any cause to write certain
characters on paper or metal, and fasten the amulet, thus improvised,
upon the part of the body affected.[7:1] Passages from the books of the
Gospel (literally "good spell") were especial favorites as such
preservatives; they were usually inscribed on parchment, and were even
placed upon horses.[7:2] Amulets were also employed to propitiate the
goddess Fortune, and to thwart her evil designs. So insistent was the
belief in the virtues of these objects, and to such a pitch of credulity did
the popular mind attain, that special charms in great variety were
devised against particular diseases, as well as against misfortunes and
evil of whatever kind.[7:3]
Medieval astrology was a chief factor in promoting the use of amulets.
Magic lent its aid to such an extent that, in certain lands, a chief part of
Medicine consisted in the selection of suitable amulets against disease,
and in their preparation.[7:4]
The almost universal dependence upon amulets, as prophylactics or
healing agencies, originated through popular ignorance and fear.
With the advent of Christianity, many former superstitious beliefs were
abandoned. Yet the process was very gradual.
The newest converts from paganism, while renouncing the forms which
they had of necessity abjured, were disposed to attribute to Christian
symbols some of the virtues which they had believed to inhere in
heathen emblems and