Anodyne necklaces, made of beads from peony roots, are worn by children in some parts to assist them in teething. The ancient Greeks held the peony in great repute; they believed it to be of divine origin, and it was for many centuries held to have the power to drive away evil spirits.[560]
Abydemis, a Greek historian who wrote a history of Assyria, says that the inhabitants made amulets from the wood of the ash, and hung them round their necks as a charm against sorcery.
In the Sanskrit Atharvaveda are found charms for diseases, which are influenced by colours. Saffron and the yellow-hammer are prescribed for jaundice; red remedies, and especially red cows, for blood diseases.
The extremity of the intestine of the ossifrage, says Pliny, if worn as an amulet, is well known to be an excellent remedy for colic. Another cure is for the patient to drink the water in which he has washed his feet![561] A tick from a dog’s left ear, worn as an amulet, will allay all kinds of pains, but we must be careful to take it from a dog that is black.[562]
“Pliny says that any plant gathered from the bank of a brook or river before sunrise, provided that no one sees the person who gathers it, is considered as a remedy for tertian ague, when tied to the left arm, the patient not knowing what it is; also, that a person may be immediately cured of the headache by the application of any plant which has grown on the head of a statue, provided it be folded in the shred of a garment, and tied to the part affected with a red string.”[563]
The cyclamen was cultivated in houses as a protection against poison. Pliny remarks that it was an amulet.[564] Vivisection was practised in connection with charms. “If a man have a white spot, as cataract, in his eye, catch a fox alive, cut his tongue out, let him go, dry his tongue and tie it up in a red rag and hang it round the man’s neck.”
Alexander Trallianus was not able to rise above the absurdities of the amulet. He recommends bits of old sailcloth from a shipwrecked vessel to be tied to the right arm and worn for seven weeks as a protection against epilepsy. He advises the heart of a lark to be fastened to the left thigh as a remedy for colic; for a quartan ague, the patient must carry about some hairs from a goat’s chin. He admits that he has no faith in such things, but merely orders them as placebos for rich and fastidious patients who could not be persuaded to adopt a more rational treatment.[565]
Dr. Baas tells us that “a regular pagan amulet was found in 1749 on the breast of the prince bishop Anselm Franz of Würzburg, count of Ingolstadt, after his death.”[566]
Gnostic and Christian Amulets.
Gnosticism is responsible for the introduction of many wonder-working amulets and charms. This system of philosophy was a fantastical combination of Orientalism, Greek philosophy, and Christianity. The teaching was that all natures were emanations of the Deity, or Œons. On some of the gnostic amulets the word Mythras was inscribed, on others Serapis, Iao, Sabaoth, Adonai, etc.