Fig. 23.—Health, in Hieroglyphics.
A sceptre (Tem), which, alone, may signify strong, in connection with the ankh stands for strong life, or health. This combination is seen on one of the faces of the obelisk now in London.
Touch-pieces, or golden eagles, were special coins first issued by King Henry VII to persons “touched for the evil.” One side of the piece bore an angel standing on a dragon, with the inscription, Soli Deo gloria, and the other a ship in full sail. Some had other designs. A hand extending from above was often given,—an old symbol of healing, being in use in Egypt, and generally having in connection with it a serpent, or a figure of Serapis.[500] The hand of the Lord so frequently spoken of in the Bible may have suggested it. Specimens of those issued by Charles II and James II are to be seen in the collection of coins now in the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. There are cuts of several in Pettigrew’s work.[501]
The touch-pieces were carefully preserved and used as amulets.
The practice of touching for the evil by English sovereigns, from Edward the Conqueror down to Queen Anne, did not originate with them. Tacitus[502] gives an interesting account of the cure of a case of blindness and of one of paralysis, in the same way, by Vespasian. Every Bible-reader knows that it was resorted to in Palestine. But it was in vogue in Greece three centuries before our era. In his “Life of Pyrrhus,” Plutarch says: “It was believed that he cured the swelling of the spleen by sacrificing a white cock, and with his right foot gently pressing the part affected, the patients lying upon their backs for the purpose. There was no person, however poor or mean, to whom this relief, if requested, was refused. He received no reward except the cock for sacrifice, and this present was very agreeable to him.”
Fig. 24.—A Medicine-Bag.
The medicine-bag of the North American Indians has been almost universally regarded by that race as of wonderful virtue in warding off harmful influences of all kinds. It has served them as a preventive, and also, like Prince Ahmed’s apple, as a cure for every disease. Catlin says he found that “every [male] Indian, in his primitive state, carries his medicine-bag in some form or other, to which he pays the greatest homage and to which he looks for safety and protection through life.”[503] The same writer, who, I may remark, had a very wide acquaintance among Indians, pronounces it to be “the key to Indian life and Indian character.”[504]
The contents of this mysterious bag, this “bag of wonders,” are preserved a secret, one which none wishes to discover. These consist of a medicinal herb, or the like, with some packing-material, such as dried grass or moss.
The medicine-bag is formed from the skin of a human being or some reptile, bird, or other creature. The suggestion of the substance to be used was left to a dream, inspired by the “great spirit,” and experienced during the fast indulged in about puberty, the time when the Indian “makes his medicine;” that is, learns what animal is to be his guardian, as it were. Various ornaments are attached to it.