A CHARM OR AN ALLAY FOR LOVE."If so be a toad be laidIn a sheepskin newly flayed,And that tied to a man, 'twill severHim and his affections ever"
A CHARM OR AN ALLAY FOR LOVE.
A CHARM OR AN ALLAY FOR LOVE.
"If so be a toad be laidIn a sheepskin newly flayed,And that tied to a man, 'twill severHim and his affections ever"
"If so be a toad be laid
In a sheepskin newly flayed,
And that tied to a man, 'twill sever
Him and his affections ever"
Whenever a real ghost appears,—by which we mean some man or woman dressed up to frighten another,—if the supernatural character of the apparition has been for a moment believed, the effects on the spectator have always been injurious—sometimes producing convulsions, idiocy, madness, or even instantaneous death. The celebrated Allston, the painter, when in England, related the following incident to his friend Coleridge, the poet: "It was, I think," said he, "in the University of Cambridge, near Boston, that a certain youth took it into his wise head to convert a Tom Paine-ish companion of his by appearing as a ghost before him. He accordingly dressed himself up in the usual way, having previously extracted the ball from the pistol which always lay near the head of his friend's bed. Upon first awakening, and seeing the apparition, the youth that was to be frightened very coolly looked his companion, the ghost, in the face, and said, 'I know you; this is a good joke; but you see I am not frightened. Now you may vanish.' The ghost stood still. 'Come,' said the youth, 'that is enough. I shall get angry; away!' Still the ghost moved not. 'By heavens!' ejaculated the young man, 'if you do not, in three minutes, go away, I'll shoot you.' He waited the time, deliberately levelled his pistol, fired, and with a scream at the immovability of the figure, became convulsed, and soon afterwards died. The very instant he believed it to be a ghost, his human nature fell before it."
In the year 1804, an invisible lady and acoustic temple were exhibited in Boston, as an "Extraordinary Aerial Phenomenon." Its body was made of glass It gave answers to questions asked by visitors. In London, a few years ago, there was shown an apparatus consisting of a four-footed stand, and several trumpet-mouthed tubes, from any one of which spectators received ready answers to questions. The answers were said to come from the "invisible girl;" but the true explanation of the puzzle was, that a secret tube, in the legs of the apparatus, communicated the sounds to a girl in a neighboring apartment. Probably something similar was arranged in the glass body exhibited in Boston; and if we mistake not, during the sojourn of Joice Heth, of more recent notoriety, at the Albany Museum, a shrewd Albanian, after a minute and diligent examination, made the wonderful discovery that the old lady, ornurse of Washington, was composed ofIndia rubber, and was made to breathe, speak, cry, sing, &c., by the aid ofventriloquism!
In a case of spirit rappings, Professor Grimes discovered that the party had contrived to have some levers concealed beneath the floor, and by means of certain little pegs coming through where the rappers sat, connecting with the levers, all nicely poised on a balance, they placed their feet upon them, and produced the raps at pleasure. And in the case of the Rochester rappers, when their ankles were firmly held by the committee of investigation, it is said a servant girl rapped with her knuckles under the floor. Mrs. Culver, who had been instructed by the Fox family, and had practised with them a while, afterwards renounced the craft, and exposed this among other deceptions to the world. "The girl," she says, "was instructed to rap whenever she heard their voices calling for spirits."
The operations of the men sorcerers in India are quite scientific. They set about their work in a business-like manner, and in sight of the house of their intended victim the mystic caldron begins to boil and bubble. The victim, however, is not to be terrified out of his senses. What are his enemy's fires and incantations to him? He takes no notice, and continues to live on as though there was not a sorcerer in the world. But thatsmoke: it meets his eye the first object every morning. That ruddy glare: it is the last thing he sees at night. That measured but inarticulate sound: it is never out of his ear. His thoughts dwell on the mystical business. He is preoccupied, even in company. He wonders what they are putting into the pot, and if it has any connection with the spasm that has just shot through him. He becomes nervous; he feels sick; he cannot sleep from thinking; he cannot eat for that horrid broth that bubbles forever in his mind. He gets worse and worse, and dies! But this empire of the imagination is beaten in Java, where it is supposed that a housebreaker, by throwing a handful of earth upon the beds of the inmates, completely incapacitates them from moving to save their property. The man who is to be robbed, on feeling the earth fall upon him, lies as motionless as if bound hand and foot. He is under a spell, which he feels unable to break.
In the East, men are believed to be frequently metamorphosed—sometimes voluntarily, sometimes involuntarily—into tigers. The voluntary transformation is effected merely by eating a certain root, whereupon the person is instantly changed into a tiger; and when tired of this character, he has only to eat another, when, as quick as thought, he subsides from a tiger into a man. But sometimes mistakes happen. An individual of an inquiring disposition once felt a strong curiosity to know the sensations attendant on transformation; but, being a prudent man, he set about the transformation with all necessary precaution. Having provided himself with
"the insane rootThat takes the reason prisoner,"
"the insane rootThat takes the reason prisoner,"
"the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner,"
he gave one also to his wife, desiring her to stand by and watch the event, and as soon as she saw him fairly turned into a tiger, to thrust it into his mouth. She promised, but her nerves were not equal to the performance. As soon as she saw her husband fixed in his new form, she took to flight, carrying in her hand, in the confusion of her mind, the root that would have restored him to her faithful arms. And so it befell that the poor tiger-man was obliged to take to the woods, and for many a day he dined on his old neighbors of the village, but was at last shot, andrecognized!
In this superstition will be seen the prototype of the wolf mania of mediæval Europe. In Brittany, men betook themselves to the forests in the shape of wolves, out of a morbid passion for the amusement of howling and ravening; but if they left in some secure place the clothes they had thrown off to prepare for the metamorphosis, they had but to reassume them to regain their natural forms. But sometimes a catastrophe, like that above related, took place: the wife discovered the hidden clothes, and carrying them home, in the innocent carefulness of her heart, the poor husband lived and died awolf!
In a former part of this volume, we have spoken of several impositions upon the credulity of the public, in matters appertaining to health. The astrologists have told us that "some plants are only to be plucked at the rising of thedogstar, when neither sun nor moon shine, while others are to be cut with a golden knife, when the moon is just six days old." To some particular plants "a string must be fastened, a hungry dog tied thereto, who, being allured by the smell of roasted flesh set before him, may pluck it up by the roots." At one time, the vegetable oil of swallows was considered a potent remedy. It was prepared "by compounding twenty different herbs withtwenty live swallows, well beaten together in a mortar." Another medicine was prepared fromthe raspings of a human skull; another from themoss, growing on the head of a thief, who had been gibbeted and left to hang in the air. In addition to these, we have had "the powder of a mummy; the liver of frogs; the blood of weasels; an ointment made of sucking whelps; the marrow of a stag; and the thigh bone of an ox." And we have numerous modern nostrums scarcely better than these, by which the gullible public are often sorely victimized.
There are many opinions among the people, which prove highly deleterious in being carried into practice. For instance, that we must "stuff a cold to cure it," when the reverse of the case is the only safe mode of procedure. In a cold, the lungs are already loaded and congested with accumulations of muco-purulent matter, which is increased by taking large quantities of food.
Erroneous views, in regard to cleanliness, often lead to great mischief. There is a notion with some that dirt is really healthy, especially for children. This idea probably originated from the fact, that those children who are allowed to play in the dirt are often more healthy than those who are confined in the nursery or parlor. But it should be remembered that it is notdirtwhich promotes their health, but active exercise in the open air. This more than compensates for the injury sustained by the dirt. There is, however, something deceitful, after all, in the ruddy appearance of these children, who, like some four-footed animals, are allowed to wallow in mire and dirt; for they actually suffer more, not only from chronic, but from acute diseases, than children whose parents are in better circumstances. The pores of the skin, as we have shown in the Family Physician, published by us a few years since, cannot be closed with filth for any length of time, and the subject remain uninjured. It is true, some years may pass away before the bad effects appear; but in after life, scrofula, rheumatism, jaundice, and even consumption, often arise after the cause which first gave rise to them is forgotten, if indeed it were ever suspected. It is our candid opinion, that a larger part of the deaths that occur among children by typhoid, scarlet fever, and other baleful diseases, is owing to some defect in management, as to diet, air, dress, or exercise, which we will briefly show in this connection.
There are some, in adult life, who abstain wholly from external ablutions, and never think of washing their bodies from one year to another. Now, such persons must be considered, to say the least, to be of an uncleanly habit; and such a habit is not only unfavorable to health, but to morality. Mr. Wesley reckons cleanliness to be second only to godliness. We venture to affirm that he who is most guilty of personal neglect will generally be found the most ignorant and vicious. I am well acquainted with a whole family who neglect their personsfrom principle. They are a sort ofnew lightsin religious things, and hold that the true Christian should "slight the hovel, as beneath his care." But there is a want of intelligence, and even of common refinement, in the family, that certainly does not, andcannot, add much to their own happiness or comfort, aside from the fact that it greatly annoys their neighbors.
We do not pretend to say but that there are some great and good persons who are slovenly in their general appearance; but these are only exceptions to a general rule. On the contrary, common observation teaches us that it is a distinguishing mark of low-bred rowdyism, and of vicious and intemperate habits, to see young men dressed in the most loose and careless manner. A person of refinement and cultivation would feel ashamed to appear in such a manner before the public gaze.
Neglect of proper ventilation leads to incomparable mischief. There are many persons who live through the day in closely confined and excessively heated apartments, and also sleep in small contracted bed rooms, without the least opportunity for a current of fresh air. Who can wonder that they rise in the morning with wearied limbs, languid and listless, with a furred tongue, parched mouth, and headache? They are continually subjected to inhaling, over and over, the poison, the miasma, of their own bodies, which cannot but result, in the end, to the great detriment of health. We are perfectly astonished, oftentimes, to see to what an extent such a thing is carried. Take this, in connection with eating improper and badly-cooked food, fat meats, gravies, and pastries, the want of suitable protection against atmospheric changes, and active exercise in the open air, and who can marvel at the prevalence of deadly fevers, consumption, or cholera even? It is only a matter of surprise that there are not ten deaths where there is now one.
Look at the quality of the meats purchased for use. It is now a common practice with farmers (in order to save the milk) to sell their calves for market as soon as born; and people eagerly purchase this immatured meat because afforded at a low price. Then look at the enormous quantities ofporkconsumed. Go past the sausage factories, in the cities of Jersey, and you behold it heaped in piles, ready for the work of the hundreds of "choppers," driven by steam. Then look into the groceries, see the array of pound sausage meat, and cheese heads, so called. A grocer in Newark city informed us, last winter, that sausage meat and buckwheat cakes formed three quarters of the aliment of the citizens. And in Paterson, New Jersey, in the hottest of the season, calves were lying upon the pavements, ready to be slaughtered, and almost as momentarily devoured, as occasion demanded. Even the poor fowls, their legs swollen with inflammation from the cords with which they were bound, and half famished for water and food, and fevered by fright and exposure, were readily purchased by men and women, to satisfy the cravings of a perverted appetite. When we behold such practices, we cannot think it strange that mortality should be so rife as it is at times, especially when the atmosphere is in a condition to affect the body in a predisposed state, favorable to the development of diseases, such as that of small-pox, cholera, fever and ague, scarlet and typhoid, (i.e., decomposing fever,) which is the concentration of all others. The food we eat may convey the disease within, and unless the state of our system is healthy and harmonious, the resisting power will not be equal to the force and action of the external elements, and consequently we shall become a prey to the contagion, whatever type or form it assumes. We are somewhat inclined to think that A. J. Davis (who is a physician by profession) is correct, when he says, "The atmosphere has had the cholera, more or less, for thirty years, and will continue to have it until there occurs a geological change in many portions of the earth; and from the atmosphere the disease has been, and is, communicated epidemically to the predisposed potato plant, and also to the human system." A late English writer remarks, that "certain diseases prevail at the approach of the equinoxes."
Transcriber's Note:Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Unmatched double quotation marks occur in numerous places, particularly near the end of the text. No attempt was made to open or close these quotations unless the location of the missing double quotation mark was apparent.
Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Unmatched double quotation marks occur in numerous places, particularly near the end of the text. No attempt was made to open or close these quotations unless the location of the missing double quotation mark was apparent.