till it be _whole_."[1]


[1] FRANCIS BACON: _Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Natural History . . .
Published after the Authors death . . . The sixt Edition_ ù . .
(1651), p. 217.


Owing to the demand for making this ointment, quite a considerable
trade was done in skulls from Ireland upon which moss had grown
owing to their exposure to the atmosphere, high prices being
obtained for fine specimens.

The idea underlying the belief in the efficacy of sympathetic
remedies, namely, that by acting on part of a thing or on a symbol of
it, one thereby acts magically on the whole or the thing symbolised,
is the root-idea of all magic, and is of extreme antiquity.
DIGBY and others, however, tried to give a natural explanation
to the supposed efficacy of the Powder. They argued that particles
of the blood would ascend from the bloody cloth or weapon, only
coming to rest when they had reached their natural home in the
wound from which they had originally issued. These particles would
carry with them the more volatile part of the vitriol, which would
effect a cure more readily than when combined with the grosser part
of the vitriol. In the days when there was hardly any knowledge of
chemistry and physics, this theory no doubt bore every semblance of
truth. In passing, however, it is interesting to note that DIGBY'S
_Discourse_ called forth a reply from J. F. HELVETIUS (or SCHWETTZER,
1625-1709), physician to the Prince of Orange, who afterwards became
celebrated as an alchemist who had achieved the magnum opus.[1]