that much of it is pure nonsense; but the subject should not,
therefore, be dismissed as valueless, or lacking significance.
It is past belief that amulets and talismans should have been
believed in for so long unless they APPEARED to be productive
of some of the desired results, though these may have been due to
forces quite other than those which were supposed to be operative.
Indeed, it may be said that there has been no widely held superstition
which does not embody some truth, like some small specks of gold
hidden in an uninviting mass of quartz. As the poet BLAKE put it:
"Everything possible to be believ'd is an image of truth";[1]
and the attempt may here be made to extract the gold of truth
from the quartz of superstition concerning talismanic magic.
For this purpose the various theories regarding the supposed
efficacy of talismans must be examined.


[1] "Proverbs of Hell" (_The Marriage of Heaven and Hell_).


Two of these theories have already been noted, but the doctrine of effluvia
admittedly applied only to a certain class of amulets, and, I think,
need not be seriously considered. The "astral-spirit theory"
(as it may be called), in its ancient form at any rate, is equally
untenable to-day. The discoveries of new planets and new metals seem
destructive of the belief that there can be any occult connection
between planets, metals, and the days of the week, although the curious
fact discovered by Mr OLD, to which I have referred (footnote, p.
63@@@), assuredly demands an explanation, and a certain
validity may, perhaps, be allowed to astrological symbolism.
As concerns the belief in the existence of what may be called