rk was first published at Lyons, France, in
the year of 1500.

"Write a cross of Christ, and sing thrice over the place
these words, and a Pater Noster: _Longinus miles lancea punxit
Dominum, et restitit sanguis et recessit dolor._"

Longinus or Longeus is the traditional name of the Roman soldier who
pierced with a spear the side of our Lord, upon the Cross.[107:1]

Verbal styptic charms were much in vogue among the Irish people in early
times. Translations of two such charms may serve as examples. "A child
was baptized in the river Jordan; and the water was dark and muddy, but
the child was pure and beautiful." These words were repeated over the
wound, a finger being placed on the site of the hemorrhage; and then:
"In the name of God, and of the Lord Christ, let the blood be stanched."

Another similar charm was as follows:

"There came a man from Bethlehem to be baptised in the river Jordan; but
the water was so muddy that it stopped flowing: So let the blood! Let it
stop flowing in the name of Jesus, and by the power of Christ!"[107:2]

Homer tells in the Odyssey how the sons of Autolycus cured Ulysses, who
had been injured while hunting the wild boar, by stanching the blood
flowing from a wound in his leg, by means of a verbal charm. "With
nicest care the skilful artists bound the brave, divine Ulysses'
ghastly wound; and th' incantations stanch'd the gushing blood."[108:1]
We have also the testimony of the Grecian lexicographer, Suidas, that
various maladies were cured by the repetition of certain words, in the
time of Minos, King of Crete.

In Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," there are frequent
references to the use of curative spells; as for example in the
following lines:

She drew the splinter from the wound,
And with a charm she stanch'd the blood.[108:2]

Again, in "Waverley," the hero of that name, while on a stag hunt with
some Scottish chieftains, had the misfortune to sprain an ankle. The
venerable Highlander, who officiated as surgeon, proceeded to treat the
injury with much ceremony. He first prepared a fomentation by boiling
certain herbs which had been gathered at the time of a full moon, a
charm being recited the while, of which the following is a translation:
"Hail to thee, thou holy herb, that sprung on holy ground! All in the
Mount Olivet, first wert thou found. Thou art boot for many a bruise,
and healest many a wound; in our Lady's blessed name