ake the Lord: 'Ye shall go to an elder-bush and break off
all his boughs, and leave with [such an one, naming the patient] his
straight limbs.'"

Many old German healing-spells contain the names of our Lord and of the
Virgin, which probably superseded those of pagan deities and sacred
mythological personages, the formulas remaining otherwise the same. Such
spells are akin to pious invocations or actual prayers. Others exhibit a
blending of devotion and credulity, and appear to have degenerated into
mere verbal forms.

According to a tradition of the North, while Wodan and Baldur were once
on a hunting excursion, the latter's horse dislocated a leg; whereupon
Wodan reset the bones by means of a verbal charm. And the mere narration
of this prehistoric magical cure is in repute in Shetland as a remedy
for lameness in horses at the present day.

A remarkable cure for intermittent fever, in a marshy district of
Lincolnshire, is described in "Folk-Lore," June, 1898 (page 186). An old
woman, whose grandson had a bad attack of the fever, fastened upon the
foot-board of his bed three horse-shoes, with a hammer laid cross-wise
upon them. With the hammer the old crone gave each shoe a smart tap,
repeating each time this spell: "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, nail the
Devil to this post, one for God and one for Wod and one for Lok. . . .
Yon's a sure charm," said she, "that will hold the Old One as fast as t'
church tower, when next he comes to shake un." The chronicler of this
curious incantation calls attention to the association of the name of
God with two heathen personages: Wodan, the chief ruler, and Loki, the
spirit of evil, in the mythology of the North.

The early Saxons in England knew little of scientific medicine, and
relied on indigenous herbs. They were much addicted to the use of wizard
_spells_, a term which originated with them; and were too ignorant to
adopt the skilled methods of the practitioners of Greece and Italy.

The invention of some especially forceful words for exorcising fiends
and illnesses was ascribed to Robert Grosseteste (about 1175-1253),
Bishop of Lincoln; and the fact that a learned prelate should devote
attention to the subject is strong testimony to its importance in
medieval times. There is indeed abundant evidence that throughout that
period verbal charms were very commonly worn, whether devotional
sentences, prayer formulas written on vellum, or mystic letters, words,
and symbols inscrib