Saxon standards, and was afterwards placed upon the Scottish
shield. When England and Scotland were united under James I, the silver
unicorn became a supporter of the British shield, being placed opposite
the golden lion, in the royal arms of Great Britain.[164:1]

FOOTNOTES:

[155:1] Jonathan Pereira, _Selecta e Prescriptis_, p. 5.

[156:1] Roensch, _Buch der Jubilaeen_, p. 385.

[156:2] _Notes and Queries_, Tenth Series, June 4, 1904.

[156:3] F. Lenormant, _Chaldean Magic_, p. 81.

[157:1] Evidence of the old belief in planetary influence is found in
our language in the words "jovial," "mercurial," "saturnine," "martial,"
"disastrous," and "ill-starred."

[158:1] Otto A. Wall, M.D., _The Prescription_, pp. 12-23. In this work
much space is devoted to the history and evolution of medical recipes.

[159:1] _Boston Herald_, February 27, 1908.

[162:1] _The Century Dictionary._

[162:2] Book iii, p. 130.

[163:1] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, art. "Unicorn"; Rev. J. G. Wood,
_Bible Animals_.

[164:1] F. S. W., _Dame Heraldry_, p. 175.

CHAPTER XV

REMEDIAL VIRTUES ASCRIBED TO RELICS

A relic has been defined as an object held in reverence or affection,
because connected with some sacred or beloved person deceased. And
specifically, in the Roman Catholic and Greek churches, a saint's body
or portions of it, or an object supposed to have been associated with
the life or body of Christ, of the Virgin Mary, or of some saint or
martyr, and regarded therefore as a personal memorial, worthy of
religious veneration.[165:1]

The worship of relics and the belief in their healing properties appear
to have originated in a very ancient custom which prevailed among the
early Christians, of assembling at the tombs of martyrs, for the purpose
of holding memorial services. The bones of saints also became objects of
great veneration, and this doctrine was supported by the teachings of
Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, and other Fathers of the
Church, of the fourth and fifth centuries. The belief in the marvellous
virtues attributed to sacred relics was sustained by such miracles as
that recorded in 2 Kings, xiii, 21: "And it came to pass, as they were
burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the
man into the sepulchre of Elisha; and when the man was let down, and
touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet."

Some authorities, however, ascribe the o