lowing was a receipt
given by him for the cure of any wound inflicted by a sharp weapon,
except such as had penetrated the heart, the brain, or the arteries.
"Take the moss growing on the head of a thief who has been hanged and
left in the air; of real mummy; of human blood, still warm--of each,
one ounce; of human suet, two ounces; of linseed oil, turpentine, and
Armenian bole--of each, two drachms. Mix all well in a mortar, and
keep the salve in an oblong, narrow urn." With the salve the weapon
(not the wound), after being dipped in blood from the wound, was to be
carefully anointed, and then laid by in a cool place. In the meantime,
the wound was washed with fair, clean water, covered with a clean soft
linen rag, and opened once a day to cleanse off purulent matter. A
writer in the _Foreign Quarterly Review_ says there can be no doubt
about the success of the treatment, "for surgeons at this moment
follow exactly the same method, _except_ anointing the weapon!"

[Illustration: SIR KENELM DIGBY]

The weapon-salve continued to be much spoken of on the Continent, and
Dr. Fludd, or A Fluctibus, the Rosicrucian, introduced it into
England. He tried it with great success in several cases, but in the
midst of his success an attack was made upon him and his favorite
remedy, which, however, did little or nothing to diminish the belief
in its efficacy. One "Parson Foster" wrote a pamphlet entitled
"Hyplocrisma Spongus; or a Spunge to wipe away the Weapon-salve," in
which he declared that it was as bad as witchcraft to use or recommend
such an unguent; that it was invented by the devil, who, at the last
day, would seize upon every person who had given it the least
encouragement. "In fact," said Parson Foster, "the Devil himself gave
it to Paracelsus; Paracelsus to the emperor; the emperor to the
courtier; the courtier to Baptista Porta; and Baptista Porta to Dr.
Fludd, a doctor of physic, yet living and practising in the famous
city of London, who now stands tooth and nail for it." Dr. Fludd, thus
assailed, took up his pen and defended the unguent in a caustic
pamphlet.

The salve changed into a powder in the hands of Sir Kenelm Digby, the
son of Sir Edward Digby who was executed for his participation in the
Gunpowder Plot. Sir Kenelm was an accomplished scholar and an able
man, but at the same time a most extravagant defender of the powder of
sympathy for the healing of wounds. This powder came into sudden and
public notor