ul fabrication. For a few moments he
remained silent. At length, recollecting himself, he addressed the
jury to the following effect: "Gentlemen, I must now relate a
particular of my life, which very ill suits my present character and
the station in which I sit; but to conceal it would be to aggravate
the folly for which I ought to atone, to endanger innocence, and to
countenance superstition. This bauble, which you suppose to have the
power of life and death, is a senseless scroll which I wrote with my
own hand and gave to this woman, whom for no other reason you accuse
as a witch." He then related the particulars of the transaction, with
such an effect upon the minds of the people that his old landlady was
the last person tried for witchcraft in that county.[104]

_Calculus._--Boyle tells us[105] that the _Lapis Nephriticus_, a
species of jasper, when bound to the left wrist, was a cure for this
trouble. Others have borne evidence to its efficacy.

_Childbirth._--Among the ancient Britons, when a birth was difficult
or dangerous, a girdle, made for this purpose, was put around the
woman and afforded immediate relief. Until quite recently they were
kept by many families in the Highlands of Scotland. They were marked
with certain figures and were applied with certain ceremonies derived
from the Druids. Women in labor were also supposed to be quickly
delivered if they were girded with the skin which a snake has sloughed
off.[106]

_Cholera._--Bontius declared the _Lapis Porcinus_ to be good for
cholera, but dangerous to pregnant women. If the females of Malaica
held the stone in their hands an abortion was produced. When cholera
was prevalent during the early part of the last century, it was common
in many parts of Austria, Germany, and Italy to wear an amulet at the
pit of the stomach, in contact with the skin. Pettigrew describes one
of these which was sent to him from Hungary. "It consists merely of a
circular piece of copper two inches and a half in diameter, and is
without characters."

_Colic._--Says Pliny, the extremity of the intestine of the ossifrage,
if worn as an amulet, is well known to be an excellent remedy for
colic. A tick from a dog's left ear, worn as an amulet, was
recommended to allay this and all other kinds of pain, but one must be
careful to take it from a dog that is black. Alexander of Tralles
recommended the heart of a lark to be fastened to the left thigh as a
remedy for colic. Mr. Cockay