s
of saints, rings which they had worn and all such things as these had
value and to prove that the value was not resident in the relic but in
the faith with which the relic was approached we have reported bones of
saints possessing well authenticated healing value, later proved to have
been the bones not of men but of animals. There have been sacred springs
and consecrated waters almost without number. They will still show you
in Canterbury Cathedral stones worn by the feet of countless pilgrims
seeking at the shrine of Thomas a Becket a healing to the reality of
which those who wore away those stones bore testimony in a variety of
gifts which made the shrine of a Becket at one time one of the treasure
houses of Christendom.

"The two shrines at present best known are those of Lourdes in France
and Ste. Anne de Beaupre in the Province of Quebec. Lourdes owes its
reputed healing power to a belief in a vision of the Virgin received
there during the last century. Over 300,000 persons visit there each
year." Charcot, it is worth noting, had confidence enough not in the
shrine but in the healing power of faith to send fifty or sixty patients
to Lourdes every year. His patients were, of course, the mentally and
nervously unbalanced. The French government supervises the sanitary
conditions at Lourdes and a committee of doctors have undertaken some
examination of the diseased who visit the shrine for the guidance of
their profession. Ste. Anne de Beaupre owes its fame to certain wrist
bones of the mother of Christ.

_Magic, Charms, and the King's Touch: The Rise of the Faith Healer_

Religious faith is not always necessary--any faith will do. Charms,
amulets, talismans have all played their part in this long compelling
story. The various metals, gems, stones and curious and capricious
combinations of pretty much every imaginable thing have all been so
used. Birth girdles worn by women in childbirth eased their pain. A
circular piece of copper guarded against cholera. A coral was a good
guard against the evil eye and sail-cloth from a shipwrecked vessel tied
to the right arm was a preventive as well as a cure for epilepsy. There
is almost no end to such instances. The list of charms and incantations
is quite as curious. There are forms of words which will cure insomnia
and indeed, if one may trust current observation, forms of words not
primarily so intended may still induce sleepfulness.

The history of the king's touch