English charms, amulets and mascots / by Edward Lovett.

  • Lovett, Edward.
Date:
[1910]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: English charms, amulets and mascots / by Edward Lovett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    give a sailor a bit of Sea-worn Coal (it must, be given) for good luck. Exactly tb© same idea exists on the coast of Kent, and I have many records from inland places of coal being carried for good luck. Pliny and other early writers speak of the curative powers of jet, so in all probability the carrying of a bit of coal is a survival of this belief. It is also interesting to find such impoidance attached to sea-worn coal. In fact, there is “magic” in that v;hich the sea yields. The fishermen of the Norfolk coast frequently; find rounded bits of amber and carry such as a cure for rheumatism. Sea shells have a great record in witchcraft, and to-day there are many coast-tov/ns and villages, where shell necklets of some old and re¬ cognised design are still made and actually described by the fisher folk as 'being for “luck.^’ Such beliefs may be traced all over the littorals of the world. As regards sailors., the Child’s Caul is, of course, well known, but its value has gone down. At one time they changed hands at about £7 each, but now they have scarcely any value except for a museum. As might be expected, toothache has many charm cures. On the South Downs I found that certain buds of the thistle carried in the pocket were considered beneficial, whilst in Norfolk the feet of moles, not in a bag, were used. In Devonshire certain v/ater-worn pieces of limestone having a vein of quartz, thus resembling a molar tooth, are carried as a remedy for toothache, and it is remark¬ able that an exactly similar stone is used for the same purpose by some of the Belgian peasants, who call such stones the “ Teeth of Saint Apollonia.” She w^as a Saint of Alexandria, and suffered martyrdom after having all her teeth drawn out. The ailments of children naturally receive much attention in the way of charm reme¬ dies. The tooth of a dead man:—a somewhat difficult thing to get except in the case of the discovery of early human burials, such as Roman or Saxon for example, and these
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