Note 20 — HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

The precious stones were, at first, only used as Amulets, or external charms, but like many other articles of the Materia Medica, they passed, by a mistake in the mode of their application, from the outside to the inside of the body, and they were accordingly powdered and administered as specifics. An analogous case of the perverted administration of a popular remedy is afforded in the history of the Tench; which Sennertus describes as a remedy capable of curing the Jaundice, which he allows is effected ‘by secret attraction, and the power of Amulets.’ In the course of time, it became a reputed food in the cure of that disease, and Tench broth was prescribed upon all such occasions.