Note 12 — Chapter IV · QUACKERY.

At one time live toads were a popular remedy for hemorrhage, tied behind the ears, or under the arm pits, or to the soles of the feet. It was supposed by some that the effect was altogether mental. But, as in the case of the Tractors, it was contended that this could not be so, because the same effect was produced upon animals. Michael Mercatus asserts that “if you hang the toad round a cock’s neck for a day or so, you may then cut off his head, and the neck will not bleed a single drop.” One cannot help being reminded by this of the experiments with the Brocchieri water a year or two since upon animals, which, though reported as perfectly successful, have not saved this remedy from going to the tomb of the Capulets, to which all its predecessors have gone before it.