thoughwecannotgetveryclearideasonthishead，orrespectingthemannerinwhichtheywerecaught——“MedicinaDiatastica；or，SympatheticalMummie，abstractedfromtheWorksofParacelsus，andtranslatedoutoftheLatin，byFernandoParkhurst，Gent。“London，1653。pp。2。7。Quotedbythe“ForeignQuarterlyReview，“vol。xii。p。
415。]andmixedwithrichearth。Inthisearthsowsomeseedsthathaveacongruityorhomogeneitywiththedisease:thenletthisearth，wellsiftedandmixedwithmummy，belaidinanearthenvessel；andlettheseedscommittedtoitbewatereddailywithalotioninwhichthediseasedlimborbodyhasbeenwashed。Thuswillthediseasebetransplantedfromthehumanbodytotheseedswhichareintheearth。
Havingdonethis，transplanttheseedsfromtheearthenvesseltotheground，andwaittilltheybegintosproutintoherbs:astheyincrease，thediseasewilldiminish；andwhentheyhavearrivedattheirfullgrowth，itwilldisappearaltogether。“
KirchertheJesuit，whosequarrelwiththealchymistswasthemeansofexposingmanyoftheirimpostures，wasafirmbelieverintheefficacyofthemagnet。Havingbeenappliedtobyapatientafflictedwithhernia，hedirectedthemantoswallowasmallmagnetreducedtopowder，whileheapplied，atthesametime，totheexternalswellingapoultice，madeoffilingsofiron。Heexpectedthatbythismeansthemagnet，whenitgottothecorrespondingplaceinside，woulddrawintheiron，andwithitthetumour；whichwouldthus，hesaid，besafelyandexpeditiouslyreduced。
Asthisnewdoctrineofmagnetismspread，itwasfoundthatwoundsinflictedwithanymetallicsubstancecouldbecuredbythemagnet。Inprocessoftimethedelusionsoincreased，thatitwasdeemedsufficienttomagnetiseasword，tocureanyhurtwhichthatswordmighthaveinflicted！Thiswastheoriginofthecelebrated“weapon-salve，“whichexcitedsomuchattentionaboutthemiddleoftheseventeenthcentury。ThefollowingwastherecipegivenbyParacelsusforthecureofanywoundsinflictedbyasharpweapon，exceptsuchashadpenetratedtheheart，thebrain，orthearteries。