Materia Medica

Clinical Readings

The exorcist’s manual read beside the psychiatrist’s and the ethnographer’s: what medicine and anthropology make of the afflictions, remedies, and rites of Canale, Menghi, and della Riviera.

The manuals describe what their authors saw with care: the possessed and the besieged, the nightmare that sits on the chest, the convents that fell ill together, the melancholy that invited the demon, the bridegroom bound at the altar. Each reading sets the texts beside the modern account, from the DSM to the anthropology of healing, and says where the two agree and where they part. They are readings, not diagnoses, and the sources are given for each.

  1. 1PossessionThe possessed of the manuals, and dissociative trance.Holy water · The exorcists’ manuals · The Roman Ritual · The stole
  2. 2The Nightmare and the HagThe incubus that sits on the chest, and sleep paralysis.Hagstone · Pennyroyal · Peony · St. John’s wort · The amulet herbs
  3. 3Dancing Manias and the Convent OutbreaksStrasbourg 1518, Loudun 1634, and mass psychogenic illness.The exorcists’ manuals · The Roman Ritual · Holy water · Bells
  4. 4Ergot and the Witch TrialsThe 1976 hypothesis, and why most historians reject it.Ergot · Barley water · Damascus prunes
  5. 5The Witches’ OintmentNightshades on the skin, and what they do.Henbane · Deadly nightshade · Mandrake · Aconite · Hemlock · Thorn apple · Opium poppy
  6. 6Melancholy and the DemonThe black bile, the devil’s bath, and depression.Black hellebore · Borage · Balm · St. John’s wort · Senna · Epithymum · Lapis lazuli, pills of · Armenian stone, pills of
  7. 7Fasting, Vigil, and VisionWhat hunger and sleeplessness do to the senses.Barley water · Honeyed wine and honeyed water · Blessed bread · Raisins
  8. 8The Purge, the Vomit, and the BathWhat the regimen did to the body.Senna · White hellebore · Black hellebore · Broom · Oxymel, and oxymel of squill · Chamomile · Frankincense · Musk
  9. 9The Evil EyeEnvy, the glance, and the anthropology of misfortune.Cornicello · The fig hand · The eye bead · Coral, red · Hagstone · Rue · The amulet herbs
  10. 10Binding, Ligature, and ImpotenceThe knotted cord, and psychogenic impotence.Rocket · Eryngo · Chaste tree · Cantharides · Blessed candles
  11. 11LycanthropyThe werewolf confessions, and the clinical lycanthropy of the wards.Black hellebore · Aconite
  12. 12Amulets, Blessed Objects, and the Meaning ResponseWhy what cannot work sometimes works.Holy water · Blessed candles · Agnus Dei · Rosary · Scapular · Blessed bread · The amulet herbs · St. Benedict medal
  13. 13The Wandering Womb and the ConvulsionsSuffocation of the mother, hysteria, and functional neurological disorder.Castoreum · Asafoetida · Rue · Galbanum · Pennyroyal · Witch marks
  14. 14The Rite as TherapyWhy exorcism works when it works: persuasion, community, and the ending.The exorcists’ manuals · The Roman Ritual · Holy water · The stole · Crucifix · Bells
  15. 15Gassner and MesmerThe exorcist and the magnetiser, 1775: how exorcism became psychotherapy.The exorcists’ manuals · The Roman Ritual · Crucifix
  16. 16The VoicesLocutions, the discernment of spirits, and hearing voices without illness.The exorcists’ manuals · Holy water · Blessed candles
  17. 17Speaking in TonguesThe possessed who spoke strange languages, and what the tongues are.The Roman Ritual · The exorcists’ manuals
  18. 18Scruples and the BesiegedThe obsessio of the manuals, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.Rosary · Scapular · Holy water · Blessed bread
  19. 19The Marks on the BodyStigmata, the witch’s mark, and what the mind does to the skin.Witch marks · The vernicle · Contact relics · Holy water
  20. 20The IncubusThe demon lover of the night, and the sleep that cannot move.The exorcists’ manuals · Peony · Holy water · St. John’s wort
  21. 21The Falling SicknessEpilepsy, the demon that throws the child into the fire.Peony · Cramp rings · Mistletoe · The exorcists’ manuals
  22. 22The King's EvilThe royal touch for scrofula, and a disease that heals itself.Touch-pieces · Cramp rings
  23. 23The ChangelingThe child that was exchanged, and the disabled child of the folk account.Hagstone · Elf-shot · Holy water · St. Christopher medal
  24. 24The Noonday DemonAcedia of the desert monks, and depression.The exorcists’ manuals · Rosary · Scapular
  25. 25The Living LightHildegard's visions, and the migraine aura.Feverfew · Betony · Verbena
  26. 26The OrdealThe hot iron, the swimming of witches, and the lie detector.Blessed bread · Holy water · The exorcists’ manuals
  27. 27The Child WitnessThe children of Salem and Mora, and the suggestibility of memory.The exorcists’ manuals · Witch marks
  28. 28The PlagueThe pomander and the vinegar, the flea and the bacillus.Pomander · Vinegar of the four thieves · Terra sigillata · Theriac · Bezoar stone
  29. 29A Night with VenusThe French disease, the holy wood, and the mercury cure.Quicksilver · Guaiacum · Sarsaparilla
  30. 30Charming the WartThe toad, the bean, and the natural history of warts.Toad · Greater celandine · Fig
  31. 31The Universal AntidoteBezoar, unicorn, and theriac against every poison, and what replaced them.Bezoar stone · Unicorn’s horn · Theriac · Mithridate · Terra sigillata · Toadstone
  32. 32The Weapon-SalveCuring the wound by anointing the blade, and the harm of the remedies it replaced.Weapon-salve · Bloodstone · Human fat
  33. 33The Cures at LourdesSeven thousand claims, seventy miracles, and the criteria of Benedict XIV.Lourdes water · Holy wells · Wax ex-votos · Pilgrim badges and ampullae
  34. 34The FlagellantsPain as devotion, and what pain does to the one who chooses it.Blessed ashes · Rosary · Scapular

Historical and interpretive; not medical advice. Anyone in distress should see a physician.