Small-pox, itch, and other diseases, are contagious; if so, say
they, mercurial amulets bid fair to destroy the germ of some complaints
when used only as an external application, either by manual attrition,
or worn as an amulet. But medicated or not, all amulets are precarious
and uncertain, and in the cure of diseases are, by no means, to be
trusted to.
The Barbary Moors, and generally throughout the Mahommedan dominions,
the people are strikingly attached to charms, to which, and nature, they
leave the cure of almost every disorder; and this is the most strongly
impressed upon them from their belief in predestination, which,
according to their creed, stipulates the evil a man is to suffer, as
well as the length of time it is ordained he should live upon the land
of his forefathers; consequently they imagine that any interference from
secondary means would avail them nothing, an opinion said to have been
entertained by William III, but one by no means calculated for nations,
liberty, and commerce; upon the principle that when the one was
entrenched upon, men would probably be more sudden in their revenge, and
dislike physic and occupation; and when actuated with religious
enthusiasm, nothing could stand them in any service.
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