Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/290

 254 Children and Wells,

Mr. and Mrs. Quiller-Couch ^ describe 95 Cornish wells. Of these, 30 were curative of disease.

Diseases of all kinds were treated at - 8

Skin diseases at- - - - - -4

" Green wounds "at i

"Sore eyes" at- - - - - -6

" Contracted limbs "at - - - - i

Insanity at i

Children's diseases at - - - - - 9 And baptisms were celebrated at - - 11

That is, out of the whole 95, 20 were associated with infants and children ; and out of the 30 which were looked upon as curative of disease, 9 were supposed to restore sick children to health. The higher proportion of children's wells in this collection, as compared with Hope's, is probably due to the fact that a smaller number of wells is dealt with, and consequently more attention has been paid to detail.

A moment's consideration will show that the treatment of children's diseases at wells stands upon a different basis from the treatment of sore eyes, skin diseases, and insanity. In the case of sore eyes and skin diseases the cure is dependent upon the reasoning of magic. The pure water may be supposed to wash away the film or discharge from the eyes, and the scab or tetter from the skin. Insanity used to be treated at wells by plunging the unfortunate lunatic into the water, when the shock produced by the sudden immersion would probably sober, for a moment at least, the raging maniac. Hydrophobia was also treated in this way. But in the case of children there is no impurity to be cleansed, no shouting demon to be exorcised. So we must seek for a different explanation to account for the cure of the

^ Quiller-Couch, M. and R., Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall. London, 1894.