Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Religion, Magic, Medical Treatment

    In the narrative, King Richard I having become ill, Saladin sends his personal physician, 'Adonebec el Hakim', to effect his cure, which he does, almost miraculously, using a 'holy elixir' made by dipping a talisman into water. The 'physician' proves to have been Saladin himself. The talisman is reported to have survived in an ancient Scottish family, 'and though charmed stones have been dismissed from the modern Pharmacopœia, its virtues are still applied to for stopping blood, and in cases of canine madness.'

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Magic, Religion

    The writer explains the history of the 'Lee-penny' or talisman on which the preceding tale is based, noting religious attempts in Scotland to suppress it as one of the 'devil's inventions'.