Evaluation of Example 15: The Egyptian Dragon Jasper Amulet
Passage:
“Galen mentions an amulet belonging to an Egyptian king,
who is said to have lived 630 B.C. It was composed of a green jasper
cut in the form of a dragon, and surrounded with rays. This was
applied to strengthen the stomach and organs of digestion.”
C.B. Davenport, “Vulgar
Specifics and Therapeutic Superstitions,” Popular Science
Monthly, ed. J. McKeen Cattell (July to December, 1913) vol. LXXXIII
(New York: The Science Press, 1913), 83.
Analsyis:
Galen, noted ancient Green physician, advised patients to hang a
green stone jade amulet (with or without an engraving of the
image of Chnoubis, the destroyer of demons) near an ailment for
its curative effects. The use of jasper amulets were part of medical
practice from the time of the ancient Egyptian physicians. This
quoted passage does not commit a fallacy per se since it is
not an argument. But the medical practice of the use of an green
jasper stone, itself, is based on a supposition of the false
cause that green jasper is an effective remedy in the healing arts.
Historically, there is no evidence that the use of jade (or the image
of Chnoubis, the destroyer of demons) was effective for the variety
of treatments for which it was prescribed. [Edward Theodore Withington,
“Medicine
in Ancient Egypt,” Medical History for the Earliest
Times (London: Scientific Press, 1894), 21.]