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Show Mistletoe Was Ancient Panacea. Numerous curious and ridiculbtrsysu-perstitions ridiculbtrsysu-perstitions as to methods of prevent-" ing disease were believed in years ago, and ... are not altogether extinct even today, it is said. .,'' '. Much ancient faith clustered about the. mandrake root, which was carved in the form of a doll, dressed in -fine clothes, and kept in a box or coffin concealed con-cealed in some, corner of the house. Each month; itJ was washed in wine and water and freshly garbed. Another universal cure was to carry a piece of mistletoe which had been cut from a tree by a golden sickle and caught in a white vessel as it fell. Metal scraped from a church bell or a piece of the rope was supposed to have a similar protective influence against disease, as also a cloth-j'stained in the blood of a murdererjlor itjie- rope with which he was hangeliij, |