About the Golden Heart Amulet Superstition

A small golden amulet, having the form of a heart and set with various stones, was strongly recommended to ward off the plague by Oswald Croll, a writer of the early part of the seventeenth century. On the upper side of the heart-amulet should be set a fair blue sapphire; above, beneath, and at either side of this should be put a toad-stone, or a "spider-stone," so as to give a cross effect. The "spider-stones" were asserted to be powerful enemies of the plague. On the under side of the heart a good-sized jacinth was to be set, the jacinth also being credited with great virtue against plague or pestilence. The gold heart was to be hollow within. To give a finishing touch to the efficacy of the amulet it was necessary to take a living toad and keep the creature suspended by its hind-legs until it died and dried up so that the body could be reduced to a powder. This powder was then to be kneaded into a sort of paste with a little very sharp vinegar and introduced into the hollow interior of the gold heart.