But when the magician has said charms over the missile, communicating to it the power and desire to do his will, he throws it in the proper direction and savages believe that it will go of its own accord to the person against whom it is aimed and penetrate his body.

To pretend to suck pieces of bone out of the body, which are supposed to have been propelled into the victim by an enemy, is one of the commonest magical methods of curing an illness.

The following instances of this idea are taken from the admirable collection in _The Golden Bough_ [125]: "(In Suffolk) if a man cuts himself with a bill-hook or a scythe he always takes care to keep the weapon bright, and oils it to prevent the wound from festering.

If he runs a thorn or, as he calls it, a bush into his hand, he oils or greases the extracted thorn.

A man came to a doctor with an inflamed hand, having run a thorn into it while he was hedging.