respectable farmer assured me that his horse was {56} _bewitched into the
stable through a loophole twelve inches by three_; the _fact_ he said was
beyond doubt, for he had locked the stable-door himself when the horse was
in the field, and had kept the key in his pocket. Soon after this, however,
a party of farmers went through a process known by the name of "_burning
the witch out_," or "_killing the witch_," as some express it; the person
suspected soon died, and the neighbourhood became free from his evil
doings.

8. A horse-shoe is still nailed behind many doors to counteract the effects
of witchcraft: a _hagstone_ with a hole through, tied to the key of the
stable-door, protects the horses, and, if hung up at the bed's head, the
farmer also.

9. A hot iron put into the cream during the process of churning, expels the
witch from the churn; and dough in preparation for the baker is protected
by being marked with the figure of a cross.

10. Warts are cured by being rubbed over with a black snail, but the snail
must afterwards be impaled upon a hawthorn. If a bag containing as many
small pebbles as a person has warts, be tossed over the _left_ shoulder, it
will transfer the warts to whoever is unfortunate enough to pick up the
bag.

11. If black snails are seized by the horn and tossed over the _left_
shoulder, the process will insure _good luck_ to the person who performs
it.

12. Profuse bleeding is said to be instantly stopped by certain persons who
pretend to possess the secret of a certain form of words which immediately