Lammer Beads

Lammer, or Lama beads are so called from an order of priests of that name among the western Tartars. The Lamas are extremely superstitious, and pretend to magic. Amber was in high repute as a charm during the plague of London, and was worn by prelates of the Church. John Baptist Van Helmont (*Ternary of Paradoxes*, London, 1650) says, that "A translucid piece of amber rubbed on the jugular artery, on the hand wrists, near the instep, and on the throne of the heart, and then hung about the neck," was a most certain preventative of (if not a cure for) the plague; the profound success of which Va…