| 词源 |
king’s evil. The king’s evil is an old name, sometimes encoun- tered in literature, for scrofula. Scrofula, a constitutional disorder of a tubercular nature, characterized by swelling of the lymphatic glands in the neck, was believed to be susceptible to cure by the royal touch. France’s Louis IX is thought to be the first king to em- ploy the practice, which soon spread to England, where Macaulay records that Charles II touched 92,107 persons during his reign. The practice ended with Queen Anne, Dr. Johnson being one of the last persons to be “touched” by royal hands in 1712. |