EVIDENCE. See LoGie.
EVIL, KING's, is the name formerly given to scro 4ula, in consequence of its being supposed that the liTligs of England and France possessed the power of curing this disease by the touch. The English and French have each contended that this power was first exercised by their respective monarchs ; the French as serting that St Louis was first endowed with it, and the English that it was possessed by Edward the Confessor.
In the reign of Charles II. the practice seems to have reached its greatest height ; and such were the crowds that !locked to the royal physician, that he is said to have touched more than six thousand persons in one year after his restoration. The demands upon the king's time were sn great, that he found it necessary to have the patients examined by his surgeons, fur the purpose of determining from their certificates if they were pro per objects of compassion. They then received tickets of admission to the royal presence, and were touched by the king on one of the days of healing, either at White hall or 'Windsor. After touching those that were
brought to him, the king put about each of their necks a N‘ bite ribbon, with an angel of gold upon it.
During five years, from 1660 to 1664 inclusive, 23,601 persons were touched by Chat les IL and from May 1667 to May 1684, the number amounted to 68,506, making in all 92,107.
Se \Viscman's Chirurgical Treatises, Book IV. chap. I. Browne's ?deno-Cheiradeloga, or an " anatomick chirurgical treatise of glandulcs and strumxs, or king's evil swellings, together with the royal gift of healing or cure thereof, by contact or imposition of hands, perform ed for above 640 years by our kings of England, conti nued with their admirable effects and miraculous events, and concluded with many wonderful examples of cures by their sacred touch." See also the Edinburgh Medi cal and Surgical Journal, Vol. III. p. 185. (w)