Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/39

EXORCISM EXOSTOSIS 31 form an irregular network. These veins never run parallel to each other without ramifica- tions, and even some which appear to do so will be found to possess secondary veins. The leaves also fall away from the branches, being disarticulated from their places of insertion, leaving a clear scar behind. Certain foliolate organs, called stipules, are also frequently at- tached to the leaves, which is very unusual in endogens. The flowers are mostly quinary, that is, they have five sepals, five petals, and five stamens, or some multiple of that number. The tall and feathery outline of the palms is never seen in the exogens, as none of them de- pend on a single terminal bud for their develop- ing growth, From the very germination of the seed the difference is apparent in the form of the embryo and in the dicotyledonous char- acteristics of the young plant. EXORCISM (Gr. tt-opK.iojj.6s, adjuration), a rite having for its object to cast out evil spirits, or to withdraw irrational things from their influ- ence. As the natural attendants of a belief in demoniacal possession, exorcisms have been practised in every age and country. The pa- gans of old, like those of to-day, were firm believers in the malignant influence of spirits, genii, or demons. Mysterious diseases and other incomprehensible calamities were at- tributed to such influences. The "medicine dances " in use among the American Indians are found to spring from the same belief which gave rise to the fumigations of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Persians. Among the Greeks exorcising was a profession. ^Eschines and Epicurus were the sons of women who lived by exorcism, and when young practised the art with their mothers. Besides incanta- tions, the burning of certain herbs and drugs, the use of magic ointments, the wearing of amulets, &c., human sacrifices were exception- ally also resorted to ; and they are still in use among the tribes of south Africa. The Semitic nations, who kept alive the belief in the one God, form no exception. Among the Hebrews we read of David playing on a harp to procure the departure of the evil spirit which troubled Saul, and that Tobit, by command of an an- gel, burned the liver of a fish to expel the evil spirit which followed his betrothed wife ; and Solomon, according to Josephus, was a mighty exorcist, and left several formulas to be em- ployed in the rite. Christ, who drove out devils himself, bears testimony to the fact that the Jews did so in his day. This power he also committed to his 70 disciples when he sent them on their first mission, and promised that it should be exercised in the church after him. All early Christian writers bear testi- mony to the fact that exorcisms were practised universally in the churches. This was done more particularly for catechumens, who were adults converted from paganism, and defiled by the unclean initiations and practices of demon worship. The great number of those considered really possessed in these ages, and 310 VOL. vii. 3 the frequent exorcisms performed on catechu- mens during their long probation, caused the creation of the order of exorcists, which still exists both in the Greek and Roman Catholic churches. In both also the rituals prescribe exorcisms not only for adult, but even for in- fant baptism, on the ground that by the fall the entire human race has come under the power of Satan. And as the power of the evil one extends to the whole inferior creation, both churches exorcise water, salt, oil, &c., before blessing them and using them as sym- bols and instruments of Christ's redeeming grace. As the earth was cursed after the fall, so now the church extends Christ's blessing to it and all it contains. Hence the prayers and exorcisms prescribed in the ritual for allaying storms, checking the ravages of hurtful insects, and putting an end to droughts. From the same principle proceeds the custom of blessing habitations, fields, cattle, food, &c. Extraor- dinary exorcisms, in the present discipline of the Roman Catholic Church, are such as are used in cases of attested demoniacal possession. These are only performed with the permission of the bishop, in rare instances, and with un- usual solemnity. The only forms of exorcism recognized by that church are those contained in the Roman ritual and missal. Luther, in his Taufbuchlein, preserved partly the form of renunciation of the devil ; he considered it as useful to remind the people of the power of sin. These views were adopted in the Lu- theran parts of Germany. In the Swedish church, when the Augsburg Confession was again proclaimed at the council of Upsal in 1593, exorcism was retained as a free cere- mony in baptism, and on account of its utility. Calvin andZwingli rejected it, and it became a sort of test between Calvinists and Lutherans. It had become gradually obsolete among the German Lutherans when an attempt was made in 1822 to revive its use. In the first liturgy of Edward VI. a form of exorcism at baptism was retained, which was omitted in the sub-; sequent revision of the prayer book. Canon V2 of the church of England reserves to the bish- op the power of granting a license to exorcise. The only remnant of the old baptismal exor- cisms to be found in the rituals of the churcli of England, and the Protestant Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal churches, is the question : "Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works ? " See Bingham, Origines Ecclesiasti- cce; Stolle, De Origine Exorcismi inBaptismo; Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, ; and Thesau- rus Exorcismorum et Conjurationum (Cologne, 1608). EXOSMOSE. See ENDOSMOSE. EXOSTOSIS (Gr. If, out of, and bareov, bone), an osseous tumor developed on the surface of a bone, originally or eventually continuous with its substance, circumscribed, without interior cavity, having the same structure and life as the bone on which it is found. There are two varieties of this growth: in one the bone, like