Rural romany fakirs of the late-Victorian period

Above: the dusty little display cupboard.



Above: a handwritten note, affixed with rusty drawing pins and dated 1923.

One village I went to recently had a dusty little display cupboard which held an ancient brush. A handwritten note, affixed with rusty drawing pins and dated 1923, said the implement was used to brush the feet of the dying. Miraculous recoveries would follow.

Joseph Abel Atkinson was a village shaman of the 1890s who inherited this magic brush “used in olden times” and passed it on to Canon Layng (and Canon Layng decided to preserve it, unlike most Anglican clergymen of his time who would have burned the item).

The words “complete nonsense” went through my mind. Yet another of the superstitious frauds practised by rural romany fakirs of the late-Victorian period. If ever there was a candidate for The Guardian’s Bad Science column this is it.

And yet in the office today, among a range of toiletry items sent in by a client to be photographed for their new catalogue (collagen creams, face masks, slimming pills etc) was a “body brush”! You use it to “detoxify”. It is especially effective when used on the soles of the feet.

As they say, you learn something new every day - did you know such things as body brushes existed?

You can even buy them at Bodyshop: http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/invt/28071

More on body brushing: http://www.fushi.co.uk/How-To-Dry-Body-Brush-For-Energy-Detoxification-Radiant-Skin_727.aspx (note the manic use of search engine optimisation in this url!).

Also here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?/fashion/2008/03/19/eflesley119.xml