by Roman ones. One of Lucian's tall tales mentions a Chaldean pest-control sorcerer who causes toads and snakes to vanish by blowing on them. It is possible to see Jesus himself as a supernatural healer (Christ Jesus the son of God), in many popular events of the holy Bible, in which he is constantly healing many blind, lame, crippled, lepers, maimed, and even causing his own resurrection, just to name a few. In one instance Jesus used his spit to heal the eyes of a blind man who was born blind, caused by his parents sins; . However, regarding magic, in Syria, where ceremonial breathing became formalized as part of the rite of visitation of the sick. Ephraem Syrus advises that "if medicine fails you when you are sick, the 'visitors' will help, will pray for health, and one of them will breathe in your mouth, the other will sign you [with the sign of the cross]." If it was either originally Christian , Catholic or from the pagan practices, almost similar methods of healing have been reported, continuing until modern times: in Westphalia, the healing of a wound by triple signing and triple cruciform sufflation, or by exsufflation accompanied by a rhyming charm; and in Holland the alleviation of toothache by similar means. According to Drechsler, "Illnesses were blown away by the breath. If a child had bumped himself, one would blow three times on the place and it would 'fly away.'" Burns, and conditions that in some fashion resemble burns, such as fevers, boils, sore throats and rashes, are naturally the most common objects of blowing among modern folk-remedies, for example the Shetland cure that requires blowing on a burn three times while reciting the charm "Here come I to cure a burnt sore. / If the dead knew what the living endure, / The burnt sore would burn no more." But everything from jaundice, convulsions, and colic to bad luck and evil spells can apparently be alleviated by a bit of blowing. Wolters points out that exorcistic blowing was still (in 1935) found in the custom of blowing over bread that is about to be eaten. Moreover, A Syrian blows over his child to avert the evil eye. Some stillblow three times over a strange spoon before using it, and in Alaska the medicineman blows into the nose and mouth of a patient to drive out the