Robert Means Lawrence

Robert Means Lawrence (1847–1935) was a Boston physician with a scholarly interest in folklore and the history of medicine. A graduate of Harvard, he practiced medicine in Boston and wrote on popular beliefs in his spare time. The Magic of the Horse-shoe (1898) traced the lucky horseshoe and related charms through history, with further essays on fortune, omens, lucky days and superstitions about animals. He followed it with The Folk-Lore of Common Salt and Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery, which examined healing charms and remedies. His books combine wide reading with gentle skepticism.