How Does Abracadabra Cure a Fever?

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According to an old superstition popular during the Middle Ages, the word "Abracadabra" could cure a fever. All the sufferer had to do was write the word six times in the shape of an upside-down pyramid, by dropping one letter of the word on each line.

The sufferer hoped that just as the letters disappeared, so would his fever.

The paper containing this upside-down pyramid was worn as a pendant around the neck for nine days, then thrown over the shoulder into an eastward flowing stream.