EVIL-EYE, a malignant influence superstitiously ascribed to certain persons, in virtue of which they are supposed to injure those on whom they cast an envious or hostile look. This ancient superstition is still prevalent among many nations, especially the American Indians, and among the ignorant even in some of the most civilized countries of Europe.
King's Evil, a name formerly given in England to the disease called scrofula, from the belief that the touch of the king could effect a cure. This superstition is as old as the time of Edward the Confessor; and must have been credited even so late as the beginning of the last century, since we are told that the celebrated Dr Johnson was "touched" for the cure of this disease.