In 1658 the diplomat and natural philosopher Sir Kenelm Digby published a treatise on the sympathetick powder, a remedy he said could heal wounds without touching them. According to his account, he treated the bloodied garter of a wounded friend, James Howell, by soaking it in a solution of vitriol, and the wounds healed. Digby believed bodies shed particles that retained a connection to their source, a property he called the remembrance of bodies, so acting on the particles could act on the wound. He tried to explain such effects in mechanistic terms rather than by demons or spirits, which made his work stand out. Despite the critics, the treatise went through twenty-nine editions and was translated into five languages.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.