Illustration of the English King Charles II touching patients to cure the King's Evil. The illustration appeared in Adenochoiragelogia, or King's Evil Swelling by John Browne published in 1654. The disease was also known as struma, or scrofula, a tuberculosis of the lymph nodes, usually those in the neck, causing the formation of abcesses. Untreated, they may burst through the skin & form running sores. Touching by kings as a form of treatment for disease was well practised during these times; Charles II had a specially good reputation.