Jesus spit on the ground, mixed the spit with dirt and then rubbed it in a man's eyes. The use of spit may seem strange, repulsive and unhygienic, but in the ancient world it was quite common. Spit from a distinguished person was believed to possess curative qualities.
A famous Roman writer of the day named Pliny wrote an encyclopedia of scientific information that included a whole chapter on the use of spit. He claimed that it offered protection from the poison of serpents, cured epilepsy, cancer and "crick in the neck." He also claimed that you could cure eye problems by anointing the eyes every morning with fasting spit.
The fact is that Jesus took the methods and customs of His time and used them. Bible scholars think that Jesus probably didn't believe in medicinal spit but that He was doing what a doctor of the time probably would have done and so was working through the expectations of the blind man.
After anointing the man's eyes with spit, Jesus sends him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. The Pool of Siloam was one of the landmarks of Jerusalem, and was one of the great engineering feats of the ancient world. King Hezekiah of Judah built an underground water tunnel in 701 BC that protected the cities water supply during attack. It was called Siloam, which meant sent, because the water in it had been sent through the conduit into the city.
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