# Journal of American Folk-Lore/Volume 12/Issue 44/Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society

THE SEVENTH VOLUME OF THE MEMOIRS OF THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
CURRENT SUPERSTITIONS, COLLECTED FROM THE ORAL TRADITION OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING FOLK IN AMERICA, BY FANNY D. BERGEN, PART II.
As the fourth volume of the Memoirs, was published the first part of the work which is now completed by the seventh volume. The matter included in this second part is that relating to animal and plant lore; the gathering will be found at least as illuminative as that already accessible. In the notice of "Current Superstitions" contained in a previous number of this Journal (vol. ix., 1896, pp. 55–66), it has been observed that no collection made in Great Britain is in any way comparable in richness and instruction to that of Mrs. Bergen. The British notices form only chapters of more general works, not professing to completeness of record or scientific thoroughness of presentation. In the American publication, the wealth of the material is incomparably greater; the items often explain each other, and the book will be found to throw a flood of light on the popular beliefs and usages of the English folk, to which in the main the matter belongs. From the nature of the case, no gathering made as a first essay, and by a person whose opportunities have been limited by inability to travel, can pretend to anything like perfection; a great body of superstitions have doubtless been passed over, to be added by later investigators who may glean after the footsteps of our author; yet, even so, the work will be found an invaluable record of folk-thought, and will be permanently valued as testimony of popular conditions at the end of the nineteenth century.
In the paper above noted, attention has been called to the correspondence of the beliefs and American usages recited by Mrs. Bergen with those of England. The same relation will be found to exist in the second part of her work. As already remarked, the English element has been the controlling one in American folk-thought. Mrs. Bergen has indeed added a certain number of items obtained from negro sources. The book, however, does not profess to enter on the extensive subject of negro superstition; the examples cited are given only as variants of common white superstitions, or only as shared also by the white people of the region.
The first volume of the collection not only formed a collection superior to any predecessor, but in some respects opened up new fields. Such, in the review mentioned, was shown to be the case ​with usages relating to the movement of the sun, in some households still regulating the making of bread and the methods of other domestic work. The second volume will appear equally instructive. As an illustration may be noted the chapter on "Amulets and Spells."
Well-known is the superstition, prevalent chiefly in the Southern States and apparently of negro origin, that good fortune is secured by wearing as an amulet the foot of a rabbit. The belief has a character tending toward mystery and horror; the foot is to be the left hind foot; it is to be taken from a rabbit killed in a graveyard. Such requirement might make us suppose that the root of the superstition is in that inclination to ascribe mystic power to the reverse of the bright side of life which appears in European magic; the enchanter may secure his effects by setting night against day; diabolical agency acts in the inverse manner of the angelic. Such conception appears frequently in modern popular superstition; thus, in Halloween usages, it is common to perform the act of divination by walking backwards, or by hanging the garments wrong side out. According to one formula, a girl is to go into a garden at midnight of Halloween to steal cabbages; the first person she meets on her return will be her husband. A variant insists that she must go through a graveyard ("Current Superstitions," vol. i. p. 56). The addition has probably been made merely to secure the conditions for awe. So with the rabbit superstition: the root is to be found in the power exercised by the member, and the connection with the grave is superadded. Mole-paws also may serve the purpose. If the rabbit superstition is of negro derivation (and this is not absolutely certain), at any rate it does not essentially differ from the conceptions of whites; it is only a branch of the practice of attributing supernatural power to the desiccated member which had once been potent, of which we have a familiar example in the dried human hand, as in the case of the hand of a malefactor, used by thieves. The folk-lore of the English in America supplies a series of similar credulities with regard to the potency of the preserved parts of other animals. We cite from the volume under examination:—
AMULETS.
1. For cramps wear a bone from the head of a cod.Newfoundland.
2. A fin-bone of the haddock (if the fish is caught without touching the boat) will cure cramp.Green Harbor, Trinity Bay, N. F.
3. A fin-bone of the haddock, taken from the living fish without the knowledge of other persons, and worn in a bag, will cure toothache.
Labrador, Trinity Bay, N. F. (Mountain Indians).
​4. A fin-bone of the haddock, carried in the pocket, will cure rheumatism. Scilly Cove, Trinity Bay, N. F.
5. A small serrated bone, found in the head of a codfish, is carried as a "lucky bone." New England.
6. A small bone from the head of a gar is carried as a "lucky bone."
Western Central States.
7. A smooth white "stone," found in the nest of a fishing-hawk, is carried for luck. This is probably a small bone from the head of a perch or other fish. Chestertown, Md.
8. Smoothly polished pebbles are carried for good luck, and are called "lucky stones." Chestertown, Md.
9. Two little bones, found in the head of a certain fish, are called lucky stones; but the good luck comes only after they are lost.
Fort Worth, Tex.
10. A small bone, cut from a living turtle, is carried as a "lucky bone."
New England.
11. When the king-crab has a single claw (one half gone), break it off and carry it for luck. It is called a "lucky claw." Cohasset, Mass.
12. The left hind claw (hallux) of a crow is carried about for a "luck charm." Cambridge, Mass.
13. The globular head of the femur of a pig is kept in a box or bureau drawer as a "lucky bone."
Petit Codiac, N. B., and Baltimore, Md. (negro).
14. A veal bone, probably the head of the femur, is kept as a "lucky bone." Central New York.
A striking superstition of this sort is that of Germans in Ontario, as reported in a previous article of the present number. A black cat is to be stolen, boiled to death, and reduced to pulp; the bones are to be picked out from the mess with the teeth while gazing in a mirror; at a certain point in the operation, the performer will lose sight of the reflection of himself. When this happens, the bone at the time in the mouth, and to the agency of which this effect is due, is to be preserved. At any time, by inserting the bone between the teeth, the carrier has the power of making himself invisible. How singular such a belief, retained to the beginning of the twentieth century! The underlying idea is obvious. A black cat, as a witch, possesses the ability of transformation; such magic power must be due to some particular element of the organism; the thing to be done is to discover that element, which confers on its possessor a ​58 Journal of American Folk-Lore.
like potency. Thus the survival of the present day gives a glimpse into the prehistoric conceptions of millennials ago. No doubt the usefulness of the cod-bone, as applied to rheumatism, is to be sim- ilarly explained ; the fish being a free-moving animal, the trans- fer of that locomotive power will relieve the rheumatic person. The rabbit-foot will lend the power of swift and successful movement, the mole-foot that of easy excavation of treasure. The special idea will pass over into the general one of conferring good fortune. The wider question, the explanation of the use of amulets in general, although in a measure elucidated by such illustrations, need not here be further considered.
The bringing together of a mass of such items of superstitions renders the work of Mrs. Bergen thoroughly instructive. The field of distinctively negro superstitions the collection does not profess to enter ; the few here contained are inserted only as shared by the whites of the region, or as variants of beliefs also belonging to English-speaking folk. The imperfection and unsatisfactoriness of collections made in England has been pointed out in the review of the first volume, above mentioned, where the principal gatherings have been noted. A full collection of British material would no doubt in a great measure parallel the American collection.
Well-known in folk-lore are the magical powers of human saliva. Throughout the world, from the Australian native to the English in America, threatening demoniacal assault is guarded against by spit- ting. In the United States generally, the belief in the evil eye has a survival in the idea that it is unlucky to meet a cross-eyed person, but that the evil may be averted by expectoration. Children in Boston, according to our author, suppose that the sight of a dead mouse will cause the food eaten at supper to taste of the animal, unless averted by spitting thrice. It was an old New England belief that the view of dead dogs, cats, and the like might give the passer-by the itch if he did not protect himself by spitting three times. In Kentucky, the sight of tawny caterpillars, called "fever- worms," will bring fever ; one must spit on such occasions. So, in Alabama, to spit on a cross-mark exorcises the ill luck consequent on turning back from a journey ; and in Maryland live coals from one fire should not be added to those of another without this pro- tection. In like manner, in Maine, and no doubt everywhere, the bad fortune consequent on the accidental putting-on of a reversed garment may so be banished. So the action is used in cursing enemies.
87. When the ear burns it is a sign that some one is talking about you. Wet the forefinger in the mouth, and rub the ear with the forefinger and thumb, saying about the one supposed to be talking about you : —
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If good, good betide you, and If bad, may the Devil ride you.
or, in Baltimore, Md. : —
If it 's good, may the Lord bless you. If it 's bad, may the Devil take you.
Saliva has not only a prophylactic but also a prophetic potency. We cite the items illustrating this power : —
Strike the saliva with the right forefinger, and notice the direction in which it flies ; that will be the direction of the lost article.
Missouri (negro).
92. To find lost cattle or any lost articles, strike a drop of spit on the palm of the hand. Pennsylvania.
93. Spitting on the palm of the hand or on the inner side of the wrist will recall to the memory where a mislaid article is. Salem, Mass.
94. Spitting on a hot shovel serves as a means of divination. One's future home is in the direction taken by the moving bubble. If it remains stationary, the one who is trying the oracle will remain where he is.
Northern Ohio.
Superstitious beliefs relating to animals have different roots. In some cases the omens derived from these may belong to the class of mere indications ; that a white dove should be a sign of marriage, a "mourning dove" of death, may be natural. The lowing of a cow is said to be a sign of death ; but the idea is explained by other simi- lar items of superstition, in which it is only after darkness has set in that the sound is dangerous. The disturbance of the domestic ani- mals is dependent on their foresight of approaching disaster to their master's house. That a white spider " spinning down" is a token of good news, a black one of evil tidings, is equally in accordance with the laws of association of ideas. That the sight of a redbird on Saturday portends a vision of one's sweetheart on the Sunday may be due only to the brightness of the plumage. In these cases the prophetic character belongs to the animal only incidentally, or in consequence of the suggestion of certain feelings.
There is, however, a mass of belief relating to animals which goes back to the sacred quality of the creatures, as anciently worshipped or dreaded. Thus, in the case of the snake, the ancient hostility set forth in Genesis is fully maintained by modern practice.
351. Kill the first snake you see in the spring to bring good luck.
Cape Breton.
352. If a snake crosses one's path, that person has an enemy.
Somewhat general in the United States.
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353. The next person you see after meeting a snake is an enemy.
Maine. 355. Break your first brake, Kill your first snake, Ami you will conquer all your enemies.
Northern Ohio. Kill the first snake you see in the spring, and you will conquer all your enemies that year. If the snake gets away, you will be troubled with new enemies that year. Talladega, Ala.
357. If the first snake you see in the spring is dead, you will lose a friend. Lawrence, Kan.
On the other hand, the equally ancient friendliness of the sacred snake is preserved in an opinion that it is lucky to have that crea- ture frequent the house (Bruynswick, N. Y., before 1830). The toad stands on a better footing, inasmuch as he is protected by a theory that his slaughter is dangerous. To kill him makes the cows go dry, or give bloody milk ; to step on him is a sign of disappoint- ment. It is a children's saying that to kill a toad will cause you to stub your toe ; a fortunate protection for an ugly creature. Very likely the regard for toads is connected with an idea that they were forms of the guardian spirit or familiar demon. The doctrine that the murder of a cat brings ill luck is so universal that in many places it is almost impossible to get any one to perform that office. In general, the cat appears as the transformation of the witch. Such reputation must have been ancient. In an old Irish hero tale we find that the nocturnal visit of cats was sufficient to scare the stoutest hearts ; and the chief of Arthur's encounters, according to Welsh and French mediaeval story, was with an enchanted cat. But the modern lore as to cats is mixed ; there are opposite views as to the nature of the luck brought by the visit of one, or being followed by one. Obviously, originally, if would depend on the rela- tion : cither the witch would be pursuing with evil intent, which would intrinsically be probable ; or she would be under the control of the individual, in which case the luck would be good. In Massa- chusetts, people are shy about moving cats to a new home ; and in Kansas it is unlucky to move into a house where the cat (the genius of the preceding family) has been kept. But in the survival, one is likely to find diametrically opposite precepts.
1 weather prophet, the cat is known to be wise, and omens are
taken from the most commonplace movements. "Weather" formed
a topic of the first volume of "Current Superstitions;" the signs
ined from animals contribute a section to the second volume.
Such expectations are of great antiquity. In the third century
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before Christ, the Greek Theophrastus produced a treatise "concern- ing signs." This writer was himself a person too illuminated to give much light on the real folk-lore of his day ; but he reports concerning the expectations of the weather sufficiently to show the presence of endless beliefs on the subject. The hedgehog, he says, is a prophetic animal, who makes his hole with openings north and south, and closes, before a storm, the exposed opening. In Ameri- can weather-lore the ground-hog appears as a prophet, but his activ- ity is more complicated.
An interesting Introduction to the collection has been contributed by the husband of the editor, Mr. J. Y. Bergen, well known as a biologist. Mr. Bergen points out that animal and plant lore must have constituted an important part of the earliest folk-lore of the world. He examines the character of the animal weather signs, with some inclination to believe in a foundation of fact.
But there is great diversity of opinion among those who have studied and written concerning animal weather-lore in very recent times. Dr. C. C. Abbott, our New Jersey naturalist, is decidedly sceptical as to the power of animals in general to forecast the weather. While he admits that spe- cial meteorological conditions may influence the actions of animals, he denies to the latter that prophetic power with which they are so often credited in regard to coming weather changes. " I have gathered," he says, " a host of sayings referring to birds and the weather, and have tested them all. Often they hold good, frequently they do not."
On the other hand, Charles St. John, who must certainly be reckoned an intelligent naturalist and good observer of out-of-door life, in his "Wild Sports in the Highlands " says, " There are few animals which do not afford timely and sure prognostications of changes in the weather." St. John credits wild-fowl, grouse, ducks, fish, field-mice, pigs, and sheep with knowledge of coming weather changes, and believes that they indicate the character of the changes by their behavior.
In his " Animal Intelligence," George J. Romanes cites as a remarkable case of instinct an interesting account of the manner in which a swan raised her nest, containing eggs, two and a half feet the very day before a tremendous fall of rain, which by flooding did great damage in the neigh- borhood.
For myself, I am somewhat credulous in regard to the whole matter, and doubt not that in a general way many of the weather proverbs that have arisen from observing the behavior of animals are to be trusted.
The book contains a gleaning of items relating to folk-medicine, which will interest readers of the medical profession. Respecting this material Mr. Bergen observes : —
Folk-medicine is one of the most important subjects in American ani- mal and plant lore. Medicine is so largely empirical, it is so difficult to be
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sun- whether a given course of treatment has proved beneficial or not, the vis medicatrix nature* is so great and so obscure a factor in most cases, that there has always been much chance in medical practice for what might perhaps be called sincere quackery. Let it once be suggested that a given substance might cure a certain disease, and let its remedial virtues be tried in a few cases. If some of the patients recover, it is sure to be argued, by a familiar process of reasoning, that the remedy effected the cure. In any new region it would be easy to trace the steps by which the popular materia medica is thus enlarged, but after the addition the process can only be con- jectured.
The study of the considerations which suggest curative power in this or thai animal' or vegetable product is a most interesting one. The principle on which (to cite only one instance out of many) the little white granular roots of a common British saxifrage were supposed to form an efficient remedy for vescical calculi still flourishes among us. A common smart- weed, for example, with heart-shaped marks on its leaves, is widely known as heart's-ease from its supposed value in cardiac affections. Apparently the possession of a disgusting smell or taste has often sufficed to give a substance a reputation for curative properties. Burnt feathers, angleworm oil, tar, pitch, boneset, and the host of bitters vaunted in domestic medicine, must owe much of the esteem in which they are held to their unsavory quali- ties. It is very evident that anything singular in the aspect of a plant, above all if the singularity be of an unpleasant kind, is a strong recom- mendation for its adoption into the list of remedial herbs. In many cases this suggestiveness depends wholly or in part on the well-known doctrine of signatures, as it does in the reputation which many plants of the Orchis family have obtained for nervine or aphrodisiac qualities. But there are other instances, such as that of the rattlesnake-plantain, the cow-parsnip, and the whole list of plants with milky juice, which seem to owe their use in folk-medicine merely to their conspicuous or peculiar characteristics.
It has been well said that "nastiness is often an element of mysteries," and no doubt the curious veneration for filth is responsible for some of the excrement-cures which are still employed in a few places and meet with implicit belief.
In folk-medicine, as in the materia medica of the schools, there is a noticeable tendency to outgrow the use of remedies of animal origin, while the list of herbs credited with medicinal virtues remains a long one. General treatises on medicine two hundred years ago abounded in the most irrational and disgusting prescriptions of animal remedies. Michael iller, in his "Opera Medica," * devoted nine folio pages to medicinal preparations from the human body and its excreta, of which those obtained from hair, nails, sweat, and earwax are the least filthy. No longer ago than the middle of the eighteenth century such substances as ambergris, castor, civet, " man's-grease," mummy (human), vipers, and a multitude of other equally absurd animal remedies, found a place in one of the best dispensatories of the time, Pomet's "General History of Drugs." The
1 Francofurti, 1708.
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serious discussions in regard to the origins of such substances and the mode of making sure of their genuineness and excellence read to-day like mere parodies on pharmacy. One is told, for instance : " You ought to be careful, likewise, that every Bundle or Parcel of vipers, which is usually a Dozen, have the Hearts and Livers along with them, these being the most noble Parts of the Animal." And again : " They are much more sprightly and gay when they are in the Field than after they are taken, because they then draw themselves up into a narrower Compass and contract their Pores." The whole descriptions of the medicinal use of vipers, of the sources and preparation of bezoar, of moss from human skulls, and so on, read like the directions for the preparation of a voodoo charm or the rabbit-foot talis- man. Indeed, very little reading of old treatises on materia medica and herbals is necessary to make clear the fact that folk-medicine represents the first step of the series which ends in the scientific pharmaceutics of to-day.
It is necessary to say, once for all, in regard to the items of folk-medicine contained in the following pages, that they are not inserted because they are merely fancies. Very many of the remedies cited are certainly useful ; tea made from butternut bark is as efficacious as tincture of aloes or of cascara sagrada, if less expensive ; and sassafras-pith makes as grateful an application for inflamed eyes as anything known to the most skilful oculist. But those medicaments which are unknown or nearly so to the modern practitioner, while they are of common use in domestic medicine among simple people, are legitimate subject-matter for any collection of folk- remedies. It should be added that the animal and plant remedies here described form but an insignificant part of the list which could be collected within the limits of the United States and Canada, since every region has drawn largely upon its own local fauna and flora for medicinal use.
This notice may be concluded with the final passage of Mr. Bergen's Introduction: —
As I have suggested in an earlier paragraph, much of our folk-lore is of Old World origin. Considering that we have perhaps the most mixed population on earth, it could not be otherwise ; our folk-lore must be a compound of the most various ingredients. If we cannot detect in it morsels from every country in Europe, from half the tribes of Africa, from a large part of Asia and the great Pacific islands, as well as from many tribes of American Indians, it is only because our analysis is not sufficiently minute. The present is the time, while the fragments of the folk-lore of English-speaking America are only cemented into an angular breccia, to gather specimens of the mass from as many parts of it as may be. When the materials shall have been worked over into a compact whole, and when our superstitions shall have been catalogued with the fulness and care with which those of Great Britain or of Germany have been set down, there will be r. chance for some one to do for American folk-lore what Simrock, Grimm, and Wuttke have severally done for that of Germany.
W. W. N.