The evening times., 1898-11-21
SUPERSTITION.

In Egypt iron was nominally accursed.
even when people used IL all day long and
every day. says the London Standard. II
was 'the impure metal'-"the bones of
Typhon." father of evil. No man could
toue' 4 without sip: he must do penanee
and make atonement. That was the theo-
ry as long as the Egyptian race endured;
in practice iron had been handled freely
for several thousand years. The only
piece of metal found in the great pyramid
was an iron bar. The same conflict of
ancient faith with growing cOnveniences
was urged everywhere. no doubt; but the
record does not exist: IL was lost before
the classic time, and so Greek and Ro-
man sages puzzled over odd little customs
handed down from days of old Cicero
asked in vain why a tool of iron must
not be brought into the sacred grove of
the Arvals-or If brought by accident,
must be expiated by the sacrifice of pig
or q lamb; and Plutarch wondered why
the Archion of Platea might not touch
iron except at the yearly festival COM
memorating the triumph of Greece
There is no end to such instances. The
sacred old Pons Sublicius had TO be re-
paired without using iron; so had the an
cient temple of Jupiter-in imperial times,
when the meaning of such rules was lost.
special law abrOgated them.
One may survey mankind from China
to Peru and find the same superstition
everywhere. Iron tools were forbidden
in the building of the temple at Jerusa-
lem. The late Raiah Vizanagram,
member of the council a man OF great
learning and enlightenment, would not
allow iron 20 be used in any building
throughout his territory. He believed
that an epidemic would follow Negroes
of the gold coast must remove any arti-
cles of iron on their persons when con-
sulting the fetish.
Upon the other hand, a sikh must al
ways have a piece Of steel or iron about
him. Burton tells how ''the pious Mos
lem stretches out a finge. exclaiming
Iron! oh, thou in-omened one" when
a dust storm approaches the caravan
believing it to be directed by Djinn.
In Scotland many traces survive. To
use iron in kindling the ''needfire" was
awful impiety When a fisherman swears
! during bad weather at sea his comrades
still grasp the nearest bit or metal cry
ing 'Cauld iron. 1t is not so long since
people thrust a nail or a knitting-needle
through each article of food in the house
or dipped il in liquor, when a person
died This is enough-persons Interested
/ in the subject will find reams of evidence
I in books devoted TO folklore. We may
credit that the superstition arose every
where at the time when fierce invaders.
armed with iron, overran the country.
massacreing the helpless people and de-
stroying the antique religion. IL was the
accursed metal. Afterward, by a natural
! process, the evil thing often came TO be
regarded as a protection against other
evil thingS-witches and demons and
/ charms and death itself. English babies
were defended from fairy kidnapers by
/ putting a key. knife, pair of tengs, above
/ ALL scissors. in the cradle. In many OF
! those pretty tales dealing with swan
maiden" the girl cannot recover her pIIi-
/ mage because il is locked in chest with
( an iron key-aometimes she gets NOR
/ tai to open tho chest, and flies away upon
/ the instant. In other stores she is re-
[ leased by a touch of iron: in one favOriJe
/ version by the husband throwing his
/ bride at or to her-rEe iron biz is fatal.