The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-10-06
SUPERSTITIoNS ABOUT IRON.
(London Standard.


In Egypt iron was nominally accursed,
even when people used it all day long and
every day. 1t was ''the impure metal
'.the bones of Typhon,'' father of Evil.
No man could touch it without sin; he
must do penance and make atonement.
That was the theory as long as the Egyp-
tian race endured; in practice iron had
been handled freely for several thousand
ears. The only piece of metal found in
the Great Pyramid was an iron bar. The
same conflict of ancient faith With grow
ing convenience was urged everywhere nc
doubt, but the record does not exist. II
was lost before the classic time, and so
Greek and Roman sages puzzled over odd
little customs handed down from days OF
old. Cicero asked in vain why tool OF
iron must not be brought into the sacred
grove of the Arvals-or if brought by &C
oident NUT be expiated by the sacrifice OF
a pig or a lamb. and Plutarch wondered
why the Arohon Of Plataea might not
touch iron except at the yearly festival
concentrating the triumph OF Greece.
There is no end to such instances. The
sacred old Pons Sublioius had to be re.
paired without using iron; so had the an
Gent temple of Jupiter Liher-in impe.
rial times, when the meaning of suoh
rules was lost, a 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 Rajah Vizanagram, mem
Der of the Council a man of great learn
ing and enlightenment, would not allow
iron to be used In any building through
out his territory. He believed that an cpl
demic would follow. Negroes Of the
Gold Coast must remoys any articles of
iron on their persons when consulting
the Fetish. Upon the other hand, Sikh
must always have piece of steel or iron
about him. Burton tells how the pious
Moslem stretches out finger exclaiming:
Iron oh, thou ill-omened oneP when
a dust storm approaches the caravan-be-
lieving it to be directed by Djinn.
In Scotland many traces survive: To
use iron in kindling the "needfire" was
awful impiety. When fishermen swears
during bad weather at sea his comrade s
still grasp the nearest bit of metal, cry
ing: "Cauld irou.'' 1t is not so long
since people thrust nail or a knitting
needle through each article of food in the
house, or dipped it in the liquor when o
person died This is enough-persons
interested in the subject will find reams
of evidence in books devoted to folklore.
We may credit that the superst ition arose
every where at the time when fierce in
yaders, armed with iron, overran the
country, massacreing the helpless people
and destroying the antique religion. It
was the accursed metal. Afterwards, by
a natural process, the evil thing often
came to be regarded as protection
against other evil things-witches and
demons and charms and death itself
English babies were defended from fairy
kidnappers by putting key, knife, pair
of tongs, above all, scissors, in the cradle.
In many of those pretty tales dealing
with a "swan Maiden" the girl cannot
recover her plumage because it is looked
in chest with an iron Representatives.
she gets a mortal to open the chest, and
flies away upon the instant In other
stories she is released by a touch of iron;
in one favorite version by the husband
throwing his bride at or to her-the iron
hit is fatal