Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-10-27
guperstitions About from
0ondon Standard)

r, r,.-,nt iron was nominally accursed,
zen y5ban people used it all day long anu
every day 1t was the impure meta al
"the bones Of Typhon." father OIL EEI,
No man could touch II Wltho oton HaI1'
must do penance and make atoneile ~ =,
THAT was the theory as long as lhe
Egyptian race endured; In pracuce IRON
had been handled freely Tor seVeIal lhou
sand years. The only piece Oh Hietai
found in the Great Pyramid was an IRON
bar The same conflict Of ancient taltn
with growing convenience was uIs5u
everywhere, no doubt; but the RECORD uoSs
not exist. IL was lost before the ela9slc
time. and so Greek and Roman sages
r,tzzied over odd little customs handeh
down from days Of old. Cicero asked
i'm vain why a tool Of iron must not pe
brought into the sacred grove OF lhe
Aryals-or II brought by accident must
be expiated by the sacrihce OF d pig tpa
a lamb; and Plutarch wondered why the
Archon OF Plataea might not tOuch IRON
except at the yearly festival commemo-
rating the triumph Of Greece. There -
no end TO such instances. Inc sacreu VLu
Pons Sublicius had TO be repaired Win
ont using iron; so had the ancient tempe
of Jupiter Liber-in imperial times. Wheh
the meaning of such rules was lost'
| special law abrOgated them.
one NAV survey mankind from emma 10
Peru and find the same superstition every
where Iron tools were forbidden IN tne
! building of the Temple at Jerusalem. the
! late Rajah Vizanagram, member OF the
! Council. a man of great learning ana en-
! lightenment, would not allow iron to De
used i'm any building throughout his terri
| tory. He believed that an epidemic woulC
| follow Negroes of the Gold Coast mus
| remove any articles Of iron on their per
| sons when consulting the Fetlsh. POI
! the other hand, Il Sikh must always nave
| a piece Of steel or iron about him Burtoi
tells how "the pious MOslem stretches on
a finger exclaiming, Iron! Oh. thou III
I omened one! when dust-stotm aP
! proaches the caravan-believing II TO d
directed by a Diinn
In Scotland many traces survive. TO US
iron i'm kindling the 'needhre' was aWtu
impiety When a fisherman swears duflh,
! bad weather at sea his comrades SUI
grasp the nearest blt OF metal; erE ,,ia
"Cauld iron" IL is not so long since PEG
pie thrust a nail or knitting
needle through each article OF ZOO
i'm the house, or dipped II in IN
LIQUOR when a person died. ms ]
| enough-persOns interested In the subJec
viii lind reams Of evidence in books de
voted 10 folklore. We may credit tina
the superstitiOn arose everywhere AT IN
| time when fierce invaders. armed VII
iron. overran the country massacrln
antique religion. II was the accuIs'
metal. Afterwards. by a natural process
the evil thing often came 20 be resarue
as n protection against other eVll thlhss
witches and demons and charms az
death itself English babies were d,
Tended from fairy kidnappers by putin
a kew knife pair OF tOnss. above al
scissors i'm the cradle. In many OF tnos
nretty tales dealing with swan mao
en-" the girl cannot recover her plumas
because il is locked in a chest with a
IRON key-sometimes she gets a mortal >,
omen the chest. and flies away upon u
,H,an, In other stories she is release
bv touch Of iron; in one favorite We
sion nv the husband throwing ms pf'"
a. - her-the iron bit is fatal.