The times., 1901-05-26
VERY CURIOUS FANcIEs.
Many superstitiOns PervadinE the
Minds of Men.
From Notes and Queries-l

Sometimes in the quiet of my study l
smile at the absurd fanc1eS OF other men,
| forgetting that 1, too, cannot plead aoso-
! lutte immunity. 1 used to know very
worthy gentleman who never stirred
abroad without carrying a piece of coal
in his pocket for luck. yet he invariably
threw II away the moment he sat down
to take hand at whist or cribbage. An
other had a mortal aversion to a baby's
crying at breakfast time; this spelled bad
luck for him the whole day Jewish
danes of a bygone school went continual
ly in fear of the evil eye. To cOunterRct
its attacks upon their offspring they re-
sorted to many devices. among which
We're the quaSt-reHSiOuS ones or tacEing
''TnezuZOus" (charmS) to the lintels OF the
doorways, and Of fixing ''camireS round
their children's throats- Now, my own
idiosyncrasy is in favor Of odd numbers
How 1 acquired the harmless passion hap
pened In this way. Among my school
fellows was a Turkish lad. who was the
first TO point out to me a curious law OF
figures al random. which We added up In
line till they tOtted TO resultant number
nine or not If they showed up nine
we declared them lucky; II not, not For
example. take numbers 1S1245-9: but num-
bers 1629H4 So ingrafned in this mean
lngiess habit that l never buy railway
ticket without submitting it's number 10
this ridiculous scrutiny. Many a time I
have puzzled myself as to the origin OF
this silly habit; yet it would appear that
the affection for number nine displayed
by this lad reached Turkey via Arabia
According to the anonymous author of
Table Talk" published in 1896 by Charles
Knight, long residence in Cairo by the
famous traveller. J. L. Burckhardt, had
also rendered him susceptible to the
strange fascination OF odd numbers. He
spent many years collecting a storehOuss
Of Arabian savings illustrative OF the
manners and customs of this enlightened
people. but. strange to say. he stopped
short at the number gS9. adopting, says
my authority, "a notion prevalent among
the Arabs that even numbers are unlucSy,
and that anything perfect in its quantity
is particularly affected by the evil eye.
WhereupOn the writer proceeds to give an
instance that came under his own notice
At that time there lived in Islington a
wealthy cOwkeeper named Rhodes. who
made many futile attempts to keep 1000
cows on his premises in thriving condi-
ton at one time but was invariably baf-
fed. He could. however. keep 99s without
experiencing any loss of stock.
\ similar prejudice the author discov-
cred TO prevail In his tCurneyings through
the renoter districts of France Spain
Italy. and Switzerland. Jews have for
ages paid special veneTdtion to the num-
ber seven and its multiples. though
strong partialty for minyan. or number
ten. has been fostered by the rabbis IN
the dicta OF Ethics" Wis. Thus prayer
Is impossible in the synagogue without a
quorum of ten l was told a funny story
about this the other day by a scholarly
contributor TO Notes and Queries" Some
years ago, being in Prague, he strolled
one Sabbath evening inside the old syn
agogue to have a quiet look around. sud
denly the voice of prayer startled him out
of his musings. The beadle had mistaken
him for a regular wOrshiper who w2s
late in arriving to form the regulation
number, of minyan.