Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-09-05
SUPERSTITION Is
WIDESPREAD.
statistics Gathered by n California FRO
fc-sor in Regard to Popular Beliefs.
(From the Providence Journal.)

fcssor in Regard to Popular Beliefs.
(From the Providence Journal)
Does superstition prevail among n |
majority OF educated people? The queS- |
tion came up for discussion in a group |
OF college men In Providence not long |
ago and several Of them admitted that
while not believing in any of the COM
mon superstitons they were more or
less Influenced by the feeling" that |
attaches to tho notion OF bad fortune
Following certain signs or events. Said |
one:
Personally don't believe that edu-
cation has anything to do with super
,tuons. know a college professor
widely known as an author as well as
an educator who absolutely refuses to
sit thirteen at the table. I know it be-
cause of an experience I had while I
was u student undor him. I was invited
to his house one night. together with
n number of other fellows. The In
viation was very forrnn, and for
got 1t absolutely. 1t was a bad break,
Of course. and one that It's hard to
apologize for, but the ordinary scorn
that you'd expect to meet for such a
reception met when I tried to explain
aftcrwari
and the reason for this was simply
because my absence left thirteen to sly
down but this the professor absolute.
| ~ refused to do. The entire party
waited nearly an hour for me and then
in despair scnt out for nciEhbor. Tho
latter had already dned, but oblig-
inglv came in and sat all through the
dinner simply to enable the rest to eat
at all"
| That such an instance Is not unusuai
but rather what may naturally be OK
pecte3 in spite of the education and
culture that is supposed to combat
superstition is the Inference to be
drawn from study Of the subject
made of Prof Fletcher Rascom Dress
lar of tho University of California, who
has Just issued n book on "Supersti
ton and Education" based on inquiries
extending over period OF ten years
among tho normal school pupils of
California.
Some startling figures are given as
| result Of this research. the conclusion
being that education Is by no means
n sure cure for superstition. Az ex
pressing the attitude of many educat-
81 people Prof. Drosslar quotes the re-
mrk Of French writer: Il do not be-
licve in ghosts, but I am afraid OF
them.
Prof. Dresslar made inquiries of s75
pupils, mostly young women. the
majority of whom stated frankly their
belief or disbelief in one or more par
ticular surerstitions The total number
& separate confessions" made by the
SIS was 7,176. OF these 3.O51 were oX-
pressions of disbelief. 2.l3o Of partial
belief. and 1898 OF full belief This,
| combining the last two groups, gives
449 pcr cent. of the number who ad-
mittcd being Influenced to some extent
by superstitions and SOL per cent. who
, were not. figures that are somewhat
surprising wnen It is remembered that
all those examined were normal school
: pupils preparing themselves to become
teachers
A list was prepared including what
!, are called the most common super
stitions." and tho following table
shows the number of pupils expressing
full belief. partial belief. and disbelief
in each:
If YOU drop the dish rag you
will have company II 80 2:
. Thirteen Is an unluCky num-
2 Der .................... 40 40 ];
II you break a looking glass
{ you will have bad luck go. IS 40 II
4 Evil will come to YOU If you
= start on journey on Friday 50 "a 81
. If you give to n friend as
e present a knife or any ed