Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-11
FINDS SUPERSTITION
HAS A STRONG HOLD
BERKELEY PROFESSOR COMPLIES
STATISTICS
Discovers More Than Half Normal
School Pupils Of Los Angeles
and Chico Have Some
Fancy

Superstition and Education" is the
title of a most interesting volume of 235
pages issued from the University of Cali
fornia press.
| The author is Prof. Fletcher Bascom
Dresslar of the department Of education.
The Importance and value of study of
this character will be clear when one re-
fleets how large a number of even the
educated classes cannot declare them
selves out of the bonds of superstitious
faith and belief.
owen Wister put 1t humorously and ef-
| fectively In THE Virginian' when he
said: IT expect in many growed-up men
| you'd call sensible there's a little boy
sleepin'-the little child that onced was
that still keeps his fear of the dark"
| The conclusions reached in the volume
are based upon a classified list of super
stitions prepared in the following man.
ner.
! The work began some ten years ago
and was carried on chiefly, If not alto
gether, among the young people in the
state normal schools at Los Angeles and
Chico.
Blank slips of paper were handed to
| the students In the class room and they
were asked to write out with care all the
superstitions they knew, relying each
| upon his or her own memory.
| Following the statement of the super
stition the author was instructed to indi-
cate one of three things: No belief, par
tial belief or full belief. In this way
specimens were gathered from 875 stu
dents. The list used by the writer in his
pamphlet was compiled on the basis of
| this large collection of specimens. They
| have been grouped under general head
ings determined by the nature of the data
which the superstitions themselves
claim to interpret.
For example, the first group has to do
with superstitions regarding salt. the
| second regarding bread and butter, the
third tea and coffee, the fourth plants
and fruit. the fifth fire, the sixth light
| ming, and so on indefinitely, some Of the
remaining groups being the rainbow, the
moon, stars, birds, owls, peacocks, chick
ems, cats, dogs, frogs and toads fish,
spiders, snakes, mirrors, spoons, brooms,
horseshoes, numbers, singing, crying
| stepping on cracks sneezing, precious
stones, wishbones. death and funerals,
dreams and weddings.
In each group the specimens are so ar
ranged as to bring together those most
alike, always giving precedence to the
general or generic, the list gradually ap-
preaching the specific.
Belief and Superstition
| The authors comments on belief and su-
perstition are most instructive. The num-
| ber of separate, specific and reliable con-
| fessions made by S75 different individuals
was 7176. OF these 1851 are frank ex-
pressions of disbelief, 2132 of partial be-
| lief and 1893 of full belief.
Combining those of partial and full
belief we have 1926 confessions of BELIEF as
against 1851 of disbelief, or 55.1 IT cent
of disbelief to 44.9 per cent of belief
The natural inclination, perhaps, would
be to regard the number of beliefs as an
| exaggeration; but against this tendency
| it must be remembered that the human
| mind is disposed to acknowledge Its own
weaknesses and shortcomings very spar
ingly, so that it may safely be said that
| we have here an underestimate rather
| than an exaggeration of belief in super
stitions.
The result is, therefore, somewhat dis
turbing as indicating/the prevalence OF
superstition among those VINO pass as
| educated people, many of whom are at
| the present moment, as graduates OF the
normal schools, teachers in our public
| schools.
we may we'll conceive that a large
number of people assume the same atti-
tude as that attributed to the brilliant
French writer who used the following
words: "I do not believe In ghosts, but
I am afraid of them"
Uses OF Superstitions
Superstition. according to Professor
Dresslar, has several uses; but he is care
full to warn the reader that the good ends
which they accomplish might nave oeen
attained more proftably in other ways.
First of all, superstitions have been
used to frighten people into good be-
havior; this being especially true or chill
dren.
The following instance may be noted
by Way of illustration: IF child whirls
a chair around on one leg he Will have
whipping before night; 'if he whistles
at the dinner table it will bring him sor-
row.: 'if he takes some food while he
has still some of the same kind on his
plate he will some day lack for that
good" This method of teaching, the au-
thor admits, is in the long run harmful,
but no one who knows child life can
doubt it's temporary effectiveness. Sec
ondly, superstitions have been used as
devices to train people into habits of
carefulness and economy. "1f you spill
salt it will bring bad luck" hence be
careful of the salt; 'if you break mir
ror you will have seven years of bad
luck" therefore handle mirrors caSefully.
Numerous other uses are noted by the
writer.
Belief In Luck
Professor Dresslar devotes an interest
contrasted with those things which come
about through natural causes"
He tells the following story in this con-
nection: "It chanced one Sunday that an
habitue of the casino found his way to
the English church in the vicinity, and |
upon hearing the number of the hymn |
announced was impressed with the feel |
ing that this was a lucky number to bet |
on and Immediately left the church for |
the gambling table
'TIe staked heavily on this number and |
won Following up the suggestion. he |
went to church the next Sunday and re-
mained long enough to get the number of
the hymn announced, staked on 1t and
won again.
upon confiding the secret of his sue
cess to his friends, they, too, went to
church. The contagion spread until the
exodus after the hymn became so marked
that the rector was painfully conscious
of it, and on learning of the cause took
occasion to protect himself and the good