The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-03-09
40 IS POPULAR
MYSTIC NUMBER
Symbol Occurs Many Times In An
cient History and Comes Down
to Modern Times as
Well
BIBLE USES 1T OFTEN
Then English Law Uses 1t in Connec.
ton With Widows Occupation
Of Husbands
BIBLE USES 1T OFTEN

80 usty 10 III" lOuS past IOT luls
year, and we shall hear no more o
that singular superstition until mex
summer, when it will doubtless dol
up Serenely,' only to be discreditet
again as it has invariably been every
year since the worthy bishop of Win
chester was buried for the SECOND
time. For. OF course, the prophecy has
never so much as once been fulfilled
says the New York Herald. 1t requires
every day from July Is to August "a
IN every year to be either rainy or
rainless, which is something that
never has happened in any year.
When forty days was selected as
the period of meteorological monotony
is an interesting question, though it
is probable that 1T was suggested by
the forty days downpour in Noah's
time. At any rate, it is only one of
the many noteworthy uses that have
been made of the number forty in
fact and fiction.
After the forty days and forty
nights of rain at the deluge, it will be
recalled, Noah waited forty days be.
fore he opened the window. of the a,
and sent forth the raven.
The children of Israel were in the
wilderness forty years and they sent
spies into the promised land forty
days in advance of their own going.
Moses was in the Mount of the Law
forty days. Isaac was forty years old
when he was married and so was
Esau. Eli was Judge of Israel for
forty years. Goliath defied the armies
of Israel forty days, from Mount Car
mel to Mount Horeb, Jonah gave the
city Of Ninevah forty days warning of
its impending destruction.
Jesus tasted forty days and APP
peared to his disciples at intervals
for forty days after his resurrection
st. Paul five times received forty
strokes with the scourges. n.
Turning to heather history, it Is OBJ
served that the Indians of Venezuela
hove from time immemorial had a
yearly fasting season of forty days,
and so have the AZtecs of Mexico. So
also, it should be remembered, had
the ancient Peruvians. We cannot at
tribute their adoption Of the number
forty to any relationship with chris
tianity, and there is no evidence that
1t had any connection with Judaism.
Why, then, forty? -
The same number plays an impor-
tant part in Mohammedan ritual ano
lore. In the legends of Aladdin the
sultan gave Aladdin forty days in
which to find the lost palace. In the
Thousand and One Nights entertain.
ment the third calendar had prosper
GUS voyage for forty days and was en-.
tertained by forty damsels, who alb.
sented themselves for forty days. And
then there's Ali Baba and the Forty
Thieves. Also there Is the story Of
Nasir, who spent forty days in prayer
and then shot an arrow through a
ring forty times in success
sion, and when he wounded the king
1t took the monarch forty days to re-
cover from the hurt.
The same number has figured much
in law. The old law in England gave
a widow forty days undisturbed oc-
OF her husbands estate after
his death before any legal action
could be taken for other disposition
Of it. A stranger was entitled to re-
main forty days in any parish before
he could be required to tell who he
was, where he came from and whittier
he was going, or to decide whether he
would become permanent resident.
Members of parliament were ex.
empted from arrest for any cause for
forty days before and forty days after
the meeting of parliament.
Forty days was the period of quar-
antine for communicable diseases.
The right of voting for members
Of parliament was restricted to those
paying no less than forty shillings a
year rental for house and land.
In Wales the tenants of the bishop
Of LANDAU paid yearly rental of
forty loaves Of bread and forty dishes
Of butter.
Forty may not be a magic num-
ber," like three or seven, and it has
not the extraordinary properties which
nathematicians have discovered in
he number nine, about which a whole
volume might be written without ex-
hausting the subject But the man
ler in which it figures in both fact and
iction is certainly calculated to pique
curiosity 1t is impossible to discern
my mathematical reason for such use
If it, wherefore the natural assump-
ion is that it had its origin in some
striking incident.