Evening star., 1923-02-04
Lucky and Unlucky Numbers

meteorological monotony is an inter-
esting question. although it is prob
able that it was suggested by the
forty days and forty nights of rain
in Noah's time. At any rate, it is
uses that have been made of the
number 40 in fact and in fiction.
A FTER the forty days and forty
- nights of rain at the deluge, it
will be recalled, Noah waited forty
days before he opened the window of
the ark and sent forth the bird.
The children Of Israel were in the
wilderness forty years and they sent
spies into the promised land for forty
days in advance of their own going.
Moses was on 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 army of Israel
forty days before David killed him.
Solomon reigned forty years.
Elijah fed forty days, from Mount
Carmel to Mount Horeb.
Jonah gave the city OF Nineveh
forty days warning of Its impending
destruction.
Jesus tasted forty days and appear
ed to His disciples during forty days
after His resurrection.
st. Paul FIVE times received forty
strokes with the scourge.
Turning from sacred to profane re-
ligious history, it is to be observed
that the South American Indians have
from time immemorial had a yearly
fasting season of forty days. and SO
have certain denizens of Mexico. So.
also, it should be remembered, had
the ancient Persians. We cannot at
tribute their adoption Of the number
40 to any relationship with Chris
1t had any connection with Judaism.
Why. then, forty?
The same number plays an impor-
tant part in Mohammedan ritual and
lore. The dead are mourned for forty
days, and for the same period women
undergo publication after child
birth.
In the legend of Aladdin the sultan
gave Aladdin forty days in which to
find the lost palace.
In the Thousand and One Nights
Entertainment the Third Calendar
had a prosperous voyage for forty
days and was entertained by forty
damsels, who absented themselves for
forty days.
OF course, we all remember Ali
Baba and the forty thieves.
Then, too, there is the story of
Naair. who spent forty days in prayer
and then shot an arrow through a
suspended ring forty times in sue
cession, and when he wounded the
king it took that monarch forty days
to recover from the hurt
The same number has figured. much
in law. The old statute in England
gave widow forty days undisturbed
occupancy of her husbands estate
after his death before any legal ac-
ticn could be taken for other DISPOSE
ton of it.
A stranger was entitled to remain
forty days in any parish before he
could be required to tell who he was,
where he came from and where he
was going, or to decide whether he
would become a 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 disease.
The right of voting for members Of
parliament was restricted to those
paying no less than 40 shillings a year
rental for house or land.
In Wales the tenants of the Bishop
of LANDAU paid a 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 mathematicians have discovered
in the number 8, about which a whole
volume might be written without ex-
hausting the subject, but the manner
in which it figures in both fact and
fiction is certainly calculated to
pique curiosity and to offer profit
able results in antiquarian investiga-
tion. 1t is impossible to discern any
mathematical reason for such use of
it, wherefore the natural assumption
IL that 1t had it's origin in some strik-
ing incident.