220 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



difficult and even dangerous test, they finally submitted to it rather 

 than remain under the suspicion of practicing the black art. This 

 performance, which is unquestionably a relic of Uralian-Finnish 

 paganism, took place on March 16, 1896. The following instance 

 may serve as an example of the ruthless barbarity to which such 

 delusions often lead: In December, 1874, a South Russian peasant 

 in the vicinity of Cherson missed one hundred rubles and went to a 

 weird woman in order to learn what had become of them. She con- 

 sulted her cards and declared that the money had been stolen by a 

 certain Marfa Artynov. The man was greatly astonished at this re- 

 sponse, because the accused was a highly respected teacher of young 

 children, and had the reputation of being thoroughly honest. Never- 

 theless, his credulity got the better of his common sense, and with 

 the aid of his neighbors he seized Marfa and carried her to the 

 churchyard, where he bound her to a cross and began to torture her, 

 beating her with a knout, suspending her by her hands, and twisting 

 and tearing her neck and tongue with a pincers. To her cries and 

 entreaties her tormentors coolly replied, " If you are really innocent, 

 what we are doing can cause you no pain! ' Many of the persons 

 who offer their services as clairvoyants and seers to a credulous and 

 confiding public, and whose utterances are accepted as oracles, are 

 professional swindlers. Thus a young lady moving in the higher 

 circles of society in Vienna had a valuable set of diamonds stolen. 

 By the advice of a trusted lackey she consulted a woman, who was 

 reputed to have the power of divination, and who informed her, con- 

 trary to the strong suspicions of the police, that the theft had been 

 committed, not by any member of the household, but by a stranger. 

 The young lady was so firmly persuaded of the truth of this state- 

 ment that, although urged by the court to prosecute the lackey, 

 she refused to do so. The evidence against him, however, was so 

 strong that he was finally tried and condemned. The pythoness, 

 who had endeavored to exculpate him, proved to be his aunt and 

 accomplice. 



A queer phase of superstition, which in many parts of Europe 

 seriously interferes with the administration of justice, manifests itself 

 in the various means of avoiding the evil consequences of perjury, 

 at least so far as to soothe the pangs of conscience and to avert the 

 divine anger. This immunity is secured in some provinces of Austria 

 by carrying on one's person a bit of consecrated wafer, a piece of 

 bone from the skeleton of a child, or the eyes of a hoopoe, holding a 

 ducat or seven small pebbles in the mouth, pressing the left hand 

 firmly against the side, crooking the second finger, or pulling off a 

 button from the trousers while in the act of swearing, or spitting 

 immediately after taking an oath. The Russian province of Viatka 



