POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



861 



but only of a part of three fifths of the 

 population, among whom Protestants of 

 every denomination are included, and it 

 has long ceased to be a living faith there. 

 It would be more reasonable to ascribe the 

 prevalence of self-murder to drink, for Switz- 

 erland is one of the most drunken countries 

 in the world. The fact is, however, that 

 suicide is not excessively prevalent among 

 the Swiss. Self-murders are committed in 

 the country, but not by natives. Thus the 

 statistics show that, of 263 suicides com- 

 mitted in the Canton of Geneva between 

 1873 and 1S78, 48 - 3 per cent were com- 

 mitted by foreigners, and only 26 - 6 per 

 cent by natives of the canton, the others 

 having been natives of other cantons than 

 Geneva. 



Folk-Lore of the Elder and the Juniper. 



The elder and the juniper were formerly 

 sacred to the German goddess Bercht Hol- 

 da, and many traces of their former sanc- 

 tity remain in popular customs. Thus elder- 

 branches are scattered around, and juniper 

 is smoked, on the day of Corpw Christi. 

 The German name of the juniper ( Wach- 

 holder) appears to be a corruption of a com- 

 bination of words, which, when analyzed, 

 are found to signify the living tree of Holda. 

 A number of superstitions may be traced 

 back to the former connection of the elder- 

 bush with the goddess. Witches are thought 

 to produce bad weather by stirring water 

 with branches of elder. Some believe that 

 to burn elder-wood will bring harm to the 

 house. It is not considered lucky to cut 

 down elder-bushes or juniper-trees without 

 asking their consent, and offering an ex- 

 change. February was the month of Holda, 

 and Lady-Day was her particular day. On 

 that day, the women were accustomed to 

 dance in the sunshine, having elder sticks 

 in their hands, with which they struck the 

 men who came near them. The ancient 

 Prussians made offerings to the god of death 

 under elder-trees, and the pollen was con- 

 sidered dangerous. The Slovaks made elder- 

 men out of the pith, to be servants of the 

 death-god ; and the Poles never ventured to 

 cut down the bush except under the protec- 

 tion of an incantation. When any one died 

 in Hildesheim, the undertaker took the 

 measure for his coffin in silence with an 



elder-rod, and the driver of the hearse had a 

 whip of elder-wood. The gods of the lower 

 world were propitious to every one who 

 planted an elder. In Vinchgau, in the 

 Tyrol, it was thought that any one on whose 

 grave a transplanted elder-bush became 

 green was happy ; the bier of the dead was 

 a cross made entirely of elder-wood. The 

 wood was worn as a charm for protection 

 against epilepsy, and whoever took hold of 

 the amulet acquired the disease. Similar 

 superstitions were attached to the juniper. 

 The berries were holy ; the plant, bearing 

 green berries along with ripe ones, gave 

 protection against the small-pox, as well as 

 against witches. The pollen was consid- 

 ered invaluable for the young growth of the 

 wood. The spirits loved to dwell among 

 the bushes ; whoever could make himself 

 invisible could change himself into a juni- 

 per-bush, which no one would dare to touch. 

 A statue of the Virgin was surrounded by 

 juniper, and the Christ-child had a queen- 

 bee in his hand. The dead were burned 

 with juniper-wood. The hornbeam had such 

 an affection for the juniper that it would 

 die if its neighbor was plucked up. The 

 linden, the hypericum, the hazel, the service- 

 tree, and the ash, were also consecrated to 

 Holda, and the first tree in the list played a 

 prominent part as a magic tree, with which 

 many different usages are associated. 



Advantages of Cremation. Dr. W. H. 



Curtis, of Chicago, in an address before the 

 American Public Health Association, at its 

 Savannah meeting in 1881,* summarizes the 

 objections to the disposition of the dead by 

 burial as consisting in the pollution of the 

 soil, air, and water a real danger in crowd- 

 ed cemeteries; the peril from body-snatchers; 

 and the possible danger of persons being 

 buried alive. The objection to crema- 

 tion, that it is a heathen rite and not a 

 Christian one, is dismissed as untenable ; it 

 may be as Christian as any other method. 

 There remain but two objections that de- 

 serve notice. Cremation may be used to 

 destroy evidences of crime ; and it is too 

 costly for general use. The former objec. 

 tion is outweighed by the advantages that 

 might be derived from the general adoption 

 of cremation, and can be obviated by the 



* Riverside Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 



