4l2 Omens and Superstitions 



It often happens that the careless observer has for the first 

 time his attention called forcibly to some appearance of nature 

 by accidental circumstances : if at all superstitious, he imme- 

 diately prognosticates the most disastrous consequences from 

 that which a little more observation would have convinced 

 him was but a phenomenon a little more conspicuous than 

 usual. The northern lights are said to have caused much 

 consternation when first observed ; and they have lately been 

 viewed with more than ordinary interest, as it appears from 

 the Newcastle Chronicle, that last autumn [1830];, when they 

 were more than usually brilliant, some of the inhabitants of 

 Weardale were convinced they saw, on one occasion, very 

 distinctly, the figure of a man on a white horse, with a red 

 sword in his hand, move across the heavens; and are, no 

 doubt, now certain that it foretold the present eventful times. 

 Even this belief may be accounted for on such accidental 

 coincidences, or even philosophically, by assuming as a fact 

 that this phenomenon is the result of an electrical change in the 

 atmosphere, and that such a change usually precedes rain. 

 Now, if such happen in spring or in summer, and before such 

 a quantity of rain as is found to affect the harvest, it may too 

 often betoken scarcity, discontent, and turbulence, as such are 

 the times when all grievances, either real or imaginary, are 

 brought forward for redress. The origin of the superstition 

 of the sailors, of nailing a horse-shoe to the mast, is to me 

 unaccountable, unless it may have been, like the following, a 

 trial of the credulity of the superstitious by some person for 

 amusement. [Sailors sometimes make considerable pecuniary 

 sacrifices for the acquisition of a child's caul (foetal envelope of 

 the head), the retaining of which is to infallibly preserve them 

 from drowning. — J. Z).] Some years ago a pretty wide district 

 was alarmed by an account of the beans [jPaba vulgaris var. 

 equina] being laid the wrong way in the pod that year, which 

 most certainly foreboded something terrible to happen in a 

 short time, and this produced much consternation amongst 

 those who allow their imaginations to run riot. The whole of 

 the terrible omen was this : the eye of the bean was in the 

 pod towards the apex, instead of being towards the footstalk, 

 as might appear at first sight to be its natural position ; and 

 some were scarcely convinced that this was the natural posi- 

 tion of the beans in the pod ever since the creation, even on 

 being shown the pod of the preceding year with the seed 

 in the same position. 



As yet, however, I fear we must sum up in the words of 

 Davy : — " Phi/s. But how can you explain such absurdities 

 as Friday being an unlucky day ; and the terror of spilling 



