28 Impact of Iron on Thought 



and in the highlands of Scotland, after a death, someone may want to stick 



some iron object into all foods in the house "to prevent death from entering 



them." 



Naturally, in many parts of the world iron is used as an amulet. In Italy 



one of the many charms used against the evil eye is a tiny horseshoe worn on 



the watch chain. In parts of Africa women and children are weighed down 



with iron rings. In India and elsewhere protective bits of iron are placed in 



the lying-in bed and in the child's cradle. Iron is placed in or under the bed 



to keep away the nightmare or to cure illness. In Wales, when a man has had 



two strokes, a hatchet is laid on the threshold to keep away the third and fatal 



attack. 



Iron Finger Rings 



In my intern days in a big county hospital, I used to see persons wearing a ring 

 made of a horseshoe nail, which was supposed to protect from rheumatism 

 and cramps. Interestingly, Professor Bade, when he excavated Mizpah in 

 Palestine, found several such iron finger rings, doubtless used to protect the 

 wearer against evil spirits. Similar rings were worn by some of the Greeks who 

 fought in the Trojan War. 



Centuries ago in England cramp rings were worn by women between their 

 breasts. Sir Christopher Hatton sent one to Queen Elizabeth and directed that 

 it be worn "betwixt the sweet dugges." The best cramp rings were made from 

 iron that had been used as a hinge for a coffin. 



Even children in their games have used this idea of the protective power of 

 iron. In olden days if, in a game of tag, a boy being chased could only touch 

 cold iron, he was safe. 



Iron and Magic Do Not Mix 



All over the world, alongside of this idea that iron is so abhorrent to the powers 

 of darkness and evil that it can be used to ward them off, is the closely related 

 idea that if one is to invoke the aid of these powers in the working of some 

 magic one must not use any iron in the ritual. For instance, and here we get 

 back to pins, when in certain parts of Europe a child has sore eyes, and an old 

 woman by hocus pocus has transferred the disease to a lizard's eyes, in order 

 to keep the disease from returning to the child she picks out the animal's eyes 

 ivitli a brass pi?!. To use a needle here would be to invalidate the spell. 



Similarly, when in the highlands of Scotland or in Tibet an old woman is 

 cleaning the scapula of a sheep to use it for telling fortunes she must use an 

 old flint and never an iron knife. Even today in Central Africa when a boy 

 is being circumcised according to ancient ritual the priest must use a paleo- 

 lithic flint knife. He might possibly use a bronze one, but certainly never a 

 steel one. Also, in old Mexico, midwives felt it essential to cut the umbilical 

 cord with a sharp flake of obsidian and not with a metal knife. Frazer found 

 that in this country the Indians, even after they had good steel knives and 



