848 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



In her recent volume, the fourth of the 

 Memoirs of the American Folklore Society, 

 Mrs. Bergen* has brought together and 

 classified fourteen hundred and seventy five 

 different superstitions, thus giving us the 

 most complete collection in English. When 

 it is known that this arduous task was ac- 

 complished during years of invalidism, and 

 is, moreover, but the first installment of the 

 matter in hand, we marvel at the industry of 

 the author. The items are arranged in nine- 

 teen chapters, covering the range of current 

 belief under the headings Babyhood, Child- 

 hood, Physical Characteristics, Projects, Hal- 

 loween and other Festivals, Love and Mar- 

 riage, Wishes, Dreams, Luck, Money, Visit- 

 ors, Cures, Warts, Weather, Moon, Sun, 

 Death Omens, Mortuary Customs, and Mis- 

 cellaneous. What memories of childhood 

 are aroused at the forms of asseveration, such 

 as "Honor bright," "Hope I'll die," etc., 

 used to bolster up some unsteady tale, or the 

 terrible imprecation against disloyalty : 



Tell tale tit, 



Your tougiie shall be slit, 

 And every dog in our town 

 It shali have a bit 1 



A deeper interest is added when we think 

 that these childish f ormula3 are but parallels 

 of the more serious rites of savages, and link 

 the play of the one to the horrible incanta- 

 tions of the other. Of the augury of the 

 daisy petals — 



Ee loves me, he loves me not — 



nine variants are given. Other interesting 

 kinds of " projects," or " trying fortunes," 

 are connected with apple seeds, bed, buttons, 

 four-leaved clovers, stars, water, etc. The 

 fifty or more signs and charms for the causes 

 and cures of warts will be welcome to suf- 

 ferers from that affliction. To the student 

 of comparative mythology the solar and lunar 

 beliefs will offer many links to the Aryan 

 stock. In fact, it is the study of relation- 

 ships which gives most value to this or any 

 work of folklore. The introduction and 



* Current Superstitions. Edited by Fanny D. 

 Bergen. With Notes, and an Introduction by 

 WiJllam Wells NewcU. Pp. 101, 8vo. Boston : 

 Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price, $3.25. 



notes by Mr. Newell are written with the 

 usual care and clearness of this investigator, 

 and add an invaluable guide to the interpre- 

 tation of the superstitions. Mr. Newell says : 

 " In commending this collection to the atten- 

 tion of psychologists, and to the continuing 

 industry of students of folklore, I need only 

 express my hope that it may be sufficient to 

 make clear how far reaching are the studies 

 for which folklore supplies material. The 

 history of religion, the theory of mythologies, 

 can not afford to overlook modern popular 

 beliefs, in which ancient conceptions appear 

 as still efi'ective." 



Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongcon spent twelve 

 years among the ruined cities of the Mayas 

 in Yucatan, living with the people, and are 

 confident that they have mastered the Maya 

 language, and learned to read the inscrip- 

 tions traced in it. They have made the 

 study of the subject the chief occupation of 

 their lives. One who talks with Dr. Le 

 Plongeon will hardly doubt that his asser- 

 tions are sincere. From his studies of the 

 Maya records, and his comparative studies 

 of Eastern archasology and mythology, he 

 draws most startling conclusions. Among 

 those developed in this book * are the his- 

 toric reality of the story of the Atlantis, and 

 the ascription of an extreme antiquity and 

 an extensive and potent influence to Maya 

 civilization. When Egypt and Accad were 

 young, or even before, he believes, the Mayas 

 were living in Yucatan, a civilized people, 

 with arts and architecture as we see them 

 illustrated in the ruins at Chichen and other 

 mysterious cities, while their colonists 

 swarmed in Egypt and Babylonia and all 

 the East, and left imperishable marks on the 

 civilization and the languages of all those 

 countries. This intercourse ceased with the 

 catastrophe of Atlantis, which made the 

 ocean unnavigable for thousands of years, 

 and the story of the Mayas was forgotten. 

 Much space is given in the book to the de- 



* Queen M60 and the Egyptian Sphinx. By 

 Augustus Le Plongeon. New York : The au- 

 thor, nnd the Metaphysical Pnblishing Company, 

 503 Fifth Avenue. London : Kegan Paul, Trench 

 & Co. Pp. 2;7, 4to, With two portraits and 73 

 photographic plates. 



