Mooney.] -L4:0 [April 15, 



acquainted with the family. "While the evil eye belongs to some persons 

 in a special manner, every man, woman and child possesses this faculty 

 unawares once in every twenty-four hours, and a single glance at such a 

 time is followed by all the ordinary disastrous consequences. This ex- 

 plains many mysterious cases of sickness otherwise unaccountable. 



As has been shown, sickness and death sometimes result from the un- 

 conscious glance of one possessed of the evil eye, without any desire upon 

 his part to injure the victim. Should a person, however, known to pos- 

 sess an evil eye, speak admiringly of another, praising his good looks, his 

 healthful color, or his robust physique, or speak in a similar manner of 

 his child, his cow, his crops, or anything belonging to him, it is inferred 

 that he intends evil toward the person or thing thus spoken of, and meas- 

 ures are at once taken to prevent it. In many cases the evil-minded per- 

 son is compelled by the injured man, on pain of bodily damage, to spit 

 upon the object of his pretended admiration, and at the same time to in- 

 voke a blessing upon it. In Connamara a bowl is sometimes sent around 

 the neighborhood, and each person to whom it is presented is expected to 

 spit into it. The bowl is then taken home, and the person or animal over- 

 looked is anointed with the spittle. The object of this is to obtain the 

 spittle of the person responsible for the injury without giving him offense 

 or awaking his suspicion, as a direct appeal to him would be certain to do. 

 "When the spittle cannot be procured, the same result is accomplished by 

 burning near the atHicted person a piece taken from the clothing of the 

 one who has overlooked him. 



Should any one accidentally meet a person suspected of an evil eye, its 

 influence may be averted by doubling the thumbs under the fingers. This 

 gesture, and the measures just mentioned, are used throughout a great 

 part of Europe for the same purpose. It has been asserted that the closed 

 hand is used from its fancied resemblance in shape to the initial letter of 

 the Hebrew name for God ; but while the name of the Hebrew letter also 

 signifies a liand, the equivalent Phoenician and Egyptian hieroglyph is an 

 open, instead of a closed hand. It seems also to be of different origin 

 from the ancient Italian gesture still used to avert the evil eye, which is 

 made by extending the first and fourth fingers, and is supposed to have 

 had reference originally to a pair of horns. The true reason for using the 

 closed hand probably lies in the fact that in this position the thumb and 

 finger form a cross. In all Catholic countries it is a common practice to 

 make the sign of the cross as a protection against dangers, especially those 

 which are due to the influence of evil spirits. This sign is usually made 

 upon the forehead, while occasionally the second finger is simply crossed 

 over the first, but the method of the closed hand would naturally be 

 adopted in this case to avoid attracting attention, just as an entire neigh- 

 borhood is sometimes laid under contribution for spittle in order to avoid 

 giving offense to the suspected party. 



"When an illness is thought to be due to the influence of the evil eye, 

 the beanfeasac who makes a specialty of such cases is called in to deter- 



