178 FLORA OF THE 



According to Carlyle, the French Revolution appears 

 to have been too brisk an alterative which was ad- 

 ministered to the French grey matter of those days ! 

 In spite of even that heroic remedy many superstitions 

 still remain, but time and patience may yet quit man- 

 kind of them, supposing that those protean persecutors 

 of human peace do not assume some other form ! 

 The trident weapon of the future must be freedom of 

 thought, scientific investigation and toleration, held in 

 the grip of common sense. 



Now let us for a moment, by means of drawing a 

 little on our imaginations, see if we cannot form some 

 idea of the genesis of this superstition in the human 

 mind, viz. that horns possess the virtue of counter- 

 acting bad luck, and other machinations of devils. It 

 is no longer possible to escape the conclusion that 

 this formidable superstition has held in bondage the 

 human mind, not only in past ages, but, to a large 

 extent, even at the present time among semi-civilized 

 people. Luck still exercises a fascinating influence over 

 the minds of the ignorant. Indeed, who is there that 

 does not talk of ' good luck ' and ' bad luck,' as if 

 these were either a 'ministering angel' or a 'persecuting 

 devil?' 



Count d'Alviella, at p. 263, refers to an ' anthropoid 

 winged disc' ^ It consists of a winged disc with a 

 1 From Layard's 'Monuments of Niniveh,' ist series, pi. 13. 



