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pears to have been a substitute for the gesture called the 

 jico of the ancient Romans and modern Neapolitans, which 

 combined the Dualism, or positive and negative principle. 

 It is still used, according to the Canon De Jorio, when a lay 

 Neapolitan wishes another good luck, when he is going on 

 an expedition, &c. And we find the fico, combined with 

 other emblems into the form of the crux ansata, in the mu- 

 seum at Naples, where there are many examples analogous 

 to many Gnostic emblems, which are well known ; some of 

 which have been published by the Rev. Dr. Walsh. One 

 found in the baggage of Prince Charles Edward, after the 

 battle of Culloden, has on it a woman, in a better style of 

 art than that of the shela-na-gigs; but, probably, intended 

 for the same purpose, " as a charm" to avert the evil eye, 

 and gain the good luck instead. 



The crosses which are placed round certain enclosures 

 in Ireland, and act as termini, or boundary marks, had pro- 

 bably the same use formerly, to keep off the evil-eye and its 

 influence from the enclosure, so that the sleep of the dead 

 might not be disturbed ; hence the request to pray for the re- 

 pose of the soul of Bran, on the tombstone in the museum, 

 and the usual " may he rest in peace" ; terms calculated to 

 neutralise the disturbing influence of the evil- eye principle. 

 In Asia and Africa things owned by individuals are frequently 

 tabooed, or marked with the cross, or circle, crescent, or 

 both combined, which, it is believed, protects them from the 

 evil-eye, and consequently from being coveted by people, 

 or rendered unlucky. This practice, or the notions which 

 caused it, appears to be almost as old as man himself, 

 and is found incorporated into the language, and occupying a 

 greater or less proportion of the popular belief in every 

 country. The pattern which composes the tracery on our 

 cross of Cong, and other old Irish shrines, reliquaries, and 

 the tomb at Cashel, which represents an animal like a dog 

 or serpent always worrying itself, or another creature of the 



