108 ON THE ORIGIN OF CREMATION, 
al 
‘ a basket, filled with bread and cheese, on the pot-hook that 
“ impended over the fire in the middle of the room, which the 
“ company sit around, and the child is thrice handed across. 
“ the fire, with the design to frustrate all attempts of evil spi- 
“ rits, or evil eyes. This,” he adds, “ originally seems to have 
“ been designed as a purification, and of idolatrous origin, as. 
“ the Jeradlites made their children to pass through the fire to. 
“ Moloch *.” 
The mode of performing this unhallowed rite is didfexenggd in 
some parts of the Highlands. One holds the new-born child 
by the shoulders, and another by the feet, while they shove it 
backwards and forwards across the fire. This is sometimes 
used as a test, whether the child be of the right blood, or mere- 
ly a fairy urchin substituted in lieu of the genuine offspring. 
If, after this operation, the child, on being put to bed, fall into. 
a copious perspiration, it is viewed as an infallible proof that 
there has been no elvish imposition. It must be admitted, in- 
deed, that scarcely any method could be adopted more likely 
to ensure the wished for favourable omen. It may be obser- 
ved, that, in the investigation of ancient superstitions, we have 
many examples of a change of the reason assigned for a pecu- 
liar rite, especially if there has been a change of the religious. 
ereed of'a people; when there is no ground to doubt that the 
rite itself has remained unaltered. m 
I have met with one superstition in the low country, (for it 
still exists in the county of Angus), which seems to claim the 
same origin. A burning coal is put into the water in which. a 
new-born child is to be erates Were this important ceremo- 
ny neglected, it is believed by many that the infant could not 
thrive. 
The 
* Tour in Scotland, 1772, p. 46: 
