AN EXORCISM. 85 



ground, cutting off all that is green and what they can 

 overcome, which they do until they reach their ap- 

 pointed destination or limit, which is the ocean's water, 

 in which they swim about for a short time, and at 

 length drown/' 



Pontoppidan has a word to say also about the falling 

 of the lemming from the clouds. " There remains one 

 thing doubtful, which is this, whether it is to be be- 

 lieved, according to common rumour, that the lemmings 

 do fall from the air. Wormius, Scaliger, and other 

 great men, do not think this impossible to be, as frogs 

 and other small creatures can in their embryo state be 

 drawn up into the clouds, and, being formed, at length 

 fall down ; cum igitur tot animalium genera in nubibus 

 generata pluviis,fide dignorum auctorum constet testi- 

 monies " 



It is a fact interesting to naturalists that the lemming 

 when migrating a century ago, followed precisely the 

 same course that is adopted in these days. This is 

 proved by the concurrence of all naturalists in Norway. 

 Another fact worth mentioning is this, although the 

 migration of these little creatures is considered to por- 

 tend a bad harvest, the hunters expect good sport that 

 year with the lynx, fox, and glutton, for those animals 

 follow in pursuit of the lemmings. 



So great a misfortune was the invasion of the lem- 

 mings considered in ancient times that a regular fast- 

 day, or bede-dag, was kept once a year to avert the 

 plague. The following is a copy of the exorcism pro- 

 nounced by the clergy in the churches throughout 

 Norway on those fast-days : " Exorcizo vos pestiferos 

 vermes, mures, aves, sen locustas aut animalia alia per 

 Deum Patrem Omnipotentem, et Jesum Christum filium 



