380 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



lastly, she sailed on a Friday. But the superstition 

 was not destroyed, for the ship never returned to port, 

 nor was the manner of her destruction known. Other 

 instances of the kind might be cited. Thus a feeling 

 is entertained by many persons not otherwise super- 

 stitious, that bad luck will follow any wilful attempt 

 to run counter to a superstition. 



It is somewhat singular that attempts to correct 

 even the more degrading forms of superstition have 

 often been as unsuccessful as those attempts which may 

 perhaps not unfairly be called tempting fate. Let me 

 be understood. To refer to the example already given, 

 it is a manifest absurdity to suppose that the sailing of 

 a ship on a Friday is unfortunate ; and it would be a 

 piece of egregious folly to consider such a superstition 

 when one has occasion to take a journey. But the case 

 is different when any one undertakes to prove that the 

 superstition is an absurdity ; simply because he must 

 assume in the first instance . that he will succeed, a 

 result which cannot be certain ; and such confidence, 

 apart from all question of superstition, is a mistake. 

 In fact, a person so acting errs in the very same way as 

 those whom he wishes to correct ; they refrain from a 

 certain act because of a blind fear of bad luck, and he 

 proceeds to the act with an equally blind belief in 

 good luck. 



But one cannot recognise the same objection in the 

 case of a peron who tries to correct some superstition 

 by actions not involving any tempting of fortune. 

 Yet it has not unfrequently happened that such actions 



