NA TURE 



705 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1921. 



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Modern Credulity. 



DURING the last ten or twelve years there 

 has been a remarkable recrudescence of 

 the amulet, or mascot. Nowadays there must be 

 few collections of jewelry which do not contain 

 at least one piece for luck, whether it be a four- 

 leaved shamrock, an effigy of a pig-, cat, or other 

 animal in one of the precious metals, a holed 

 coin inset with a turquoise or other stone, real 

 or imitation, or some similar object to which pro- 

 tective properties are attributed in some degree. 

 It must afford a peculiar joy to Sir William 

 Ridgeway to see his theory of the magical 

 clement in primitive jewelry translated into actual 

 practice in civilised conditions. The more 

 grotesque or bizarre the object, the greater the 

 attachment of the owner. Hence the remarkable 

 forms taken by ornaments in china and other 

 material. Nor need the mascot be an inanimate 

 ■object. Dogs, cats, monkeys, and other animals 

 are pressed into service. In Paris hunchbacks 

 have a regular clientele among stockbrokers, who 

 make a point of touching the deformity before an 

 important deal ; while one French actor is said 

 always to have a hunchback in his dressing-room 

 during a first night. 



The mascot appeals in particular to those whose 

 pursuits expose them to risk or to the effects of 

 chance. It is quite in keeping that their use 

 NO. 270I, VOL. 107] 



should be particularly prevalent among those ad- 

 dicted to betting and card-playing, among 

 members of the theatrical profession, and among 

 motorists. In the case of the last-named the 

 practice is perhaps more common in France and 

 the United States ; but even in this country, at 

 one time, quite a considerable proportion of cars 

 carried a "Teddy" bear, a black cat, a golliwog, 

 or a policeman on the bonnet. The fact that 

 applications have been entered for patent rights 

 in special types of improved mascots and luck- 

 charms suggests a sense of humour not without 

 cynicism in the would-be patentees. 



During the war the belief in the efficacy of 

 mascots was both extended and intensified. The 

 Army has always had a certain inclination towards 

 some form of luck-bringer, which, more often 

 than not, is the regimental pet. The goat of 

 the Royal Welsh Fusiliers is perhaps the best- 

 known example. The recognised use of the 

 mascot in the Army, however, is collective rather 

 than personal ; and it was the personal use which 

 became so prominent during the war. It ex- 

 tended to the whole community, and not merely 

 to those on active service. There were few into 

 whose lives the elements of luck and chance did 

 not seem to have entered with a tragic signifi- 

 cance which was absent before the war. 



The mascot is not the only form taken by an 

 interest in the occult. Apart from the serious 

 study of telepathy and other forms of psychic 

 manifestation, as well as the more or less religi- 

 ous belief in faith-healing, there was, before the 

 war, a great deal of half-frivolous and wholly 

 superstitious belief in crystal-gazing, palmistry, 

 and other means of foretelling the future which 

 afforded an opportunity to innumerable charlatans 

 to prey upon a credulous public. During the last 

 few years, for reasons which are obvious, this 

 interest has assumed a more serious character, 

 and a desire, perhaps not consciously realised, 

 to mitigate the loss of an intimate association has 

 intensified the wish to know something of the 

 life after death and to communicate with those 

 who have "passed beyond." As a result, a mass 

 of evidence has been brought forward which, it 

 is maintained, establishes the possibility of com- 

 munication with the spirits of the departed, and 

 affords some indication of the character and con- 

 ditions of existence after death. Investigations 

 have been carried a step further. The evidence 

 is no longer confined to the existence of spirits 

 once embodied in human form. To earth-spirits, 

 elementals, poltergeists, and other influences 



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