266 OF METEOROLOGICAL CHAP. 10. 



up by its bill, its breast will always be turned 

 to the quarter from whence the Wind bloweth ; 

 this when the Wind is strong may be accounted 

 for mechanically from its shape, but it is asserted 

 to be the case always; and the bird called there- 

 fore the Natural Weathercock.* 



It is an old observation, that the appearance 

 of a certain Beetle, called Tenebrio morfoagtu, 

 was a presage of death, which may be founded 

 on observation. For the appearance of the 

 insect may, in reality, forebode the death of 

 sick persons in the house where it is observed ; 

 since the same peculiarity of atmosphere which 

 may bring out the Beetle, may be such a one 

 as would produce the death of the patient. 



If it be by some such association of ideas as 

 what has been above described, that most of the 

 superstitious devotion paid to particular birds 

 and animals has originated, the worship of the 

 Ibis, and of the Scarabaeus in Egypt, and of 

 many other animals in Asia and Africa, might 

 prove, if we were able to trace them, to have 

 sprung from a similar source.f 



* See Pseudonia Epidemica, by Dr. Brown, 2d edit, 

 p. 104. 



t Some animals appear to have become sacred from their 

 absolute utility, as the tame Ichneumon in parts of Egypt. 



