328 PEDIPALPI — SCORPIONS. 



face toward the sign Scorpio, in the heavens, and repeats 

 this prayer; whik; every person present, at the conclusion of 

 a sentence, claps his hands. After this is done they think 

 that they are perfectly safe ; nor, if they should chance to 

 see any Scorpions during that night, do they scruple to take 

 hold of them, trusting to the efficacy of this fancied all- 

 powerful charm. "I have frequently seen," says Francklin, 

 "the man in whose family I lived, repeat the above-mentioned 

 prayer, on being desired by his children to bind the Scor- 

 pions; after which the whole family has gone quietly and 

 contentedly to bed, fully persuaded that they could receive 

 no hurt by them."^ 



Bell says the Persians "have such a dread of these creat- 

 ures, that, when provoked by any person, they wish a Kashan 

 Scorpion may sting him."'^ 



An old story is, that a Scorpion surrounded with live 

 coals, finding no method of escaping, grows desperate from 

 its situation, and stings itself to death. This, though con- 

 sidered a mere fable of antiquity, may still have some truth, 

 if we believe the following from the pen of Ulloa : "We 

 more than once," says this traveler, "entertained ourselves 

 with an experiment of putting a Scorpion into a glass ves- 

 sel, and injecting a little smoke of tobacco, and immediately 

 by stopping it found that its aversion to this smell is such, 

 that it falls into the most furious agitations, till, giving itself 

 several stings on the head, it finds relief by destroying 

 itself.'" There is also told a story in the East Indies, that 

 "the Scorpion is sometimes so pestered with the pismires, 

 that he stings himself to death in the head with his tail, and 

 so becomes a prey to the pismires."* 



The Scorpion was an emblem of the Egyptian goddess 

 Selk ; and she is usually found represented with this animal 

 bound upon her head.^ 



^lian mentions Scorpions of Coptos, which, though in- 

 flicting a deadly sting, and dreaded by the people, so far re- 

 spected the Egyptian goddess Isis, who was particularly 

 worshiped in that city, that women, in going to express 



1 Pinkerton's Col. of Voy. and Trav., ix. 261. 



2 Ibid., vii. 298. 



3 Ibid., xiv. 348. 



4 Churchiirs Coll. of Voy. and Trav., ii. 316. 



5 Wilkinson's And. Egypt., v. 52, 254. 



