44 Conception, Birth and Infancy in 



or the mother of the baby, as the case may be, has always at her 

 command a quick and drastic remedy. She need only spit in the 

 direction of the danger or directly on the child, and preferably 

 three times and as forcibly as possible. 231 If a woman of question- 

 able character has kissed a newborn baby, somebody ought to save 

 it from any evil which this act of affection might cause, by spitting, 

 even were it only once, behind the kisser. 232 



The situation seems to have been much the same two thousand 

 years ago. There would be many occasions in the early life of man 

 when spitting would be the quickest form of counter magic to use. 

 As a gesture of contempt, hostility, and insult, it should put a stop 

 to any attack. So we learn that if a person gazed upon a sleeping 

 infant, or a stranger entered the room who might be dangerous in 

 some magic way, a right-minded and prudent nurse would spit 

 thrice in the direction of her charge. 233 



Even such a parental pleasure as keeping track of a child's 

 growth by measuring and weighing is an indulgence fraught with 

 peril of an occult character which derives, in its ultimate analysis, 

 from the emotion of envy. Anybody who knows just how great 

 or how numerous a person's blessings are is able, out of jealousy, 

 to lay a spell on him or work some other form of sorcery to end the 

 good fortune. To bewitch or injure someone magically with the 

 tongue's speech was in Latin fascinare lingua. You could do 

 it, for example, as we learn from lovelorn Catullus, if you knew 

 just how many multitudinous kisses a woman bestowed upon her 

 lover. 234 The superstition about exact numbering and other beliefs 

 akin to it continue to be current in Latin countries. 235 And so an 

 Italian father may have the good sense to realize that if he remains 

 ignorant of exactly how much his incomparable youngster is break- 

 ing records of growth for his age, he is less likely to indulge in 

 thoughtless boasting and so unwittingly to draw the attention of 

 a baleful eye of envy which can stunt the baby's increase. 236 



In order to meet the threats of an evil eye and in general to 

 annul the maleficence of magic, boys and girls in Roman times 

 used to wear, suspended from the neck, the bulla, a sort of locket 

 or spherical pendant. This contained an amulet (most frequently 

 the figure of a membrum virile, such as Italian babies may still 

 wear), and might be inscribed with its owner's names. Amulets 

 seem to have been deemed most effective when they were obscene, 



