60 Conception, Birth and Infancy in 



see, e.g., Prop. 4.8.3-14; Ovid Fast. 4.323-32S; Plin. N.H. 7.120; 28.12; Val. Max. 

 8.1. 



21 N.H. 36.142 and note 63 in the Translation of Pliny by Bostock and Riley, 

 VI, 361; Apul. Apol. 45; 48. We are reminded of the Biblical trial by ordeal: 

 Numbers 5.11-31, the Roman test at Lanuvium (Prop. 4.8.3-14), not to mention 

 others. 



22 R. Corso (Reviviscenze, studi di tradizioni popolari italiane, 25) cites the 

 case of Macrina, wife of the consul Torquatus. Cf. P. H. Williams, op. cit. (see 

 note 4), 87; S. La Sorsa, Costumi e riti pugliesi, 3. The belief is so widespread 

 in our country that it figures among the fatuities noted by Morris Fishbein, 

 Shattering Health Superstitions, 72-79. On its inacceptability see, e.g., J. Morris 

 Slemons, The Prospective Mother 3 , 86 ; and, in general, on prenatal influences 

 Joseph Garland, The Youngest of the Family, 14; F. C. Irving, The Expectant 

 Mother's Handbook, 196-197. 



23 Messina e dintorni, guida a cura del municipio (1902), 92; Z. Zanetti, La 

 medicina, 110; Nonne e bambini, saggio di credenze popolari umbre, (hereafter 

 abbrev. Nonne) 28-29; G. Finamore, op. cit. (see note 5), 59; 60; G. B. Corsi, 

 "Usi natalizi senesi", Archivio, XIII (1894), 474; S. La Sorsa, Costumi e. riti 

 pugliesi, 3; P. Ellero, Scritti minori. Delle superstizioni volgari in Triuli, 21; 

 G. Pitre, Medicina Popolare Siciliana, 67. Italians call the marks voglie, i.e., 

 "wishes." 



24 Z. Zanetti, La medicina, 138. According to a Pennsylvania superstition, 

 rubbing it with the hand of a corpse will make it disappear: E. M. Fogel, Beliefs 

 and Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans, 296, no. 1567. 



25 Z. Zanetti, op. cit., 81; cf. Ill; 117: cause of a miscarriage or death; 177: 

 brings a sty to the eye. 26 N.H. 7 A3. For the stricter use of the terms 

 "abortion", "miscarriage" and "premature labor" cf. J. Whitridge Williams, 

 Obstetrics*, 759. ™ N.H. 7.42; Gell. 3.16.24. 2 *N.H. 32.8. 29 Cf. N.H. 

 21.12. so H. N. Maugham, The Book of Italian Travel, 46; W. J. A. Stamer, 

 Dolce Napoli, 8; C. De Brosses, Selection from the Letters of, Transl. of R. S. 

 Gower, 230; Mrs. Piozzi, Glimpses of Italian Society in the 18th Century, 208- 

 209; H. I. Tuckerman, Isabel or Sicily, 51; W. W. Story, Roba di Roma, 212. 

 31 W. J. A. Stamer, Dolce Napoli, 8. 32 W. W. Story, op. cit., 501 ; cf. 505-506. 

 During pregnancy a woman may develop an appetite for strange or unwonted 

 food: cf. Albert Westland, The Wife and Mother, 13. 



33 N.H. 28.98. 34 ]Sf_H. 30.124. The ashes from burning an ibis are another 

 suggestion: 30.142. 35 N.H. 10.32; 30.130. 



™N.H. 10.12; 30.130; 36.149-151; Lucan 6.676. 



37 N.H. 37.154; 37.163; 37.180. It is noteworthy that a piece of wood which 

 has in it something that grew in it parasitically, e.g., mistletoe, is used today to 

 prevent miscarriage from occurring among goats, sheep, and cows. It is only 

 necessary to put it somewhere in their stable: Z. Zanetti, La medicina, 118. 



38 G. Bellucci, II feticismo primitivo in Italia e le sue forme di adattamento, 92: 

 una concrezione argillo-ferruginosa; cf. 36: concrezione limonitica; see fig. 15 a , a 

 steatite. 



39 N.H. 36.140. 40 Cf., e.g., N.H. 28.246: those found in the dung or in the 

 uterus of hinds, used as an amulet. 41 N.H. 30.130; 36.151. J. Mantegazza, 



