Ancient Rome and Modern Italy 77 



341 G. Ferraro, op. cit. (see note 6), 188; cf. I. Nieri, op. cit. (see note 58), 373. 



342 P. H. Williams, op. cit. (see note 4) , 13 ; 144; A. De Nino, op. cit. (see 

 note 66), I, 144; G. Pitre, "Alberi e piante negli usi e nelle credenze popolari 

 siciliane", Archivio, V (1886), 180; J. B. Andrews, "Neapolitan Witchcraft", 

 Folklore, VIII (1897), 1; F. Davegno, "Le superstizioni di Portofino", Archivio 

 per I'antropologia e la etnologia, XVIII (1888), 88. On la notte di S. Simone: 

 M. Placucci, op. cit. (see note 91), IV, 48; cf. Messina e dintorni (see note 23), 

 79. 



343 On his place in medicine: M. Neuburger, Geschichte der Medizin, I, 292. 



344 Cat. De Agric. 160; Plin. N.H. 17.267. 



345 The practice is astonishingly widely attested: M. Pasquarelli, op. cit. (see 

 note 4), XV, 503-504; A. Karusio, "Pregiudizi popolari putignanesi (Bari)", 

 Archivio per I'antropologia e la etnologia, XVII (1887), 315-316; A D'Amato, 

 "Folklore irpino", // folklore italiano, I; (1925), 88, no. 17; E. P. Heaton, 

 By-paths in Sicily, 90-100; 110; R. Corso, Reviviscenze, studi di tradizioni 

 popolari italiane, 7 ; 36 ; 44 ; M. L. Wagner, Sopra alcune pratiche magiche, 402. 

 Similar superstition is reported from England: E. Sidney Hartland, "Cleft Ashes 

 for Infantile Hernia", Folklore, VII (1896), 303-306, plates II and III. Also 

 from our country and Germany, Notes and Queries, Ser. 6, I (1880), 16; 75; 

 234. Cf., also, C. S. Burne, The Handbook of Folklore, 156; W. G. Black, 

 Folk-medicine, 67-68; C. J. S. Thompson, The Hand of Destiny, 26. There is 

 an interesting, though not quite convincing, theory that the perforated stone or 

 the cleft of a tree through which an afflicted child is passed represents the female 

 genitalia, so that the act symbolizes a new birth for the victim, a regeneration 

 to health, shall we say? See Benjamin L. Gordon, The Romance of Medicine, 

 489-490. A fact which greatly helps probably in fostering faith in the cure is 

 that umbilical hernia (a case pictured by John A. Foote, Diseases of the New 

 Born, 148, fig. 51) and inguinal hernia (see same book, 150, fig. 53) and hydro- 

 cele, which ignorant persons can readily confuse with the latter, all have more 

 or less tendency to a spontaneous cure. The layman may be referred to William 

 Sheldon, Diseases of Infancy and Childhood, 224-225; E. Feer, The Diagnosis of 

 Children's Diseases, 389; C. G. Grulee and B. E. Bonar, op. cit. (see note 259), 

 III, 158; 160; 263; L. E. Holt, The Diseases of Infancy and Childhood? 113; 

 636 ; Henry E. Tuley, The Diseases of Children, 494 ; Henri de Rothschild, Traite 

 d' hygiene et de pathologie du nourrisson et des enfants du premier age, 514; 

 John Ruhrah, A Manual of the Diseases of Infants and Children, 67. 



^N.H. 30.135. ^ N.H. 30.137. 348 N.H. 30.136. 



349 Cf. Z. Zanetti, Nonne e bambini, 34. 



350 One of the most recent authoritative works on Italy, Christ Stopped at Eboli, 

 by Carlo Levi, which deals with Lucania, can be cordially recommended to those 

 who have no knowledge of how primitive the life of South Italians can be. 



