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Empirical  Fallacies  (And  Others) .     j Alsep°tur'i92iarm' 
cidents  that  recollection  brings  often  now  to  mind,  among  others 
the  story  of  "The  Blessing  of  the  Fig."  With  this  legend  in  view, 
let  us  consider — 
The  Barren  Fig  Tree. — The  writer  observed  that  early  in  the 
springtime  certain  trees  in  the  fig  orchards  of  Turkey  were  seem- 
ingly far  ahead  of  the  great  majority  of  fig  trees.  Also  it  was  seen 
that  these  early  fig  trees  frequented  the  edges  of  woodlands  and  in 
several  instances  hedged  dividing  fence  lines  as  well  as  thickets  along 
the  sides  of  the  road.  On  these  trees  the  young  figs  were  large 
before  the  fruit  appeared  on  the  laggards.  The  writer  questioned 
why  this  early  variety  of  figs  was  not  more  abundantly  cultivated. 
Came  the  reply  that  these  were  barren  fig  trees  and  carried  no  figs  to 
maturity.    Came  then  the  story,  as  follows : 
These  figs  appear  early,  they  grow  to  a  certain  size,  and  open 
from  the  rounded  apex.  From  this  orifice  stream  swarms  of  very 
small  flies,  which  seek  the  fruit-bearing  fig  trees  and  inoculate  them 
with  the  spores  borne  from  the  fig  from  out  of  which  they  came. 
Said  my  informant :  "The  fig  you  have  noticed  is  the  wild  fig. 
Its  function  seems  primarily  to  bear  a  crop  of  insects.  After  these 
have  escaped  the  fig  withers,  dies  and  drops  to  the  ground.  The 
tree  bears  no  fruit;  it  is  barren."  In  times  remote,  barren  fig  trees 
in  an  orchard  were  cut  down  as  cumberers  of  the  ground. 
Mythology  of  the  Barren  Fig  Tree. — Continued  my  informant : 
"In  the  early  days,  the  priests,  taking  advantage  of  this  insect  fact 
not  comprehended  by  the  people,  appointed  each  year,  as  a  religious 
ceremony,  a  day  for  blessing  the  fig  trees  in  the  orchards.  At  that 
time,  as  has  been  stated,  the  barren  fig  tree  was  considered  of  no 
value,  all  being  intentionally  exterminated  from  the  orchards.  A 
festival  day  for  'blessing  the  fig'  orchard  was  appointed  for  a  day 
when  the  wild  fig  was  ready  to  open  and  liberate  the  swarm  of  flies. 
The  priest  led  the  villagers  to  the  wild  figs,  dressed  in  holiday  attire 
and  bearing  branches  culled  therefrom  laden  with  these  figs  the 
procession  turned  to  the  fig  orchards.  As  the  man  of  God  blessed 
the  fig  trees  the  villagers  threshed  these  trees  with  the  boughs  laden 
with  the  wild  figs.  This  whipping  of  the  trees  of  the  orchard  re- 
sulted in  the  liberation  of  flies  throughout  the  entire  orchard.  These 
flies,  seeking  the  young  figs  just  appearing  on  the  female  trees  of 
the  orchard,  fertilized  them  with  the  spores  from  the  wild  (barren) 
fig,  and  the  orchard  bore  an  abundance  of  figs. 
