Note 248 — Chapter II

Footnote 248

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The Greeks and Romans thought that a field was completely protected against insects if a menstruous woman walked round it with bare feet and streaming hair (Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvii. 266, xxviii. 78; Columella, De re rustica, x. 358 sq., xi. 3. 64; Palladius, De re rustica, i. 35. 3; Geoponica, xii. 8. 5 sq.; Aelian, Nat. Anim. vi. 36). A similar preventive is employed for the same purpose by North American Indians and European peasants. See H.R. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia, 1853-1856), v. 70; F.J. Wiedemann, Aus dem inneren und aüssern Leben der Ehsten (St. Petersburg, 1876), p. 484. Compare J. Haltrich, Zur Volkskunde der Siebenbürger Sachsen (Vienna, 1885), p. 280; Adolph Heinrich, Agrarische Sitten und Gebräuche unter den Sachsen Siebenbürgens (Hermannstadt, 1880), p. 14; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,⁴ iii. 468; G. Lammert, Volksmedizin und medizinischer Aberglaube aus Bayern (Würzburg, 1869), p. 147. Among the Western Dénés it is believed that one or two transverse lines tattooed on the arms or legs of a young man by a pubescent girl are a specific against premature weakness of these limbs. See A.G. Morice, "Notes, Archaeological, Industrial, and Sociological, on the Western Dénés," Transactions of the Canadian Institute, iv. (1892-93) p. 182. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia thought that the Dawn of Day could and would cure hernia if only an adolescent girl prayed to it to do so. Just before daybreak the girl would put some charcoal in her mouth, chew it fine, and spit it out four times on the diseased place. Then she prayed: "O Day-dawn! thy child relies on me to obtain healing from thee, who art mystery. Remove thou the swelling of thy child. Pity thou him, Day-Dawn!" See James Teit, The Thompson Indians of British Columbia, pp. 345 sq. (The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, April, 1900). To cure the painful and dangerous wound inflicted by a ray-fish, the Indians of the Gran Chaco smoke the wounded limb and then cause a woman in her courses to sit astride of it. See G. Pelleschi, Eight Months on the Gran Chaco of the Argentine Republic (London, 1886), p. 106. An ancient Hindoo method of securing prosperity was to swallow a portion of the menstruous fluid. See W. Caland, Altindisches Zauberritual (Amsterdam, 1900), pp. 57 sq. To preserve a new cow from the evil eye Scottish Highlanders used to sprinkle menstruous blood on the animal; and at certain seasons of the year, especially at Beltane (the first of May) and Lammas (the first of August) it was their custom to sprinkle the same potent liquid on the doorposts and houses all round to guard them from harm. The fluid was applied by means of a wisp of straw, and the person who discharged this salutary office went round the house in the direction of the sun. See J.G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1900), p. 248. These are examples of the beneficent application of the menstruous energy.