Note 204.2 — Chapter XV · THE COUVADE AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE STRENGTH OF THE BLOOD-TIE—CONCLUSION OF THE INQUIRY INTO THE THEORY OF THE LIFE-TOKEN.

At a sacred cave in Kumaon is a pool where the worshipper must bathe with his clothes on, and then leave them for the priest. iii. N. Ind. N. and Q., 147. An instance is recorded of a spring in Italy where it was believed that a child bathed before its seventh year would be healed of all diseases. The parents left the child’s clothes to be distributed among the poor. A bishop, however, positively put an end to the superstition; and the spring has since been called “Acqua Scommunicata.” Ramage, 274. This bishop was perhaps eccentric. The bishop of Girgenti does not seem to have prohibited the practice, at the church of San Calogero in that city, of bringing children, stripping them naked in pursuance of a vow, and leaving their best clothes hung on a stick before the altar. i. Rivista, 790.