. DEATH OMENS 125
XVIII. MORTUARY CUSTOMS 131
XIX. MISCELLANEOUS 134
Actions.--Bodily Affections.--Apparel.--Customs.--Days.--
Domestic Life.--Various.
NOTES 151

CURRENT SUPERSTITIONS.

INTRODUCTION.

The record contained in the present volume forms the first considerable
printed collection made in America of superstitions belonging to
English-speaking folk. Numerous as are the items here presented, only a
part of the matter is included, the collector having preferred to reserve
for separate presentation superstitions connected with animal and plant
lore, material which would require a space about equal to that here
occupied. Again, the present gathering by no means pretends to
completeness; while certain departments may be adequately represented,
other sections exhibit scarce more than a gleaning. The collection,
therefore, will be looked on as a first essay, subject to revision and
enlargement.

The designations of locality will suffice to show the width of the area
from which information has been obtained, as well as the degree of
similarity which appears in the folk-lore of different regions belonging
to this wide territory. Here and there may be observed items showing a
measure of originality; a new superstition may have arisen, or an ancient
one been modified, according to the fancy of an individual, in
consequence of defective memory, or in virtue of misapprehension. But on
the whole such peculiarities make no figure, nor does recent immigration
play any important part. Almost the entire body of this tradition belongs
to the English stock; it is the English population which, together with
the language, has imposed on other elements of American life its polity,
society, ethics, and tradition.

This relation is not an isolated phenomenon; on the contrary, it is
entirely in the line of experience. Language is the most important factor
which determines usage and influences character; this result is effected
through the literature, oral or written, with which, in virtue of the
possession of a particular speech, any given people is brought into
contact. In this process race goes for little. Borrowing the tongue of a
superior race, a subject population receives also the songs, tales,
hab