t yet disappeared; "the doctrine of signatures," that is to say, the
rule that the healing object is indicated by its resemblance to the organ
affected, has scarcely passed into oblivion, while popular systems of
treatment are still based on rules not essentially different. In addition
to this guiding idea, an exorcistic method has survived; in our folk-lore
is retained the removal of the trouble in virtue of its transfer to
another place or person. Especially in the significant case of warts,
such rule of early medicine operates with full force. Here, as in other
instances, the obscure influence of suggestion plays a complicated part;
belief in the efficacy of any system of treatment appears sufficient to
promote its effect. These charms are perhaps sometimes effective, even
although no conscious attention is paid to the process; but to enter on
this field would be foreign to the present discussion. It is sufficient
to point out that in popular belief the preservation of the theory goes
hand in hand with the survival of the practice.

Weather proverbs form an extensive body of popular observations, here
only partially recorded. From the psychologic point of view, the
principal interest attaches to the mental causes of these prognostics.
Collectors have generally assumed that in this field experience is at the
basis of a great part of the alleged knowledge. It may be so with a few
of the simpler signs; yet, even in respect to these, great diversity is
visible. In general, I should myself attach small importance to this
consideration. Remarkable in man regarded as an intellectual being is the
variation to be observed in the effect of experience. In certain
relations of daily life the savage is as quick to learn, and as accurate
in his judgment, as civilized man; mention need only be made of his skill
in the hunt, and his intimacy with the forest. But under complicated
conditions, whenever this action falls outside of daily habit, he appears
incapable of profiting by observation; on the contrary, it is usually
imagination which dictates presumed experience. The latter rarely
corrects a superstition; as already remarked, discovery of error in the
application of inherited theory is applied only to increase the
complexity of the formula. Not until the existence of a means of record,
and the formation of a body of observations capable of methodical
arrangement, is an erroneous belief superseded, when the true causes of
the eve