e are given also
by John Beleth, a writer of the twelfth century. See his _Rationale
Divinorum Officiorum_ (appended to the _Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_
of G. [W.] Durandus, Lyons, 1584), p. 556 _recto: "Solent porro hoc
tempore_ [the Eve of St. John the Baptist] _ex veteri consuetudine
mortuorum animalium ossa comburi, quod hujusmodi habet originem. Sunt
enim animalia, quae dracones appellamus.... Haec inquam animalia in aere
volant, in aquis natant, in terra ambulant. Sed quando in aere ad
libidinem concitantur (quod fere fit) saepe ipsum sperma vel in puteos,
vel in aquas fluviales ejicunt ex quo lethalis sequitur annus. Adversus
haec ergo hujusmodi inventum est remedium, ut videlicet rogus ex ossibus
construeretur, et ita fumus hujusmodi animalia fugaret. Et quia istud
maxime hoc tempore fiebat, idem etiam modo ab omnibus observatur....
Consuetum item est hac vigilia ardentes deferri faculas quod Johannes
fuerit ardens lucerna, et qui vias Domini praeparaverit. Sed quod etiam
rota vertatur hinc esse putant quia in eum circulum tunc Sol descenderit
ultra quem progredi nequit, a quo cogitur paulatim descendere_." The
substance of the passage is repeated in other words by G. Durandus
(Wilh. Durantis), a writer of the thirteenth century, in his _Rationale
Divinorum Officiorum_, lib. vii. cap. 14 (p. 442 _verso_, ed. Lyons,
1584). Compare J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,*[4] i. 516.

With the notion that the air is poisoned at midsummer we may compare the
popular belief that it is similarly infected at an eclipse. Thus among
the Esquimaux on the Lower Yukon river in Alaska "it is believed that a
subtle essence or unclean influence descends to the earth during an
eclipse, and if any of it is caught in utensils of any kind it will
produce sickness. As a result, immediately on the commencement of an
eclipse, every woman turns bottom side up all her pots, wooden buckets,
and dishes" (E.W. Nelson, "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," _Eighteenth
Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington,
1899) p. 431). Similar notions and practices prevail among the peasantry
of southern Germany. Thus the Swabian peasants think that during an
eclipse of the sun poison falls on the earth; hence at such a time they
will not sow, mow, gather fruit or eat it, they bring the cattle into
the stalls, and refrain from business of every kind. If the eclipse
lasts long, the people get very anxious, set a burning candle on