Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/481

Rh with their children and made them kiss it, and the ignorant were in a hurry to get some of its flesh when it was killed on the last day of the Corpus Domini feast. It was supposed to heal diseases.

Lebrun hesitates to see in the above custom a survival of a pagan rite, and cites Ruffi's History of Marseilles to the effect that, according to an Act of the fourteenth century, the confraternity of the most Holy Sacrament had bought an ox to present to the people, and led it through the streets. This must surely be an aetiological story and it hardly admits of doubt that we have here a trace of an ancient holiday when a bull was first led in procession, and then sacrificed.

[, M.D., of King's Lynn, Medical Officer of Health for the Freebridge Lynn Rural District, reporting to the District Council on his recent inspection of the local dairies, said]: "There had come down from time immemorial various superstitions connected with milk and milking. One of the most widespread of these throughout the whole district was that unless the hands of the milker were washed before and after milking the cow would become dry, or in other words would cease to give milk. Although it could not be said that milk was viewed with exactly superstitious reverence, yet the vessels and utensils used for it were never used for any other purpose. Nor was the milk ever stored in any place where there were any bad smells, as it was believed that the liquid would absorb the aroma. For instance, the milk was never kept near cheese, herrings, onions, or where there was any effluvium from drains. It was also regarded as a universal antidote to all kinds of poisons, and was believed to absorb and convey infectious disease from the atmosphere.