Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/213

Rh of the community, and to that extent an anti-social force, then the shock and the terror reach their height, the whole sympathy of society goes out toward the victim, and he is surrounded with a halo of more than common radiance. In some stages of civilization and under the influence of some beliefs the reaction takes the form of apotheosis of the victim. Hence the veneration paid to the martyrs in more than one highly organized religion. Perhaps the Decollati of Sicily were not less worthy of this exaltation than some other martyrs commemorated in more enlightened countries.

I have thought it needless to refer to the value in folk-medicine and witchcraft of the blood and other relics of executed criminals. The belief in these things has been recorded by many authors from Pliny downwards; it is known as far to the east as Japan; and the Portuguese found it in the kingdom of Monomotapa south of the Zambesi. It has been abundantly discussed by anthropologists.