Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/101

Rh days to be shortened, to the south will bring longevity.' Notions of this character are spread over the folk-lore of many parts of England and Germany. A physician who died at Magdeburg, at the advanced age of 109, states in his will the manner in which he preserved his life. 'Assume,' he said, 'as often as convenient, and especially during the hours of sleep, the horizontal position: the head towards the North Pole, and the rest of the body in a direction as much as possible that of the meridian. By this means the magnetic currents which pervade the surface of the globe keep up a regular and normal kind of nutrition of the mass of iron contained in the economy; and hence arises the increase of vital principle which regulates all the organic phenomena having a direct action on the preservation of life.'—Lancet, March 3, 1866. Notes and Queries, Dec. 3, 1870. A quarter of a century before this date, however, a system of "Odylic Force," or the "Old Force," had been introduced by Dr. Reichenbach, the leading idea of which was identical with the foregoing. A Dr. Rogers asserts that "when he had failed by every other prescription to bring sleep to invalid children, he recommended their couches or little beds to be turned due north and south, the head of the child being placed towards the north. He had never failed by this process to induce sleep." These facts, whether scientifically accurate or not, will suffice to prove that this particular position in sleeping was commonly regarded as the most favourable one possible. We think that many customs of this kind, which are sometimes considered as mere superstitions, may be traced to some underlying truth which affords a more or less sufficient justification for them."—Jewish Chronicle, Sept. 28, 1883.

Folk Tales.—In a very instructive and interesting little Roman Catholic book, entitled Books for Children and Young Persons, book x. "The Sight of Hell," by the Rev. J. J. Furniss, C.S.S.R. (p. 24), I find the following curious variant of a well-known folk tale:

—We can measure almost anything. We can measure a field or a road. We can measure the earth. We can measure how far it is from the earth to the sun. Only one thing there is which never has and never will be measured, and that is Eternity—for ever!