Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/103

Rh charm of undoubted efficacy. It was to be in writing, and worn constantly about the person; but, unfortunately, it would be valueless if the giver and receiver were of the same sex. This difficulty was obviated by calling in my services, and requesting me to write from dictation the following words:—

"Peter sat in the gate of Jerusalem. Jesus cometh unto him and saith, 'Peter, what aileth thee?' He saith, 'Lord, I am grievously tormented with the toothache.' He saith, 'Arise, Peter, and follow me.' He did so, and immediately the toothache left him; and he followed him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

The charm, being found to be correctly written, was held to have been presented to me by the dictator. I at once gave it to the sufferer, who placed it in a small bag and wore it round her neck.

In the last session of the fifth section of the Congress of Orientalists, held at Leyden in Holland in September last, the subject of the best mode of preserving and publishing the proverbial literature and folk-lore of the East was brought before the members by the Reverend James Long, a Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, formerly Clergyman at Calcutta, now residing in London. At his proposal the following resolution was passed:—"That the collection, interpretation, and publication of the proverbial literature, songs, and folk-lore of the East is urgent at the present time, when Oriental society is in a transition state. This proverbial literature, handed down from remote ages through the memory of the people, elucidates in many points the social conditions, feelings, and opinions of the masses, besides throwing light on various questions of philology, archæology, and history. The rescuing from oblivion of those Eastern traditions can best be carried