Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/810

* SUPERPHOSPHATE. 708 SUPERSTITIOK. of mineral phosphate, bone ash, bone black, etc., with sulphuric acid. It is also called acid phos- phate. See Manires and Manuring. SUPERPOSITION. See Congruence. SUPERSEDEAS (Lat., that you set aside). A common-law writ containing an order for a stay or suspension of legal proceedings. Under the common-law practice it is issued in a great variety of cases for the above purpose, and is sometimes used as a substitute for the common- law writ of (iiidita querela (q.v. ). Probably it is issued most frequently to stay execution, pend- ing an appeal from a judgment. The person ap- plying for the writ is required to give a bond, to secure the other party against loss by reason of the delay. Several writs are said to operate as a supersedeas by implication, as in effect they operate as a stay, viz. : habeas corpus, certiorari, and writ of error. The practice of granting a stay by an order of the court has superseded the above practice in many jurisdictions. SUPERSTITION (Lat. superstitio, excessive religious belief, superstition, possibly originally a standing over a thing in amazement or awe, from supcrstarc, to stand above or over, from super, above, over + stare, to stand). A term loosely used to include all false faith or belief, its distinguishing characteristic being its irra- tional estimate of something imperfectly under- stood. Since the answer to the question of truth or falsity varies with place and time, it follows that the accepted belief of one time or people may be superstition to another. Most of the popular superstitions of the present are survivals of earlier science or religion. At a time when there existed no system of recorded observations of natural phenomena eonclusions were of necessity drawn from ex- ternal characteristics, and objects and events were supposed to exercise influences correspond- ing to the impression produced upon the senses or imagination. This manner of interpre- tation, or sympathetic magic (see Magic), is re- sponsible for a great mass of superstitions. It is a characteristic of popular credulity that such notions, once prevalent, do not yield to contrary experience. If observation shows the principle to be inaccurate, reasons are always at hand to explain the error, or at the most it is only neces- sary to introduce additional complexity into the rule. Hence the power of the ancestral habits, which we find arbitrary and call superstitious. With all savage peoples, such beliefs have an immense effect on action : the daily method of nutrition, attire, the chase, agriculture, and war- fare are determined by an infinity of regulations which are religiously handed down from genera- tion to generation. In some cases it is possible to discover the principle of expediency which gave birth to the requirement: thus, the discov- ery of the ill effect of in and in breeding causes to be established a religious necessity, limiting the relations of the sexes according to certain complicated and ingenious rules, of which the prohibited degrees are the modern ecclesiastical survival. But in multitudes of other cases no good reason can be offered for demands and ab- stentions which originally depend on infer- ences which it is impossible to reconstruct. A considerable number of superstitions are connected with the heavenly bodies. From remote times the observation of the stars and their movements has been considered important, but it has been with the night, especially, that ancient religious ceremonies are associated. The most distinctive differ- ences between the nights were formed by altera- tions in the growth of the lunar crescent; according to universal processes of thought, it was supposed that the time when the planet in- creases and becomes dominant the principle of growth must prevail, and on the other hand, that her wane must be a season of general decay. Hence it has been everywhere inferred that ail operations designed to promote increase ought to be performed at the time of the new moon, and that then potatoes should be planted, hair cut, and so on. But if it is desired to cause shrink- ing, the work should be done when the moon is at the full according to the maxims of tradi- tional agriculture, and at this time should be cut alders, spruce, and other undergrowth, be- cause the roots will in this case wither without sprouting. Not less important in popular usage is the part played by the course of the sun. As he moves in a particular direction, so it has been thought that in order to produce beneficial re- sults, mankind should proceed in a correspond- ing manner; in worsliip it was thought necessary to adopt a processional movement in the sunwise direction. Even in the ordinary movements of daily life this order was followed, and traces of it survive to the present day. Thus in order to make good bread or butter, it is essential that the motion should be in the same uniform direc- tion, for reversal of the direction in which the kneading or churning is performed will undo the work accomplished, and insure a failure. From household maxims still preserved, it ap- pears that the hand must be moved in a sunwise circuit. As the route taken by the sun is holy, so the opposite path will be evil, and has been adopted in practices of witchcraft and magic, and in Roman worship the gods below were adored with this reverse circuit. Among periods of human life, the terror which attaches to death has made it the centre of a vast body of superstitious habits. A great number of actions and experiences are still popularly re- garded as signs of approaching departure. The principle on which the phenomena are inter- preted is that of association of ideas. Thus ringing in the ears is a sign of dissolution, be- cause the Church has usually rung a 'death-bell' over the departed; carrying a spade through the house has like significance, because a spade is used to dig graves; a blue flame in the candle is ominous, for the lowering of the light forecasts the decline of the life ; a flower blooming out of season foreshows a decease ; and so on indefinite- ly. In like manner, the iniusual also is a fruit- ful source of superstition; if every child were born with a caul (that is, a membrane encom- passing the head) it is doubtful if this would have been taken as an especial sign of good luck. A considerable number of superstitions relate to times of the year, and revert to the practices of old religion. Thus Hallowe'en, or the evening before All Saints' Day. is attended with obser- vances which seem to have been dependent on its original character as a feast of the dead, when departed spirits were invited to partake in the fruits of the harvest, and were conceived as pres- ent at the sacrifice and merry-making. On this