The origins of popular superstitions and customs / by T. Sharper Knowlson.

  • Knowlson, T. Sharper (Thomas Sharper), 1867-1947.
Date:
[between 1910 and 1919?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The origins of popular superstitions and customs / by T. Sharper Knowlson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs INTRODUCTION. The true origin of superstition is to be found in early man’s effort to explain Nature and his own existence ; in the desire to propitiate Fate and invite Fortune; in the wish to avoid evils he could not understand ; and in the unavoidable attempt to pry into the future. From these sources alone must have sprung that system of crude notions and practices still obtaining among savage nations ; and although in more ad- vanced nations the crude system gave place to attractive mythology, the moving power was still the same; man’s interpretation of the world was equal to his ability to understand its mysteries— no more, no less. For this reason the superstitions which, to use a Darwinian word, persist, are of special interest, as showing a psychological habit of some importance. Of this, more anon. The first note in all superstitions is that of ignorance. Take three representative and widely different cases. The first is a Chinaman living about one thousand years before Christ. He has before him the “ Book of Changes,” and is about to divine the future by geometrical figures; the second is a Roman lady, A