of view; while superstition is the
belief unacknowledged of the few and acknowledged of the many, nor
does it materially change from age to age. The rites employed among
the clam-diggers on the New York coast, the witch-charms they use, the
incantations, cutting of flesh, fire-oblations, meaningless formulae,
united with sacrosanct expressions of the church, are all on a par
with the religion of the lower classes as depicted in Theocritus and
the Atharvan. If these mummeries and this hocus-pocus were collected
into a volume, and set out with elegant extracts from the Bible, there
would be a nineteenth century Atharva Veda. What are the necessary
equipment of a Long Island witch? First, "a good hot fire," and then
formulae such as this:[10]

"If a man is attacked by wicked people and how to banish
them:

"Bedgoblin and all ye evil spirits, I, N.N., forbid you my
bedstead, my couch; I, N.N., forbid you in the name of God
my house and home; I forbid you in the name of the Holy
Trinity my blood and flesh, my body and soul; I forbid you
all the nail-holes in my house and home, till you have
travelled over every hill, waded through every water, have
counted all the leaves of every tree, and counted all the
stars in the sky, until the day arrives when the mother of
God shall bare her second son."

If this formula be repeated three times, with the baptismal name of
the person, it will succeed!

"To make one's self invisible:

"Obtain the ear of a black cat, boil it in the milk of a
black cow, wear it on the thumb, and no one will see you."

This is the Atharvan, or fire-and witch-craft of to-day--not differing
much from the ancient. It is the unchanging foundation of the many
lofty buildings of faith that are erected, removed, and rebuilt upon
it--the belief in the supernatural at its lowest, a belief which, in
its higher stages, is always level with the general intellect of those
that abide in it.

The latest book of the Atharvan is especially for the warrior-caste,
but the mass of it is for the folk at large. It was long before it was
recognized as a legitimate Veda. It never stands, in the older period
of Brahmanism, on a par with the S[=a]man and Rik. In the epic period
good and bad magic are carefully differentiated, and even to-day the
Atharvan is repudiated by southern Br[=a]hmans. But there is no doubt
that _sub rosa_, the silliest practice