The propounder of the puzzle, or the party who had
hidden the object, was then bound to disclose the matter.
When two boys quarrelled, and one wet the other boy's buttons with his
spittle, this was a challenge to fight or be dubbed a coward.
Mahomet held that bad dreams were from the devil, and advised the
dreamers to seek protection by addressing a short prayer to God, and
then spitting three times over their left shoulder. He further
counselled them to tell the dream to no one, and by following these
instructions no harm, such as the dreams had foreshadowed, would befall
them.
In the case of a person bitten by a dog, a few hairs taken from the
dog's tail, and placed upon the wound either upon or under a poultice,
was regarded as a protection from evil consequences, such as
hydrophobia. I know of an instance in which this remedy was applied so
lately as 1876. This practice is unmistakeably the origin of the toper's
proverb when suffering from headache in the morning,
"Take a hair of the dog that bit you."
I will not enter into the subject of faith in the influence of relics.
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