s. VII. MARCH 23. 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
225
various ways in which a lizard can present itself to
man or boy, wife or maid, are so many in number,
that it must take a man or woman all his or her life
to learn them. Men will be glad to hear that if a
lizard falls on their noses it is lucky. But the
dividing line between joy and grief is so very thin
that if the lizard touches the tip of the nose the
result is extremely calamitous. Men also may or
may not be pleasea to hear that if a lizard falls on
their left cheek they will be blessed with a sight
of their deceased relations. But the luckiest
thing of all is for a lizard to fall on the sole
of a man's foot, for then all his enemies will
surely perish. This is an event which I fear
is not likely to happen to many of us, unless we
habitually stand on our heads. Ladies will be
glad to know that if a lizard falls on their left
cheek they will meet, not their deceased relatives,
but their beloved. There will be misery if one falls
on their right eye ; but grass-widows may be con-
soled by the thought that a lizard on their left eye
is a certain sign that they will meet their absent
husbands. Lastly, immense wealth and a son are
hers on whose left foot a lizard falls ; and she will
be rich in grain if one falls on her toe-nails."
J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC.
SUPERSTITIONS RELATING TO ANIMALS IN INDIA. As a pendant to the lizard super- stitions, the following further extracts from my note-book may be of interest. They were, I find, published nearly thirty years ago in the Oriental Sporting Magazine, and were evidently taken down from the mouth of an "educated " native :
" Hare's blood useful for young infant. When young one attacked with ague, the blood and some mother's milk mixed together and given to drink to the infant, the sickness will go.
" Black monkey is useful for magic. The monkey will be killed on Sunday. Drink a little blood, take off the skin and make to cap. The magic could not touch that man.
" Peacock's leg useful for deaf man. It may be boiled with oil, and when any person could not hear the sound the oil will be dropped a little into the ear and man will be cured.
" Owl useful for a woman. This will be killed on Monday. Take out both eyes. The left will be burnt and the right as well. Keep the dust of the right, throw some of the dust on a woman's gar- ments, and she will love you; and when you want to be clear of her, throw dust of left eye, and she will leave you off by pronouncing some magic words.
" My informant affirms that a wolf-skin possesses great virtue in this way. If a man with a tom-tom (drum) made of wolf-skin proceeds to a place where a musical enemy is performing on one made of sheep- skin in the ordinary manner, and commences to play, the enemy's instrument is at once silenced, and no man can make it emit sound whilst the wolf -skin vibrates."
J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC.
KING EDWARD VII. 's TITLE IN SCOTLAND. In the House of Commons on Monday last Mr. Black wished to know whether, in view of the fact that no sovereign bearing the name of Edward had hitherto reigned in Scotland,
instructions would be given to omit the words
" the Seventh " in all documents running in
the name of His Most Gracious Majesty King
Edward relating to Scotland alone. Mr.
J. A. Dewar called attention to the fact that
the oath of allegiance taken by hon. members
was to King Edward, and not to King
Edward VII. ; and Mr. Pirie asked whether, if
a rigorous rule were enforced as to the words
"the Seventh," a precedent would not be
created which had not been adhered to in the
similar case of William IV. Mr. G. Murray
the Lord Advocate in reply, stated that
it had been decided, after full consideration,
that His Majesty's title shall be given as
Edward VII., and that writs passing the
Signet and other documents running in the
name of the Crown in Scotland shall bear
that title. In the time of William IV. sum-
monses always ran in the name of William IV.,
and the Lord Advocate candidly confessed
that he had in vain endeavoured to find a
Scottish grievance in the matter. His
Majesty was proclaimed Edward VII., and it
would be inconvenient to have statutes of
Edward VII. cited in Scotland as statutes of
Edward I. A. N. Q.
ARABS AND ODD NUMBERS. Sometimes in the quiet of my own study I smile at the absurd fancies of other men, for- getting that I too cannot plead absolute immunity. I used to know a very worthy gentleman who never stirred abroad without carrying a piece of coal in his pocket for luck, yet he invariably threw it away the moment he sat down to take a hand at whist or cribbage. Another had a mortal aversion to a baby's crying at breakfast time ; this spelt bad luck for him the whole day. Jewish dames of a bygone school went continually in fear of the evil eye. To counteract its attacks upon their offspring they resorted to many devices, among which were the quasi-religious ones of tacking " mezuzous " (charms) to the lintels of the doorways, and of fixing "camires" round their children's throats. Now my own idiosyncrasy is in favour of odd numbers. How I acquired the harm- less passion happened in this way. Among my schoolfellows was a Turkish lad, who was the first to point out to me a curious law of numbers. We would take a string of figures at random, which we added up in line till they totted to a resultant number nine or not. If they "showed up" nine we declared them lucky ; if not, not. For example, take numbers 187245=9 ; but numbers 16294=4. So ingrained is this meaningless habit, that I never buy a railway ticket without sub-
