SUPERSTITIONS AND THEIR SOURCES 9
hand,
may be likened to a crisp winter's morning when one is filled with
exhilaration, conscious of the tingle of the cold, but comfortable in
the knowledge of wearing a tightly-buttoned garment which will afford
protection should the elements become disturbing. Superstition, lastly,
can be said to resemble a dark, cold, misty night, when the moon is
throwing malevolent shadows which are weird and distorted, while the
cold seems to seize one by the throat and arouse a passionate desire to
free one's self from its grip in some way, to change a horrible
nightmare into a pleasant dream.
In
the early part of the last century a series of very interesting
experiments designed to demonstrate the effects produced upon a
sensitive subject by the touch of precious stones and minerals, were
made in the case of the "Seeress of Prevorst," Frederike Hauffe (b.
1801), a woman believed to possess remarkable clairvoyant powers.6
When pieces of granite, porphyry, or flint were placed in her hand, she
was not affected in any way. The finest qualities of fluorspar, on the
other hand, had a marked action, relaxing the muscles, causing
diarrhoea, and producing a sour taste in the mouth; occasionally a
somnambulistic state was induced. This latter condition was also
produced by Iceland spar and by the sapphire. While the substances so
far noted depressed the vital energy, sulphate of barium stimulated the
muscles, produced an agreeable warmth of the body, and made the subject
feel as though she could fly through the air. If the application of
this material was long continued, the pleasurable sensation found
expression in laughter. In the case of witherite, a carbonate of barium,
* Görres, " Die christliche Mystik," Regensburg, 1840, vol. iii, pp. 190 sqq.
