anyone taken with epilepsy we ought to spit on them, "so that we ourselves avoid the contagion of the said disease."
Fourthly, people spit to cure disease in themselves or others, or transfer infection. For example, when persons rub their warts with fasting-spittle, in the belief that it will take them away, or spit in the drug they mean to administer to an invalid, or anoint his diseased limb with their saliva, or when, as Mr. Leland tells us, in Hungary the man suffering from an attack of fever goes to a tree, bores a hole in its stem, spits thrice into it, and retires after repeating the spell:
"Fever, fever, go away,
Here shalt thou stay."
Fifthly, people spit at the making of a bargain, or at a compact of any kind. For example, Parry,[1] in his first voyage, tells us that whenever the Esquimaux of River Clyde Inlet were presented with anything, they licked it twice with their tongues, after which they considered the bargain satisfactorily concluded. And Mr. Henderson, in his Folk-lore of the Northern Counties,[2] relates how in his schooldays the boys used to spit their faith when required to make asseveration on any matter deemed important, and says: "Many a time have I given and received a challenge according to the following formula: 'I say. Bill, will you fight Jack?' 'Yes.' 'Jack, will you fight Bill?' 'Yes.' 'Best cock spit over my little finger.' Jack and Bill both do so, and a pledge thus sealed was considered so sacred that no schoolboy would dare to hang back from its fulfilment."
Lastly, in Masailand, Mr. Thompson[3] tells us that, when he purchased a bullock, the bargain was not finally concluded till the Masai had spat on the head of the animal, and his men had done the same on the beads they were going to give in exchange. I believe two theories have been advanced to account for this superstition.
The one generally offered, and which bears on its face a certain degree of probability, is that people spit in order to get rid of something pernicious within themselves. That is undoubtedly
