ft
��»»
��672 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., I, 1899
augmental numbers possess greater vitality than others of corre- sponding arithmetic grade. This is especially true of the alma- cabalic doubles, notably nine as the first augmental of five and thirteen as that of seven ; for in these and other cases the first augmental is commonly of opposite sign (in almacabalic sense) from its basis — e. g., five and seven are beneficent or " lucky, while nine and especially thirteen are maleficent or " unlucky numbers. Moreover, there is a further mystical intensification in squares of the bases (perhaps growing out of mechanical or arithmetical superpositions on the mystical notions); and the charm seems to be still further augmented by coincidences between the several systems. It is partly through this mystical accentuation of the always mystical augmentals that such num- bers as nine, thirteen, forty-nine, and sixty-one become con- spicuous as factors and vestiges of almacabala.
Nine survives as a mystical number in the Muses of classical mythology, in Anglo-Saxon aphorisms emphasizing the vitality of the cat and the effeminacy of the tailor, and as a recurring tale in all of the superabundant Celtic lore such as that recently recorded by Seumas MacManus ; it even survived in the school- books of the early part of the century in the more curious than useful arithmetic process of " casting out the nines " ; and through- out the present decade the newspaper-writing jugglers with nines have found (and diffused) much mystery-tinged amusement in almacabalic analyses of the numbers 1 890-1 899.
Glaringly prominent in the mythology of the century is the bode clustering about the ill-omened first augmental of " lucky " seven ; indeed it is probable that nearly half of the enlightened citizens of the world's most intelligent country habitually carry the number thirteen in their minds as a messenger or harbinger of evil. The almacabalic double of thirteen (which is at the same time an augmental of five) has largely lost its mystical meaning in Europe and America, apparently through friction against prac- tical arithmetic ; but it retains no little hold on the oriental mind,
�� �
