Reviews. 4 1 1
were carried in procession, and caught by the children. Sacrea branches are still distributed from all Catholic churches. The cakes caught from them retained some of the imparted virtues."
The sentence which we have italicised would seem to indicate that in some unexplained way cakes were thrown from the "palm- branches," (which are very commonly twigs of yew or some conifer), for the children to catch. If this be the meaning, we can only say that, with a fairly wide acquaintance with Catholic ritual, — and, of course, the reference is to the distribution of "palms" on Palm-Sunday, a part of the service on that day in every Catholic Church in the world, — we have never seen or heard of cakes in connection with the ceremony. We conclude that this sentence is out of its place, and should have followed that which actually succeeds it. Placed as it is it is very mis- leading.
B, C. A. WiNDLE.
The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs. By T. Sharper Knowlson. T, Werner Laurie, 1910. 8vo, pp. X+ 242.
"The following pages," says the author in a brief preface, "are based on Brand's Popular Antiquities, the edition published in 1 84 1, supplemented by the results of later investigation. My aim has been to deal only with those superstitions and customs which are operative at the present time ; and, so far as is possible, to trace these to their original sources. In some cases the task is fairly easy, in others very difficult; whilst in a few instances the 'prime origin,' to use the words of Brand, is absolutely unattainable."
So far good. The critic's task is clear, viz., to judge how far the author has achieved the object he has had in view. He begins with a sensible little essay on Superstition, its psychological causes and the external occurrences which give it shape and maintain its existence, winding up, however, with a hint that (to use a common phrase) " there may be something in it after all."
