The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

' From
3o8 THE EVIL EYE chap.
the habit it has of making pellets of clay, and rolling
them along. The scarab was also a symbol of the
world, and as a hieroglyph, under its name Ptah-
Xeper, it signified the Creative Power/^^
the belief that there were no females, and
that all of the species were males, it was considered
the symbol of virility and manly force, hence it was
engraved upon the signets of Egyptian soldiers. *^^
The scarab may be considered ^^^ as: "(i) An
emblem of the sun ; (2) of Ptah, the Creative Power,
and of Ptah-Xeper ;
of the world
(3)
of Ptah-Socharis Osiris;
(4) ;
subjects ;
^^^ and (6) with funereal rites."
Upon the Mano Pantea we may safely consider
it under either, or all of the four first meanings ; and
(5) connected with astronomical
hence as it was in Egypt a powerful amulet to
guard both living and dead, so we may well believe
it was adopted as such by the Romans along with
the Serapis cult. It will be noticed that our jeweller's
description passes over the scarab, which is never-
theless very distinct on the original bronze.
On the back of the hand we have the frosf, which
our friend calls a toad [rospo)^^^ This is a common
^s? Wilkinson, lb. iii. 345, 346. E. W. Budge, Nile, pp. 55, 63. Wherever
seen as a hieroglyph it is always drawn with wings folded, so as to exhibit
plainly the T of life on its back.
488 Plutarch, Df hide, lo, 73.
*89 Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, vol. iii. p. 346.
^^^ It occurs in some zodiacs in the place of Cancer. //;. iii. 346.
4^1 In this manifest error he is not alone ; indeed it is not at all uncommon
here in England, for people living in towns not to know frogs from toads. In
a Catalogue Dcscriptifd^une Collection cCaiiiiilettes Italiciines envoyee ii rExposi-
tion Universelle de Paris, 1889, by Dr. Joseph Bellucci, Perouse, 1889, frogs
are all written crapaiid. Signor Bellucci has published also a Catalogo delta
collezione di ainnleti, Perugia, iSSi, but I have not been able to compare the
French with the Italian. There is, however, no manner of doubt that tana
and not rospo is the creature intended. Bellucci's catalogue contains almost
none of the charms and amulets we are dealing with. No doubt in his search
for curios, he, like Jorio, Valletta, and others, overlooked the common things
under his very nose. He appears to have collected upwards of four thousand