part i

. sect. 2, mem. 3, subsect. 10._

And when I was born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.--_The Wisdom of Solomon, vii. 3._

It was the custom among the ancients to place the new-born child upon the ground immediately after its birth.

[718-1] This term of forty days is mentioned by Aristotle in his Natural History, as also by some modern physiologists.

[718-2] See Tennyson, page 632.

[718-3] See Burns, page 446.

[718-4] Omne ignotum pro magnifico (Everything that is unknown is taken to be grand).--TACITUS: _Agricola_, 30.

[718-5] See Sir Thomas Browne, page 218.

[718-6] Madame d'Abrantes relates that when Bonaparte was in Cairo he sent for a serpent-detecter (Psylli) to remove two serpents that had been seen in his house. He having enticed one of them from his hiding-place, caught it in one hand, just below the jaw-bone, in such a manner as to oblige the mouth to open, when spitting into it, the effect was like magic: the reptile appeared struck with instant death.--_Memoirs, vol. i. chap. lix._

[719-1] This is alluded to by Cicero in his letters to Atticus, and is mentioned by Ælian (Animated Nature,