" (Lenormant's "Ancient History of the East," vol. i., p.
463.) "In England, to this day the new moon is saluted with a bow or a
courtesy, as well as the curious practice of 'turning one's silver,'
which seems a relic of the offering of the moon's proper metal."
(Tylor's "Anthropology", p. 361.) The custom of wishing, when one first
sees the new moon, is probably a survival of moon-worship; the wish
taking the place of the prayer.
And thus has it come to pass that, precisely as the physicians of
Europe, fifty years ago, practised bleeding, because for thousands of
years their savage ancestors had used it to draw away the evil spirits
out of the man, so the business of our modern civilization is dependent
upon the superstition of a past civilization, and the bankers of the
world are to-day perpetuating the adoration of "the tears wept by the
sun" which was commenced ages since on the island of Atlantis.
And it becomes a grave question--when we remember that the rapidly
increasing business of the world, consequent upon an increasing
population, and a civilization advancing with giant steps, is measured
by the standard of a currency limited by natural laws, decreasing
annually in production, and incapable of expanding proportionately to
the growth of the world--whether this Atlantean superstition may not yet
inflict more incalculable injuries on mankind than those which resulted
from the practice of phlebotomy.
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