CHAPTER IX.

_PROCREATIVE POWERS OF WATER SPIRITS._

Water-spirits conferring the blessings of parenthood—Charms for childless women—Bathing in the water of seven wells—The Dewali bath in the Punjab—Fertilizing virtue ascribed to Scottish springs—General explanation of the cult of the bath—Sterility believed to be a disease due to demoniacal agency—Another theory—Procreative power attributed to spirits—Testimony borne by Professor Curtiss—Hot air vents in Syria—Belief of the Punjabis that the fertilizing virtue of a well is abstracted by the women bathing in it—The Jewish belief—Conception possible in a bath—The theory in vogue among physicians of the twelfth century—A case recorded by Averroes—Prevalence of the theory in Turkey—Supposed ancestors of persons bearing the name of the Tweed—A Semong tradition 66-70