The Evil Eye.

Of all the things which have driven man in all ages to invent and to use magic, the most potent is the “Evil Eye,” or the “Evil Look.” And the reason for this is that the various races of men who have peopled the earth for several thousands of years were convinced that certain men and women, certain beasts and reptiles, and even apparently inanimate objects, possess the power of causing by a mere glance of the eye or a look, or by a mere aspect or appearance, injury to their fellowcreatures, and to their flocks and herds, and to their crops and orchards, and in fact to any kind of property whatsoever. This baleful look or glance of the eye has always been thought to be especially injurious to children, and to women who were about to become mothers, for it threatened the very existence of the human race. The look which the eye casts upon some person or thing in wonder, or astonishment, or surprise can be made to produce an evil effect on that person or thing by means of words which the owner of the eye may utter at the the same time. If the words are contemptuous or disparaging they, operating in connection with the look, will produce an evil effect on the person or thing which the eye is looking upon. And the same bad effect can be produced by the look or glance of the eye of the man who, while uttering words of praise or congratulation, makes a mental reservation whereby he produces the exactly opposite effect to that which his words seem to wish to make. Primitive man seems to have understood these facts quite well, though he was totally unable to describe the exact connection between the glance of the eye and the spoken words or the secretly made mental reservation. Many educated people in many parts of the world still share this belief with him, and cannot explain how the eye exercises its magical power and produces sickness, calamity, and death. Certain it is that in many parts of the East, if a customer “runs down,” or speaks disparagingly or abusively of an object which a merchant wishes him to buy, that object is at once removed lest ill-luck or injury come upon it. And the same is the case if it be a person or an animal that is cried down or laughed at; the person's friends will hustle him away, and the owner of the beast will drag it away with him from the place.