The Magic of the Horse-shoe: with other Folk-lore Notes. By
Robert Means Lawrence, M.D. (Gay and Bird. 7s. 6d.)—It is well known to all of us that superstitions connected with the horse-shoe exist in most parts of the world, and have apparently existed from the remotest ages. The author of this work on a strange branch of folk-lore has collected from the most varied sources instances of popular beliefs and legends relating to the horse-shoe. The numerous footnotes to every page show that his researches have extended to many sources, from the Folk-lore Journal and Notes and Queries, to Wuttke's "Der Deutsche Volksaberglanbe " and Thorpe's " Northern Mythology." A vast amount of curious information has in this way been collected, and is presented to the reader in a some- what disconnected fashion and undigested form. The book would be of more value, and also much more interesting, if some attempt were made to summarise the results of these researches, to discover the origin of these superstitions, and, perhaps, to deduce some general laws and principles from a mass of detached records. The book also contains chapters on kindred matters, such as the omens of sneezing, the folk-lore of common salt, and ideas of luck connected with the numbers three, seven, and nine.
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