Abstract
EMIN PASHA (NATURE, vol. xxxvii. p. 583) mentions the African superstition “that fire kindled by a flash of lightning cannot be extinguished until a small quantity of milk has been poured over it.” This idea is embodied in a Russian proverb, and has also existed in parts of Germany (Boyes, Lacon, p. 157). Emin Pasha adds that, in tempering swords made from meteoric iron (vulgo, thunderbolts), the blacksmith uses not water, but milk. Are other instances of this custom known? Has any explanation been offered? Indian folk-lore furnishes two ideas which may illustrate it: one, that the fall of a meteor is a bad omen (Indian Notes and Queries, July 1887, 674); the other, that evil spirits are very fond of fresh milk (ib., December 1886, 198). Meteorites and lightning are connected in the minds of ignorant people, particularly, as Emin Pasha tells us, in the present instance. The milk, therefore, whether applied by smith or fire-man, may be rather intended as a propitiation than used for its intrinsic power of tempering steel or extinguishing flame.
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BATHER, F. Lightning and Milk. Nature 38, 30 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038030c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038030c0
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