THIRTEEN AT TABLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3710, 20 December 1912, Page 8

THIRTEEN AT TABLE.

The 13-at-table superstition appears to be as robust and prevalent in these enlightened times as it was in the (Dark Ages. Of course, no valid reason can be given for it. The generally accepted explanation is that it takes its rise from the Last Supper, but it is said to have existed in ancient Greece and Rome. For time out of mind it has been world-wide. Russians and Italians are firm believers in it. Germany got the superstition from the ancient northern mythology. Tho ancient Romans considered 13 in company always uiilucky whether seated or not. It seems that there must be some good reason for a belief so widespreao and so long-enduring. But what is it? A FAMOUS DINNER. Thero are, it may be said, some cases on record to sustain the fears of those inclined to be credulous. There was the famous Victor Hugo dinner, given by the poet in Paris in 1350. At this dinner 13 were present, and here is the sequel. 1850, 13 at dinner; 1851, the host his wife, and two sons in exile ; 1852. one of tho guests died of apoplexy; a second, D’Orsay, died of meningitis> 1853, another guest, a young m6n named Perree, died; 1854, two more died —Rebecca Felix and Mine Housaye; 1855, another, Mine, de Girardin, died; 1856, a seventh guest died. G. de Nerval; 1857, an eighth died, Alfred de Musset; 1858, a ninth guest, the actress, Rachel Felix, died. WHAT SOME PEOPLE FEAR. At table some dread of the number at all time ; others only fear it on F ,- iua\s. Some think the last to sit down will die before the end of the year; others say the unlucky person is the first to leave the room. A .statistics! explanation of the superstition was pronounced 50 years agu by a writer in ‘Notes and Queries,’ and, if his figures were correct he would have settled the question. “If 13 of various ages assembled,'” lie wrote, “there is always a probability that one will die during the year. Some few weeks ago an American paper repeated this proposition more definitely. It says that “if the average age of the diners is 28 years, then by comparing the average length of life with the number present, one i« likely to die.” These statements are scarcely right. Twenty-eight is a very healthy age and only 6$ persons of a thousand of that age die in a year. The death rate is, therefore, about one-twelfth of one person in every 13 people of this age. That is to say, the chances are 12 to 1 that none of the 13 will die within the year. Of course, older people and young children die in larger proportions than adults. But the general death-rate is onlv 15 to 16 per thousand, that i« one-fifth of a person in 13. Therefore, wo should have 65 people dining together, of ages ranging from infancy to oldest age, in order to have one death within the year. And if an assortment of the most likely ages to find at such a dinner bo taken, say from 25 years to 65 years old ,the deaths among one thousand would be only 12 or 13 in any one year. EXPOSED BY FIGURES. The chances against 1 of the 13 dying would be about 6 to I. If the room had 6 tables and 13 diners sat at each, then 1 person of the whole company would die within the year. Tho death of 1 in 13 means ii deathrate of 77 per thousand; the actual average death-rate for all ages from birth to 100 years old is about 35 per thousand; at the age of 25 it is only 51 ; at the ago of 45 it is 3 ss; at 65 it is nearly 50 per thousand. Under one year old"it is very high, but not again till tho age of 72 or 73 is re ached does the death-rate amount to 77 per thousand, or 1 in 13.