SUPERSTITION IN BRITTANY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 22 June 1912, Page 9

SUPERSTITION IN BRITTANY.

Every few years some incident occurs to remind a civilised nation of the survival of the grossest superstitions amongst its people. French opinion is at present shocked by a recent revelation at St. Malo, which has resulted in the arrest of a "dormeuse." The "dornieuse" is peculiar to Brittany. She is 4 woman who claims a mysterious power to heal disease by certain charms and treatments, pre-eminently by inducing artificial sleep. A St. Malo workman wag suffering from meningitis, and under ordinary medical treatment, when a woman Delanbe, a renouned "dorraeuse," was called in. She arrived with her husband, and sent for a milkwhite pigeon. While the man put the patient into a trance, the woman cut the live pigeon in half and placed the warm flesh on his forehead. This was followed by bathing the sick man's feet in some secret liquid and covering his head with a cloth that had been soaked in it. As tlie result of the treatment the workman died in a day. The "dor mouse" has been arrested, and a comprehensive enquiry is to be made into the suprestitious practices of Brittany.