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that other sons might be tempted to try to kiss their elbows when this is physically impossible without prior conditioning and manipulation.

She stated in general that if a man or boy, no matter what his age, attempts sincerely, with foreknowledge of the results to kiss his elbow (even if he never succeeds) he will begin to as- sume some feminine characteristics. The longer he continues in his attempt the more feminine he desires to become until he can- not stop because he doesn't want to.

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"Remember, that these changes are irreversible and im- mutable; once you have begun to acknowledge the change, there is no turning back. I advise you not to try it in spite of your age, stature and masculinity as I believe the minimum which would occur would be a definite gender change. You might not find this congenial."

Throughout the remainder of my trip through the continent and England I heard few references to this phenomenon. In gen- eral the whole idea was contemptuously treated by men and in some cases, women, as being "old maid's tales," silly supersti- tions as well as being a physical impossibility. The women seemed less positive than did the men, and in several cases when some of the seemingly more bluff and hearty men jokingly tried to kiss their elbows, their wives were palpably worried and stopped the action.

At a large gathering in Munich, I, inter alia, introduced the subject of old superstitions and legends. After some discussion, I mentioned the "kiss the elbow" jingle and told briefly of my meeting with Mme. Nic. One of the gentlemen present remarked that if I was interested he would loan me a copy of a periodical which contained an article on this very subject. I thanked him and when I received the article next afternoon, found it to be an abstract of an apparently very lengthy study on this subject.

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