"Besides these superstitions there were a whole host of popular beliefs, of which only a few can be given here. Many of these were connected with food; it was customary to blow upon maize before putting it in the cooking-pot, to 'give it courage,' and it was believed that if a person neglected to pick up maize-grains lying on the ground they called out to heaven to punish the omission. If two brothers were drinking, and the younger drank first, it was thought that the elder would cease to grow; and it was also believed that the growth of a child was stopped by stepping over it when seated or lying down, but that the effect could be averted by stepping back again. Young girls were not allowed to eat standing, for it was believed they would fail to get husbands, and children were prevented from licking the grindstone for fear they would lose their teeth. When a child lost one of its first teeth, the father or mother placed the tooth in a mouse-hole, a proceeding which was supposed to ensure the growth of the second tooth; and all nail-parings were thrown into the water in the hope that the auitzotl, a mythical water-animal which was believed to eat them, would make the nails grow. Sneezing was thought to be a sign that evil was being spoken of the sneezer, and there was a peculiar belief that the perfume of the flowers which were carried at banquets and in ceremonial dances might only be inhaled from the edges of the bouquet, since the center belonged to the god Tezcatlipoca."[9] =Human Sacrifice.= The sad and degrading side of the Aztec civilization was that of human sacrifice. The number of sacrifices was very great, estimated from twenty to fifty thousand annually, and on one occasion alone, the dedication of a great temple, no less than seventy thousand human beings were sacrificed to the gods. The great object of war, along with the desire for the extension of the kingdom, was to obtain victims for the sacrifices and hence an enemy was never slain in battle if there was a chance of taking him alive. Mostly the victims were prisoners of war but slaves also were used as sacrifices. Sometimes they offered up children, generally infants, who were obtained by the priests, purchased from poverty-stricken parents, who, perhaps, gave their children as much from a sense of religious duty as for money. These children were dressed in beautiful garments, and adorned with flowers. They were then carried in procession of chanting priests through the city to the place of sacrifice. The cries they uttered were not heard because of the chants of the priests, and the tears they shed were favorable omens. These sacrifices were so conducted as to exhibit something of prominence relating to the deity being worshipped. The following illustrates this:--