Many strange superstitions as to the saints prevail among the Spanish-speaking inhabitants of New Mexico. If a saint whose aid has been invoked fails to respond to the appeal, his image is shut up in some receptacle until he vouchsafes to render the service desired. On the other hand, if the image of a saint falls to the ground, this is interpreted as a sign that the saint has performed a miracle. One means of forcing a saint to perform a miracle was to hang the image head downward; this was especially recommended in the case of St. Anthony. All strangers who presented themselves on St. Anthony’s day or St. Joseph’s day were to be hospitably received and entertained, for one of them might be the saint himself. Those who wished to read the future were instructed to put the white of an egg in a glass of water on the eve of St. John’s day; on examining the contents of the glass the next morning they would see written in black characters on the white background a prophecy of what was to happen. On this saint’s day women were assured that if they cut the tip of their hair with an axe, or merely washed it, they would be blessed with an abundant growth of hair. [Illustration: BLOODSTONE MEDALLION, SHOWING THE SANTA CASA OF LORETO CARRIED BY ANGELS TO DALMATIA FROM GALILEE ] A strange legend of angelic activity is that touching the miraculous transportation through the air (from Galilee to Dalmatia) of the “Santa Casa,” the house wherein the Virgin Mary dwelt. This event is placed in 1295, and the reverse of an Italian medallion engraved in 1508, during the pontificate of Julius II, gives a representation of the journey to Dalmatia, two angels sufficing to bear the little edifice. The sea, over which the house is being borne, is conventionally indicated by waves, but the fact that the medallist has seen fit to show a relatively large figure of the Virgin seated on the roof of the little structure and holding the Infant Jesus in her arms, scarcely adds to the realism of the effect. Quite naturally Catholicism could not be satisfied with the pagan idea that the constellations held sway over the different parts of the human body, and the saints were substituted for the stars. The saints of the Romanists have usurped the place of the zodiacal constellations in their government of the parts of man’s body, and so for every limbe they have a saint. Thus, St. Otilia keepes the head instead of Aries; St. Blasius is appointed to govern the necke instead of Taurus; St. Lawrence keepes the backe and shoulders instead of Gemini, Cancer and Leo; St. Erasmus rules the belly with the entrayls, in the place of Libra and Scorpius; in the stead of Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius and Pisces, the holy church of Rome hath elected St. Burgarde, St. Rochus, St. Quirinius, St. John, and many others, which govern the thighes, feet, shinnes and knees.[505]