Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1902 — Concerning the Number Seven. [ARTICLE]

Concerning the Number Seven.

Numerous are the queer beliefs concerning the number seven, says the St. James Gazette. From the very earliest ages the seven great planets were known and ruled this world, and the dwellers in it, and their number entered into every conceivable matter that concerned man. There are seven days in the week, “seven holes in the head, for the master stars are seven,” seven ages for both man and the world in which he lives. There are seven material heavens. There are seven colors in the spectrum, and seven notes ,in the diatonic octave, and the “leading” note of the scale is the seventh. Be it noted that the seventh son is not always gifted with beneficent powers. In Portugal he is believed to be subject to the powers of darkness and to be compelled every Saturday evening to assume the likeness of an ass.