_God's Marks_ (Vol. vii., p. 134.).--These are probably the "yellow
spots" frequently spoken of in old writings, as appearing on the
finger-nails, the hands, and elsewhere, before death. (See Brand's
_Popular Ant._, vol. iii. p. 177., Bohn's edit.) In Denmark they were
known under the name _Döding-knib_ (dead man's nips, ghost-pinches), and
tokened the approaching end of some friend or kinsman. Another Danish
name was _Dödninge-pletter_ (dead man's spots); and in Holberg's _Peder
Paars_ (book i. song, 4.) _Dödning-knæp_. See S. Aspach, _Dissertatio de
Variis Superstitionibus_, 4to., Hafniæ, 1697, p. 7., who says they are
of scorbutic origin; and F. Oldenburg, _Om Gjenfærd ellen Gjengangere_,
8vo., Kjöbenhavn, 1818, p. 23.