In the eulogy of the fountain of Esculapius, Aristides says that it rises at the foot of a table-land, and is collected in the centre of the temple in a basin; this spring was used for drinking and bathing, and he celebrates its good properties, and especially the flavour. The water is sweet and very light, and whoever drinks it thinks no more of wine; it makes him also capable of soothsaying, and even causes the dumb to speak. "Ex muto quidam eloquens factus est, quemadmodum, qui de sacris fontibus biberunt, vaticinari

solent."

In the third treatise, Aristides relates other dream visions, the remedies therein shown, and their good results. In the fourth he relates that as he was advised he took refuge with the god. "I had been ill for ten years," says he, "when a spirit approached and addressed me: I had the same desire that thou hast; after suffering for ten years, I returned, on the advice of Esculapius, to the spot where my sickness. arose, and there I was cured." Aristides determined to go to Esap, where his sickness commenced. "Full of confidence in the god Esculapius, I was occupied during my journey in composing a song of praise to his honour." When he was at Pemane, he took an emetic by command of Esculapius. A countryman, who only knew Aristides by report, declared in sleep that he had crushed the head of a viper. At Esap he again took baths and an emetic. After three or four days he heard a voice during sleep, that all was now ended, and that he might return home; and in fact he was now so strong in mind and body, that during the journey he was inferior to none.

During his illness, Aristides elaborated several treatises, to which he was directed by the god during his dreams; which still more confirms the fact that others had the same dreams. He maintains that he never worked with such facility as during this illness, for his mind, says he, was elevated by the god. Even Apollo appeared and demanded a panegyric. Aristides was usually not capable of such a thing, and had never attempted it; but the god himself dictated the commencement with the following words:God of those who tune the lyre, Apollo, I sing of thee." This him the cue. gave Esculapius also commanded me in a dream to make verses, and that I should inspire the

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young musicians, who afterwards, much to my relief, performed these songs.'

In the fifth and sixth treatise he relates his visions in the same manner. All these narrations show us, as it appears, the somnambulic visions of a person suffering from a disorder of the abdomen, who with simplicity followed the directions of his own mind as divine inspirations. But it might be objected that no mention is made of a magnetic treatment, and that Aristides, contrary to the habit of magnetic sleepers, retained a perfect remembrance of his visions. As far as concerns the first objection, Aristides does not mention the origin of his prophetic dreams, because he probably did not know it himself, for the priests always acted with secresy, in accordance to their laws. But we learn that they always made certain preparations for the temple-sleep, and secondly that Aristides himself slept in the temple, and that the servant of the temple was one of his intimate friends. Besides this, it appears to have been a magnetic sleep, because it was periodical, and because other sleeping soothsayers were present, who had the same visions. The customs which the priests practised in the temples we have already learned, where, as in this case, the visions usually referred to remedies for the sick who applied

there.

From the above we may draw the following conclusions:1. That those who asked counsel slept during the night in the temple of Esculapius, where in the mysterious obscurity they were magnetised by the priests either before or during sleep.

2. The rubbings were, however, applied openly and directly, and these, without the various modifications and instruments used, are sufficient to produce magnetic sleep.

3. It has further been proved that a particular place, a room, &c., may be magnetised, and that thereby somnambulism becomes infectious. This was proved by the magnetic association in France in the first years of the discoveries of Mesmer. The magnetic-tree in Buzancy threw the greater number of the sick collected round it in the magnetic sleep, and in the temples there was a particular place used as a sleep-room, where those who asked counsel slept. Aristides says this in the Temple of Esculapius,

between the doors and the temple steps. The revelations were not of daily recurrence. The day and hour were usually fixed beforehand, which probably was done by a reliable seer, as the magnetic sleepers usually fix the time and hour.

4. As regards Aristides himself, it seems that on account of his spasms and his somnambulic susceptibility he had the visions himself, and not another for him, as was often the case. He often suffered so much from cramps and convulsions, that his body was drawn up like a bow; the stomach and the liver were the seats of his malady. It is well known that such affections are the most prolific sources of cramps, and that magnetic visions and states are frequently associated with them. The ecstatic states manifest themselves in Aristides as in our magnetic sleepers; he was in them capable of composing verses and poetry, like somnambulists, which when awake he was not able to do. In his dreams the gods appeared to him, as well as orators and philosophers. He conversed with Plato and Demosthenes in his dreams, and Sophocles often stood at the foot of his bed. It could not therefore have been difficult for the priest of Esculapius to have placed him in a somnambulic state.

5. It has always been known that nervous crises act infectiously, and that the visions connected with them are perpetuated on all sides. In the temple the applicants are usually admitted all together, and prepared in a mass, by the same means; as incense, prayers, &c. The patients had also a common sleeping-room. The somnambulic crises might therefore very easily be communicated, as well as that questions might be put to a particularly lucid seer on the behalf of the others. We find in Aristides the visions of patrons, as of Esculapius, Minerva, and Apollo; purely phantastical divinities without objective reality; the forms changed, but the influence remained, because the principle upon which it depends is unchangeable, but remaining always the same in the soul. This may give us a clue to the visionary appearances of our own age. The individuality of man from inward peculiarities of constitution frequently divides itself into several individualities, which then stand before him as so many material objects; having, therefore, as subjective creations, taken material forms, and being reflected as it were

upon the objective world; as the dramatic poet impresses his own ideas upon persons and characters, which afterwards gain life and action. The same may be said of mania, and all phenomena belonging to the realms of the imagination. Magnetic, visionary contemplation, under whatever shape it appears, may be true, just as it may also be false, according to the signification and interpretation: moreover the same vision may be presented to the same person, at various times, under absolutely opposite forms. The same god did not always appear to Aristides, or under the same form, but the signification was materially the same, and the vision proved always correct. These pictures change in representation according to the conditions of physical life, as is seen in the whole history of magic as well as in individual cases. The demon and evil spirit foretelling striking truths, as well as the gods and their good spirits.

I

It is not without weight to the theory of magnetism to extract something from the views of the Greek sages. shall therefore mention briefly Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, and some others.

Orpheus derived his knowledge from the Egyptian priests, and the proverbial Orphean egg bears evidence of this: "God, the uncreated and incomprehensible Being, created all things; the ether proceeded from him; from this the unshapely chaos and the dark night arose, which at first covered all things. The unshapen mass was formed into the shape of an egg, from which all things have proceeded." This Orphean egg agrees with the theories of the new philosophers, and particularly with those of Mesmer and Wolfart. All development, according to them, is in circles; the inward and outwardly proceeding streams and formations are shaped from chaos to the round regular form of an egg. The whole universe is an egg, without beginning or end, and each individual portion strives after the same form. It is remarkable, that ether is regarded by Orpheus as the medium between God and created things, as He first created ether and afterwards chaos; but everything that exists is covered by the ether. I have already made mention of the healing virtues of minerals, to which Orpheus paid particular attention, and seemed to prefer them to all other remedies. "The earth," says he, "produces good and bad

to poor mortals; but to every bad thing there is also an antidote. In the earth every kind of stone is produced, in which a varied and endless power lies. Everything that herbs or roots can perform, that can also minerals perform. Roots certainly have great power, but the stones have still greater; that is, if the matrix gives to the stones fresh and unspoiled strength. The root is green but a short time, and dies; only as long as fruits can be had from it does its life last. But when it is withered, what can be hoped from the dead? Among plants, noxious as well as beneficial kinds are found; but among stones you will hardly find anything noxious. But if, as a hero, you boldly pass among monsters, armed with the siderit, you will have nothing to fear; though they should meet you in swarms with the black death."

"Members of communication with the higher stages of spirituality," says Richter, " are those men of Greece who carried the wisdom of the East to the pure skies of Ionia, and from thence to the banks of the Ilissus; above all, Pythagoras, the sage of Samos, who derived his comprehensive views of God and divine things in the holiest temples of Egypt, and who wished to establish an institution among the Greeks founded upon pure morality, but alas! he only too soon succumbed to the power of evil. His pure life, his inward sense of the divine, his endeavours to suppress the earthly in himself and in his scholars, and to elevate the spiritual without overstepping the laws of reason; together his miraculous power evidently characterise him as a man in whom the magnetic instinct was powerfully active."

Pythagoras brought his theories from the East and Egypt, where he had profoundly penetrated their mysteries. According to the evidence of Porphyrius, the great end of the Pythagorean philosophy was to free the soul from the fetters of the senses, and to make it fit for an eternal and unchanging contemplation of spiritual things. For this purpose, Pythagoras regarded the mathematical sciences and calculations as the most fitting means of aid and development, and therefore applied figures to everything he taught. His arithmetical philosophy is, however, a riddle which but few have understood, explained, or solved; therefore his teachings had mostly the fate of being decried, as happens to all doctrines, the elevation and noble views of which cannot be attained by every one.