[9]. similar superstition is still practised by the Indians. There is a species of green jasper found in many parts of America, particularly in New Spain, to which the Spaniards have given the name of Piedra de la Hyada, and is used for curing the Cholic by being applied to the navel.
[10]. Lib. viii. c. 2. 5.
[11]. From this Art of Solomon, exhibited through the medium of a ring, or seal, we have the eastern stories which celebrate the Seal of Solomon, and record the potency of its sway over the various orders of Demons, or of Genii, who are supposed to be the invisible tormentors or benefactors of the human race.
[12]. Let the tradition respecting the discovery of the virtues of the bark serve as an illustration. We are told, that an Indian being ill of a fever, quenched his thirst at a pool of water, strongly impregnated with the bark from some trees having accidentally fallen into it, and that he was in consequence cured.
[13]. As these persons were ambitious to pass for the descendants of Esculapius, they assumed the name of The Asclepiades. The writings of Pausanius, Philostratus, and Plutarch, abound with the artifices of those early physicians. Aristophanes describes in a truly comic manner the craft and pious avarice of these godly men, and mentions the dexterity and promptitude with which they collected, and put into their bags, the offerings on the altar. The patients, during this period, reposed on the skins of sacrificed rams, in order that they might procure celestial visions. As soon as they were believed to be asleep, a priest, clothed in the dress of Esculapius, imitating his manners, and accompanied by the daughters of the god, that is, by young actresses, thoroughly instructed in their parts, entered, and delivered a medical opinion.
[14]. Odyss Δ.
[15]. Hence, the Tincture of Opium has been called Thebaic Tincture.
[16]. The Laurel was sacred to Apollo, with plantations of which his temples were surrounded. Lucan informs us (Pharsal. lib. v.) that the speedy death of the priestess was often occasioned by the ceremony.
[17]. Allusions to this plant frequently occur in the medical writings of antiquity; we are told that Galen, in the decline of life, suffered much from morbid vigilance, until he had recourse to eating a lettuce every evening, which cured him.
[18]. Iliad Δ.