PICTURES AND STATUES RELATING TO MAGNETISM. 267 these pictures is nothing more than a representation of magnetic treatment. We cannot ascribe any other motive to the actions of Anubis above the extended body, than that he places one hand upon the head and the other upon the breast of the sufferer, or upon both his sides; all of which actions would undoubtedly be magnetic. We must not overlook the fact that the reclining figure has in all cases its eyes open, which could not be the case if it were a mummy. The magnetic power which expels disease is represented by Osiris as the creator and preserver of life, under the emblem of a hawk. Anubis, the faithful guardian of life (fidus vigilque vitarum custos), makes use of his power, and distributes it, according as it is required, over the various parts of the body. Thus we see, in various stages of recovery, that the patient gradually rises from his couch; a fact which therefore excludes the idea of a dead body. All hypotheses of other kinds than that of magnetism leave room for doubt. As, therefore, direct accounts of the magnetic treatment in the temples of the Egyptians and of the magnetic sleep are to be met with in many directions, hypothesis aids us in explaining those mysteries which the priests incorporated in the hieroglyphics, and veiled from the eyes of the uninitiated. That temple at Tentyra, with its chambers, to which Denon was unable to assign any meaning, appears to have been especially an hospital, and its chambers were dedicated, at least in part, to the magnetic sleep. In this point of view the Egyptian statues which represent priests or custodians of the temple are very remarkable; several of them are at Paris and Munich. In their hands they hold a short staff, which is regarded as the commencement of the crook and the fan, which were the usual attributes of the Egyptian priests. For what were they intended, and why should they be placed in the hands of the custodians of the temples? I do not find an explanation anywhere. Are they magnetic conductors ? The short staff resembles in size those iron staffs which are used as conductors by magnetisers in certain diseases, and the fan might be used in applying the magnetized water. How little do we know of still existing monuments! how many temples may still be buried beneath the Libyan sand, and how many are all but destroyed! Thus, at all events, it is now very difficult to form any true historical theory in the universal ignorance of the symbols and hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. But, with the desire which is now shown on every side to unravel that which is mysterious in the great and lesser Egyptian mysteries, with the increasing knowledge of the hieroglyphic writings, and the industrious collecting and comparing of the materials already in hand, we may expect that the clouds hanging over this subject may be dispelled. There is no doubt that the sciences were highly cultivated in Egypt; curious monuments of all descriptions are not alone proofs of this, but also the writings of ancient authors bear the same testimony. Moses tells of the Egyptian wisdom, and in the New Testament we find that "Moses was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in deed and word." The ancient writers maintain that the sciences were developed by the Egyptian priests, and from them passed to the Phoenicians, Arabians, Greeks, and Romans: some even say that the Persians and Indians learned from the Egyptians. The heads of the Egyptian belief, as far as they are known, may be stated as follows. : Phtha is the emblem of the eternal spirit from which everything is created; they represent it as a pure ethereal fire which burns for ever, whose radiance is raised far above the planets and stars. In early ages the Egyptians worshipped this highest being under the name of Athor; he was the lord of the universe. The Greeks transposed Athor into Venus, who was looked upon by them in the same light as Athor. Apulejus calls her the Divine Venus; and Cicero also speaks of the omnipresence of Venus (quæ autem dea ad res omnes veniret, venerem nostri nominarunt). Ovid sings, that she governs the circle of all things, commands in heaven, and on the earth, and in the waters. Ptolomæus (in Tetrabiblo) and Proclus say, when speaking of the Phonicians and inhabitants of Asia Minor, that Venus was there worshipped as the mother of the earth. Among the Egyptians Athor also signified the night, as the commencement of all created things; for everything originated from darkness. We find this theory among all those who first derived their knowledge from the Egyptians. Hesiod also calls the night the origin of all things; and Orpheus says, that the dark night is the creator of gods and men. In the history of the creation, as given by Moses, we find-" And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." According to Orpheus, the ether created by God appeared first in the world; from this was created chaos and dark night; and this covered all that was beneath the ether; but the highest, invisible, incomprehensible Lord had existed before all things. Orpheus evidently derived his theory from Egypt, for the Egyptian sages worshipped the Eternal Spirit as the origin of all things, who could not be perceived with the senses, but only with the reason; he created, rules, and preserves all things. The theory of Thales agrees with this,-and he also gained his knowledge in Egypt. According to Thales, the water was the commencement of all things, and God that spirit who made all things out of the water. According to the Egyptians, says Jablonski, matter has always been connected with the mind, and, moreover, in an endless chaos; the spirit of chaos, after a time, took the shape of an egg, and, in the separation of its elements, developed its power in the creation of all things. The mind (mens) has a double nature, male and female-that is, the principle of nature, by which it works, is active and passive. The principle of evil is also found in the theories of the ancient Egyptians; Tithrambo, according to Epiphanias, which Jablonski translates by ira furens, and the Greeks called Hecate. Typhon was the evil power of the Egyptians, from whom everything noxious in nature originates; the unclean animals were sacred to him. He was represented as a crocodile, ass, or hippopotamus. He was the symbol of the destructive south wind. The Egyptian priests also maintained that the gods appeared to man, and that spirits communicated with the human race. The souls of men are, according to the oldest Egyptian doc trines, formed of ether, and at death return again to it. Their other teachings consisted in a profound natural philosophy, which they represented in pictures and emblems which were unintelligible to all but the initiated, and gave rise to the strangest fables. We may form, however, some indirect ideas of what those doctrines were from the Greek philosophers who had been in Egypt; as Orpheus, Pythagoras, &c. According to them, the motion of the earth round the sun was known to the Egyptian priests. "This theory," says Jablonski, "Pythagoras took from the Egyptians; and it also proceeded from them to the Brahmins of India. (Jabl. Pantheon Ægyptior. iii. prolegom. 10.) "Neque etiam prætermitere hic possum, videri celeberrimam illam Copernici hypothesin, terram circa solem moveri, sacerdotibus Ægyptiorum olim jam ignotam non fuisse. Sciunt omnes hoc docuisse Philolaum aliisque scholæ Pythagoræ alumnos. Pythagoram vero placitum hoc astronomicum ab Ægyptiis accepisse et in scholia sua dogmata esoterica tradidisse ex eo non parum verosimile mihi fit, quod idem etiam ad Indorum Brahmanas, Ægyptiorum priscorum discipulos dimanasse intelligam." Aristotle and Laertius also mention this theory of Pythagoras. Astronomy and astrology were also principal branches of Egyptian magic. According to Herodotus (lib. ii. c. 82), the Egyptians were the first to name the days after the stars, and to perceive their meaning, so that they could foretel the fortunes of man. They have left symbolical references to the power and the mutual influence of the sun and moon, the planets, and the stars, in all their temples and pyramids, as may be seen after the lapse of thousands of years. The Egyptians also possessed physical and chemical knowledge more than any other nation of antiquity, as is shown by their buildings and works of art. Lastly, the secret knowledge of the priests and the service of their temples were lost during the dominion of the Persians in Egypt and the continuous internal disturbances, or were so distorted that they were regarded as fables. Magic, in its true, higher signification, most probably reached great perfection among the Egyptians, of which at a later age we only find traces in theurgic arts or sophistic juggleries. Magic is shown under |