the night an ewe had lambed; he returned bringing the milk." After having taken a bath, in an icy river, as commanded, Aristides experienced the happy feeling, which somnambulists often feel during their crises, and threw himself without hesitation into the cold water, as if it had been an agreeable warm bath. His body shone as he emerged, and was supple and active. All present exclaimed, "Honour to the great Esculapius!" A very agreeable warmth and an unspeakable feeling of well-being pervaded his whole frame. At another place he says, To a certain degree I felt the arrival and presence of the god; I was between sleeping and waking, and made every effort not to forget anything. My ears were open, and it was as if I were half dreaming and half awake. Tears of joy flowed, and my spirit had an inexpressible delight which no one can conceive. I sent for the physician Theodot, who was surprised at my dreams, but did not know what was best to be done. I therefore sent to the priestly servant of Esculapius, to whom I usually communicated my dream; and scarcely had I commenced relating it to him, than he said that he had just left a companion named Philadelphos, who in the night had had a similar dream to myself. These two dreams agreed perfectly, so that I did not hesitate any longer to take the prescribed medicine; although the quantity was larger than any one had yet taken. However I swallowed it easily, and felt much relief." In the middle of the summer an epidemic arose, which carried off many persons; the companions of Aristides were attacked; he also was struck by it, and he experienced a great heat in the liver. He was so ill that the physicians left him, though his courage did not. He saw in a dream Esculapius, and Minerva with her shield: she was as beautiful as her statue by Phidias at Athens. "I conversed with the goddess, and when I called out to those about me to listen to the goddess, and to look at her shield, which I pointed out to them, they knew not where to turn, and believed me to be delirious, till they gradually perceived the disease abating, and understood the words which I told them I had received from the goddess. The goddess comforted and saved me; for I perceived that I was to take a remedy composed of honey from Mount Hymethus, to carry off the gall, to which I added some other remedies,

and a certain fixed diet, and gradually regained my strength and health." Another time he was at Pergamus, and lodged with the servant of the temple. "I was very much heated; mouth and palate were like fire. The god commanded me to be bled in the forehead. At my side sat a Roman senator, who also awaited the divine prescription; he was called Sedalius, and to him he gave the same command. The god ordered me to take ship, and added that on my arrival I would perceive a horse bathing, and that the servant of the temple would be close by on shore. How was I surprised to find all this fulfilled! Whilst I was at Pergamus, the god commanded me again to bathe in the middle of the river, which flowed through the town; I was so weak that it was long before I could go out. The river was much swollen through rain. I was to take three baths. I went up the river rather above the town, to have clean water. On the road we had a heavy fall of rain, and this was the first bath. When we arrived at the river bank, the waters were so swollen that every one advised me not to endanger my life. But I, in perfect reliance upon divine providence, undressed, and calling upon Him, I threw myself into the river. Wood and stones were floated past me, and the waves made a terrible noise. The water appeared to me softer than the common river water. On going out a beneficent warmth spread over my limbs, they perspired, and my whole body became red; we said a hymn to Esculapius. During our return, rain fell again, and this was the third bath.'

"At Elea the God commanded me to take a sea-bath, with the assurance that at the entrance of the harbour I should see a ship bearing the name of Esculapius; I should go on board of it, and I should hear words from the sailors, which would agree with the events of the day. It happened exactly so, and the sailors sang a hymn of praise to Esculapius." Aristides now relates the course of his sickness minutely; how he sought for aid from the physicians of Rome and Pergamus in vain, and only increased his sufferings, so that he took refuge with the god, who cured him perfectly by dreams, baths, and remedies. To receive these dreams, Aristides lay between the door and the steps of the temple.

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 Æsculapius. 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 gave him the cue. "Esculapius also commanded me in a dream to make verses, and that I should inspire the

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 was 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