HELLEBORE. 17 



princesses were ordered to bathe in a cold fountain 

 after taking the Hellebore, and this is the first 

 instance upon record of the use of cathartics and 

 bathing with a medicinal view. Melampus gained 

 still greater honour by correcting the defects of 

 Iphiclus's constitution, prescribing to him to take 

 the rust of iron in his wine for ten days succes- 

 sively. Thus we find that the celebrated steel me- 

 dicine of the present day was in use as long back 

 as 3350 years. At that early period, the physicians 

 were held as a sacred order of men, and Diodorus 

 Siculus states that none durst profess physic in 

 Egypt, without being admitted as a member of the 

 College of Priests. They were also considered as 

 soothsayers and prophets, from their pretending to 

 be assisted by incantations and charms, the origin 

 of which arts seems almost coeval with the inven- 

 tion of physic itself; and these solemn mysteries 

 were no doubt resorted to in order to create a ve- 

 neration and faith in the minds of the patients for 

 their physicians, which, however ridiculous it may 

 appear to us, might have had great effect on the 

 minds of the vulgar, as it is an established opinion 

 that the body is often influenced by the affections 

 of the mind. 



We have made this digression to show the 

 origin of many of the superstitious customs of the 

 Greeks and Romans respecting plants. That these 



