AESCULAPIUS, 505 



Plato call it (the soul) at one time <he liquid of the whole of vivica- 

 tion, and at another time a certain fountain of it." 



ORACLE 103. 



" The fontal nymphs, and all the aquatic spirits, and the terres- 

 trial, aerial, and glittering recesses are the lunar riders and rulers 

 of all matter, of the celestial, the starry, and that which lies in the 

 abysses." 



ORACLE 117. 



" He makes the whole world of fire, and water, and earth, and all 

 nourishing ether." 



ORACLE 118. 



" Placing earth in the middle, but water in the cavities of the 

 earth, and air above these." 



ORACLE 94. 

 "0 man, of a daring nature, thou subtile production!" 



With awe, like unto the ravishment which once seized 

 upon the trembling priest, when voices from the depths of 

 the inscrutable revealed the mysteries of eternity, and the 

 as yet unborn future threw its shadow before, let us ac- 

 cept these oracles of the inspired ancients. Somewhat in- 

 articulate, somewhat of the vastness of the unspeakable, 

 looms out through the shady, evanescent, and transcendental 

 imagery of the Oriental seer ; but still the eye of faith can 

 discover the infallible finger of prophecy in the hazy diffuse- 

 ness of its cloudy terminology, and feel assured that the 

 inevitable, with unerring precision, has here cast its shadows 

 on the dial of time. It was clearly the triumphs of the 

 new gospel of salvation by water alone, the symbols of 

 which the paternal mind had sown in the soul of Zoroaster, 

 touching "the prophet's hallowed lips with fire," that were 

 thus vouchsafed by revelation in love and mercy to the sons 

 of men. From the region of shades and mysticisms comes 

 also this portentous humbug of the times, the cure of all 

 diseases by water alone, this thing called Hydropathy. 

 The modern author of this revelation is one Priessnitz, a 

 peasant, who, being a seventh son of a seventh son, and 



43 



