ORIGIN OF THERAPEUTIC BATHING 219 



magic, and the later water gods, must be reckoned 

 dangerous in the sea and deep rivers and pools, it is 

 naturally enough regarded as holy and beneficent, though 

 very delicate in its taste, in hot, dry countries. Rivers 

 are obviously capable of fertilizing the whole country. 

 By their fertilizing influences the feminine land pro- 

 duces fruit. If that is so, why should they not fertilize 

 women ? In the East many rivers are capable of actual 

 procreation as I pointed out before. Women there- 

 fore who are barren take to bathing in order to obtain 

 offspring. If there are sturdy guardians of the sacred 

 water they may possibly help a little at times. The 

 virtue of wells, which leads to washing and bathing as 

 a cure for barrenness, is known even in England and 

 Scotland. In Northumberland there is a sulphur spring 

 which used to work wonders in this way, and may be 

 effective still for all I know. It is highly probable that 

 chalybeate springs, such as Orezza in Corsica, gained 

 this reputation justly in the case of the anaemic. Since 

 religion took part in the ritual of life the priesthood, 

 the later clergy even, have done their best with pagan 

 beliefs, and therefore many of those old efficacious pagan 

 wells became the property of saints. Not only magic but 

 religion also works wonders. When they act hand in hand 

 something is bound to happen. In India sterility is, of 

 course, caused by evil spirits. In some places if a surgeon 

 were to cure sterility by special surgical methods, he 

 might actually find himself deified locally, just as General 

 Nicholson, who died so nobly at Delhi, was deified 

 on the frontier. It is quite possible that a quasi-deifi- 

 cation or apotheosis takes place nowadays with some 

 popular doctors. In other forms the human mind works 

 as it did of old. 



