EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY. 43 
only persons to whom the use of wine, though in prescribed quantity, was 
allowed. 
~The votive-hands, so frequently found, must here be mentioned on 
account of their close connexion with the vocation of one class of the priest- 
hood. We have already said that the pastophoroi were also the physicians 
of the people, and as such belonged to the colleges of priests who served in 
the temples of Serapis and Isis. The sick and afflicted repaired therefore 
to this temple to be cured, and whenever they were restored they deposited 
there as offerings of gratitude these votive-hands, of which we give copies 
on pl. 10, jigs. 19-22, and during the festivals in honor of the god or the 
goddess they were carried about upon long poles as trophies of his or her 
power. All these hands of bronze, as will be seen on the plate, had the 
thumb with the fore and middle fingers stretched out, while the others were 
bent down to the palm. | 
The first hand, jig. 19, has on the inside of the fore and middle fingers the 
head of Serapis, and on the palm of the hand two other symbolic marks ; 
just above the wrist is a bracelet, beneath which is seen the figure of a 
woman in a recumbent position, with a child on one side and an ibis on 
the other. /%g. 20 has the head of Serapis in the same place as the other, 
but instead of the palm this shows the back of the hand covered, with a 
miniature drawing of a serpent, a toad, a lizard, a pair of scales, a jug, and 
a few hieroglyphics. 1g. 21 is a hand showing the palm; the end of the 
thumb has the shape of the head of Serapis, and upon the second joint of 
the bent fingers is a miniature ram’s head; a serpent entwines the wrist. 
Fig. 22 is a drawing of the back of a hand, with the head of Serapis in the 
same position, a tortoise and several vines covering the centre of the hand, 
while a serpent which encircles the wrist stretches out its head towards the 
thumb. All these hands are right hands, and in every one the fingers are 
found in the same position. This has led to the supposition, it is true upon 
very slight grounds, that the cures in the temple were performed by a kind 
of animal magnetism which it is thought was well understood by the 
priests. 
8. THe Mystertms. The system of secret doctrines adopted by various 
nations of antiquity, and which was known as The Mysteries, was also in 
high repute among the Egyptians. These doctrines were diametrically 
opposite to those held by the people. They had two kinds of mysteries in 
Egypt, the greater and the lesser; the former taught by the sinh of 
Osiris and Serapis, the latter by those of Isis. 
The first cause of the introduction of symbols was the profound ignorance 
of the people, which compelled the more enlightened, whose views about 
the deities were more developed, to speak to them in parables and figures 
in order to be understood at all. This system of symbols increased at last 
to such a degree that the explaining of them became a distinct branch of 
study wholly confined to the priesthood. The people in their great 
ignorance were naturally inclined to regard the symbols as the very things 
or ideas which they allegorically represented, without troubiing themselves 
about understanding the allegories in their higher connexion, or in other 
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