'of the i 5th plate, is a copy. P. Fabrega takes 
this figure, which is covered with twenty hiero- 
glyphics of the days, for a stag (mazatl) ; R 
Rios asserts, that it is an astrological conceit of 
the physicians ; a painting which teaches, that 
he who is born on such or such a day, shall have 
pains in his eyes, his stomach, or his ears : we 
isee indeed, that the twenty simple hieroglyphics 
of the days are distributed over different parts of 
the body. 
The sign of the day which began the small 
period of thirteen days, or the half lunation, was 
considered as ruling for the whole of this period ; 
so that a man born on the day when the hiero- 
glyphic was an eagle, had every thing to fear, or 
to hope, each time that an eagle swayed the 
week of thirteen days. Mr Zoega* seems to 
adopt the explanation of Rios ; and finds a strik- 
ing connexion between this fiction and the 
iatromathematic ideas of the Egyptians. If we 
cast our eyes over our own almanacks, we shall 
see, that these absurd ideas tarnish even our own 
Times ; since it is often less profitable to enlighten 
■the people, than to encourage their credulity. 
I found this same allegorical figure, which be- 
longs to astrological medicine, in the Codex Bor- 
glanus^ fol. 17 (MSS. No. 66) and in the Codex 
Anonymus of the Vatican, fol. 54. 
• Zoega, p. 523 and 531, 
