Amoc°tUri^?arm'  \  Methyl-Orange  679 
ate,  hydroxide  and  phosphate.  It  should  not  be  necessary  to  here 
state  that  the  standardization  of  the  volumetric  solutions  employed 
must  be  made  by  the  same  method. 
Solutions  are  submitted  to  show  changes  in  color  of  methyl- 
orange  in  comparison  with  the  mixed  indicators  A  and  C,  these  illus- 
trating the  greatest  variation  in  the  quantities  of  methyl-orange  and 
indigo-carmine. 
EGYPTIAN  SECRETS  AND  MAGICAL  SPIRIT  ART  OF 
THE  PAST  AGES* 
By  Edward  J.  Hughes,  P.  D. 
The  practice  of  witch-craft,  the  white  and  black  art,  voodooism, 
or  hex-doctoring  is  considered  by  most  people,  in  our  enlightened 
age,  as  a  reflection  upon  our  intelligence.  Yet  it  is  surprising  to 
find  that  only  a  few  hundred  years  ago  the  treasured  Egyptian 
secrets  were  highly  esteemed  and  the  magical  spirit  art  was  prac- 
ticed by  men  of  highest  repute,  such  as  priests,  alchemists  and 
philosophers.  Then  too,  we  are  reminded  by  the  newspapers  that  in 
our  present  day  there  are  those  who  seek  to  find  relief  from  their 
sufferings  and  confusion  by  the  use  of  charms  and  incantations. 
Needless  to  say,  it  is  not  the  object  of  the  writer  to  advocate 
the  use  of  these  weird  hallucinations.  Nevertheless  it  is  interesting 
as  well  as  amusing  to  examine  some  of  the  ancient  literature  and 
there  find  recorded  the  cure-alls  that  were  in  vogue  at  that  time. 
Signed  statements  are  made,  apparently  with  sincere  reverence,  as  to 
the  efficacy  of  these  remedies,  and  miracles  are  said  to  have  been 
wrought  by  methods  which  to  us  may  seem  ridiculous. 
One  of  the  books  dealing  with  the  magical  spirit  art  is  called  the 
Sixth  and  Seventh  Book  of  Moses.  The  copy  of  this  in  English  is 
said  to  have  been  translated  from  the  German  and  that,  in  turn,  from 
the  ancient  Hebrew.  This  contains  a  mass  of  incoherent  material 
showing  about  as  much  connection  throughout  the  text  as  one  might 
expect  to  find  in  an  ancient  dictionary.  It  contains  a  lot  of  hiero- 
glyphics, symbols,  seals,  magical  formulas  and  incantations.  Be- 
sides these  it  contains  a  collection  of  writings  from  both  the  old  and 
new  Testaments  with  many  other  sacred   writings    of  doubtful 
*Read  at  the  Convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
held  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  in  June  of  1921. 
