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    can secret ? The fact that stronger , braver , and bolder men had failed , was more . Happily for me , perhaps , my object on commencing the voyage bad d recreation , not exploration . IIad I been provided with „ the necessary means : appliances for making such an attempt useful , it would have been impossible to - thsit point . : d to the masthead and looted to the south , where the forest archipelago , divided ; reaches of water , wove its labyrinth in the distance I thought I saw—but it en fancy—beyond the leafy crown of tlie farthest isles , the faint blue horizon of vater and grass , where the pihn again appears and the lotus fringes the shores . ; of the strong north wind , now blowing in our faces , would have taken mctliere , lyselfup to fate and a pipe , which latter immediately suggested to me that is kaving the gorgeous heart of Africa , I was going back to civilisation and Taylors adventures on his homeward journey we must refer our his volume . We have quoted largely from it , but have not ex-. tenth part of the various attractions which its pages offer to the home traveller . " The book—especially towards the latter part of of fresh and genuine interest . Need we say more in its favour cli a dull publishing season as this ?

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    ENNEXIOSER'S HISTORY OF MA . GIC . t of Magic . By Joseph Ehnemoser . Translated from the German by "William 13 ohn . 3 and subject of this book , when it was first announced , at once us . We opened it eagerly , and very soon found that of all the > ns . we h ; d formed from it hardly one was to be fulfilled . So far glisli public arc concerned , the History of Magic remains to be No exceptions can be taken to the learning and industry of : r , or to his earnest desire to pursue his subject to its utmost le does his best in his ¦ first volume , for example , to teach us about general and Magic in particular among all the ancient nations . 10 s , the Cabbalah , 'l ' umahj Primal Truth , the Prevalent Divine Infected Imaginations of the Lapps , the "Voluspa , the Kyphi , the ature of ristldes

    . N A . , and the Divine Dream of tlie Soul—are a soecult matters with which Eimemoser would appear to be periliar ; but his misfortune is , that he cannot instruct his readers as \ y as he has instructed himself . The one fatal objection that we take to this book is , that it is for the most part simply' incompre-Ennemoser seems to us to be too much of a philosopher and ad too little of a poet and man of the -world for his subject . He ind speculate profoundly , in many places , where he would be much ' ul if he kept on the surface , and narrated picturesquely . Whether ator is to blaine or not we cannot say ; but the present History of esents the curious anomaly of a mystic subject so mystically 30 Ut , that instead of instructing the general reader , it is calculated , : rable instances , to render itself absolutely and literally incompre-: o him .

    of of this assertion , let us , before we go any farther , select an ar two , from the first ¦ volume , of the . " unknown tongue , " in which ian of Magic speaks for the benefit of the English public . Will oblige us by paying particular attention to the teaching of the ( or book of patriarchal traditions ) on the subject of women , as ; d by Molitor , quoted by Enncmoser , and translated by Howitt?—i is man reversorl , his mirrored jmAgfl : while he is a self-acting principle , proriving outwards j and ever seeking the universal , the infinite , the woman ts the neiple , acting from without inwards , from the circumference to the centre , iivly from man's expansive energy to reduce concrete forms . " Molitor who Tvrote ^ that sentence , Mr . Emienioser who copied it , itt who translated it , Mrs . Howitt who edited it , and Mr . Bolm ished it , all laid their heads together , and tried to explain what it ant , would they succeed in the effort ? We venture to think not . sentence of Ennemoser ' s own , on " Spiritual Appearances , " which janvgraph , and the meaning of which , to our limited capacity , lies o much concealed under an atmosphere of metaphysical fog :

    upernalural and super-material may be reflected upon the ensouled vital powers measured distance ( unuprmtio passivu } , and therefore influences may take place s mind and body , of whicli , however , tlio soul has no distinct consciousness , then t inental influence and activity undeniable ; for that which ia spiritual is not spiritual , and all the wonders of the woild of spirits are in the end resolvod into our own minds . " igain , are some remarks about magic and sorcery , which will apredly , to nine readers out often , to bo mere jargon of the moat ; ible kind : —

    it precedes the shadow , magic precedes sorcery ; the abuso proceeds from tliouse relics side bysidc with truth . Without tho earlier magic of instinctive cliurvoytlio uctinpr vitality of the mind , sorcery would not have been discovered . The liuli ecstatic cliurvoyanco lind imparted m tho mythology woro not explicable to jir signification inay bo investigated from various directions . If through tho e , sis wo sco in nuignotiam , which was mt'thodicully practiced in tho oracular o powers of nuturo were discovered and known in tlio . ir various activity , therefore tion is not without foundation tliat the secret * of the teinplo consisted in tnngical urul in tho practice of those , powers of nature , which , being intimately connected ligious customs , must also have been comprehended by mythology . "

    ght quote pages and pages of such metaphysical slip-slop as this y part of tho first volume alone . But proof enough has been prosupport our assertion that the . book is written in such a dunifiy , anil unintelligible style , that it will repol tho general reader , weary nt , and irritate the critic . We ourselves have in many places been ored by tho obscurities of tho author ' s own style , iuul by tho yet . rkuess of the quotations which overshadow his pages in all direct wo are really quite unable to saiy what his opinions nro in relation of the inoslimportn . n 1 , topics wliicix he discuases ( and mystifies ) in nines . " What can Ennomoscr possibly be driving at V has boon o only mental question we have proposed to ourselves while labouro reader's service , through the History of Magic , gh the author has thus fuilcd as to tho firstgreutrequiaiteof expressing marly and satisfactorily , although he is either too profoundly learned , tu rally prosaic in temperament to seize on tho poolical aspects ol ct , and to present them picturesquely and impressively to the minds

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    of others , his book has nevertheless its readable and interesting pao-es , here and there—for those who will be careful and patient enough to ° search ' them out . _ Many a quaint scrap of antiquarian information , many a curious and striking relic of the superstition of past times , may be discovered—by lon <* looking certainly—among the dreary pages of these volumes . These anec ° dotes , for instance , of an absurd and cruel medical superstition , which was current in the time of King David , and seems to have lasted till the time of Boerliaave , are very curious : — In ancient times there was a universally accepted belief , that living together and breathing upon any person produced bad as well as good effects , and restored an undermined constitution , practised by a healthy person . The usual means of plants and their juices , of stones , &c , might be used for particular cases ; but , to eradicate deeply-rooted diseases , a young and fresh life was necessary .

    Especially , pure virgins and young children were supposed able to free persons from diseases by their breath , anil even by their blood . The patient was to be breathed upon by them and sprinkled with their blooj ; to have bathed in the blood would have bei-n better , could it have been possible . History supplies us witli many remarkable instances of restoration to health , either by living with healthy persons , or by being breathed upon by them- One of the most remarkable is recorded in the Bible , of King David ( I . Kings , i . 1-4)— " Now Kinw David was old and stricken in years , and they covered him with clothes , but he got no heat ! Wherefore his servants said unto him , ' Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin , and let her stand before the king , and let her cherish him , and let her lie in thy bosom , that my lord the king may get heat . ' " " So they sought for a damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel , and found Abishag , a Shunammite , and brought her to the king . "

    Bacon makes the remark in his work " De vitse et mortis liistoria , " that the girl probably rubbed the king with myrrh , and other balsamic substances , according to the custom of the Persian maidens . Pliny recommends breathing on the forehead as a remedy ( Hist , nat ., p . 28 , c . 6 ) . Galen reckons among the most certain outward remedicsfor bodily weakness , young persons , who were laid on tlie bed so as to cover tlie body of the sufferer ( Method , med . lib . vil ) Hyginus ( De sanitate tuenda ) is also of tho . same opinion ; and Virgil says : — " Et dedit amplexus at « iue oscuk dulcia fisit , Occult ' uTn inspirans ignem . " JEneid , lib . i . Reiuhart , in his " Bibelkrankheiten desalten Testaments , " calls living with the young the restoration of the old . Bartholin ( De morbis bibliis , o . ix . ) says the same , and that it is a preventive to the chilliness of old age , and by the b-reath restores much ; of the expired physical powers . Rudolph of Hapsburg is said , according to Serar ' s account , when very old

    and dtcrepit , to have been accustomed to kiss , in the presence of their relations , the daughters and wives of princely , ducal , and noble personages , and to have derived strength and renovation from their breath . The Emperor ' Frederick Barbarossa , near the end of his life , was advised , by a Jewish physician , to have young and healthy boys laid across his stomach , instead of using fomentations . Johannes Daniascenus , or Rabbi Moses ( Aphorism . 30 ) , relates , that for lameness and gout nothing better could be applied than a young girl laid across the affected part . Keinbart says , " Youngdogs are also of great service , which \ ve physicians lay , in certain cases , upon the abdomen of the patient . " Pomponatius ( De naturaiium effoctum admirand ., &c , p . 41 ) says , " The presence and the breath ' of young people is a good physic . " Amplexus adolescentium faoni anhelitus est medicina temperata . The story of Ltte . Clodius Hermippus is well known , who reached a very great age by being continually breathed upon by young girls . Koliausen records an inscription which was discovered at JRome by an antiquary , by name Goinar . It was cut in marble , and runs as follows : — .

    " To ^ sculapius and Health this is erected by L . Clodius Hermippus , who by _ the breatln of young girls lived 115 years and 5 days , at which physicians were jio little surprised . Successive generations , lead such a life 1 " ( In Hermippo redivivo , sive Exercit . physic , med . curiosa do incthodo rara ad cxv . annos prorogaudos senectutis : per anhelituin puellarunn . — = Francof . 1742 . ) Borelli and HolFtnan caused their patients to sleep with animals , to relieve violent pain or obstinate disease . The great Boerhaave ordered an . Amsterdam burgomaster to sleep between two boys , and declared that tlie pationt visibly increased in cheerfulness and physical power . Hufdhml says , in his " Art of Lengthening Human Life , " " And certainly , when we consider how efficacious for lameness sire freshly opened animals , or the laying of n living animal upon any painful affection , we must feel convinced that these methods are not to be thrown aside . " Among the Greeks and Romans much virtue was ascribed to the bruatli ; and tho old French poets praise the pure breath of virgins as very beneficial .

    What became of the wretched boys , girls , and dogs -who were used as so much physic by these atrocious old people ? Did the miserable youngsters survive or not ? What was the condition of Abishag after she had done keeping King David warm ? Eunemoser is more intelligible than usual in writing on the testimony offered by tho language of the Bible to the existence of magnetic ( or mesmeric ) power , and to the knowledge of the secrets of magnetic practice , among the ancient Egyptians and the Jews . Our orthodox readers , who believe in " verbal inspiration , " ought to be particularly interested in tho following passage : — The Jews who lived so long among tho Egyptians , or at least in Egypt , are here tho most rcliablo historians ; and Mosey , in sucrcii writ , is described as a muii ' * learned in all tho wisdom of the Egyptians . " Wo tind in tjio Bible expressions and accounts , which indicate tho hand as the mngiual organ , not only metaphorically , but in a direct manner , and moreover with tho same views whtali have boon dial need iroin magnetism . For by tho hnnd magnetic power ia imparted , unil somnambulism artificially produced , cither by irnmc 4 i < Uo contact with tho hands , or by the approximation of tho humls and tho lingers , or only one finger . Wo find passages in tho Bible which givo tho same destination tho same effect , ovua tho Baino direction to tlie hand' —namely , that by tho touch of tho hand visions and the power of prophecy arc produced . When God desired to inspire a prophet , what expression

    do wo lind mtvdo use ol ?— 'Tins , "Tho hand of tho Lord came upon him , and lie saw and prophesied . " YVlion Eli-ilia whs asked by tho Kings oi'I&raol and Judah concerning tho yrnv with , tho Moabites . ho culled i \ minstrel , " And it ciumo to puss , when tho minstrol played , Unit tho hand of the Lord entne upon him . And ho aaid , I'll us saith the Lord , " &o . Wo find similar expressions in the 1 'aulins , in Kzolticl , &c ,: " The word of tho Lord camo oxpressly unto Kwkiol , tho prieat , tho son of liu / . i , in the land of tho Ohaldasuns by C / io river Chetiar ; and tho hand of tho Lord was there upon him . ' Ezdkiel i . JJ . —" Now tho hand of tlio Lord waa upon me in tho evening , uforo he that was escaped come ; ami hud opened my mouth , until ho came to mo in tho morning ; and my inoutu was opuued and I whs no inor « i dumb . " ( Hzckiul xxxiii . 22 . )— " In Llio live and twentieth ywu" of onr ciiptivily , in tlio . beginning of the year , &c , the hand of tho Lord was upon mo and brought mo tlntlicr : hit lie ' visions of God brought ho mo into tlio land of Israel , ami sot mo on a very high mountain . " ( lizokiol xl . 1 . ) Whoroforo mention linro tho hand of tho Lord ? l » oa Ima not human hands 1 Tho lUlilc , therefore , evidently indicator iho diy iuo act by tho moans common among won when an / one waa to ho thrown into ecstasy and should propliosy . TlKtro arc many other similur pasna « e « in tho lWUo ooncoriniiR tlio iin |><> ri . ince o tho huiula in producing visions and ecstasy , as well m the nwRml in / lu « noool tho hand 8 « norally . Tho l <» yin « on of hands wah ou » tomnry m ninny woHsioiiB , and tlioreby tho communication of a certain power was HiR nilioJ , ajlliough such , » owcr was not Unable or vldiblv . Hid mill customary lu religious ccroinoiilca , and was used in bestow nig a beno-

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    dember 13 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 905

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 23, 1854, page 905, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2057/page/17/