to pain, is certain;
and a highly sensitive temperament may exhibit phenomena beyond the
reach of explanation; but it requires very little experience to know
that we are wonderfully affected by far more ordinary causes; for the
nerves may be acted upon to such an extent by having as we commonly
term it "our teeth set on edge," that the mere filing a saw would
suffice to drive any one mad, if unable to escape from its unceasing
discord. What is this but an effect upon the nerves? and what more
could be desired to prove the power of any agency? And the world would
owe a debt of gratitude to the professors of animal magnetism, if,
instead of making it, as some do, a mere exhibition to display a
power, and astonish the beholders, they would continue the efforts
already begun, for discovering all the beneficial uses to which it is
capable of being applied.

We might then rejoice that, as astrology led to the more useful
knowledge of astronomy, this influence enabled us to comprehend our
nervous system, on which so many conditions of health depend, and with
which we are so imperfectly acquainted.

The cure of diseases was also attributed by the Egyptians to _Exvotos_
offered in the temples. They consisted of various kinds. Some persons
promised a certain sum for the maintenance of the sacred animals; or
whatever might propitiate the deity; and after the cure had been
effected, they frequently suspended a model of the restored part in
the temple; and ears, eyes, distorted arms, and other members, were
dedicated as memorials of their gratitude and superstition.

Sometimes travelers, who happened to pass by a temple, inscribed a
votive sentence on the walls, to indicate their respect for the deity,
and solicit his protection during their journey; the complete formula
of which contained the adoration of the writer, with the assurance
that he had been mindful of his wife, his family, and friends; and the
reader of the inscription was sometimes included in a share of the
blessings it solicited. The date of the king's reign and the day of
the month were also added, with the profession and parentage of the
writer. The complete formula of one adoration was as follows:

"The adoration of Caius Capitolinus, son of Flavius Julius, of the
fifth troop of Theban horse, to the goddess Isis, with ten thousand
names. And I have been mindful of (or have made an adoration for) all
those who love me, and my consort, and children, and all my