Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

the suppliant had to go through numerous ceremonies , and make many sacrifices , anoint his body with oil , and bathe in the Avaters of certain rivers ; he was to be clothed in a linen robe , and with a cake of honey in his hand , directed to

descend into the cave by a A'ery narrow entrance , Avhence he Avas to return backwards after he had received an ansAVer ; the suppliants were always pale aud dejected on . their return , and hence it became proverbial to say of a melancholy man ,

that he had consulted the oracle of Trophonius . Here , doubtless , it was the effect of some poAverfal narcotic , in some way administered , which acted upon the body after the mind had been predisposed for a certain train of ideas . Such is the

connection between the body and the mind , that the substances which strongly induce sleep frequently possess the property of confusing the understanding . The berries of the belladonna

produce , Avhen eaten , a furious madness , folloAved by sleep , which lasts for twenty-four hours . Such drugs as produce mental stupefaction without impairing the physical poAvers may have given rise to the accounts of men being

transformed'into brutes , so frequent in Avhat are denominated the fabulous writers , while the evanescent but exquisite joys of an opposite description , an anticipation of Avhat implicit obedience Avould insure them for ever , produced blind , furious ,

devoted adherents to any philosophical speculator Avho Avould venture to try so desperate an experiment .

The custom of sleeping m the temples , or near the oracles of their gods , for the purpose of obtaining from them communications by dreams , Avas a common custom for the priests and devotees ; a custom not unfrequently alluded to by

ancient writers . An instance of this kind occurs in the JEniad of Virgil : — " Here in distress the Italian nations come , Anxious to clear their doubts and learn their doom ; ITirsb on tho fleeces of the slaughtered sheop ,

By night the sacred priest dissolves in sleep ; When in a train before his slumbering eye , Their airy forms and Avondrous visions fly ; He calls the powers who guard the infernal floods , And talks inspired , familiar Avith the gods . " The savage Kamschatskadale and the fierce

Cossack have recourse to this intoxication , Avhich is said to be produced by a spirit distilled from the Agaricus Museavis , a species of mushroom peculiar to the country , to dissipate their terrors when meditating assassinations . The extract of

hemp is used in India solely as an excitant . It possesses several peculiar intoxicating poAvers , and produces luxurious dreams and trances . A stupefying liquor is also prepared from hemp , and it enters Avith opium , betel nut , sugar , & c ., Avith

A'arious narcotic preparations . Sylvester de Sacy , in his " Memoir on the Dynasty of the Assassins , " says "I have no doubt Avhatever that denomination

Avas given to the Ismaehtes on . account of their using an intoxicating liquid , or preparation , still . knoAvn in the East by the name Hashish . Hemp leaves form the basis of this preparation , Avhich is employed in different Avays , either in liquid , or in

the form of pastiles mixed with saccharine substances , or even in fumigation . The intoxication produced by the hashish causes an extacy similar to that AA'hich the orientals obtain hy the use of opium ; and from the testimony of a great number

of travellers , Ave may aSrai that those who fall into this state of delirium , imagine they enjoy the ordinary object of their desires , and taste felicity at a cheap rate ; but the too frequent enjoyment changes the animal economy , and produces first marasmus aud then death . "

Marco Polo , whose veracity is now generally acknoAvledged , informs us that the Old Man . of the Mountain educated young men , selected from the most robust inhabitants of the places under his sway , in order to make them the executioners of

his barbarous decrees . The whole object of their education Avent to convince them that , by blindly obeying the orders of their chief , they ensured to themselves after death the enjoyment of every pleasure that can flatter the senses . For this

purpose the prince had delightful gardens laid out near his palace ; therein pavilions , decorated with everything rich and brilliant that Asiatic luxury coulcl devise , dwelt young beauties , dedicated

solely to the pleasures of those for Avhom these enchanting regions Avere destined . Thither from time to time the princes of the Ismaelites caused the young people AA'horn they wished to make the blind instruments of their will to be transported .

After administering to them a beverage Avhich threw them into a deep si eep , and deprived them for some time of the use of their faculties , they Avere carried into those pavilions , which were fully worthy of the gardens of Armida . On their

aAvaking , everything AA'hich met their eyes , or struck their ears , threw them into a rapture which deprived reason of all control over their minds , and uncertain whether they Avere still on earth ,