The same effects that were produced by draughts and
fumigations would follow from the application of liniments, of "Magical
Unctions," acting through the absorbent system, as if they had been
introduced into the stomach: allusions to these ointments are constantly
recurring in ancient authors. Philostratus, in his life of Apollonius
(iii. 5) states that the bodies of his companions, before being admitted
to the mysteries of the Indian sages, were rubbed over with so active an
oil, that it appeared as if they were bathed with fire.
CHAPTER V.
THE BRITISH DRUIDS, OR MAGI--ORIGIN OF FAIRIES--ANCIENT
SUPERSTITIONS----THEIR SKILL IN MEDECINE, &C.
The British Druids, like the Indian Gymnosophists, or the Persian Magi,
had two sets of doctrines; the first for the initiated; the second for
the people. That there is one God the creator of heaven and earth, was a
secret doctrine of the Brachmans. And the nature and perfection of the
deity were among the druidical arcana.
Among the sublimer tenets of the druidical priesthood, we have every
where apparent proofs of their polytheism: and the grossness of their
religious ideas, as represented by some writers, is very inconsistent
with that divine philosophy which has been considered as a part of their
character.
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