Aesculapius! Cypris! each day shall you be thanked by Aspasia and by Pericles. "I must now relate to thee the vision of a Daunian, who slept near me. She suffered from an affection of her breast, and this she dreamed:--She beheld the young god Harpocrates lying on leaves of lotos, and covered with bandages from the head to the feet. He appeared weak and emaciated; he cried like an infant, supplicating the poor woman to nurse him. Soon after, she dreamt that a lamb came to seek his sustenance from her bosom. The dream was fulfilled,--it clearly indicated the use of a certain plant; but, until it could be obtained, the Daunian was advised to eat nothing but stewed raisins. Learn that here various names are given to various inspirations. The last dream I have related is called _allegorical_. When a dream prescribes a certain remedy, it is named _theorematic_. Here are many dreams: wise Pericles, thou art perhaps smiling at them; but what is _not_ visionary is my perfect recovery, and my love for thee. Farewell!" Although this letter of Aspasia is an evident fiction, yet it gives an excellent, though a romantic description of the incubation of the ancients. Aspasia was supposed to be labouring under one of the most vexatious disorders that can affect a pretty woman,--an eruption in the face; hence the gods sent her a mirror, that her devotion might be increased by her unsightly appearance. It is not improbable that in those days, as in the present era, women of a certain, or rather an uncertain age, were more fervid in their endeavours to render themselves acceptable to Heaven when they ceased to be admired and sought for upon earth. QUACKERY AND CHARLATANISM. The origin of the word "quack" is not ascertained. Johnson derives it from the verb "_to quack_, or gabble like a goose." Butler uses this verb as descriptive of the encomiums empirics heap upon their nostrums. Thus in Hudibras: Believe mechanic Virtuosi Can raise them mountains in Potosi, Seek out for plants with signatures To _quack_ of universal cures. The word _charlatan_ is equally enveloped in obscurity. Furetiere and Calepin say that it is derived from the Italian word _Ceretano_, from _Caeretum_, a town near Spoleto, whence a band of impostors first sallied forth, marching under the banners of Hippocrates, and roving from town to town, selling drugs and giving medical advice.[24] Menage has it that _charlatan_ springs from _Circulatanus_, from _Circulator_. Other etymologists trace it to the Italian _Ciarlare_, to chatter; hence _Ciarlatan_. The Romans called their quacks _Agyrtae_, or _Seplasiarii_, from _Seplasium_, the generic name of aromatic substances. _Seplasium_ was the place where they vended their drugs. Thus Martial: Quodque ab Adumaeis vectum _seplasia_ vendunt, Et quidquid confert medicis lagaea cataplus. An empiric was also called _Planus_ and _Circulator_ "_unde Plani unde levatores_."