Note G (317). The umbilical region plays no small part as a localization point for the first inner sensations in mystic introversion practices. The accounts of the Hindu Yoga doctrine harmonize with the experiences of the omphalopsychites. Staudenmaier thinks that he has, in his investigations into magic, which partly terminated in the calling up of extremely significant hallucinations, observed that realistic heavenly or religious hallucinations take place only if the “specific” nerve complexes [of the vegetative system] are stimulated as far down as the peripheral tracts in the region of the small intestine. (Magie als exp. Naturw., p. 123.) Many visionary authors know how to relate marvels of power to the region of the stomach and of the solar plexus. In an essay on the seat of the soul, J. B. van Helmont assures us that there is a stronger feeling in the upper orifice of the stomach than in the eye itself, etc.; that the solar plexus is the most essential organ of the soul. He recounts the following experience. In order to make an experiment on poisonous herbs he made a preparation of the root of aconite [Aconitum napellus] and only tasted it with the tip of his tongue without swallowing any of it. “Immediately,” he says, “my skin seemed to be constricted as with a bandage, and soon after, there occurred an extraordinary thing, the like of which I had never experienced before. I noticed with astonishment that I felt, perceived and thought no longer with my head, but in the region of my stomach, as if knowledge had taken its seat in the stomach. Amazed at this unusual phenomenon, I questioned myself and examined myself carefully. I merely convinced myself that my power of perception was now much stronger and more comprehensive. The spiritual clearness was coupled with great pleasure. I did not sleep nor dream, I was still temperate and my health perfect. I was at times in raptures, but they had nothing in common with the fact of feeling with the stomach, which excluded all coöperation with the head. Meantime my joy was interrupted by the anxiety that this might even bring on some derangement. Only my belief in God and my resignation to his will soon destroyed this fear. This condition lasted two hours, after which I had several attacks of giddiness. I have since often tried to taste of aconite, but I could not get the same result.” (Van Helmont, Ortus Medic, p. 171, tr. Ennemoser, Gesch. d. Mag., p. 913.)