I have said sufficient already to indicate that there was no divinity precisely similar to Hygeia in Egypt, or any eastern country. Some of the great goddesses were believed to exercise functions akin to hers.[443] Indeed, many of the prominent divinities, from the spouse of Hea down, had accorded to them more or less control over affairs of health and life. Dr. Meigs conveys a wrong impression when he says:— “Hygeia, daughter of Asclepios, Descended from Apollo Delios, Adored as Maut[444] beside the mystic Nile, With Amen-Ra in Theban peristyle.”[445] There is about as much reason to say that Athene was Hygeia, as that Maut was, or Isis, although, as Ebers says, she was the divinity “to be called on to destroy the germs of disease.”[446] Arguments could be advanced in favor of the idea that Hygeia sprang into existence as a personification of the great serpent-accompanied virgin, river-mist, or cloud-goddess, Pallas Athene, in her capacity of health-preserver. The claim in regard to Isis is little or no better; and, in fact, one form of Isis, called Neith, or Neit, the great mother of the sun-god, Ra, and the titular goddess of Sais, has always[447] been believed to correspond closely with Athene. The former was not only usually accompanied by a serpent, like the latter, but was often represented by one; still, the same might be said of, perhaps, all the Egyptian goddesses. CHAPTER XV. MEDICAL TALISMANS. It is well at the start to form a definite conception of what a talisman means. It is a species of charm; it differs from an amulet. Both are of the character of fetiches; that is, objects in nature, or of art, believed to possess magical power. If the object be ascribed consciousness and other mental attributes, it is, properly speaking, an idol. Unlike the amulet, the talisman, to be effective, need not be kept about the person. But the main characteristic feature of the talisman is astronomical, or, rather, astrological; it is accorded virtue principally because made when two planets are in conjunction, or when a star has reached its culminating point. As one would expect, it has been customary to have something about the talisman to indicate that it is such; but many engravings found on them have no astronomical import at all.