The symbol placed at the head of medical prescriptions, and which is usually believed to stand for _recipe_, may be regarded as a sort of obsolete talisman. The original form of it appears to have been a figure like a Z, with the lower horizontal part crossed with a sceptre-shaped line. This, or a modification of it, has been from time immemorial the symbol of the planet Jupiter. Hence the reason, it has been asserted, for placing it at the head of prescriptions; for the great planet, the bearer of the name of the father of life, was believed in other days to have a favorable influence over diseases. And here I may observe that in another chapter I have spoken of the interesting fact that Marduk[470] of the Babylono-Assyrians stood for Jupiter, and that in him was assimilated the benignant mediator and healer of the Accadio-Sumerians, Silik-mulu-khi. The symbol is generally described as being simply the initial letter of Zeus, the Greek name of Jupiter. But this leaves part of it out of account, a part which might be taken to be a sceptre, an object which, accompanied by a serpent, as the symbol of life, was prominent in representations of Jupiter. But one might with some reason regard it as made up of the initial and terminal letters of Zadykiel, or Zadakiel, the angel and the spirit of the great planet, according to astrologers and others. And again, by taking it to be composed of an R and an l, one might hold it to be derived from the name of Raphael, the angel of the sun. But, as already stated, it is probable that the body of the original figure was not an R. I may add that Mr. Taylor says that this ideogram “resolves itself into an arm grasping a thunderbolt.” If the prescription-mark be a thing of astrological origin, it is a remnant of an extensive body of facts and theories, long highly prized. Shakspere makes _King Lear_, in an interesting passage, characterize the reference of man’s destiny “to the sun, the moon, and the stars,” as “the excellent foppery of the world;”[471] but no doubt innumerable hosts of believers in the system were thoroughly sincere. From the days when the Accadians became distinguished for their observations of the heavens, down to very recent times, medical astrology occupied a position in popular thought and esteem which almost exceeds the power of credence of the modern scientific physician. Not only in administering medicines, but in gathering medicinal herbs, the position of the planets had to be considered; for it was believed that the herbs got their virtues from them. Without the benign influence of the “host of heaven,” no good could be expected from the physician, or his remedies. The belief in the power of the different constellations of the zodiac over special parts of the body and their diseases is still indicated by the curious figure often seen in almanacs.