This thirteenth Atout is represented on some cards as a skeleton mowing off the heads of men, on some as a rider on a white horse, and on others on a black one. There is an old proverb: "Death comes riding on a white horse," and sometimes the clouds betokening rain are called "the white horses of death." One of the horses of Aurora was called Abraxas, the numerical value of these letters summing up three hundred and sixty-five, or the number of the days of the year. The occult meanings attached to this card and its number in the Atouts are well known, for the latter is connected with bad luck or death in all European countries, and in every place where the worship of Mercury or the Hermetic art, as connected with cards, has penetrated. It is not so regarded, however, by savage tribes, who have not followed this cult. This superstition is, therefore, by many deemed to be one of the proofs that the cards were descended from those mysteries. It is supposed that this image of Death was the half-way position in the temple of Thoth, and therefore divided the Atouts to the right and to the left, since they were placed in sequence on both sides. Thoth Hermes, the unnumbered Atout, was represented by a statue that occupied the centre of the building, under which stood an altar. On this altar the rods (or pip cards) were thrown when consulting the oracle. At any rate, the altar (or its remains) occupies the centre of the ruins of the temple of Mercury, at Baiæ. The central position of Death was deemed to indicate the dividing period of a man's life. The inquirer, after consulting the pictured figures, representing the family, religion, government, and friends of the beginning of his life, now learned of the more serious affairs of later years, not necessarily death or bad fortune, but, rather, a transforming force, since this Atout marked such a distinct epoch in the path of life, and was to be considered most seriously. Still the card also portends sorrow, destruction, and death. The letter is Mem, meaning fertility and formation, or the development of the being in an unlimited space, perhaps regeneration after destruction, or immortality in another world. XIV. LA TEMPERAN (Temperance) It is probable that this figure was intended for Nut or Nephthys. Of her but little is positively known, and, so far, no temple erected to her has been discovered. She was called the wife of Seb, and the mother of Osiris. Her titles are "the Elder," "the Mother of the Gods," and "the Nurse." She is usually represented as veiled and pouring a liquid from a vase. Her figure frequently appears in tombs, as if she was the guardian angel or protector of the dead soul. This idea of an oblation to the gods, through pouring wine or oil before them, is found to be common among the Babylonians, and to "pour oil on the troubled waters" is no mere figure of speech.