"Case of Arata of Sparta having dropsy. Her mother, leaving her in Sparta, slept and had a vision. It seemed to her that the god cut off her daughter's head and hung up the body with the neck downward, and when a great quantity of water had run out, took the body down again and replaced the head upon the neck. After she had seen the vision she returned to Sparta, and found her daughter restored to health, having seen the same vision." As if to put the seal of verification upon these cases, two inscriptions tell of doubters who were convinced of the god's power to heal, against their will. One records the case of a man with all the fingers of one hand paralyzed except one, who, seeing these tablets in the sacred precinct recording the miraculous cures, laughed and doubted: "Now this man, in his sleep, seemed to see the god seize hold of his hand and straighten out his fingers, and when the man, in doubt, kept opening and shutting his fingers to see whether it were really true, the god seemed to ask him if he _now_ doubted the truth of the inscriptions. When the man replied that he was convinced, the god said to him: 'Because you did not at once believe things that were in no wise incredible I give you the name of "The Doubter."'" This was the only vengeance inflicted by the mild god upon this "doubting Thomas"; for "when day dawned he went away healed." Some think that this great healing establishment had two strings to its bow, and that alongside of the miraculous cures which drew the crowd there was a treatment which approached in some degree the regular practice of medicine. At any rate it is clear that water played a great rôle here, not only from the inscriptions, but also from the fact that the precinct is honeycombed with water-pipes. Sunlight and good air were also doubtless operative. The Hieron lies in a bowl, high up, it is true, but finely protected from the winds, especially the north wind and east wind. It possesses the qualities of a good winter resort. In summer it is now somewhat hot, but the air is certainly not so sultry as in the lower lying parts of Argolis. As the precinct is spoken of in ancient times as a "grove," there must then have been abundant shade all about. Numerous porches also, with various exposures, gave an option between sun and shade. We should not go far astray in speaking of the Hieron as an ancient Carlsbad as well as an ancient Lourdes. But in its material equipment it was greatly superior to both; for from very early times down through the days of the Antonines one noble building after another was reared here under the supervision of the best architects.