Note 315 — Chapter III · THE ORIGIN OF GNOSTICISM

Philosophumena, Bk IV. c. 28. Hippolytus is probably wrong in thinking this a conscious imposture. The magician, like his clients, does not connect cause and effect in such cases. Sir Alfred Lyall told Lord Avebury that he had often seen Indian sorcerers openly mixing croton oil with the ink in which their charms were written so as to produce a purgative effect when the ink was washed off and swallowed. See Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, p. 24.