Note 261 — Chapter II · (continued 2)

اسفنيوس. I am at a loss to find the true name of the Greek sage. In our days a class of Hindus, pursuant to an ante-brahminical worship, venerate spirits, called Vetals, to whom in sickness they make vows, to be paid on recovery. The votive offering is generally a cock, the same that the Greeks used to give to Æsculapius, when they thought their cure owing to his sanatory powers—(See the Journal of the A. R. S. of Great Britain and Ireland, No. IX. p. 194.)