potion for eight months;—­and died shortly after! (See Hammer, Ilkhans, I. 391-393, and Q.R. p. 194.) Bernier mentions wandering Jogis who had the art of preparing mercury so admirably that one or two grains taken every morning restored the body to perfect health (II. 130).  The Mercurius Vitae of Paracelsus, which, according to him, renewed youth, was composed chiefly of mercury and antimony. (Opera, II. 20.) Sulphur and mercury, combined under different conditions and proportions, were regarded by the Alchemists both of East and West as the origin of all the metals.  Quicksilver was called the mother of the metals, and sulphur the father. (See Vincent.  Bellov.  Spec.  Natur. VII. c. 60, 62, and Bl.  Ain-i-Akbari, p. 40.)

[We read in Ma Huan’s account of Cochin (J.R.A.S. April, 1896, p. 343):  “Here also is another class of men, called Chokis (Yogi), who lead austere lives like the Taoists of China, but who, however, are married.  These men from the time they are born do not have their heads shaved or combed, but plait their hair into several tails, which hang over their shoulders; they wear no clothes, but round their waists they fasten a strip of rattan, over which they hang a piece of white calico; they carry a conch-shell, which they blow as they go along the road; they are accompanied by their wives, who simply wear a small bit of cotton cloth round their loins.  Alms of rice and money are given to them by the people whose houses they visit.”

(See F.  Bernier, Voy., ed. 1699, II., Des Gentils de l’Hindoustan, pp. 97, seqq.)

We read in the Nine Heavens of Amir Khusru (Elliot, III. p. 563):  “A jogi who could restrain his breath in this way (diminishing the daily number of their expirations of breath) lived in an idol to an age of more than three hundred and fifty years.”

“I have read in a book that certain chiefs of Turkistan sent ambassadors with letters to the Kings of India on the following mission, viz.:  that they, the chiefs, had been informed that in India drugs were procurable which possessed the property of prolonging human life, by the use of which the King of India attained to a very great age ... and the chiefs of Turkistan begged that some of this medicine might be sent to them, and also information as to the method by which the Rais preserved their health so long.” (Elliot, II. p. 174.)—­H.C.]

“The worship of the ox is still common enough, but I can find no trace of the use of the effigy worn on the forehead.  The two Tam Pundits whom I consulted, said that there was no trace of the custom in Tamil literature, but they added that the usage was so truly Hindu in character, and was so particularly described, that they had no doubt it prevailed in the time of the person who described it.” (MS. Note by the Rev. Dr. Caldwell.)

I may add that the Jangams, a Linga-worshipping sect of Southern India, wear a copper or silver linga either round the neck or on the forehead.  The name of Jangam means “movable,” and refers to their wearing and worshipping the portable symbol instead of the fixed one like the proper Saivas. (Wilson, Mack.  Coll. II. 3; J.R.A.S. N.S.V. 142 seqq.)