light, and almost everything seems to be from E. to W. or S.E. to N.W.  The penalty for sleeping with the head to the west is said to be anxiety of mind, while sleeping with the head to the north is considered fatal.  I beg to invite the attention of the Hindus to a similar penalty of death incurred by any but an initiate (Brahman) pronouncing the sacred Pranava (Om).  This does not prove that Pranava is really a mischievous bad word, but that, with incompetent men, it is fraught with danger.  So also, in the case of ordinary men of the plains, there may be unknown dangers which it would not be prudent for them to risk so long as they do not know how to meet them, or so long as they are not under the guidance of men who can protect them.  In short, ordinary men should move on in their beaten course, and these rules are for them only.

As an instance of the infringement of the rule the following anecdote is given:—­

After Ganesha (Siva’s son) was born, all the Devas (gods) came to congratulate the family and bless the child.  Sani or Saturn, was the last to come, and even then he came after he had been several times inquired after.  When he went to see the infant, it appeared headless!  This at once created a sensation, and all the Devas were at their wits’ end.  At last Saturn himself approached Mahadeva with folded hands and reminded him that it was due to his presence, and the child having been kept in a bed with its head to the north.  For such was the law.  Then the Devas consulted together and sent out messengers to find out who else was sleeping with the head to the north.  At last they discovered an elephant in that position.  Its head was immediately cut off and placed on the shoulders of Ganesha.  It need not be said that Ganesha became afterwards so learned and wise that if he had not had an elephant’s head, a human head would never have been sufficient to hold all he knew.  This advantage he owed to the circumstance of his sleeping with head to the north, and the blessing of the Devas.  To the elephant, the same position but minus the blessing of the Devas proved absolute death.

—­Nobin K. Bannerji

Reading Mr. Seeta Nath Ghose’s paper on “Medical Magnetism” and having studied long ago Baron von Reichenbach’s “Researches in Magnetism,” I am sorely puzzled, inasmuch as these two authorities appear to clash with each other most completely—­the one asserting “head to north never, under no circumstances,” the other “head to north ever and under all circumstances.”  I have pursued the advice of the latter, not knowing of the former for many years, but have not found the effect on my health which I had hoped for, and what is of more importance, I have not found a law of certain application to humanity and bringing health to all.  It seems to me on carefully reading this article that a most important point has been omitted or passed over—­i.e., the position of the sleeper, whether on his face or on his back?  This is most