ying-on of hands was in vogue in
the earliest historic times. Certain Egyptian sculptures have been
found, illustrative of this practice, wherein one of the healer's hands
is represented as touching the patient's stomach, and the other as
applied to his back.[74:1]

From numerous references to the subject in Holy Writ, three are here
given: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by
prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the Presbytery."[74:2] "They
shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not
hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
"And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon
a few sick folk, and healed them."[74:3]

We are told that Asclepiades of Bithynia, a famous Grecian physician of
the second century B. C., who practised at Rome, systematically employed
the "induced trance" in the treatment of certain affections. Probably he
considered this method to conform with certain principles which he
advocated. For he professed that a physician's duty consisted in healing
his patients safely, speedily, and pleasantly; and as he met with
considerable success, his system was naturally very popular. It seems
certain that the physicians of old had no true conception of the
psychological and physiological principles of healing by laying on of
hands. It is probable, on the other hand, that they used this method in
a haphazard way, relying largely on the confidence of their patients
and the expectation of cure.[75:1]

Tacitus, in his "History," book IV, chapter 81, relates that at the
instance of the God Serapis, a citizen of Alexandria, who had a maimed
hand, entreated that he might be pressed by the foot and sole of
Vespasian (A. D. 9-79). The Emperor at first ridiculed the request, and
treated it with disdain. However, upon learning the opinion of
physicians that a cure might be effected through the application of a
healing power, and that it was the pleasure of the gods that he should
be the one to make the attempt, Vespasian, with a cheerful countenance,
did what was required of him, while the multitude that stood by awaited
the event in all the confidence of anticipated success. Immediately,
wrote the historian, the functions of the affected hand were restored.

The priests and magi of the ancient Druids possessed a wonderful faculty
of healing. They were able to hypnotize their patients by the waving of
a wand, an