part in the history of alchemy. In its refined state it

forms a coherent, very mobile liquid. The early alchemists believed that nature formed all metals of mercury, and that it is a living and feminine principle. It went through many processes, and the metal evolved was pure or impure according to the locality of its production.
Mercury of Life : (See Elixir of Life.)
Merlin : An enchanter of Britain who dwelt at the court of King Arthur. His origin is obscure, but early legends concerning him agree that he was the offspring of Satan. He was probably an early Celtic god, who in process of time came to be regarded as a great sorcerer. There appears to have been more than one Merlin, and we must discriminate between the Merlin of Arthurian romance and Merlin Caledonius ; but it is probable that originally the two conceptions sprang from the one idea.
Mesmer, Franz Antoina : An Austrian doctor, born at Weil
' about the year 1733. In 1766 he took a degree in medicine
at Vienna, the subject of his inaugural thesis being De planetarum Influxu (De l'influence des Pianettes sur le corps humain). The influence of the planets he identified with magnetism. On seeing the remarkable cures of Gassner he supposed that the magnetic force must also reside in the human body, and thereupon dispensed with magnets. In 1778 he went to Paris where he was very favourably received — by the public, that is, for the medical authorities there, as elsewhere, refused to countenance him. His method was to seat his patients round a large circular vat or baquet, in which various substances were mixed. Each patient held one end of an iron rod, the other end of which was in the baquet. In due time the crisis ensued. Violent convulsions, cries, laughter, and various physical symptoms followed, these being in turn superseded by lethargy. Many claimed to have been healed by this method. In 1784 the government appointed a commission of members of the Faculte de Medecine, the Societe Royale de Medecine, and the Academy of Sciences, the commission- ers from the latter body including Franklin, Bailly, and Lavoisier. The report of the Committee stated, in effect, that there was no such thing as animal magnetism, and referred the facts of the crisis to the imagination of the patient. It had the effect of quenching to a considerable extent the public interest in mesmerism, as animal magnet- ism was cailed, for the time at least, though it was after- wards to be revived. Mesmer died in 18 15.
Mesmerism : (See Hypnotism.)
Mesna : (See Alchemy.)
Metals in Animal Magnetism : It is recorded by the magnetists that the various metals exercised a characteristic influence on their patients. Physical sensations of heat and cold numbness, drowsiness, and so on were experienced by the somnambules on contact with metals, or even when metals were secretly introduced into the room. t>r. Elliotson, especially, gave much prominence to the alleged power of metal to transmit the magnetic fluid. Gold, silver, plati- num, and nickel were good conductors, though the mag- netism conveyed by the latter was of a highly dangerous character. Copper, tin, pewter, and zinc were bad con- ductors. Elliotson found that a magnetised sovereign would throw into the trance his sensitives the sisters Okey, and that though iron would neutralise the magnetic ro- perties of the sovereign, no other metal would do so. When Baron von Reichenbach propounded his theory of odylic force his sensitives saw a luminous emanation proceed from metals — silver and gold shone white ; lead, blue ; nickle, red, and so on. All these phenomena may be referred to suggestion.
Metempsychosis, or Transmigration : The passing of the soul at death into another body than the one it has vacated. The belief in metempsychosis was very wide-spread in ancient times, and still survives in Braminism and Buddh- ism, as well as in European folk-tales and superstitions. The Brahmins and Buddhists believe that the soul may enter another human body, or that of one of the lower animals, or even a plant or tree, according to its deserts in the previous incarnation. Thus it is doomed to suc- cessive incarnations, till by the suppression of all desires and emotions it loses itself in the Supreme Being. Very similar was the idea of Pythagoras and the Greeks, who believed that all material existence was a punishment for sins committed in a former incarnation. Indeed it is probable that Pythagoras derived his theory from the Brahminical doctrine. The ancient Egyptians would also seem to have believed in metempsychosis. Among certain savage tribes of Africa and America transmigration is generally subscribed to at the present day. 1 hese savages imagine the discarnate spirit very much out of its element till it has found another body to dwell in, which it does as
Metratton
275
Mexico
speedily as possible. Totemism may perhaps facilitate a belief in the passing of the soul into the body of an animal. In Europe also in early times the belief in metempsychosis flourished, and several popular folk-tales, such as that known in Scotland as The Milk-white Doo, of which variants are found in many lands, contain references to the souls of the dead entering into beasts, birds, or fishes. In some places it is thought that witches are at death transformed into hares, and for this reason the people of these localities refuse to eat a hare. The Jewish Kabalists also believed in the doctrine of metempsychosis, and traces of it are to be found in the writings of Sweden- borg.
Metratton : According to Jewish rabbinical legend, Met- ratton, the angel, is one of the agents by whom God the Father works. He receives the pure and simple essence of the divinity and bestows the gift of life upon all. He dwells in one of the angelic hierarchies.
Mexico and Central America : Occult science among the ancient Mexicans may be said to have been in that stage between the savage simplicities of medicine-men and the more sophisticated magical practices of the mediaeval sorcerer. The sources which inform us regarding it are unfortunately of a most scanty description and are chiefly gleaned from the works of the early missionaries to the country, and from the legends and myths of the people themselves. Writing upon the sorcerers of Mexico, Saha- gun, an early Spanish priest, states that the naualli or magician among the Mexicans is one who enchants men and sucks the blood of infants during the night. This would seem as if the writer had confounded the sorcerer with the vampire, — a mistake occasionally made by con- tinental writers on magic. He proceeds to say that among the Mexicans this class is ignorant of nothing which apper- tains to sorcery, and possesses great craft and natural address ; that they hire themselves out to people to work evil upon their enemies, and to cause madness and maladies. " The necromancer," he says, " is a person who has made pact with a demon, and who is capable of transforming himself into various animal shapes. Such people appear to be tired of life and await death with complaisance. The astrologer practises among the people as a diviner, and has a thorough knowledge of the various signs of the calendar, from which he is able to prognosticate the for- tunes of those who employ him. This he accomplishes by weighing the power of one planet against that of another, and thus discovering the resultant applies it to the case in point. These men were called into consultation at births and deaths, as well as upon public occasions, and would dispute with much nicety on their art." The astrological system of the Mexicans was like that of their calendar of the most involved description possible, and no mere sum- mary of it could convey anything but a hazy notion of the system, for which the reader is referred to the author's Civilisation of Ancient Mexico, Sahagun's Historia, and Bulletin 28 of the United States Bureau of Ethnology. In connection with the astrological science of the Aztecs, however, it is worthy of note that the seventh calendric sign, was that under which necromancers, sorcerers and evil-doers were usually born. Says Sahagun : " These work their enchantments in obscurity for four nights running, when they choose a certain evil sign. They then betake themselves in the night to the houses where they
desire to work their evil deeds and sorceries For the
rest these sorcerers never know contentment, for all their days they live evilly and know no peace."
The myths of the Mexicans give us a good working idea of the status of the enchanter or sorcerer in Aztec society. For example we find that the Toltec god, Quetzalcoatl, who in early times was regarded as a description of culture-
hero, was bewitched by the god of the incoming and rival race, Tezcatlipoca, who disguised himself as a physician and prescribed for an illness of his enemy's an enchanted draught, which made~him long for the country of his origin — that is, the home of the rains. From this we may judge that potions or philtres were in vogue amongst Mexican sorcerers. In their efforts to rid themselves of the entire Toltec race, the traditional aborigines of Mexico, Tezcatlipoca is pictured as performing upon a magical drum in such a manner as to cause frenzy amongst the Toltecs, who leaped by thousands into a deep ravine hard by their city ; and similar instances of the kind are occasionally to be met with. Wonderful stories are told of the feats of the Huaxteca, a people of Maya race, dwell- ing on the Gulf of Mexico. Sahagun relates that they could produce from space a spring with fishes, burn and restore a hut, and dismember and resurrect themselves. The Ocuiltec of the Toluca Valley also possessed a wide- spread reputation as enchanters and magicians-.
Divination and Augury. — As has been said, divination was practised among the Aztecs by means of astrology ; but there were other and less-intricate methods in use. There was in existence a College of Augurs corresponding in purpose to the Auspices of Ancient Rome, the members of which occupied themselves with observing the flight and listening to the songs of birds, from which they drew their conclusions, and pretended to interpret the speech of all winged creatures. The Calmecac, or training college of the priests, had a department where divination was taught in all its branches. A typical example of augury from birds may be found in the account of the manner in which the Mexicans fixed upon the spot for the foundation of their city. Halting after years of wandering in the vicinity of the Lake of Tezcuco, they observed a great eagle with wings outspread perched on the stump of a cactus, and holding in its talons a live serpent. Their augurs inter- preted this as a good omen as it had been previously announced by an oracle, and upon the spot where the bird had alighted, they drove the first piles upon which they afterwards built the city of Mexico, — the legend of the foundation of which is still commemorated in the arms of modern Mexico. Dreams and visions played a great