The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-11
a RELIC or PAGAN DAYS.
tinn Once Prayer 90 Jupiter.
From the chicago Post.
Reminders of lime when mortals were


Reminders Of a time when mortals were
supposed 10 have close intercourse with
The gods come up now ana then, and often
IN. The most unexpected places. For ex-
ample there are some 500 persons in Chi
caEo who daily write iuVOcations to Jupi-
ter or Ieus. Many times this number give
Of their subs lance for these talismanic
ciphers hoping thereby to be rid of some
bodily i'll. Now, the curious part Of this
latter day pagan worship is that those who
make the sigh of High Olympus king have
lilt.e, if any thought Of what they are do
ing, and those who eagerly seek the
"parchments" never suspect they are TAX
ing part in mcdicO-religous rite of the
middle ages. In short, the priests Of Jupi-
ter" are physicians and druggists, the sup
pliants their patients or customers, and
the parchments ordinary prescriptions.
In the left-hand upper corner Of every
physicians prescription or druggists re-
cipe may be found a letter "R," having. a
line drawn obliquely across its tail
Not one person in ten who writes pre-
scriptian takes the trouble to recall the
Significance of thai little stroke across the
X" and not one in q thousand who car
ries q prescription to the dispenser knows
anything at all as to the meaning Of the
symbol. Physicians and druggists text
books tels us it stands for recipe" and
means rake OF Atlt IO4lOWilB- AhdHy u
those who write and dispense prescrip-
lions will pause in their busy moments
long enough to say it is O mere arbitrary
sign and means little. II anything; but the
student of ancient things finds in that well
known symbol a relic of the days when
prescriptions had TO be blessed Of the
gods to be effective, and viii tell us IL
originally meant May Jupiter or Zeus
(or some other god who happened TO be
he.
scripuon and bring the patient heGlth."
Archaeologis(s while agreeing as to the
antiquity Of this medical symbol or tails
man, differ somewhat as to its exact orig
inal meaning The Oldest form Of the let
ter appears to have been a figure like the
English .etter ~ with the lower hori-
zontal part crossed with a scepter-shaped
line This, or some modification OF 1t, has
been from time immemorial the symbol
of The planet Jupiter And this is given
as the reason for placing il at the head
OF prescriptions, for the great planet, bear
or of the name of the father Of life, was
believed in olden days TO have a peculiar
influence over diseases. The symbol has
also been generally described as simply
the initial letter for Zeus, the Greek name
for Jupiter But this only accounts for
part of it. as 1t makes no provision for the
scepter-stroke. an object, which, accom-
panied or entwined by serpent, was
prominent in representations Of Jupiter.
sim others have figured 1t as being made
up of the initial and terminal letters of
Zadakiel, the angel and spirit of the great
planet. Some taking IL TO be a combina-
ton Of "R" and a." have held that it
might be derived from the name of RAJ
phael. angel Of the sun, which one-Taylor
says. This ideogram resolves Itself into
an arm, grasping a thunderbolt," which
Is only another way Of ascribing it to Jupi-
ter
The bulk Of testimony, therefore, seems
to strengthen the first position, that the
symbol is a fragmentary and obsolete
medical talisman, once potent with the UNI
seen powers, but now meaning to the aver
age person little more than 49, an ill-tast-
ing mixture. and, perhaps, improved
health,