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162 GREEK DIVINATION chap.™

admission to temples or sacrifices.1 In fact it is not until Imperial times that we find in the temple rules any recognition of a pure heart and a right spirit within as a desirable complement to hands ritually clean.

The physical phenomenon which seems to underlie the series of allied superstitions of which crystal-gazing is the type, appears to be the fact that in the case of certain people hypnotic self-suggestion can be induced by continuous and concentrated gazing at a bright object. This fact may well account for the magical power with which crystal stones are accredited by Australian blacks and other primitive peoples.

1 Wachter, Reinhcilsvorschriften im griechischen A’ult, pp. 4, 8 f. ; and see above, p. 103.