literally denotes a blast of wind, breath, or vapour, striking with force against another body. The word is Latin, formed from ad, "to," and flare, "to blow." Naturalists sometimes speak of the afflatus of ferments. Tully uses the word figuratively, for a divine inspiration; in which sense, he ascribes all great and eminent accomplishments to a divine afflatus. The Pythian priests being placed on a tripod or perforated stool, over a holy cave, received the divine afflatus, as a late author expresses it, in her belly; and being thus inspired, fell into agitations, like a phrenetic; during which she pronounced, in hollow groans and broken sentences, the will of the deity. This afflatus is supposed, by some, to have been a subterraneous fume, or exhalation, wherewith the priests was literally inspired. Accordingly, it had the effects of a real physical disease; the paroxysm of which was so vehement, that Plutarch observes it sometimes proved mortal. Van Dale supposes the pretended enthusiasm of the Pythia to have arisen from the fumes of aromatics.

AFFLICTION is not itself, in propriety of medical speech, a disease, but it is the cause of many: for whatever excites envy, anger, or hatred, produces diseases from tense fibres; as whatever excites fear, grief, joy, or delight, begets diseases from relaxation.