diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/40616-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/40616-0.txt | 6957 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 6957 deletions
diff --git a/old/40616-0.txt b/old/40616-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2f050d0..0000000 --- a/old/40616-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6957 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Fiends, Ghosts, and Sprites, by John Nettin Radcliffe - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Fiends, Ghosts, and Sprites - Including an Account of the Origin and Nature of Belief - in the Supernatural - -Author: John Nettin Radcliffe - -Release Date: August 29, 2012 [EBook #40616] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIENDS, GHOSTS, AND SPRITES *** - - - - -Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Jennifer Linklater and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - - - - FIENDS, GHOSTS, - AND - SPRITES. - - INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF - THE ORIGIN AND NATURE - OF - BELIEF IN THE SUPERNATURAL. - - BY JOHN NETTEN RADCLIFFE. - - LONDON: - RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. - 1854. - - PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, - LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. - - - - -FIENDS, GHOSTS, AND SPRITES. - - -A belief in the supernatural has existed in all ages and among all -nations. - -To trace the origin of this belief, the causes of the various -modifications it has undergone, and the phases it has assumed, is, -perhaps, one of the most interesting researches to which the mind can be -given,--interesting, inasmuch as we find pervading every part of it the -effects of those passions and affections which are most powerful and -permanent in our nature. - -So general is the belief in a supreme and over-ruling Power, possessing -attributes altogether different from and superior to human powers, and -bending these and the forces of nature to its will, that the thought -has been entertained by many that it is inborn in man. Such a doctrine -is, however, refuted by an acquaintance with the inlets and modes of -obtaining knowledge; by the fact that reason is necessary to its -discovery; and by its uselessness.[1] "There are neither innate ideas -nor innate propositions; but there is an innate power of understanding -that shows itself in primitive notions, which, when put into speech, are -expressed in propositions, which propositions, decomposed, produce, -under the influence of abstraction and analysis, distinct ideas."[2] - -Others have asserted and maintained that man derives his knowledge of -the existence of Deity, and, consequently, of the supernatural, from the -exercise of reason upon himself and his own powers by self-reflection. -If he reflects upon the wonderful power of liberty and free-will which -he possesses, on his relation to surrounding beings and things, and -particularly on his imperfect, limited, and finite powers, it is argued -that the antithetical proposition of infinite must of necessity be -admitted. "I cannot have the idea of the finite and of imperfection -without having that of perfection and of infinite. These two ideas are -logically correlative."[3] Or if man extends his reasoning powers to the -study or the contemplation "of the beauty, the order, the intelligence, -the wisdom, and the perfection displayed throughout the universe; and as -there must of necessity be in the cause what is witnessed in the effect, -you reason from nature to its author, and from the existence of the -perfection of the one you conclude the existence and perfection of the -other."[4] - -But many theologists maintain that the knowledge of a Deity, and of the -existence of supernatural beings, is derived solely from revelation; and -stern and prolonged have been the struggles in this country between the -upholders of the rival tenets. - -That no idea of a Deity, such as that which the Christian entertains, is -to be found among the vague and undefined notions of supernatural power -which are contained in the mythologies of pagan nations; that even the -conceptions of Plato are to be summed up in the phrase "the unknown -God;" and that the perfect idea of the Godhead is to be derived solely -from Scripture, can be satisfactorily shown. But the conclusion sought -to be established from this, that all our ideas of the supernatural are -derived from this source, does not necessarily follow. - -The postulate that man can derive a knowledge of the supernatural from -the exercise of his mental powers alone, cannot either be affirmed or -denied, but it is not improbable. - -Perhaps the nearest approach to correctness which we are as yet capable -of on this subject is as follows:-- - -After the creation of man, God revealed himself. The perfect knowledge -of the Deity thus obtained, was perpetuated by a fragment of the human -race, notwithstanding the baneful effects of the fall; and at the epoch -of the deluge, the solitary family which escaped that mighty cataclysm, -formed a centre from which anew the attributes and powers of the Godhead -were made known in all their truth and purity. But again sin prevailed, -and with the exception of one race, who alone treasured the true -knowledge of the Deity, mankind lost by degrees the pure faith of their -fathers; and as they receded from the light, the idea of the Godhead -became obscured, and in the progress of time well nigh lost, and the -vague and imperfect ideas of a supernatural Power derived from -tradition, prompted to a terror and awe of some invisible yet mighty -influence, unknown and inexplicable, but which was manifested to man in -the more striking objects and the incomprehensible phenomena of nature, -which were regarded and worshipped as the seats of this unknown Power, -forming the substratum of those wonderful systems of mythology which -have characterised successive eras and races. - -"Once," writes Plato, referring to the earlier traditions of the Greeks, -"one God governed the universe; but a great and extraordinary change -taking place in the nature of men and things, infinitely for the worse -(for originally there was perfect virtue and perfect happiness on -earth), the command then devolved on Jupiter, with many inferior deities -to preside over different departments under him."[5] - -To state the influence which each of the elements indicated -above--tradition and reason--have had in the development of mythology, -is doubtless impossible. - -The existence of the first element, _tradition_, is, to those who admit -the truth of Scripture, undeniable, and it gives a clue to the -elucidation of the leading principle in the belief in those gods, -dæmons, fiends, sprites, &c., which, summed up, have constituted the -objects of worship of different nations. - - -I. As in the course of generations the pristine revelation of the -Godhead to man became obscured, and a vague and traditionary belief -alone remained,--the conceptions, the thoughts and imaginations of each -generation being implanted in the succeeding one, and influencing it by -the force of habit, education, and authority,--man, impressed with an -imperfect notion of a supernatural Power, and ignorant of the forces of -the material world, on seeking to unfold the source of those changes -which he beheld in the budding forth of spring, the fervid beauty of -summer, the maturity of autumn, and the stern grandeur of winter, -conceived that the wonderful phenomena ever going on around him owed -their origin and effects to the influence of supernatural agency, and -marking their apparent dependence upon the sun and other orbs in space, -he offered adoration to those luminaries. But when he still further -analysed the changes occurring on the surface of the globe, and -comprehended the influence of the more palpable forces and elements, and -the inexhaustible variety and seeming disconnectedness of the phenomena -which he witnessed, incapable of otherwise solving the mysteries which -surrounded him, he deemed each as the work of a potent and indwelling -Spirit.[6] - -Thus man concluded that he was surrounded by a world of supernatural -beings, of different powers, attributes, and passions. The sun and moon, -the planets and stars, were conceived to be the abodes of spiritual -existences; and the effects caused by those orbs which more immediately -influence our earth, were considered as the indications of the powers of -their respective deities. So also the air, its clouds and currents; the -ocean, with its mighty progeny of lakes and rivers; and the earth, its -hills, dales, and organic forms, were peopled with incorporeal beings. -Every object of beauty shadowed forth the operations of a beneficent -Spirit; while devastating storms, barren places and deserts, and the -convulsions of nature, betokened the malignancy of dæmons or fiends. -According as a country's surface is harsh, rugged, barren, and -storm-tossed, or clothed with lovely verdure and basking in the rays of -a fervid sun, so do we find the principal characters of its mythology; -stern, gigantic, and fierce gods or dæmons, or spirits more kind towards -man, and full of beauty and grace. The passions and affections of man, -for the same reasons, were considered to be under the sway of -supernatural beings; in short, every operation of nature in the organic -or inorganic, in the mental or physical worlds, was deemed an indication -of the existence of a supernatural Being which ruled and governed it.[7] - -These powers in the progress of time were personified and represented as -possessed of passions and propensities similar to those of man; for the -same finite and imperfect reason which had concluded that they dwelt in -the phenomena they were supposed to explain, also deemed, being unable -to conceive any higher type of existence than was seen in man himself, -that they differed simply in degree of power, and were alike subject to -those appetites and passions which characterised humanity. - -This source of belief in spiritual existences is found dominant in the -systems of mythology of all nations; and as it arises from causes which -are inherant in man, it can easily be understood why there is so great a -similarity in the primary mythological conceptions of different races. - -The mythologies of ancient Greece and Rome furnish a very perfect -illustration of the influence which this cause has exercised in the -development of the belief in supernatural beings, and no better method -of illustration can be adopted, than a sketch of the physical -signification of the principal deities, and classes of deities, of those -countries. - -The primitive religion of the Greeks and Romans would appear to have -consisted in the worship of the heavenly bodies (Sabaism):--the Titans -are nearly all personifications of the celestial orbs. Subsequently, -their mythology assumed a more physical character, and the offspring of -Cronos (Saturn, _time_), or the personifications of the firmament, -atmosphere, sea, &c., formed the leading deities of the more developed -system of religion, and the reign of Jupiter commenced. - -In this system, the god Jupiter is symbolical of the upper regions of -the atmosphere (_Æther_). Euripides writes:-- - - "The vast, expanded, boundless sky behold, - See it with soft embrace the earth enfold; - This own the chief of deities above, - And this acknowledge by the name of Jove."[8] - -At a later period this god was conceived to represent the soul of the -world, diffused alike through animate and inanimate nature; or, as -Virgil poetically describes it in the Æneid--(Book vi.): - - "The heaven and earth's compacted frame, - And flowing waters, and the starry flame, - And both the radiant lights, one common soul - Inspires and feeds, and animates the whole. - This active mind infused through all the space, - Unites and mingles with the mighty mass. - Hence man and beasts the breath of life obtain, - And birds of air, and monsters of the main." - -The god Apollo signifies the sun,--his prophetic power being symbolical -of its influence in dispelling darkness; his knowledge of medicine and -healing, signifies the influence of that luminary in revivifying and -restoring the powers of organic life; his skill in music is symbolical -of the central position of the sun among the seven planets, and its -making harmony with them; and the harp upon which this god is depicted -as playing, is furnished with seven strings, in emblem of the seven -planets. _Pan_ represents the universal world, and he is the emblem of -fecundity. Hence this god is depicted in his upper part as a man, in his -lower parts as a beast; "because the superior and celestial part of the -world is beautiful, radiant and glorious, as the face of this god, whose -horns resemble the rays of the sun, and the horns of the moon. The -redness of his face is like the splendour of the sky; and the spotted -skin that he wears is an image of the starry firmament. In his lower -parts he is shagged and deformed, which represents the shrubs, and wild -beasts, and trees of the earth below. His goat's feet signify the -solidity of the earth; and his pipe of seven reeds, that celestial -harmony which is made by the seven planets. He has a shepherd's hook, -crooked at the top, in his hand, which signifies the turning of the year -into itself."[9] - -The goddess _Cybele_ was symbolical of the earth; _Juno_, of the -air--the link between earthly and heavenly natures; _Vulcan_, of fire; -_Æolus_, of the winds; _Diana_, of the moon; _Neptune_, of the sea; -_Rusina_, of the country; _Ceres_, of the fruits of the earth; -_Collina_, of the hills; _Vallonia_, of the valleys; _Silvanus_, of the -woods, which teemed also with inferior deities--_satyrs_ and _fauns_; -_Seia_ presided over all seed; _Flora_, flowers; _Proserpina_ cherished -the corn when it had sprung above the earth; _Volasia_ folded the blade -round it ere the beard broke out; _Nodosus_ watched over the joints and -knots of the stalk; _Patelina_ governed the opened ear; _Lactusa_ took -charge when it became milky; _Matura_ guarded and conducted it to -maturity; _Hostilina_ presided over the crop; and _Tutelina_, over the -cutting. - -_Nymphs_, goddesses of lovely form, and light and airy beauty, sported -about the earth; a _Dryad_ presided over every tree; a _Hamadryad_ was -born, lived, and died with each oak; _Oreads_ dwelt on the mountains; -_Napëæ_, in the groves and valleys; _Lemoniads_, in the meadows and -fields; _Nereiads_, in the ocean; _Naiads_, at the fountains; -_Fluviales_, by the rivers: and _Lirinades_, by lakes and ponds. - -_Vesta_ presided over the vital heat of the body; _Janus_ opened the -gate of life to infant man; _Opis_ assisted him when he came into the -world; _Nascio_ presided over the moment of birth; _Cunia_ watched over -the cradle, and while he lay and slept; _Vagitanus_, or _Vaticanus_, -took care while the infant cried; _Rumina_ presided while the child -sucked the breast; _Potina_ guarded the infant drinking; _Educa_ watched -over it while it received food; _Ossilago_ "knit its bones" and hardened -its body; _Carna_ presided over the safety of the inward parts; the -goddess _Nundina_ had charge of the child on the ninth day--the day of -purification; _Statilinus_ taught the infant to stand and walk, and -preserved it from falling; _Fabulinus_ looked after the child when it -began to speak; _Paventia_ preserved it from fright; _Juventus_ -protected the beginning of youth; _Agenoria_ excited man to action; -_Strenua_ encouraged him to behave bravely on all occasions; _Stimula_ -urged him to extraordinary exertions; _Horta_ exhorted him to noble -actions; _Quis_ gave peace and quietude; _Murcia_ rendered man lazy, -idle, and dull; _Adeona_ protected him in his outgoings and incomings; -_Vibilia_ guarded wanderers; _Vacuna_ protected the lazy and idle; -_Fessonia_ refreshed the weary; _Meditrina_ healed injuries; _Vitula_ -presided over and gave mirth; _Volupia_ governed pleasures; _Orbona_ was -a goddess supplicated that she might not leave parents destitute of -children; _Pellonia_ drove away enemies; _Numeria_ endued men with the -power of casting numbers; _Sentia_ gave just and honourable sentiments; -_Augerona_ removed anguish from the mind; and _Consus_ presided over -good counsels. - -_Virtue_ also was worshipped as a goddess; and the several species of -virtue were considered each as emanating from some godlike power, and -_Faith_, _Hope_, _Justice_, _Piety_, _Peace_, _Fidelity_, _Liberty_, and -_Money_, were worshipped as good deities; while, on the other hand, -_Envy_, _Contumely_, _Impudence_, _Calumny_, _Fraud_, _Discord_, _Fury_, -_Fame_, _Fortune_, _Fever_, and _Silence_, were supplicated as evil -deities. - -_Minerva_ was symbolical of wisdom and chastity; _Mercury_, of -eloquence--speech; _Venus_ of ungovernable passions and desire; -_Saturn_, time; _Momus_, mockery; _Silenus_, jesting; _Mars_, war; and -_Bacchus_, wine. The _Muses_ each represented an accomplishment. Thus, -_Calliope_ presided over epic poetry; _Clio_, history; _Erato_, elegy -and amorous song; _Thalia_, comedy, gay, light, and pleasing song; -_Melpomene_, tragedy; _Terpsichore_, dancing; _Euterpe_, music; -_Polyhymnia_, religious song; and _Urania_, the knowledge of celestial -events. - -_Themis_ taught mankind what was honest, just, and right; _Astræa_ was -the goddess of justice; _Nemesis_ punished vice, rewarded virtue, and -taught mankind their duty. - -Every action of man, both in his collective and individual -capacity--everything in relation to his household and domestic -affairs--was also conceived to be governed by supernatural powers, which -were classed under the names of _Penates_ and _Lares_. - -The _Penates_, as may well be imagined, were almost numberless, but they -may be divided into three classes: 1st, those which presided over -kingdoms and provinces; 2nd, those which presided over cities only; and -3rd, those presiding over houses and families. To instance to what an -extent this belief was carried, a penate named _Ferculus_ looked after -the door; the goddess _Cardua_ after the hinges; and _Limentius_ -protected the threshold. - -The _Lares_ were of human origin, and they presided also over houses, -streets, and ways. Subsequently their power was extended to the country -and the sea. - -To each person was also assigned two deities, termed _genii_. These -spirits were subsidiary to the gods already mentioned, it being one of -their duties to carry the prayers of men to them. The genii differed in -nature and disposition, and were divided into two classes--the _good_ -and the _bad_. The _good genius_ excited men to all actions of honour -and virtue; the _evil genius_ excited him to all manner of wickedness. -The Greeks termed these genii _dæmons_, either from the terror and dread -they created when they appeared, or from the wise answer they returned -when consulted as oracles. - -The ravages caused by an ever-gnawing conscience and by the effects of -the evil passions, were attributed to three supernatural powers termed -the _Furies_--_Alecto_, _Tisiphone_, and _Megæra_--who became symbolical -of the avengers of wickedness; and lastly, Night, Sleep, and -Death--_Nox_, _Mors_, and _Somnus_--were elevated among the gods. - -This brief sketch will serve to show the leading principle entering into -the formation of the Grecian and Roman mythology--a mythology containing -more than 30,000 gods; and it will illustrate how every hidden power of -nature as well in the organic as the inorganic world; and how every -equally inexplicable operation of the human mind was referred, for an -explanation, to the influence of a supernatural power, which in the -progress of time was personified, worshipped, and pourtrayed in such a -form as best set forth the effects it was conceived to produce. - -This source of the belief in the supernatural, as we have already -stated, will be found to have prevailed among all nations; hence their -primary mythological conceptions are one and the same, modified by the -difference of climate, habits, &c. - -Thus, of the gods of the ancient Britons--_Belin_, _Plennyd_, or -_Granwyn_, possessed the attributes of, and was the same with, Apollo; -_Gwydion_, or _Teutath_, had all the attributes of Mercury; _Daronwy_, -_Taranwy_, or _Taranis_, the thunderer, of Jove; _Anras_, or _Andraste_, -of Bellona; _He-us_, _Hesus_, _Hugadarn_, or _Hu-ysgwn_, united the -characters of Bacchus and Mars; _Ked_ and _Keridwen_ answered to Ceres; -_Llenwy_ to Proserpine; _Olwen_ and _Dwynwen_ to Venus; and _Neivion_ to -Neptune.[10] - -In the Scandinavian mythology the principal gods are personifications of -physical and mental powers. _Odin_, the most powerful of the three -beings first educed from chaotic confusion, possesses the attributes of -Mercury; and according to Finn Magnusen, _Vili_ is the personification -of light; _Ve_, of fire. The two ravens which are depicted as sitting -constantly upon the shoulders of Odin, represent Mind and Memory; and of -the principal gods, we find that _Thor_ is symbolical of thunder; -_Baldur_ of the sun; _Njord_ rules over the winds, sea, &c.; _Frey_ is -the god of rain, sunshine, and the fruits of the earth; _Tyr_, of war; -_Bragi_, of wisdom and poetry; _Vidar_, of silence; _Forseti_, of law -and justice; _Loki_ is the personification of evil; _Frigga_ is the -goddess of the earth; and night, day, the moon, time, the present, the -past, and the future, healing, chastity, abundance, love, courtesy, -wisdom, and every form and passion and power of nature which the -Scandinavians had separated and distinguished, each had its special and -worshipped god. - -The original worship of the Hindoos[11] was directed to the heavenly -bodies, the elements, and natural objects. In the mandras, or prayers, -which form the principal part of the Vedas, or sacred writings, the -firmament, the sun, moon, fire, air, and spirit of the earth, are most -frequently addressed. These writings inculcate the worship of the -elements and planets, and differ from the more recent and legendary -poems which teach the worship of deified heroes and sages. In the -Sanhitâ of the Rig-veda, the invocations which it contains are chiefly -addressed to the deities of fire, the firmament, the winds, the seasons, -the sun, and the moon, who are invited to be present at the sacrifices, -or are appealed to for wealth or for their several beneficial qualities. -The personified attributes of _Brahma_, _Vishnu_, and _Siva_, signifying -respectively creation, preservation, and destruction, are due to a later -and more refined era of Hindoo mythology; and the eight inferior deities -ranking next in order to the _Trimurti_, and termed _Lokapalas_, are all -personifications of natural objects and powers. Thus _Indra_ is the god -of, and is symbolical of the visible heavens, thunder, lightning, storm, -and rain; _Agni_, of fire; _Yama_, of the infernal regions; _Surya_, of -the sun; _Varuna_, of water; _Parana_, of wind; _Kuvera_, of wealth; and -_Soma_, or _Chandra_, of the moon. - -The celebrated line which it is enjoined should be repeated without -intermission, and which is the most holy passage in the Vedas, reads -literally, "Let us meditate on the adorable light of Savitri (the -sun--the divine ruler); may it guide our intellects." This, it is -asserted, is addressed to the sun as the symbol of a divine and -all-powerful being, and it is regarded as a proof of the monotheism of -the Vedas. This explanation is, however, considered by some to be far -from satisfactory, and to offer greater difficulties than the text ever -can when taken in a natural light. - -The creed of Buddha contains similar traces of elemental worship. The -five Buddhas and the five Bodhisattwas would appear to be -personifications of the principal natural elements and phenomena. - -In Persian mythology we find a similar deification of natural phenomena. -In the creed of Zoroaster, which was a modification of pre-existing -beliefs, there is an eternal almighty Being, _Zernane Akherene_ -(illimitable, uncreated time), who created _Ormuzd_ (light, goodness); -and _Ahrimann_ (darkness, evil). Ormuzd created the universe, and the -genii, or deities of light, of whom there are three classes. - -_1st Class._ The seven _Amshaspands_, including _Ormuzd_ himself. The -remaining are _Bahman_, the genius of the region of light; -_Ardibehesht_, of ethereal fire; _Sharwir_, of metals; _Sarpandomad_, of -fruitfulness; _Khudad_, of time; _Amerdad_, of the vegetable world, -flocks, and herds. - -_2nd Class._ The twenty-seven _Izeds_, male and female--the _elementary_ -deities: e.g. _Khorsid_, the deity of the sun; _Mah_, of the moon; -_Tashter_, of the dog-star, and of rain; _Rapitan_, the deity of heat, -&c. These deities were probably worshipped before the belief was reduced -to a system. - -_3rd Class._ The _Fervers_--the vivifying principles of nature, the -ideal types of the material universe, corresponding in general with the -_ideas_ of Plato. Every one, even Ormuzd, has his Ferver. "An Iranite -has thus constantly by his side his ideal type, or uncorrupted material -image, to guide him through life and preserve him from evil."[12] - -The Iranite worships light, fire, and water, as emblems of Ormuzd, in -whom these elements are united; he does not worship the elementary -spirits attached to them. - -In China, the state religion--the religious system of -Confucius--embodies the following objects of worship, arranged in three -classes:-- - -_1st Class._ _Ta sze_, or _great sacrifices_, includes the worship of -the heavens (_Yâng_), and the earth (_Yin_); and while worshipping the -material heaven, they appear to consider that there exists an animating -_intelligence_ (_Tae-keih_) which presides over the world, rewarding -virtue and vice. This class includes also deified sovereigns. - -_2nd Class._ _Choong-sze_, _medium sacrifices_, includes the worship of -gods of the land and grain, the sun and moon, genii, sages, gods of -letters, inventors of agriculture, manufacturers, and useful arts. - -_3rd Class._ _Seaon-sze_, or _lesser sacrifices_, includes the worship -of the ancient patron of the healing art; innumerable spirits of -deceased statesmen, eminent scholars, martyrs to virtue, &c.; the -principal phenomena of nature, as the clouds, rain, wind, thunder, each -of which has its presiding god; the military banners (like the Romans); -the god of war; _Loong-wang_, the dragon-king; the gods of rain and the -watery elements; and _Tien-how_, the queen of heaven and goddess of the -weather. The Chinese also believe in good and evil genii, and in tutelar -spirits presiding over families, houses, and towns.[13] - -In Africa, the mythology of its different nations is based on natural -objects and phenomena. The natives of Ashanti and the neighbouring -districts worship water, lakes, rivers, mountains, rocks and stones, -leopards, panthers, wolves, crocodiles, &c., all of which are more or -less powerful "fetishes;" and the Nubian worships the moon. The natives -of Tahiti and the islands of the South Sea also derive their principal -ideas of supernatural beings from material objects. In Mangareva, the -largest of the Gambier Islands, the gods adored by the natives were -principally personifications of natural objects. A god named _Tea_ was -the deity and creator of the sun, wind, and water; _Rongo_ was the god -of rain; _Tairi_, of thunder; _Arikitenow_, of the ocean; _A-nghi_, of -storms and famine; _Napitoiti_, of death, &c. The Tahitan conceives also -that animals, trees, stones, &c., possess souls which, like his own, -after destruction will have a subsequent existence. On the vast -continent of South America we find numerous traces of elemental and -natural worship. The aborigines of Paraguay supplicate the sun, moon, -stars, thunder, lightning, groves, &c. In the district bounded by the -Orinoco, the Atabapo, the Rio Negro, and the Cassequiare, including an -extent of about 8000 square miles, and scattered also over a still -greater extent of this continent, are found rocks covered with colossal -symbolical figures of crocodiles and tigers, household utensils, and of -the sun and moon,--doubtless objects of adoration to nations of whose -existence even tradition has not preserved a trace. It is also probable -that the rocks thus engraved were regarded as sacred; for the Macusi -Indians, inhabiting one portion of the districts where these sculptures -are found, have the tradition that "the sole survivor of a general -deluge repeopled the earth by changing stones into human beings."[14] -The Incas of Peru--the children of the sun--built magnificent temples, -and adored that luminary; and the sculptures on the walls of the -colossal temples and buildings of the Aztecs, the ancient inhabitants of -Mexico, as well as the remains of the pyramids of the sun and moon at -Teotihuacan, teach the same lesson with regard to that extinct race. The -Pueblo Indians of New Mexico still perpetuate the holy fire "by the side -of which the Aztecan kept a continual watch for the return to earth of -Quetzalcoatl, the god of air." In a solitary cave of the mountains is -preserved the undying fire, and its dim light is seen by the hunter if, -by chance, led by the chase, he passes near to this lonely temple.[15] -Among the tribes which inhabit the more northerly parts of the American -continent, we find also similar traces of the important influence which -natural phenomena have exercised in the development of their ideas of -supernatural existences. - -We could not well close this sketch without allusion to the Shaman -religion, which is diffused throughout the principal nations of Asiatic -Russia, a great part of the Tartars, the Eins, Samoiedes, Ostiaks, -Mandshurs, Burats, and Tungsees; and it is even professed among the -Coriaks and Techuks, and people of the eastern islands. This system of -religion is essentially founded upon the observation of natural -phenomena: it teaches that the gods (_Burchans_) arose from the general -mass of matter and spirit; and while inculcating the existence of a -spiritual world, it instils the belief in the self-existence of matter. - -These remarks will sufficiently show the important influence which the -observation of natural phenomena has had in the development of the -belief in the Supernatural of most nations; and it will fully indicate -the primary reason of the correspondence of their principal mythological -conceptions. A consideration of the different habits, degree of -civilization, locality, &c., will also indicate the principal reason of -the various modifications which the same mythological conception is -found to present among different nations. - -There was one Jupiter for Europe, and another for Africa; and the varied -forms under which this god was worshipped, derived from the locality, -habits, and other peculiarities of his worshippers, were very numerous. -At Athens, the great Jupiter was the Olympian; at Rome, the Capitoline. -There was the mild and the thundering Jupiter, the Jupiter Nicephorus, -Opitulus, Fulminator, &c., all differing in some subordinate characters. - -Ammon, of Egypt; Belus, of the Babylonians; Ibis, of the Phœnicians; -Allah, of the Arabians; Beel, Baal, Beelphagor, Beelzebub, Beelzemer, -&c., all possess the attributes of Jupiter, and are the same with that -god. - -The Buddha of India; Fohi, of the Chinese; Odin, or Woden, of the -Scandinavians; and Gwydion, of the Ancient Britons, correspond with -Mercury. - -Vishnu, Brahma, Siva, and Krishna, the latter both of the Irish and -Sanscrit, correspond with Apollo; whilst Arun, of the Irish and Hindoo -superstitions, corresponds with the Aurora of the Greeks. - -It is peculiarly interesting to mark in the writings of classic authors -the earlier traces of a correct explanation of the causes operating in -the changes observed in nature, and their influence in modifying the -mythological ideas of the period. Socrates penetrated so far in the -interpretation of certain physical phenomena as to discover that they -might be explained without having recourse to the idea of supernatural -agency. This is most interestingly shown in Aristophanes' comedy of "The -Clouds" (B.C. 440). In this comedy, written for the purpose of throwing -ridicule and contempt on the sophistical philosophy of Socrates, -Strepsiades, an aged and ignorant man, is represented as suffering from -the excesses and expenses of his son Phidippides. He conceives the idea -of studying logic, in order, by mere subtle reasoning, to overcome and -cheat his creditors. He enrols himself as a pupil of Socrates, and in -Act I, Scene 2, the following scene occurs:-- - - _Str._ Is not Olympian Jupiter our God? - - _Soc._ What Jupiter? nay, jest not--there is none. - - _Str._ How say'st thou? who then rains?--this first of all - Declare to me. - - _Soc._ Why these (_the clouds_): by mighty signs - This I will prove to thee. Hast ever seen - Jove raining without clouds?--if it were so, - Through the clear fields of ether must he rain, - While these were far away. - - _Str._ Now by Apollo, - Full well hast thou discours'd upon this point; - Till now, in truth, I thought 'twas Jupiter, - Distilling through a sieve. But tell me next, - Who is the thunderer?--this awakes my dread. - - _Soc._ They thunder as they roll. - - _Str._ But how, I pray? - Say, thou who darest all. - - _Soc._ When they are fill'd - With water, and perforce impell'd along, - Driven precipitate, all full of rain, - They meet together, bursting with a crash. - - _Str._ But who compels them thus to move along? - Is not this Jove? - - _Soc._ No, but th'ætherial whirl. - -In a subsequent part of the comedy (Act III, Scene 1) Strepsiades is -represented as speaking of this idea of a whirlwind as a deified being, -thus admirably showing the tendency of man to consider that which he -could not comprehend as the result of supernatural agency, and to -personify it. - - _Str._ Thou swearest now, by Jove. - - _Phid._ I do. - - _Str._ Thou see'st how good it is to learn, - There is no Jove, Phidippides. - - _Phid._ Who then? - - _Str._ A whirlwind reigns; having driven him, Jove, away. - -It would seem, also, that Socrates himself was subject to the influence -of this feeling; for a passage in Act V, Scene 1,[16] has led to the -conclusion "that in the school of Socrates was placed an earthen image -(δῖνος, the name of an earthen vessel as well as of the -_whirlwind_, who has usurped the honours and attributes of Jove). (See -Schol. ad Vesp. 617.) This, probably, was done by the philosopher as a -sort of compensation for having expelled Jupiter (τὸν Διά) -from his mythological system."[17] - - -II. But the ideas derived from the contemplation of natural phenomena -were not the sole sources of mythology, such as we have received it. -Other and most powerful causes operated, and of those next in degree of -importance were those feelings which prompted to the deification of men. - -Persæus, a disciple of Zeno, "says, that they who have made discoveries -advantageous to the life of man, should be esteemed as gods; and the -very things, he says, which are healthful and beneficial, should have -divine appellations; so that he thinks it not sufficient to call them -the discoverers of gods, but that they themselves should be deemed -divine."[18] - -The author of the "Book of Wisdom" in the Apocrypha, details other -causes which tended to the same result. He writes, (Chapter xiv, v. -15-21):-- - -"Thus, some parent mourning bitterly for a son who hath been taken from -him, makes an image of his child: and him who before was _to his family_ -as a dead man, they now begin to worship as a god; rites and sacrifices -being instituted, to be observed by his dependents. And in process of -time, custom having established these as a law, an image set up by an -impious tyrant receives divine honours. A man being unable to render -such respect in their presence to those who dwelt remote from them, and -having received their likeness, brought from far, they have proceeded to -make a conspicuous image of any king to whom they inclined to pay divine -honours, by which means, though absent, the ruler receives their -solicitous homage, as though present with them. The exquisite pains -bestowed by the artist has likewise contributed to this worship of the -absent by ignorant men; for being willing to give perfect satisfaction -to him for whom he doth it, he avails himself of all the resources of -his art to produce a perfect resemblance. Thus the multitude, allured by -the beauty of the statue, come to regard as a god him whom before they -honoured but as a man. And this hath been the great delusion of -humanity, that out of affection for the dead, or subserviency to their -rulers, men have given to stocks and stones the incommunicable name of -God." - -Most systems of mythology contain examples of deities which have been -derived from this source. - -"It has been a general custom, likewise," writes Cicero,[19] "that men -who have done important service to the public should be exalted to -heaven by fame and universal consent. Thus Hercules, Castor and Pollux, -Æsculapius and Liber, became gods; * * * thus, likewise, Romulus, or -Quirinus--for they are thought to be the same--became a god. They are -justly esteemed as deities, since their souls subsist and enjoy -eternity, from whence they are perfect and immortal beings." - -The Chinese, at the present day, deify and adore their deceased -emperors, as well as the spirits of eminent statesmen, scholars, martyrs -to virtue, &c. - -It has occasionally happened that some great sage, on his apotheosis, -had attributed to him that which he had simply expounded during life, -and thus became the personification of the religious ideas he had -entertained. Buddha, who lived, as nearly as can be ascertained, about -1000 years before Christ, attempted to reform Brahminical India. After -death he was deified by his converts, and became the embodiment of the -principles he had advocated when on earth; and his name, with various -modifications, was applied to the system of cosmogony and religion which -he had advocated. The Grand Lamas (_Chaberons_) of Thibet are regarded -as incarnations (_avatars_) of Buddha, and as such are adored by the -Thibetians and the various tribes of Tartars who roam over the vast -district which extends from the banks of the Volga to Corea, in the Sea -of Japan. - -After the persecution which terminated in the expulsion of the followers -of Buddha from Hindostan, the Hindoos, not content with their celestial -gods or heroes, extended their adoration to various living individuals, -particularly to the Brahmins and priests. Daughters under eight years of -age are worshipped by them as forms of the goddess Bhavani (_Venus_); -and at certain seasons of the year the Brahmin is worshipped by his -wife, and the wives of Brahmins by other men. - -Some writers have thought that all the gods of the ancients consisted of -deified men. This is, however, an error; for the deification of men was -an act second in order to the worship of natural objects and phenomena. -The chronological position of this element of mythology has, among other -reasons, led Bonomi to arrive at some interesting conclusions on the -respective ages of the palaces of Nineveh. - -On the walls of the palace at Khorsabad are found sculptured the winged -and human-headed bulls, emblems of wisdom or the sun, the four-winged -figures, typical of Ibis or Cronos, eagle-headed divinities, and other -figures, which are conceived to be symbolical of constellations, and of -astronomical phenomena. From these nobler and simpler ideas of Divinity -it is inferred, that when this palace was built the worship of the -Assyrians was comparatively pure. But on the walls of Nimroud, in -addition to the symbolical representations found at Khorsabad, there are -also indications of an increased number of divinities, from the presence -of deified men; hence a reason for the belief in the degeneracy of the -system of religion at the period when this palace was built, and -consequently its more recent date.[20] - - -III. Another element has also exercised a considerable influence upon -the mythologies of some nations, namely, _Scriptural narrative and -traditions_. It is not improbable that several of the heathen myths have -been derived from this source. Many, indeed, believe that all mythology -arises from corrupted Scripture, and it is asserted that Deucalion is -merely another name for Noah; Hercules for Samson; Arion for Jonah, and -Bacchus is either Nimrod or Moses--for the former supposition the -similarity of name being assigned; for the latter, among others, one of -the names and some of the actions of this God. Thus, Bacchus was named -_Bicornis, double-horned_; and the face of Moses appeared double-horned -when he came down from the mountain where he had spoken to God,--the -rays of glory darting from his brow having the semblance of radiant -horns. The Bacchæ drew waters from the rocks by striking them with their -thyrsi; and wherever they went, the land flowed with milk, honey, and -wine. Bacchus caused the rivers Orontes and Hydaspes to dry up, by -striking them with his thyrsus, and passed through them dry-shod,--an -action similar to that of Moses at the passage of the Red Sea, &c. That -Scripture narrative has had an important influence in determining the -formation of mythology, is highly probable; and we have already shown -that the primary revelation of a Godhead at the creation of man supplied -an important initial excitement to that development of the belief in the -supernatural which occurred subsequent to the fall of man. The influence -of Scriptural traditions on the myths of various nations it is probably -impossible to unravel satisfactorily. - - -IV. Again, it has been supposed that the myths of the ancients, and of -modern pagan nations, were allegorical; and that they were designed to -represent a philosophical, moral, or religious truth under a fabulous -form. Thus, the myth of the giant Typhon cutting away and carrying off -the sinews of Jupiter, and that they were afterwards stolen from him by -Mercury, and restored to Jupiter, is supposed to refer to powerful -rebellions, by which the sinews of kings--their revenue and -authority--are cut off; but by mildness of address, and wisdom of -edicts, influencing the people, as it were, in a stolen manner, they -recover their power and reconcile their subjects. And in the myth of the -expedition of the gods against the giants, when the ass Silenus became -of great service in dispersing them, on account of the terror excited by -his braying, it is considered to be an allegory of those vast projects -of rebels, which are mostly dissipated by light rumours and vain -consternation. Minerva was fabled to have been born out of the head of -Jupiter, because it was deemed that man did not in himself possess -wisdom, but he derived it from divine inspiration; and this goddess was -born armed, because a wise man clothed in wisdom and virtue is fortified -against all the harms of life. - -This element has undoubtedly had an important influence in the formation -of the various myths, but it refers rather to an advanced stage in -mythology, and to that period of development when a nation has made some -progress in arts and literature. - -These elements, and doubtless also others of which the effects are less -easily unfolded, _e.g._ intercourse between various nations, dispersion -of tribes, &c., have all exercised a greater or less degree of influence -on the development and formation of the mythologies of different -nations. - -If we contemplate a race in the earlier phases of its existence, or one -degraded in the scale of being, we find that its ideas of the -supernatural are confined to the deification and worship of the simplest -and most striking of the objects and phenomena of nature: as it has -increased in civilization and learning, those deities have been -represented in symbolical forms; and as civilization and the cultivation -of the mind advances, and the knowledge of surrounding nature has become -increased, so have the number of deities been multiplied by the -deification of the less evident powers of nature, of kings, and of -distinguished men, and then also allegory has come into play. Every -variation in the character of a nation, and every era, has impressed -more or less distinct marks on its mythology; and mythology, as we -receive it now, is the sum of all those changes which have been -impressed upon it from its earliest formation. - -When Christianity dawned upon the world, its effect was not the -immediate eradication or dispersion of the superstitious beliefs and -observances then entertained: it induced a change in the form and -nature of those beliefs. - -At the commencement of the Christian era, certain men, inspired by the -Holy Ghost, were enabled to cast aside all those thoughts and feelings -derived from habit, education, and authority, and to receive at once, in -all its purity and fulness, the light of the gospel--perhaps the most -wonderful of all the miracles of Holy Writ. Such was not the case, -however, with the majority of the earlier Christians. They did not thus -throw off the superstitious beliefs of pagan origin, but modified them -so as to concur, as they thought, with Scripture. - -Thus, the Scriptures enunciated the doctrine of one sole, omnipotent, -and omniscient God; and it fully defined a power of evil, and denounced -idolatry. Hence the early Christian fathers were led to conceive, and -teach, that the gods of the heathen were devils; and further, that their -history, attributes, and worship, had been taught to mankind by the -devils themselves. - - "Powers that erst in heaven sat on thrones; - Though of their names in heavenly records now - Be no memorial,--blotted out and razed, - By their rebellion from the book of life,-- - ... wandering o'er the earth, - Through God's high sufferance for the trial of man, - By falsities and lies the greatest part - Of mankind they corrupted, to forsake - God their Creator, and the invisible - Glory of Him that made them to transform - Oft to the image of a brute adorn'd - With gay religions, full of pomp and gold, - And devils to adore for deities; - Then were they known to man by various names, - And various idols through the heathen world."[21] - -This phase being given to the existing superstitions, it will readily be -understood how, under the form of devils, most of the principal classes -of deities in pagan mythology were retained and believed in. Thus the -elemental and primary gods of paganism were perpetuated under the name -of _fiends_, _dæmons_, _genii_, &c.; and the terms _salamanders_, -_undines_, &c., expressed certain spirits of fire and of water; in the -form of _fairies_, _elves_, _sylphs_, &c., were retained the graceful -Nymphs--Oreads, Dryads, &c.--of antiquity,-- - - "The light militia of the lower sky;" - -the hidden parts of the earth were peopled with _dwarfs_, and other -spirits of a more powerful nature; and spectral apparitions frighted the -midnight hours of the watcher. - -It is, therefore, to the retention of certain pagan superstitions in a -modified form, that we are to attribute the origin of the belief in -those unnumbered spirits, which, under the names of fiends, dæmons, -genii, fairies, fays, elves, sylphs, sprites, &c., have been supposed to -surround us, and have hampered the imaginations of all Christian -nations, and of which, to use the words of Pope-- - - "Some in the fields of purest æther play, - And bask and whiten in the blaze of day; - Some guide the course of wandering orbs on high, - Or roll the planets through the boundless sky; - Some, less refined, beneath the moon's pale light, - Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night, - Or suck the mists in grosser air below, - Or dip their pinions in the painted bow, - Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry main, - Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain; - Others on earth o'er human race preside, - Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide."[22] - -The belief that the heathen deities were devils, naturally led to the -further conclusion, that the priests who sacrificed to those gods, and -who were regarded as the medium of communication between the gods and -man, held immediate converse with devils,--a belief subsequently -extended to idolators in general, and to all those practising magic and -sorcery. Instances of the natural alliance of a mythological idea to a -Christian belief might be multiplied. - -The power of evil, enunciated by the Scriptures, and spoken of as the -"_Devil_," was early reputed to have appeared in a visible form, -assuming the aspect of the god Pan, or of a faun or satyr, that is, a -horned figure, with hirsute frame, and the lower extremities of a goat, -which indeed, until recently, was considered to be the most orthodox -form of visibility for his Satanic Majesty. The connection of the power -of evil with the gods of the most gloomy and hidden parts of nature is -obvious: Pan, indeed, was the god of terror. - -Frequently, also, Satan appeared under the form of a goat. The goat is -an emblem of the sin-offering, and of the wicked at the day of judgment; -hence it became symbolical of the Prince of Darkness, and in this form -the devil most commonly appeared to the Jews, according to the Rabbins. -In Leviticus (xvii. 7), where it is written "they shall no more offer -sacrifices to devils," it is literally, to "hairy-ones"--goats. The -symbol of the goat prompted to the nature of the form given to Pan in -the Grecian and Roman mythology. Indeed, the Greeks derived their -worship of that god from Egypt, where he was adored under the form of a -goat; and it is fabled that he captivated Diana under the aspect of a -white goat. - -A singular superstition of the connection of the goat with Satan is -entertained in some districts of this island. It is asserted that a goat -is never visible for twenty-four hours consecutively, as once in that -time it must visit Satan to have its beard combed![23] - -Another example of the wedding of a pagan myth to the Christian religion -is this:--Most heathen nations believed in the existence of deities -whose especial duty was to guard the threshold of the house, and prevent -the entrance of evil spirits. - -The Grecians and Romans had their Penates and Lars, and the Genoese -retain the superstition at the present day. - -The Lars (_familiares_) were the souls of men, who lingered about the -dwellings and places they had formerly inhabited and frequented. They -were represented by small images resembling monkeys, and covered with -dog's skin; and these images were placed in a niche behind the door, or -around the hearth. At the feet of the Lar was placed the figure of a -dog, to intimate vigilance; and special festivals were devoted to them -in the month of May, when offerings of fruit were presented, and the -images were crowned with flowers. - -Plautus (_Aulularia_) represents a Lar as using the following words:-- - - "I am the family Lar - Of this house whence you see me coming out. - 'Tis many years now that I keep and guard - This family; both father and grandsire - Of him that has it now, I aye protected." - -Beneath the threshold of the Assyrian palaces at Nineveh were found -images of a foul and ugly appearance (_teraphim_), some having a lynx's -head and human body, others a lion's body and human head. Sentences were -also inscribed on the threshold, and the winged bulls and figures were -placed on each side of the portal. The intention was, doubtless, the -prevention of the entrance of evil deities, and the protection of the -household.[24] - -The Chinese, Hindoos, and natives of Ashanti, believe in the existence -of similar deities. The Bhûtas of Hindostan are a species of malevolent -spirit, which are worshipped as tutelary deities. Every house and each -family has its particular Bhûta, which is often represented by a -shapeless stone. Daily sacrifices are offered to it, in order to -propitiate its evil disposition, and incline it to defend the house from -the machinations of neighbouring Bhûtas. The native of Ashanti offers -also daily sacrifices to his tutelary deity, which, under the form of a -stone painted red, is placed upon a platform within his hut. - -There are several remnants of this ancient superstition still in vogue -in England. The common practice of nailing a horse-shoe behind the door, -to terrify witches and prevent the entrance of evil spirits, is familiar -to most persons. Formerly it was the custom to nail the horse-shoe to -the threshold. Aubrey writes, in his _Miscellanies_: "Most houses of the -west end of London have the horse-shoe on the threshold." In Monmouth -Street, in 1797, many horse-shoes were to be seen fastened to the -threshold. In 1813, Sir Henry Ellis counted seventeen horse-shoes in -this position in that street, but in 1841 the number had diminished to -five or six. - -In some parts of England, naturally perforated stones are suspended -behind the doors, with the same intention;[25] in others, jugs, of -singular and often frightful form, are built into the walls of the -cottages--an interesting approximation to the Assyrian teraphim; and in -Glamorganshire the walls of the houses are whitewashed, in order to -terrify wandering spirits,--a mode of prevention which we should like to -see more generally adopted, as it would doubtless prove of some effect -in impeding the access of those roaming spirits of evil with which we -have to contend most at the present day--cholera and fever. - -According to Durandus, the dedication-crosses of the Roman Catholic -churches were adopted under the influence of a feeling in every respect -analogous to this ancient superstition. He writes that the crosses were -used, "first, as a terror to evil spirits, that they, having been -driven forth thence, may be terrified when they see the sign of the -cross, and may not presume to enter therein again. Secondly, as a mark -of triumph, for crosses be the banners of Christ, and the signs of his -triumph.... Thirdly, that such as look on them may call to mind the -passion of Christ, by which He hath consecrated his church; and their -belief in his passion."[26] - -But the influence of mythology on Christianity did not terminate with -the mere natural results of previous education, habits, &c. The church, -under and subsequent to the reign of Constantine, reposing in the -protection of the civil power, and not content with the natural -veneration due to those early Christians who had struggled for the -cross, and fallen martyrs or distinguished themselves by their long and -protracted sufferings, insensibly, perhaps, at the first, and influenced -by the same amiable feelings which led the pagan to deify his -benefactors, indulged a degree of reverence to the memory of those holy -men, which soon ripened into superstitious observances, and ultimately -to their canonization and invocation. The Fathers of that -period--Athanasius, Nazianzen, Chrysostom, &c.--encouraged the belief; -and a rage was developed for the search of the remains and -resting-places of the holy dead, to whom prayers were offered; and, in -its encouragement of invocation of the dead, visions, miracles, -prophetic dreams, relics, &c., the Roman church at this time rivalled -the omens, divinations, oracles, and hero-worship of one of the later -phases of mythology. - -The church even sought to promote the spread of Christianity by the -adoption of certain pagan rites and ceremonies. No more remarkable and -interesting example of this is to be found than in the annals of our own -country. In the year of our Lord 601, in a letter "sent to the Abbot -Mellitus, then going into Britain," Pope Gregory wrote as follows:-- - -"I have, upon mature deliberation on the affairs of the English, -determined ... that the temples of the idols of that nation ought not to -be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed, let holy -water be made and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, -and relics placed. For if those temples be well built, it is requisite -that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the -true God; that the nation, seeing that the temples are not destroyed, -may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true -God, may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have -been accustomed. And because they have been used to slaughter many oxen -in the sacrifices to devils, some solemnity must be exchanged for these -on this account, as that on the day of dedication, or the nativities of -the holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited, they may build -themselves huts of the boughs of trees about those churches which have -been turned to that use from temples, and no more offer beasts to the -devil, but kill cattle to the praise of God in their eating, and return -thanks to the Giver of all things for their sustenance; to the end that, -whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the -more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God."[27] - -In A.D. 726, Pope Gregory II expressed his approval of image-worship, -and because the Greek emperor refused to accede to this form of -idolatry, he caused the tribute paid to him by Rome to be suspended, and -even went to the extent of excommunicating him; and in 789, the second -Nicene council re-established and confirmed the adoration of images. - -Examples of the influence of these doctrines in the Roman and other -churches may be multiplied. - -The censers and lustration vessels of the priesthood are copied from the -sacrificial vessels which were used in the pagan temples; the woollen -fillet was transformed into the priest's amice; and the _lituus_, or -curved staff of the soothsayer, became the crozier of the bishop. - -The sacred fountains of antiquity were perpetuated in a Christian form -by dedication to a saint. Examples of this are afforded by the wells of -St. Elian, in Denbighshire; St. Winifred, in Flintshire, &c. - -In no respect, however, has the Romish church so closely followed the -example of pagan nations, and borrowed from mythology, as in the -deification of men, and the adoption of tutelary divinities. - -As the mythology of ancient Rome and Greece had its gods who presided -over countries, cities, towns, and the numerous actions and duties of -man in his civil and religious life, to each of whom worship was offered -and altars erected, so also the Romish church encouraged the belief in -guardian saints, and in this respect its calendar rivals the Pantheon. - -As fully did this church adopt the principle of the deification -(_canonization_) of men--one of the most prominent of the -characteristics of idolatry. - -Thus the Romish calendar contains guardian saints of countries: St. -George is the tutelary saint of England; St. Andrew, of Scotland; St. -Patrick, of Ireland; St. Denis, of France; and St. Peter, of Flanders. -Austria possesses two guardian saints, St. Colman and St. Leopold; -Germany has _three_, St. Martin, St. Boniface, and St. George -Cataphrastus; and so on of all the countries of Europe. - -There are also guardian saints of cities. St. Egidius presides over -Edinburgh, St. Nicholas, Aberdeen; St. Peter succeeded Mars at Rome; St. -Frideswide, Oxford; St. Genevieve, Paris; St. Thomas Aquinas and St. -Januarius, Naples, &c. - -Of the general body of tutelary saints the following list will afford an -illustration:-- - -St. Agatha presides over nurses; St. Catherine and St. Gregory over -studious persons; St. Christopher, St. Hermus, and St. Nicholas, over -mariners; St. Cecilia, over musicians; St. Cosmos and Damian, over -physicians, surgeons, and philosophers; St. Dismas and St. Nicholas, -over thieves; St. Eustace and St. Hubert, over hunters; St. Felicitas, -over young children; St. Julian, over pilgrims; St. Leonard and St. -Barbara, over captives; St. Luke, painters; St. Martin and St. Urban -over ale-knights, to prevent them falling in the kennel; St. Æthelbert -and Ælian are invoked against thieves, &c. - -St. Agatha presides over valleys; St. Anne, riches; St. Barbara, hills; -St. Florian, fire; St. Sylvester, woods, &c. - -St. Thomas presides over divines; St. Thomas à-Becket, blind men; St. -Valentine, lovers; St. Winifred, virgins; St. Joseph, carpenters; St. -Anthony, swineherds and grocers; St. Arnhold, millers; St. Blaise, -wool-combers; St. Catherine, spinners; St. Clement, tanners; St. Cloud, -nailsmiths; St. Dunstan, goldsmiths; St. Elry, blacksmiths, farriers, -&c.; St. Florian, mercers; St. Francis, butchers; St. George, clothiers; -St. Goodman and St. Ann, tailors; St. Gore, potters; St. Hilary, -coopers; St. Leodager, drapers; St. Crispin, shoemakers, &c. - -St. Anthony protects hogs; St. Ferriol, geese; St. Gertrude, mice and -eggs; St. Hubert, dogs; St. Joy, horses, &c. - -Numerous saints were invoked against diseases: _e.g._, St. Clara against -sore eyes; St. Genow, gout; St. Marus, palsies and convulsions; St. -Sigismund, fevers, &c. - -"There be many miracles assigned to saints," writes Barnaby Rich, in -1619, "that they say are good for all diseases: they can give sight to -the blind, make the deafe to hear; they can restore limbs that be -crippled, and make the lame go upright; they be good for horse, swine, -and many other beasts. And women, also, have shee-saints.... They have -saints to pray to when they be grieved with a third-day ague, when they -be pained with toothache, or when they would be revenged on their angry -husbands. - -"They have saints that be good amongst poultry when they have the pip, -for geese when they do sit, to have a happy success in goslings; and, to -be short, there is no disease, no sickness, no griefe, either amongst -men or beasts, that hath not his physician among the saints."[28] - -The Romish church also adopted the pagan belief in apparitions, and as -the latter had supported the argument in favour of the existence of the -gods by the fiction of their occasional manifestations in a visible -form, so the former endeavoured to sustain its dogmas by fables of the -apparition, from time to time, of its saints. - -It is needless to dwell upon the manner in which this church pandered to -the credulity of the people in this respect, for an example is before -the world even at the present time in the apparition of the Blessed -Virgin near La Salette, a village about four miles from Corps, a small -town situated on the road between Grenoble and Gap. - -The story is as follows:--On the 19th September, 1846, the Blessed -Virgin appeared to two children, the one a boy aged 11, and the other a -girl aged 14 years, who were watching cows near a fountain, in the -hollow of a ravine in the mountains, about four miles from the church -of La Salette. When first seen, she was in a sitting position, the head -resting upon the hands, and she "had on white shoes, with roses about -her shoes. The roses were of all colours. Her socks were yellow, her -apron yellow, and her gown white, with pearls all over it. She had a -white neckerchief, with roses round it; a high cap, a little bent in -front; a crown round her cap with roses. She had a very small chain, to -which was attached a crucifix; on the right were some pincers, on the -left a hammer; at the extremities of the cross was another huge chain, -which fell, like the roses, round her handkerchief. Her face was white -and long." - -Addressing the children, tears coursing down her cheeks, she spoke to -them on the wickedness of the peasantry, particularly their neglect of -the Sabbath and of the duties of Lent, when they "go like dogs to the -butchers' stalls." Then she foretold that if the men would not be -converted, there should be no potatoes at Christmas, all the corn should -be eaten up by animals, or if any did grow up, it should fall to dust -when thrashed. There should be a great famine, preceding which "children -below seven years of age should have convulsions, and die in the arms of -those who held them; and the rest should do penance by hunger. Nuts and -grapes also should perish. But if men were converted, then the rocks and -stones shall be changed into heaps of corn, and potatoes shall be sown -all over the land." "The lady," in addition, confided to each of the -children a secret which was not to be told to the other, but which they -confided to the Pope in 1851. Then, after a little gossiping -conversation, "the lady" vanished. - -Soon after this apparition had been noised abroad, it was discovered -that the waters of the fountain were possessed of marvellous healing -properties, and many miraculous cures were effected by its use. Pilgrims -flocked to the scene of the vision, and it is affirmed that in one day -60,000 of the faithful ascended the mountain. - -Among others, the present Bishop of Orleans made a pilgrimage to the -"holy mountain," and he was so impressed by the solemn feelings excited -by treading on such holy ground, that he often ejaculated, "It cannot be -but that the finger of God is here." Other ecclesiastics of rank also -visited the spot, and the whole affair was officially sanctioned. - -Nor did the matter rest here, for churches are being built, and -dedicated to "Our Lady of Salette," in different countries; and a -society has been established in England bearing her name. - -We have already alluded to the sacred fountains of heathen nations, and -in the holy fountain of Salette we witness the modern development of a -similar superstition. So also in the apparition of the Virgin the same -credulity is traced which prompted the ancients to believe in the -occasional appearance of their deities. - -It is related that Castor and Pollux, the sons of Jupiter, by Leda the -wife of Tyndarus, were seen fighting at the battle of Regillus; and -that, subsequently, mounted on white horses, they appeared to P. -Vatienus, as he journeyed by night to Rome, from his government of -Reate, and told him that King Perses had that day been taken prisoner. - -On these legends Cicero remarks; "Do you believe that the Tyndaridæ, as -you called them, that is, men sprung from men, and buried in Lacedemon, -as we learn from Homer, who lived in the next age,--do you believe, I -say, that they appeared to Vatienus on the road, mounted on white -horses, without any servant to attend them, to tell the victory of the -Romans to a country fellow rather than to M. Cato, who was that time the -chief person of the senate? Do you take that print of a horse's hoof, -which is now to be seen on a stone at Regillus, to be made by Castor's -horse? Should you not believe, what is probable, that the souls of -eminent men, such as the Tyndaridæ, are divine and immortal, rather than -that those bodies, which had been reduced to ashes, should mount on -horses and fight in an army? If you say that was possible, you ought to -show how it is so, and not amuse us with fabulous stories." - -"Do you take these for fabulous stories?" says Balbus. "Is not the -temple built by Posthumius in honour of Castor and Pollux, to be seen in -the Forum? Is not the decree of the senate concerning Vatienus still -subsisting?... Ought not such authorities to move you?" - -"You oppose me," replies Cotta, "with stories, but I ask reasons of -you."[29] - -It would seem then that the parallelism is perfect, even to the building -of temples, and the official recognition of the truth of the event. - -Of the individual personages of ancient mythology very few traces remain -in England, and these principally belong to the fairy belief. This -superstition, of which the analogue is found in the Nymphs, Oreads, -Dryads, Naiads, Lemoniads, and Nerieds, of ancient Greece and Rome, is -still prevalent in certain districts of this country; and the extinction -of the general belief, among the lower orders, of one of the most noted -of the personages which are met with in fairy lore, the _hobgoblin_, is -comparatively of recent date. The name is, however, still familiar, and -in use for certain vague manifestations of the supernatural, although -the actual signification of the term is, to a great extent, lost sight -of. - -The hobgoblin is worthy of notice not only for its intrinsic interest, -but also for the illustration which it affords of the intimate -relationship which is often found to exist between the superstitions of -different and even far distant nations. - -This spirit, in his palmy days, was that fairy which attached itself to -houses, and the neighbourhood of dwellings and churches (for even sacred -edifices were not exempted from its influence). In disposition it was -mischievous and sportive, although it often deigned, during the night, -to perform many menial offices, and whatsoever building it attached -itself to prospered. It was apt to take offence, particularly if, as a -reward, money or clothes were placed for it in that part of the house it -most frequented; but it was partial to cream, or some delicately -prepared eatable, and any housewife who was careful to conciliate the -spirit by administering to this taste, was certain to be well rewarded. -As might be anticipated, it was a favourite character with poets, and -descriptions of its propensities and actions abound. Thus, in the -"Midsummer Night's Dream" (Act II, Sc. 1), one of the Fairies is -represented as addressing this spirit, and saying:-- - - "Either I mistake your shape and making quite, - Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite - Called Robin Goodfellow. Are you not he - That frights the maidens of the villagery, - Skims milk, and labours in the quern, - And bootless makes the breathless housewife churn; - And sometimes makes the drink to bear no barm; - Misleads night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? - Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, - You do their work and they shall have good luck, - Are not you he? - - _Puck._ Thou speakest aright, - I am that merry wanderer of the night. - I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, - When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, - Neighing in likeness of a filly-foal; - And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl, - In very likeness of a roasted crab, - And when she drinks against her lips I bob, - And on her withered dewlap pour the ale. - The wisest aunt telling the saddest tale, - Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; - Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, - And _tailor_ cries, and falls into a cough; - And then the whole quire hold their hips and loffe, - And waxen in their mirth, and reeze, and swear - A merrier hour was never wasted there." - -Milton, in the "L'Allegro," writes of him in a different office, and-- - - "Tells how the drudging goblin sweat, - To earn his cream-bowl duly set, - When in one night ere glimpse of morn, - His shadowy flail has thrashed the corn, - That ten day-lab'rers could not end: - Then lies him down the lubber-fiend, - And stretched out all the chimney's length, - Basks at the fire his hairy strength, - And cropfull out of doors he flings, - Ere the first cock his matin rings." - -Another noted characteristic of this fairy is mentioned in the fine old -song of Ben Johnson's:-- - - "When house or hearth doth sluttish lye, - I pinch the maidens black and blue; - The bed-clothes from the bed pull I, - And lay them naked all to view. - Twixt sleepe and wake - I do them take - And on the key-cold floor them throw: - If out they cry - Then forth I fly, - And loudly laugh out, ho! ho! ho!" - -The hobgoblin is one of the widest-spread forms of fairy belief. In -England it is also termed _Boggard_, _Puck_, _Robin Goodfellow_, and -_Robin Hood_; it is the _Brownie_ of Scotland; the _Cluricaune_, -_Luricaune_, _Leprochaune_, &c., of Ireland; the _Kobold_ of Germany; -the _Servant_ of Switzerland; the _Nis_ of Denmark and Norway; the -_Niägruiser_ of the Feroes; the _Tomt-gubbe_, or _Tont_, of Sweden; the -_Phynnoderee_ of the Isle of Man; the _Monaciello_ of Naples; the -_Duende_ of Spain; the _Lutin_, or _Gobelin_, of France; and the _Para_ -of Finland appears to have some affinity with it. - -The derivation of some of the principal names of this fairy is also of -interest. From the Sclavonic _Bôg_, signifying _God_, come the words -_boggard_ and _boggart_; the Scottish _Bogle_, a hill-fairy; and -probably, also, the words _Bug-bear_ and _Bugaboo_; and from the -Icelandic _Puki_, an evil spirit, come the English _Puke_, a devil, as -also _Puck_; the Friesland _Puk_; the German _Putz_, or _Butz_; the -Devonshire _Pixie_; the Irish _Pouke_; the Welsh _Pwcca_, and the words -_big_ and _bug_,--all names of certain varieties of the fairy-belief, -and having the signification of an evil spirit. - -Certain forms of pagan worship would appear to have been perpetuated -unmodified in Christian countries even to the present time. A remarkable -and singular illustration of this is found in Ireland. - -Off the north-west coast of that kingdom are situated the islands of -Inniskea, containing a population of about 400 human beings. Nominally -the inhabitants are Christians, and under Roman Catholic tuition; in -reality, they observe the ancient forms of Irish clan government, and -are idolaters, worshipping rocks and stones. Their chief god is a stone -idol termed _Nee-vougi_, which has been preserved from time immemorial. -It is clothed in homespun flannel, which arises from the custom of its -votaries offering portions of their dress when addressing it. These -fragments are sewed upon it by an old woman who has charge of the idol, -and who officiates as priestess. It is invoked, among other things, to -dash helpless ships upon the coast, and to calm the sea in order that -the fishing may be successful.[30] - -The adoration of rocks and stone pillars is one of the most ancient -forms of idolatry on record. It probably took its origin from the custom -of erecting stone pillars as a memorial, and consecrating them as altars -on any extraordinary event or occasion. The earliest mention of this -custom is found in Genesis (cxxviii, v. 10):-- - -"And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took up the stone he had -put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the -top of it. - -"And he called the name of that place Beth-El ... saying ... this stone -which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's house." - -Stones thus erected as memorials, and consecrated as altars, in the -course of time were considered to be the abode of, or rather to be -filled with, the divine power, which had manifested itself there; and -ultimately stone pillars were used as symbols of the Deity. Singularly -formed rocks and stones were also regarded in a similar light; and -traces of this very ancient form of idolatry may be found in all parts -of the world. - -The "_animated stones_" of antiquity, which received divine honours, -derived their names from Beth-El, as for example, Baithulia, Bethyllia, -and Βαιτολια, signifying consecrated or living stones; and one -of the modifications of Jupiter, _Jupiter Lapis_ (a stone), was derived -from this form of idolatry, and the most solemn of the Roman oaths was -that taken in the name of this god. - -Numerous traces of superstition are found scattered throughout England, -and the countries of Western Europe, which are the lineal, although -degenerated descendants of the superstitions of the mythological era of -the respective nations, or rather races, dwelling there. - -There are few large towns in Great Britain which do not contain one or -more persons who profess to practise astrology, magic, or -divination--_wise men_, as they are popularly designated; and the belief -in charms and omens is far from being eradicated among a large mass of -the population, particularly among those who dwell in secluded or -mountainous districts. - -Not unfrequently events happen by which we may gauge the extent to which -these superstitions are still entertained. Those who marked the effect -which the appearance of the late comet had on the minds of many in this -country, would perceive that a somewhat powerful feeling of -superstitious dread, on the occurrence of remarkable celestial events, -remained. The alarm excited among the credulous in England was, however, -if anything, less marked than that caused in many parts of the -continent[31] and in America. - -Three years ago we had an opportunity of witnessing a singular -exhibition of fear, which was excited in the inhabitants of the most -impoverished districts of Leeds, by the prevalence of a brilliant -display of the aurora borealis. The scene paralleled the descriptions -recorded of the effects produced by similar phenomena in the Middle -Ages. The prevailing impression was, that the world was on the point of, -if not in, the actual process of destruction; and in many the alarm -became extreme, when, during the most magnificent period of the -phenomena, several of the streamers became of a deep crimson and blue -tint. - -This display of the aurora extended over a vast extent of country, and a -singular example of the feelings with which it was regarded in Spain was -recorded at the time in the daily papers. - -On the evening on which it occurred, it so happened that the subject of -the homily in one of the churches of Madrid was the destruction of the -world, and the day of judgment. At the conclusion of the service, and as -the congregation were issuing from the church, the northern heavens were -glowing with the brilliant and ever-varying light of the aurora. -Startled by a phenomenon which is of somewhat rare occurrence in Spain, -the idea at once occurred that the terrible events upon which the priest -had been descanting were about to come to pass; the people rushed back -to the steps of the altar, and while the aurora continued, the terror -and confusion beggared all description. - -Another indication of the influence which the superstitions we have -named exercise on the minds of certain classes, is the number of works -on astrology, principally reprints, which have issued from the press -during the last eight or nine years. - -This ancient superstition, which is still practised by the Mahomedans, -Chinese, &c., retains a hold upon the minds of many, even now. Its -practice in this country is, however, most frequently combined with some -of the minor forms of magic and divination; and those who profess a -knowledge of these arts chiefly direct them to the ignoble purpose of -detecting stolen articles. - -In America, it would seem, from the advertisements which from time to -time appear in the newspapers, that this superstition is flourishing -with some vigour. We subjoin, in a note, specimens of these -advertisements.[32] - -The belief in charms and omens, which was one of the most important of -the superstitions of antiquity, is still entertained by the lower orders -in many counties, and it forms one of the most striking features of the -current folk-lore. - -The Devonshire peasant will recite the 8th Psalm on three consecutive -days, for three weeks, over his child, in order to prevent its being -attacked with the thrush; and should the disease, notwithstanding this -precaution, occur, he either plucks three rushes from a running stream, -passes them through the mouth of the child, and then casts them into the -stream, believing that the disease will decrease and disappear as the -rushes float away; or seizing a duck, he will force it to open wide its -bill, and then placing it close to the mouth of the child, he hopes to -see the affection vanish as the duck inhales the infant's breath. - -The peasantry of Norfolk, Northampton, &c. have, for the prevention of -epileptic fits, implicit confidence in a ring made from nine sixpences, -obtained, by gift, from persons of the opposite sex, or from the money -contributed at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. - -There is a charm for cramp in the leg which must be familiar to most -persons. It runs thus:-- - - "The devil is tying a knot in my leg! - Mark, Luke, and John, unloose it, I beg! - Crosses three we make to ease us, - Two for the thieves, and one for Christ Jesus." - -This formula, with a little modification, was applicable also to other -fleeting but painful affections. Coleridge states that when he was at -the Blue-coat School there was a charm for one's foot when asleep, which -ran thus:-- - - "Foot, foot, foot! is fast asleep! - Thumb, thumb, thumb! in spittle we steep; - Crosses three we make to ease us," &c. - -We have seen a charm for the toothache, which we believe has now fallen -into desuetude, but which, from its singularity, is worthy of -preservation. It is as follows:-- - -"In the name of God: Amen. - -"As Jesus Christ passed through the gates of Jerusalem, he heard one of -his disciples weeping and wailing. Jesus saith unto him, Simon Peter, -why weepest and wailest thou? Simon Peter saith unto him: Lord, the pain -in my tooth is so grievous, I can do nothing. Jesus saith unto him: -Arise, Simon, and the pain in thy tooth shall be eased; and whosoever -shall keep those words in remembrance or writing shall never be -troubled with the pain in the tooth:-- - -"In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen." - -The coral and bells which are suspended round the necks of children for -their amusement, were originally used with very different intentions. - -Those who professed the occult sciences attributed several very -wonderful properties to coral, it being regarded by them as a -preservative against evil spirits, poison, and certain diseases. - -The ringing of bells was also, formerly, considered to be of great -effect in terrifying and causing evil spirits to fly away. Nor did their -influence cease there; they were esteemed efficacious for the dispersion -of tempests; or, it would be more correct to say, that a cotemporary -superstition was, that tempests, thunder and lightning, and high winds, -were caused by evil spirits, or devils, who in this manner endeavoured -to wreak their rage on man; hence, in the Golden Legend of Wynken de -Worde, it is said that "evil spirytes that ben in the region of th' -ayre, dowt much when they hear the bells rongen, an this is the cause -why the bells ben rongen when it thondreth, and whanne great tempests -and outrages of wether happen, to the ende that the feinds and wycked -spirytes should be abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of -tempest." This superstition probably dates from the period when it -became customary to exorcise, bless, and baptize the bells suspended in -churches,--a custom which originated in the tenth century. - -The use of the coral and bells was derived from these superstitions, and -they were at first suspended from the neck as an amulet which was -protective from the influence of evil spirits. - -Certain events are still regarded as omens by the peasantry in many -districts. - -If a magpie cross our path, it is said that we shall prove unlucky, -unless we immediately cross ourselves; and an old rhyme says of the -magpie:-- - - "One is a sign of sorrow; two are a sign of mirth; - Three are a sign of a wedding; and four a sign of a birth." - -In Devonshire, if a person sees four magpies, it is regarded as an omen -of death in his family. If a pigeon is seen sitting on a tree, or comes -into the house; or if a swarm of bees alight on a dead tree, or the dead -bough of a living tree, it forebodes death in the family of the owner. -In Derbyshire, if the sun shines through the boughs of the apple-trees -on Christmas day, it is considered as a presage of a good crop the -ensuing year. - -Of all the superstitions entertained previous to the advent of Christ, -none have, however, been more fully perpetuated among Christian nations -than that of spectral apparitions,--the visible appearance of the -deities worshipped, or of the disembodied spirits of the dead--_ghosts_. - -This was due not only to the nature of the causes inducing spectral -apparitions (causes which are inseparable from the physical constitution -of man), but also to the confirmation which the belief was thought to -receive from Holy Writ. - -The character of the superstition, as it has been retained down to the -verge of the present period in our own country, and as it is still -entertained in many countries, is very similar to that which it bore in -the remotest periods of antiquity. - -The deities of those nations who had distinct and defined ideas -respecting their gods, are reputed to have appeared from time to time to -their votaries, assuming the form in which they were most commonly -pourtrayed in the temples. - -Thus the gods which Æneas bore from the destruction of Troy and carried -into Crete, appeared to him in that island: - - "'Twas night, when every creature, void of cares, - The common gift of balmy slumbers shares; - The statues of my gods (for such they seem'd), - Those gods whom I from flaming Troy redeem'd, - Before me stood, majestically bright, - Full in the beams of Phœbe's entering light. - Then thus they spoke and eased my troubled mind: - 'What from the Delian god thou go'st to find, - He tells thee here, and sends us to relate. - Those powers are we, companions of thy fate, - Who from the burning town by thee were brought, - Thy fortune follow'd, and thy safety wrought. - Through seas and lands, as we thy steps attend, - So shall our care thy glorious race befriend. - An ample realm for thee thy fates ordain, - A town that o'er the conquer'd world shall reign. - Thou, mighty walls for mighty nations build; - Nor let thy weary mind to labours yield: - But change thy seat; for not the Delian god - Nor we have given thee Crete for our abode. - A land there is, Hesperia call'd of old, - (The soil is fruitful, and the natives bold-- - Th' Œotrians held it once), by later fame - Now call'd Italia from the leader's name. - Iasius there, and Dardanus, were born; - From thence we came and thither must return. - Rise, and thy sire with these glad tidings greet: - Search Italy; for Jove denies thee Crete.' - Astonished at their voices and their sight, - (Nor were they dreams, but visions of the night; - I saw, I knew their faces, and descry'd, - In perfect view, their hair with fillets tied), - I started from my couch; a clammy sweat - On all my limbs, and shivering body, sate. - To heaven I lift my hands with pious haste, - And sacred incense in the flames I cast."[33] - -Among Christian nations visions of this character have also been common; -and the religious writings of every age of the Church contain numerous -instances of apparitions of the Trinity, of our Lord, of the canonized, -and the powers of evil. - -But the most familiar phase of the ghost-belief is that of the visible -manifestation of the spirits of the dead; and probably few, if any, -races are without a superstition of this nature. - -The Grecians and Romans believed that the souls of the dead (_manes_) -roamed about the earth, having power to interfere with the affairs of -man and inflict evil. The spirits of those who had been virtuous during -life were distinguished by the name of _lares_ (under which name we have -in a previous page alluded to them as tutelary deities) or _manes_; and -the spirits of the wicked were termed _larvæ_, or _lemures_, and often -terrified the good, and haunted the wicked and impious. These ghosts -were also deified, and they were known as the _Dii Manes_; and the -stones erected over the graves in Roman burial-grounds had usually -inscribed upon them the letters D.M., or D.M.S., that is, _Dîs Manibus_, -or _Dîs Manibus Sacrum_,--"Sacred to the Manes Gods." Sacrifices were -offered to these deities, the offerings being termed _religiosæ_, in -contradistinction to those offered to the superior gods, which were -denominated _sacræ_; and during the festivals held in honour of the -ghosts (_Lemuria_ or _Lemuralia_), it was customary to burn black beans -over the graves, and to beat kettles and drums, in order that, by the -noxious odour of the former, and the noise of the latter, the ghosts -might be frightened away, and no longer terrify their relations. - -We have already given several examples illustrative of the parallelism -which exists between the accounts we possess of the apparitions of -Grecian and Roman deities, and those manifestations of celestial -personages which are recorded to have occurred in more modern times. A -similar resemblance exists between the accounts given of the spectral -appearance of the spirits of the dead. - -In the Odyssey (B. XI), Ulysses, previous to descending into hell, is -described as offering "solemn rites and holy vows" to the dead:-- - - "When lo! appear'd along the dusky coasts, - Thin, airy shoals of visionary ghosts; - Fair, pensive youths, and soft, enamour'd maids; - And wither'd elders, pale and wrinkled shades - Ghastly with wounds, the form of warriors slain - Stalk'd with majestic port, a martial train: - These and a thousand more swarm'd o'er the ground, - And all the dire assembly shriek'd around." - -A striking illustration of the similarity of ancient and modern -ghost-stories, in all essential points, is contained in the description -given in the Æneis (B. II) of the apparition of the ghost of Hector to -Æneas, at the destruction of Troy:-- - - "'Twas in the dead of night, when sleep repairs - Our bodies worn with toils, our minds with cares, - When Hector's ghost before my sight appears: - A bloody shroud he seem'd, and bath'd in tears; - Such as he was when by Pelides slain, - Thessalian coursers dragg'd him o'er the plain; - Swoll'n were his feet, as when the thongs were thrust - Through the bored holes; his body black with dust; - Unlike that Hector, who return'd from toils - Of war, triumphant in Æacians' spoils, - Or him, who made the fainting Greeks retire, - And launch'd against their navy Phrygian fire. - His hair and beard stood stiffen'd with his gore, - And all the wounds he for his country bore - Now streamed afresh, and with new purple ran." - -An equally, if not more marked example, is recorded by Pliny, the consul -at Sura. - -A house at Athens was grievously haunted by a spirit, which, during the -night, restlessly roamed through the apartments, dragging, apparently, a -heavy chain after it. Athenodorus, the philosopher, hired the house, -determined to reduce the spirit to order and silence. In the depth of -the night, while pursuing his studies, the silence was broken by the -noise of rattling chains, which approached the room where he sat. -Presently, a spectre entered, and beckoned to him, but the philosopher -took no notice. The spectre agitated its chains anew, and then he arose -and, following his ghostly guide, he was led into the court-yard of the -house, to a certain spot, when the spectre vanished. He marked the -place, and on the following day caused the ground to be dug up and -searched, when beneath it they found the skeleton of a man in chains. -The bones were publicly burned, and from that time the spirit ceased to -haunt the mansion. - -A belief in ghosts was one of the most prominent of the superstitions of -the ancient inhabitants of Northern Europe. It was customary with the -Scandinavians, as with the Grecians, to perform certain ceremonies at -the tombs of the dead, to propitiate the ghosts, and facilitate their -entrance into the halls of bliss. - -The ghosts of the departed warriors, after they had entered their airy -halls, were supposed to pursue pleasures similar in character to those -which had engaged their attention on earth. They listened to the strains -of immortal bards; followed the chase over the illimitable fields of -heaven; visited the scenes of their former glories; and when resting -within their tombs, they would talk of mortal men, and sing the songs of -other worlds. Airy and unsubstantial as a wreath of mist, they often -wandered on the surface of the earth. The ghost of a mighty hero, -clothed in a panoply of lurid clouds, and armed with a meteor, might be -seen brooding o'er his tomb, or attended "by a ridge of formless -shades," it swept across former battle-fields. The men of bygone days, -wreathed in their vapoury robes, and reposing on clouds, hovered on the -midnight blast, which bore in its mighty cadences the echoing sounds of -the voices of the dead; or "like the new moon seen through the gathered -mist, when the sky pours down its flaky snow, and the world is silent -and dark,"[34] the spirits of the maidens glided over the rugged hills, -or roamed on the pebbly shore. - -The early Scandinavian traditions and historical writings, are pregnant -with ghosts and other supernatural agents. Mr. Howitt[35] quotes from -one of the Eddaic songs, which records the lives of a hero named Helge -and his wife Sigrun, the following singularly interesting scene. - -Helge died, and the body was laid in its cairn. In the evening Sigrun's -maid passed the cairn, and saw the ghost of Helge ride into it with a -numerous train. Addressing the ghost, the maid said, "Is it an illusion -that I see, or the Eve of the Mighty, that ye ride your horses and urge -them with your spurs? Or are the heroes bound for their homes?" The -ghost replied, "It is no illusion which thou seest, nor the Eve of the -Mighty; though thou seest us, and we urge our horses with our spurs; -neither are the heroes bound for their homes." - -The maid then went to her mistress and said, "Haste thee, Sigrun, from -the hill of Seva, if the leader of the battle thou desirest to see. Open -is the cairn; Helge is come; the war-scars bleed. Helge bade thee to -still his dripping wound." Sigrun went to the cairn, and entering it, -said to the shade of her dead husband, "Now am I as joyful of our -meeting as Odin's ravens when, long-fasting, they scent the warm food, -or the day-wearied when they behold the close of day. I will kiss my -lifeless king before thou throwest off thy bloody cuirass. Thy hair, O -Helge! is pierced through with frost, or with the dew of death is the -hero slain. Cold are the hands of the friend of Högne. How, therefore, -King, shall I find a cure for thee?"--"Thou only, Sigrun! on the hill of -Seva," replied the ghost, "art the cause that Helge is here, slain by -the dew of sorrow. Thou weepest, gold-adorned one! burning tears, maid -of the sun-glowing south! Before thou sleepest, every tear shall fall -bloody on the breast of the Prince, pierced through with the cold of thy -grief. But we will drink the precious mead together, though we have lost -gladness and lands. Yet no one sings a song of woe, though he sees a -wound in my breast. Now are the brides closed in the cairns, and the -princely maidens are laid beside us." - -Sigrun made a bed in the cairn, and said, "Here have I, Helge, prepared -rest for thee; rest free from all trouble. Son of the Ylfinga! I will -sleep in thy arms as formerly, when my hero lived." The ghost answered, -"No longer will I say that thou art unfaithful on the hill of Seva. -Since thou sleepest in the embrace of the dead in the cairn, thou fair -daughter of Högur! And yet thou livest, offspring of kings! Time is to -ride the red ways. Let the pale steed tramp the steeps of the air. In -the west must we be, by the bridge Vindhjalen, ere the cock in Walhalla -wakes the sons of victory." - -In the Eyrbyggja Saga (written before A.D. 1264; period when the events -recorded occurred, A.D. 883) is an account of certain spectral -apparitions which followed the death of a lady whose commands upon the -death-bed had not been obeyed. This story is almost unique in character, -and it is a singularly interesting example of the ghost-belief of -Iceland at an early period. - -On the evening of the day when the corpse was being removed to a distant -place of sepulture, an apparition of the lady was seen busily preparing -victuals in the kitchen of the house where the bearers reposed for the -night. On the night when the conductors of the funeral returned home, a -spectral appearance resembling a half-moon glided around the boarded -walls of the mansion, in a direction opposite to that of the sun, and -continued its revolutions until the domestics retired to rest. "This -apparition was renewed every night during the whole week, and was -pronounced by Thorer with the wooden leg to presage pestilence and -mortality." Shortly after, a herdsman showed signs of being persecuted -by demons, and one morning he was found dead in bed, "and then" (to -quote literally from Sir Walter Scott's abstract of the Saga) "commenced -a scene of ghost-seeing unheard of in the annals of superstition. The -first victim was Thorer, who had presaged the calamity. Going out of -doors one evening, he was grappled by the spectre of the deceased -shepherd as he attempted to re-enter the house. His wooden leg stood him -in poor stead in such an encounter; he was hurled to the earth and so -fearfully beaten that he died in consequence of the bruises. Thorer was -no sooner dead than his ghost associated itself to that of the herdsman, -and joined him in pursuing and assaulting the inhabitants of Froda. -Meantime an infectious disorder spread fast amongst them, and several of -the bondsmen died one after the other. Strange portents were seen -within doors, the meal was displaced and mingled, and the dried fish -flung about in a most alarming manner, without any visible agent. At -length, while the servants were forming their evening circle around the -fire, a spectre resembling the head of a seal-fish was seen to emerge -out of the pavement of the room, bending its round black eyes full on -the tapestried bed-curtains of Thorgunna (the deceased lady). Some of -the domestics ventured to strike at the figure; but, far from giving -way, it rather erected itself further from the floor, until Kiartan, who -seemed to have a natural predominance over these supernatural prodigies, -seizing a huge forge-hammer, struck the seal repeatedly on the head, and -compelled it to disappear, forcing it down into the floor, as if he had -driven a stake into the earth. This prodigy was found to intimate a new -calamity. Thorodd, the master of the family, had some time before set -forth on a voyage to bring home a cargo of dried fish; but, in crossing -the river Enna, the skiff was lost, and he perished with the servants -who attended him. A solemn funeral feast was held at Froda, in memory of -the deceased, when, to the astonishment of the guests, the apparition of -Thorodd and his followers seemed to enter the apartment dripping with -water. Yet this vision excited less horror than might have been -expected; for the islanders, though nominally Christians, retained, -among other superstitions, a belief that the spectres of such drowned -persons as had been favourably received by the goddess Rana were wont to -show themselves at their funeral feast. They saw, therefore, with some -composure, Thorodd and his dripping attendants plant themselves by the -fire, from which all mortal guests retreated to make room for them. It -was supposed this apparition would not be renewed after the conclusion -of the festival. But so far were their hopes disappointed, that, so soon -as the mourning guests had departed, the fires being lighted, Thorodd -and his comrades marched in on one side, drenched as before with water; -on the other entered Thorer, heading all those who had died in the -pestilence, and who appeared covered with dust. Both parties seized the -seats by the fire, while the half-frozen and terrified domestics spent -the night without either light or warmth. The same phenomenon took place -the next night, though the fires had been lighted in a separate house, -and at length Kiartan was obliged to compound matters with the spectres -by kindling a large fire for them in the principal apartment, and one -for the family and domestics in a separate hut. This prodigy continued -during the whole feast of Jol. Other portents also happened to appal -this devoted family; the contagious disease again broke forth, and when -any one fell a sacrifice to it, his spectre was sure to join the troop -of persecutors, who had now almost full possession of the mansion of -Froda. Thorgrima Galldrakinna, wife of Thorer, was one of these victims; -and, in short, of thirty servants belonging to the household, eighteen -died, and five fled for fear of the apparitions, so that only seven -remained in the service of Kiartan." - -The trouble and annoyance from the spectres had now reached so serious a -pitch that, by the advice of a maternal uncle, Kiartan instituted -judicial measures against the spectres. - -"A tribunal being then constituted, with the usual legal solemnities, a -charge was preferred by Kiartan against Thorer with the wooden leg, by -Thordo Kausa against Thorodd, and by others chosen as accusers against -the individual spectres present, accusing them of molesting the mansion, -and introducing death and disease among its inhabitants. All the solemn -rites of judicial procedure were observed on this singular occasion; -evidence was adduced, charges given, and the cause formally decided. It -does not appear that the ghosts put themselves on their defence, so that -sentence of ejectment was pronounced against them individually in due -and legal form. When Thorer heard the judgment, he arose, and saying, -'I have sat while it was lawful for me to do so,' left the apartment by -the door opposite to that at which the judicial assembly was -constituted. Each of the spectres, as they heard their individual -sentence, left the place, saying something which indicated their -unwillingness to depart, until Thorodd himself was solemnly appointed to -depart. 'We have here no longer,' said he, 'a peaceful dwelling, -therefore will we remove.' Kiartan then entered the hall with his -followers, and the priest, with holy water, and celebration of a solemn -mass, completed the conquest over the goblins, which had been commenced -by the power and authority of the Icelandic law." - -The spectral phenomena of the ancient Swedish folk-lore differs in no -respect from the current histories of recent date. An interesting -example of this is found in the beautiful ballad of Sir Ulf and Lady -Sölfverlind. - -Sir Ulf was a nobleman who had married a wife from a foreign country. -After they had lived together eight years, and had had a family of three -children, the Lady Sölfverlind died. In a short time he married again, -and by his second wife, the Lady Stineborg, he had also several -children. This lady, however, proved a cruel step-mother; for, as the -ballad reads:-- - - "Lady Stineborg's children went out to play, - Lady Sölfverlind's children sate weeping all day. - This know we of Ulf. - - The youngest child it wept so loud, - That it woke its mother beneath the sod. - This know we of Ulf. - - Lady Sölfverlind spoke to the angel-band: - 'Is it granted to visit the earthly land?' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'It is granted from heaven to earth to go, - But thou must return ere the first cock crow.' - This know we of Ulf. - - She came to the door, she tirled at the pin; - 'Rise up, my children, and let me in.' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'On sticks and stones why lie you thus?' - 'Nothing besides is given to us.' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'Why look ye, my children, so grim and so grey?' - 'We have not been washed since thou went away.' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'Rise up, Lady Stineborg, hearken to me, - For I have a few words to speak unto thee!' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'I left behind me both upland and low, - Yet now my children must supperless go.' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'I left behind me both oxen and kine, - Yet now they go barefoot, these children of mine.' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'I left soft down pillows, full many a one, - Now hard sticks and stones are the bed they lie on!' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'Hadst thou to my children shown tenderness sweet, - God the Father in heaven had found thee a seat!' - This know we of Ulf. - - 'Have thy children in me a hard step-mother known? - Henceforth will I love them as well as my own!' - This know we of Ulf. - - There ne'er was a lovelier sight in the sky, - Than Sölfverlind taking her children on high. - This know we of Ulf."[36] - -The ghost-belief of Hindostan is one of the most important of the -popular superstitions of that country. It differs from that of more -westerly countries in the degree of reality with which the natives have -invested it; for while the former look upon the interference of the -spirits of the dead in the events of ordinary life as a circumstance of -rare occurrence, and regard manifestations of this nature with an awe -befitting their solemnity and supernatural character, the latter lives -in an atmosphere of spectral beings, which are the spirits of those who -have lived a wicked life on earth, and retain their malignant -disposition unabated after death, if indeed it is not increased in -intensity by the devil-like nature they assume, and exercise their evil -powers in all the affairs of life, haunting the localities which they -previously inhabited, and terrifying and tormenting alike friend and -foe. Neither are their terrors confined to mere occasional apparition, -and to the fear excited by this, but to the power which they possess of -interference by physical force; for they belabour with blows, or -grievously affect with bodily ailments, the unhappy individuals whom -they haunt, and often subject to inexpressible tortures those who have -had the ill-hap to offend them. Hence the Hindoo dreads a ghost not so -much on account of its supernatural character, abstractedly considered, -as for the physical evil it may inflict upon him. - -The ghosts of the wicked, and of the unmarried (as it is thought in some -provinces), are alone permitted to wander on earth, and they have a -partiality, like our own ghosts, for frequenting solitary places, woods, -caverns, and ruins, from which they issue to exercise their baleful -powers on man. - -Sometimes a ghost will haunt a certain house, or a plot of ground, and -become so obstreperous, that the occupier of the house is obliged to -desert it, and the proprietor of the land to allow it to become waste. -But it has happened that if the spirit was that of an old proprietor, a -deed executed in its name has appeased it, and it has no more troubled -the place. - -These spirits are called, in the Deccan, _Vîrikas_, and in the more -southerly parts of India, _Paisâchi_. It is customary to erect small -shrines to them, formed of a pile of stones, on the top of which is a -sheltered cavity, containing an image, or a rough, shapeless stone, to -which offerings of cloth, rice, &c., are presented from time to time. -This propitiatory sacrifice is, in general, found to be an efficient -method of obtaining immunity from the malignant pranks of the ghosts; -but if it be neglected, they will visit the unfortunate sinner with -torments and misfortune, or, appearing to him by night, intimate the -miseries hanging over his head, unless he quickly amends himself, and -offers up the necessary gifts. - -Dr. Buchanan relates a story of the apparition of a _Paisâchi_ which -occurred during his journey in Mysore. His cook had been taken ill, and -died; orders had been given to secure his effects for the benefit of his -wife and children, "but on inspection, after his death, no money could -be found. Whether he had been plundered as soon as he became insensible, -and that a guilty conscience occasioned fears among his companions, or -whether the sudden manner of his death occasioned suspicions, I cannot -say; but it was immediately believed that he would become a _Paisâchi_, -and all my people were filled with terror. The butler imagined that the -_Paisâchi_ appeared to him at night with a black silk handkerchief tied -round its head, and gave him instructions to take all the effects of the -deceased to his family; upon this, the latter, being a man of courage, -put his shoes on the right side of the door, which he considered to be a -sure preventive against such intruders. Next night a cattle-driver, -lying in all the agonies of nocturnal terror, saw the appearance of a -dog enter, and smell round the place where the man had died; when, to -his utter dismay, the spectre gradually grew larger and larger, and at -length, having assumed the form of the cook, vanished with a shriek. The -poor man had not the courage to use the slippers, but lay till morning -in a kind of stupor. After this, even the minds of the _sepoys_ were -appalled, and when I happened to be awake I heard the sentries, by way -of keeping up their courage, singing with a tremulous voice." - -There is a class of men called _Cani_, or _Shaycana_, who are supposed -to have the power of ejecting and frightening away troublesome spirits -by the performance of certain mystic ceremonies. It is requisite, first, -to ascertain whether the offending ghost is that of a stranger, or if it -belong to any deceased member of the family; for it would seem that much -more powerful incantations are required to get rid of a family ghost, -which seems to have the opinion that it has a right to haunt its -relations in the flesh, than to eject the ghost of a stranger. The -latter, according to Dr. Buchanan, may be got rid of for a fanam, or -about ninepence sterling; the former requires expensive sacrifices and -many prayers, therefore the fee is much larger. - -The Chinese have a great dread of ghosts, particularly of the ghosts of -those who have come to an untimely end. They suspend in their houses, -for the purpose of preventing the entrance of these spirits, and of -defending themselves from their influence, a cruciform piece of iron, to -which is attached pieces of perforated money, the coinage of emperors -who have been deified, and who are conceived to exercise a protective -power over their votaries. - -The superstitions of the modern Egyptians and of the Arabs are rich in -ghosts. - -The term _éfreet_ is applied to the ghosts of dead persons, as well as -to evil genii, by the Egyptians; and the following story, related by Mr. -Lane, will illustrate the nature of this superstition as it is -entertained by that people. - -"I had once a humorous cook, who was somewhat addicted to the -intoxicating hhasheesh: soon after he had entered my service, I heard -him, one evening, muttering and exclaiming on the stairs, as if in -surprise at some event; and then politely saying, "But why are you -sitting here in the draught? Do me the favour to come up into the -kitchen, and amuse me with your conversation a little." The civil -address not being answered, was repeated and varied several times, till -I called out to the man, and asked him to whom he was speaking. "The -éfreet of a Turkish soldier," he replied, "is sitting on the stairs, -smoking his pipe, and refuses to move; he came up from the well below: -pray step and see him." On my going to the stairs, and telling the -servant that I could see nothing, he only remarked that it was because I -had a clear conscience. He was told afterwards that the house had long -been haunted; but asserted that he had not been previously informed of -the supposed cause; which was the fact of a Turkish soldier having been -murdered there. My cook professed to see this éfreet frequently -after."[37] - -The Arabs entertain a considerable degree of fear and respect for -ghosts. - -Mr. Bayle St. John states that when travelling through the Libyan -desert, in 1847, he saw a burial-place of the Bedouin Arabs, in the -centre of which were confusedly scattered "camel-howdahs" -(_tachterwans_), stirrups, household utensils, small ploughs, &c., -which had been left there by the Arabs, when commencing a journey, under -the care of the ghost of a defunct sheikh, who had been interred -there.[38] - -Some of the aboriginal tribes of South America believe in the occasional -apparition of the souls of the dead. - -Soon after the Roman Catholic mission was established at Bahia, an -eclipse of the moon occurred; the savages, fully armed, rushed in terror -to the mission, and when the priest inquired the cause of their alarm, -they responded that the moon was the abode of the souls of the dead, and -that on that night they had collected there in such numbers that they -darkened its surface: this was a sure sign of evil. - -Such is a brief sketch of the ghost-belief of several nations, ancient -and modern. - -This belief, in its essential characteristics, was the same in the -remote periods of antiquity as in more recent times; and a similar -analogy exists between the modifications of it which are now entertained -in different and widely separated countries. - -The variations which it is found to possess are dependent upon those -peculiarities of habit, religion, and social life which characterize -each nation. This fact gives an important clue by which we may unravel -the actual nature of the phenomena which are embodied in the belief. But -previously to entering upon this task it is requisite to point out a -remote consequence of mythological and legendary lore which exercises a -highly important influence on the minds of most if not all persons at -the present time. - -The numerous myths which were retained, the implicit faith reposed in -them, and the great extent to which the practice of the occult sciences -was carried in the Middle Ages, fostered ideas respecting the influence -which supernatural beings exercised in the ordinary affairs of life, -which rivalled in extent and variety those entertained before the -Christian era; but they received perhaps a more gloomy character from -the doctrine of the agency of devils. - -The prevalence of these superstitions throws a wild and weird-like -shadow over the history of those periods, and one of the chief results -was that the records of local and general events became pregnant with -mysterious occurrences and supernatural interpositions; and a mass of -legends, teeming with remnants of ancient myths, more or less modified, -giants, demons, witches, wizards, ghosts, portents, &c., have been -perpetuated to modern times, and have formed an inexhaustible mine to -the novelist and romance-writer. - -There are few localities in England which do not possess legends or -tradition of this nature; and the standard nursery and children's tales -are full of supernatural personages and occurrences in which are set -aside all the known laws of matter and force, and time and space are -alike annihilated. Many of these tales are of great interest, for in -them we find degenerated forms of some of the most ancient traditions -and myths of our own and other races. - -The adventures of _Jack the Giant-Killer_, the most celebrated of all -celebrated nursery heroes, are for the most part derived from the -fabulous era of our own country, and from Scandinavian mythology; and -the whole tale is a degraded and vitiated tradition in which the deeds -of Corineus, a celebrated personage in the mythical history of Britain, -and Prince Arthur; the adventures of Thor, the god of thunder, and other -Scandinavian deities, are jumbled together in strange confusion. - -Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his British History[39] states that the early -inhabitants of this island were giants. Brutus, a grandson of Ascanius, -the companion of Æneas in his flight from Troy, and Corineus, also of -Trojan descent, guided by a dream, discovered Britain, and delighted -with "the pleasant situation of the place, the plenty of rivers -abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods," they -became desirous of fixing their habitation in so desirable a country, -and landing, drove the giants into the fastnesses of the mountains, and -divided the country. - -To Corineus was apportioned that part of the island which we call -Cornwall, and it is recorded that he had selected this portion of the -island for his share, because "it was a diversion to him to encounter -the said giants, which were in greater numbers there than in all the -other provinces that fell to the share of his companions." - -Corineus is described as being "an ardent man in matters of council, and -of great courage and boldness; who in an encounter with any person, even -of gigantic stature, would immediately overthrow him as if he were a -child." - -In the same fabulous history (B. X, ch. 3) it is stated, that a giant -who had invaded our shores, and taken refuge at the top of St. Michael's -Mount, was attacked by King Arthur in the night and killed; the country -being thus freed "from a most destructive and voracious monster." - -Some of Jack's principal adventures are derived from the ancient Eddas -and Sagas of Scandinavia. - -The incident which represents Jack as having overheard a giant, upon -whose hospitality he had intruded, muttering-- - - "Though you lodge with me this night, - You shall not see the morning light; - My club shall dash your brains out quite;" - -and in which he had evaded the catastrophe by placing a log of wood in -the bed, he lying quietly in a corner, while the giant furiously beat -with his club the inanimate object, thinking to dash him to pieces; and -the delightfully cool response of Jack to the wonder-struck giant when -he beheld him safe and sound in the morning, and inquired if he had not -been disturbed in the night,--"No, nothing worth mentioning, I believe a -rat struck me with his tail two or three times:"--this incident is a -modification of an adventure which occurred to Thor on his journey to -the land of giants, and it is found in some form or other in the -folk-lore of every nation in the north of Europe. - -Thor, while journeying to the land of giants, met with one of that race -named Skrymir. They formed a companionship, and the whole of the -provisions were placed in the giant's wallet. At night, when they -stopped to rest, Skrymir at once lay down and fell asleep, previously -handing the wallet to Thor in order that he might refresh himself. Thor -was unable to open it, and wroth with the giant for his apparent -insensibility and the mode in which he had tied the knots, he seized his -mighty hammer and flung it at the giant's head. Skrymir awaking, asked -whether a leaf had fallen on his head, and then he fell asleep again. -Thor again struck him with his hammer, and it apparently sank deep into -his skull; and the giant again awoke, and asked, "Did an acorn fall on -my head? How fares it with thee, Thor?" Thor, incensed beyond measure, -waited until the giant again slept, and then exerting all his power, -dashed his hammer at the head of the sleeping monster, into which it -sank up to the handle. Skrymir, rising up, rubbed his cheek and said, -"Are there any birds perched on this tree? Methought, when I awoke, some -moss from the branches fell on my head." - -Skrymir, distrusting Thor, had before he slept interposed a huge rock -betwixt himself and the god, and upon this Thor had unwittingly -exercised his strength. - -The adventure in which Jack is represented as outwitting a giant in -eating, by placing his food in a large leathern receptacle beneath his -vesture, and then ripping it up, and defying the giant to do the same, -whereupon the giant seizes a knife, plunges it into his breast and -kills himself, is contained also in stories which are prevalent among -the Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Servians, and Persians. - -The Swedish version is as follows:--"In the evening, when the giant and -his boy were about to sup, the crone placed a large dish of porridge -before them. "That would be excellent," said the boy, "if we were to try -which could eat the most, father or I." The giant was ready for the -trial, and they began to eat with all their might. But the boy was -crafty: he had tied his wallet before his chest, and for every spoonful -that entered his mouth, he let two fall into the wallet. When the giant -had despatched seven bowls of porridge, he had taken his fill, and sat -puffing and blowing, and unable to swallow another spoonful; but the boy -continued with just as much good-will as when he began. The giant asked -him how it was, that he who was so little could eat so much. "Father, I -will soon show you: when I have eaten as much as I can contain, I slit -up my stomach, and then I can take in as much again." Saying these -words, he took a knife and ripped up the wallet, so that the porridge -ran out. The giant thought this a capital plan, and that he would do the -like. But when he stuck the knife in his stomach, the blood began to -flow, and the end of the matter was that it proved his death."[40] - -The sword of sharpness, and the cloak which rendered the wearer -invisible, and by the aid of which Jack won so many important victories, -are two of the principal supernatural elements in the _Nibelungenlied_. -In this ancient legend, which contains the same tragical story as the -still more ancient Scandinavian poem, the _Völundar-Kvida_, the sword -"Balmurg" is described:-- - - "a broad and mighty blade, - With such keen-cutting edges, that straight its way it made, - Where'er it smote on helmet:" - -and the cloud-cloak which Siegfried took from the dwarf Albric, is -pourtrayed as-- - - "A vesture that hight cloud-cloak, marvellous to tell, - Whoever has it on him, may keep him safe and well - From cuts and stabs of foemen; him none can hear or see, - As soon as he is in it, but see and hear can he - Whate'er he will around him, and thus must needs prevail; - He grows besides far stronger; so goes the wondrous tale."[41] - -The story of _Cinderella, or the Glass Slipper_, is of great antiquity, -and versions of it are found in many countries. - -Ælian, who lived about A.D. 225, relates that, as Rhodope, a celebrated -Greek courtezan, who had been carried into Egypt, was bathing one day, -an eagle carried off one of her slippers, and as it flew over Memphis, -where king Psammetichus was at that time sitting in tribunal, it let -fall the sandal into his bosom. Astonished at the occurrence, and at the -smallness of the sandal, he caused inquiries to be made for its owner, -whom, when he had discovered, he married. - -Old versions of this story are found in Norway, Germany, Sweden, -Denmark, France, Italy, Wallachia, Servia, Russia, Poland, and -Wales.[42] - -In _Jack and the Bean-stalk_, the bean is evidently a version of the ash -Ygdrasil of the Edda, reaching from hell to heaven; and the golden hen, -harp, &c., are familiar features in northern stories. - -_Puss in Boots_, the _Seven-league Boots_, &c., have their prototypes in -Scandinavian folk-lore; and the two last-mentioned tales, as well as -others, are probably of considerable antiquity. - -Tales derived from these sources and composed of such elements, and -fables in which beasts, birds, and fishes are represented as speaking -and reasoning in a manner that puts man to the blush, are among the -earliest things engrafted in the infant mind; and ever now - - "By night - The village-matron round the blazing hearth, - Suspends the infant-audience with her tales, - Breathing astonishment--of witching rhymes, - Of evil spirits: of the death-bed call - Of him who robb'd the widow, and devoured - The orphan's portion: of unquiet souls - Risen from the grave to ease the heavy guilt - Of deeds in life concealed; of shapes that walk - At dead of night, and clank their chains and wave - The torch of hell around the murderer's bed. - At every solemn pause the crowd recoil, - Gazing each other speechless, and congeal'd - With shiv'ring sighs; till eager for the event, - Around the beldam all erect they hang, - Each trembling heart with grateful terror quell'd." - -Ideas of mysterious and supernatural powers, vague, undefined, and -frightful, are thus instilled into the child, and influence it unchecked -and uncontrolled by the Scriptural doctrines of the invisible which are -taught to it. At first the two trains of thought derived from these -antithetical sources go on separately and distinctly; the more frightful -and wonderful events of legendary lore and fable having a much greater -influence, and forming a deeper impression on the mind of the child, -whose reasoning powers are still in abeyance to the emotions, than the -Scriptural doctrines of the supernatural. As it advances in years these -trains of thought insensibly blend; the more rampant absurdities of the -supernatural framework of legendary and ghost-lore are discarded; but -the less obvious and more insidious portions remain to a greater or -less extent, and they are so graven in the mind, that they become part -and parcel of it, and in whatever manner they may be subsequently -modified in form, it is probable that they are never eradicated, but -form a medium which gives a false and deceptive gloss to all our ideas -upon those matters which are not immediately within the ken of reason, -or which are more clearly attributable to other agency than the forces -of the material word--such matters, for example, as are contained in -Holy Writ. - -Hence our ideas of the supernatural are derived from two sources--from -legendary lore and from Scripture; and this results, that although in -after-life the more glaring errors and absurdities of the former are -removed, those only being retained which are thought to be compatible -with Holy Writ, yet the idea of the supernatural thus obtained, foreign -from revelation, is retained in a vague and undefined form, and its -origin and sources being lost sight of, it is regarded as an innate -consciousness of the existence of supernatural beings, and prompts to -the ready reception and belief of mysterious and not readily explicable -phenomena being the result of supernatural agency. - -That proclivity to the belief in supernatural interpositions, that vague -notion of spiritual beings, that so-called innate consciousness of the -existence of the supernatural, which most persons possess more or less -of, and which is totally inconsistent with the clear and perfect -doctrine of the invisible taught in the Gospel, is, we believe, derived -solely from the infant mind and earlier periods of youth being poisoned -by the supernatural events and phenomena detailed in fabulous, -legendary, and ghost-lore.[43] - -This substratum of superstition is the prime cause of the retention of -those figments of degenerated and christianized mythology which are yet -found among us, and for the persistence of the most generally received -of these figments--_ghosts_. It is also a highly important element in -the formation of that state of the mind which is from time to time -manifested in singular and wide-spreading delusions respecting the -communication of the spirit-world with man, and of which we have -examples before us at the present time in the prevalent follies of -"spirit-rapping" and "table-talking." - -The belief in ghosts does not now possess those glaring features which -were attached to it at the commencement of the present century, hence it -is less obtrusive; but it is very far from being extinguished, as some -would teach, and its "etiology" is of interest, because it leads to the -elucidation of the principal causes and sources of the fallacies to -which the senses of man are subject, and by which he has been led in -the remotest periods of antiquity, as well as at the present time, to -frame those mighty trammels of superstition from which the mind in vain -strives to disentangle itself completely. - -The doctrine that the spirits of the dead return to visit the scenes -which were dear to them during the body's existence, is in itself -awfully solemn and sublime. Man, prone to believe in supernatural -interpositions (from causes already explained), and trusting altogether -to the evidence of his senses, for many ages received this doctrine -unquestioned; and aided by a fertile imagination, he clothed it with -attributes which, although absurd in the main, yet as appealing to some -of the deepest and warmest affections and passions of our nature, cannot -even now be contemplated without exciting sensations of awe, if not -fear. - -The thought that the spirits of those who, during life, were bound -to us by the closest ties of affection, are ever near, scrutinizing -our actions and thoughts, and prompting us ever and anon to that -course which would most tend to our profit here and our joy -hereafter[44]--shielding us, like guardian angels, from the wiles -of those wandering spirits who, like the "Wicked One" that came -softly up to Christian in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and -"whisperingly suggested many grievous blasphemies to him, which he -verily thought had proceeded from his own mind,"[45] seek to tempt -us to destruction,--such a thought thrills through the soul of every -one, and fills it with strange and undefined emotions of blended joy -and fear. - -Few can free themselves altogether from the emotion of terror which is -almost necessarily connected with scenes polluted by murder, or by other -outbreaks of man's foulest passions. This feeling acting on the minds -of the superstitious and ignorant, has led them to people with spectres -all those places which have obtained notoriety from being the scene of -some terrible ebullition of human frailty and wickedness. - -Thus, the glen where murder had been committed; the pond in which the -mother had immersed her new-born infant; the hoary ruin pregnant with -horrid legends of the past; the rocks over which the inebriated drunkard -fell; the four cross roads where the suicide was impaled; the dwelling -of the miser, or of him who did unjustly to the orphan; and the -willow-banks of the still-flowing river into which the love-lorn maiden -had cast herself,--each had its spectre, and at the midnight hour the -ghost of the murdered bared to the moon the mementos of its foul and -most unnatural end; the spectre of the murderer, writhing in agony, -rattled its gibbet-chains; the suffocating sobs of the drowning infant -were borne on the fitful breeze; hideous spectres hovered o'er the -deserted ruin; the ghost of the miser guarded its quondam treasures; the -cruel guardian and the suicide shrieked forth the agonies of the damned; -and the phantom of the deceived maiden gliding on the banks of her -watery grave, mingled its plaintive wails with each sough of the -midnight wind. - -But, alas! this prolific source of terror and romance must be consigned -to the delusions of the past; and the churchyard--erst pregnant with -"thin-sheeted phantoms"--is now also shorn of its gloomy horrors, and -regarded alone as the last quiet resting-place of man on earth. - -Even when glimpses of the spirit-world are vouchsafed to those who still -firmly believe in occasional visitations from its inhabitants, it would -seem that the fashion of their appearance has become more in accordance -with the quiet well-regulated ideas of the age. The major part of those -terrible attributes of the nether world, that of old were delighted in, -are no longer exhibited, and they are numbered with the things that have -been. The form which appertained to Satan himself--the cloven foot, the -forked tail, the hirsute frame, and the horned head--must also vanish -before the march of civilisation; hence Mephistopheles, in the "Faust" -of Goëthe, is represented as saying:-- - - "Refinement too, which smoothens all - O'er which it in the world has pass'd, - Has been extended in its call, - And reached the devil, too, at last. - That northern phantom found no more can be, - Horns, tail, and claws, we now no longer see, - As for the foot--I cannot spare it, - But were I openly to wear it, - It might do greater harm than good - To me among the multitude. - And so like many a youth beside, - Who bravely to the eye appears, - Yet something still contrives to hide, - I've worn false calves for many years!" - -The phenomena upon which the belief of the occasional manifestation of -disembodied spirits to man is founded, may be accounted for without -having recourse to the doctrine of supernatural interposition. - -Our senses and our reasoning powers are apt to err. We may deceive -ourselves, and are liable to be deceived by an erroneous appreciation of -the sensations which we receive from the objects surrounding -us--_illusions_--but of the nature of which we may readily convince -ourselves. - -Illusions of the _sight_ may arise either from an error of judgment, or -from a disordered state of the eye. - -Of those illusions arising from an error of judgment, perhaps none bear -directly upon our subject. Examples of this kind of illusion are the -broken appearance of a stick partially immersed in water; the apparent -movement of trees, houses, &c., past a train in motion, or the banks of -a river past a steamboat. - -Illusions arising from a disordered condition of the eye, prompting the -imagination, are a prolific source of ghost-seeing. - -In the obscurity of the evening, or during the darkness of the night -(particularly on those nights which are cloudy, and the darkness seems -to rest on the ground), the difficulty with which we distinguish any -object to which the attention is directed, is liable to induce a -disordered state of the eye, the effects of which are very startling. - -"The imperfect view which we obtain of such objects forces us to fix the -eye more steadily upon them; but the more exertion we make to ascertain -what they are, the greater difficulties do we encounter to accomplish -our object. The eye is actually thrown into a state of the most painful -agitation, the object will swell and contract, and partly disappear, and -it will again become visible when the eye has recovered from the -delirium into which it has been thrown."[46] - -This illusion is increased by a disturbed condition of the pupil of the -eye. - -The pupil is surrounded by a muscle called the _iris_, by the -contraction and dilatation of which the size of the opening is increased -or diminished, and a greater or less amount of light admitted to the -eye. On a dark night, or during the twilight, the pupil is dilated to -its utmost extent, so that every available ray of light may enter. In -this condition the eye is not able to accommodate itself to near -objects, and they become more indistinct; shadowy, and confused. - -Under these circumstances, an object to which the attention is strongly -attracted, may appear to assume strange variations in form,--now -increasing, now diminishing in size, now approaching nearer, now going -further off, or anon disappearing altogether; and a bush, a guide-post, -a stoop, &c., will seem as though it assumed the most startling changes -in size and appearance. Add the effects of the imagination, and we shall -at once perceive a source of the various goblins, boggards, and other -strange sights which have been supposed to haunt many of our byeways and -deserted places. - -To illustrate this form of illusion: a man with whom we were acquainted -tells the following tale:--When young, he, one evening, had a quarrel -with his mother about some trifling affair, and in defiance of her grief -and supplications he left home late at night, intending to enter the -army. It was very dark and stormy, and as he proceeded along a bye-path, -suddenly a tall object arrested his attention; startled, he stood still, -when, to his utter horror and astonishment, the object increased in -size, and seemed as though about to pounce upon him; it then vanished, -and anon appeared again. Terrified beyond measure, and conceiving that -Satan had waylaid him for forsaking his mother, the poor man fell on -his knees, and exclaimed: "O good Lord Devil, do not take me, and I'll -go back to my mother, and be a good lad!" It is unnecessary to dwell -upon the goggle eyes burning with flames which he imagined Satan to -possess; suffice it that he remained before the supposed devil some -time, overcome with terror, when a blink of the rising moon showed that -he was laid at the foot of the stump of a tree. Heartily ashamed of his -fear, he rose up, slunk back home, and made peace with his mother.[47] - -This will suffice as an example of the most degraded form of ghost-life -with which our highways and byeways have been peopled by the -superstitious and illiterate,--illusions which have arisen from the -effects of a disturbed condition of the visual organ on an excited -imagination. Burns humorously describes this variety of ghost in his -"Address to the Deil:" - - "Ae dreary, windy, winter night, - The stars shot down wi' sklentin' light, - Wi' you, mysel, I gat a fright, - Ayont the lough: - Ye like a rash-bush stood in sight - Wi' waving sugh. - - "The cudgel in my nieve did shake, - Each bristled hair stood like a stake, - When wi' an eldricht stour, quaick--quaick-- - Amang the springs, - Awa ye squatter'd like a drake, - On whistling wings." - -Another form of illusion is induced by objects seen indistinctly when -the mind is disturbed and pre-occupied by some powerful and painful -emotion. - -"A lady was once passing through a wood, in the darkening twilight of a -stormy evening, to visit a friend who was watching over a dying child. -The clouds were thick, the rain beginning to fall; darkness was -increasing; the wind was moaning mournfully through the trees. The -lady's heart almost failed her as she saw that she had a mile to walk -through the woods in the gathering gloom. But the reflection of the -situation of her friend forbade her turning back. Excited and trembling, -she called to her aid a nervous resolution, and pressed onward. She had -not proceeded far, when she beheld in the path before her the movement -of some very indistinct object. It appeared to keep a little distance in -advance of her, and as she made efforts to get nearer to see what it -was, it seemed proportionally to recede. The lady began to feel rather -unpleasantly. There was some pale white object certainly discernable -before her, and it appeared mysteriously to float along at a regular -distance without any effort at motion. Notwithstanding the lady's good -sense and unusual resolution, a cold chill began to come over her; she -made every effort to resist her fears, and soon succeeded in drawing -nearer the mysterious object, when she was appalled at beholding the -features of her friend's child, cold in death, wrapt in its shroud. She -gazed earnestly, and then it remained distinct and clear before her -eyes. She considered it a monition that her friend's child was dead, and -that she must hasten on to her aid; but there was the apparition -directly in her path; she must pass it. Taking up a little stick, she -forced herself along to the object, and behold, some little animal -scampered away. It was this that her excited imagination had transformed -into the corpse of an infant in its winding-sheet."[48] - -Sir Walter Scott relates an interesting case of illusion occasioned by -an accidental arrangement of some articles of clothing:-- - -"Not long after the death of a late illustrious poet, who had filled, -while living, a great station in the eye of the public, a literary -friend, to whom the deceased had been well known, was engaged, during -the darkening twilight of an autumn evening, in perusing one of the -publications which professed to detail the habits and opinions of the -distinguished individual who was now no more. As the reader had enjoyed -the intimacy of the deceased to a considerable degree, he was deeply -interested in the publication, which contained some particulars relating -to himself and other friends. A visitor was sitting in the apartment who -was also engaged in reading. Their sitting-room opened into an -entrance-hall rather fantastically fitted up with articles of armour, -skins of wild animals, and the like. It was when laying down his book, -and passing into this hall, through which the moon was beginning to -shine, that the individual of whom I speak saw, right before him, and in -a standing position, the exact representation of his departed friend, -whose recollection had been so strongly brought to his imagination. He -stopped for a single moment, so as to notice the wonderful accuracy with -which fancy had impressed upon the bodily eye the peculiarities of -dress and posture of the illustrious poet. Sensible, however, of the -delusion, he felt no sentiment save that of wonder at the extraordinary -accuracy of the resemblance, and stepped onwards towards the figure, -which resolved itself, as he approached, into the various materials of -which it was composed. These were merely a screen, occupied by -great-coats, shawls, plaids, and such other articles as usually are -found in a country entrance-hall. The spectator returned to the spot -from which he had seen the illusion, and endeavoured, with all his -power, to recall the image which had been so singularly vivid. But this -was beyond his capacity; and the person who had witnessed the -apparition, or, more properly, whose excited state had been the means of -raising it, had only to return, and tell the young friend he had left, -under what a striking hallucination he had for a moment laboured."[49] - -The liability to illusion or hallucination in that transitional state of -the mind when it reverts to surrounding objects, after it has been -pre-occupied with some absorbing and intense thought, is very strikingly -shown in the above case. It is very similar to that condition of the -mind which obtains between sleeping and waking, when it is well known -that our dreams are most vivid and brilliant. - -Dr. Ferriar relates the following interesting case of illusion -occasioned by a ray of moonlight acting upon the mind of an individual -just awaking from a horrid dream. - -"A gentleman was benighted while travelling alone in a remote part of -the highlands of Scotland, and was compelled to ask shelter for the -night at a small lonely hut. When he was conducted to his bedroom, the -landlady observed with mysterious reluctance, that he would find the -window very insecure. On examination, part of the wall appeared to have -been broken down to enlarge the opening. After some inquiry, he was -told, that a pedlar, who had lodged in the room a short time before, had -committed suicide, and was found hanging behind the door in the morning. - -"According to one of the superstitions of the country, it was deemed -improper to remove the body through the door of the house; and to convey -it through the window was impossible without removing part of the wall. -Some hints were dropped that the room had been subsequently haunted by -the poor man's spirit. - -"My friend laid his arms, properly prepared against intrusion of any -kind, by the bedside, and retired to rest, not without some degree of -apprehension. He was visited in a dream by a frightful apparition, and -awaking in agony, found himself sitting up in bed with a pistol grasped -in his right hand. On casting a fearful glance round the room, he -discovered, by the moonlight, a corpse dressed in a shroud, leaned -against the wall close by the window. With much difficulty he summoned -up resolution to approach the dismal object, the features of which, and -the minutest parts of the funeral apparel, he perceived distinctly. He -passed one hand over it, felt nothing, and staggered back to the bed. -After a long interval, and much reasoning with himself, he renewed his -investigation, and at length discovered that the object of his terrors -was produced by the moonbeams forming a long bright image through the -broken window, on which his fancy, impressed by his dream, had produced -with mischievous accuracy, the lineaments of a body prepared for -interment." - -There are some illusions which arise from certain of the laws of action -of impressions on the _retina_--that tissue of the eye in which the -changes necessary to the excitation of the sensation of light by -luminous rays are induced. - -A sensation excited in the retina is not momentary, or during the -continuance of the exciting cause alone, but it persists some seconds -after that has been withdrawn. Thus if the end of a burning stick be -rapidly moved in a circle before the eyes, it gives rise to the -sensation of an uninterrupted circle of light; the sensation excited on -each part of the retina enduring for a certain period after the luminous -point has passed. - -The following instance is an example of an illusion, having relation to -our subject, from this cause. - -A gentleman had been earnestly regarding a small and very beautiful -painting of the Virgin and Child. On turning round from the -contemplation of it, he was surprised at finding a woman of the full -size, with an infant in her arms, standing before him. On examining the -figures more closely he, however, found that the woman wanted the lower -fourth of the body, and this at once led to a correct appreciation of -the nature of the phantom. The painting he had been viewing was a -three-parts length, and it was the persistence of the image upon the -retina for a short period after he had turned from it, which had given -rise to the phantom. - -A species of divination is made use of in India which has its origin in -an illusion of this nature, and of which the following is an interesting -example:-- - -A lady who was about to undertake a long journey, was persuaded by a -Moonshee to walk on the verandah and consult her fate. - -"It was a clear calm night, the moon was full, and not the faintest -speck in the sky disturbed her reign. The Ganges was like a flood of -silver light, hastening on in charmed silence; while on the green smooth -sward on which they walked a tall shrub here and there stood erect and -motionless. The young lady, whose impressions were probably deepened by -the mystical words of the Moonshee, felt a kind of awe stealing over -her; she looked round upon the accustomed scene as if in some new and -strange world; and when the old man motioned her to stop, as they -reached an open space on the sward, she obeyed with an indescribable -thrill. - -"'Look there,' said he, pointing to her shadow, which fell tall and dark -upon the grass. 'Do you see it?' - -"'Yes,' said she faintly, yet beginning to be ashamed. 'How sharply -defined are its edges! It looks like something you could touch!' - -"'But look longer, look better, look steadfastly. Is it still definite?' - -"'A kind of halo begins to gather round it: my eyes dazzle.' - -"'Then raise them to the heavens; fix them on yonder blue sky. What do -you see?' - -"'I see it still; but it is as white as mist, and of a gigantic size.' - -"'Has it a head?' asked the Moonshee in an anxious whisper. - -"'Yes, it is complete in all its parts; but now it -melts--floats--disappears.' - -"'Thank God!' said the old man: 'your journey shall be prosperous, such -is the will of Heaven.'"[50] - -When a steady gaze is maintained upon an object until the retina is -exhausted, which is shown by the imperfect vision, or "dazzling," and -the eyes are then suddenly directed away from it to an uniformly -coloured surface, an image of the object, from the persistence of the -impression, as already stated, will still remain for a short period upon -the retina; but another phenomenon is also observed, for the exhausted -condition of the retina renders it incapable of responding, during its -continuation, to the impression of the original colour of the object, -and the spectrum appears of a different colour. To this spectral colour -the term _complementary_ or _accidental_ is applied; and if the colour -of the object be red, the complementary colour will be green; if yellow, -deep purple; if black, white, &c., and _vice versâ_. Thus then the -spectral apparition witnessed in the above relation receives a ready -and intelligible explanation. - -The sense of _hearing_ is also subject to illusions: for example, when a -timid person mistakes the rustling of leaves in a forest for the voices -of robbers; or the soughing of the wind among the trees, in some place -of evil repute, for the moaning of a wandering and unhappy spirit. - -The varied and undefined noises often produced by the wind when sweeping -over an irregular surface, among rocks and trees, on the surface of -water, in forests, or secluded and deep glens; and the mysterious sounds -occasioned by the rushing of the water in the hollows and caverns of a -rock-bound coast, have been fertile sources of illusion among the -superstitious. - -The ancient Romans listening to the inexplicable sounds which assailed -the ear in solitary and wooded places, fabled that they were the voices -of the wood deities, or as Lucretius beautifully expresses it:-- - - "The neighbouring swains believe, or fondly vaunt, - Satyrs and nymphs the rural regions haunt; - That fauns with wanton revel and delight - Disturb the sober silence of the night: - That music's blended notes are heard around, - The plaintive voice, and harp's according sound: - And well they know when Pan, the sylvan god, - (While o'er his brows the piny honours nod,) - With bending lip awakes the vocal reeds, - And the charmed ears of listening satyrs feeds. - With joy these tales they tell, or tales like these, - And fill the woods with fabled deities."[51] - -As the winds swept over the wild heaths of the north, or roared amid the -mountain passes, bearing upon their bosom the heavy mantling clouds -which enwreathed the ghosts of the heroes of old, often in their varied -tones did the ancient Celt conceive that he heard the voices of the -dead; and he who was stricken with misery deemed that his forefathers -called upon him to hasten to the land of shadows. "The ghosts of -fathers," they say, "call away the souls of their race while they behold -them lonely in the midst of woe." Or when an eddy of wind sweeping into -the hall awoke a cadence of music as it played over the strings of the -harps suspended there, the hearers shrunk as the notes thrilled through -them, and fearfully whispered that the ghosts of the dead touched the -strings, and asked whose death of all the mighty the ghostly music -portended. "The harps of the bards, untouched, sound mournful over the -hill."[52] - -The supernatural framework of many legends depends upon illusions of the -hearing of a similar character. - -At Crosmere, near Ellesmere, in Shropshire, there is a tradition that a -chapel once stood on the borders of the lake, and it was long believed -that when the waters were ruffled by the wind the sound of the bells -might be heard beneath the surface; and an old story records that, long -ago, a church and village were entombed by an earthquake, near the spot -where Raleigh, in Nottinghamshire, now stands; and that at Christmas, -even now, the bells may be heard solemnly tolling deep in the bosom of -the earth. - -Among the Cornish miners a very singular superstition prevails, which is -due to the sounds occurring in old and deserted workings, from the -dropping of water and other causes. These noises are supposed to be -produced by certain spirits, which are termed "_Knockers_," and, -according to the author of "Yeast; a Problem," the miners hold that -"they are _the ghosts of the old Jews that crucified our Lord, and were -sent for slaves by the Roman Emperors to work the mines_; and we find -their old smelting-houses, which we call _Jews' houses_, and their -blocks, at the bottom of the great bogs, which we call _Jews' tin_; and -there is a town among us, too, which we call _Market Jew_, but the old -name was _Marazion_, that means the Bitterness of Zion, they tell me; -and bitter work it was for them, no doubt, poor souls! We used to break -into the old shafts and adits which they had made, and find old -stags'-horn pickaxes that crumbled to pieces when we brought them to -grass. And they say that, if a man will listen of a still night about -those old shafts, he may hear the ghosts of them at working, knocking, -and picking, as clear as if there was a man at work in the next -level."[53] - -But the most common cause of illusion from sound arises from the -difficulty which all more or less experience, of tracing the direction -of a sound, particularly if it be indistinct. The ascertainment of the -direction of a sound, and the distance of the sonorous body, is an act -of judgment, and it is the result of experience. The power may be -cultivated to a great extent, and many savage tribes possess it in a -very high degree; but among civilized nations, where the sounds -requisite to be attended to are principally of a point-blank character, -and where the necessity for the cultivation of that nicety of hearing -which is required in forest life does not exist, the power of -distinguishing the direction and distance of sounds is very imperfect. - -The intensity of the sound, and the position of the ears, contribute to -the formation of a correct judgment; but if the two ears have precisely -the same relation to the point from which the sound issues, as when it -occurs directly before or behind, it is impossible to distinguish by -the sensation alone whether the sound arises in the front or the rear. - -The most familiar and striking illustration of the difficulty -experienced in determining the direction of sound, is _ventriloquism_. -By a cultivation of the power of speaking without the aid of the lips, -and by keeping the muscles of the face in a state of passiveness, the -ventriloquist, on giving the mind of the listener a certain leading -idea, will induce him to think that he hears voices issuing from the -floor, from the ceiling, from within him, or from any position but the -correct one; and by a modification of the intensity of the sound, it may -be made to appear as if it arose at different distances, as when voices -are heard in the distance, which gradually approach the listener, come -close to him, pass by, and are again lost in the distance. Although -perfectly aware of the deception, there are few who can correct the -impressions received, and trace them to their legitimate source. - -This uncertainty of distinguishing the direction and the nature of -sounds has been a prolific source of belief in supernatural occurrences, -and the majority, if not all, of those mysterious noises which are so -common in old houses, and which it was customary, from inability to -discover their origin, to attribute to spiritual agency, have been due -to this cause. The yielding of wood-work, the scouring of vermin, the -sighing of the wind in chinks and crannies, have been transformed by -excited and superstitious imaginations into the sighing, or whispering, -or knocking of wandering ghosts, and there is, perhaps, not a town or -village in England which has not at one time or other had one or more -houses reputed to be haunted by incorporeal visitants who have thus -announced their presence. - -Sir David Brewster relates an interesting example of illusion arising -from this source. "A gentleman devoid of all superstitious feelings, and -living in a house free from any gloomy associations, heard, night after -night, in his bedroom, a singular noise, unlike any ordinary sound to -which he was accustomed. He had slept in the same room for years without -hearing it, and he attributed it at first to some change of -circumstances in the roof or in the walls of the room; but after the -strictest examination no cause could be found for it. It occurred only -once in the night; it was heard almost every night with few -interruptions. It was over in an instant, and it never took place till -after the gentleman had gone to bed. It was always distinctly heard by -his companion, to whose time of going to bed it had no relation. It -depended on the gentleman alone, and it followed him into another -apartment with another bed, on the opposite side of the house. -Accustomed to such investigations, he made the most diligent but -fruitless search into its cause. The consideration that the sound had a -special reference to him alone, operated upon his imagination, and he -did not scruple to acknowledge that the recurrence of the mysterious -sound induced a superstitious feeling at the moment. Many months -afterwards it was found that the sound arose from the partial opening of -the door of a wardrobe which was within a few feet of the gentleman's -head, and which had been taken into the other apartment. This wardrobe -was almost always opened before he retired to bed, and the door being a -little too tight, it gradually forced itself open with a sort of dull -sound, resembling the note of a drum. As the door had only started half -an inch out of its place, its change of position never attracted -attention. The sound, indeed, seemed to come in a different direction, -and from a greater distance. - -"When sounds so mysterious in their origin are heard by persons -predisposed to a belief in the marvellous, their influence over the mind -must be very powerful. An inquiry into their origin, if made at all, -will be made more in the hope of confirming than of removing the -original impression, and the unfortunate victim of his own fears will -also be the willing dupe of his own judgment."[54] - -Not unfrequently the difficulty of distinguishing the direction of sound -has been made the basis of imposition upon the credulous; and when it is -considered how readily the judgment is led into error in this respect, -even when aware of the deception practised, as in ventriloquism, the -easy facility with which it is imposed upon when superstitious feelings -are excited, and the wide-spread delusions which have thus arisen, -cannot be wondered at. - -The Cock-lane ghost is a familiar example of a deception of this -nature: but this, and every other delusion of a similar character, -sink into insignificance before a delusion of our own day and -times--_Spirit-rapping_. - -The idea of a communication of the spiritual world with man by the -intervention of _raps_, is not new. A writer in a recent number of -"Notes and Queries,"[55] gives the following example of an early -instance of this kind in England. - -"Rushton Hall, near Kettering, in Northamptonshire, was long the -residence of the ancient and distinguished family of Treshams. In the -reign of Queen Elizabeth, the mansion was occupied by Sir Thomas -Tresham, who was a pedant and a fanatic; but who was an important -character in his time by reason of his great wealth and powerful -connections. There is a lodge at Rushton, situate about half-a-mile from -the old hall, now in ruins, but covered all over within and without with -emblems of the Trinity. This lodge is known to have been built by Sir -Thomas Tresham; but his precise motive for selecting this mode of -illustrating his favourite doctrine was unknown until it appeared from a -letter written by himself about the year 1584, and discovered in a -bundle of books and papers inclosed since 1605, in a wall of the old -mansion, and brought to light about twenty years ago. The following -relation of a "rapping" or "knocking" is extracted from this letter:-- - -"If it be demanded why I labour so much in the Trinity and Passion of -Christ to depaint in this chamber, this is the principal instance -thereof; that at my last being hither committed"--(referring to his -commitments for recusancy, which had been frequent)--"and I usually -having my servants here allowed me, to read nightly an hour to me after -supper, it fortuned that Fulcis, my then servant, reading in the -"Christian Resolution," in the treatise of "Proof that there is a God, -&c.," there was upon a wainscot table at that instant three loud knocks -(as if it had been with an iron hammer) given; to the great amazing of -me and my two servants, Fulcis and Nilkton." - -Another example of early "spirit-rapping" is the celebrated ghost of -"_Old Jeffreys_," at the Epworth Parsonage, during the childhood of the -Revds. John and Charles Wesley. - -The conception of a familiar correspondence between the spirit-world and -man by means of knocks and raps is, however, an idea of modern times, -and for which we are indebted to America, although it would seem that in -1835 we were on the eve of making this unenviable discovery in our own -country, for the invisible cause of certain noisy disturbances in a -house occupied by a Captain Molesworth at Trinity, near Edinburgh, in -that year, would, it is asserted, respond to a question by knocks, if it -could be answered numerically; as, for example, "How many people are -there in the room?" when it would answer by as many knocks. This -so-called spirit seemed at times to be drumming a certain tune. The -knocks in this case had some very intimate connection with a sick girl, -a daughter of Captain Molesworth; for they accompanied her, and -wherever she was there they prevailed most. - -In 1846, or 1847, a house in the village of Hydesville, State of New -York, America, was reported to be haunted by certain noises, as -knockings on the doors, panels, floors, ceilings, &c., of which the -source could not be ascertained; and chairs and tables were occasionally -displaced, and crockery broken by some invisible power. When the noises -and disturbances first commenced, it is stated that the house was -occupied by a man named Weekman; but subsequently it passed into the -possession of a person called Fox, who had two daughters, Catherine and -Margaretta, and during their residence in it, not only did the knockings -and irregular motions of the furniture persist, but they increased in -intensity, variety, and frequency of occurrence, and it was ascertained -by the young women that the knocks would mimic sounds which they made, -and even respond to questions put orally. A code of signals in the -affirmative and negative was next arranged, and by going over the -letters of the alphabet, and the affirmative signal duly occurring at -certain letters, which were recorded, a system of correspondence was -established with the invisible, but apparently intelligent, source of -the disturbances. By this method it was ascertained that the cause of -the noises, and other indications of invisible power, professed to be -the spirit of a man named Charles Ryan, who, while in the flesh, had -resided in that house; had been foully murdered there; the corpse -interred in a certain part of the cellar; and had left a family of five -children, all of whom were then alive. These revelations caused, as may -well be imagined, a great sensation in the village, and, notwithstanding -that no such person as Charles Ryan had ever lived there, or in that -house, and that on searching the cellar carefully no remains of a corpse -were found, the imposition and delusion was persisted in. It is scarcely -necessary to add that as yet no one has come forward to claim kindred -with the first of the disembodied spirits that held communication with -man. - -Several committees were appointed to investigate the matter, but they -failed to ascertain the cause of the sounds, and by common consent, no -natural cause being evident, it was assumed, _therefore_, that the cause -was supernatural. - -Subsequently, the Fox family removed to Rochester, and singular to say, -the spirit-sounds followed them. Noises began also to be heard in other -houses and towns, and it was soon found that many females, equally with -the Misses Fox, possessed the power of communicating familiarly through -the medium of sounds, with the spirit-world. In an almost incredibly -brief space of time, this delusion swept over the United States, and -multitudes from all ranks and conditions of society gave in their -accession to the system of belief into which it was quickly moulded. - -Certain persons only were found to possess the power of summoning the -spiritual knocks at pleasure; these were principally females, and they -were termed "_mediums_." The belief itself was spoken of under the -simple term of "_Spirit-rapping_," and its advocates and believers as -"_Rappers_," or "_Rappites_." - -Each "medium," somehow or other, managed to interweave his or her own -views with the spirit-revelations, and the spirits themselves did not -hesitate in simple set phrase to give the lie to one another; -consequently, the revelations and doctrines inculcated are somewhat -varied and inconsistent. The most generally received doctrine at the -present time may, however, be summed up as follows:--The "knocks," -"raps," and other manifestations of invisible power, are caused by the -spirits of the dead, who, by direct permission of the Almighty -(according to the more religious), or by self-discovery on the part of -the spirits (according to a statement made by the spirit of Benjamin -Franklin), are enabled to communicate with their fellow-men by various -sounds and exhibitions of physical power. This correspondence was -permitted by God in consequence of the great advance which the Americans -in particular, and mankind in general, had made towards perfection; and -it is intimated that if the present rate of progression towards -perfection continue, we shall soon be able to have intercourse by voice -and sight with the spirit-world. As it is, certain persons possess these -privileges in full, and the mass of Christians, _if believers_, have so -grown in goodness that the religion of the present day--Biblical -religion--is no longer needed, and Christianity is to be regarded as a -state of probation that _was_ requisite to attain the perfection now -arrived at; but this transition state being passed, from the elevation -of the spirit-world we can see that many of its doctrines form now a -mighty and dangerous slough, in which we are in danger of being -smothered. - -The ideas entertained by mankind respecting spiritual existences are -singularly incorrect; notwithstanding this, however, most of the -spirits, as when in the body, entertain some peculiarity of doctrine, -which shows that even in the "spheres" opinions are divided on this -point. The most general opinion states that the spirit-world surrounds -the earth, and is divided into seven spheres, which are subdivided into -seven other spheres, and these again admit of still further -division,--a geography evidently derived from Mahomedanism, and the old -monkish legends of the septate division of hell, purgatory, and -paradise. In the first of the spheres the lowest orders of spirits -reside. These form the most degraded class of spirit-life, and are -unhappy compared with those in the higher spheres; but the lowest degree -of their unhappiness exceeds the highest degree of man's pleasures. Into -this sphere pass all those who have had an unsatisfactory character on -earth; while those who have been more correct in their conduct pass -immediately into the sphere which approximates to their degree of -goodness. The residence of any spirit in the lower spheres is not -constant; for, exposed to heavenly influences, it goes on gradually -improving, and as it sublimes, it ascends through the higher spheres, -until at last the seventh sphere is attained, where it is fulfilled with -bliss, and enters the presence of God. Hence we find St. Paul and Tom -Paine, Calvin and Napoleon, Wesley and Shelley, united in friendly -brotherhood. There is no hell, such as is taught in the Scriptures, and -no eternal punishment, and man carries into the spirit-world his -passions and propensities, and relative degrees of ignorance and -knowledge. The spirit of Calvin stated that the spirits understood all -languages intuitively; but this has been refuted by an immense majority -of spirits, and it is certain that they know no other languages than -those they were acquainted with on earth. Indeed, it is requisite to -have rudimental education in our own language in heaven. "I have no -friends to teach me how to spell," said a spirit named Jack Waters. -Another, named Frank Copland, was unable to make any satisfactory -communication, from being "an illiterate youth" when he died; and the -"medium" to whom this communication was made, kindly advised the spirit -to get the soul of a deceased sister to teach him. He did so, and in -three months it was ascertained that he had made very creditable -progress in spelling, &c. The amusements of the "spirits" consist of -music, concerts, dancing, card-playing, &c., and they live in a species -of concubinage. They dress according to fancy, but the male spirits -generally wear trousers, hats or turbans, and beards. They have also -condescended to teach certain celestial architectural vagaries. They -_lie_ like mortals, and coolly admit it; and it is occasionally -necessary to put the spirits on oath! They are very liable to error, and -the spirit of General Washington, equally careless of grammar and -orthography, revealed, that they "many times make mistakes, and so we -are called liars; but this is owing to our neglect of the records that -are given us, and also to evel spirits; but we will try to be more -careful or correct after we have becom more use to writing for our -friends." The spirits speak with the utmost contempt and abhorrence of -the religious beliefs of the present day, and regard the Bible as unfit -for general perusal, from the errors (due to the translators) which it -contains; and this assertion is fittingly crowned by the statement that -it emanates under a special communication from St. Paul himself. - -Notwithstanding the painful absurdity and frightful blasphemy of these -doctrines (which satisfactorily show the class of persons by whom the -delusion is fostered, and the flagrant character of the imposition), -clergymen, judges, and persons distinguished in literature have -permitted themselves to be led away by the delusion, each establishing -some conscientious clause or giving a peculiar phase to the belief, in -order to exculpate themselves from the charge of contributing to some of -the more outrageous dogmas of this strange delusion. - -The phenomena which led to the delusion were sounds of various kinds and -intensity, which were called up by the "medium" at will, apparently in -various parts of the room in which the "_séances_" were held, but -principally beneath the table at which she sat; and the movement of -certain articles of furniture. The intelligent correspondence with the -"raps" (for the furniture-moving was merely indicative of the _power_ of -the suppositious spirits) was by questions uttered audibly, mentally, or -in writing, to which replies were given by repeated raps--an -affirmative; or by silence--a negative; or the words of the response -were spelled out by running over the alphabet--the affirmative knocks -taking place when the finger or pencil rested on the letters required to -form the sentence. Some more highly-gifted mediums, pervaded by a -spiritual afflatus, were enabled to write the answers; and others -shadowed them forth in dancing. - -If we reflect for a moment upon the difficulty which most persons -experience in detecting the direction and position of sounds, -particularly when the mind is under the dominion of certain ideas, we -may readily imagine how at the first the delusion of spirit-rapping -obtained credence among the credulous and ignorant. It was, however, -soon ascertained that an imposition was being practised; and very -shortly after the development of the mania, a "medium" came forward and -confessed the deception practised, and the mode in which she had carried -it out. This "medium," named Mrs. Norman Culvers, had been taught the -mode of deception by Margaretta Fox, one of the original "mediums;" and -she stated that the raps were produced by the toes, the listener's mind -being distracted by directing the attention, by a fixed gaze or -otherwise, to certain parts of the room, from which he was instructed -that the sounds came. By the confession of other "mediums," and by -observation, it was ascertained that, in addition to the rapping by the -toes, raps were produced by a lateral movement of the knee-joint, and -the joints of the thumb and fingers (the "cracking" of the joints, a -familiar phenomenon); by the action of the feet against the leg of the -table, or by the movement of the soles of the shoes one against another; -and lastly, by a hammer ingeniously fixed in the woodwork of the table. -It was further shown to demonstration, that in no case when the -"mediums" were placed in positions where none of the before-mentioned -methods of rapping could occur, did the raps take place; that in no case -could the "spirits" reply correctly to a single question, when the -querist, by an impassibility of countenance and scrupulous care over his -actions, did not betray his thoughts, or indicate the letters -constituting the words he required; and that the "spirits" might be led -to answer the most absurd and incorrect questions, utterly unconscious -of imposition or error. - -Notwithstanding this exposure, the delusion is persisted in; and it is -principally maintained by the occasional correct replies which are given -by the medium to questions of which none present could be acquainted -with the answer, but the querist; and many men, even of considerable -literary attainments, have been led into the delusion by this simple -phenomenon alone. - -A careful examination of the details of the spirit-communications, and -the confessions of the mediums already alluded to, will show that in no -case was there a correct response given to questions when precautions -were taken to guard against the indication given by the countenance or -by the actions to the medium, and even this was not sufficient to -prevent a multitude of errors being fallen into. - -The pure spirit-communications which have been received from the -Apostles, Franklin, Washington, &c., vary according to the mediums to -which they have been vouchsafed, and often flatly contradict each other; -in itself a sufficient indication of the glaring character of the -delusion. - -Some, admitting the spiritual origin of the "raps" have gone a -little further, and enunciated the opinion that the "rappings" occur -through the influence of electricity or magnetism which the spirits -wield; "and if," writes N. P. Willis, "disembodied spirits are still -moving consciously among us, and have thus _found an agent at -last--electricity--by which they can communicate with the world they -have left_, it must soon, in the progressive nature of things, ripen -to an intercourse between this and the spirit-world." Surely an -electric condition that would cause sonorous "raps," and tables, -chairs, &c., to dance jigs, and imitate ships tossed in a storm, -would be within reach of the test of experiment. Such a test, -however, has never been attempted; and thus it is men, even of high -standing in literature, with the utmost coolness plunge into -conjectures respecting the operations of forces of which they seem -to be unacquainted even with the signification of the terms. For -electricity and magnetism are no vague names, but terms applied to -certain phenomena which are readily ascertained, and without the -presence of which we are not justified in using them. - -We have already sufficiently shown the illusions to which the sense of -hearing is liable, and the influence they have had in the formation of -the belief in spirit-rapping is evident. The disposition of the mind in -contributing towards this and allied delusions requires a brief comment. - -The substratum of superstition which is found to prevail more or less in -most persons, is a never-failing source of delusion; and it is the -groundwork upon which the impostor acts. Readily excited and brought -into play by phenomena of which the origin is not palpably evident, it -seizes with avidity upon doctrines which pander to its taste for mystery -and wonder; and a suggestion, whether direct or implied, induces a -condition of the mind that interposes an almost insuperable bar to the -healthy action of the reason. This unconscious action of the mind, under -the influence of leading ideas, is the prime foundation of those -illusions of the senses of which we have illustrations in the pseudo -sciences of "mesmerism," "electro-biology," &c., all the phenomena of -which may be produced by simply inducing certain trains of thought. - -When Goëthe represented Mephistopheles as saying-- - - "_Whispered suggestions_ are the devil's rôle," - -it was with a profound perception of the powerful influence they -exercise in the creation of delusions. - -The throngs which crowd around the table of the "medium," go pregnant -with a desire to see a mystery, and filled with a vague fear of the -supernatural influences to which they may be subjected. This is -increased by the interval of from five minutes to half an hour which is -allowed to intervene between the commencement of the _séance_, and the -first "rap" from the spirits; and during this period the mind is kept to -the utmost tension by listening, or is well exercised by attending to -the anecdotes illustrative of the power of the spirits which are -detailed by the medium, and it is thus brought into the state that is -requisite for the perfection of the delusion. In the condition of the -mind thus induced, the medium has little difficulty in leading her -credulous hearer to whatever length it may be desired, and a careful -examination of the countenance and the hand will suffice for a correct -response to the majority of the questions which may be proposed. - -The want of discrimination of the facts from the theories invented to -explain them, is another and great source of delusion; for the majority -it suffices that if the "raps" occur, or the table moves, it is -sufficiently demonstrative that it is by the influence of spirits; and -it is a much less difficult matter to them to believe that the phenomena -arises from supernatural than natural agency. - -Certain luminous phenomena, phosphorescent flames, luminous clouds, -glistening stars, &c., have been observed when the spirit-manifestations -have occurred in profound darkness. These appearances were dependent upon -a disordered condition of the eye, which will be fully dwelt upon in a -subsequent part of this work. - -The irregular and violent movements of the furniture which occurred when -the _séances_ were held in _darkened_ apartments, were the result of the -most palpable collusion. There were certain movements of the tables, -however, around which the experimenters sat when eliciting the -spirit-rappings, that could not be attributed to this source; and an -examination of these motions showed that if several persons arranged -themselves around a table, and rested their hands slightly upon it, -after a longer or shorter period motion would occur, which was to a -great extent under the control of the will, although the experimenters -were not aware that they exerted any force whatever upon the table; and -further, it was ascertained that a table thus set in motion would -respond by rapping with the legs, to questions propounded to it, and -that with a facility equal to the most perfect "medium." - -This interesting phenomenon soon attracted considerable attention, for -it was certain that neither collusion nor wilful deception were -concerned in it; and it could be produced by persons who did not pretend -to the character of "mediums;" indeed, out of a company of several -individuals it was pretty certain that some could be found capable of -inducing the phenomenon. - -The "Rappites" looked upon it simply as another and more general -manifestation of the spirit-world; others, imbued with the -pseudo-scientific dogmas of animal magnetism, odylism, &c., sought an -explanation in the principles of their respective theories; some -regarded it as the result of Satanic agency; and lastly, those best -capable of judging on the question, looked upon the motion as the result -of muscular force exerted unconsciously by the experimenters, and in -accordance with certain well-known laws of muscular and mental action. - -The doctrine of Satanic agency has excited great attention in this -country, from the fact of its being propounded and advocated by certain -clergymen of our Established Church, who not content with regarding it -as one of those "great wonders" which are to prelude the reign of -Anti-christ, have even sought by this agency to verify the truths of the -immortality of the soul, eternity, the existence of a hell; thus seeking -a confirmation of the Scripture from the devil himself, and comically -identifying themselves with the principles so pithily expressed by -Ralpho:-- - - "Those principles I've quoted late, - Prove that the godly may allege - For anything their privilege, - And to the devil himself may go, - If they have motives thereunto: - For as there is a war between - The dev'l and them, it is no sin - If they, by subtle stratagem, - Make use of him, as he does them."[56] - -The answer to this explication, as well as to those other explications -based on the doctrines of the "Rappites," and the principles of the -pseudo-sciences, is found in the simple fact, that if care be taken to -ascertain the sources of motion which arise from the experimenters -themselves, and to obviate their influence in the experiment, neither -movements nor responses occur; and by a careful examination of the -conditions requisite for the perfection of the experiment, and an -experimental illustration of them, we arrive at the conclusion that -"table-moving" and "table-talking" are the result solely of muscular -action exercised unconsciously under the influence of certain expectant -ideas. - -If we proceed in the examination of this question as in that of every -other physical question, by seeking the conditions requisite for the -fulfilment of the experiment, and examining their nature, we observe -that the position of the persons who perform it is one that would give -rise to certain easily understood and comprehensible results. The hands -are placed upon the table in such a position that the experimenter -exercises the least degree of pressure of which he can be conscious, and -in this position they are kept for a longer or shorter period, but -generally averaging from twenty to thirty minutes. Whether the -individual be sitting or standing, the protracted exertion of the -muscles to keep the hand in so constrained a position, gives rise to -considerable fatigue, which is manifested by the usual painful -sensations in the over-exercised parts; and these sensations have been -sagely compared by the advocates of the pseudo-sciences to those -experienced by electric or electro-magnetic currents. As the muscular -fatigue and the painful state of tension into which the muscles are -thrown increase, the sensations by which we judge of the amount of -pressure exercised upon a given object diminishes, and unless the degree -of pressure exercised is checked by information derived through some -other sense, it goes on ever increasing in a direct ratio until the -whole weight of the hand, the arm, and even the shoulders of the person -so standing is unconsciously thrown upon the table, and a degree of -force exercised, which is sufficient to induce the movements we witness -in the table experimented on. - -The inertia of the table is as thoroughly destroyed by the amount of -force thus brought to bear upon it, as if a more intense force had acted -momentarily. The period of suspense which occurs previous to the first -movement taking place, is that during which the force communicated by -the hand is equally diffused through the table, and the moment this -happens, as no body can be set in motion until the motion has been -imparted to every integral particle of that body, a slight additional -force will be sufficient to overcome the resistence of surrounding -media, and cause it to change its position. Hence a comparatively slight -force exercised over a long period will not unfrequently induce effects -equal to those caused by a greater degree of force exercised during a -short period of time. - -We often witness the practical application of this principle. If we -observe two men endeavouring to move a railway carriage upon the line, -we shall notice that they do not at the first exert all their strength -in one powerful, and what would probably prove exhaustive and futile, -effort, but placing their backs against the carriage, they will push -with a continuous and gradually increasing effort for several seconds, -or even longer, when a slight movement will be perceived in the -carriage, and a slight additional exercise of force will set it in -motion. So also, as we have seen in quarries, when several men have -endeavoured to move a large mass of stone with a lever, they have not -used one long and powerful effort, but a succession of slighter ones, -until a tremulous motion has been seen in the mass, when by one exertion -of force they have hurled it from its place. - -The degree of pressure exercised by any given persons will be in the -inverse ratio of the degree of control which they can exercise over the -muscular system, and over their ideas; hence the phenomena of -table-turning and table-talking are most fully developed by those who -are possessed of but a low degree of volitional power, and in whom the -passions and emotions are paramount, as in young females, boys, or those -who are influenced by certain dominant ideas: and as these conditions -vary in different persons to an almost endless extent, it would follow -that the power of exciting the movements of the table and responses, as -well as the nature and degree of the responses, would vary in a similar -degree, which is found to be the case; and the rule of response is, as -one of the supporters of the Satanic theory (the Rev. N. S. Godfrey) -very naïvely remarks, "whatever the investigator wishes it to be." - -The directive force in the phenomena of table-moving is derived from -certain habitual actions of the muscles, as in the direction from right -to left, from the customary use of the right hand; and the influence -which our ideas exercise upon the muscular system, unwittingly and -involuntarily on our part. - -This, as well as the preceding remarks, are all capable of being -experimentally illustrated and demonstrated; and Professor Faraday,[57] -by a rigorous series of experiments, has shown that it is upon these -principles that the phenomena depend. - -By the use of a most ingenious and simple piece of mechanism connected -with an index, he showed the extent to which we exercise a certain -degree of force and directive power unconsciously, and the nature of -this directive power; and the result was:-- - -"That when the parties saw the index it remained very steady; when it -was hidden from them, or they looked away from it, it wavered about, -though they believed that they always pressed directly downwards; and -when the table did not move, there was still a resultant hand-force in -the direction in which it was wished the table should move, which, -however, was exercised quite unwittingly by the party operating. This -resultant it is which, in the course of the waiting-time, while the -fingers and hands become stiff, numb, and insensible by continued -pressure, grows up to an amount sufficient to move the table or the -substances pressed upon. But the most valuable effect of this -test-apparatus is the corrective power it possesses over the mind of the -table-turner. As soon as the index is placed before the most earnest, -and they perceive--as in my presence they have always done--that it -tells truly whether they are pressing downwards only or obliquely, then -all effects of table-turning cease, even though the parties persevere, -earnestly desiring motion, till they become weary and worn-out. No -prompting or checking of the hand is heeded; _the power is gone_; and -this only because the parties are made conscious of what they are really -doing mechanically, and so are unable unwittingly to deceive -themselves." - -An experiment is familiar to many persons by which a ring, being -suspended by means of a piece of thread to one of the fingers, may be -caused to beat responses against a glass surface (as that of a tumbler), -in answer to certain queries put audibly; or, if the ring be held by the -questioner, it is requisite merely that the questions be conceived -mentally. This, to many, a puzzling phenomenon is dependent upon -precisely the same cause as "table-talking"--a movement caused by -muscular action developed unconsciously under the influence of certain -ideational states of the mind. - -It is an interesting fact, that a species of divination is mentioned by -Ammianus Marcellinus, in which a ring, used after the above fashion, and -a table, consecrated by mystic rites, were used. We are indebted to the -Rev. J. W. Thomas, of Dewsbury, for the following quotation from the -works of this author, who lived about the middle of the fourth century. -The quotation is taken from the first chapter of the twenty-ninth book -("Construximus, magnifici judices, ad cortinæ similitudinem Delphicæ," -&c.):-- - -"Noble judges, this unfortunate little table which you see, we -constructed of laurel-rods with fearful rites (or ill-omened signs), -after the likeness of the Delphic tripod; and (it having been) virtually -consecrated with imprecations of mystic incantations (secret hymns), and -many splendid and long-continued preparations, we at length used (_lit._ -moved) it; and of using (moving) it, as often as it was consulted about -secret things, this was the method. It was placed in the middle of a -clean house, with a round plate made of divers metallic materials, -correctly (_lit._ purely) put upon it, on whose extreme circumference -the twenty-four letters of the alphabet were learnedly engraven, -separated by spaces accurately measured. A person [gifted] with -ceremonial science stood at it, clothed in linen garments, his feet in -linen socks, a wreath round his head, bearing branches of a lucky tree, -a fortunate omen having been obtained from the deity who is the author -of predictions, by hymns conceived (Apollo); weighing with scales a -pensile ring, formed (or furnished) with very fine Carpathian thread, -consecrated with mystic rites, which (or who) by distinct intervals -falling by leaps on every letter retained, makes heroic verses agreeing -with (or answering to) the interrogatories, to the completed numbers and -metres, such as the Delphic ones are read, or those given by the oracles -of the Branchidæ. Thus then to those who inquired of us who should -succeed to the present imperial government, for being swept in every -part [as] it has been mentioned, and the ring leaping touched (went -through) two syllables, ΘΕΟ; with the addition of the last -letter (last additional letter), one present cried out 'Theodorus!' (as -the name portended) by the decree of fate (by castal necessity)." - -This paragraph embodies the defence of one Hilarius, who, together with -a certain Patricius, was charged with having spread abroad prophecies -adverse to the throne of the Emperor Valens. - -A correspondent of "Notes and Queries" (Vol. IX., p. 201) quotes the -following interesting passage from the "Apologeticus" of Tertullian, -cap. xxiii.: ("Porro si et magi phantasmata," &c.):-- - -"Moreover, if magical professors also exhibit phantoms and defame the -souls of the departed; if they press oracles out of childrens' talk; if -they play many miracles with mountebank tricks, and if they send dreams, -having once the power assisting them, of inviting angels and demons, _by -whom_, and she-goats, _and tables, they were accustomed to divine_; how -much more, &c." - -The correspondent remarks: "Here table-divination, by means of angels -and demons, seems distinctly alluded to. How like the modern system! The -context of this passage, as well as the extract itself, will suggest -singular coincidence between modern and ancient pretensions of this -class." - -The sense of _touch_ rarely leads to illusions which are referred to the -supernatural, except under the influence of powerful superstitious -feelings, when it is generally connected with illusions of the other -senses. - -The influence of fear in developing illusions of the senses of sight, -hearing, and touch, has been well pourtrayed in Beaumont and Fletcher's -comedy of "The Beggar's Bush" (Act V, Scene 1): - - _Boor._ Mistress, it grows somewhat pretty and dark. - - _Gertrude._ What then? - - _Boor._ Nay, nothing. Do not think I am afraid, - Although, perhaps, you are. - - _Ger._ I am not. Forward! - - _Boor._ Sure but you are. Give me your hand; fear nothing. - There's one leg in the wood; do not fall backwards! - What a sweat one on's are in; you or I! - Pray God it do not prove the plague. Yet sure - It has infected me; for I sweat too: - It runs out at my knees. Feel, feel, I pray you! - - _Ger._ What ails the fellow? - - _Boor._ Hark! hark! I beseech you: - Do you hear nothing? - - _Ger._ No. - - _Boor._ List! a wild hog; - He grunts! now 'tis a bear; this wood is full of 'em! - And now a wolf, mistress; a wolf! a wolf! - It is the howling of a wolf. - - _Ger._ The braying of an ass, is it not? - - _Boor._ Oh, now one has me! - Oh my left ham! farewell! - - _Ger._ Look to your shanks, - Your breech is safe enough; the wolf's a fern-brake. - - _Boor._ But see, see, see! there is a serpent in it! - 'T has eyes as broad as platters; it spits fire! - Now it creeps tow'rds us; help me and say my prayers! - 'T hath swallowed me almost; my breath is stopt: - I cannot speak! Do I speak, mistress?--tell me. - - _Ger._ Why thou strange timorous sot, canst thou perceive - Anything i' th' bush but a poor glowworm. - - _Boor._ It may be 'tis but a glowworm now; but 'twill - Grow to a fire-drake presently. - - _Ger._ Come then from it! - I have a precious guide of you, and courteous, - That gives me leave to lead myself the way thus. [_Holla._ - - _Boor._ It thunders; you hear that now? - - _Ger._ I hear one holla. - - _Boor._ 'Tis thunder! thunder! see a flash of lightning - Are you not blasted, mistress? Pull your mask off; - 'T has play'd the barber with me here: I have lost - My beard, my beard! Pray God you be not shaven; - 'T will spoil your marriage, mistress. - - _Ger._ What strange wonders fear fancies in a coward! - - _Boor._ Now the earth opens! - - _Ger._ Prithee hold thy peace. - -We have now glanced at the principal illusions to which the senses of -sight and hearing are liable, and the bearing which they have on the -subject of spectral apparitions and other phenomena which it has been -customary to regard as manifestations of the supernatural. - -But a false appreciation of sensations excited by natural objects is not -the only mode in which we are liable to be deceived, for we are apt to -regard sensations excited by the action of the mind, or by a disordered -condition of the nervous system, or both combined--subjective -sensations--as sensations excited by natural objects--objective -sensations. - -To the erroneous perceptions arising from this source the term -_hallucination_ has been given, and the phantasmata to which they give -rise are more important than those arising from illusions, since the -judgment is often unable to correct them, and they may impose equally on -the wisest and the most ignorant. - -It is a law in physiology that a nerve of special sensation, (including -in that term its central as well as its peripheral terminations,) in -whatever manner it may be excited, can only produce that sensation to -which it is appointed. Thus the nerve of sight, whether it be excited by -natural or artificial light, or mechanical stimulus from without, or by -morbid changes within, can only give rise to the sensation of light; the -nerve of hearing, sound; the nerve of smell, odours; and so on. - -If the ball of the eye is pressed upon (say by the finger at the inner -angle) when the eyelids are closed, or the light otherwise excluded, -certain luminous figures will be perceived. This arises from the -pressure exciting the inner coat of the eye (the _retina_), which is -formed principally by the expansion of the nerve of light (the _optic -nerve_), and is the tissue in which the changes necessary for the -production of the sensation of light are induced by the rays of light -from without. - -The luminous figures caused by mechanical excitation of this, the -peripheral termination of the nerve of sight, vary in intensity in -different individuals and at different times. They are sometimes very -brilliant, and have been observed to be iridescent. In form they are -circular, radiating, or regularly divided into squares, which have been -compared by Purkinje to the figures produced by the vibrations -communicated to a fine powder scattered on a plate of glass, along one -edge of which a violin-bow is drawn; or to the rhomboidal figures formed -on the surface of water in a glass, thrown into vibration by the same -means. - -A familiar illustration of the excitation of a sensation of light by -mechanical stimulus is the brilliant sparks of light, starlike figures, -&c., caused by a blow on the eye, or by a fall on the head. - -A sensation of light may also be caused by the passage of a current of -electricity through the eyeball; by mental emotion, as grief, passion, -&c.; and by a morbid state of the brain or optic nerve. It is often also -induced by a disordered state of the health, and under this condition -the luminous appearance occasionally assumes a bluish, green, yellow, or -even red tint. - -When an excess of blood is determined in the vessels of the eye, either -from position or other cause, a luminous arborescent figure is -occasionally observed in the field of vision on entering a dark -apartment. This, according to Purkinje, is due to pressure on the retina -by the distended blood-vessels. A luminous spot is also sometimes -observed isochronous with the pulse. - -In ourselves, in ordinary health a lambent bluish coloured cloud of -light constantly floats before the eyes in a darkened apartment; and -there are probably few who would not perceive a greater or less -sensation of light on being shut up in profound darkness. - -On the spontaneous appearance of light in the field of vision when it is -darkened, Müller, the distinguished Prussian physiologist, writes:--"If -we observe the field of vision, keeping the eyes closed, it occasionally -happens that we perceive not only a certain degree of luminousness, but -further, that we discover a more marked glimmering of light, affecting -even, in certain cases, the form of circular waves, which are developed -from the centre towards the periphery, where they disappear. Sometimes -the faint light resembles a nebulosity, spots, and more rarely, in -myself, it is reproduced with a certain rhythm. To this spontaneous -appearance of light in the eye, which is always very vague, are related -the more clearly delineated forms which show themselves at the moment we -are about to fall asleep, and which depend upon the influence of the -imagination isolating the nebulous glimmerings one from the other, and -clothing them with more distinct forms."[58] - -The degree to which this sensation of light is produced in health, and -the power which the imagination has over it, vary greatly in different -individuals. - -Müller writes:-- - -"I had occasion, in 1828, to converse with Göethe upon this subject, -which had an equal interest for both of us. Knowing that when I was -tranquilly extended in bed, the eyes closed, but not asleep, I -frequently perceived figures that I could observe distinctly, he was -curious to know what I experienced then: I told him that my will had not -any influence either upon the production or the metamorphoses of these -figures, and that I never distinguished anything symmetrical, anything -that had the character of vegetation. Göethe, on the contrary, was able -to appoint at will a theme, which afterwards transformed itself, after a -fashion apparently involuntary, but always in obedience to the laws of -harmony and symmetry: a difference between two men, of which one -possessed the poetical imagination in the highest degree of development, -whilst the other devoted his life to the study of reality and of nature. - -"Göethe says, 'When I close the eyes, on lowering the head, I imagine -that I see a flower in the middle of my visual organ; this flower does -not for a moment preserve its form: it is quickly decomposed, and from -its interior are born other flowers with coloured or sometimes green -petals; these are not natural flowers, but fantastic, nevertheless -regular, figures, such as the roses of sculptors. It was impossible for -me to regard this creation fixedly, but it continued as long as I -wished, without increasing or diminishing. Even when I figured to me a -disc charged with various colours, I saw continually borne from the -centre towards the circumference, new forms comparable to those that I -could perceive in a kaleidoscope."[59] - -Illusions arising from the production of the sensation of light, whether -by pressure, mental emotion, or a disordered state of the health, have -been a most prolific source of ghosts. - -Imagine a person suffering from severe grief occasioned by the loss of a -friend or relative; or one subject to superstitious terrors. On retiring -to rest in a darkened apartment, the attention is attracted and wonder -raised by the appearance of a cloud of pale white, or blueish coloured -light (the colours which ghosts love to deck themselves in, and which -are most readily excited) floating before the eyes. Unacquainted with -its nature and source, he is naturally startled, and his superstitious -fears are awakened. The imagination next coming into play, the luminous -cloud is moulded into the form of the person recently dead, or of the -superstitious ideas most prominent in the mind of the individual at the -time. - -Or suppose a superstitious person passing, in the obscurity of the -night, a place where some foul crime had been perpetrated. Terror gives -rise to the production of a vivid sensation of light in the field of -vision, and the imagination, as in the previous case, works out the -rest. - -The following cases are examples of the influence which the spontaneous -appearance of light in the field of vision exercises in the development -of spectral apparitions. - -A gentleman who had lost his wife from a painful and protracted disease, -for some time subsequently was troubled by her phantom, which remained -before his eyes so long as he was in obscurity. On a light being -brought, or during the day, this spectre vanished, but no sooner was he -placed in darkness than it appeared vividly limned before him, and was a -source of constant terror.[60] - -This phantom was evidently due to the production of the sensation of -light in the field of vision, and the subsequent effects of the -imagination. - -A gentleman with whom we are acquainted happened, when young, to have a -severe fall on the head. After this accident and until he attained the -age of eleven years, he was subject to visions of brilliant and -variously coloured light, when he retired to bed at night, and all light -in his room had been extinguished. Occasionally these visions were so -gorgeous and resplendent that he is accustomed to compare them to the -jewelled decorations of the palaces of the genii in the Arabian Nights' -Entertainment. When about eleven years of age he got possession of a -volume of legends and romances, which were pregnant with supernatural -events and personages; and a friend injudiciously gave him a work full -of ghost-stories, and entitled, "News from the Invisible World." These -works he read with avidity, and the effect upon the mind was such that -henceforth his nightly visions were transformed into foul, horrid, and -often variously coloured spectres, rendering the period of time -intervening between retiring to rest and sleep, one of unmitigated -terror, and it became necessary to have a light constantly burning in -the room until sleep occurred. After the twelfth year the intensity of -the visions rapidly diminished, and at length only occurred when he -turned himself upon his face in bed. In this position a sensation as if -the bed had passed from under him occurred, and his eye formed the -centre of a circle of imps which whirled rapidly round it. The number of -these spectres next began to diminish, and by the time he was fifteen -years of age, but one remained, and this appeared only occasionally. -This solitary spectre gradually lost its fiend-like form, and assumed -that of a respectable-looking old Roman, clothed in a toga; and it at -length vanished to re-appear no more. - -This gentleman has for many years been free from any spectral -apparition; but hard study, mental emotion, a disordered state of the -health, or pressure with the finger on the eyeball, is apt to occasion a -brilliant evolution of coloured light in the field of vision. - -The spontaneous appearance of light in the visual field, in this case, -formed the substratum upon which the mind moulded the spectres; and it -is interesting to remark the influence which the perusal of a volume of -legends and ghost-stories, and subsequent classical studies, had in -determining the form of the phantasma. - -To the same cause--the subjective phenomena of vision--are due the -various coloured lights or luminous appearances which, in the -experiments of Reichenbach, the believers in animal magnetism, -mesmerism, and electro-biology, are supposed to have been seen issue, by -the "susceptible," from the poles of magnets placed in darkened -apartments, from so-called magnetised bodies, or from bodies placed in -the conditions which the respective theories demand. - -All the sensations of light that are experienced under these -circumstances, and which have been sought to be explained by the -assumption of the "od" force, or by the influence of magnetism, &c., are -dependent on that excitation of a sensation of light in the eye when -plunged into darkness, or when under certain mental emotions which we -have fully explained. - -This has been demonstrated by positive experiment; for if we take any of -the "susceptibles," and, indeed, others, and place them in a darkened -apartment, we may by simple suggestions excite all the luminous -sensations attributed to the supposititious "od" force, or to "animal -magnetism." - -The luminous appearances which certain "sensitives" have averred that -they witnessed over graves, were due also to the subjective phenomena of -vision, excited by an expectant idea. - -A young clergyman named Billing, who acted as an amanuensis to Pfeffer, -the blind poet, asserted that he constantly saw, at night, a luminous -cloud resting in one position in the poet's garden; and on search being -made beneath the surface of the ground, at the spot occupied by this -phantasm, the remains of a skeleton were found. - -Reichenbach concluded from this that the process of decomposition of a -corpse going on in the grave, probably like what is observed in other -forms of chemical action, gave rise to luminous appearances which were -visible to highly "sensitive" persons. - -"It appeared possible," he writes, "that such a person might see over -graves in which mouldering bodies lie, something similar to that which -Billing had seen. Mademoiselle Reichel had the courage, rare in her sex, -to gratify this wish of the author. On two very dark nights she allowed -herself to be taken from the Castle of Reisenberg, where she was living -with the author's family, to the neighbouring churchyard of Grunzing. -The result justified his anticipation in the most beautiful manner. She -very soon saw a light, and observed on one of the graves, along its -length, a delicate breathing flame; she also saw the same thing, only -weaker, on a second grave. But she saw neither witches nor ghosts. She -described the fiery appearance as a shining vapour, one to two spans -high, extending as far as the grave, and floating near its surface. -Sometime afterwards she was taken to two large cemeteries near Vienna, -where several burials occur daily, and graves lie about by thousands. -Here she saw numerous graves provided with similar lights. Wherever she -looked she saw luminous masses scattered about. But this appearance was -most vivid over the newest graves, while on the oldest it could not be -perceived. She described the appearance less as a clear flame than as a -dense vaporous mass of fire, intermediate between fog and flame. On many -graves the flame was four feet high, so that when she stood on them it -surrounded her up to the neck. If she thrust her hand into it, it was -like putting it into a dense fiery cloud. She betrayed no uneasiness, -because she had all her life been accustomed to such emanations, and had -seen the same, in the author's experiments, often produced by natural -causes."[61] - -The total neglect of those precautions which are requisite to obviate -the influence of expectant ideas and the subjective phenomena of vision -in this experiment is most strange, and it is painful to witness men -like Reichenbach, Gregory, and others, thus stumbling over some of the -simplest facts of physiology and psychology, and utterly prostituting -the name and calling of science. - -Singular and fallacious as are the pseudo-scientific doctrines just -mentioned, they are exceeded by the extraordinary speculations of other -writers, who also appear to hold in utter contempt the ordinary laws of -action of the senses. For example, Mrs. Crowe writes of the sensation of -light perceived by somnambules and dreamers, and of the still more -simple phenomenon of the sensation of light induced by the inhalation of -ether, in the following manner:-- - -"All somnambules of the highest order,--and when I make use of this -expression, I repeat that I do not allude to the subjects of mesmeric -experiments, but to those extraordinary cases of disease, the -particulars of which have been recorded by various continental -physicians of eminence,--all persons in that condition describe -themselves as hearing and seeing, not by the ordinary organs, but by -some means the idea of which they cannot convey further than that they -are pervaded by light; and that this is not the _ordinary_ physical -light is evident, inasmuch as they generally see best in the dark,--a -remarkable instance of which I myself witnessed. - -"I never had the slightest idea of this internal light till, in the way -of experiment, I inhaled the sulphuric ether; but I am now very well -able to conceive it; for, after first feeling an agreeable warmth -pervading my limbs, my next sensation was to find myself--I cannot say -in this heavenly light, for the light was in _me_--I was pervaded by it; -it was not perceived by my eyes, which were closed, but perceived -internally, I cannot tell how. Of what nature this heavenly light was--I -cannot forbear calling it _heavenly_, for it was like nothing on -earth--I know not,"[62] &c. - -The sense of _hearing_, like that of sight, in whatever manner it may be -excited, only gives rise to the sensation of sound; _e.g._, when an -electric current is passed through it, or a severe blow is struck upon -it, and causes it "to ring," as it is expressed in common parlance. The -rushing and other sounds--as of the ringing of bells, rustling of -leaves, &c.--caused by a disordered state of the circulation in the -head, are other examples; and there are perhaps few persons who have not -at some time or other, started, and responded to their name, or to calls -which they suppose they have heard, in the voice of persons who were at -a distance, or who had not spoken. - -A similar excitation of the nerves of _taste_ and _smell_ will also give -rise to their special sensations; but disorder of these nerves and their -centres will rarely excite hallucinations, except in connection with a -disturbed condition of the senses of sight and hearing. - -Such are the simplest forms of hallucination of the senses of sight, -hearing, taste, and smell; and we have seen that all the phenomena of -light, colour, sound, taste, and smell, can occur in man without the -presence of natural or artificial light, sonorous undulations of the -air, sapid or odorous substances. - -We are now in a position to comprehend more fully that, by the action of -the imagination and emotions alone, the changes going on in the nervous -centres may be so far disturbed that the whole of those sensations which -are generally excited by agents external to the body may be called into -play, and the mental idea assume, in light, colour and shade, sound, -taste and touch, all the distinctness and definitiveness which -appertains to an actual object within the sphere of the respective -senses, and be considered as such. - -If the mind revert to any of the varied sensations which are stored up -in the memory, and are within the power of the will to recall, an image -is conjured up before the "mind's eye," such that we can describe it as -though a real object stood before us; and if it be that of a person--a -parent, a friend, or one bound by even still stronger ties--every -lineament, every peculiarity, is depicted with a fidelity but little -less than that we should be capable of were the individual actually -present before us; or should it be a scene which has been treasured up -for its grandeur, its loveliness, or for its being endeared to us by -still stronger feelings, every characteristic feature, every object, is -minutely and truly described; and did we possess the power of limning, -not unfrequently we should find little difficulty in transferring the -mental image to the canvass. "I think I see him now"--"She might be -before me"--"I can call to mind every tree and stone, so vivid is the -memory"--are forms of expression in constant use, and they contain the -germ of the simplest form of ideal hallucination to which we are -subject. - -Under the influence of love, grief, remorse, or other powerful and -protracted emotion, the ideas upon which the mind is concentrated assume -a vividness, in many persons little short of the reality; and when -Victorian, addressing Preciosa in the "Spanish Student" (Act I, Scene -3), is represented as saying:-- - - "Thou comest between me and those books too often; - I see thy face in everything I see; - The paintings on the chapel wear thy looks, - The canticles are changed to sarabands; - And with the learned doctors of the schools, - I see thee dance cachucas;" - -he makes use of no exaggerated poetical tropes or figures, but speaks -the simple fact.[63] - -A painful illustration of the vividness of the mental image under -powerful emotion is afforded by a passage in "The Dream" of Lord Byron, -in which he describes the images of the object and scenes of his -youthful and only love, that occupied his mind, and rendered him -insensible to the ceremony of his marriage until he was aroused from his -abstraction by the congratulations of the bystanders. - - "He spoke - The fitting vows, but heard not his own words, - And all things reel'd around him; he could see - Not that which was, nor that which should have been,-- - But the old mansion, and the accustom'd hall, - And the remember'd chambers, and the place, - The day, the hour, the sunshine, and the shade, - All things pertaining to that place and hour, - And her who was his destiny, came back, - And thrust themselves between him and the light." - -The protracted devotion of the thoughts to the memory of those whom the -grave has severed from us, or from whom we are separated by distance, -and which is induced by grief, gives also to the mental image great -vividness. Exquisitely beautiful and true is the sentence placed in the -mouth of Constance, when blamed for the grief she entertained on being -separated from Prince Arthur:-- - - "Grief fills the room up of my absent child, - Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me; - Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, - Remembers me of all his gracious parts, - Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form: - Then have I reason to be fond of grief." - -In direct proportion to the concentration of the mind in the -contemplation of its own actions, is the brilliancy and distinctness of -the ideas which pass athwart it; and in the state of abstraction or of -reverie, when from intense meditation, or from mere inactivity, the -sensations derived from surrounding objects are not attended to, the -ideas are so defined that they differ but little from actual objects in -the sensations they excite. So also in sleep, if, from any cause, -physical or mental, we are roused into a state of semi-consciousness, as -in dreaming, the phantasms of former events, stored up in the memory, -and by certain sensations or trains of thought thrown to the surface, -differ in no respect--light, colour, shade, or sound--from the -sensations derived from the objects represented. - -Should, therefore, the concentration of the mind upon any subject be -such as to disturb the natural functions of the brain, the mental image -is liable to excite sensations, and to be pourtrayed with a distinctness -and "outness" which approximates to, or equals, that of a real object, -and it is regarded as such. - -In the majority of individuals the concentration and intensity of -feeling necessary for the production of hallucinations is of rare -occurrence, and it is found only under such conditions as profound grief -caused by death under painful or peculiar circumstances; from terror, -excited by causes bringing powerful superstitious feelings into -play--under which circumstances the hallucinations induced are generally -transitory--or by emotions inordinately protracted; hence it is that we -find visions of the dead among the most common of the temporary -hallucinations. In the studious, and men of powerful thought, the mind -being habituated to absorption in its own ideas, it not unfrequently -happens that hallucinations occur from a disordered state of the brain -induced by continued mental labour. These hallucinations are generally -very vivid, and may arise either voluntarily or involuntarily, and may -become habitual without the health being seriously disturbed. - -It will be seen, therefore, that the action of the mental powers alone -is sufficient to give rise to sensations which are regarded as resulting -from actual objects; and that from the simple vividness of the mental -image, which is common to most persons, we may trace their effects, in a -gradually ascending scale, in inducing mental conditions in which the -brilliancy of the image is such that, for the time, it completely -occupies the attention, and shuts out, as it were, the sensations -derived from objects before the field of vision,--and in the formation -of ideas so vivid and defined, that they take their position among -surrounding, and excite the sensations proper to external, objects. - -We have thus far spoken of the effects of the imagination on the healthy -frame, but in certain disordered conditions of the nervous system, -occurring either alone, or in connection with other and more general -morbid alterations in the economy, hallucinations are more apt to occur -than in health. The system in this state is more susceptible of the -effects of emotion, and the images arising in the mind are more vivid -than would happen from the same degree of excitement in health, and are -readily converted into hallucinations. This is witnessed in certain -forms of hysteria, febrile diseases, &c.; hence, in these disordered -conditions of the system, the hallucinations are not to be attributed to -the action of the mind, so much as to a morbid susceptibility to undergo -those changes requisite to the production of hallucinations; and these -are, consequently, induced by grades of emotion and by influences which -would not have caused that in ordinary health. - -On the other hand, the action of the mind in the development of -hallucinations equally induces certain diseased states, either special -or general. Even simple and temporary hallucination, in whatever manner -caused, must be regarded as an indication that the changes going on in -the nervous centres have passed the bounds of health; and according as -the causes inducing hallucinations are more or less protracted, or the -hallucinations are more or less persistent or frequent, so we may mark a -greater or less deterioration in the mental powers, the nervous or the -general system, or indications of more acute disease, to progress along -with them, until the acme is reached in insanity, idiocy, or some more -rapidly progressive and equally formidable disease. - -To illustrate these remarks: Blake, the artist, who, after the death of -Sir Joshua Reynolds, enjoyed great fame as a portrait-painter, owed his -celebrity, in great part, to the singular fact that he required but one -or, at the most, two sittings, from those whose portraits he painted. He -was accustomed to regard the person who sat to him attentively for about -half an hour, sketching from time to time on the canvas, and he would -then pass on to another subject. When he wished to continue the first -portrait, on placing the canvas before him, he had the power of calling -up so vivid a mental image of the personage, the outline of whose face -was depicted upon it, that it assumed all the appearance of reality, and -he perceived it in the position in which he required it to be. From this -phantasm he painted, turning from the canvas and regarding it as he -would have done had the representative of the phantom been there in -person. By degrees he began to lose the distinction between the real and -the imaginary objects, and at length a complete confusion of the mind -occurred, rendering it necessary for him to be confined in an asylum. -During his residence there, his insanity was marked by an exaggeration -of that vivid power of imagination he had possessed previously; for he -at will could summon before him the phantoms of any of the personages of -history, and he held long and sensible conversations with Michael -Angelo, Moses, Semiramis, Richard III, &c., all of whom appeared to him, -when he desired, in the vivid hues and distinct outlines of reality. - -Talma, the great French tragedian, had the power, when upon the stage, -of causing the vestments of his audience to disappear, and of depicting -them as skeletons. When the hallucination was complete, and he had -filled the theatre with these ghastly auditors, he was enabled to give -the fullest and most surprising force to his performance. - -Examples of the influence of powerful and protracted emotions in -inducing hallucinations are numerous. Dr. Conolly relates the case of a -gentleman who, when at one time in great danger of being wrecked in a -small boat on the Eddystone rocks, in the moment of greatest peril saw -his family before him. - -M. Boismont quotes the case of a world-known general who, when in a -combat one day, was surrounded by the enemy, and in so great danger that -escape seemed impossible. He, nevertheless, contrived to escape; but the -impression made upon him was such, that afterwards, until a late period -of life, he occasionally suffered from an hallucination in which the -scene of danger was again presented before him and re-enacted; and when -subsequently on a throne, sometimes the silence of the palace would be -disturbed by his cries, as he struggled and fought with his phantom -foes. The hallucination was momentary. - -The intense emotion which Sir Richard Croft experienced on being -summoned to attend the Princess Charlotte of Wales on her death-bed was -such, that he saw her form, habited in white, glide along before his -carriage. - -A case is related by Boismont of a lady who, while suffering from the -depression occasioned by receiving information that her daughter was -seriously ill, heard a voice which addressed to her the words, "Lovest -thou me?" The lady responded immediately, "Lord, thou knowest that I -have placed all my confidence in thee, and that I love thee with all my -soul." The voice then said, "Dost thou give her to me?" The lady -trembled with fear, but summoning courage, she replied, "However painful -the sacrifice may be, let Thy will be accomplished." This lady was -deeply pious, and the hallucination arose from the powerful and painful -emotion caused by the sudden news of her daughter's illness, inducing -that disordered state of the nervous system, in which the thoughts -naturally engendered in one who submitted everything to the Almighty, -became audible. - -The combined influence of love and sorrow has been a powerful source of -hallucinations, and many of those wild and beautiful legends and tales -which are scattered throughout the kingdom, recording the apparition of -a deceased or distant lover to his betrothed, have been due to this -cause. - -Thus, as in the old ballad:-- - - "When it was grown to dark midnight, - And all were fast asleep, - In came Margaret's grimly ghost, - And stood at William's feet." - -Or in the story of "Isabella," by Boccacio, so beautifully rendered by -Keats:-- - - "It was a vision. In the drowsy gloom, - The dull of midnight, at her couch's foot - Lorenzo stood, and wept: the forest tomb - Had marr'd his glossy hair, which once could shoot - Lustre into the sun, and put cold doom - Upon his lips, and taken the soft lute - From his lorn voice, and past his loamed ears - Had made a miry channel for his tears. - - Strange sound it was, when the pale shadow spoke; - For there was striving in its piteous tongue, - To speak as when on earth it was awake, - And Isabella on its music hung: - Languor there was in it, and tremulous shake, - As in a palsied Druid's harp unstrung; - And through it moaned a ghostly under-song, - Like hoarse night-gusts sepulchral briers among. - - Its eyes, though wild, were still all dewy bright - With love, and kept all phantom fear aloof - From the poor girl by magic of their light, - The while it did unthread the horrid woof - Of the late darken'd time--the murd'rous spite - Of pride and avarice--the dark pine roof - In the forest--and the sodden turfed dell, - When, without any word, from stabs it fell. - - Saying moreover, "Isabel, my sweet! - Red whortle-berries droop above my head, - And a large flint-stone weighs upon my feet; - Around me beeches and high chesnuts shed - Their leaves and prickly nuts; a sheep-fold bleat - Comes from beyond the river to my bed: - Go shed one tear upon my heather-bloom, - And it shall comfort me within the tomb. - - "I am a shadow now, alas! alas! - Upon the skirts of human nature dwelling - Alone: I chaunt alone the holy mass, - While little sounds of life are round me knelling, - And glossy bees at noon do fieldward pass, - And many a chapel bell the hour is telling, - Paining me through: those sounds grow strange to me, - And thou art distant in humanity." - -Some of these apparitions have, in all probability, been illusions -caused by an object indistinctly seen in the pale moonlight, or by an -accidental arrangement of the furniture of the apartment, transformed by -an imagination devoted to the subject of its own sorrows, or influenced -by a vivid dream, into the idea at the moment most prominent in the -mind. - -The influence of remorse, or of those terrible emotions which accrue to -the murderer on the perpetration of the foul deed, in causing -hallucinations, is well known. - -The ghost of Banquo (Macbeth, Act III, Scene 3) is a type of many -wondrous histories:-- - - "Prythee, see there! Behold! Look! Lo!--How say you? - Why what can I? If thou canst nod, speak too. - If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send - Those that we bury, back, our monuments - Shall be the maws of kites." - -Vanderkiste[64] relates the story of a convict who had murdered an -overseer, and taken to the bush:-- - -"He lived in the woods, and came armed to the huts to demand provisions -for some time, but imagined he was continually haunted by the spirit of -the man he had murdered. At last he delivered himself up to the -authorities, declaring his life a burden. He was seen for days, dogged, -as he conceived, by the spectre of his victim, and escaping from tree to -tree." - -Sir Walter Scott records the story, that the captain of a slaver, in a -fit of anger, shot at, and mortally wounded, one of his sailors. As the -man was dying, he fixed his eyes upon the captain, and said, "Sir, you -have done for me, but I will never leave you." The captain became grave -and moody, and some time after he invited the mate into the cabin, and -addressing him, said, "I need not tell you, Jack, what sort of hand we -have got on board with us. He told me he would never leave me, and he -has kept his word. You only see him now and then, but he is always by my -side, and never out of my sight. At this very moment I see him. I am -determined to bear it no longer, and I have resolved to leave you." -Soon after this, the captain, watching an opportunity when he was -unobserved, plunged into the sea: the mate rushed to the side of the -ship, and the captain perceiving him, extended his hands upwards, -exclaimed; "By ----, Bill is with me now!" and sunk. - -One of the most remarkable examples of hallucination arising from the -feelings excited by cold-blooded murder is recorded by Boismont:-- - -"A duellist, who had killed sixteen persons in single combat, was -constantly accompanied by their phantoms; they never left him night or -day." - -The solitary hours of Charles IX were made frightful by the shrieks and -cries which had reached him during the massacre of the Eve of St. -Bartholomew, and he was haunted for many days subsequent to its -occurrence by hideous and bloody faces. Taking Ambrose Paré aside, at -one time, he remarked that he wished they had not comprised in the -massacre the aged and children. - -No cause is, however, so apt to engender hallucinations as religious -enthusiasm, or an inordinate or rather fanatical occupation of the mind -in the contemplation of religious subjects. - -In the saint-visions which are so numerously scattered in the annals of -Christian churches and which were so common under the self-denying and -ascetic rules of some of the monastic orders, we have examples; and -Spenser's "Hermit" furnishes the type of this species of -hallucination:-- - - "Thence forward by that painfull way they pas - Forth to an hill, that was both steepe and hy; - On top whereof a sacred chapel was, - And eke a little hermitage thereby, - Wherein an aged holy man did lie, - That day and night said his devotion, - Ne other worldly busines did apply: - His name was Heavenly Contemplation; - Of God and goodness, was his meditation. - - Great grace that old man to him given had; - For God he often saw from heavens hight: - All were his earthly eien both blunt and bad, - And through great age had lost their kindly sight, - Yet wondrous quick and persaunt was his spright, - As eagles eie, that can behold the sunne." - -The Virgin appeared to Ignatius Loyola, and confirming his designs, -urged him to the enterprise he had in view for the establishment of the -Roman Catholic church on a surer basis. Satan came visibly to Luther and -contended with him, sometimes worsting him in argument. Swedenborg -beheld in visions the heavenly scenes which his imagination had -pourtrayed; while Pascal wrote he beheld an abyss of flames beside his -writing-table; and Symeon Stylites conceived that Satan had appeared to -him under the form of Jesus Christ, and invited him to ascend to heaven -in a chariot drawn by cherubim. Symeon put out his foot to enter the -chariot, when the whole vanished; and, as a punishment for his -presumption, the offending thigh was affected with an ulcer, which -obliged him to rest upon one leg for the remainder of his life. - -It is important to comprehend fully the influence of the imagination in -developing visions of this nature, particularly in a disordered state of -the health, from the important effects which they have exercised and -still exercise upon mankind. - -The following example is an interesting illustration of the nature and -source of these hallucinations: - -Some years ago considerable attention was excited in Germany by the -publication of a series of visions which a lady of considerable literary -attainments and high character had beheld, and for which she believed -that she was indebted to divine favour. - -The hallucinations which she experienced had first been noted in the -fourth year of her age, when one day, as she was dressing a doll, and -for greater convenience had placed a large folio Bible beneath her feet, -she heard a voice exclaim: "Put the book where you found it!" She did -not immediately obey the order, as she saw no one, but in a few moments -the mandate was repeated, and she thought some one took hold of her -face. This hallucination, according to Dr. Hibbert, is to be regarded as -a renovated feeling arising from some prior remonstrances regarding the -holy volume; and, we would add, together with the altered sensation -experienced in the face, was evidently due to the earlier stages of a -disease which occasioned the more fully developed visions. After this -period, she devoted herself to the study of the Scriptures; and her -labours, in this respect, were incessant and protracted. In her seventh -year she saw, when playing, a vision of a clear flame which entered the -chamber door, in the centre of which was a strong bright light, -described as about the size of a child six years old. This vision -endured about half an hour. No other vision is mentioned until the -period of her marriage, which proved unfortunate, embittering her life -and causing her constantly to meditate on death. It was in this state of -mind that the principal visions to which she was subjected occurred. On -one occasion, after receiving some ill-treatment from her husband, -broken down in spirits, and thinking the Lord had forsaken her, she made -a resolution to desist from prayer. On retiring to bed, she repented the -decision she had made, and prayed fervently. She awoke in the morning -before daybreak, and was surprised to find the room vividly -illuminated, and that at the bedside was seated a heavenly figure, in -the form of an old man. This phantom was dressed in a blueish robe, and -had bright hair; and the countenance shone like the clearest red and -white crystal. It regarded her benignantly, and said, "_Proceed, -proceed, proceed!_" At first the words were unintelligible to her, but a -young and beautiful angel, which appeared on the other side of the bed, -exclaimed: "_Proceed in prayer, proceed in faith, proceed in trials!_" -After this the devil appeared, pulled her by the hair, and tormented her -in other ways, until the angel interfered, and drove him away. Satan in -this case assumed his usual hideous garb. Subsequently one of the angels -exclaimed, three times: "Lord, this is sufficient;" and while saying -these words, the lady beheld large wings on his shoulders, and knew him -to be an angel of God. The light and the angels then vanished, and the -lady felt eased of her grief, and arose. - -If the nature of the figures and the mode of action in these visions had -not sufficed to show how completely they were dependent upon dominant -ideas and a disordered state of the nervous system, the history of the -case would demonstrate it. The early, protracted, and inordinate study -of religious beliefs, similar to that which laid the basis of -Swedenborg's visions; the painful state of the mind induced by her -unhappy marriage, and disease, were the source of the hallucinations to -which she was subject; for it was ascertained that when the visions -occurred she always suffered from slight attacks of epilepsy. - -Intense and protracted mental exertion frequently gives rise to -hallucinations. - -A medical gentleman in Edinburgh, while seated one evening in his -library, after a period of excessive study, on raising his head, was -startled by perceiving at the opposite side of the table the spectre of -a gentleman who had died under melancholy circumstances some days -previously, and at whose post-mortem examination he had assisted. - -That excessive action of the imagination, and consequent absorption of -the mind in its own workings, to exclusion of external sensations, which -is common in men of genius, has been a fertile source of hallucinations. - -In some instances the hallucinations have been "counterfeit -presentments" of the ideas which have been most prominent in the mind; -in others they have had no relation to that condition. - -Spinello, who had painted the Fall of the Angels, thought that he was -haunted by the frightful devils which he had depicted. He was rendered -so miserable by this hallucination that he destroyed himself. One of -our own artists, who was much engaged in painting caricatures, became -haunted by the distorted faces he drew; and the deep melancholy and -terror which accompanied these apparitions caused him to commit suicide. -Müller, who executed the copper-plate of the Sixtine Madonna, had more -lovely visions. Towards the close of his life the Virgin appeared to -him, and thanking him for the affection he had shown towards her, -invited him to follow her to heaven. To achieve this, the artist starved -himself to death. Beethoven, who became completely deaf in the decline -of life, often heard his sublime compositions performed distinctly. - -It is related of Ben Jonson, that he spent the whole of one night in -regarding his great toe, around which he saw Tartars, Turks, Romans, and -Catholics climbing up, and struggling and fighting. Goëthe, when out -riding one day, was surprised to see an exact image of himself on -horseback, dressed in a light-coloured coat, riding towards him. - -A similar kind of hallucination to this of Goëthe's has been observed as -a precursor of certain forms of insanity, and in the delirium of fever. - -Boismont records the case of a gentleman who was troubled with a -spectral image of himself, which he had the power of calling before him -voluntarily. This, for several years, was a source of amusement to him; -but by degrees this phantom became more persistent, arose involuntarily, -and addressed him. The hallucination then assumed a still graver -character, for his double would dispute with him, and often foil him in -argument; and coincidently with this phase of the disease the gentleman -became melancholy, and he ultimately committed suicide. - -The imagination rarely gives rise to hallucinations of the senses of -touch, taste, or smell alone. The sweet-smelling odours which are stated -to have been experienced during the visions of angels and saints; and -the foul and sulphurous fumes which have accompanied apparitions of the -infernals, are, however, to be attributed to this cause. - -Thus far our illustrations and remarks have been confined to that class -of hallucinations which are induced principally by the action of the -imagination, mental emotion, or excessive exertion of the reasoning -powers. - -There is, however, another class of hallucinations dependent upon -certain disordered states of the general health and nervous system, -which have an important bearing upon the belief in the supernatural. - -The simplest forms of hallucination of this class are those occasionally -observed during the initiatory stages of some diseases, after the -termination of exhausting affections, or during temporary morbid -conditions of the brain. - -The following examples will illustrate the nature of the hallucinations -arising from these sources. - -A lady, with whom we are acquainted, was walking early one morning in a -lonely and unfrequented path, which was open to the eye for some -distance. On approaching its termination, she was surprised to see a -lady advancing towards her, dressed in deep mourning, and reading a -book. Struck by the peculiar beauty of the lady's face, she turned round -to gaze upon her as she passed; but, to her surprise, the figure -vanished. Startled and alarmed, she hurried home, and almost immediately -afterwards was seized with shiverings, and suffered from a violent -attack of fever, characterised by severe cerebral disturbance. The -hallucination in this case was caused by the changes induced in the -nervous system by the initiatory stages of the disease. - -A young lady recovering from a severe attack of fever, was left in -charge of the house during a fine Sunday evening in autumn, the -remainder of the family having gone to church. A thunder-storm came on, -with heavy rain, and she became very anxious about her aged father. On -going into the room generally occupied by the family, there, to her -great astonishment, she beheld, as she thought, her father sitting in -his usual position. Supposing that he must have returned from church -unwell, she advanced, placed her hand upon the semblance, and found -nothing. Although startled, she attributed the vision to its proper -cause, anxiety and weakness; but though she went in and out of the room -several times, the spectre persisted for a considerable period. - -A merchant, while sitting in his counting-house, was annoyed by hearing -voices outside the door conversing freely respecting his character, and -speaking of him as a dishonoured man. Thinking it was some trick of his -friends, he quietly opened the door, and was astonished to find no one. -On closing it the voices again began in a similar strain; and on -re-opening the door he still found no one. Alarmed, he left his office, -and proceeded home, but the voices followed him, threatening punishment -for imaginary crimes. This hallucination was accompanied by other signs -of a disordered state of the brain, and it was not until after a period -of entire relaxation from business, and a daily game at cricket, that -the phantom-voices ceased. - -There are certain formidable disorders of the nervous system in which -hallucinations affect all the senses. - -The following is an example of the diseases of this class, and it will -show the influence which they are liable to exert in the development of -certain forms of superstition. - -A maiden lady, aged forty years, who from early youth had been of a very -susceptible and restless disposition, suffered from hallucinations which -persisted for many years. - -At first the sight alone was affected, and she saw numerous persons of -singular and fantastic form. Subsequently she heard voices, which -professed to have taken up their abode in her stomach, and addressed her -from thence. These voices tormented her; commanded all her actions; -informed her of what took place within the body; gave her instructions -upon diseases, and even prescribed for them. The voices gave her -information respecting the characters of divers persons, and -occasionally endowed her with the power of expressing herself in terms -more florid and fluent than she was accustomed to. Often the voices -conversed on geography, grammar, rhetoric, &c.; and they would reprove -her when she had done amiss. They told her that she was possessed, and -although she was not superstitious, and fully recognized the -hallucinations she suffered from, she at this time sought a priest to -exorcise her, thought much of eternity, and sometimes gave herself up to -despair. At one time the voices told her she would become queen; often -they conversed with her upon strange, and sometimes even abominable -subjects; then they would say things extremely comical, and make her -laugh. They would please, and then mock her, and then assail her more -violently than ever, and spoil like harpies everything she touched or -did. If she took a glass of water, the voices would call out that it was -poisoned; and frequently they urged her to destroy herself. When she -walked out, if she passed a female, the voices would cry out that she -carried musk (the odour of which the lady abominated) and immediately -she smelt this odour; if a man passed her, she was affected with the -smell of tobacco. The voices often gave her no rest until she did what -they liked, and they even ordered her to Paris, to place herself under -the care of physicians there. - -The visions she suffered from were very singular. Her apartment was -filled with persons of all characters and descriptions; numerous -processions defiled before her, and some of the figures had but one half -the body, a profile, or one eye; they were large or small, and -occasionally underwent singular and fantastic changes of form. - -The food she took did not possess its natural taste, and the voices -often gave unpleasant savours, to prevent her eating. - -When she journeyed, she felt as if soaked with water, and she would -attempt to wring her clothes. - -Addressing one of her physicians, when the malady was fully developed, -she said, "I know that it is monomania, but the voices are stronger than -my will. I wish you to prescribe for me, it is impossible for me to -remain in one place."[65] - -This case is an interesting illustration of a form of disease, which, -when developed in persons who are subject to religious enthusiasm, has -given rise to the belief of possession with devils (_demonomania_). -Instances of this disease are frequently met with in the French asylums. - -Many other forms of hallucination occur in insanity, monomania, fever, -hysteria, and other diseases, in dreams, and from the influence of -certain poisonous substances taken into the system. Some of these -hallucinations are of considerable interest, since they have been the -prime cause of many superstitions. - -In addition to the hallucinations of the hearing already mentioned, in -certain diseases, words spoken in the right ear have been heard in the -left, and _vice versâ_; and under the influence of opium or haschish -(prepared from the Indian hemp), the sense becomes, occasionally, so -developed, that a word pronounced low, or a slight movement, sounds like -a peal of thunder. Hallucinations of the sight have occasionally -presented figures of colossal stature, or of extreme diminutiveness; or -the patient has conceived the idea that he was so tall that he was -unable to walk erect in a lofty apartment, or so diminutive that he -dreaded the movements of any near to him, lest they should do him harm. -Pleasant or fetid odours are sometimes constantly present to the smell. -Feuchtersleben states the case of a lady who was long haunted with the -effluvia as of a charnel-house. The taste is subjected to hallucinations -of exquisitely flavoured viands and wines; or the reverse, no food being -taken; or everything taken presents one undeviating flavour, which may -be pleasant or unpleasant, or it has no taste at all. A sensation of -_flying_ is not uncommon. Boismont has a friend who frequently -experiences this sensation, and it often occurs in dreams. A friend of -ours is in the habit of dreaming that he is suspended about a foot above -the surface of the earth, and is carried along by simple volition, -without movement of the limbs; and St. Jerome states, that often in -dreams he flew from the earth over mountains and seas. Our ideas of -depth and space are sometimes increased in dreams to an extent that is -inexpressible and almost bewildering; and the sensation of falling into -an abyss is common to the dreamer. The idea of time is often extended -indefinitely; in the space of a single night, days, weeks, years, and -even ages, have appeared to elapse. Transformation of the figure is -occasionally met with among the hallucinations of insanity; and in the -state induced by haschish, the singular and fantastic forms which those -under its influence, and the parties surrounding them, have appeared to -undergo, are of great interest. "The eyelashes," writes one gentleman, -"lengthened themselves indefinitely, and rolled themselves as threads of -gold on little ivory bobbins, which turned unassisted, with frightful -rapidity.... I still saw my comrades at certain moments, but _deformed_, -half men, half plants, with the pensive airs of an ibis standing on one -foot, of ostriches flapping their wings, &c."--"I imagined that I was -the parroquet of the Queen of Sheba, and I imitated as well as I was -able the cries of this praiseworthy bird." - -In the state caused by haschish it occasionally also happens that the -person under its influence may be caused to speak or act in any manner -that is suggested to him. This phenomenon is also seen in dreams; in -both conditions the half-awakened mind automatically pursues the train -of thought which has been suggested to it either by the voice or by -certain sensations. - -Lastly, in certain disordered conditions of the system, the person has -the power of looking, as it were, into himself, and ascertaining what is -going on there, or of extending his sensual powers beyond the bounds of -their ordinary sphere, and ascertaining what transpires in other places, -or at a distance of many miles (_clairvoyance_). The gentleman from -whose experience of the effects of haschish we have already quoted, -thought he could look at will into his stomach, and that he saw there, -in the form of an emerald, from which escaped millions of sparkles, the -drug he had swallowed. - -By a careful consideration of the illusions and hallucinations to which -we are liable, we obtain a clue to unravel the wild fantasies which -constitute the greater part of the most prominent superstitions. - -If we reflect on the superstitious ideas which filled the minds of our -forefathers, and follow them back, in their deepening intensity, into -the middle ages, we can easily imagine how the irregular and fantastic -figures which an indistinct and disordered vision gave rise to in the -gloom of the night, were transformed into fiends and demons; how -spectres, clothed in their horrid white and blue panoply, were seen -stalking over the earth, and haunting the murder-stained castle, glade, -and forest; how the dimly illuminated mists of the evening and morning -shadowed forth the forms of the dead, and the spirits of the waters and -the air; how in the mist of Killarney, an O'Donoghue, mounted on his -milk-white steed, and attended by a host of fairy forms, swept over the -beautiful lake; and a spectral array arose night after night from the -bed of the rushing Moldau, and besieged the walls of Prague; how the -moonbeams chequering the deep recesses of the woods, and the banks and -meadows overhung with foliage, were metamorphised into fairies; how the -wind howling among the rocks and mountains, sweeping through the -valleys, or whispering amid the trees and about the nooks and corners of -the turretted castle and ruinous mansion, bore on its bosom the sounds -of spectre-horsemen, demon-hunters, and fiend-like hounds, or the wail -and lamentations of wandering and lost spirits, and the shrieks of the -infernals; and how the billows, rushing into the caverns and deep -fissures in the cliffs of a rock-bound coast, filled the air with the -mysterious and incomprehensible language of the spirits of the deep. - -A clue also is obtained to other forms of superstition. - -The power which the witch was supposed to possess of transporting -herself from place to place, and which those self-deluded wretches -themselves believed; and the orgies of the witch-sabbath, which were -again and again deposed to, were hallucinations due to a form of -insanity--for we may so call it--prevailing at the period, which was -determined by the nature of the superstitious beliefs entertained. The -real character of this superstition is well shown by an incident which -is recorded by Jung-Stilling. - -He writes:--"I am acquainted with a tale, for the truth of which I can -vouch, because it is taken from the official documents of an old -witch-process. An old woman was imprisoned, put to the torture, and -confessed all that witches are generally charged with. Amongst others, -she also denounced a neighbour of hers, who had been with her on the -Blocksberg, the preceding Walpurgis night. This woman was called, and -asked if it were true what the prisoner said of her? On which she stated -that, on Walpurgis eve she had called upon this woman, because she had -something to say to her. On entering her kitchen, she found the prisoner -busy in preparing a decoction of herbs. On asking her what she was -boiling, she said, with a smiling and mysterious mien, "Wilt thou go -with me to the Brocken?" From curiosity, and in order to ascertain what -there was in the matter, she answered, "Yes: I should like to go well -enough." On which the prisoner chattered some time about the feast, and -the dance, and the enormous goat. She then drank of the decoction, and -offered it to her, saying: "There, take a hearty drink of it, that thou -mayest be able to ride through the air:" she likewise put the pot to her -mouth, and made as if she drank of it, but did not taste a drop. During -this, the prisoner had put a pitchfork between her legs, and placed -herself upon the hearth; that she soon sunk down, and began to sleep and -snore: after having looked on for some time, she was at length tired of -it, and went home. - -The next morning, the prisoner came to her, and said, "Well, how dost -thou like being at the Brocken? Sith, there were glorious doings." On -which she had laughed heartily, and told her that she had not drunk of -the potion, and that she, the prisoner, had not been at the Brocken, but -had slept with her pitchfork upon the hearth. That the woman, on this, -became angry, and said to her, that she ought not to deny having been at -the Brocken, and having danced and kissed the goat."[66] - -Gassendi relates an experiment to the same effect. He anointed some -peasants with a pomade made of belladonna or opium, persuading them that -the operation would convey them to the witch-sabbath. After a profound -sleep, they awoke, and told how they had been present at the sabbath, -and the pleasures they had enjoyed. - -Stupifying and intoxicating drugs were, in all probability, freely used -by sorcerers, and in the ancient mysteries, and to their use is to be -attributed many of the illusions and hallucinations which are familiar -in the details of the practice of the occult sciences. - -Jung-Stilling quotes a singularly interesting example of a method of -practising one of the most important processes of magic; and an -examination of it satisfactory shows the manner in which some of the -most striking of the deceptions of that art were brought about, and how -it happened that the professor, as well as the student, was equally -deluded. - -In Eckhartshausen's "Key to Magic" there is an account of a young -Scotsman "who, though he meddled not with the conjuration of spirits, -and such like charlatanry, had learned, however, a remarkable piece of -art from a Jew, which he communicated also to Eckhartshausen, and made -the experiment with him,--which is surprising, and worthy of perusal. He -that wishes to raise and see any particular spirit, _must prepare -himself for it, for some days together, both spiritually and -physically_. There are also particular and remarkable requisites and -relations necessary betwixt such a spirit and the person who wishes to -see it--relations which cannot otherwise be explained, than on the -ground of the intervention of some secret influence from the invisible -world. After all these precautions, a vapour is produced in a room, from -certain materials which Eckhartshausen, with propriety, does not -divulge, on account of the dangerous abuse which might be made of it, -which visibly forms itself into a figure which bears a resemblance to -that which the person wishes to see. In this there is no question of any -magic-lantern or optical artifice; but the vapour really forms a human -figure, similar to that which the individual desires to behold. I will -now insert the conclusion of the story in Eckhartshausen's own words:-- - -"Some time after the departure of the stranger, that is, the Scotsman, I -made the experiment for one of my friends. He saw as I did, and had the -same sensations. - -"The observations that we made were these. As soon as the ingredients -were thrown into the chafing-dish, a whitish body forms itself, that -seems to hover above the chafing-dish, as large as life. - -"It possesses the likeness of the person whom we wished to see, only the -visage is of an ashy paleness. - -"On approaching the figure, one is conscious of a resistance, similar to -that which is felt when going against a strong wind, which drives one -back. - -"If one speaks with it, one remembers no more distinctly what is spoken; -and when the appearance vanishes, one feels as if awakening from a -dream. The head is stupified, and a contraction is felt about the -abdomen. It is also very singular that the same appearance presents -itself when one is in the dark, or when looking upon dark objects. - -"The unpleasantness of this sensation was the reason why I was unwilling -to repeat the experiment, although often urged to do so by many -individuals."[67] - -It would be difficult to conceive any more powerful method of inducing -hallucinations than that detailed in this instructive and interesting -recital. The previous schooling of the imagination, in order thoroughly -to imbue it with the train of ideas requisite for the full development -of the phenomenon, and the subsequent intoxication induced by the -inhalation of powerful narcotic vapours--an intoxication which, as we -have already seen in the example of haschish, is peculiarly apt to the -development of hallucinations--will sufficiently account for the -illusion of the smoke of the chafing-dish presenting any figure which -the mind desires to see. The difficulty which the experimenter -experienced in approaching the phantom, and which he compares to the -resistance which is felt when contending against a strong wind, was -evidently due to the powerful emotion which he experienced depriving him -of that control of the voluntary muscles, such as we find in a person -paralyzed by fear or astonishment; or perhaps it was rather a feeling -similar to that experienced in nightmare, when, whatever effort we may -make, we feel almost incapable of motion. - -The action of the narcotic vapour alone was sufficient to induce -hallucinations; for, persuaded by a very experienced physician, who -"maintained that the narcotic ingredients which formed the vapour must -of necessity violently affect the imagination, and might be very -injurious, according to circumstances," Eckhartshausen made the -experiment on himself without previous preparation; "but," he writes, -"scarcely had I cast the quantum of ingredients into the chafing-dish, -when a figure presented itself. I was, however, seized with such a -horror, that I was obliged to leave the room. I was very ill during -three hours, and thought I saw the figure always before me. Towards -evening, after inhaling the fumes of vinegar, and drinking it with -water, I was better again; but for three weeks afterwards I felt a -debility: and the strangest part of the matter is, that when I remember -the circumstance, and look for some time upon any dark object, this ashy -pale figure still presents itself very vividly to my sight. After this I -no longer dared to make any experiments with it." - -The use of intoxicating and stupifying drugs doubtless contributed also -to the development of those ideas of strange and wonderful -transformations and anomalies of form with which the legends and -romances of Oriental and European nations teem. In the examples of -hallucinations we have already given from this source, we find the key -to the explanation of several of these transformations; and the -elaborated supernatural framework of fairy tales, in which men are -changed without compunction into inferior animals, trees, or vegetables, -has probably had a similar origin. - -The state of "clairvoyance," and that condition of the nervous system -which is found in certain diseases, dreams, and under the influence of -narcotic poisons, in which, by suggestions, in whatever manner given, -certain actions and trains of thought may be excited at the will of the -suggestor, is seen also, and may be induced at will in those conditions -of the system which are summed up under the terms "mesmerism," "animal -magnetism," "electro-biology," &c.; and the theories which have been -invented to explain them, and which are expressed in the above names, -are not only needless, but inconsistent with the facts observed. The -so-called mesmeric and electro-biological trance is strictly allied to -certain forms of dreaming; and the whole of the results witnessed may be -explained by certain admitted physiological and physical laws of action, -and are due to leading trains of thought which are excited by -suggestions direct or indirect. As to the higher faculty of prevision -claimed in this state, we are not aware that, as yet, a single -trustworthy instance has been established. - -There is a class of spectral apparitions which differ from those which -we have already dwelt upon, inasmuch as they have appeared to -foreshadow, or have occurred coincidently with, the death of an -individual; or they have made known events occurring at a distance, or -have brought to light things else hidden by the grave. - -In the deepening gloom of twilight the seer of Scotland often witnessed -the _wraiths_ of those who were about to die, wreathed in the ascending -mists of the night, troop in ghostly silence before his horror-stricken -vision; and the _Bodach Glas_ crossed the path of the death-laden Mac -Ivor; the _Bodac au Dun_, or Ghost of the Hill, warned the Rothmurchan -of approaching calamity; the spectre of the Bloody Hand scared the -Kincardines; the _Bodach Gartin_ glided in significant horror through -the gloomy passages of Gartnibeg House; and the Girl with the Hairy Left -Hand--_Manch Monlach_--pointed to the death-bolt about to carry weeping -and wailing into the halls of Tulloch Gorus. - -The spectral _fetch_ shadowed forth in the sister isle the dark course -of death; while the Banshee mourned with the frightful accents of the -dead over the dying scions of the ancient families. Hovering near the -sorrow-laden mansion, her robe flowing wide in the night air, and her -tangled tresses borne upon the wind, she cried the keen of another world -adown the vaulted passages, and sobbed in ghastly agony her bitter -lamentations. - -The _Gwrâch y Rhibyn_--Hag of the Dribble--when the night had covered -the earth, spread out her leathern-like wings, and flitting before the -house of the death-stricken Cambrians, shrieked in harsh, broken, and -prolonged tones their names. - -In our own land the spectres of all those who would die in the parish -during the year might be seen walking in ghostly procession to the -church, or entering its portals, by him who would watch, three years -consecutively, during the last hour of the night and the first hour of -the morning, in the porch, on the Eve of St. Mark, or would kneel and -look through the keyhole of the door of the sanctuary at midnight on the -Eve of St. John the Baptist. - -The _White Lady_, who haunts the ancient castle of the celebrated -Bohemian family of Rosenberg-Neuhaus, and who also appears from time to -time in the castles of the allied families of Brandenburg, Baden, and -Darmstadt,--Trzebon, Islubocka, Bechin, and Tretzen, and even has been -seen in Berlin, Bayreuth, and at Carlsrhue is of historical notoriety. -Tall of stature, attired in white, and wearing a white widow's veil -adorned with ribbons, through the folds of which, and from within her, a -faint light has been seen to glimmer, she glides with a modest air -through the corridors and apartments of those castles and palaces in -which the death of one of her family is about to occur; and she has been -seen at other times, and oft, with the aspect and air as though the -spirit had a melancholy pleasure in visiting and hovering about her -descendants. It is said to be the ghost of one Perchta Von Rosenberg, -who was born between A.D. 1420 and 1430, and subsequently married to -John Von Lichtenstein, a rich and profligate baron, who so embittered -her life that she was obliged to seek relief from her relatives, and she -died borne down with the insults and indescribable distress she endured. -Among the old paintings of the family of Rosenberg was found a portrait -of this lady, attired after the fashion of the times, and bearing an -exact resemblance to the "_White Lady_." In December, 1628, she appeared -in Berlin, and was heard to exclaim, "Veni, judica vivos et mortuos: -judicium mihi adhuc superest!"--"Come, judge the living and the dead; my -fate is not yet decided." - -The _Klage-weib_ (Mourning Woman) when the storm is driving the rift -before it, and the moon shines fitfully and faintly on the earth, may be -seen stalking along, her gigantic and shadowy form enveloped in dark -flowing grave-clothes, her deathlike countenance and deep cavernous eyes -freezing the unhappy spectator with horror, while, extending her vast -arm, she sweeps it above the cottage marked out by death. - -In the Tyrol also, the phantom of a white woman looks in at the window -of a house where a person must die. - -These are examples of spectral apparitions foreboding death and -misfortune, which the lapse of ages and the influence of superstition -have invested with a semblance of reality, approximating them in -apparent truthfulness to historical facts. - -It is a needless, and would be a thankless task, to show how these -notions were the legitimate result of the ideas of the supernatural -entertained at the period when they were developed; and how when the -superstitions once assumed a definite form, the slightest illusion -during the period of sickness or calamity, whether observed in the -castellated mansion, pregnant generally with deeds of darkness or blood, -or in the twilight or the storm of a moon-lit night, were converted into -these phantoms;[68] or the imperfectly remembered dream, or its vivid -depiction of the superstition, shadowed forth the same. - -Scant of romance, and that wild and thrilling medium through which many -of our old legends are seen, we have handed to us numerous business-like -stories, some of very recent date, in which the same principles are -involved as in the legends we have detailed, and which demand grave -attention, from the honest truthfulness with which they are evidently -detailed, and the events which they appear to have foreshadowed. - -Let us examine some of these instances, and endeavour to ascertain -whether they come under the character of illusions or hallucinations; or -whether they are to be placed in another category, and to be regarded as -the results of supernatural agency, as is most frequently done. - -In "Blackwood's Magazine" for 1840, there is a letter which contains the -following statement:-- - -"The 'Hawk' being on her passage from the Cape of Good Hope towards the -island of Java, and myself having the charge of the middle watch, -between one and two in the morning I was taken suddenly ill, which -obliged me to send for the officer next in turn; I then went down on the -gun-deck, and sent my boy for a light. In the meanwhile, I sat down on a -chest in the steerage, under the after-grating, when I felt a gentle -squeeze by a very cold hand; I started, and saw a figure in white; -stepping back, I said, 'God's my life! who is that?' It stood and gazed -at me a short time, stooped its head to get a more perfect view, sighed -aloud, repeated the exclamation 'Oh!' three times, and instantly -vanished. The night was fine, though the moon afforded through the -gratings but a weak light, so that little of feature could be seen, -only a figure rather tall than otherwise, and white-clad. My boy -returning now with a light, I sent him to the cabins of all the -officers, when he brought me word that not one of them had been -stirring. Coming afterwards to St. Helena, homeward-bound, hearing of my -sister's death, and finding the time so nearly coinciding, it added much -to my painful concern; and I have only to thank God, that when I saw -what I now verily believe to have been her apparition (my sister Ann), I -did not then know the melancholy occasion of it." - -The superstitious feelings which we find pervading the mind of the -gentleman relating this incident, and which is evinced by its -termination; the circumstances under which the apparition took place, -namely, a dim uncertain light, that most favourable to illusion; an -attack of indisposition leading to alteration of the natural sensations; -and lastly, and most important of all, the after-conclusion arrived at -on hearing of the sister's death, and under the influence of which the -account was written, and which, it is evident from the nature of the -details, gave rise to that definite statement which has been -recorded,--all tend to the conclusion that the spectre was an illusion, -and that its significance was a phase imparted to it by superstitious -feelings alone. - -The influence of subsequent conclusions in warping the real history of -an event, and giving a definite and precise character to what would -otherwise have been vague and inconclusive, as is witnessed in the above -story, is one of the most important fallacies pervading ghost-stories. -There is no source of self-deception to which we are exposed, more -insidious; and it is requisite to keep it constantly in view, not only -in relations of this nature, but in the examination of events of any -kind whatever. The colouring which facts receive from this source, too -often hides their real character; and the reciter is perfectly -unconscious of the erroneous light which he casts upon them. Hence the -importance of ascertaining the peculiar bias and tendencies of thought -which appertain to one who records occurrences upon which important -conclusions or theories may be based. - -The vicious habit which has been common among the advocates of -supernatural visitations, of supporting their opinions upon the -assertions of men of known probity and honour, to the complete exclusion -of an examination of the sources of delusion and error to which these -men were liable from the character of their previous education, habits -of thought, associations, &c., and from their imperfect acquaintance -with the fallacies to which they may have been exposed, has been a -fertile source of error. - -A so-called fact is not an abstract truth; it is simply a fact so far as -it relates to the assertor, and the credence given to it by others -depends upon the extent to which it agrees with their experience, or -upon the knowledge that the assertor has by previous study or experience -so far diminished the probability of error on the subject to which it -relates, that the statement may be received without hesitation. - -Another form of ghost-story is that in which the spirit of the dead has -been compelled to wander in misery on the earth, for some crime or -error, small or great, committed during life, and which, unless it be -atoned for or rectified, prevents its eternal repose. - -A story of this kind is given by Jung-Stilling, and however absurd it -may be in some parts, it is interesting from the precision of its -details enabling us to lay hold of a clue to the explanation of the -majority of these tales. - -In 1756, M. Doerien, one of the proctors of Caroline College, Brunswick, -was taken ill and died, shortly after "St. John's Day" (June 24th). -Immediately before his death, he requested to see another of the -proctors, M. Hoefer, having some communication of importance to make to -him; but before that gentleman arrived, death had taken place. After -some time a report became prevalent in the college that the ghost of the -deceased proctor had been seen; but as this proceeded merely from the -young, little attention had been given to it. At length, in October, -upwards of three months after the death of M. Doerien, as M. Hoefer was -proceeding on his accustomed nightly round, between the hours of eleven -and twelve, in one of the corridors he saw the spectre of that -professor, clothed in a common night-gown and white night-cap. This -unexpected sight terrified M. Hoefer somewhat, but recollecting that he -was in the path of duty, he recovered himself, and advancing to the -spectre, endeavoured to examine it by the light of the candle he held in -his hand; but such a horror came over him, that he could scarcely -withdraw the hand in which he extended the light, and from that moment -it was so swollen, "that some months elapsed before it was healed." The -following night he was accompanied in his rounds by a philosopher, -Professor Oeder, who was rather sceptical on the subject of apparitions; -but on approaching the spot in which the spectre had been seen on the -previous evening, there they beheld it again in the same position. - -Others attempted to gain a sight of the ghost, but it would not manifest -itself, not even to MM. Oeder and Hoefer, until the former gentleman, -wearied with his useless watching during a somewhat prolonged period, -exclaimed, "I have gone after the spirit long enough to please him; if -he now wants anything, let him come to me." But what followed? About -fourteen days after, when he was thinking about anything else than of -ghosts, he was suddenly and rudely awakened, between three and four -o'clock in the morning, by some external motion. On opening his eyes, he -saw an apparition opposite to the bed, standing by the clothes-press, -which was only two paces from it, that presented itself in the same -attire as the spirit. He raised himself up, and could then clearly -discern the whole face. He fixed his eyes steadfastly upon the phantom, -until, after a period of eight minutes, it became invisible. - -The next morning he was again awakened about the same time, and saw the -same apparition, only with this difference, that the door of the press -made a cracking noise, just as if some one leaned upon it. This time the -spirit remained longer, so that Professor Oeder spoke to it as follows: -"Get thee hence, thou evil spirit; what hast thou to do here?" At these -words the phantom made all kinds of dreadful motions, waved its head, -its hands, and its feet in such a manner, that the terrified Professor -began to pray, "Who trusts in God, &c.," and "God the Father dwell with -us, &c.," on which the spirit vanished. - -After eight days the spirit again appeared, "but with this difference, -that it came from the press directly towards him, and inclined its head -over him," whereupon the terrified Professor struck out at it, and the -spirit retired; but no sooner had he laid down, than it again advanced, -and he, noticing that its aspect was "more in sorrow than in anger," -observed it attentively, and saw that the ghost had a short tobacco-pipe -in its mouth. This circumstance and the spirit's mild mien induced him -to address the ghost, and ask, "Are you still owing anything." He knew -beforehand that the deceased had left some debts, and the amount of a -few dollars, _which occasioned the inquiry_. The spirit looked -attentively at this query; and at length, guided by the tobacco-pipe, -when the Professor asked, "Are you perhaps owing something for tobacco?" -the spirit retreated and suddenly disappeared. Measures were immediately -taken to liquidate the debt which was found to be owing for tobacco. - -The next night Professor Seidler remained with Oeder. The spirit again -appeared, but not as formerly, at the press, but near it, close to the -white wall. It was visible only to Oeder, his brother professor merely -seeing "something white." From this night Oeder burnt a night-lamp, and -he no longer saw the apparition; but for some nights, at the same time, -from three to five, he was troubled with uneasy sensations, and -frequently heard a noise at the clothes-press and knocking at the door. -By degrees these sensations passed away, and he discontinued the -night-lamp; but the second night after, the spectre again appeared "at -the accustomed hour, but visibly darker." It had, moreover, a new sign -in its hand--"It was like a picture, and had a hole in the centre, into -which the spirit frequently put its hand. After long ruminating and -inquiring what the deceased might mean by these signs, so much was at -length elicited, that a short time before his illness he had taken some -paintings in a magic lantern from a picture-dealer on trial, which had -not been returned. The paintings were given to the rightful owner, and -from that time Oeder continued undisturbed." - -In this story we notice, first, that a report was prevalent in the -college, that the ghost of M. Doerien had been seen by several persons; -and it is but natural to suppose that such a statement would exercise a -powerful effect upon the mind of M. Hoefer, who had been placed in the -painful position of being summoned to the death-bed of his friend, to -receive a communication "necessary to mention to him," but had arrived -in time only to witness the death-struggle. Upwards of three months -after the death of M. Doerien, and when M. Hoefer was evidently in a -disordered state of health, as is indicated by the swelling of the hand, -and subsequent persistence of this swelling for some time, as this -gentleman was making his usual rounds by the light of a taper in the -dead of night, he witnesses the first apparition in a situation pregnant -with associations of the deceased. The apparition may have been an -illusion, suggested at first by some outlines indistinctly seen; or it -may have been, and it is more probable to have been, an hallucination -excited by the association of ideas in a person whose system was in a -disordered state. - -That connection of ideas, similar or dissimilar, which is acquired by -habit or otherwise, so that one of them, in whatever manner we may -become conscious of it, will suggest and give rise to the others, -without the intervention of a voluntary action of the mind, is familiar -to most persons. - -The association which the mind habitually forms between certain objects -and scenes, and persons connected with them, is most evident when a -separation has been effected by death or removal to a distance; and, as -is well-known, and has probably been painfully experienced by most -persons, when the mind has been rallying from a state of abstraction or -reverie, the sight of some object, or an indistinct sound, which during -the full activity of the faculties would not have been regarded, or -would simply have sufficed to arouse an ordinary reminiscence, will -cause to flash athwart the mind, a vivid and startling image of the -deceased or far distant one. - -We well remember some years ago, when a fellow-student, with whom we had -been on very intimate terms, was cut off after a few days' illness. He -had been in the habit of spending much time in our rooms. For some -months after his death, particularly when wearied with study, a slight -noise in the passage or at the door of the room has given rise to so -vivid an impression that he was approaching, or at the door, that it has -required an effort of the mind to quell the hallucination. - -The apparition which M. Hoefer witnessed, was most probably an -hallucination of this kind; the corridor, and position in which it -occurred, recalling to memory, in all the vividness of reality, the form -and lineaments of that deceased friend who had formerly frequented it -along with him. - -We have already seen an instance of a somewhat similar character, in the -account given in a previous paper of the apparition of a father, then -alive, but absent at church, to his daughter at home. In that case the -apparition was excited by the sight of the arm-chair generally occupied -by the old gentleman, and connected with it alone, the association of -the ideas being obvious; and the state of the brain forming, so to -speak, the substratum of the hallucination, was induced by uneasiness -caused by a heavy thunder-storm acting on a frame debilitated by fever. - -The apparition of the following night, which was seen also by Professor -Oeder, was, so far as M. Hoefer was concerned, a modification of the -hallucination of the preceding night, prompted by the belief that the -apparition he had witnessed was supernatural; and the precise similarity -of the apparition professed to have been seen by M. Oeder, to that seen -by M. Hoefer on that and the preceding night, would lead to the -suspicion that in the former gentleman it was a trick of the imagination -alone,--a suspicion confirmed by the subsequent progress of the tale. - -Professor Oeder brooded upon the apparition he had witnessed, and, it is -important to mark, made every endeavour for some time to obtain a second -sight of it, but failed, until wearied out with his fruitless research, -he ceased to hunt after it. Fourteen days afterwards, he states that he -was suddenly and rudely awakened "by some external motion" (which is -evidently an after-conclusion derived from what followed), and saw the -apparition of Doerien standing by the clothes-press. - -In other words, he awoke suddenly out of a troubled sleep, and in the -transition state between sleeping and waking, in which the mental images -are as bright and defined as in dreams, the subject which had occupied -his mind so much of late was presented before him in a visible form. As -it not unfrequently happens when a dream has made a powerful impression -on the mind, it is repeated again, so on the following night M. Oeder's -hallucination occurred, but with the addition of a slight creaking noise -of the clothes-press door. - -Oeder was now fully convinced of the supernatural character of his -visitant, and when the spectre again appeared to him, which was after a -period of eight days, he having adopted the opinion at that period very -prevalent, of troubled spirits, proceeded to inquire as to the cause of -its visitations; and noticing a white tobacco-pipe in the spirit's -mouth, and _knowing_ that the deceased Doerien had "left some debts to -the amount of a few dollars," he asked, "Are you perhaps owing for -tobacco?" whereupon the spirit disappeared. Here then we find an -hallucination, either in the dreaming or waking state, presenting the -precise similitude of the Professor's opinions and conceptions -respecting the possible cause of the spectre. - -The following night, when the spectre appeared again, a friend was with -Oeder, but this friend saw "nothing further than something white,"--no -very extraordinary sight in a room which had white walls, and was not -perfectly dark. - -From this time Oeder used a night-lamp, and the spectre no more -appeared, but by certain sensations and noises he knew it was in the -apartment. - -The invisibility of the spectre, when the light was present, would -indicate that a sensation of light excited in the eye by a disordered -state of the head, such as we have fully dwelt upon in a previous part -of the work, played an important part of the hallucination; and the -disturbed sleep for so many nights, and uneasy sensations, point to a -circumstance which we have not yet alluded to, that the Professor's -health was not in good condition,--the probable cause of the whole -series of hallucinations. - -The uneasy sensations ceased, the light was dispensed with, the spectre -again came, but it was darker, and contained a new sign in its hand, -which, by following out a similar course of reasoning as upon the -tobacco-pipe, and by long ruminating and inquiring, the Professor -puzzled out to signify some paintings belonging to a magic lantern which -Doerien had received on trial before his death, and which had not been -returned. They were sought up, sent to their rightful owner, and the -apparition vanished to return no more. - -It is to be remembered that this story, like most others of a similar -nature, has been written under a full belief of the supernatural -character of the apparitions, and it has received a colouring -accordingly; and our comments suffice to show that no care, no attempt, -has been made by the ghost-seer, to ascertain how much the apparitions -might depend upon some illusion or hallucinations connected with his -bodily health. The progress of the tale further shows that the -apparitions occurred, in both M. Hoefer as well as Professor Oeder's -case, in connection with symptoms of disordered health, and that they -added nothing to what these gentlemen knew, or could work out, as M. -Oeder did, by his own reason and judgment; in short, that they were -simple images of ideas they already possessed or arrived at from the -information they obtained. - -Other sources of error in the judgment could be pointed out, and other -causes of illusion and hallucination in the above tale, but we have -written sufficient to show its worthlessness. - -One of the most formidable objections to the majority of ghost-stories -of this nature is the insufficiency of the authority upon which they are -given. In many instances we cannot trace them satisfactorily to their -origin; in others, we have received them after they have passed through -the hands of several persons; and in still more (as in the tales we have -just analysed) there is intrinsic evidence that no endeavour has been -made to obviate or elicit the sources of fallacy to which the ghost-seer -has been exposed, and diminish as much as possible the chances of error. - -The story of the "Last Hours of Lord Lyttleton" is a singularly -interesting example of a ghost-story, based upon insufficient authority, -and probably also upon a trivial circumstance, receiving almost -universal credence; and it shows, moreover, how readily the -superstitious feelings of the listeners will lead them to receive -without due examination, tales which in themselves may be utterly void -of satisfactory foundation; and induce them to retail subsequently an -account which has probably received its precision and colouring from -their imaginations alone. - -Oft as the story has been told, we are necessitated again to quote it in -part, in order to show more fully the nature of the authority upon -which it depends. - -A gentleman, who was on a visit to Lord Lyttleton, writes:-- - -"I was at Pitt Place, Epsom, when Lord Lyttleton died; Lord Fortescue, -Lady Flood, and the two Miss Amphletts, were also present. Lord -Lyttleton had not long been returned from Ireland, and frequently had -been seized with suffocating fits; he was attacked several times by them -in the course of the preceding month, while he was at his house in Hill -Street, Berkeley Square. It happened that he dreamt, three days before -his death, that he saw a fluttering bird; and afterwards, that a woman -appeared to him in white apparel, and said to him, 'Prepare to die, you -will not exist three days.' His Lordship was much alarmed, and called to -a servant from a closet adjoining, who found him much agitated, and in a -profuse perspiration: the circumstance had a considerable effect all the -next day on his Lordship's spirits. On the third day, while his Lordship -was at breakfast with the above personages, he said, 'If I live over -to-night, I shall have jockied the ghost, for this is the third day.' -The whole party presently set off for Pitt Place, where they had not -long arrived before his Lordship was visited by one of his accustomed -fits; after a short interval, he recovered. He dined at five o'clock -that day, and went to bed at eleven, when his servant was about to give -him rhubarb and mint-water; but his Lordship perceiving him stir it with -a tooth-pick, called him a slovenly dog, and bade him go and fetch a -tea-spoon; but on the man's return, he found his master in a fit, and -the pillow being placed high, his chin bore hard upon his neck, when the -servant, instead of relieving his Lordship on the instant from his -perilous situation, ran in his fright and called out for help, but on -his return he found his Lordship dead." - -The circumstances attending the apparition, as related by Lord -Lyttleton, according to the statement of a relative of Lady Lyttleton's, -were as follows: - -"Two nights before, on his retiring to bed, after his servant was -dismissed and his light extinguished, he had heard a noise resembling -the fluttering of a dove at his chamber window. This attracted his -attention to the spot; when, looking in the direction of the sound, he -saw the figure of an unhappy female whom he had seduced and deserted, -and who, when deserted, had put a violent end to her own existence, -standing in the aperture of the window from which the fluttering sound -had proceeded. The form approached the foot of the bed, the room was -preternaturally light, the objects of the chamber were distinctly -visible; raising her head and pointing to a dial which stood on the -mantel-piece of the chimney, the figure, with a severe solemnity of -voice and manner, announced to the appalled and conscience-stricken man -that, at that very hour, on the third day after the visitation, his life -and his sins would be concluded, and nothing but their punishment -remain, if he availed himself not of the warning to repentance which he -had received. The eye of Lord Lyttleton glanced upon the dial, the hand -was upon the stroke of twelve; again the apartment was involved in total -darkness, the warning spirit disappeared, and bore away at her departure -all the lightness of heart and buoyancy of spirit, ready flow of wit, -and vivacity of manner, which had formerly been the pride and ornament -of the unhappy being to whom she had delivered her tremendous summons." - -From a passage in the Memoirs of Sir Nathanial Wraxall, it would seem -that the sole authority for the above story was his Lordship's -_valet-de-chambre_, for he writes:-- - -"Dining at Pitt Place, about four years after the death of Lord -Lyttleton, in the year 1783, I had the curiosity to visit the -bedchamber, where the casement-window, at which Lord Lyttleton asserted -the dove appeared to flutter, was pointed out to me; and at his -stepmother's, the Dowager Lady Lyttleton's, in Portugal Street, -Grosvenor Square, I have frequently seen a painting, which she herself -executed, in 1780, expressly to commemorate the event; it hung in a -conspicuous part of her drawing-room. There the dove appears at the -window, while a female figure, habited in white, stands at the foot of -the bed, announcing to Lord Lyttleton his dissolution. Every part of the -picture was faithfully designed, _after the description given to her by -the valet-de-chambre who attended him, to whom his master related all -the circumstances_." - -In addition it would appear, according to Lord Fortescue, that the only -foundation upon which this story rests, is as follows:-- - -"I heard Lord Fortescue once say," writes a friend of Sir Walter Scott, -"that he was in the house with him (Lord Lyttleton) at the time of the -supposed visitation, and he mentioned the following circumstances as the -only foundation for the extraordinary superstructure at which the world -has wondered:--A woman of the party had one day lost a favourite bird, -and all the men tried to recover it for her. Soon after, on assembling -at breakfast, Lord Lyttleton complained of having passed a very bad -night, and having been worried in his dreams by a repetition of the -chase of the lady's bird. His death followed, as stated in the -story."[69] - -It would seem highly probable, therefore, that this story has been -framed much after the same fashion as that of the "three black crows," -and the singular differences which we find in the versions we have -given, fully confirm this view. - -Connected with the foregoing story is another of the apparition of Lord -Lyttleton, on the night of his death, to Miles Peter Andrews, one of his -most intimate friends. This apparition occurred at Dartford Mills, where -Mr. Andrews was then staying, and doubtless, in its origin and mode of -development, the story is in every respect similar to that of Lord -Lyttleton's. - -The March number of "_Household Words_,"[70] for 1853, contains a -ghost-story which exhibits another form of the belief, differing from -those which we have already dwelt upon, and it is interesting from its -comparatively recent occurrence, and from its having to a certain extent -received the confirmation of a law-court. - -In the colony of New South Wales, at a place called Penrith, distant -from Sydney about thirty-seven miles, lived a farmer named Fisher. He -was unmarried, about forty-five years old, and his lands and stock were -worth not less than £4000. Suddenly Fisher disappeared, and a neighbour, -named Smith, gave out that he had gone to England for two or three -years, and produced a written document authorizing him to act as his -agent during his absence. As Fisher was an eccentric man, this sudden -departure did not create much surprise, and it was declared to be -"exactly like him." - -About six months after Fisher's disappearance, an old man called Ben -Weir, who had a small farm near Penrith, and who always drove his own -cart to market, was returning from Sydney one night, when he beheld, -seated on a rail which bounded the road--Fisher. _The night was very -dark, and the distance of the fence from the middle of the road was at -least twelve yards._ Weir, nevertheless, saw Fisher's figure seated on -the rail. He pulled his old mare up, and called out, "Fisher, is that -you?" No answer was returned, but there, still on the rail, sat the form -of the man with whom he had been on the most intimate terms. Weir, who -was not drunk, though he had had several glasses of strong liquor, -jumped off his cart, and approached the rail. To his surprise, the form -vanished. - -Weir noticed that the ghost was marked by "a cruel gash" on the -forehead, and that there was the appearance of fresh blood about it; -and before leaving the spot, he marked it by breaking several branches -of a sapling close by. - -On returning home he told his story to his wife, who, however, told him -that he was drunk, and ridiculed him. - -On the following Thursday night, when old Ben was returning from -market,--again in his cart,--he saw seated upon the same rail, the -identical apparition. He had purposely abstained from drinking that day, -and was in the full possession of all his senses. - -Weir again told his wife of the apparition, to be again ridiculed by -her, and he remarked, "Smith is a bad un! Do you think Fisher would ever -have left this country without coming to bid you and me good-bye?" - -The next morning Ben waited on a Mr. Grafton, a justice of the peace, -who lived near to him, and told his tale. The magistrate was at first -disposed to treat the account lightly, but after consideration, he -summoned one of the aboriginal natives, and at sunrise met Weir at the -place where the apparition had occurred, and which was sufficiently -marked by the dead and broken branches of the sapling. - -The rail was found to be stained in several places, and the native, -without any previous intimation of the object of the search, was -directed to examine them, and he shortly pronounced them to be "_white -man's blood_," and searching about, he pointed out a spot whereon a body -had been laid. "Not a single shower of rain had fallen for several -months previously,--not sufficient to lay even the dust upon the roads. -Notwithstanding this, however, the native succeeded in tracking the -footsteps of one man to the unfrequented side of a pond at some -distance. He gave it as his opinion that another man had been dragged -thither. The savage walked round and round the pond, eagerly examining -its borders, and the sedges and weeds springing up around it. At first -he seemed baffled,--no clue had been washed ashore to show that anything -unusual had been sunk in the pond; but having finished this examination, -he laid himself down on his face, and looked keenly along the surface of -the smooth and stagnant water. Presently he jumped up, uttered a cry -peculiar to the natives when gratified by finding some long-sought -object, clapped his hands, and pointing to the middle of the pond, to -where the decomposition of some sunken substance had produced a slimy -coating streaked with prismatic colours, he exclaimed, '_White man's -fat!_' The pond was immediately searched; and, below the spot indicated, -the remains of a body were discovered. A large stone and a rotted silk -handkerchief were found near the body; these had been used to sink it." - -By the teeth, and buttons upon the waistcoat, the body was identified as -that of Fisher. Smith was arrested, and, upon this evidence, tried -before the late Sir Francis Forbes, found guilty, sentenced to death, -and hung; but previous to the execution, "he confessed that he, and he -alone, committed the murder, and that it was upon the very rail where -Weir swore that he had seen Fisher's ghost sitting, and that he had -knocked out Fisher's brains with a tomahawk." - -We quote this story as an interesting example of one of the best and -most consistent of the tales of this kind, although it is probable that -a more thorough investigation of the circumstances connected with it, -would show an origin of a nature similar to that of the "Last Hours of -Lord Lyttleton." - -Several statements in the story require confirmation, and throw doubt -upon the whole. - -The assertion that Weir, on a "very dark" night, saw seated upon a rail, -at a distance of _twelve yards_, a resemblance of Fisher which he took -to be real, and was not aware of the actual nature of the appearance -until he advanced towards it, is a statement too improbable to be -worthy of credence unless supported by other and less objectionable -evidence; and notwithstanding the extraordinary degree to which the -visual and other senses of the aboriginal natives are, as we are aware, -often developed, yet that they will enable them to state that an old -blood-stain is produced by the blood of a white man, or that an -iridescent scum floating at a distance on water is produced by the fat -of the white man, are statements which cannot be admitted without strong -confirmatory evidence. - -It not unfrequently happens that dreams appear to foreshadow events, the -occurrence of which could not be anticipated by the reasoning faculties. -Many of the instances recorded of this kind are after-conclusions -founded upon imperfectly remembered dreams, and are consequently -worthless. Such, for example, is the story stated by Mrs. Crowe of a -gentleman "who has several times been conscious on awaking that he had -been conversing with some one, whom he has been subsequently startled to -hear had died at that period."[71] - -Other dreams have received a verification from the natural results of -the dreamer's superstitious folly. - -Mrs. Crowe has quoted the following example from a continental -newspaper:-- - -"A letter from Hamburg contains the following curious story relative to -the verification of a dream. It appears that a locksmith's apprentice, -one morning lately, informed his master (Claude Soller), that on the -previous night he dreamt that he had been assassinated on the road to -Bergsdorff, a little town at about two hours' distance from Hamburg. The -master laughed at the young man's credulity, and to prove that he -himself had little faith in dreams, insisted upon sending him to -Bergsdorff, with 140 rix dollars (£22 8_s._), which he owed to his -brother-in-law who resided in the town. The apprentice, after in vain -imploring his master to change his intention, was compelled to set out -at about eleven o'clock. On arriving at the village of Billwaerder, -about halfway between Hamburg and Bergsdorff, he recollected his dream -with terror but perceiving the baillie of the village at a little -distance talking to some of his workmen, he accosted him, and acquainted -him with his singular dream, at the same time requesting, that as he had -money about his person, one of his workmen might be allowed to accompany -him for protection across a small wood which lay in his way. The baillie -smiled, and in obedience to his orders, one of the men set out with his -young apprentice. The next day the corpse of the latter was conveyed by -some peasants to the baillie, along with a reaping-hook, which had been -found by his side, and with which the throat of the murdered youth had -been cut. The baillie immediately recognized the instrument as one which -he had on the previous day given to the workman who had served as the -apprentice's guide, for the purpose of pruning some willows. The workman -was apprehended, and on being confronted with the body of his victim, -made a full confession of his crime, adding that the recital of the -dream had alone prompted him to commit the horrible act. The assassin, -who is thirty-five years of age, was a native of Billwaerder, and -previously to the perpetration of the murder, had always borne an -irreproachable character." - -It is well known that sensations from without will not only frequently -excite dreaming, but will also often determine the character of the -dreams. The following story is evidently an example of a dream of this -nature. - -On the 30th July, 1853, the dead body of a young woman was discovered in -a field at Littleport, in the Isle of Ely. There could be little doubt -that the woman had been murdered; and at the adjourned inquest held -before Mr. W. Marshall, one of the coroners for the isle, on the 29th -August, the following extraordinary evidence was given:-- - -"James Jessop, an elderly respectable-looking labourer, with a face of -the most perfect stolidity, and who possessed a most curiously shaped -skull, broad and flat at the top, and projecting greatly on each side -over the ears, deposed: 'I live about a furlong and a half from where -the body was found. I have seen the body of the deceased. I had never -seen her before her death. On the night of Friday, the 29th of July, I -dreamt three successive times that I heard the cry of murder issuing -from near the bottom of a close called Little Ditchment Close (the place -where the body was found). The first time I dreamt I heard the cry, it -woke me. I fell asleep again, and dreamt the same again. I then woke -again, and told my wife. I could not rest; but I dreamt it again after -that. I got up between four or five o'clock, but I did not go down to -the Close, the wheat and barley in which have since been cut. I dreamt -once, about twenty years ago, that I saw a woman hanging in a barn, and -on passing the next morning the barn which appeared to me in my dream, I -entered, and did find a woman there hanging, and cut her down just in -time to save her life. I never told my wife I heard any cries of murder, -but I have mentioned it to several persons since. I saw the body on the -Saturday it was found. I did not mention my dream to any one till a day -or two after that. I saw the field distinctly in my dream, and the trees -thereon, but I saw no person in it. On the night of the murder the wind -lay from that spot to my house." - -"Rhoda Jessop, wife of the last witness, stated that her husband related -his dreams to her, on the evening of the day the body was found."[72] - -It is highly probable, that in this instance, the screams of the -unfortunate woman, borne upon the wind, were the exciting cause of the -dreams, and the direction from which the sound came would be sufficient -to call up the associated idea of the fields in which the murder -occurred. The powerful impression made upon the mind of the man, -according to his own account, will sufficiently account for the -repetition of the dreams; and the statement that the particulars of the -dream were not related until after the finding of the body, must induce -a little caution to the reception of the above version as an actual -detail of the facts of the case. This remark applies also to the dream -interpolated in the evidence. - -Among the most vivid and connected dreams, are those excited by a -dominant or absorbing train of thought, which has engaged the mind -during waking hours, or by powerful or protracted emotion. - -M. Boismont relates a dream, which he conceives is to be classed among -the inexplicable phenomena of this nature, but which, with all deference -to that distinguished psychologist, is rather to be placed in the -category we have just named. - -Miss R., gifted with an excellent judgment, and religious without -bigotry, lived, before her marriage, at the house of an uncle, a -celebrated physician, and a member of the Institute. She was at that -time separated from her mother, who had been attacked, in the country, -by a severe illness. One night, this young lady dreamed that she saw her -mother before her, pale, disfigured, about to render the last breath, -and showing particularly lively grief at not being surrounded by her -children, of whom one, curé of one of the parishes in Paris, had -emigrated to Spain, and the other was in Paris. Presently she heard her -call upon her many times by her Christian name; whereupon the persons -who surrounded her mother, supposing that she called her grand-daughter, -who bore the same name, went to seek her in the neighbouring room, but a -sign from the invalid apprised them that it was not the grand-daughter, -but the daughter who resided in Paris, that she wished to see. Her -appearance expressed the grief she felt at her absence; suddenly her -features changed, became covered with the paleness of death, and she -fell without life on the bed. - -The lady had died during that night; and it was subsequently -ascertained, that the circumstances delineated in the dream, simulated -those which had occurred by the death-bed. - -What are the circumstances of this case?--A mother dangerously ill--her -children away from home. What more likely to occur to a child cognisant -of these facts, than the train of thought which engendered and caused -this dream? The events attending a death-bed scene under such -circumstances were all but inevitable, and we cannot, justifiably, -consider this case in any other light than that of a "simple -coincidence." - -Many physiologists and metaphysicians are of opinion, and there is much -ground for the belief, that every sensation which has been actually -experienced, may become the subject of perception at some future time, -although, in the interval, all trace of its existence may have been -lost, and it is beyond the power of the will to recall. - -The phenomena upon which this opinion has been principally founded, have -been observed in the delirium of certain febrile diseases, and in -dreaming. - -There is a case on record of a woman, who, during the delirium of fever, -repeated long passages in the Hebrew and Chaldaic tongues. When in -health she was perfectly ignorant of these languages; and it was -ascertained, that the sentences she spoke in her delirium, were correct -passages from known writers in them. It was subsequently discovered, -that at one period of her life she had lived with a clergyman who was in -the habit of walking up and down the passage, reading aloud from Hebrew -and Chaldaic works, and it was the sensations thus derived, and retained -unconsciously to herself, which had been revivified by the changes -induced during the progress of the fever. - -A case is also recorded by Dr. Abercrombie, in which a servant-girl who -had manifested no "ear" for, or pleasure in music, during sleep was -heard to imitate the sounds of a violin, even the tuning, and to perform -most complicated and difficult pieces of music. This girl had slept for -some time, and much to her annoyance, in a room adjoining that occupied -by an itinerant violinist who was somewhat of an enthusiast in his art, -and was accustomed to spend a portion of the night in practising -difficult pieces of music, often preventing this female from sleeping. -The music she had thus heard, registered in the mind, so to speak, was -repeated, unconsciously, during the disturbed action of the brain -consequent upon imperfect health and dreaming. - -The principle which has been deduced from these and similar cases, gives -a ready explanation to numerous stories which it has been customary to -regard as coming within the pale of the supernatural. - -Those instances in which, during a dream, the places in which documents -of value, which had been lost or misplaced, have been revealed, are -examples of revivified sensations which had been lost sight of, and of -which the return had been determined by the protracted exercise of the -mind to recover the missing traces. - -Sir Walter Scott, in his notes to "The Antiquary," relates the following -highly interesting illustration:-- - -"Mr. R----d, of Bowland, a gentleman of landed property in the vale of -Gala, was prosecuted for a very considerable sum, the accumulated -arrears of tiend (or tithe), for which he was said to be indebted to a -noble family, the titulars (lay improprietors of the tithes). Mr. R----d -was strongly impressed with the belief, that his father had, by a form -of process peculiar to the law of Scotland, purchased those lands from -the titular; and therefore, that the present prosecution was -groundless. But after an industrious search among his father's papers, -an investigation of the public records, and a careful inquiry among all -persons who had transacted law business for his father, no evidence -could be recovered to support his defence. The period was now near at -hand, when he conceived the loss of the lawsuit to be inevitable, and he -had formed his determination to ride to Edinburgh next day, and make the -best bargain he could in the way of compromise. He even went to bed with -this resolution, and with all the circumstances of the case floating -upon his mind, had a dream to the following purpose. - -"His father, who had been many years dead, appeared to him, he thought, -and asked him why he was disturbed in his mind. In dreams men are not -supprised at such apparitions. Mr. R----d thought he informed his father -of the cause of his distress, adding, that the payment of a considerable -sum of money was the more unpleasant to him, because he had a strong -consciousness that it was not due, though he was unable to acquire any -evidence in support of his belief. 'You are right, my son,' replied the -paternal shade; 'I did acquire right to these tiends, for payment of -which you are now prosecuted. The papers relating to the transaction -are in the hands of Mr. ----, a writer (or attorney), who is now retired -from professional business, and resides at Inveresk, near Edinburgh. He -was a person whom I employed on that occasion for a particular reason, -but who never, on any other occasion, transacted business on my account. -It is very possible,' pursued the vision, 'that Mr. ---- may have -forgotten a matter which is now of a very old date; but you may call it -to his recollection by this token,--that when I came to pay his account, -there was difficulty in getting change for a Portugal piece of gold, and -that we were forced to drink out the balance at a tavern.' - -"Mr. R----d awoke in the morning with all the words of the vision -imprinted on his mind, and thought it worth while to ride across the -country to Inveresk, instead of going straight to Edinburgh. When he -came there, he waited on the gentleman mentioned in the dream, a very -old man; without saying anything of the vision, he inquired whether he -remembered having conducted such a matter for his deceased father. The -old gentleman could not at first bring the circumstance to his -recollection, but on mention of the Portugal piece of gold, the whole -returned upon his memory; he made an immediate search for the papers, -and recovered them; so that Mr. R----d carried to Edinburgh the -documents necessary to gain the cause which he was on the verge of -losing. - -"The author's theory is, that the dream was only the recapitulation of -information which Mr. R----d had really received from his father while -in life, but which at first he merely recalled as a general impression -that the claim was settled. It is not uncommon for persons to recover, -during sleep, the thread of ideas which they have lost during waking -hours. - -"It may be added, that this remarkable circumstance was attended with -bad consequences to Mr. R----d, whose health and spirits were afterwards -impaired by the attention which he thought himself obliged to pay to the -visions of the night." - -An instance which is related by Mrs. Crowe, receives its explanation -also from this source. - -"A case occurred not many years since in the North of Scotland, where a -murder having been committed, a man came forward, saying, that he had -dreamt that the pack of the murdered pedlar was hidden in a certain -spot; whereon, a search being made, it was actually found. They at first -concluded he was himself the assassin, but the real criminal was -afterwards discovered; and it being asserted, though I have been told -erroneously, that the two men had passed some time together, since the -murder, in a state of intoxication, it was decided that the crime, and -the place of concealment, had been communicated to the pretended -dreamer," &c. - -If the statement that the murderer and the dreamer had spent some time -together in a state of intoxication, after the murder had been -committed, be correct, the supposition that the murder had been -communicated to the dreamer, forgotten when the state of intoxication -had passed away, but subsequently recalled during the progress of a -dream, affords an easy and natural explanation of the whole matter. - -As an example of that class of dreams which are inexplicable, but which, -unfortunately, are of little weight from the imperfect authority upon -which they are given, and from the fact that they bear intrinsic -evidence of having been received without inquiry into the circumstances -under which they occurred, and the fallacies to which the dreamer and -subsequent details had been exposed, we quote the following from the -works of the Rev. John Wesley.[73] - -"Among the congregation at Ambleside were a gentleman and his wife, who -gave me a remarkable relation. She said she had often heard her brother -relate, what an intimate acquaintance had told her, that her husband was -concerned in the rebellion of 1745. He was tried at Carlisle, and found -guilty. The evening before he was to die, sitting and musing in her -chair, she fell fast asleep. She dreamed one came to her and said, 'Go -to such a part of the wall, and among the loose stones you will find a -key, which you must carry to your husband.' She waked; but thinking it a -common dream, paid no attention to it. Presently she fell asleep again, -and dreamed the very same dream. She started up, put on her cloak and -hat, and went to that part of the wall, and among the loose stones found -a key. Having, with some difficulty, procured admission into the gaol, -she gave this to her husband. It opened the door of his cell, as well as -the lock of the prison door.(!) So at midnight he escaped for life." - -It is not uncommon to find persons asserting that they have had dreams -which have prefigured events, often trivial, in the common run of life. - -Probably, without exception, these are irrelevant conclusions: the -affirmative instances being marked, to the total neglect of the -negative. For example:--A lady with whom we are acquainted was -accustomed to relate a dream which she had had, in which she thought -that she was in the nursery watching one of her children play, when -suddenly it tripped over the fender, and fell against the ribs of the -grate, and before it could be extricated, the face was severely burned. -On the following day the child she had seen in her dream, happened to -have an accident in the nursery very similar to that she had seen occur -in the dream. - -On inquiry, however, it proved that dreams of this nature respecting her -children were quite usual to the lady, and that at one time or other she -had witnessed while sleeping almost all those accidents occur to which -infant life is exposed. This was the only instance in which any one had -apparently come true; and _until_ this had occurred she had very -properly and correctly attributed her dreams to the anxiety she -naturally entertained respecting her young family. - -Of all the divisions, or rather branches, of supernatural lore, none has -obtained more universal credence, none has been more persistent, than -that of _presentiments_. - -A history of _presentiments_ would form a curious, if not very -instructive work, and it alone would almost suffice to indicate the -absurdity of the belief in its main features. - -We have instances of _high spirits_ foreboding evil; _low spirits_ -foreboding the same; _sudden illness_ shadowing forth calamity, _not_ -to the person affected, but to a companion; _sudden dullness of sight_ -presaging death--indeed a collection of these instances would show that -every obscure sensation, every variation of emotion or passion, -preceding an evil occurrence, has at one time or other been regarded as -a presentiment of that evil. - -Jung-Stilling has so well described the nature of the faculty of -presentiment, and the circumstances under which it is most commonly -developed, that we cannot do better than quote the words of that -celebrated writer on this subject. He writes:-- - -"As the developed faculty of presentiment is a capability of -experiencing the arrangements which are made in the world of spirits, -and executed in the visible world, second-sight certainly belongs also -under this head. And as those who possess this capability are generally -simple people, it again follows from hence, that a developed faculty of -presentiment is by no means a quality which belongs solely to devout and -pious people, or that it should be regarded as a divine gift; I take it, -on the contrary, for a disease of the soul, which we ought rather to -endeavour to heal than promote. - -"He that has a natural disposition for it, and then fixes his -imagination long and intensely, and therefore _magically_, upon a -certain object, may at length be able, with respect to this object, to -foresee things which have reference to it. Grave-diggers, nurses, and -such as are employed to undress and shroud the dead, watchmen, and the -like, are accustomed to be continually reflecting on objects which stand -in connexion with death and interment; what wonder, therefore, if their -faculty of presentiment at length develop itself on these subjects; and -I am inclined to maintain, that it may be promoted by drinking ardent -spirits."[74] - -In addition to this, Mrs. Crowe remarks:-- - -"It is worthy of observation that idiots often possess some gleams of -this faculty of second-sight or presentiment; and it is probably on this -account that they are in some countries held sacred. Presentiment, which -I think may very probably be merely the vague and imperfect recollection -of what we _knew_ in our sleep, is often observed in drunken -people."[75] - -Cicero,[76] after relating the myth of the apparition of Tages, in -Etruria, adds:-- - -"But I should indeed be more foolish than they who credit these things, -if I seriously argue the matter." - -Equally foolish it would be for us to attempt to show the absurdity of -the foregoing opinions; and we fear it would be a bootless and inutile -task to argue with those who regard the statements of the studiously and -transcendentally superstitious and ignorant, the incoherence of the -drunkard, the depressed feelings experienced after a debauch, or the -vague gleams of understanding in an idiot, as evidences of communication -with the spirit-world. - -We know two ladies gifted with the faculty of ordinary presentiment, and -who boast (if we may use that expression) that they are members of a -family of which no scion has died for years without some supernatural -indication of its occurrence. We well remember _after_ the information -had been received by them of the death of the last male representative -of one branch of the family, that they told how on the night of the -death they happened to be awake in bed, when certain strange noises were -heard about the bed-curtains, "as of a mouse" scrambling upon them, and -immediately afterwards a blow was struck upon a large chest of drawers -which stood opposite the foot of the bed, and the sound was as though -the chest had been broken to pieces. We did not draw the inference which -the ladies did from this circumstance, namely, that it was an intimation -of the death of their relative, for, unfortunately for the romantic view -of the question, we knew that such nightly occurrences as these were -somewhat common with them, and that a simple and comfortable house in a -densely-populated manufacturing district had been peopled by them with -nightly noises and sounds, audible alone to them, to such an extent, -that the adaptation of a presentiment to any particular occurrence was a -matter of little difficulty. - -We also well remember, some years ago, when an infant brother lay dying, -that our mother and the nurse were startled in the dead of night by a -strange fluttering at the window. On the curtain being raised, the light -of the candle showed a bird fluttering and beating against one of the -panes. Was it an omen of death, and an emblem of the happy transition of -the baby-spirit to another world? A few moments' examination soon showed -that it was no spectre bird, but apparently a robin, which had been -disturbed in the darkness, and was attracted by the light, and no sooner -was the window darkened than it flew away. - -Three days ago, we saw a woman who had been for some months in a -delicate state of health. "Sir," she said, "what I have most to complain -of is, that I always feel as if some great evil was about to befall -myself or family." This feeling is common, in a greater or less degree, -to that depressed state of the system preceding attacks of febrile and -many other diseases, and is often marked in hypocondriacism. Who, when -suffering from slight indisposition, has not often felt this feeling of -foreboding, of which the lowest grade is expressed in the ordinary -phrase, low-spirits? This feeling, and thus derived, has been the -substratum for those vague, so-called presentiments, which constitute -the great bulk of instances in that doctrine; and the fallacy has been, -that the mind, more readily affected by affirmative than by negative -examples, has held to the former and neglected the latter, and deluded -itself by an imperfect and too contracted view of the facts. - -Boismont, the most recent writer on the doctrine of presentiments, -writes:-- - -"In the greatest number of cases, they are not realised; in those where -the event justifies them, they are only a reminiscence--a simple -coincidence;--we admit all this. It is not the less true, that an -unforeseen event, a strong prepossession, great restlessness, a sudden -change in habits, any fear whatsoever, gives rise, at the moment, to -presentiments which it would be difficult to deny by systematic -credulity."[77] - -Let us examine one or two of the cases which would lead so distinguished -a psychologist to give a certain degree of credence to this belief. - -The Prince de Radzvil had adopted one of his nieces, an orphan. He -inhabited a château in Gallicia, and this château had a large hall which -separated the apartments of the Prince from those occupied by the -children, and in order to communicate between the two suites of rooms it -was necessary either to traverse the hall or the court. - -The young Agnes, aged from five to six years, always uttered piercing -cries every time that they caused her to traverse the great hall. She -indicated, with an expression of terror, an enormous picture which was -suspended above the door, and which represented the Sibyl of Cuma. They -endeavoured for a length of time to vanquish this repugnance, which they -attributed to infant obstinacy; but as serious accidents happened from -this violence, they ended by permitting her no more to enter the hall; -and the young girl loved better, during ten or twelve years, to traverse -in rain, snow, or cold, the vast court or the gardens, rather than pass -under this door, which made so disagreeable an impression upon her. - -The young Countess being of age to marry, and already betrothed, there -was a reception at the château. The company, in the evening, wished to -have some noisy game; they went into the great hall, where, moreover, -the nuptial ball would be held. Animated by the young people who -surrounded her, Agnes did not hesitate to accompany the guests. But -scarcely had she crossed the threshold of the door, than she wished to -draw back, and she avowed her fear. They had caused her to pass first, -according to custom, her betrothed, friends, and uncle, laughing at her -childishness, closing the doors upon her. But the poor young girl wished -to resist; and in shaking and beating the door, caused the picture to -fall which was above it. This enormous mass bruised the head by one of -its corners, and killed her immediately. - -The scene of this story is an old castle in Gallicia, doubtless, like -all similar places, having attached to it many strange and wonderful -legends, and many servants fully imbued with these legends, and with all -the folk-lore which a district like Gallicia contains. We have no -information as to what amount of this lore the nurse indoctrinated into -the child, or what use she may have made of the painting in order to -terrify her little charge into submission from time to time. That an -inquiry, special and distinct, upon this point was necessary ere the -main point of the story could be substantiated, is evident; for the -establishment of this influence would at once destroy the presentiment -sought to be established; and to suppose that the child was brought up -without its mind being so poisoned, is to suppose a phenomenon uniquely -rare. Again, the painting was a representation of the Sibyl of Cuma. In -her early days, says classic history, this Sibyl was lovely; but after -her short-sighted bargain with Apollo for a life as long in years as the -number of grains of sand she held in her hand, forgetting to add the -request for perennial beauty also, she shortly became old and decrepid, -her form decayed, her countenance melancholy and pale, and her looks -haggard; and it is as thus described, that we are generally accustomed -to see her pourtrayed. But we are left in the dark as to whether the -painting in question represented the Sibyl in early youth, in her -decrepid maturity, or at the moment of inspiration, when, according to -the Æneis (Book vi),-- - - "Her colour changed; her face was not the same, - And hollow groans from her deep spirit came. - Her hair stood up, convulsive rage possess'd - Her trembling limbs, and heaved her labouring breast. - Greater than human kind she seem'd to look, - And with an accent more than mortal spoke, - Her staring eyes with sparkling fury roll; - When all the god came rushing on her soul." - -That the painting must have depicted the Sibyl in one of the two latter -characters is almost certain, for in any other it would have been -meaningless; and leaving the question of the extent to which her mind -might be poisoned by folk-lore, or by the servants making the painting a -bugbear to her,--leaving this in abeyance, what must the effect of a -frightful-looking and gigantic picture, staring the child in the face, -have been upon a young mind? Little doubt need be entertained of the -feeling of terror with which an infant eye would regard it, and we have -already shown how such a feeling, being implanted there, would become a -part and parcel of its nature, and be never subsequently eradicated. - -We see this feeling manifested every day in the aversion which some -individuals manifest to certain animals. From emotions taught during -childhood and youth, and often lost sight of in mature years, a cat, a -dog, a rat, a spider, a frog, &c., has become an object of such dread to -some persons, that even in advanced life the presence of one has caused -the utmost annoyance and terror. - -The powerful and persistent influence of ideas thus associated has been -clearly and pithily expressed by Locke,[78] and his first instance has -an immediate bearing upon our subject:-- - -"The ideas of goblins and sprights have really no more to do with -darkness than light, yet let but a foolish maid inculcate these often on -the mind of a child, and raise them there together, probably he shall -never be able to separate them again so long as he lives, but darkness -shall ever afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they -shall be so joined that he can no more bear the one than the other." - -That the fall of the painting was caused by the vibrations occasioned by -shaking and beating upon the door beneath it, seems certain; but that -there was any _presentimental_ connection (if we may so word it) between -the fall of the painting and the previous dread of it,--any -foreshadowing in this dread of the subsequent fall and its fatal -consequences,--there is no satisfactory evidence whatever. - -Another example of presentiment, quoted by Boismont, is the following:-- - -Two French gentlemen, refugees, who resided together in New York on -terms of great amity, freighted a ship for India. Everything was -prepared for their departure, and they waited only a favourable wind. -One of them, B----, of a calm and placid temperament, apparently excited -by the uncertainty and delay of the time of sailing, began to manifest a -degree of restlessness which surprised his companion. One day he entered -the apartment where his friend was engaged in writing letters for -Europe, and under the influence of an excitement so great that he had -difficulty to suppress it, he exclaimed: "Why lose time in writing -letters?--they will never go to their destination. Come with me and take -a turn on the Battery. The wind may become favourable; we are, perhaps, -nearer the point of departure than we suppose!" Acceding to the request, -his friend accompanied him, and as they proceeded, arm-in-arm, he was -astonished at the rapid and excited manner in which B---- walked. On -reaching the Battery, B---- precipitated his rate of walking still more, -until they approached the parapet. He spoke in a high and quick tone, -expressing in florid terms his admiration of the scenery. Suddenly he -arrested his incoherent discourse, and his friend separated from him. "I -regarded him fixedly," to continue the narrative in the words of the -narrator; "he turned away as if intimidated and cast-down. 'B----,' I -cried, 'you intend to kill me, you wish to throw me from this height -into the sea! Deny it, monster, if you dare!' The madman looked me in -the face with haggard eyes for a moment, but I was careful not to lose -his glance, and he lowered the head. He murmured some incoherent words, -and sought to pass by me. I barred the way, extending my arms. After -looking vaguely right and left, he threw himself on my neck, and melted -into tears. 'It is true, it is true, my friend! The thought has haunted -me night and day, as a torch of hell. It was for this end that I brought -you here; had you been but a foot from the border of the parapet, the -work had been done.' The demon had abandoned him, his eyes were without -expression, a foam covered his dried lips; the excitement was passed. I -reconducted him to the house. Some days of repose, together with -bleeding and low diet, re-established him completely; and what is still -more extraordinary, we never more spoke of this event." - -Are we, with Boismont, to regard this as an example of "sudden and -mysterious inspiration?" Would it not have been still more mysterious if -a minute examination of the countenance of a madman, who was talking -incoherently near the verge of a precipitous descent, and big with -intent to murder, had not been sufficient to unravel his purpose? We -think it would, and that there is no evidence here of anything beyond -the pale of the laws of common observation. - -It would be needless to multiply instances of presentiment which have -carried conviction to the minds of persons less accustomed to analyze -the operations of the senses and intellect than Boismont, and in whom -errors of observation are infinitely more likely to occur; nevertheless -there are instances on record which, if the authority upon which they -are stated be admitted, receive no explanation from natural laws so far -as we are yet acquainted with them. - -One of the best and most striking examples of this kind is given on the -authority of Mrs. Crowe. - -She writes:-- - -"One of the most remarkable cases of presentiment I know, is that which -occurred not very long since on board one of Her Majesty's ships, when -lying off Portsmouth. The officers being one day at the mess-table, a -young Lieutenant P. suddenly laid down his knife and fork, pushed away -his plate, and turned extremely pale. He then rose from the table, -covering his face with his hands, and retired from the room. The -president of the mess, supposing him to be ill, sent one of the young -men to inquire what was the matter. At first Mr. P. was unwilling to -speak, but, on being pressed, he confessed that he had been seized by a -sudden and irresistible impression that a brother he had then in India -was dead. 'He died,' said he, 'on the 12th of August, at six o'clock; I -am perfectly certain of it!' No argument could overthrow this -conviction, which in due course of post was verified to the letter. The -young man had died at Cawnpore, at the precise period mentioned."[79] - -A singular story is also related of the early days of the Empress -Josephine, which may fitly be detailed here. - -"She was born in the West Indies," writes Sir Archibald Alison, "and it -had early been prophesied by an old negress that she should lose her -first husband, be extremely unfortunate, but that she should afterwards -be greater than a queen. This prophecy, the authenticity of which is -placed beyond a doubt, was fulfilled in the most singular manner. Her -first husband, Count Alexander Beauharnais, a general in the army on the -Rhine, had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, solely on -account of his belonging to the nobility; and she herself, who was also -imprisoned at the same time, was only saved from impending death by the -fall of Robespierre. So strongly was the prophecy impressed on her mind, -that while lying in the dungeons of the Conciergerie, expecting every -hour to be summoned to the Revolutionary Tribunal, she mentioned it to -her fellow-prisoners, and, to amuse them, named some of them as ladies -of the bed-chamber,--a jest which she afterwards lived to realise to one -of their number." - -Sir Archibald Alison adds the following note in confirmation of the -prophecy:-- - -"The author heard this prophecy in 1801, long before Napoleon's -elevation to the throne, from the late Countess of Bath and the late -Countess of Ancrum, who were educated in the same convent with -Josephine, and had repeatedly heard her mention the circumstance in -early youth."[80] - -The most grave of the errors affecting the details of those occurrences -which have been supposed to foreshadow events, or to have some -inexplicable and supernatural connection with certain circumstances -occurring coincidently with them, has been fully set forth by Lord -Bacon, in the 46th Aphorism of the "Novum Organum," and to this _dictum_ -nothing needs to be added. - -"The human understanding, when any proposition has been once laid down -(either from general admission and belief, or from the pleasure it -affords) forces everything else to add fresh support and confirmation, -and although most cogent and abundant instances may exist to the -contrary, yet either does not observe, or despises them, or gets rid of -and rejects them by some distinction, with violent and injurious -prejudice, rather than sacrifice the authority of its first conclusions. -It was well answered by him who was shown in a temple the votive -tablets suspended by such as had escaped the peril of shipwreck, and was -pressed as to whether he would then recognise the power of the gods, by -an inquiry, "But where are the portraits of those who have perished in -spite of their vows?" All superstition is much the same, whether it be -that of astrology, dreams, omens, retributive judgment, or the like; in -all of which the deluded believers observe events which are fulfilled, -but neglect and pass over their failure, though it be much more -common.... Besides, even in the absence of that eagerness and want of -thought (which we have mentioned), it is the peculiar and perpetual -error of the human understanding to be more moved and excited by -affirmatives than negatives, whereas it ought duly and regularly to be -impartial; nay, in establishing any true axiom, the negative instance is -the most powerful." - - * * * * * - -We have now briefly examined the principal of those phenomena which it -has been, and in many instances is, customary to ascribe to supernatural -interposition; and we have endeavoured to ascertain how far they receive -explanation from the known laws of action of the senses and reasoning -faculties; and we have seen reason for the conclusion that they mainly -come within the category of those laws. - -Of the exceptions to this conclusion, it is unfortunate that the -authority upon which they depend is generally unsatisfactory, and the -details imperfect in many of the most important particulars; and they, -to use the words of Mrs. Crowe, (whose evidence in this respect is of -considerable importance), "as they now stand, can have no scientific -value; they cannot, in short, enter into the region of science at all, -still less into that of philosophy. Whatever conclusions we may be led -to form, cannot be founded on pure induction. We must confine ourselves -wholly within the region of opinion; if we venture beyond this, we shall -assuredly founder."[81] - -We are not aware that this imperfection of details necessarily -appertains to facts of this nature, and we simply require the same care -against error which is expected and is exercised in other departments of -inquiry; and until the instances presented bear evidence of this, we -must entertain doubts, and decline to receive them as facts establishing -such theories as have been endeavoured to be founded upon them. - -The great progress of physiology and psychology is almost daily enabling -us to grapple with sensuous phenomena which have hitherto been obscure; -and it is never to be lost sight of in researches into the domains of -the so-called supernatural, that the knowledge we possess of our own -powers is as yet very imperfect and limited. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -EXTRACTS FROM PROFESSOR FARADAY'S LETTER ON TABLE MOVING. - -_Athenæum, July 2, 1853, p. 801._ - -"The object which I had in view in my inquiry was, not to satisfy -myself, for my conclusion had been formed already on the evidence of -those who had turned tables,--but that I might be enabled to give a -strong opinion, founded on facts, to the many who applied to me for it. -Yet the proof which I sought for, and the method followed in the -inquiry, were precisely of the same nature as those which I should adopt -in any other physical investigation. The parties with whom I have worked -were very honourable, very clear in their intentions, successful -table-movers, very desirous of succeeding in establishing the existence -of a peculiar power, thoroughly candid, and very effectual. It is with -me a clear point that the table moves when the parties, though they -strongly wish it, do not intend, and do not believe, that they move it -by ordinary mechanical power. They say, the table draws their hands; -that it moves first, and they have to follow it; that sometimes it even -moves from under their hands. With some, the table will move to the -right or left, according as they wish or will it; with others, the -direction of the first move is uncertain;--but all agree that the table -moves the hands, and not the hands the table. Though I believe the -parties do not intend to move the table, but obtain the result by a -quasi-involuntary action, still I had no doubt of the influence of -expectation upon their minds, and, through that, upon the success or -failure of their efforts. - -"The first point, therefore, was to remove all objections due to -expectation--having relation to the substances which I might desire to -use; so, plates of the most different bodies, electrically speaking, -namely, sand-paper, mill-board, glue, glass, moist clay, tinfoil, -card-board, gutta percha, vulcanized rubber, wood, &c., were made into a -bundle, and placed on a table, under the hands of a turner. The table -turned. Other bundles of other plates were submitted to different -persons at other times,--and the tables turned. Henceforth, therefore, -these substances may be used in the construction of apparatus. Neither -during their use, nor at any other times, could the slightest trace of -electrical or magnetic effects be obtained. At the same trials, it was -readily ascertained that one person could produce the effect; and that -the motion was not necessarily circular, but might be in a straight -line. No form of experiment or mode of observation that I could devise -gave me the slightest indication of any peculiar natural force. No -attraction or repulsion, or signs of tangential power appeared; nor -anything which could be referred to other than the mere mechanical -pressure exerted inadvertently by the turner. I therefore proceeded to -analyze this pressure, or that part of it exerted in a horizontal -direction; doing so, in the first instance, unawares to the party. A -soft cement, consisting of wax and turpentine, or wax and pomatum, was -prepared. Four or five pieces of smooth slippery card-board were -attached one over the other by little pellets of the cement, and the -lower of these to a piece of sand-paper resting on the table; the edges -of these sheets overlapped slightly, and on the under surface a pencil -line was drawn over the laps, so as to indicate position. The upper -card-board was larger than the rest, so as to cover the whole from -sight. Then the table-turner placed the hands upon the upper card, and -we waited for the result. Now, the cement was strong enough to offer -considerable resistence to mechanical motion, and also to retain the -cards in any new position which they might acquire, and yet weak enough -to give way slowly to a continued force. - -"When at last the tables, cards, and hands, all moved to the left -together, and so a true result was obtained, I took up the pack. On -examination, it was easy to see by the displacement of the parts of the -line, that the hand had moved further than the table, and that the -latter had lagged behind;--that the hand, in fact, had pushed the upper -card to the left, and that the under cards and the table had followed -and been dragged by it. In other similar cases, when the table had not -moved, still the upper card was found to have moved, showing that the -hand had carried it in the expected direction. It was evident, -therefore, that the table had not drawn the hand and person round, nor -had it moved simultaneously with the hand. The hand had left all things -under it, behind, and the table evidently tended continually to keep the -hand back. - -"The next step was, to arrange an index, which should show whether the -table moved first, or the hand moved before the table, or both moved or -remained at rest together.... Two thin boards, nine and a-half by seven -inches, were provided; a board, nine by five inches, was glued to the -middle of the under side of one of these (to be called the table-board), -so as to raise the edges free from the table; being placed on the -table, near and parallel to its side, an upright pin was fixed close to -the further edge of the board, at the middle, to serve as the fulcrum -for the indicating lever. Then, four glass rods, seven inches long, and -a quarter of an inch in diameter, were placed as rollers on different -parts of this table-board, and the upper board placed on them; the rods -permitted any required amount of pressure on the boards, with a free -motion of the upper on the lower to the right and left. At the part -corresponding to the pin in the lower board, a piece was cut out of the -upper board, and a pin attached there, which, being bent downwards, -entered the hole in the end of the short arm of the index lever: this -part of the lever was of card-board: the indicating prolongation was a -straight hay-stalk fifteen inches long. In order to restrain the motion -of the upper board on the lower, two vulcanized rubber rings were passed -round both, at the parts not resting on the table: these, whilst they -tied the boards together, acted also as springs--and whilst they allowed -the first, feeblest tendency to motion to be seen by the index, exerted, -before the upper board had moved a quarter of an inch, sufficient power -in pulling the upper board back from either side, to resist a strong -lateral action of the hand. - -"All being thus arranged, except that the lever was away, the two boards -were tied together with string running parallel to the vulcanised rubber -springs, so as to be immoveable in relation to each other. They were -then placed on the table, and a table-turner sat down to them. The table -very shortly moved in due order, showing that the apparatus offered no -impediment to the action. A like apparatus, with metal rollers, produced -the same result under the hands of another person. The index was now put -into its place, and the string loosened, so that the springs should come -into play. It was soon seen with the party that could will the motion in -either direction (from whom the index was purposely hidden), that the -hands were gradually creeping up in the direction before agreed upon, -though the party certainly thought they were pressing downwards only. -When shown that it was so, they were truly surprised; but when they -lifted up their hands and immediately saw the index return to its normal -position, they were convinced. When they looked at the index, and could -see for themselves whether they were pressing truly downwards, or -obliquely, so as to produce a resultant in the right or left handed -direction, then such an effect never took place. Several tried, for a -long while together, and with the best will in the world, but no motion, -right or left, of the table or hand, or anything else, occurred. - -"I think the apparatus I have described may be useful to many who really -wish to know the truth of nature, and who would prefer that truth to a -mistaken conclusion, desired perhaps only because it seems to be new or -strange. Persons do not know how difficult it is to press directly -downward, or in any given direction against a fixed obstacle, or even to -know only whether they are doing so or not, unless they have some -indicator which, by visible motion or otherwise, shall instruct them; -and this is more especially the case when the muscles of the fingers and -hand have been cramped and rendered either tingling or insensible or -cold by long-continued pressure. If a finger be pressed constantly into -the corner of a window-frame for ten minutes or more, and then, -continuing the pressure, the mind be directed to judge whether the force -at a given moment is all horizontal or all downwards, or how much is in -one direction and how much in the other, it will find great difficulty -in deciding, and will, at last, become altogether uncertain,--at least -such is my case. I know that a similar result occurs with others, for I -have had two boards arranged, separated, not by rollers, but by plugs of -vulcanized rubber; and with the vertical index, when a person with his -hands on the upper board is requested to press only downwards, and the -index is hidden from his sight, it moves to the right, to the left, to -him and from him, and in all horizontal directions; so utterly unable is -he strictly to fulfil his intention without a visible and correcting -indicator. Now, such is the use of the instrument with the horizontal -index and rollers; the mind is instructed and the involuntary or -quasi-involuntary motion is checked in the commencement, and, therefore, -never rises up to the degree needful to move the table, or even -permanently the index itself. No one can suppose that looking at the -index can in any way interfere with the transfer of electricity, or any -other power, from the hand to the board under it, or to the table. If -the board tends to move, it may do so; the index does not confine it; -and if the table tends to move, there is no reason why it should not. If -both were influenced by any power to move together, they may do so, as -they did, indeed, when the apparatus was tied, and the mind and muscles -left unwatched and unchecked." - -PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - - -[1] Locke. Of Human Understanding, B. I, ch. 2. - -[2] Cousin. Cours de l'Histoire de la Philosophie Moderne, edit. 1847, -T. III, p. 269. - -[3] Cousin. Op. cit., T. III, p. 368. - -[4] Cousin. Op. cit., T. III, p. 370. - -[5] Plato. Politicus. Mitford's Greece, Vol. I, p. 84. - -[6] "Vain indeed is the life of all men in whom there is not the true -knowledge of God: who, from the things which are seen to be good, have -not been able to conceive aright of that which is goodness itself; nor, -while they viewed the work, to acknowledge the architect: but have -thought that either fire, or the wind, the swift air, or the stars in -their courses, or the vast deep, or the sun and moon, were the deities -presiding over the world."--_Liber Sapientiæ_, ch. 13, v. 1, 2. -_Translation by Luke Howard, F.R.S._ - -[7] An interesting illustration of the tendency of mankind in a state of -savageism to attribute striking phenomena to supernatural agency, and -deify the means through which they are apparently exhibited, occurred on -the march of Cortes from Mexico to Honduras. During a deer-hunt, the -horse which Cortes rode was taken ill. "It did not then die, though it -would have been better if it had," says the devout but ruthless -conqueror, parenthetically. A little while afterwards, having been -courteously received by the Itzalan Indians, Cortes "entrusted them with -the care of his horse Morgillo, which had been lamed, charging them to -take great care of it, and attend to its recovery, as he prized it very -highly, and telling them that when he had found the Spaniards he was in -search of, he should send for his steed again. It was from no want of -care on the part of the Itzaex, but rather from an excess of it, that -Morgillo lost his life under their management; for in their anxiety to -effect a cure, and regarding the animal as one endowed with reason, they -gave him poultry and other meat to eat, and presented him with bunches -of flowers, as they were accustomed to do to persons of rank when they -were sick; a species of attention somewhat similar to that which the -fool laughed at in _King Lear_, when he speaks of the cockney who for 'a -pure kindness to his horse, buttered his hay.' The consequence of this -unaccustomed style of medical treatment was, that Morgillo languished -and died, and then a worse evil befell, for, observes the pious -Villagutierre, "though some people say Canek burnt his idols in the -presence of Cortes, there was in reality no burning of idols or anything -else in that city of Tayasal; on the contrary, by leaving the horse with -the infidel Itzaex, they obtained a greater and still more abominable -idol than the many they had before." The meaning of this sentence is -subsequently explained by the worthy chronicler informing us that, on -the death of Morgillo, the Itzaex raised its effigy "in stone and -mortar, very perfect," and worshipped it as a divinity. It was seated on -its hind-quarters, on the floor of one of the temples, rising on its -fore legs, with its hind legs bent under it. These barbarians adored it -as the god of thunder and thunderbolts, calling him Tzinachac, which -means the bride of thunder, or the thunderbolt. They gave it this name -from having seen some of the Spaniards who were with Cortes fire their -muskets over the horses' heads when they were hunting deer, and they -believed the horses were the cause of the noise that was made, which -they took for thunder, and the flash of the discharge and the smoke of -the gunpowder for a thunderbolt."--_Fancourt's History of Yucatan._ -_Athenæum._ 1854, p. 109. - -[8] Cicero. De Naturâ Deorum, B. II, c. 25. - -[9] Servius. Tooke's Pantheon, p. 198. - -[10] Horæ Britannicæ. By Jno. Hughes, Vol. I., p. 235. 1818. - -[11] The Garrows, a number of wild tribes occupying the district lying -between the N.E. frontier of Bengal and the kingdom of Assam, in -addition to the worship of Mâhâdeva, or Siva, adore also the sun and -moon; and the _Khatties_, or _Catties_, another wild tribe inhabiting -the peninsula of Guzerat, worship the sun. - -[12] Blackwell. Mallet's Northern Antiquities. Bohn, 1847, p. 473. - -[13] Davis. "The Chinese," Chap. xii. - -[14] Humboldt. "Aspects of Nature," Vol. I., p. 198, note 51. "Steppes -and Deserts." - -[15] Ruxton. Adventures in Mexico and Rocky Mountains, p. 192. - -[16] - - _Str._ That cursed Chærophon and Socrates, - Who have deceived both thee and me alike. - - _Phid._ I must not act unjustly towards my teachers. - - _Str._ Nay, nay, revere paternal Jupiter; - - _Phid._ Paternal Jupiter! old fashion'd fool; - Is there a Jupiter? - - _Str._ There is. - - _Phid._ Not so, - Since having cast out Jove a whirlwind reigns. - - _Str._ Not cast him out; but I imagin'd this, - Seeing the whirlwind here. O wretched ones, - To take thee, earthen image, for a god! - -[17] Wheelwright's Translation, p. 124, and note. Oxford, 1837. - -[18] Cicero. De Naturâ Deorum. B. I., ch. 15. - -[19] Op. cit., B. II., c. 24. - -[20] Bonomi. "Nineveh and its Palaces," pp. 139-264, &c.; Dr. -Grotefend, Athenæum, June 26, 1853; Ravenshaw, Athenæum, July 16, 1853. - -[21] Paradise Lost. - -[22] Rape of the Lock. Ch. 1. - -[23] The _black_ colour which is popularly ascribed to the devil, was -probably derived from old monkish legends, which affirmed that he often -appeared as an Ethiopian. (Jortin. Vol. II., p. 13, ed. 1805.) - -[24] Bonomi. Op. cit., p. 159. "The root, or the original word from -which teraphim is derived, signifies, to relax with fear, to strike with -terror, or 'Repheh,' an appaller, one who makes others faint or fail; a -signification that singularly accords with the terrifying images found -by Botta." The possible connection between these images and the images -(_teraphim_) which Rachel had stolen from her father Laban, is of great -interest. - -[25] This custom is probably a relic of old Scandinavian mythology. In -the "Prose Edda," it is stated, that the gods having captured Loki (the -personification of evil), who had fled from their justly excited anger, -"dragged him without commiseration into a cavern, wherein they placed -three sharp-pointed rocks, boring a hole through each of them." - -[26] Notes and Queries, Vol. VIII, p. 200.--Eusebius, in his _Oration_ -in praise of the Emperor Constantine, writes, that the Emperor honoured -"the triumphall signe of the crosse, having really experienced and found -the divine virtue that is therein. For by it the multitudes of his -enemies were put to flight; by it the vaine ostentation of the enemies -of God was suppressed, the petulant tongues of evil speakers and wicked -men were silenced; by it the barbarous people were subdued; by it the -invisible powers of the divil were vanquished and driven away; and by it -the superstitious errors were confuted and abolished." - -[27] Bede. Ecclesiastical History. B. I., ch. 30. Dr. Giles' Transl. -Bohn. - -[28] Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. Vol. I. p. 201. Note. -Michaelmas Day. - -[29] Cicero. De Naturâ Deorum. B. III., ch. 5. - -[30] See "Notes and Queries." Sir J. E. Tennant, Vol. V., p. 121; W. -Blood, &c., Vol. VIII., p. 413. - -[31] The Berlin correspondent of the _Times_ related the following -incident:-- - -"The comet which has lately been visible, has served a priest, not far -from Warsaw, with materials for a very curious sermon. After having -summoned his congregation together, although it was neither Sunday nor -festival, and shown them the comet, he informed them that this was the -same star that had appeared to the Magi at the birth of the Saviour, and -that it was only visible now in the Russian Empire. Its appearance on -this occasion was to intimate to the Russian eagle, that the time was -now come for it to spread out its wings, and embrace all mankind in one -orthodox and sanctifying church. He showed them the star now standing -immediately over Constantinople, and explained that the dull light of -the nucleus indicated its sorrow at the delay of the Russian army in -proceeding to its destination." - -[32] "Madam Morrow, seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and a -descendant of a line of astrologers reaching back for centuries, will -give ladies private lectures on all the events of life, in regard to -health, wealth, love, courtship, and marriage. She is, without -exception, the most wonderful astrologist in the world, or that has ever -been known. She will even tell their very thoughts, and will show them -the likenesses of their intended husbands and absent friends, which has -astonished thousands during her absence in Europe. She will leave the -city in a very short time. 76, Broome Street, between Cannon and -Columbia. Gentlemen are not admitted." - -"Madame la Compt flatters herself that she is competent by her great -experience in the art of astrology, to give true information in regard -to the past, present, and future. She is able to see clearly any losses -her visitors may have sustained, and will give satisfactory information -in regard to the way of recovery. She has, and continues to give perfect -satisfaction. Ladies and gentlemen 50 cents. 13, Howard Street." - -"Madame la Compt has been visited by over two hundred ladies and -gentlemen the past week, and has given perfect satisfaction; and in -consideration of the great patronage bestowed upon her, she will remain -at 13, Howard Street, for four days more, when she will positively sail -for the South." - -"Mrs. Alwin, renowned in Europe for her skill in foretelling the future, -has arrived, and will furnish intelligence about all circumstances of -life. She interprets dreams, law matters, and love, by astrology, books, -and science, and tells to ladies and gentlemen the name of the persons -they will marry; also the names of her visitors. Mrs. Alwin speaks the -English, French, and German languages. Residence, 25, Rivington Street, -upstairs, near the Bowery. Ladies 50 cents, gentlemen 1 dollar." - -"Mrs. Prewster, from Philadelphia, tenders her services to the ladies -and gentlemen of this city in astrology, love, and law matters, -interpreting dreams, &c., by books and science, constantly relied on by -Napoleon; and will tell the name of the lady or gentleman they will -marry; also the names of the visitors. No. 59, Great Jones Street, -corner of the Bowery. Ladies 50 cents, gentlemen 1 dollar." - -"The celebrated Dr. F. Shuman, Swede by birth, just arrived in this -city, offers his services in astrology, physiognomy, &c. He can be -consulted in matters of love, marriage, past, present, and future events -of life. Nativity calculated for ladies and gentlemen. Mr. S. has -travelled through the greater part of the world in the last forty-two -years, and is willing to give the most satisfactory information. Office, -175, Chambers Street, near Greenwich." - -(From a recent number of the _New York Herald_. Notes and Queries, -December 10, 1853, p. 561.) - -[33] The Æneis. B. III. - -[34] Carthon. Ossian. - -[35] "The Literature and Romance of Northern Europe," by W. and Mary -Howitt. Vol. I., p. 99. - -[36] Howitt. "The Literature and Romance of Northern Europe." Vol. I. - -[37] An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians; by -E. W. Lane, Vol. I, p. 311. - -[38] Adventures in the Libyan Desert, p. 22. - -[39] B. I, ch. 13 and 16. - -[40] Thorpe's Yule-Tide Stories. Bohn, p. 248. And Table of Contents, p. -XIII. - -[41] "The Fall of the Nibelungers," &c.; a Translation of the Nibelunge -Nôt, or Nibelungenlied, by W. N. Lettsom, p. 59, St. 346, 347; p. 167, -St. 983. - -[42] Thorpe. Op. cit. Table of Contents, p. IX. - -[43] "The marvellous stories, the frightful tales, the threats, which -were so long the apanage of infancy, would dispose the naturally -impressionable mind to receive all the fantastic creations of the -period. Now, it is said, the system is completely changed, and they are -taught to ridicule these ancient beliefs. This argument would be -unanswerable if they spoke of colleges and boarding schools; but they -forget the servants to whom are confided the early years of infants; -thus is the nursery always reviving fooleries, terrors, and frightful -stories, in the middle of which the infant grows. I will content me with -one example, that of one of the celebrated poets of England, Robert -Burns. 'I owed much in my infancy,' says this writer, 'to an old woman -who lived with us, and who was extremely ignorant, and remarkably -credulous and superstitious. No one in the country had a larger -collection of tales and songs respecting devils, fairies, ghosts, -sorcerers, magicians, jack-o'-lanterns, hobgoblins, phantoms, -apparitions, charms, giants, dragons, &c. - -"'Not only did these tales cultivate in me the germs of poesy, but they -had such an effect upon my imagination, that, even now, in my night -journeys, I have often, in spite of myself, the eye upon certain -suspicious places; and although no one can be more sceptical in such -matters, an effort of the reason is occasionally necessary to chase away -these vain terrors.' - -"'Darkness, obscurity, the silence of night, solitariness, contribute -strongly to develop the feeling of terror so wrongly cast in the minds -of infants. Their eye readily perceives frightful figures which regard -them in a menacing manner; their chamber is peopled with assassins, -robbers, devils, and monsters of all kinds."--_A. Brierre de Boismont. -"Des Hallucinations; ou Histoire Raisonnée des Apparitions,"_ &c. Ed. -II, 1852, p. 362. - -[44] This idea has been beautifully expressed by Longfellow in the -"Voices of the Night." - - "When the hours of day are numbered, - And the voices of the night - Wake the better soul, that slumbered, - To a holy calm delight, - - Ere the evening lamps are lighted, - And like phantoms grim and tall, - Shadows from the fitful firelight - Dance upon the parlour wall; - - Then the forms of the departed - Enter at the open door; - The beloved, the true-hearted, - Come to visit us once more." &c. - -See also Washington Irving's Bracebridge Hall. St. Martin's Eve. - -[45] - - "I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; - But or ever a prayer had gusht, - A wicked whisper came and made - My heart as dry as dust." - - Coleridge. "Ancient Mariner." - -[46] Brewster. Natural Magic, p. 15. - -[47] A few hundred feet from the place where this occurred, is a lane -(Oldfield Lane, Wortley, near Leeds) which was noted, many years ago, as -the beat of one of those somewhat rare spectres, a headless ghost. Some -are living even now who have _known_ those who had seen this phantom. -When last seen, it appeared as a comfortable-looking man, dressed in a -drab-coat, and carried the head under the arm. As a Yorkshire version of -a very ancient and wide-spread superstition, its memory is worth -preserving. The belief in headless ghosts is found in many parts of -England, Ireland (the _Dullahan_ or _Dulachan_), Wales, Scotland, Spain, -France, and Germany. - -[48] Chambers' Miscellany. Art. "Spectral Apparitions," &c. - -[49] Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. 2nd Ed., p. 3. - -[50] "Phantoms of the Far East." Chambers' Edinburgh Journal. Vol. XVII, -p. 315. - -[51] Busby's Lucretius, B. IV. - -[52] Temora. - -[53] Notes and Queries, Vol. VIII, p. 7. - -[54] Letters on Natural Magic. 5th Ed., p. 166. - -[55] D. Jardine, "Notes and Queries," Vol. VIII, p. 512, Nov. 26, 1853. - -[56] Hudibras. Can. III. - -[57] Athenæum. July 2, 1853, p. 801, and Appendix. - -[58] Müller. "Manuel de Physiologie." Traduit par A. J. L. Jourdan. 2nd -ed., 1851, par E. Littré, T. II., p. 388. See also ¶ A. B. C. E. F., -Sect. V, "Phénomènes Subjectifs de Vision," p. 386. - -[59] Müller. Op. cit., T. II, p. 549. - -[60] Boismont. Op. cit., p. 74. - -[61] "Researches on Magnetism, Electricity, &c., in their Relations to -the Vital Force," by Karl von Reichenbach, Pts. I & II. - -[62] "The Night Side of Nature," by Mrs. Crowe. Ed. 1853, p. 362. - -[63] - - "I waste the matin lamp in sighs for thee, - Thy image steals between my God and me; - Thy voice I seem in every hymn to hear, - With every bead I drop too soft a tear." - - _Eloise and Abelard._ Pope. - -[64] Notes and Narrative of a Six Years' Mission principally among the -Dens of London. By R. W. Vanderkiste, p. 182. - -[65] Boismont. Op. cit., p. 110. - -[66] "Theory of Pneumatology." By Dr. J. H. Jung-Stilling: translated by -Saml. Jackson; p. 197, Lond., 1834. - -[67] Op. cit., p. 200. - -[68] The apparition of the "_White Lady_" was very irregular and -uncertain, for many members of the family died without her spectre -having been seen. - -[69] "Demonology and Witchcraft." 2nd Ed., p. 350, note. - -[70] "Household Words." Conducted by Charles Dickens, March, 1853, p. 6. - -[71] Op. cit., p. 142. - -[72] "Notes and Queries." Vol. VIII., p. 287. - -[73] Ed. 1829, Vol. IV., p. 271. - -[74] Op. cit., p. 182. - -[75] Op. cit., p. 470. - -[76] De. Divinatione et de Fato. - -[77] Op. cit. p. 243. - -[78] "Of Human Understanding." Bk. II, ch. 33, sect. 10. - -[79] Op. cit., p. 65. - -[80] "History of Europe," from 1789 to 1815. By Sir Archibald Alison, -Bart. Chap. XX, Sect. 25, and notes. - -[81] Op. cit., p. 10. - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber's Note: - -Punctuation in the text has been standardised, and typographical errors -have been silently corrected. - -Variations in hyphenation, and obsolete or variant spelling, including -quoted passages, have all been preserved. Inconsistencies in quotation -mark usage, single quotes, double quotes, and quotes-within-quotes are -all as in the original. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fiends, Ghosts, and Sprites, by -John Nettin Radcliffe - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIENDS, GHOSTS, AND SPRITES *** - -***** This file should be named 40616-0.txt or 40616-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/1/40616/ - -Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Jennifer Linklater and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |