YALE MEDICAL LIBRARY
HISTORICAL LIBRARY
The Bequest of CLEMENTS COLLARD FRY
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PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY
ON
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION;
AND ALSO ON
ANIMAL FASCINATION, OR CHARMING.
BY RUFUS BLAKEMAN, M. D.
" It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of Him ; for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely."
Lord Bacon.
NEW YORK : D. APPLETON & CO., BROADWAY.
NEW HAVEN, S. BABCOCK.
1849.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, By Rufus Blakeman, M. D.,
in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of Connecticut.
PREFACE,
It was not the original design of the author to offer the following work to the public. It was undertaken with the view to note his own opinions, and such facts, derived from reading and reflection, as were deemed demonstra- tive of a general tendency to a more ready belief in the incomprehensible and the marvelous, rather than in phe- nomena susceptible of explanation by reason, aided by a disciplined exercise of the subordinate senses. Subse- quently, however, it occurred to him that their dissemina- tion might possibly have some influence in leading to an analytical examination of various popular errors emanating from this source, which have been most detrimental to hu- man progress, and have essentially retarded mankind in their efforts to acquire the greatest happiness of which their nature is susceptible.
If such should be the result, (though but in a small de- gree,) it is confidently believed that much will be effected toward the eradication of evils originating from credulity and superstition. There is kittle doubt that the baleful errors originating from these sources have mainly been perpetuated by traditional authority, or the habitual qui- escence in which the mind is too prone to indulge, when the various external phenomena are presented for its con-
PREFACE,
templation and reception ; and, therefore, that attention to their deformity is only required for their correction.
The author has not the arrogance to claim, that he is presenting a mass of original views to those who have read or thought extensively on the subjects considered. It has been his principal design to present, in a succinct form, opinions and many important facts dispersed through a variety of volumes, which a majority of society either want the leisure or interest to peruse ; but who, notwith- standing, have a personal interest that errors perpetuated by such inattention, and which are most detrimental to their welfare, should be corrected, and thereby their evils become dissipated.
It has been the author's object to allude to the mental origin of the various popular superstitions that have ex- tensively prevailed among mankind at different periods, and briefly to illustrate the physiological and mental in- fluences by which they have been fostered and strength- ened— often to such a degree as to assume the direction of popular belief and the general sentiment of mankind during their usurpations.
Although the several subjects discussed have been ably investigated by various writers, it is not within the au- thor's knowledge, that the different forms of credulity and superstition of which he treats, have been presented in connection, accompanied by a reference to the physiolo- gical and pathological principles upon which they are manifestly dependent. It is true that the physical origin of mental delusion has been repeatedly investigated ; but it has, generally, been in a manner too metaphysical to
PREFACE. 5
be readily comprehended by all, and, as before remarked, too formidable from extent to admit of ready access by the public generally. He therefore hopes, by the publication of this manual, to present the outlines of the subject in such accessible form as may invite perusal, and thereby incite some to a further investigation of truths, upon a correct understanding of which, it is conceived, refined civilization can alone be based.
It was the wish of the author so to popularize his treatise, by entirely excluding technical language, as to render it more readily intelligible to every reader. But as it has been his design to trace the errors, originating in the subjects discussed, to their physiological and pa- thological origin, he has been compelled, occasionally, to resort to the use of the technicalities of science, with the view as well to abridge in diction as to facilitate the ob- ject contemplated. He would, therefore, present this as an apology to the non-professional reader for the occa- sional reference to, and introduction of these. It is, however, hoped that the present liberal dissemination of physiological and other sciences, with the explanations generally given in connection with their use, will in some degree obviate the difficulties which he is aware must arise from their employment.
Without pretensions to literary merit in its structure, the work is respectfully submitted to the public, by the
AUTHOR.
Greenfield Hill, September 4th, 1819.
CONTENTS.
SECTION I. Mental Origin of Credulity and Superstition, and its Influence on Ancient Society, 9
SECTION II. Witchcraft, 47
SECTION III. Dreams, 58
SECTION IV. Ghosts, 65
SECTION V. Ecstacy, Trance, &c, 74
SECTION VI.
Empiricism and Quackery — Credulity in Medicine, - - - 103
SECTION VII. Homoeopathy, 123
SECTION VIII. Mesmerism, 161
Essay on Animal Fascination, or Charming, - . . 177
PHILOSOPHY
OF
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
SECTION I.
Mental Origin of Credulity and Superstition, and its Influence on Ancient Society.
The remark of Lord Bacon, that "it were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such opinion as is unworthy of Him," is most appropriate in its application to the various superstitious beliefs that have, and still, in a degree, sway mankind; for superstition implies such extravagant notions regarding the char- acter of Deity, that its rational contempla- tion is irreconcilable with such conceptions formed of the Author of the universe, as are derived from a survey of its structure.
On the contrary, such is the influence of these beliefs on the mind, that they not only cause the character of the infinitely wise and rational Intelligence there delineated, to be graduated by a standard derived from ordi-
2
10 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
nary human attributes, but they often degrade such Being, by attributing to his character qualities like those presented from a survey of human nature in its most repulsive mani- festations.
If such are the facts furnished from an ob- servation of the effects of credulity and super- stition, it is manifest that the moral and social, as well as the religious interests of man, require that their true nature should be represented in such a form, that the evils arising therefrom may be exposed, and, if possible, obliterated.
That m-aii is by nature a credulous being, requires but the proofs which history furnishes of his race in all the conditions in which he is noticed by that record.
That he is likewise superstitious, and prone to allow an undue influence to the ima^ina- tion and the passions, is equally manifest from observation of his character, whether pre- sented in a state of barbarism or of civiliza- tion.
The universal prevalence of these propen- sities, conclusively shows that, instead of being foreign and accidental manifesta- tions, they are indebted for their existence to the original structure of the mind itself. It will therefore appear, that however diverse may be the character of superstition and cre- dulity, in comparison with legitimate mental
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. ] 1
deduction, still each must have received an origin from the natural tendency and associa- tions which result from the mental or^aniza- tion. But as the former, so often fraught with evils to mankind, can not reasonably be im- puted to the Divine economy in furnishing endowments to man, they must necessarily be explained by viewing them as perverted ope- rations of some of the elementary principles of the mind, which were, no doubt, designed by the Creator to elevate man to the exalted po- sition in the universe for which he was mani- festly introduced into being.
In a survey of human character, in connec- tion with the mental faculties, we shall find that all its manifestations derive their origin from, and are dependent upon, specific ele- ments of the mind; and that, however great the diversity exhibited in human character, it is to be referred to a varied operation of a few elementary principles, constituting the entire mental organization.
Man is so constituted thaFhe is by nature a social being. Hence a large portion of his happiness is made dependent upon his asso- ciation with his fellow man in society. He would be unable to attain this boon of the so- cial state, were he not endowed with the dis- position to repose confidence in his fellow man, with whom he is necessarily associated in his various relations.
12 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
Disruptions of society must occur from the antagonistic character of its elements, and its existence would inevitably be but a state of destructive conflict, were man not endowed with faculties for its maintenance. The hap- piness which he derives from the social state would be annihilated, and even governments could not be sustained, was he not by nature gifted with an inclination to confide in his fel- low beings. Such must inevitably have been his gloomy condition, had the mind been with- out those elementarv constituents which ori- ginate the social affinities, and prompt to a sympathetic amalgamation and confidence in the mental affection of its associates.
Man, by nature, is endowed with an eager propensity for novelty, and an ardent desire to acquire a knowledge of his external relations in the varied conditions of his existence. As a result of its exercise, his social and physical relations become extended and ameliorated, and he is enabled to protect himself against the hostile agencies 1fy which he is surrounded.
Not content with the knowledge acquired by the investigation of the immediate objects of sense, this passion for the novel and singu- lar, influences the mind to pass beyond these, and to attempt a discovery of the character, as well of objects concealed in the remote recesses of infinite space, as of that of the
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 13
invisible agencies which he is conscious are in perpetual operation around him.
The conclusions of reason regarding: the Architect of nature, have unquestionably con- tributed essential aid in the construction of the vague notions which superstition presents, relative tu his character and attributes ; and therefore reason has, in a large degree, been instrumental in effecting a degradation of the mental faculties, which it was its legitimate office to elevate and ennoble.
In its contemplation of the works of na- ture, natural reason has ever detected, through- out their entire structure, the most manifest evidence of a wise designing Architect, whose attributes, from their vast extent, baffled its power of comprehension. From a reluctance, however, to abandon a research into the na- ture of a Being whose existence is there so manifestly demonstrated, notwithstanding its inadequate powers, it has ever been inclined, through the promptings of its natural arro- gance and inquisitiveness, to estimate and define the character and attributes of such exalted Intelligence, by a standard furnished by observation on the character of the limited intelligences with which it was familiar.
As might be rationally presumed, from an estimate of the insufficient data on which its conclusions were based, unaided reason has
2*
14 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ever depicted the character of the Creative Intelligence with the imperfections incident to human nature ; and thus, instead of bestowing due homage on the great First Cause, has rendered its adorations to the factitious etch- ings of its own conception.
Hence it will be found, that among the va- rious tribes and communities of man, unen- lightened by revelation, the respective im- aginative divinities which they worship, have ever been represented as possessing endow- ments bearing a similitude to ordinary hu- man nature, and with a character and attributes varying in correspondence with the national public sentiment of each community ; with the distinction, mainly, that such divinities have been depicted with powers greatly en- hanced over their human prototypes, and generally of a capriciousness of affections bearing a relation with their superior abil- ity for gratification. Possessing, therefore, such peculiar structure, and holding a posi- tion in the universe amid such subtle influ- ences as are presented in the operation of the natural laws, which the senses are totally inadequate to define, it might be expected that the mind, when injudiciously abandoning its legitimate province, without an extra-natu- ral light, like that of revelation, should be ship- wrecked amid the errors into which it must in such a condition be plunged.
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 15
Such, it is conceived, are the principal mental influences which have been instru- mental in leading the mind to a degradation of its own innate capabilities, and caused a depreciation of the standard of human na- ture, which, under a more auspicious direc- tion, might have been in an uninterrupted progress of elevation.
These elementary affections of the mind, es- sential alike to maintain the social and progres- sive state of man, when subservient to a duly disciplined reason, are most effective in the elevation of human character. But through an unfortunate perversion of their objects it is unquestionable, that the same original tenden- cies have been productive of that morbid credulity and superstition which have ever depressed the intellect of man, and been pro- ductive of a large portion of the woes and evils which his Vace has endured.
All assemblages of man in society, whether savage or civilized, have ever been more or less victims to credences which derive no sup- port from the legitimate conclusions of the rea- soning faculty ; nor are they even sustained by evidence afforded by the unbiased operation of the senses. Such credences, being deductions from data which have not been sufficiently subjected to the scrutiny of the senses, are too apt to assume the guidance of the conduct of
16 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
their devotees, by the influence of the erro- neous standards which they furnish ; and hence, to mould the character in accordance with the false basis which has been assumed.
That propensirv of the mind which leads it to an investigation of its external relations, embarrassed by the inability of reason to ex- plain all the mysterious phenomena with which it is connected in the universe around it, such as those of electricity, affinity, gravi- tation, earthquakes, &c, has caused it to attri- bute such to the agency of invisible personali- ties with which its destinies were intimately connected, and upon which it was dependent for a large portion of the happiness which it enjoys, or the misery which it suffers.
It is to be presumed, that during the suc- cessive periods of the existence of the hu- man race, the notions of the untaught mind regarding its external relations, have been extremely crude and indefinite, and that the character of its views re^ardino; these would be such as the passions, influenced by a pro- lific imagination, would create. The char- acter of the human mind has doubtless ever possessed a uniformity in the entire species, and it is a legitimate presumption, that the in- fluences derived from external agencies would be attended with a uniformity of results in every period of the history of the race. It is
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 17
therefore presumable, that the mind, in its un- cultivated state, from such similarity of im- pressions from without, should be inspired to a uniformity of conclusions, and that similar opinions and systems would result from a con- templation of external nature.
It is probable, that in all periods of the earth's existence in its present form, the va- rious causes of phenomena now manifested were in active operation ; and that such phe- nomena have been, in different degrees, ex- hibited to man in every condition in which his race has been found since its origin. In- deed, it is geologically shown, (hat many of the most potent agencies of nature have been in much greater activity than at the present period. The numerous extinct volcanoes discovered in every country, the visible and historic disruptions of the earth's surface, and the upheavings of mountains and islands, show conclusively, that subterranean fires have dis- played an energy in ancient periods, com- pared with which, their action at the present time gives but a pigmy representation. Con- sequently, therefore, their attendant phenom- ena,— earthquakes, meteoric displays, and ter- restrial concussions, — must have inspired the ancient spectator with terrific sensations far superior to similar displays now witnessed. It is easy to conceive, that in the absence of a
18 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
science to investigate the causes of such phe- nomena, the minds of men must have been inspired with the extremes of awe, super- stitious dread, and apprehension : and that they would naturally be constrained to impute to the most terrific invisible agencies, effects so manifest and so disproportionate to the action of the physical forces with which they were familiar.
No explanation would be so readily sug- gested, and so accordant with the excited im- agination, as that which should refer such manifestation of force to powerful demons, who invisibly sported with the destinies of man, and held control of the elements around them.
Entertaining such belief, derived from such manifest display of super-human power, it would naturally follow, that minor phenome; na, and even the mental and moral exhibitions, should be referred to the same, or to inferior agents, who invisibly influenced the organic structure, as well as the elements upon which it was dependent.
If, as has been premised, such crude deduc- tions are referable to an elementary structure of the mind, it is to be presumed, that in the infancy of the human race, and in all sub- sequent societies deprived of the aids afforded by a scientific knowledge of terrestrial phe-
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 19
nomena, credulity, and the most absurd su- perstition should abound, to a degree, that the character of individuals and communities should receive an impress accordant with the fallacious systems which thev originate.
With a mind, like that of man, too im- becile to define its true position in the uni- verse, yet prone to speculate upon, and to generalize the most intricate phenomena pre- sented to its observation, it is not surprising that the fictions of the imagination, in its un- tutored state, should be embraced as realities, and that the happiness of entire communities should be materially affected by the delusive systems which were embraced.
Yet notwithstanding the imperfections inci- dent to the human mind, few would be the evils emanating therefrom, was reason allowed its legitimate sway in the analysis of the im- pressions derived from the objects of sense ; or, at least, was it permitted to direct the ap- plication of the available sciences which have been cultivated in all civilized communities.
It has been presumed, that credulity and superstition are the elementary products of the human mind, influenced by exterior causes by which it is surrounded. But such would necessarily be the indefinite character of the original mental impulse, that little would result from its effects upon the simple and the
20 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ignorant, but a vague impression of terror and apprehension, inspired by a sense of proximity with active and powerful agents, whose affec- tions towards them, they were incapable of defining.
The general prevalence, popularity, and influence of magic, in the civilized states of antiquity, renders it extremely probable, that it was the most effectual instrument by which the people were governed, and by which, in a great degree, their national tranquility and power were sustained.
It is not to be presumed, that in this, the palmy period of magic, its import, like the modern acceptation of the term, was that of a low and vulgar art. Its history, as exhibited in Egypt, Persia, and Greece, and likewise in their predecessor and cotemporary nations, where it existed, wrould indicate that it was a name which embraced most of the natural and religious sciences of which they could boast; and that its professors, instead of being contemned like the modern juggler, were of no less distinguished consideration, than are men of eminent scientific attainments at the present period.
Hence in Egypt, will be found its king as- sembling his court magicians, to vie with Moses in the miracles which he wrought. The Persian magi were among the most im-
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 21
portant actors in matters relating to the state, as well as religion. In Greece, likewise, magic held eminent "sway in their conduct of matters of civil government, as well as their religious ceremonies, under the direction of their priests, soothsayers, and oracular respon- ses. Indeed, it is probable that the most of an- cient science was concealed within the vail of magic; and that its sublime results were prin- cipally presented to the vulgar, as demonstra- tions of the will of their deities, whose terrible attributes and interested regards it was de- signed to represent to them.
From such view it will appear, that ancient magic and natural science were but synony- mous appellations; and that the former pre- sents a formidable aspect, only by the ob- scurity and mystery through which its facts were demonstrated to the multitude, ignorant of the artifices employed.
There can be but little doubt, that the char- acter which the diverse systems of superstition have assumed among the various tribes of mankind, has been modeled by the devices of the crafty and intelligent, who from observation on the human character, as well as the causes of active external phenomena, were led to cherish and systematize a delusion, in which they beheld an instrumentality for effecting their selfish and ambitious aspirations,
3
22 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
Hence, by the exercise of magic, the rare and singular manifestations of the natural laws, and doubtless many scientific experi- ments of an impressive character, were exhib- ited to the ignorant multitude, as miracles and prodigies, significant that a divinity was the spectator and immediate rewarder of their actions.
From such sources, doubtless, emanated the svstems of theology which have ever held in abject servitude the rude portions of man; all of which, on analysis, will be found to exhibit the devices of crafty inventors, adapt- ed to the accomplishment of their designed usurpations. Such analysis will likewise show, that both nature and art have been assidu- ously investigated, with the object of deriving agencies to render their systems complicated and impenetrable, and to render mystical a texture, whose power alone was derived from its incomprehensibility.
Not content with the proofs which these devised systems of theology derived from the more manifest operations of the natural laws, such as earthquakes, meteors, volcanic erup- tions, and thunder storms, their inventors have not failed to adduce the less imposing, and the apparently erratic manifestations of these laws, in corroboration of the impress effected by the former. Hence, the comet, experimental phi-
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 23
losophy, the vital laws, manifesting the inexpli- cable animal instincts, and the monstrosities occasional in the animal and vegetable kins:- doms, have been exhibited to the astonished imaginations of those less familiar with the capabilities, and apparent abnormities of na- ture's operations, as divine interpositions, to impel skepticism to yield its assent to institu- tions which the gods regarded with special care, and to sustain which they manifested an unceasing and jealous interest.
Such is a portion of the evidence which was adduced to confirm the institutions and systems of ancient states, and such the expe- dients employed to bind the credulous to their observance. Many others might be enumer- ated, as combustible natural gases, issuing from mines, caverns, and springs, in all coun- tries; the various nervous diseases, as epilepsy, hysteria, &c; the effects of poisons, epidem- ics, and epizootics; spectral illusions ; and, in short, all the unwonted phenomena whose causes were obscure and impenetrable.
]iut sufficient has been noticed to demon- strate that the inventors and expounders of the various ancient religious systems, were adepts in the science of human nature, and that in the structure of their fabrics such adaptation was regarded as should ensure to them its control.
24 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
Although knowledge and civilization have, in a degree, dissipated these erroneous systems, by the development of the causes of very ma- ny of the natural phenomena, by which they were sustained, yet with the light which these afford, we shall still witness the mind swayed by the dreamy figments of the imagination, and groping in mists, which a due exercise of reason would speedily dissipate.
It may appear surprising, that a being like man, so eminently endowed, beyond all other members of the animal kingdom, with intellec- tual faculties, should be so generally swayed by the illusions of sense and imagination ; or that he should view the ordinary phe- nomena of nature, most of which are suscep- tible of an analysis bv reason, with dread and apprehension. But, in explanation, it is to be considered that reason, as exhibited in the infancy of society, is adequate to ex- plain but a portion of the effects of the natu- ral laws; and that it is rarely exercised, except to provide for immediate wants. It need not therefore surprise us, who. with the superior light of science, are often baffled in our inves- tigations, that mankind in their unenlightened condition should view phenomena of an un- wonted character as the operation of invisible beings, who had the power to control their destinies for good or for evil. Nor need we be surprised, that their imaginations, excited
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 25
by various impenetrable mysteries presented for consideration, should depict the elements as peopled by a diversity of active intelli- gences, whose affections were represented as either friendly or adverse, as their influence conduced to promote or obstruct the objects of their pursuit
It is doubtless this incapacity of the in- tellect to explain the ordinary operations of natural causes, which has originated the in- finity of superstitions that have held such des- potic sway over ignorant minds, and permit- ted the imagination to beguile the senses to an adoption of the illusions which its ever prolific pencil furnishes for their considera- tion. When such crudities obtain possession of public sentiment, it is in no degree surpris- ing, that individual happiness, or even that of communities, should become a sacrifice to their influence, by subjugating their minds to such capricious divinities as a prolific fancy might personify, when stimulated by instant hopes or fears.
It is a trait of the human mind, to contem- plate with interest whatever is presented to it as deviating from ordinary natural events. Hence, whatever is novel or strange, or what- ever affects the senses through an obscure me- dium, arouses the passions, and if incapable of being represented by distinct sensations, such
3*
26 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 9
exaggerated coloring is presented by the im- agination, that the mind becomes excited to a sense of wonder or marvelousness. Such is the mental condition induced by these indefi- nite sensations, that the judgments thereon are illusive and unsatisfactory, and the actions consequent thereto, are accordant with the er- roneous impression. It is in this state, that the imagination, by awaking in the mind a sense of dread and apprehension, stimulates to decis- ions which calm and unbiased reason would not fail to reject as monstrous and absurd.
It is not designed here to exhibit the gross credulity and superstitions which actuate the savage tribes of the human family. The dis- gusting narrative would be nearly commensu- rate with the history of each ; and it is pre- sumed that the monstrous detail is familiar to all. It is rather the design of the present un- dertaking, to allude to the character and ex- tent of credulity and superstition, in more civilized states ; and to show, that by foster- ing the mental propensity alluded to, it is ren- dered more than probable, that the wise and the learned of antiquity, were enabled to im- pose upon their less enlightened countrymen, the fabulous theology, which became so ex- tensively blended with the character, and held such extensive swav over nearlv the en- tire sum of human action in that remote period.
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 27
By such view it will appear probable, that the sole object of its invention was that of subdu- ing the passions of the ignorant, by means of a factitious supernatural machinery, that they might become the instruments by which to accomplish the objects, and thereby promote the interests, of their tyrants and oppressors.
It is designed, in connection with this allu- sion to presumed ancient frauds, to exhibit some of the prevailing modern phantasies, which if less efficient in subjecting the mind to a temporal despotism, evince that reason is still far from having obtained its legitimate domin- ion over the imagination and the passions.
In ancient Greece, the most enlightened, accomplished, and in some respects, the most superstitious nation of antiquity, as well as in Egypt, Persia and Rome, there is great rea- son for believing that science, instead of be- ing applied by its possessors for the improve- ment of the mental condition of the masses of their population, was made the instrument of inculcating* the most gross superstitions, with the view to enhance the interests of the deceiv- ers. Legislators and philosophers appear to have applied the sciences but to subdue the mental faculties, and to stupify the reason of the multitude, that they might thereby be made more obedient slaves and subjects ; whilst the priests, as pretended interpreters of the will of
28 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
the heavenly powers, were the professional instruments of their mental degradation.
That ancient science, like the modern, was in a degree applied to the improvement of the arts and economy of life, cannot be doubt- ed. Nor does it admit of less doubt, that it was likewise employed to delude the minds of the people, and to subjugate them, by a pre- tended supernatural interposition, to the will and ambition of their tyrants. In pronoun- cing a judgment thus severe against ancient science generally, it must be admitted, that the sages and philosophers whom we have been taught to venerate for their sublime ef- forts in the cause of wisdom and virtue, are made obnoxious to the charge of a conni- vance, if not of participation, in the stupen- dous frauds devised for the degradation of the human mind. This implication of the honesty of ancient philosophy, will doubtless be viewed by its admirers as little less than a wanton attack upon the character of those writers, whose intellectual efforts, it must be admitted, have essentially aided in the de- velopment of the dignity of human nature, and whose intellects have stood as prominent lights in the darkness of the past ; guiding suc- cessive generations along the path of progres- sive civilization and refinement. With a view therefore to qualify, and indeed extenu-
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 29
ate the odium of the implied charge here made against the ancient sages, it may be stated in their justification, that their moral codes were in a great degree based upon national expe- diency ; and that they lived at a period when the art of governing the passions of the mul- titude, by enlightening their reason, was un- known. It will therefore appear manifest, that the moral codes to which modern society is amenable, cannot with propriety be applied as a standard by which to impeach the hon- esty, or arraign the motives, of heathen phi- losophers.
But it may be repeated, that whatever might have been the real belief of the sages and legislators of Greece and Rome, relative to their pretended invisible agencies, it is cer- tain that they were, in a great degree, instru- mental in multiplying and personating the superstitions constituting their theology. If (as it is probable) all the learned of antiquity contemplated their deities, for whom they in- culcated reverence, but as absurd and ridicu- lous fictions of the imagination, they doubt- less esteemed such pious fraud not reprehen- sible, nor inconsistent with their moral and religious duties, as conservators of the com- munity, which might be interposed as an al- ternative for restraining the turbulence of the multitude, by an influence over their minds through this medium.
30 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
If the ignorant populace of the ancient states were thus deluded to a surrender of their inherent right to liberty, it was doubt- less effected by the concurrent agency of their wise and learned cotemporaries ; comprising as well their legislators and philosophers, as their priests and magicians. While it was the office of their priests to inculcate and confirm a belief in their pretended spiritual agencies, to conduct the mysteries,* and sacred rites, practiced in their temples, and to delineate the character of beings who held the control of their destinies, either by rewarding or af- flicting, with a despotism as capricious and instable as that of their tyrants, — the magi- cians, as demonstrators of their secret will, af- fected to display the awful power of the gods, to incite the popular energy in important emergencies, whether national or domestic.
* The Eleusinian Mysteries appear to have been prac- tised as religious ceremonies, by a society which was most extensive in the times of antiquity, and existed for a very long period. Their secrets, or ceremonies, like those of modern Free Masonry, were guarded by the most formidable oaths. Death, in its most terrific form, with the eternal vengeance of the gods, was the punish- ment of those who intimated their nature to the profane. It has been supposed that the secrets of this society consisted in the arts and scientific experiments which were employed in the temples, to demonstrate to the un- initiated the acts and will of their deities.
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 31
It is obvious, that in the ancient nations generally, a knowledge of the most ordinary phenomena of nature was concealed from the people, to operate upon their fears; and that they were exhibited to them as manifesta- tions of the angry or complacent expression of the affections of their deities, in circum- stances in which national objects required an energetic demonstration of their physical en- ergies. To show that such was the effect produced by these phenomena, wre need but instance the terrors and depressions that often paralyzed armies during impending battles, by such events as eclipses of the sun or moon, by earthquakes or thunder, the causes of which were familiar to the learned. The occurrence of meteoric or other extraordinary lights in the atmosphere ; the flight of birds of reputed good or bad omen, ever depressed or aroused the ar- dor of conflicting armies, in accordance with the construction given to such events, by their augurs or soothsayers, who affected to interpret to them the will of their leaders or tyrants, un- der the guise of a heavenly admonition. The particular appearances of the entrails of beasts, which are known to vary according to the state of their health ; the birth of mon- sters, which every physiologist of ordinary in- telligence, knows to be occasioned by an ar- rest, or exuberance of development, consist-
32 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ent with the occasional operation of the vital laws; — these their soothsayers affected to he- hold as legible indications, portentous of the fate of armies or kingdoms. Such, now deemed ordinary events, were exhibited to the vulgar of ancient enlightened states, as miraculous interpositions of their fabulous gods, relative to impending events, such as were contem- plated with engrossing interest by the pub- lic*
These, as ordinary natural phenomena, by a concealment of their causes from the ignorant, were wielded bv the learned, to excite and
* The superstition of the soldiers of ancient armies was often available and convenient, to check their im- prudent ardor for hostile attacks, as well as to stimulate their courage when in a state of depression. To insure such control over their minds, augurs and soothsayers were necessary appendages to their expeditions, who often exercised greater influence, by means of their au- gueries, than their commanders.
Occasionally, however, serious detriment occurred to expeditions, in consequence of the credulity of the sol- diers. No exhortations of their commanders, or attempts to explain to the soldiers the true character of such natural phenomena as eclipses, thunder, &c. could in- duce them to engage, previous to a propitiatory sacrifice to the deity, whose wrath was supposed to be thus mani- fested. Nicias, and many other ancient commanders, were compelled to forego favorable opportunities for at- tacking the enemy, in consequence of eclipses, or thun- der storms, occurring immediately preceding a contem- plated attack.
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 33
control their passions. But in their absence, at periods requiring such agency, it is highly probable, that science was often resorted to for their artificial production.
Researches into the state of ancient sci- ences, render it probable that physics, with some of the ancients, had attained a degree of perfection little short of that of the present period; and it is not unlikely, that in what are termed the experimental sciences, the former were superior, in many respects, to the latter. It will, therefore, be readily inferred from modern experience, that artificial earthquakes, thunder, meteors, and other fiery and mysteri- ous representations, might be easily presented to the astonishment of a multitude, ignorant of the artifice, equal to that produced by the natural elements. The artifices and mys- teries which composed the rites practiced in the ancient temples, have perished with their actors and the architectural structures in which they were exhibited. But sufficient historic details of their effects upon their cred- ulous devotees remain, to convince even the tyro in modern science, that the magic of which these rites doubtless consisted, was in no de- gree superior to that practiced by the modern juggler, with his machinery of optical lenses, mirrors, magic lantern, and camera obscura, aided in their effects by ventriloquism. With
4
34 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
these instruments, and an architectural struc- ture as suitable as doubtless was that of the ancient temples, scenes might unquestiona- bly be displayed to a modern audience, no less imposing, (though with emotions of plea- sure, rather than veneration and (error,) than such as impressed the ancient devotee.
The various prodigies related in ancient history, which were interpreted in a manner to astonish the credulous, and to arouse their passions, by exhibiting them as the manifesta- tion of the affections of some interested deity, and which were explained as foreshadowing success or disaster to states, all admit of ready solution, from causes of an ordinary character; such as the apparent speaking of beasts, stat- ues, &c, by the aid of ventriloquism ; the sweat- ing of statues, by condensation of atmospheric vapor, caused by inequalities of temperature, or by hydrostatic pressure; fountains, or streams, representing blood or oil,* by chemical solu-
*The bloody appearance of brooks, fountains, consid- erable portions of lakes, and the ocean, together with occasional red snow, was frequently brought to the atten- tion of the ancients, and was exhibited to the credulous as portentous of misfortunes to states. The investiga- tion of the phenomenon by modern naturalists, has proved that such appearance is caused by the extensive propa- gation of an animalcular insect in such waters, sufficient to effect the discoloration. Many substances might be employed to simulate such reputed miraculous interposi-
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 35
tion, and a variety of other artificial means; or by the periodical generation of a species of aqueous animalculae, or vegetable algee, such as have often been witnessed by naturalists, as giving bloody discoloration to streams, and extensive portions of the ocean. The slightest resemblance to a pretended reality, would be generally adequate to convince the credulous observer, whose passions and im- agination were excited to an eagerness to wit- ness the novel and marvelous. A writer of note remarks, " every thing is a prodigy in the eyes of the ignorant man, who sees the universe only in the narrow circle of his ex- istence. The philosopher beholds no prodi- gies; he knows that a monstrous birth, or the sudden crumbling of the hardest rock, results from causes as natural as the alternate return of night and day." This remark may not in all cases hold true, as science is as yet inade- quate to fathom all the mysteries presented by the operation of the natural laws. There are, however, few of the extraordinary mani- festations of these laws, but which will admit of a satisfactory solution, by the observer who calmly investigates causes ; and where these
tion before the ignorant, in case of a necessary emergency. In the case of blood colored snow, the insect was proba- bly conveyed into the atmosphere, by the vapor from which it was formed.
36 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
are less manifest, who resorts to aids afforded by such analogies as ordinary experience will, in most cases, supply. To such it will ap- pear manifest, that the exhibitions of magic in the temples of Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome, as well as the various prodigies related in ancient history, which impressed the superstitious devotee, with the awful sense of a personal interview with their pre- siding deities, — and, in short, most of the un- wonted phenomena, employed as demonstra- tions of the will of their deities, are suscepti- ble of being represented in a modern chemical or philosophical laboratory, or may readily be explained by an observation of ordinary nat- ural causes.
When it is considered that the most de- grading ignorance of the sciences pervaded the mass of the people of ancient nations, and that an undying propensity for the marvelous and mysterious, ever characterizes this condi- tion ; when we reflect that the temples in which their religious rites were enacted, proba- bly possessed a structure and scenery well suited to represent the imposing mysteries of which they were the theatres; that these were conducted by a hereditary- priesthood, skilled in the manipulations of their art, who wielded agencies concealed within the awful veil which shrouded their operations; and
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 37
when it is taken into consideration, with what excited imaginations and passions the pious worshiper there approached the capricious divinity, it is not surprising that the minds of the multitudes of ancient nations, should have been moulded and governed by the machine- ry of a factitious theology ; or that they were the credulous and superstitious people that history represents to us.
If, as is most probable, a theology thus art- fully devised, was made effective in subduing the multitude, it is likewise reasonable to presume, that even the philosophers and sages, with no light, but that of natural reason, to direct them through the complex labyrinths of nature, (so evincive of a designing archi- tect,) in their dubious and unsatisfactory con- dition, must have viewed their relations to such manifest invisible power, with a super- stitious awe and apprehension, bordering upon that with which they inspired their less gifted fellow countrymen, when contemplating the factitious divinities devised for their subju- gation.
Such are the conclusions to which we are impelled, relative to the instrumentality, and consequent blighting influence, which poly- theism exerted to effect the degradation of the human mind, and which plunged it into
4*
38 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
that multiplicity of vice and depravity, so abounding in nations subject to its control.
We have now to contemplate a condition of society, in which Christianity has, in a de- gree, dissipated the absurd fables of polythe- ism, and taught man his true relations to his Maker; — in which a more generally dif- fused education has enabled him to assert the native dignity and equality of human char- acter, and assisted in wresting from his mind the manacles of a theology devised with the view of subjugating his intellect and his will.
Yet notwithstanding the interposition of such a fortunate revolution, in behalf of the supremacy of reason, we shall still find the mind often yielding to the influence of the imagination and the passions, and fostering credulity and superstition, little less gross than that which swayed the devotees of pagan theology.
In the state of transition from polytheism to Christianity, it could hardly be presumed that the recent converts to the latter, could easily depose their faith in the ghostly influence de- rived from an education in the tenets of the former; and which, consequently, had become intimately blended and associated with their habits of thought and mental conception.
Accordingly it will be found, that during the strife which occurred between the genius
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 39
of polytheism, and Christianity, their respec- tive fanatical advocates often vied with each other, in asserting their adverse claims to pre- cedence, by their appeal to progidies and miracles, to the no small detriment of the lat- ter. More especially, since Christianity, in- stead of attempting to subdue the obdurate passions by an appeal to a sense of the novel and the marvelous, proffers rather the superior claim of its ability to enlighten the reason and understanding; and, while it exhibiis to man his duties to society, it at the same time de- monstrates his religious obligations, and the character of his Creator.
On the final overthrow of paganism by Christianity, it would have been fortunate for the latter, had the magic and prodigies, with the various deceptions devised for sustaining the former, perished in its ruins. So far, how- ever, was this from being the fact, that wre shall find pretenders to Christianity, in some of the rival sects, exerting the engines of fraud and imposition, with an energy worthy of their pagan competitors ; and this, it must be presumed, was enacted more for the purpose of promoting personal reputation, and the at- tainment of objects of temporal ambition, than with the view of advancing the spiritual inter- ests of their confiding adherents.
40 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
If pagan impostors extorted a votive fee, and at the same time disciplined the worship- pers of the factitious god for the joke of their t\ rants, by magic, by prodigies, and other ap- parent supernatural machinery, the spurious saints or prophets of Christianity effected ob- jects no less culpable, by astonishing their ignorant adherents, by apparent miracles, wrought, no doubt, mostly by scientific ex- periments and mysticisms, through which the imagination was beguiled, and the real object of faith wras rendered obscure.
Through the knowledge of natural coinci- dences, furnished by science, or by secret agents, a prophetic character was not unfre- quenly conferred upon such pretenders, and in many cases, the various wonders of the natural world were, no doubt, sought and made available to astonish the ignorant; and were adduced as evidence, that their demon- strator was a special recognized agent and fa- vorite of heaven. There is little doubt, but that many of the less familiar phenomena of nature have furnished the means by which apparent miracles have been wrought by the designing, before those ignorant of their causes and character. Thus the mirage, a phenomena peculiar to particular locations, is produced by refraction of the sun's rays, by atmospheric vapor of unequal density, by
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 41
which objects, as ships, villages, persons, &c. ordinarily invisible, are brought into view, ap- parently suspended in the air, either inverted, or erect, and of* exaggerated size. These being simply natural optical illusions, might easily be exhibited by the designing impostor as aerial spectres. Other instances of the singu- lar effects of refraction, or reflection, might be referred to ; as the celebrated spectre of Brocken, of the Hartz mountain, in Hanover: the Fata Morgiana, of the straits of Massena, where men, animals, and even landscapes, as by a mirror, are represented as in nature, ele- vated in the atmosphere.* Such, by the pre- tended and designing heavenly favorite, might easily be made to appear to credulity, as spirits
•These are doubtless natural phenomena, produced hy reflection or refraction, when the rays uf tight, proceeding from the object to the eye, pass through a medium of un- equal density. It may happen, that an inequality of tem- perature, is formed between the land, or water, and the atmosphere in the vicinity of the objects thus represented. In such condition, a passage of heat, or caloric, is con- stantly occurring from the h<»tter to the colder medium. It will be perceived, therefore, that when the earth, or water, is more heated than the superincumbent air, the adjacent stratum of the hater will become heated from the former, and consequently more ra rifted than the strata above, causing the inequality required for the refraction necessary to effect the above phenomena-. The rays of light, in passing from the object to the eye, thence become refracted, or curved from their ordinary straight lines,
42 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
obedient to his invocation. These, with numerous other natural phenomena of varied character, will not fail to be suggested to those but moderately versed in natural philosophy, as adequate to explain a large portion of the
causing the objects to appear elevated above their true position.
Objects thus represented, will appear erect, if within the focal distance of the natural lenses formed by this inequality of density of the different strata of air; or they will appear inverted, when the eye is sufficiently beyond such focal distances to permit the rays to enter it af- ter their focal crossings. If to such inequality of den- sity, is added an extremely attenuated aqueous vapor, a reflection of a portion of the rays will occur, and a spec- tral image of the beholder will be formed, as by a common mirror, which will appear of a size holding a relation to the convexity or concavity of the natural mirror thus formed. The mirage is an instance of refraction, and the spectre of Brocken of reflection. Similar phenomena are stated by Humbolt to be of frequent occurrence in South America, and they have been often noted by others.
Recently a description of an optical illusion was given by a traveler across a desert, situated between New Mexico and California. The writer, a member of a com- pany en route for California, relates, that they were one day startled by the appearance of a company, consisting of men and animals, apparently at a distance, which at first caused no inconsiderable alarm, from the supposition of its being a band of hostile savages. It subsequently proved to be but a mirror representation of their own band, produced doubtless by the atmospheric phenomena alluded to.
(For a more particular description of the above phe- nomena, see Brewster's Natural Magic.)
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 43
so called miracles, announced by monks and pretended saints, for the admiration of the credulous and superstitious.
It has been noticed as most probable, that the pagan devotees, by means of mirrors and lenses, so arranged in the ancient temples as to effect the requisite optical illusions, aided by ventriloquism, were made to hold an im- aginary personal interview with their presi- ding deities. It is equally probable, that a large portion of the miracles imposed upon credulous Christians in the dark periods of the church, was effected by frauds of a similar description.
It is known to those familiar with optics, that by the aid of a concave mirror, with suit- ably arranged lenses, and a magic lantern, objects ordinarily invisible to an audience, may be apparently introduced before it, either exaggerated or distorted, to any degree of frightfulness. The dead may be apparently evoked from their graves, and by the aid of ventriloquism, made to hold conversation with their living friends. Apparent demons, or angels, may be presented in attitudes and cos- tume, suited to accomplish the objects of their introduction; and various other exhibitions of like character may be represented, which might be palmed upon the ignorant and cred- ulous, as supernatural manifestations. Artifi-
44 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ces of this description would doubtless be made available, by unprincipled pretenders to inspi- ration, who had become inspired Ivy the ambi- tion of acquiring the character of heavenly vicegerents.
By one possessing an acquaintance with the various drugs and medicines, somnolency, ecstacy, and delirium may be easily effected. With the power occasionally acquired over animals of the most ferocious character, and over reptiles, by which their natures appear changed to mildness, as exhibited by the an- cient Psilli, or serpent tamers, the modern Van Amburgh, and others, a supposed miracu- lous control of the instinctive attributes was represented. Wirh a knowledge and exer- cise of the physiological sympathies, by which various diseases, and even death, are often simulated in persons of excitable and suscep- tible nervous temperament; — and with the ability of controling the wonderful illusions capable of being effected by optics, by chem- istry, and galvanism, by means of which the most surprising metamorphoses are induced, and even death apparently is made to give place to vitality, a power apparently superhu- man was wielded. When it is considered, that such exhibitions were made before credu- lous spectators, whose senses and reason were euchained by an excited imagination, and an
CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION. 45
irresistible propensity to believe in the mar- velous, aided by the influence capable of be- ing derived from art and science, together wit li that afforded by manna] dexterity, it is not difficult to conceive, that the magic and pro- digies of the ancients, and the miracles exhi- bited subsequent to the first century of Chris- tianity, by its pretended friends, might have been represented, exclusive of the aid of su- pernatural intervention.
When it is further taken into consideration, that many of the affected miraculous events which have astonished the credulous, are but legends, or narratives, related by monks and recluses, we need hardly hesitate to conclude, that the entire machinery of so called modern miracles, are but knavish devices to sustain, by such appeal to credulity, religious tenets want- ing the support of the genuine precepts of the Divine Author of Christianity.
SECTION II.
Witchcraft.
The absurd and maniacal belief in witch- craft, so fraught with evils to society in the last and the preceding century, and from which no nation can boast total exemption, appears in the present age nearly extinguished. This is unquestionably one of the baleful progeny which is indebted for its origin to magic and the occult sciences ; and all the phenomena which gave rise to the belief in its reality, admit of the same or similar explanation as heretofore given of that fruitful source of men- tal delusion.
This branch of the occult sciences was per- haps invented and cultivated, to give variety to the delusions which the professional im- postor exhibited as novelties, in barter for the more substantial offerings of ignorance and credulity. If, however, we are to estimate its character from the puerilities and follies which history, in general, details of its ope- rations, we can but infer, that it was a degen- erate offspring of its parent, in which the "magician had lost his cunning ;" or that he had adapted his art in accordance with the
48 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
infantile taste of the ages in which it flour- ished. It will be perceived, that instead of the adroit deceptions practiced upon the senses by ancient magic, the chief aspirations of its modern progeny, it would appear, were generally limited to such petty recreations as perambulating the air on broomsticks; its tra- ditional nocturnal bachanals at the Sabbat,*
* The Sabbat was a supposed assembly of witches, met in mystic conclave, which was presided over by the devil. An introduction to its orgies was supposed to be effected by rubbing the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and sometimes the entire body, with an enchanted pomade. The effect of this was, the supply of wings, with which the initiated flew to the Sabbat. The em- ployment there, was dancing with broomsticks, and the practice of many ridiculous bachanals until the morning, when the assembly was dissolved.
It has been supposed that ointments were formed from such poisonous plants as henbane, stramoninm, cicuta, <fcc, which professional impostors often applied to their ignorant dupes, with the effect of producing such deli- rious dreams as had been previously impressed upon their imagination, which became waking hallucinations of a real belief, by the deluded wretches, of their presence at these assemblies. It is more probable, however, that the traditionary tales of these meetings, which were doubtless rife during the excitements of an epidemic witchcraft, impressed the imaginations of weak minds to the degree represented as produced by the en- chanted pomade. It is therefore not unlikely, that ma- ny ignorant, but innocent victims, thus monomaniacally affected, may have been induced to a confession of par- ticipation in sorcery, and by such act have sacrificed their lives as the penalty of their imprudence.
WITCHCRAFT. 49
or elsewhere ; or its even more ridiculous in- terference with kitchen housewifery, by its antics with the butter churn, or with the pigs or poultry ; and its equally perplexing annoy- ances practised upon the goat-herd or hus- bandman.
Again, while original magic arts exhibited a skill and power calculated to excite admi- ration of the resources of the human intel- lect, witchcraft, on the contrary, produced the effect rather to demean its power, by its habitual resorts to the most petty and con- temptible expedients to accomplish the ob- jects of its low ambition. While the former has been the professional employment of the wise and the learned, the latter is more often that of the old, the ugly, the vicious and des- pised, whose odious forms and character, pub- lic disgust — biased by general ignorance, and favoring epidemic influences, — has, without doubt, been prone to exaggerate into a rela- tionship and association with demoniacal agencies.*
* An old writer of note, who lived in the time when witchcraft extensively prevailed, thus describes the characters of reputed witches. They were " women which be commonly old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowll, and full of wrinkles, poore, sullen, superstitious and pa- pists ; or such as know no religion ; in whose drousie minds the the devell hath gotten a fine sear ; so as, what
5*
50 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
In Christian communities, a belief in witch- craft, as a supernatural art, has doubtless ob- tained no small support from the notice which it receives from Scripture, in the case of king Saul, and the denunciation of the art therein contained. But it is believed, that such no- tice rather has reference to the sin of this specific imposition, than to an art recognized as a direct compact with the infernal powers. There is great reason for believing, that the dramatic exhibition enacted by the Witch of Endor, by which Saul was made to believe in the re-appearance of the deceased prophet Samuel to announce his approaching fate at Gilboa, was but an imposition practiced upon the senses of that monarch. In whatever character it may be estimated, it certainly evinced far less of dramatic skill in its execu- tion, than the scenes mentioned as exhibited
mischafe, mischance, calamine or slaughter, is brought to passe, they are easilie perswaded the same is doone by themselves, imprinting in their minds an earnest and constant imagination thereof. They are lean and de- formed, shewing melancholie in their faces, to the hor- rer of all that see them. They are doting scholds, mad, develish, and not much differing from them that are thought to be possessed with spirits ; so firm and stead- fast in their opinions, as whosoever shall onlie have re- spect to the constancie of their words uttered, would easilie believe they were true indeed."— Reginald Scott's " Discoverie of Witchcraft."
WITCHCRAFT. [y\
to the devotee of the Grecian temples, as in these the solicited personage was often introduced to the astonished senses of the petitioners; while in the case of the Jewish king, it is not stated that either he or his companions actually beheld the vision an- nounced, but rather that his knowledge of the presence of the ghost was based on the au- thoritv of the actress alone.
It is most probable, therefore, that this trans- action was but a scenic representation devised for the occasion, and pre-announced by emis- saries of the sorceress, in time for a preparation of the scenery. In the exhibition presented to Saul, unlike those of the temples, where a spec- tral apparition was introduced, the probable ventriloquism constituted the main demonstra- ble evidence of the supernatural presence. The terror manifested by the actress was most likely but a well represented affectation of the passion, which the habits of her avo- cation enabled her to render imposing. The prediction which followed was such, that in the known straitened condition of the Jewish army on the eve of the battle of Gilboa, it required no witch or prophet to pre-announce a result which was most probably foreshad- owed to the entire nation. Indeed, when it is considered, that to the naturally hypochon- drical mind of the monarch, was added a
52 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
consciousness of imminent peril, similar to that impending over Brutus and Julian, on the night preceding their disasters, it is in no de- gree surprising that the Jewish king should disregard whatever defects might, to a more indifferent spectator, be apparent in the scene ; nor that he should have been the dupe of a deception practiced before him.
It has been noticed, that in scenic arrange- ment, this exhibition of Jewish sorcery was manifestly inferior to those of its cotemporary relative, the magic of the Egyptian or Grecian temples, in which was presented, by means of mirrors, lenses, &c. a spectral apparition of the object sought. Yet it must be admitted, that this far surpassed, in adroitness and dignity, most of the exhibitions of modern witchcraft which its history has furnished. Most of the manifestations of modern sorcery, by which communities have not unfrequently been agi- tated, and the worst of public calamities in- duced, have been noticed as of a most puerile character, unworthy the name of an art, and alike demeaning to the taste and capacities of its professors, and of the intelligent evil agent by whom they were supposed to be suggested. If exceptions to such puerile char- acter of witchcraft are occasionally found, they are to be explained from the intellectual superiority of those who directed their opera- tions.
WITCHCRAFT. 53
A careful analysis of its phenomena will prove it in the main, to consist in a display of the petty malice of insignificant and unprinci- pled individuals, toward rivals or enemies; or to have originated from an ambition, through ec- centricity of character, of acquiring notoriety in a neighborhood, for the purposes of interest or fame ; or, what is far more frequent, they are derived from such natural phenomena, or artful devices, which, from ignorance of their real causes, have been imputed to demoniac influence, wielded by some weak or con- temned individuals, upon whom public odium or dread had concentrated.
That witchcraft of this character should, in modern society, have become epidemical throughout whole kingdoms, as history fur- nishes abundant proofs, is certainly one of the most inexplicable enigmas presented in the operations of the human mind. It admits of explanation, only from that wonderful en- dowment of the animal economy, termed sympathy, which has been found, in a variety of circumstances, to possess an involuntary control of its action, as well in health as in disease.
What is most surprising in this case, is the fact, that the moral pestilence, when of an epidemic character, has proved its efficiency, not only in the perversion of the intellects of
54 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
the ignorant, but also of many of the learned and wise, who lived in times when the sym- pathetic contagion became diffused throughout society. It is unquestionably, in no small degree, attributable to the fact that sorcery, as a supernatural art, has been sustained by a Bacon, a Mather, and others of distinguished reputation, that the discussion regarding its reality has been prolonged. But since most national delusions, such as that of astrology, the philosopher's stone, with such maniacal spec- ulations as those of the South Sea, Mississippi, and numerous others of like character, have involved minds of similar intellectual calibre in their results, these instances may rather be received as evidence, that human reason, even in its greatest development, is not devoid of imbecility, — especially when assailed by the contagious influence of sympathetic national hallucinations.
Probably no delusion or imposition which has ever acquired an ascendancy over the human mind, has proved so detrimental to the interests and true happiness of society, as has the popular belief in sorcery, or witchcraft. If magic has been instrumental in subjugating the mind in bondage to a factitious theology, thereby enchaining its native powers to an ab- ject despotism, — or has occasionally resorted to assassination, clandestine murder by potent
WITCHCRAFT. 55
poisons, and to formidable experiments, as the reserved agents tor the protection of its se- crets, (in many instances no doubt designed to verify its predictions, and thus to perpetuate its influence,) — it has the merit of originating and cultivating many of the important sciences, such as natural philosophy, chemistry, medi- cine, &c. with the view to aid its operations.
Astrology and alchemy, though they ex- cited false hopes in mankind concerning na- tivity, health and longevity, and preyed upon the interests of their deluded devotees, can assert claims of having improved astronomy, mathematics, meteorology, botany, and in some degree the other sciences, by the necessary stu- dies of their proficients. But the more mod- ern art of sorcery, while it can assert no claim to results which have produced, directly or in- directly, such benefit to society, has ever, in times of its prevalence, detrimentally affected the social compact, by introducing general dis- trust among its constituents, dissevered the natural ties of kindred and friends, poisoned the fountains of happiness by unchaining the dissocial passions, and engendered the most gloomy forebodings of evil, and the darkest superstition. Indeed, it may be asserted, that by judicial and other murders of its innocent but mostly ignorant victims, it has in its de- structive career been a formidable rival to war, pestilence, and famine.
56 CREDULITY A\h SUPEKSTlTIOfl
It is difficult for the existing generation to compute the immense sum of evil which their predecessors have experienced from the ab- surd belief in sorcery. Sufficient, however, may be comprehended to demonstrate the im- becility of human reason, when neglecting the efforts necessary to enable it to acquire a due estimate of its powers. It is, without doubt, to the light derived from a generally diffused science, that the bane, at this era of the world, has nearly lost its virus within the borders of civilization ; and as history is but philosophy teaching by example, a discussion of its evils, so abounding in the past, is mostly useful as affording a. beacon bv which to avoid those so fatal to the happiness of past generations ; while at the same time an illustration is fur- nished, that errors most portentous for the stability of society, are susceptible of exter- mination by a suitable mental culture.
SECTION III.
Dreams.
Of a similar character, and resulting from the same propensity of the mind for the mar- velous, which has been alluded to in the pre- ceding sections, is the belief which has as- signed to dreams a rank with the supernatural. All mental impressions deviating from the or- dinary operations of the mind ; all the repre- sentations of sense to it, of a character to which it has not been accustomed, have ever been claimed by the credulous as derived from agencies exterior and foreign to those ordinari- ly originating mental conceptions; or, in short, have been by them ascribed to a supernatural influence controling its action.
Although to the philosophical observer' it may be superfluous to state, that such belief originates from an inattention to a due analy- sis of the impressions derived from the senses, or from a too hasty reception of traditionary legends derived from rude and ignorant ages, yet it may be useful briefly to notice the physiological condition upon which such rep- resentations and erroneous notions are de- pendent.
6
58 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
All dreams originate from former sensa- tions, which have been introduced by the senses, and stored in the mind, susceptible of being recalled by memory and submitted to the scrutiny of the reasoning faculty, by which their relations are determined, through the agency of association. Such being the action of the internal faculties relative to the materials fur- nished by the several senses, it occurs in a state of imperfect sleep, i. e. when a part of the mental faculties are torporized, and oth- ers, with memory, are in a state of activity, that the sensations in store are recalled by memory, and associations instituted similar to those of a state of wakefulness. But the pro- cess wanting the correction of judgment and the active senses, imagination often effects combinations so fantastic as to represent ob- jects, or scenes, wholly deviating from those occurring in nature. Thus it may occur in sleep, that the active faculties, by combining parts of the sensation derived from an eagle, with that of the horse, that a being like the fabulous griffin should be presented to the mind as a reality ; or wings may be supplied in the same manner to a reptile, representing a flying dragon, which will be presented to the mind as a real existence, until the aroused senses shall furnish a correction. Such it will be perceived are but ordinary sensations, com-
DREAMS. ,59
billed by the imagination in a manner which possess no types in nature. But it may hap- pen IB the various modes of combination in sleep, that objects, or events, are portrayed in accordance with nature, but in forms exagge- rated, diminished, or distorted, in comparison with their types with which we have been fa- miliar, and therefore have become the typical standard of judgment on all after sensations. In such case, the credulous not unfrequently become excited to a state of apprehension, or fear, from the conviction that such are of extra natural character, and of course a foreshad- owing of evil or good awaiting them in the future.
The relations of the mind with its adjunct material organization, are manifestly most in- timate and dependent. But what may be the essential nature of their union, or the mode by which the affections of each are mutually interchanged, or communicated, will probably elude the efforts of research during their ma- terial connection. Such manifestly, however, is the character of their association, that the affections or impressions originating in the one are by mutual sympathy communicated to its associate; and a series of actions, either mental or corporeal, are consequent and in ac- cordance therewith. However intricate may be the connection between mind and matter,
60 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
it is manifest that it is to the mutual sympa- thies originating therefrom, together with the relations existing between the several mental faculties, that we are to derive an explanation of the phenomena exhibited by the mind in dreams. In conformity with these relations, and in accordance with the impressions af- fecting either the organs or the mind, through the agency of its sensations in store, will be formed the great variety of dreams which are brought to our consideration. Thus those of the conscience stricken culprit, who has suc- ceeded in eluding justice, will be influenced by his predominant idea, and prisons and gib- bets will be depicted in his dreams. Or when barred within the cell of the condemned, his ardent desires of life may occasionally prepon- derate in his dreams, and depict to him ideal scenes of freedom, and escape from his mer- ited deserts. The miser will dream of wealth, or the poverty which harasses his imagination during his wakeful hours ; and the enthusiast, of heavenly bliss or of devils, and the torments which await the spiritual transgressor. In all these cases, organic actions will generally result, which are in accordance with the ex- citing mental process.
Such is the stimulus which gives coloring to the dreamy phantoms, when the influence of the correcting senses and the judgment is
DREAMS. (31
withdrawn by the torpor of sleep, and the trains of thought instituted by the wakeful fa- culties are directed by the inventive imagina- tion only.
On the contrary, all bodily derangements which interrupt healthy sleep, by becoming sympathetic stimuli to the mind, often depict in exaggeration, conditions of affliction, sick- ness, suffering and death ; which train of mental disasters, probably, in most cases are suggested by a slight irritation of the diges- tive organs, arising from imperfectly digested food, or other structural irritations of an un- pleasant character, which a waking attention to external objects would render ineffective on the mind.
Of a similar character, though produced by more permanent and efficient causes, is the delerium from grave disease, in which the embarrassed organs supply such unnatural stimulus to the brain, that the equilibrium of the faculties becomes disturbed to such a de- gree, that the ideas in store in the mind predom- inate over those immediately affecting the ex- ternal senses ; and are combined in a manner productive of the exaltation, incoherence, and mental imagery, characterizing that affection. It may be remarked, that in a condition of healthy correspondence of the bodily and men- tal functions, either the entire faculties of the
6*
G2 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
mind subside into a state of inactivity and en- tire quiesence ; or when in a state of partial activity, they are employed in such combina- tion of retained sensations, as will effect dreams of a character corresponding in agree? ableness with that experienced from the orig- inal external sensations constituting their types ; and such as a normal state of the systematic functions ever effects, whether in the sleeping or waking condition. It would indeed be extraordinary, considering the uniformity of occurring events with those past, should none occur in the future bearing a similitude to those which have been previ- ously presented to the mind in a state of sleep. It is doubtless this natural similitude, or perhaps the exciting and strange combina- tion of ideas constituting the dream, from the causes alluded to, which has originated the notion, that the mental vagaries during sleep, are occasional revelations, or foresh ado wings of future events. But notwithstanding; this ready faith of the credulous in the supposed revelation, it is conceived that they rarely de- rive indications from the premonition, suffi- ciently explicit to direct their action in suita- ble adaptation to meet the event presumed to be predicted. Indeed it is difficult for reason to detect an economy in such dubious fore- shadowings, even in the view of their being of
DREAMS. 63
supernatural origin. And it is certain that lit- tle results therefrom, except the vague hopes or fears which they excite, and the conse- quent effects of these upon the dreamer, or the object of his dream.
It is probable that the events realized sub- sequent to their prototypes having been shad- owed in dreams, are generally such as have been ardently expected, or painfully dreaded; such as had been the subject of. a thoughtful impression anterior to the dream ; and that in most instances, such dream is but a repetition of sensations which have previously been in- troduced to the mind in its ardent contempla- tion of such expected future contingency.
There is little doubt that the credulous faith, conferring upon extraordinary dreams a premonitory character, has in many instances prompted the dreamer to the efforts which were requisite for the attainment of the good foreshadowed ; or that the dread of a disas- trous event,- as where death at a particular pe- riod was predicted in a dream, with attendant circumstances of an impressive character, has produced such depressing effect upon an ex- citable nervous system, on the approach of the dreaded period, as to extinguish the vital principle. The hope or fear of an event, in such case, becomes the agent of its accom- plishment. That occasional correspondences
64 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
should occur between dreams and succeeding; events, is in no degree surprising. But that the natural activity of the mind during sleep should possess a necessary connection with either the good or evil events succeeding, obtains no support from reason or a philosoph- ical view of facts.
SECTION IV.
Ghosts.
The conceived existence of ghosts, as su- pernatural personal representations, has been the subject of discussion by philosophers, and has inspired the timid and credulous with dread and apprehension in all ages.
It is not surprising that such notions should exist in periods in which the vital laws had received but little cultivation ; nor that they should have obtained credence with the de- votees of religious beliefs, like those of the an- cients, which represented the elements as peo- pled by innumerable invisible agents, who were active intermeddlers in human affairs ; nor even that they should have found a place in the systems of ancient philosophy, which inculcated the most vague and indefi- nite notions in relation to the soul and its destiny. But it might rationally be antici- pated, that the modern refinements of natural and revealed science, by which the laws of nature and the attributes of Deity have been demonstrated, wrould long since have dissi- pated a belief, which neither receives support from the one, nor conveys an elevated con-
C6 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ception of the economy of the other. For, in most instances, such supposed spiritual inter- course has occurred with the weak and the ignorant, and so illegible has been the revela- tion, that little has resulted to the recipient, beyond the terror and vague apprehensions which were aroused. It is therefore difficult for the mind to detect a wise economy in such reputed premonitory acts, through which it is rarely pretended that indications are given, by which the will or object of the agent is re- vealed.
It may be confidently asserted, that most of the instances adduced as proofs of the exist- ence of ghosts as actual personalities, admit of explanation, either as being deceptions prac- ticed upon the timid by the designing, through the aid of suitable costume, or optical instru- ments, such as has been referred to as effect- ing pretended miracles ; — by ordinary objects, presented to the credulous through an obscure medium, thereby receiving exaggeration and distortion by the imagination, to such a de- gree as to forbid the excited beholder institu- ting an examination requisite to ascertain their real character; — or they are to be referred for an explanation to an occasional disordered condition of the optic nerve, by means of which fictitious images are introduced to the mind as real external existences.
GHOSTS. 67
It is well known to physiologists, that the optic nerve, in case of slight disease, is subject to illusions possessing every shade of charac- ter which is ascribed to ghosts ; and that the auditory nerve likewise, when similarly af- fected, causes internal sounds, which have been depicted by the fancy as those fearful premonitions, termed warnings, which have at all times given alarm to those unacquainted with the phenomenon. In such state, like that of mental affection in dreams, the impres- sions made by external objects on the senses are weakened, or insufficient to excite the at- tention of the mind; while previous sensation? in store become excited to more active combi- nations, in consequence of the disarranged state of the mental functions. In such condi- tions, pictures are exhibited to the mind from past sensations, in forms so impressive that they predominate over those representing ex- ternal objects present on the retina. In such case, for instance, the impression made by the past sensation of dead or absent friends, or other objects of interest, will exclude the im- ages made by external objects, present on the tablet of the retina, and the dead or absent are introduced, as really present to the mental view ; and that in a form such as previous sensations or existing apprehensions n?clJcJc- pict them. Thus the spectre printed to
><
C8 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
Brutus, and that to the emperor Julian, on the eve of their approaching fate, were of such character as would most likely be represented to minds like theirs, disordered by anxiety, and excited by a lively sense of their critical condition, and the expected disastrous results which their superior sagacity, doubtless, fore- shadowed as impending. The habiliments of the grave, as naturally the last and most dura- ble impression made by the view of deceased friends, or the death scene which often haunts the conscience stricken assassin, would most likely be represented in such disordered mental condition. Absent friends would appear as last witnessed, unless apprehension of their deai\\ had aroused a stronger impression in the mind, in which case the funereal drama would be that most likely to be represented in the phantom scene.
Few of the relations respecting the appear- ance of ghosts, which history furnishes, are sufficiently attested to merit attention. Some of the best authenticated, like those appearing to Brutus, and the emperor Julian, are sus- ceptible of explanation in the manner alluded to. Others, like those appearing to Nicolai, the patient of Doct. Abercrombie, and that of
Mrs. A , adduced by Sir David Brewster,
were contemplated by their spectators as re- suiting trtr^ disordered action of the brain and
GHOSTS. 60
retina.41 Others, if not as susceptible of solu- tion as these, most probably originated from similar disordered conditions, which escaped the attention of their subjects. But far the most numerous are, unquestionably, but fic- tions of ihe imagination, exhibited in circum- stances amid which the mind, from the ex- citement of fear, was incapable of investigating their true character. Was further evidence required to confirm the belief of the illusory nature of the spectral visions, reference might be made to the fact, that the greatest portion of these narratives are furnished from times of ignorance and gross credulity; and that in the ratio of the advancement of a rational science, has been a proportionate diminution of ghostly exhibitions. As regards the occa- sional coincidence between the phantom and subsequent death, it may be confidently re- marked, that evidence is wanting which proves the fact that such relation exists in greater fre- quency than from other symptoms of disease ; such as double vision, vertigo, deranged intel- lect, or severe pains of the head, which indi- cate grave affection of the brain. The phan- tom, together with the last named symptoms,
* For a particular description of the above cases, to- gether with the pathological state on which they were dependent, see Brewster's Natural Magic, Letter 111.
7
70 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
affording evidence of invading disease, while death is effected by its destructive progress. It will hence be perceived, that notwithstand- ing the supposed supernatural message with which the ghost-seer has been favored, he is furnished with no surer means of predicting a fatal result following, than has the physician who prognosticates from the other indications mentioned, both of which may be viewed with a degree of apprehension.
Diseases have a tendency to a fatal termi- nation in a degree holding relation to the vital importance of the organs implicated. Those seriously affecting the brain, in consequence of its great influence over the vital functions, are ever to be regarded with apprehension, in whatever manner they are announced. But as ghosts are but a form of spectral illu- sion, indicating a state of disease in this or- gan, if they have proved more ominous of fa- tality than their congenial symptoms, it is doubtless to be explained by a reference to the aid which an imagination, excited by the vis- ion, renders to the depressing tendency of dis- ease on the vital functions.
So numerous are the instances in which spectral illusions have occurred to philosophi- cal men personally, and have been presented to them as subjects for their observation ; and so thoroughly have they received investigation
GHOSTS. 71
from them, with calm reflection, and a judg- ment unbiased by the fears which influence the timid on such occasions, that the above conclusions relative to the nature of ghosts, or spectres, may be received as in no degree problematical.*
Manifestations equally marvelous with those of vision, have occasionally been produced by the other senses; but in forms appropriate to the function of each. Imaginary sounds, as addresses from absent friends or strangers, un- natural voices, such as have been received by the credulous as ominous warnings, musical notes, &c. have been illusions originating from a disordered state of the auditory nerve, giv- ing origin to a vast variety of speculation, and many unhappy superstitions.
The sense of feeling has supplied instan- ces of either apathy or an extreme morbid sensitiveness which were so extraordinary, as to appear to those of ordinary sensibil-
* The stories and legends of phantom ships, as the flying Dutchman, and numerous other aerial spectres, which are stereotyped nursery tales, if of sufficient au- thenticity to deserve notice, admit of explanation from the presumption that they were representations of real objects concealed from view by an intervening medium, as hills, the earth's convexity, &c. which were made visi- ble by the phenomenon of retraction in a manner al- luded to in a previous note, page 41.
72 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ity as partaking of the marvelous. Sub- jects of these affections have ever been ad- judged by the credulous, as deriving their pow- ers, either from the demoniacal or heavenly agencies. Persons in the apathetic state, have tolerated with apparent indifference the effects of fire, of cold, and mechanical irri- tants, to a degree that those possessing a healthy sense would be unable to endure.
Those in the latter condition have been able readily to detect objects so inapprecicable to ordinary feeling, that the ignorant, who witness such operation, have ever been prone to impute the process by which it is effected to a degree of prophetic inspiration.
Smell and taste, as related to feeling, have manifested similar extraordinary deviations from their natural functions, and have no doubt contributed to aid that sense in some of its erratic and inexplicable revelations. Thus, atmospheric changes, serpents, cats, and other animals and objects, are announced by sub- jects endowed with such powers, when in con- ditions which render them concealed from all the senses of ordinary persons.
Illusion, whether manifested by intellectual personifications, as ghosts; or by morbid asso- ciation of ideas, exhibiting the false reasonings of the insane ; or whether those of individual senses, as unnatural sounds, smells, tastes, or
GHOSTS. 73
feelings, are unquestionably dependent upon a degree of morbidly altered state of the brain in the one case, and an altered condition of the nerves of sense in the other. In the former, the disordered activity of the brain re- calls former sensations by the aid of memory, and often depicts those susceptible of form, in their respective representative images, as ghosts, &c, or combine ideas in discordant trains, as in dreams or delirium.
In the instance of particular disordered senses, the actions of which are illusive, their functional representations are brought into ac- tivity, without the presence of the appropriate stimulus derived from the immediate impres- sion of external objects ; but effects repre- sentative of those, are no doubt caused by the impression which diseased action makes upon the local nerves on which specific sen- sible function depends.
All illusions, therefore, whether intellectual or sensitive, may be considered but as indica- tions of a degree of disordered action of the whole, or a portion of the nervous system, and are worthy of attention mainly, in view of the consequences to which vitality may be sub- ected by an uninterrupted progress of the unnatural action.
All these morbid manifestations of the brain and senses have ever been viewed with aston-
7*
74 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ishment and awe by the ignorant ; and pre- vious to modern improvement in physiologi- cal science, were subjects of wonder and wild speculation with the learned. Knaves and impostors have not failed to render them available sources from whence to derive facts, not only in support of their pretended demo- niacal arts and sciences, but such disordered subjects have too frequently been exhibited to the credulous as objects miraculously en- dowed, with the view to confirm their faith in religious creeds, the intrinsic demerits of which required extraneous support of this character.
But it is to be hoped, that the era of popu- lar traffic in such delusions is receding before the extending light of a more reasoning age ; and that the period is not distant, when these affections of the nervous system shall be di- vested of their marvels, by having their rank assigned, as tangible realities, in the catalogue of bodily derangements requiring, no less than other diseases, the attentive care of the phy- sician.
SECTION V.
Ecstasy, Trance, tip*
Of a character similar to that of dreams, are modern visions, ecstacy, and trance. The mutual phenomena presented in these, admit of a like explanation ; with the exception, how- ever, that the former is characterized by fan- ciful combinations of ideas during a state of sleep; the latter by extravagant exaltations of mental action, accompanied by like illusions, exhibited during a state of wakefulness. In these conditions, such mental abstraction from sense are effected by means of the preponder-
* Ecstacy and trance have, by some nosologists, been considered as distinct species of a genus of the gene- ral class embracing all nervous diseases. This is doubt- less most expedient in a description having reference to medical treatment ; but as it is designed to notice them only as milder and more temporary affections, occurring in similarly constituted subjects, dependent upon an analagous state of the nervous system, and originating from the same, or like causes, it is deemed preferable and proper to notice them as varying forms of the same affections, presenting in their different as- pects, but degrees or varieties of symptoms, exhibited in variously constituted subjects, and modified mainly by the diverse application of the causes from whence they originate. Many of the common phenomena of ecstacy are manifested in several nervous affections ;
76 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ance of spiritual conceptions, that the reali- ties of both sense and reason cease to control combinations of thought. The active imagi- nation in this condition being uncontroled, per- sonifies beings, or depicts scenes, as realities which had previously been made the subject of intense meditation, or the objects of ardent hopes or fears.
In extasy and trances, as in some forms of dreams, the corporeal organs sympathetically partaking of the excited mental state, either exhibit gesticulations, or other action corres- ponding in extravagance with the passing hal- lucinations ; or being deprived of their ordin- ary mental stimulus, yield to entire torpor and quiescence.
Although imposture and deception may oc- casionally assume the condition represented in visions, ecstacy, and trance, yet there can be no doubt that their manifestations are mainly involuntary actions induced by existing im-
trance in some others, but their forms here considered, essentially differ from these ; and as they possess the relationship alluded to, and as they are rarely the ob- jects of medical treatment, it is deemed far preferable to discuss their character in the mode here adopted.
Somnambulism and catalepsy, although dependent upon similar constitutional peculiarities, but originating from causes of a different nature, have been noticed with the view only to exhibit them as possessing a character of relationship with the above named affections.
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 7 7
pressions, acting upon persons nervously sus- ceptible, but generally of weak intellects, whose minds, therefore, are incapable of sus- taining normal combinations of thought, when subjects of the importance of those involving their spiritual destiny are impressively pre- sented to their consideration.
With the object of exhibiting what have been denominated religious ecstasy and trance, as phenomena, which, like other bodily affec- tions, are dependent upon natural agencies, such as ordinarily influence organic structure, a reference will briefly be made to the mental and physiological condition upon which they are conceived to be dependent. This refer- ence is made for the purpose of dissipating the marvels and superstition with which they have been habitually contemplated by many, and to combat what is believed an error of the most vital import, — the prevailing belief that they are the product of an active supernatural inspiration
It is a characteristic trait of the mind, that when long intently occupied on any particu- lar subject, it is prone to fall into a monoto- nous train of thought, (so to speak,) which eventually becomes so predominant as to en- gross its entire attention, to the exclusion of objects ordinarily brought to its notice by the senses. So predominant frequently becomes
78 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
the influence of these engrossing trains of thought, in biasing the judgment, that by ex- cluding a comparison with the trains of sensa- tion of diverse character, its decisions are of- ten extremely erroneous, and even fantastic and ridiculous.
Every inordinate emotion and passion, of sudden production, or when indulged in a less degree for a considerable period, tends to produce this unnatural obliquity in mental decision.
The mind, when engaged in a continued concentration of its powers, is apt to depict the objects of its contemplation with such factitious coloring, that by the exaggerations of the imagination, they are represented as ac- tually present personifications ; or simple ideas are combined in such a manner that an- ticipated future results are exhibited as actual realities in progress of instant performance. Thus anxiety regarding health frequently de- picts results of disease, whether real or im- aginary, which have no existence except as morbid conceptions of the intellect which originates them. So unnatural, occasionally, are the exaggerations of the imagination, when stimulated by mental anxiety regarding health, that its subjects are led to the convic- tion of organic changes of structure, incom- patible with the continuance of life, and often
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 79
of metamorphoses to other states of being. These fantastic conceits not unfrequcntly ex- ist in a degree that they not only excite the commisseration, bat the ridicule of friends, and often repel the logic and skill of the medical adviser aimed at their removal.
Anger and hatred distort their objects, and the motives that have aroused their energies into fictions of their own engendering, which stimulate to acts the most disproportionate to the offence, and therefore become unjustifia- ble. Jealousy often so obscures the rational data on which accurate conclusions may be based, that imagination magnifies
" Trifles light as air,"
into
" Confirmations strong as proofs from Holy writ,"
The avaricious propensity eventually en- grosses the active faculties of the mind, and visions of wealth, or the horrors of poverty, stimulate to indefinite acquisition, as an im- aginary good worthy the endurance of the most unnatural and painful privations, and even causes a sacrifice of integrity to a prac- tice of the basest moral obliquities. Pride and ambition, when inordinately indulged, pre- sent their objects in a form so alluring, that fame or self is represented as alone worthy of consideration, and the benevolent and social feelings become sacrificed in their giddy vortex.
80 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
These derangements of the mental affec- tions, as results of ordinary impulses and inci- dents of life, are often sufficient to unhinge the mind to a degree that the most wild hallucinations control its actions and conclu- sions.
There are influences, however, which act upon the mind, when diverted to certain trains of reflection, with a force more impressive and energetic, and which engross its attention more exclusively than the objects ordinarily submitted to its attention. Such are those which are derived from a contemplation of the future responsibilities of man, as regards his spiritual and eternal destinies, and the rewards and penalties which are presented to his view in that state.
These subjects, when presented to the im- agination with a force adequate to excite the mind to an exclusive and intense concentra- tion, are susceptible of arousing the passions to a state of extravagant exaltation, which precludes attention to the ordinary impres- sions made on the senses, and leads, not un- frequently, to a manifestation of bodily action corresponding with the existing trains of ex- cited ideas. This is the state which has re- ceived the denomination of ecstasy. A dif- ferent degree of affection, from the same causes, but operating in varied force, or upon
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 81
subjects differently constituted, may have the effect to suppress the corporeal powers, while the active conceptions, (moulded by a like ex- cited imagination,) are depicted as present personalities of the spiritual world, performing in fancied characters, whose actions ever cor- respond with the train of ideas passing in the mind, from which imagination derives its plas- tic materials. This is the affection termed religious trance, and may be considered the more advanced stage of the ecstatic condi- tion described above.
These singular manifestations of an engross- ing religious meditation, are generally induced by impressive representations of future happi- ness or misery through eloquent appeals to the passions of persons possessing a highly excita- ble nervous temperament. These, from natural infirmity of judgment, are often incapable of exercising a rational discretion on occasions in which their active emotions are aroused. More rarely they originate from self-directed medi- tation on the subject of future rewards and punishments, excited by attention to former vivid impressions, recalled by the aid of mem- ory ; or by a lively reflection upon the impor- tant facts having relation to their spiritual re- sponsibilities. Whatever may have been the influence by which the mind has been indu- ced to its excited train of meditations, it be-
8
82 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
comes temporarily inadequate for the per- formance of its accustomed discriminating de- cision ; and what is most singular, the fic- tions which are embraced in this state, are generally adopted as facts in its history, after a restoration to its normal condition.*
* It has ever been a mooted question with metaphy- sicians, whether the mind, during its corporeal connec- tion, at any time exists in a state of total inactivity or thoughtless quiescence. It has been contended by some, that in every condition of sleep, however pro- found, or grave disease of the brain, as apoplexy, &c. combinations of ideas continue in a degree of activity ; but that their trains, in a state of deep natural sleep, or in the apparent unconsciousness of disease, are only incapable of being recalled on the change to a state of wakefulness, in consequence of the failure of memory to record them on its tablet. In such view, it is only the mental acts of imperfect sleep, or less grave dis- ease, which become the subject of recollection on their removal. Others suppose that mental action, in the more sound forms of sleep, or in the deep lethargy of disease, participate of the torpor which enchains the action of the senses, and becomes, like these, dormant and inactive.
If the latter theory is correct, it is manifest that a temporary blank is produced in the history of mental action, during each affection of causes producing this temporary sympathy with its corporeal consociate. Al- though evidence may be wanting to disprove this last position, yet (whether considered as a positive or nega- tive argument) it can be made but little available in proof of skeptical materialism.
It must appear manifest, that during its union with matter, the mind is in a dependent position, and must
ECSTASV AND TRANCE. 83
Although a due degree of zeal may actuate the subjects thus demonstrably affected, yet
necessarily, from the nature of the connection, be sub- jected by sympathy to the various affections which in- fluence the latter ; consequently, the mind is in a de- gree made subject to the laws by which matter is gov- erned.
Whatever judgment, therefore, may be formed of the action or affection of the two agents in a state of con- nection, it is inapplicable to that of either, when a dis- solution of such union is effected. For the mind hav- ing, by such event, escaped the grosser sympathies in which it held participation, must be presumed to re- cover the capabilities of its own inherent and subtle na- ture, and to act in conformity with its specific and in- dependent laws ; as it is manifest, from observation, that matter reverts to the control of the physical agencies, when vitality withholds its superior influence.
Inductive reasoning must lead to the conclusion, that the union of agencies ordinarily subjected to independ- ent diverse laws, would result in a mode of action es- sentially modified from that of each, when solely gov- erned by its original influences. We accordingly find in the connection of matter, vitality, and mind, as exist- ing in a state of organization, that the former (during such union) acquires properties not existing in its ordi- nary inorganic condition ; and at the dissolution of the connection, it manifestly assumes the more limited and inferior abilities derived from its ordinary specific laws. It is therefore a reasonable conclusion, that the superior agent, the mind, (which in the condition of union had suffered restraint from its grosser associate,) would re- gain its native powers by the assumption of the ac- tion permitted by the law of its original nature. It may then be conceived, that, as in trance or ecstasy,
84 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
there is reason to fear, that many of their num- ber are self-deceived enthusiasts, wanting in profitable knowledge, who therefore have ad- mitted the natural promptings of a highly ex- cited imagination, as evidence of a degree of inspiration and divine favoritism, which has been denied the more rational cultivators of genuine spiritual devotion.
Religion, as being the practical science of a future state, ought, unquestionably, to be an object of primary consideration, and its culti- vation and acquirement becomes the duty of
which has been induced by inordinate causes affecting the mind, the influence of this should, in a degree, ac- quire an ascendancy over its material associate, and thereby, temporarily, be enabled to act from the ability derived from its own independent laws of action ; or that in case of bodily infirmity, in which the mind has escaped a sympathizing action, its power should acquire a like preponderance, and exercise energies accordant with its untrammeled abilities. In either supposition it will be observed, that the effect might be a like ex- tension of ordinary mental capability, provided the di- verse causes produced a like suspension of their rela- tive dependencies, through which the action of each re- ceives essential modification, and indeed controls all their consociate actions.
The above, however, is only a speculative sugges- tion ; but may not be wholly unworthy of consideration in a contemplation of the abstruse phenomena of the animal economy, as well as to meet the arguments, equally speculative, adduced by materialists in the sup- port of their depressing and gloomy creed.
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 85
every rational responsible being. The evi- dence of its possession, however, is by no means exhibited in these passionate demon- strations; but it is more convincingly mani- fested by a rational contemplation of its re- quirements, and a consistent conformity of the human attributes to the laws of Deity, enstamped both in nature and revelation. These, only, intellect recognizes as based upon principles of a reason worthy the infinite In- telligence whence they emanated.
The founders of the various fanatical sects have well understood the power which the faculty of veneration is capable of exercising over the passions and imagination. They have therefore craftily constructed their tenets and formularies, in a manner whereby they have availed themselves of its influence for the ac- quisition of proselytes to their creeds. Hence Mormonism is enforced by its appeals to its immediate revelations, and its marvelous gift of tongues; and most of its devotees, no doubt through the influence of the mental principle suggested and biased by the con- ceits of a vivid imagination, conceive them- selves the participants of the marvelous gift. It is likewise probable, that the hallucination which leads them to embrace the absurd doc- trine, imbues the senseless jargon which they
8*
86 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
invent, with abounding ideas of the most grave import.
The impostor Matthias proclaimed his own nature as partaking of the divine essence, and his brutish eccentricities, through the exagge- rating medium of a morbidly active imagina- tion, appeared to his followers (some of whom possessed otherwise respectable intel- lectual capacities) as satisfactory evidence of his claims. The bliss of Mahomet's sensual paradise was depicted with such intensity, in the visions of his fanatic soldiers, as to cause them to disregard temporal life, so far as to rush to destruction in battle, with the view to enter upon its immortal enjoyment.*
* At the siege of a fortress (the name of which is not within the recollection of the author) by the Turkish army, under one of their most victorious and distin- guished sultans, the besiegers became dispirited, in con- sequence of the failure of their variously repeated as- saults for its reduction, and were on the eve of aban- doning the hopeless undertaking. At this juncture, a private soldier, inspired by his religious as well as pat- riotic zeal, announced to his comrades that he beheld a vision of the black eyed houris of Mahomet's paradise, beckoning them to an embrace, from the tops of the lofty turreted walls of the besieged. The entranced enthu- siast rushed forward, at the same time to the wall and to death, followed by his comrades, who had imbibed the sympathetic contagion, and who immediately shared the same fate. The infection became general in the army, and a furious assault of the castle ensued, which,
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 87
In the mental phenomena of dreams, ghosts, insanity and trance, there exists no inconsid- erable degree of relationship. Each are characterized by the similar illusory images which are attendant. They are, however, di- verse as regards the causes, and the physical condition from which they originate. The former have been noticed as consisting of an incongruous combination of sensations in store in the mind, in a state of sleep, without the immediate action of the senses ; though the passing dreamy trains may be essentially in- fluenced and varied by suggestions directed through these.* Dreams are conducted in-
after a desperate resistance by the besieged, and a fear- ful carnage of the assailants, was demolished, and its brave defenders fell a sacrifice to the almost superhu- man energies excited by the illusive vision of the fanatic.
* In sleep, whether attended by dreams or not, the attention is suspended by the existing torpor ; there- fore, impressions made on the senses are not recognized, except as suggestive of objects connected with the trains of thought passing in the mind, or as having the effect to change the trains to others having a relation to the impressions made. The senses have not unfrequently thus been employed to extort secrets from dreamers, in the unguarded condition of the mind in sleep. Thus whispering in the ear of a dreamer, will often obtain a pertinent reply to questions relative to the passing mental action. A person entering the room of a sleeper, often suggests a dream of intended violence and rob-
88 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
dependent of the corrections of attention, which is ever quiescent in a state of sleep ; hence arises the disconnected chain of events which transpire in mental activity of sleep. Ghosts have been considered as illusory im- ages, or personifications, represented to the mind in a state of wakefulness. These are de- pendent for existence upon a disordered con- dition of the brain and nervous system, hold- ing no further importance than the indications which they furnish of the morbid actions which give them existence.
Religious trance is, likewise, usually at- tended with a variety of personified images, produced by a state of excited mental activity, mostly of a spiritual nature, occurring in in- dividuals of imaginative, rather than rational susceptibilities. These are excited by exter- nal impressions directed through the passions, or by concentrated attention to subjects re- lating to future responsibilities. Like the
bery. Taste, odors, or cutaneous irritation, (Sec. fre- quently change the existing dreamy associations to others suggested by the new sensitive irritation. Such impressions, however, instead of directing the mind to the action of objects really present, from which they originate, serve but to stimulate to combinations of ideas previously existing on its tablet, which are con- nected with the sense irritated, or with which it has been associated.
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 89
visions, in case of ghosts, these occur in a state of wakefulness; but unlike those of dreams, or insanity, a connection is sustained in the train, in consequence of their being con- ducted by the attention which, in the others, is wanting or is desultory.
As the visions of ecstasy and trance are the suggestions of a devotional propensity, they are generally attended with affections, such as a lively imagination would naturally depict of the realms of bliss or misery. Accordingly it will be found, that the drama exhibited to the conceptions of the enthusiast, ever holds a correspondence in extravagance with the ex- alted state of the mental affection which is in- strumental in its induction. As in dreams, the scenes represented in trance or ecstasy are dependent on the causes which suggest and originate the phenomena; but as the last are conducted under the direction of a vigo- rous attention, a far greater consistency of the passing trains is manifested.
An essential diversity exists between the manifestations of ecstasy and trance ; the one being an exhibition of rapturous exclama- tion, accompanied with excited and extrava- gant corporeal action; while the mind, in the other, being so intently occupied with the personifications presented for its contempla- tion, withdraws its influence from the body,
90 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
and suffers it to remain in a state of inaction. The primary cause, however, of both being the same, they are to be considered as but dif- ferent forms or -degrees of the same affection, producing their various results mainly through the force of circumstances in which the im- pressions are made, and the diversity of tem- perament presented in different individuals af- fected. Ecstasy is that stage of the affection which may be considered incipient, in which the mind is more partially withdrawn from the dominion of the senses, although their impressions are but little, or in no degree, the subject of attention, in consequence of the concentration of mental conception on ob- jects of a supernatural character. The atten- tion is so directed to the hallucinations pres- ent, that sensible impression is disregarded, unless applied in more than ordinary force. In such case, attention may temporarily be given to ordinary sensation; but so predomi- nant is the mental train, that it immediately reclaims the attention, on the diminution of the cause of its arrest.
In the more advanced stage of the affec- tion of trance, insensibility to external im- pressions exists, often nearly representing a state of death. The vital functions are per- formed with diminished energy ; the eyes be- come fixed, though the countenance may ap-
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 91
pear otherwise but little changed ; and the mus- cular system is immovable, to a degree that the limbs usually remain in the position where placed. Indeed there is little doubt, that many have suffered vital inhumation in this often death-simulating condition. On the contrary, in religious trance, as in ecstasy, the mind is occasionally in% preternaturally elevated state, and its conceptions become magnified into a conceived arena, within which are introduced by the imagination, the greatest variety of spiritual images and ob- jects in dramatic performance. So vivid are sometimes the conceptions in trance, (as would appear from the relation of its visions,) that the mind or soul of its subjects seems endowed with temporary energies, surpassing those manifested as the joint products with its now inert earthly tenement. The combination of thought in ideal pictures possesses such activity, that, in conception, space becomes annihilated and the mental wanderer, in imagination, is transported to the regions of his contempla- tion, (which is most commonly heaven or hell,) and his affections are accordant with the fan- cied scenes amid which he mingles.*
* The maid of Orleans, the celebrated Joan of Arc, was undoubtedly an ecstatic enthusiast, whose visions were the natural inspirations of an ardent devotional
92 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
Several diseases, as hysteria, insanity, epi- lepsey, &c; many poisonous drugs, as alcohol,
temperament, aided by a patriotic zeal for the salvation of the liberties of her country. That she was herself a designing impostor, few will believe; but it is more questionable whether she was not the dupe of govern- ment agencies, employed as an instrument for arousing a languid French patriotism to a resistance of English oppression. There is little doubt that she entertained full confidence in the inspiration which she announced, and likewise that she was the heavenly commissioned agent for the protection of her country's liberty.
Whatever may have been the opinion of the French king and his advisers, relative to her claims, it is certain that she possessed popular confidence in the divine agency which she assumed. The result of such belief strikingly illustrates the superiority which spiritual con- ceptions, when brought into activity, hold over those of a temporal nature, in exciting the mind to energetic action. It is probable that the main facts, giving ori- gin to this strange history, will ever remain concealed; but though the causes which led to its development were manifestly illusion, with, perhaps, the aid of device, the effects possessed a reality and importance no less than that of the restoration of liberty and distinction to a nation previously existing in a state of degradation and oppression. The entire transaction is an illustra- tion of the adage, that " truth is often more strange than fiction."
As the case of the Maid of Orleans was doubtless one representing the ecstatic form of trance, another may be mentioned strongly illustrative of the more grave and visibly inanimate degree of the affection ; in which ordinary physical action had apparently ceased, while that of the mind had assumed an expanded range, accordant with a conception of its mode of operation
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 93
opium, hyoscyamus, thorn apple, (stramonium,) hemlock, (cicuta,) and some others, occasion-
when freed from its corporeal embarrassment. It is during such affection that its action appears as under the guidance of its own peculiar laws of action. The case is that of Henry Engelbrecht, as related by him- self, and may be found in Blackwood's Magazine, May No., 1847.
" In the year 1G23, exhausted by intense mental ex- citement of a religious kind, and by abstinence from food, after hearing a sermon which strongly affected him, he felt as if he could combat no more, so he gave in and took to his bed. There he lay a week without tasting any thing but the bread and wine of the sacra- ment. On the eighth day, he thought he fell into the death struggle ; death seemed to invade him from be- low upwards ; his body became rigid ; his hands and feet insensible ; his tongue and lips incapable of motion ; gradually his sight failed him, but he still heard the la- ments and consultations of those around him. This gradual demise lasted from mid-day till eleven at night, when he heard the watchman ; then he lost conscious- ness of outward impressions. But an elaborate vision of immense detail began ; the theme of which was, that he was first carried down to hell, and looked into the place of torment ; from thence, quicker than an ar- row, was he borne to paradise. In these abodes of suf- fering and happiness, he saw and heard and smelled things unspeakable. Those scenes, though long in ap- prehension, were short in time, for he came enough to himself by twelve o'clock, again to hear the watchman. It took him another twelve hours to come round en- tirely. His hearing was first restored ; then his sight ; feeling and motion followed ; as soon as he could move his limbs he rose. He felt himself stronger than before the trance."
9
94 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ally resemble trance and ecstasy in the pro- duction of similar false images, mental exalta- tion, and bodily immobility. While, however, the false conceptions induced by disease, or drugs, are desultory combinations of ideal trains, bearing a resemblance to those of dreams, the visions of ecstasy and trance are arranged in consistent connection, and though usually originating from external impressions made through the senses of sight and hearing, they may be continued to an indefinite period, solely by ideas of consciousness. While, likewise, the mental images resulting from disease and medicines are painful or agreeable, in accord- ance with the character of the bodily stimu- lus by which they are prompted, and usually subside on the termination of the morbid ac- tions which give them origin, the spiritual ar- ray (being the product of emotion, unaccom- panied by diseased action,) commonly contin- ues in normal and consistent trains, until in- terrupted or dissevered, either by overpower-
This case, while it exhibits the phenomena of trance, at the same time goes far to demonstrate, that it is a peculiar condition of the nervous system upon which it is dependent ; as it will appear manifest, that the as- cetic life, and bodily exhaustion, from insufficient diet, &c. under which they occurred, were causes well suited to induce the morbid susceptibility with which, it has been contended, the affection is connected.
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 95
ing corporeal impressions, acting through the senses, or by the exhaustion of the cerebral force by which they are sustained.
The difference of effect following the sub- sidence of hallucinations from diseased ac- tion, and the emotion producing trance, con- sists in the greater or less debilitated condi- tion of the system, (occasioned by the latter,) arising from the unnatural action during its affection, while in trance the functions are little impaired, because, (during its continu- ance,) they have remained in a state of inac- tion and repose. This preservation of vital functions in trance, however, exists only in cases of quiescence of the body, as in the con- dition of its extatic activity, from the passing emotion, and the active scenes pictured to the mind, it must necessarily (as a condition of its nature) suffer a degree of exhaustion.
It has been stated, that in the state of trance there exists an entire subsidence of voluntary action, during which the vital func- tions are performed with diminished force. This is owing to the withdrawal from these of a portion of their ordinary nervous influ- ence, for the sustentation of the exalted mental energy in the production of the visions which engross the mind's attention. This explanation is derived from a recognized principle of the animal economy, that exalted concentrated
96 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
action existing in an organ, can alone be sustained by a withdrawal of that ordinarily assigned for the support of the functions of its associates; and hence, inductive reasoning, from the known existence of this physiologi- cal law, would lead to the conclusion, that bodily torpor, like that witnessed in a state of trance, would be the result of the highly concentrated mental action constituting the principal phenomena of the affection.
The various degrees of affection manifested between the active demonstrations of ecstasy and trance, have heretofore been referred to the varied effects of circumstances and tem- perament. In aid of these influences may be mentioned an important agency in determin- ing the character of these phenomena, derived from the relative susceptibilities existing in different individuals, between the brain and nervous system. In this view, persons of greater cerebral impressibility, through favor- ing causes, will present the manifestations of more marked trance, with its array of illusory visions, while ecstasy, with its varying de- grees of corporeal action, is the effect of simi- lar causes, acting upon persons whose ner- vous systems (the primary agents of animal motion) possess preponderating susceptibili- ties.
ECSTACV AND TRANCE. 97
In the notice of dreams and ghosts, as pre- monitory indications of coming events, it was objected, that their vague and indefinite indi- cations failed to render them advantageous to their subjects, and therefore, that the dubious intimations were irreconcilable with the divine benevolent economy conceived as prompting the unavailable admonition. An argument derivable from the same source, and of similar application, is worthy of considera- tion in an investigation of the subject of reli- gious trance. It is presumed as not claimed, that the supposed inspiration of this affection, imparts a revelation of superior precepts for the direction of the spiritual devotion of its favored recipients. It is, therefore, difficult to discern in such manifestations, a wise and be- nevolent object, as it must appear evidently partial and discriminating in the distribution of favors to christian professors, and manifest- ly in derogation of the attributes ascribed to the common impartial Father of their faith.
Indeed, as facts are wanting which prove that the subjects of religious trance excel their more sedate and reasoning brethren in their perseverance in faith, and in the practice of the christian graces; and as observation will show that the affection is chiefly, if not ex- clusively, manifested in persons of nervously
9*
98 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
excitable temperament, it may be considered as an established fact, theft the phenomena of trance are worthy of interest, mainly, as being demonstrable of the physiological, or perhaps pathological singularities, occasionally mani- fested by the brain and nervous system, rather than as spiritual impressions derived from a supernatural source.*
Notwithstanding, however, the views which have been given of trance and its phenomena, it is little probable that a large portion of -its subjects merit a rank among deceivers and impostors; (a charge not unfrequently made;) but rather they ought generally to be viewed with commisseration and sympathy, as enthu- siasts who are denied the physical ability of sustaining an equipoise of intellect, when con- templating a subject which, above all others,
* A writer in Blackwood's Magazine-, June No. 1847, thus justly remarks : " Without at all comprehending the real character of the power called into play, man- kind seems to have found out, by a ' mera palpatio/ by instinctive experiment and lucky groping in the dark, that in the stupor of trance, the mind occasionally stum- bles upon odds and ends of strange knowledge and prescience. The phenomenon was never for an in- stant suspected of lying in the order of nature. It was construed to suit the occasion and times, either into di- vine inspiration, or diabolical whisperings. But it was always supernatural."
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 99
demands a dispassionate consideration, as in- volving eternal destiny.*
Somnambulism, or sleep walking, is a form of trance differing from those mentioned, as it occurs during the ordinary sleep of the senses, and is doubtless the production of a degree of internal bodily derangement. In this affection, the faculties of the mind are in a state of activity, while the senses are locked in the torpor of sleep. The corporeal organs, however, are stimulated to action by the en- ergy of the mental trains controling volition, and prompting it to act in conformity with the passing conceptions and trains of thought. A variety of acts are often executed in this condition, of which, as in dreams, previous waking thoughts are the prototypes; but
* It is not designed in the above discussion of the character of dreams, visions, &c. to include or question the authenticity, or impair the belief of those announced in the scriptures as prophetic revelations. These were exhibited under circumstances, and accompanied with internal and external evidence, of a character wholly wanting in those here rejected as factitious and spuri- ous. As it is conceived that the period of miracles and prophecy has long since ceased, it is deemed useful that the modern notions, which impute to these ordi- nary and extraordinary vital manifestations, a prophetic character, should be combatted by such existing phy- siological and pathological facts as are believed ade- quate for the solution of their phenomena.
100 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
which, not unfrequently, are of a character that might render them difficult of perform- ance by the affected individual in his ordinary condition. A sort of intellectual sense ap- pears to supply the office of the natural senses in these cases, by which opposing objects are avoided, and expedients are embraced, for the furtherance of plans in progress of execution, with an accuracy equaling those of sensible dictation. This form of the affection resem- bles dreams, by its being the execution, or performance in action, of ideas previously ex- isting in the mind ; but it holds the distinction of its trains of action by, and being conducted under the supervision of a wakeful attention, and, therefore, possessing consistency in their combinations. It resembles both religious trance and ecstasy, by its union of the con- sistent mental activity of the one, with the corporeal action of the other. An exalted state of mental combination is evinced, during the affection, by the elevated positions, as the roofs of buildings, precipices, &c. which its subjects often seek, as well as by the daring feats which they not unfrequently encounter. A distinction consists, in its objects usually being those of the temporal, instead of the spiritual world.
It has been the surprising fortune of som- nambulism that, although its manifestations
ECSTASY AND TRANCE. 101
possess a singularity far surpassing those of dreams, and often equaling those of ghosts and its correlative, religious trance, yet little superstition has been attached to its charac- ter and phenomena, while the others have ever been a prolific source of supernatural reference, and have, by the credulous, been objects of awe and wonder, and not unfre- quently of dread and apprehension.
The more grave form of trance is the ner- vous disease termed catalepsy, in which both the corporeal and mental powers, especially the latter, appear temporally in a state of to- tal extinction, such as has, occasionally, been difficult of discrimination from actual dissolu- tion. This, like most other diseases of the nervous class, arises from morbid causes, af- fecting particularly the functions of the brain and nervous system, and, like them, is to be viewed with apprehension, as regards its re- sults on life. As the description of this form of trance is pathological, and would embrace a professional detail of causes and effects of disease, it will be omitted, as not accordant with the adopted plan of discussion.
SECTION VI.
s
Empiricim and Quackery — Credulity in Medi- cine.
If man's inherent credulity and love of the marvelous have been made instrumental in subjugating his reason, by means of a facti- tious theology and a ghostly machinery, ef- fected by a perversion of his religious and so- cial instincts, they have likewise been the ave- nues through which his legitimate temporal interests have been assailed by designing pre- tenders to his welfare, in matters connected with his health and life ; the instinctive love of which is ever, with him, an object of pri- mary care and solicitude. Diseases are mys- terious agents, the causes of which, generally, lie concealed among the hidden arcana of na- ture, and therefore have too successfully eluded the attempts of the wise for their development. Hence, in periods of ignorance they were conceived to be the inflictions of malign deities, and their removal, consequently, was sup- posed an appropriate duty of priests and di- viners, through the instrumentality of pray- ers, incantations, and a variety of mysterious agencies.
104 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
In Greece, and, in some degree, in Rome, priests were the principal physicians, and medication was administered at the shrines of temples dedicated to the art of healing. There an adequate votive fee insured prescription from the presiding god himself, who was in- troduced to the credulous patient, doubtless by the optical deceptions heretofore alluded to ; or, in the case of patients of lesser con- sideration, through his intermediate agent the priest. It is to be presumed, however, that a large portion of the afflicted of disease, were not of sufficient consideration, or that they did not possess the means requisite to proffer a sacrifice adequate to obtain such distinguished prescription ; or that, in consequence of more grave disease, many would be unable to en- dure the fatigue of a personal attendance at the templar fountain of health. Such were necessarily assigned to the care of the empirics, or ancient quacks. These, by confident as- surances, by incantations, by magic and in- cense, with the pretension of propitiating the malign deity, or, more properly, malaria, aided by secret nostrums, like their successors of the present day, did not fail speedily of termi- nating the disease, or the existence of their patients.
Others, however, of weaker faith in mys- tery and the marvelous, who reasoned that
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 105
disease was but a physical evil, consisting in organic embarrassments induced by the in- terposition of unfriendly physical elements, were content with physicians possessing a knowledge of its nature and causes, but of far less pretensions. Those who, like Hy- pocrates and Galen, were educated in the rational or matter of fact schools, who pos- sessed the qualification of a scientific knowl- edge of the organic structure, its diseases, with their causes, and the agents which observation had suggested as efficacious in their removal, it is to be presumed, possessed the confidence and the patronage of their wise and reasoning cotemporaries. Such, disdaining to barter truth for a popular reputation, or temporary interest, have, by their labors in the field of science, not only added a redeeming lustre to human nature, but have erected to themselves monuments of fame, which the intelligent in all succeeding ages have venerated, and to whose names will ever be yielded a due hom- age of gratitude, while those of their boasting and popular rivals have long since passed into merited oblivion.
In the period succeeding the downfall of the Roman Empire, in which science and lit- erature were nearly extinguished, delusions, dark and deep, took possession of the minds of a large portion of mankind. Reason then
10
106 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
appeared divested of its legitimate supremacy in the conduct of human actions, and knavery and imposture flourished with a success un- paralleled in the history of nations holding pretensions to civilization. Medical science, during this period, became merged in ' the grossest empiricism, and, as a consequence, the most absurd theories relative to diseases and their causes, were embraced by popular cre- dulity, with an avidity proportionate to their discordance with reason, and the less inter- esting deductions of common sense.
The principal object of the pretended sciences of this period, seemed to be the de- velopment of the supposed sublime mysteries of alchemy and astrology. The first of these depicted visions of the philosopher's stone, to which knavery and credulity alike ascribed a power of transmutation of the baser metals into gold, the universal solvent, and the famous Catholicon, by whose power it was hoped, that a state of immortal youth might be sustained by its resistance to the hitherto mutable character of the human system; while the latter assumed to unfold the astral in- fluences on the organic system and its dis- eases, together with the nature of plants and other remedies. These, by virtue of a corres- ponding influence, derived from the same mys- terious source, were presumed appropriate to
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 107
sustain or restore a healthy condition of vi- tality.
At a period in which follies, like these, were able to engross popular attention ; in which dis- tinction, in their so-called science, was grad- uated by the degree of mysticism and unintel- ligible jargon assumed by its professors, and understood neither by the deluder nor deluded, we need not be surprised at the ridiculous pre- tentions resorted to by the rival empirics, to promote their interests by exciting a lively faith in a public eager for the novelties which their inventions embraced. We accordingly find these learned worthies contending in sup- port of the potent virtues of mullen for the cure of grave diseases ; of liverwort, and a host of other, the most inert members of the vege- table kingdom. The virtues of each (it was contended) were derived from the occult in- fluence of the particular planet to whose domi- nancy it was assigned. What must be sup- posed, at that time, to have distracted the anxious invalid, in his choice among so many infallible "health restoratives" doubtless was the fact that, like the modern nostrum-monger, the advocates of each panacea adduced his extended catalogue of wonderful cures effected by his special favorite. Nor need we wonder that relics of saints, that amulets, and the most disgusting members of the animal kingdom, as
108 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
toads, snails, spiders, bats, bugs, and many other abhorrent objects, should be adminis- tered, as of potent efficacy in arresting the most desperate maladies. Shakspeare, doubt- less, derived the recipe of the hell-broth in Macbeth from the medicaments of this period. This would have been no less abhorrent, though less poetical, had the principal ingre- dients been thus more literally enumerated :
" Bones of saints, with slimy slugs ; Warts of toads, abhorrent bugs ; Blind worm stings, and toe of frogs ; Wool of bats, and tongue of dogs ; Spiders webs, and lizzard's legs ; Armed the enrpiric with his drugs."
It would be no less tedious than unprofit- able to enumerate the various arts by which the credulous public, eager for novelty, were deluded by the quacks of this period, distin- guished for its excesses of mental delusion. That some of their patients survived their ordeal is probable ; but that a much larger portion were victims to the confidence re- posed in their contemptible nostrums, there can be no rational doubt. The philosophic physician is enabled to perceive, from facts derived from his common observation, that their various formula of prescription might prove efficacious in many diseases of the ner-
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 109
vous system, requiring the excitement of strong mental emotion. This their disgusting ex- hibitions could not fail to arouse, as their mvs- ticisms and incantations would, doubtless, in- duce such superstitious awe, as to prove a necessary and adequate stimulus to excite the torporized vital energies of the system in which the malady alone consisted. In such condi- tions of disease, the cure, by these means, ceases to be a marvel. For it is not difficult to conceive that, when aided by the faith in- spired by the blind assurance of the quack, such mental remedy, with the credulous, may surpass, in its effects on particular diseases, any rational prescription, unattended by the emotion which the mysterious agent excites in the mind of the confiding expectant of its power.
Baglivi, an old but distinguished physi- cian, quaintly remarks on this subject, "I can scarcely express how much the conversation of the physician influences even the life of the patient, and modifies his complaints. For a physician powerful in speech, and skillful in addressing the feelings of his patient, adds so much to the power of his remedies, and ex- cites so much confidence in his treatment, as frequently to overcome powerful diseases with very feeble remedies ; which more learned doctors, languid and indifferent in speech,
10*
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could not have cured with the best remedies that man could produce."
There is no question but that most of the success which attends empiricism, results from the mental influences with which its prescrip- tions are accompanied. But as most diseases consist in such derangements, either of struc- ture or function, as require, in addition to this, the application of appropriate remedies, it is deplorable to contemplate the multiform evils which must necessarily have accrued to health and life by the neglect of these, in conse- quence of the bestowal of a misguided confi- dence in the pretended specifics of the em- piric, which, if not directly noxious, are inef- ficient and worthless.
If, in the dark ages of literature, empiri- cism of the grossest character usurped the functions of medical science, and introduced the grossest superstitions relative to diseases and their cures, modern periods are not with- out parallels of medical credulity, equally gross and irrational, though varying in the forms in which it is exhibited. By adverting to the present state of medicine, we shall be able to derive abundant evidence of a predominant propensity, in a large portion of mankind, for the captivating influence of the novel and the marvelous, in matters relating to health, as well as for the existence of knaves who cater
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. HI
to amiable weakness, for the purpose of ob- taining fame and fortune as the reward of their unholy avocation.
If the present period affords too much knowledge to admit of being deluded by charms, by saintly relics, or by the incanta- tions of the magician, we shall find, in forms adapted to the varied condition of society, quacks and nostrum-mongers, who with arts no less deceptive, and with impudence in no degree degenerated from that of their occult predecessors, proffering their nostrums and panaceas to the credulous, with assurances of results on disease, partaking little less of the marvelous and supernatural than those for- merly claimed for charms and necromantic incantations.
With the view of demonstrating the evils which are imposed upon society by the quack and nostrum monger, it is deemed useful briefly to allude to some individual devices, by which such evils are disguised. Although it is an acknowledged detraction from the dig- nity of a philosophical discussion, to descend to a specific notice of objects so unworthy as the impostor; or to instance the arts by which his object is attained ; yet it may be deemed a sufficient apology, that not only the inter- ests, but the health and happiness of com- munity, are more or less the penalty of afford-
112 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ing encouragement to the nefarious arts which are the secret of his success. Presuming upon an innate propensity in mankind for novelty and mystery, these will be found an infallible accompaniment of the pretended dis- coveries of the empiric. But lest even this might fail to delude the less sanguine to prof- fer their pecuniary sacrifice at the shrine of the worthy discoverer, each nostrum, in addi- tion to this, and the most unblushing assu- rance of its infallibility, is ushered forth with captivating mottoes, imposing appellatives, and a host of fictitious, purchased, or volunteered attestations* of their marvel workings in the
* It is to be regretted that these impositions of the quack should so frequently receive the patronage and attesting recommendations of men acknowledged as enlightened and scientific in their respective profes- sions. Although this is in a degree chargeable upon individuals of the various professions, it is presumed more especially true as regards those of the clerical profession. This is evidenced from witnessing, more frequently, their names appended to the certificates and public announcements of the quack and nostrum-mon- ger, and the fact, that some even venture upon an in- discriminate prescription of their nostrums ! (A pre- scription is certainly indiscriminate, when proffered as a general curative agent for all diseases, like most nos- trums, when prescribed by those ignorant of their com- position.) This may well excite surprise, since it would appear that a more than ordinary jealousy of lay inter- ference in the doctrinal tenets of theology is manifested
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 113
removal of diseases the most incurable. Not- withstanding, however, the variety of "infal- lible" agents for their cure, announced from generation to generation, these diseases still, with unabated voracity, prey upon life, and harry, with undiminished speed, their victims to the tomb. Notwithstanding, too, the thou- sands of " health restoratives" "purifiers of the
in this profession. When, too, it is considered, that in most of our collegiate institutions, the rudiments of anatomy and physiology are taught as an accomplish- ment in general science, it might be expected that the very imperfect knowledge of these subjects there re- ceived, would rather intimidate than give confidence in an interference with a mechanism in which they have had exhibited but a view of its extreme delicacy and complication, without having been taught its most intimate relations, or the character of the agents which are adapted to its several parts, when in a state of de- rangement. It is not intended, however, here to stig- matize the clerical profession wTith a charge of sinister usurpation upon the province of the physician. On the contrary, it is gratifying to the author to express his conviction, that few of the more intelligent of that profession habitually indulge in the hazardous experi- ment of prescription. So far as the reverse is the fact, and the clergyman is prompted to assume the respon- sible office of the physician, it is presumable that such interchange of office is dictated by humane considera- tions, and those feelings that originate the distinguished benevolence which certainly characterize the profes- sion, rather than with the object, ostentatiously, to dis- play a superiority of knowledge and general scientific attainments.
114 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
blood" &c., that have appeared in this and all preceding ages, their deluded partakers, whose vitality has survived the ordeal, still linger invalids along the gloomy pathway of life ; many, no doubt, eagerly waiting some new will o' the wisp, by which they are to be led deeper into the fen which it is their object to avoid.
Such captions as above specified, with nu- merous others equally significant, are plain and simple announcements of a mysterious agency, which the proffered medicament is adequate to effect. Others, with pretended effects no less mysterious, are ushered forth with a preceding mysticism, as implied in the question, "What is it we call the constitution V9 with others of a similar import. These, although questions gravely propounded, are designed as a triumphant announcement, that the fortunate querist has developed the im- portant mystery which the interrogatory in- volves, together with the wonderful remedy which is alone adequate for its preservation. Others are introduced to the notice of the public with the most expressive and signi- ficant appellatives of Greek derivation, as "panacea" or cure all ; " hygiene,'" or health restoratives, &c. ; or the less euphonious names of "pain killer" "poor mans plaster" &c. Others are not deemed unworthy of receiv-
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 115
ing the cognomen of the distinguished inven- tor himself, as " Brandreth" "Morrison" "Mof- fatts pills" &c. ; while, others, doubtless with the view to intimate the probability that they were revelations of Manitu or Hobomack, are announced with the names of " Indian pills" " Brant's syrup" &c. If such are boons, pos- sessing but a small portion of the merit pre- tended, it must evidently be inferred that they were the revelation of some benevolent In- dian deity ; not, however, for the benefit of his friend, the red man, but for his oppressor, the " pale face." It is well known to those acquainted with Indian medical history, that chronic diseases, such as consumption, scrof- ula, &c, for the relief of which these Indian styled nostrums are announced, are entirely unknown to the wild tribes of that race. Consequently, neither a knowledge of these formidable diseases, nor the remedies for their removal, could have resulted from In- dian experience ; but must have been deri- ved, either from his peculiar instinct, or from a supernatural communication from the Great Spirit whom the Indian adores.
As most of those mentioned are the more humble species of a genus under consideration, it may be deemed invidious to pass without notice the more extensive and equally pre- tending species, denominated steam or botanic
116 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
doctors. While most of the former have, with assumed modesty, been content with less com- prehensive names, applied to their progeny only, such as vegetable pills, vegetable syrup, &c. : the last, with engrossing eagerness, have grasped whatever efficacy a distinguished name is capable of imparting, and personally assumed, as a cognomen, not only that of the vegetable kingdom, but likewise that additional, representing the most potent condition of the aqueous element.
It would seem that, in jealousy lest some other inquisitive suitor for the favors of these departments of nature, should extort a portion of their medicinal secrets, they have insured the monopoly of primogeniture, by the pro- tection of a patent. As these, like their Indian titled brethren, make little pretensions to the dry acquisitions of science, nor even by length- ened experience to have explored the intimate character and relations of the departments whose names they have assumed, it may be presumed that, like them, their reliance for success with the public is upon the potent and popular magic of their name, aided by a belief, common with a portion of community, that inspiration, instinct, or necromancy, is most capable of imparting the mysteries of the ani- mal economy ; the nature of the diseases to which it is subject ; and likewise of indicating
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 117
the particular agents by which health is to be preserved or restored. As claims thus de- pendent are obviously intangible, and too remote from the precincts of reason to allow its investigation, or even to be amenable to its decisions, its greater discretion will, evidently, be manifested in declining the discussion, and leave the merits of the system to be determined by the powers alluded to.
Lest these various attractive names, mot- toes and mysticisms, should fail in procuring the desired attention for these hopeful pro- geny of quackery, we observe, not unfrequently, the startling caption appended to their an- nouncements, "Beware of counterfeits !" de- signed, as all must perceive, to give importance to the wonderful bantling. This, so far as successful in beguiling the credulous, is indeed to be deplored. But when viewed in the light of the simple fact, is sufficiently ludicrous, as presenting the interesting spectacle, (hopeful indeed for the honest,) of an attempt of a knave to circumvent a knave in the division of the spoils of deception, and of an appeal to the anticipated victim to protect the base im- position.
But it is unnecessary to extend the cata- logue, or further to weary the attention of the intelligent, bv a notice of the contemptible arts practised by this class of impostors, with
11
118 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
a design to delude the ignorant, and those of easy faith. The grossest ignorance, or knave- ry, is the only category in which the entire species can claim rank. And it is to be, re- gretted, that the public have not long since uni- ted to deprive quackery of the ability of prey- ing upon their interests, by instituting a ra- tional investigation of the frauds by which such impositions have been sustained. If a few of the thousands of nostrums palmed upon the public are, in some instances efficacious as simple laxatives or deobstruents, the merits of all are to be estimated from their degree of inertness ; a character of which their inventors are specially mindful, from motives of economy as to the expense of the material used, if not of regard for the welfare of their deluded pa- tients. They are all to be ranked among the arts devised to abstract money from the suf- ferers from disease, without the expected equiv- alent of amended health. Some of a more active character are destructive of health, and not unfrequently of life. Others, as remarked, may be attended with benefit, w hen they hap- pen to be applied to diseases to which they are adapted. But the principal benefit derived from all, when such is the result, is more from the mental influence of faith and hope, im- parted by the unreserved assurance of their inventors, and the studied mystery or secrecy
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 119
with which they are invested, rather than from the inherent qualities of their respective com- binations. That faith and hope render es- sential aid to medication in diseases generally, by the healthful stimulus which they impart, is not to be questioned : and no judicious phy- sician will fail to secure their assistance, to a degree sanctioned by his scientific knowledge of the results of disease, and his professional candor. But the empiric, possessing neither of these essential qualities, but with a cormo- rant's eye, directed alone to his individual in- terest, appeals to credulity and the instinctive love of life, to further its attainment. And while he aims to excite expectations in all cases, however desperate their natural character, with the view to attain this engrossing object, he is reckless of the sad realities which he is accu- mulating to burst upon his victim and friends ; which are made poignant to a degree propor- tionate to the elevation of hope, inspired by his ignorance and knavery.
It is a fact, difficult of explanation, that individuals who in all cases exercise a sa- gacity and caution in their selection of skillful artisans for the structure or repair of their most ordinary mechanisms for domestic use, should make an exception to their cus- tomary rule when the vital fabric on which their health and life are dependent, is con- cerned. In this case, it is most surprising
]20 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
that those should be discarded who possess a scientific knowledge of its structure and econ- omy; and that confidence should be reposed in pretenders who are not only wanting, to a lamentable degree, in moral and mental en- dowments, but are totally devoid of a know- ledge of the intricate mechanism from which they profess to remove embarrassment. It is probable, however, that a solution of the problem may be derived from the fact, that many persons contemplate the organic vital economy by the rules of judgment which they apply to ordinary mechanisms. Instead of viewing it as a whole, whose powers and ca- pabilities are dependent upon an assemblage of its various parts, which differ from these only in its amazing complexity, they rather consider it as a species of mysterious unity, a knowledge of which is beyond the reach of the human intellect, and therefore is incapa- ble of receiving aid from its exercise.
It is, doubtless, rather conceived by such, that its character can alone be developed by some unaccountable process, which, in its origin and nature, has little affinity to, or de- pendence on, ordinary mental perception ; but which, notwithstanding, is adapted to develop the mystery of the vital mechanism, and the character of its derangements. With those who arrive at conclusions so irrational
EMPIRICISM AND QUACKERY. 121
relative to the animal economy, it is not sur- prising that notions the most absurd should exist, regarding the agents by which its dis- ordered condition is to be effectually counter- acted, or even its healthy actions sustained.
If those who entertain such vague and un- defined notions of the animal economy, would but exercise that degree of reason which they apply in their judgments of the nature and properties of ordinary mechanism, and avail themselves of means within the power of all for a due estimate of its character, they would learn that its results, like most of these, pro- ceed from a complicated assemblage of in- ternal organs, holding marked relations, each being essential to the specific identity of the general systematic action, and all being alike dependent for healthy operation upon the law, in accordance with which its struc- ture was modeled. They would likewise learn that this, in consequence of superi- ority of mechanism, is infinitely more subject to dangerous embarrassments from the hands of those ignorant of its structure, than is the most complicated artificial machinery from the interference of those ignorant of its several parts, and the laws and principles upon which its actions are made dependent. In short, they would, without hesitation, repudiate the pre-
11*
122 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
tender to marvel-working upon the disordered animal fabric, when such person was unable to exhibit satisfactory evidence that he was ver- sed in the science of its structure.
SECTION VII.
Homoeopathy. " Credo quia impossibile."*
Most of the antagonist influences which the science of medicine has encountered in its progress, consist in the petty and con- temptible devices of the ignorant quack and nostrum-monger. These generally consist of but one, or at most a few pretended specifics, which are announced as applicable to all dis- eases, however diverse may be their character, or the degree of activity which they exhibit.
The authors of these inventions, (to pro- mote their selfish and ambitious designs, hold- ing no pretensions to science, and generally wanting the requisite genius or industry to construct complicated systems,) confidently trust their success upon experiments for the diversion of popular reason, and their alluring appeals to the existing passion for novelty and mystery ; an agency which their instinc- tive sagacity gives assurance is paramount to
* " I believe it, for the reason that it is impossible."- Ancient satirical paradox.
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all others for the accomplishment of their un- hallowed object.
Occasionally, however, opposing systems, the inventions of authors more talented, and of loftier ambition, have originated from the labratory of empiricism, such as the atomic theory of Epicurus, the chemical theory of Paracelsus,* that embracing the astral influ-
* Paracelsus, who may be considered the father of the chemical theory, flourished at the commencement of the sixteenth century, when the science of chemistry was in its infancy, and when its almost magical phe- nomena excited the most extravagant hopes in its re- sults. He possessed undoubted superiority of talent, and, considering the period in which he lived, was emi- nent for his scientific attainments. Like Hahnemann, he announced himself to the world as a medical re- former, with a boldness, assurance, and self-compla- cency, which render him a worthy prototype of the modern adventurer for the same distinction. Were a modern biographer of the pretended reformers of sci- ence, morals, and religion, to adopt the mode of Plu- tarch, by instituting a comparison between his several subjects, this distinguished empiric is the one, of all oth- ers, in whom he might find a striking parallel to the au- thor of homoeopathy ; as, in self-conceit, boldness, vision- ary theorizing, and affected contempt of authority and experience, it would be difficult to discover a " par no- bile fratrum" possessing a greater assimilation of char- acter and mental qualities.
Paracelsus promulgated the theory, that all changes of organic structure, constituting disease, as well as those inducing1 senilitv, were the effects of a deranging preponderance, of either the acid or alkaline constitu-
HOMCEOPATHY. 125
ences, termed astrology, &c., each of which, for a period, became a formidable rival to medi-
cuts of the organs ; and in both cases, were susceptible of counteraction, by appropriate neutralizing antago- nists, or by additional supplies to the deficient element. His doctrines, therefore, will be perceived as wholly based on chemistry ; and so infatuated did he become in their advocacy, that he proclaimed an era, as not only having dawned, but had actually become resplen- dent, through the light of his genius, when assaults upon the citadel of life, whether by disease or age, were ren- dered imbecile when defended by his chemical jpo- tenccs.
He proclaimed all antecedent medical science and experience but a tissue of errors, in which the human mind had ever groped, until dissipated by his wonder- ful discoveries. Such was his dogmatic zeal, that he caused a collection of the writings of Hippocrates, Cel- sus, Galen, and all preceding works on medicine, and formally committed them to the flames, before his ad- miring class of pupils, while seated in pomp in his pro- fessorial chair at the institution of Padua, in which he was a lecturer and teacher.
In arrogant conceit of his own self-importance, in a pretended ability for effecting revolutionary results, in denunciations of the labors of his predecessors, — indeed, in all respects, except that of asserting a claim to the power of resisting the encroachments of age, the Ger- man is in no degree inferior in pretensions to his Pa- duan parallel. The latter compounded an elixir vitae, or immortalizing catholicon, which he ever bore about his person, to meet the emergency of a vital assault, and ever proclaimed his own material immortality, as well as that of all others, possessing a faith in its re-in- vigorating influence.
It is not improbable that Paracelsus, living at the
126 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
cal science. But with the subsidence^ their novelties, and by the influence of a science based upon reason, these visionary fabrica- tions, each in succession, yielded its pre-em- inence to some other, constructed on a sem- blance more nearly representing the existing state of the sciences, and more accordant with the varied condition of popular taste and sen- timent.
period of the dawn of chemical science, might have en- tertained honest expectations, that its agents would ef- fect anew era in the science of medicine; and, perhaps, accomplish many of the wonders which he announced. Whatever may have been the motives by which he was actuated however, he now appears in the dilemma of having been a downright knave, or an infatuated mono- maniac. Unfortunately for his hopes of a perpetuated material existence, he died in a state of intoxication, at about the as^e of fort v. with his vitalizing elixir in his pocket. He was equally unlucky in securing for him- self posthumous fame as a public benefactor, as his superior intellect, in connection with his lofty preten- sions, served only to stigmatize his memory with the derogatory title of prince of quacks. There is little doubt that the
" Longing after immortality," or
u The secret dread and inward horror Of falling into naught,"
have prompted most of the boasted reformers in medi- cine, as well as in morals and religion, to their strenu- ous efforts ; although the alternative in prospect may alone have been a like unpropitious and infamous re- membrance.
HOMCEOPATHY. 127
The latest, and the existing theory of this description, is that denominated homoeopa- thy, the invention of an ultra conceited Ger- man, of some talent and some pretensions to science, named Hahnemann.* The assumed principles of this theory are equally novel with those enumerated, and opposed to all observa- tion and experience of the lights of medical science, for the past three thousand years. This system is based on pretensions which, (if true,) demolish the conclusions of all pre- vious investigators of the agents employed for the removal of diseases; and it must be ad-
* The entire of the writings of this visionary is but a tissue of conceitedness, uniformly egotistical, and self- laudatory of his own sagacity, as manifested in his won- derful discovery. The title of his work called " Orga- non," was adopted, no doubt, from a conceit of the in- tellectual resemblance of the author with the immortal Bacon, whose work, on the inductive method of reason- ing, is styled " Novum Organum."
The following affords but a small specimen from that work of his self-laudatory and self-complacent method of writing : " I am the first who pursued this path with perseverance that could alone result from, and be sup- ported by the intimate conviction of this great truth, so valuable to the human race, that the homoeopathic administration of medicines is the sole method of curing
o
disease." — Organon, page 137.
" It is impossible that there should be any other true method of curing dynamic diseases, besides homoeopa- thv."— JW.
128 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
mitted, that the hitherto universally received notions of the proportionate relations which the power of causes hold with their effects in mechanical philosophy, require essential modi- fication, on the acknowledgement of the
tli eoT °f ^^ StraDge' n0t t0 Saj PreP°stero«s That such a claim should be preferred for a reversal of belief in established opinions and principles, may well excite derision, when it is understood that its validity consists, not in the tested developments of time and ex- tended observation of facts, accumulated by a mass of talent and intelligence, but mostly on the closet lucubrations of the inventor, Hahne- mann tested by the assumed experience of his discip es who, in aggregate of talent, are far Irom holding a rank equal with the medium standard of medical reputation.
In addressing the intelligent, it cannot be necessary to adduce evidence to prove that every branch of science has attained its pre- sent comparative state of perfection, through the associated labors of intellect in all pre- ceding ages : nor that medicine, one of the most complicated of the sciences, involving all the abstruse problems of the animal econo- my instead of being an exception, presents a neld requiring a greater succession of intel- lectual effort for its successful cultivation,
HOMOEOPATHY. 129
than any other branch of learning. If, there- lore, it has failed to acquire the exactness to which other sciences have attained, it is to be imputed to the yet insufficient period which has elapsed since its origin, adequately to de- fine the complicated principles upon which it is based, rather than to the want of talent and assiduity with which it has been culti- vated.
No individual, versed in the science of hu- man nature, would for a moment give heed to pretensions, that the existing degree of civil- ization, which has resulted from a progessive process through ages, could be developed in barbarous communities within the short period of a few months, or even years, by the teach- ings of one or a few individuals. Nor would such admit, that the wonderful inventions in the arts, as the steam engine, &c, instead of resulting from a happy application of princi- ples which were the product of the combined intellect of various ages, were the sole and in- dependent offspring of the individual genius of their authors. Yet such conclusions, in regard to civilization and the arts, would be no more irrational, than the belief that a sys- tem, like that of medicine, could originate and be perfected by the labors of an individual, however great his genius, which should be more perfect, and more worthy of confidence,
12
130 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
than that based upon the experience and in- tellectual contributions of men the most dis- tinguished for talent, and deeply skilled in the science of the animal economy, during the period of more than thirty centuries.
Such, it will be understood, are the claims of homoeopathy, which is known to be found- ed solely on the speculations of its inventor and a few recent followers, who, as has been noticed, generally hold a minor rank in the profession to which they claim to belong.
The above view of facts, in connection with the important consideration, that the principles upon which medical science is founded, have not only been sustained, but essentially strengthened by the sanction of men of the highest standing for literary acquirements and talent in every era of its history, and hav- ing at the present period obtained the assent of nearly all its enlightened and unbiased pro- fessors in every country, warrant the highly important suggestion to all who are not inti- mately versed in the science of the animal economy, (previous to yielding their faith to such novel pretensions as that of homoeopa- thy,) to institute a scientific examination of the time-tested system, which it aims to sup- plant ; and this, with the view of estimating the merits of both, from a rational compari- son of their respective claims.
HOMOEOPATHY. 131
It is presumed, that honest convictions in- fluence the non-professional converts to the doctrines of homoeopathy, to repose confi- dence and life upon that most inefficient of all empirical systems that has ever yet pre- tended to contribute to a restoration of health, from a state of disease. But, if a like charitable vindication is extended to its professional advocates, who profess an ac- quaintance with medical science, it must alone consist in that unenviable mantle, the " one idea" which is frequently adduced to protect the social and religious fanatic from the charge of selfish ambition and direct impos- ture.
It is not here designed minutely to discuss the claims which the established science of medicine, and homoeopathy, respectively prof- fer for public consideration. But that the candid searcher after truth may be supplied with data on which to base his conclusions, allusion will briefly be made to some of the prominent facts and principles which charac- terize each, that, by a comparative view, the judgment may more readily decide on their respective merits
The most extended experience of all the most distinguished cultivators of medical sci- ence, has proved that the effects of medicinal
132 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
substances on the human system hold a relation to the quantity applied ; and that such effects are modified, in various degrees, proportionate to such quantities, from their action as a destructive poison, to their termi- nation in almost infinitely minute effects ; or their entire inefficiency, from minuteness of quantity, to act upon the vital organism.
Medicines, when applied to the structure of the economy, form no exception to the physi- cal law, that active forces, or causes, are re- quired to bear a relation to the amount of force to be acted upon ; or, in short, the cause is required to be adapted to the effect expected to be produced. Thus, if in the human sys- tem diseased action exists, the counteracting effects of the medicine given for its removal, is required to be of sufficient force to over- come, or control it ; and the quantity admin- istered is to be graduated in relation to the force of the diseased action. Or if the entire vital action is designed to be suppressed, large- ly increased quantities of the same, constitu- ting a medicinal poison, is required for its ac- complishment.
Every tyro in natural philosophy possesses the knowledge, that quantities of the explo- sives, such as gunpowder, which would be adequate, when placed in suitable situations, to demolish the largest buildings, or to disinte-
HOMOEOPATHY. 133
grate the largest rocks, may, by extreme di- vision, have its power so modified, as to mani- fest effects scarcely appreciable upon masses of far less magnitude than those instanced.
Indeed, it may be assumed as an incontro- vertible position, that all material agents, whether organized or inorganic, when re- quired to act upon other matter, will fail in their desired operation, unless, by their mole- cular combination, a power is generated pro- portionate to the effects sought to be pro- duced ; or, in other words, to the bulk of mat- ter to be affected by its force. Thus the life of the infant is destroyed by a quantity of opium, or other poisons, which the adult might take with impunity. When given for remedial purposes, all medicines produce re- sults in a ratio corresponding with the quan- tities given and the age of the recipient, sub- ject however to the occasional exception of modification by peculiar idiosyncrasy. Com- bination of kernels of gunpowder will impel the cannon ball through the hull of the dis- tant ship, while the individual grain is incapa- ble of commencing its action. And in no in- stance whatever, except in the brain of the arrant visionary, can a different perception of the laws to which matter is subjected, be en- tertained or countenanced.
12*
134 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
Now, in application of the foregoing reason- ing to medical science, it may be stated, that the most lengthened experience has deter- mined, that diseases are agencies acting in contravention to healthy systematic action, and generally, if uncontroled by remedies, or the sanatary efforts of the economy, termin- ate in the dissolution, or serious detriment of the fabric invaded. The same length- ened experience has determined, that certain medicinal agents, administered in quantities suitable for the existing emergency, possess the ability, often to overcome such deranged action, and to effect a return to a state of health, by the counteraction and expulsion of the causes by which it has been interrupted.
For the purpose of rendering aid to com- mon-sense conclusions, at which it is impor- tant that all, whether professional or non-pro- fessional, should arrive on this subject, a few facts will briefly be adduced, which are deem- ed incontrovertible, as they have been estab- lished by the general assent of all rational physicians in every age and country.
A large proportion of diseases have ever been acknowiedged as originating from de- rangement of the organs of digestion,* in
* The secondary cause of most diseases is derived by Hahnemann, from itch or siphilis, which has been
HOMCEOPATHV. 135
consequence of the irritation of their imme- diate contents. In such cases their removal is desirable, and is often speedily effected by emetics, of which tartarized antimony is one of the most important. This, given in doses of from three to six grains, or in less quanti- ties, in combination with other emetic sub- stances, in proper proportions of each, (as is usually practised,) often speedily removes the irritating contents of the stomach, and with them the general diseased action. The same medicine, when exhibited in much di- minished doses, as from the one eighth to the sixteenth or twentieth of a grain, varied of
repelled into the system, by alloeopathic treatment ; the primary cause of these diseases being mental. How- ever skeptical may be allceopathic physicians, as to his reasonings reGfardino: the mental origin of the former disease, doubtless all will yield their assent as regards the latter. With such view of diseases, it is not sur- prising that sulphur and mercury in " potenccs" (Hah- nemann) of a millionth, or trillionth of a grain, should rank among his most favorite remedies. It must be presumed that Hahnemann's reasonings regarding his theory of the mental origin of diseases, have been satis- factory and convincing to all his followers ; as, otherwise, it would be evincing a want of respect to their intellects to suppose, that they could bestow a faith upon his molecular or atomic doses ; which, like mathematical points, are rather objects of mental conception, than an existence susceptible of demonstration by any evidence derived from impressions made on the senses.
13G CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
course by age and peculiarity of constitution, without producing emetic action, lias been de- termined, by the same general experience, to be one of the most valuable remedies in fe- brile diseases, by its action on the skin and lungs, producing perspiration and expectora- tion, effects most salutary in this class of af- fections. If the quantity given is so gradu- ated as to produce slight nausea, without emetic effects, its efficacy, in general, is more manifest. Given in quantities much dimin- ished from those mentioned, its effects are in- appreciable to the senses either of the pa- tient or physician. Calomel, in doses of from five to fifteen grains, is a valuable cathartic ; and when the quantity is diminished to one half, or one fourth of one grain, is an alterative or deobstruent. But in quantities much less- ened, these effects disappear, and the system manifests no recognizance of its presence within it. Many of the spasmodic affections yield to large exhibitions of opium, as from two to several grains, while the ordinary dose of one grain rarely is capable of controling them. In ordinary instances, one grain will generally produce quiescence, or sleep, in adults ; but essentially diminished from this quantity, its sensible effects will be slight, or in no degree noticeable. It is unnecessary further to particularize substances employed
HOMCEOPATHY. 137
as remedies, but it may be generally stated, that all remedial agents act upon the sys- tem with like proportionate effects to the quantities administered. If essential devia- tions from the effects stated, occasionally oc- cur in individual instances, such are but rare deviations from a general law, and but prove the exceptions which may arise from individual idiosyncrasies, repulsive of the action of par- ticular remedial agents.
In this connection will be noticed the preten- sions of the homoeopathic theory, which assigns to all diseases a primary origin in the mind, and which is assumed as proved and substantiated by the speculations and experience of Hahne- mann, and a limited number of his disciples.*
* It has been stated, in a previous note, that the chemical theory of Paracelsus was based upon the as- sumption, that the causes of diseased action consisted in the predominance of an acid or an alkali ; and that to effect their removal, simple neutralizing re-agents were required. The theory of Hahnemann rests on the posi- tion, announced with equal dogmatic assurance, that all diseases are of primary mental origin ; consequently, reasoning a priori upon such imputed cause, with the object of investigating curative agencies for disease thus generated, must inevitably have led the distinguished discoverer to his celebrated maxim, similia simililus curantur ; or, literally, that remedies, to prove efficacious on a cause thus subtle, must possess a similar refined character to that of the agency to be effected. This
13S CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
It is designed, by this method, to facilitate ra- tional conclusions, by means of a ready com-
mode of reasoning must necessarily have taught him that such cause (in the lucid lancnia^e of the author of Or- ganon) " cannot otherwise be assailed and effected than in a (dcnamic) spiritual manner ; neither can such mor- bid disturbances, or, in other words, such diseases, be removed by the physician, except, in like manner, by means of the spiritual ( dinamic visual) countervailing agency of suitable medicines, acting on the same vital principle." — Or ganon, page 85.
Many metaphysicians have reasoned that the mind is a sort of monad, possessing neither parts nor extension ; a kind of mathematical point, existing without actual existence ; in fact, an entity, intangible, unextensible, undefinable, yet acting, active, effective, and susceptible of being affected. On the presumption that the author of homoeopathy belonged to this class of psychological sages, the beauty and magnitude of his discovery, that " like cures like," must be apparent. For the mind wrants the power of conceiving of an agency more subtle, and of a character more accordant with, and like its own nature, as above denned, than that exhibited in a ho- moeopathic decillionth or sextillionth part of an ordinary alleceopathic dose of chemically concentrated, or other drugs. In view of such magnitude of minuteness, it is not surprising that Hahnemann's exponent, the ima- ginative Jocelin, should, in rapturous admiration of the wisdom of his German master, have written that " one man, by Hahnemann's process, can, in a single day, effect a greater comminution of a substance than could have been effected in a direct mixture by the combined labor of the whole human race, continually operating since the creation of Adam. The labor that built the pyramids is nothing in comparison to that of even the eighteenth potence by such a process ; that is, by thorough- ly triturating one grain with a sextillionth of a grain !"
HOMCEOPATHY. 139
parison of this theory with the principles and laws hitherto announced as predominant in all departments of nature, whether vital or inorganic, and which, as stated, have been confirmed by rational investigation in all periods in which science has been cultiva- ted.
Instead of deductions, heretofore recognized, regarding the efficient quantities and definite operation of remedial agents, the homoeopath has substituted the theory, that the " infinites- imal" diminution of the ordinary quantities, exerts a power antagonistic to disease, which, far more surely, interrupts disordered action, and more speedily restores organism to its nat- ural healthy condition.
Thus, in the case of the tartarized antimony, instanced above, in lieu of its least diaphoretic, or perspirative dose, which the most extended experience has decided suitable and adequate for such effects, the dilution and exhibition of such quantity (viz., the l-3th or 1 -20th grain) in millionth or even trillionth parts, is announ- ced by homoeopathy, as possessing a potency in controling diseased action, which advances in a ratio proportionate to the diminution of the quantity administered, or at least in degrees presenting similar relations. Opium, which has been noticed as requiring exhibition in largely increased doses in some spasmodic
140 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
diseases to reduce their action, by the ho- moeopathic theory, undergoes equal division and attenuation with antimony, in which state its powers are claimed as appearing in their greatest development.
As a particularity of detail would be but a repetition of the same principle of exhibition, applied to the various remedies employed in homoeopathic prescription, it is deemed suffi- cient to state, that quinine, ipecacuanha, aco- nite, cicuta, and indeed their entire catalogue of medicines, are administered in the same form of infinitesimal reduction of doses, as those of antimony, calomel, and opium.*
In considering the preceding illustrations, derived from the physical laws, the Homoe- opath will most probably object, that such are not applicable to the animal economy ; as this is subject to the influence of a vital force,
* A globule of sugar, impregnated with the juice of aconite, of the decillionth degree of dilution, cures the most violent pleuritic fever in twenty-four hours at fur- therest. — Organon, page 16, note.
It is taught by Hahnemann, " that the homoeopathic medicinal agent, selected by a skillful physician, will convert it (the disease,) into another medicinal disease, which is analogous, but rather more intense," "and this in turn is easily subdued by the vital powers, leaving, in its primitive state of integrity and health, the essence or substance which animates and preserves the body." — See Organon, page 90.
HOMOEOPATHY. 141
which furnishes the law of its action. In re- ply to such objection, it may be stated, that it is not a fact that vitality is a power inde- pendent of the laws governing ordinary mat- ter ; it only holds an agency in the econ- omy, which, during its existence, so modifies its action as to render aid in effecting the specific changes which characterize the pecu- liar combinations of matter, constituting a liv- ing fabric, in contradistinction to its ordinary- aggregation.
Thus gravity is not in any degree suspended in its action on the general vitalized com- pound. The heart circulates the blood on principles strictly mechanical, deriving from vitality only its structural abilities, and a stim- ulus inciting its contractile and impulsive ca- pabilities. It requires for its exertion of nor- mal healthy action, an amount of stimulus equal to that supplied by the entire volume of the blood ; and as in many diseases this stim- ulus is defective, it is reasonable to presume that the artificial supply must be supplied from sources more abounding in power than the the atomic " potences" of homoeopathy.
The stomach, liver, &c, furnish fluids charged with suitable chemical agents, to ef- fect digestion of the food, and its preparation for systemic nutriment. Indeed, the functions generally are made dependent upon the ordin-
Vo
142 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
ary laws of matter, subject to a degree of mod- ification by the vital influence.
The invisible and hidden function of organic nutrition, there is every reason to suppose, is effected through the medium of the chemical agents contained in the blood, causing deposi- tion of new material in parts requiring such, and a simultaneous detachment of the effete and deleterious debris of the organs ; and by the same active affinities, aided by an en- dosmosis, (a kind of capillary attraction,) their expulsion from the system is accomplished. Disease, which in most cases is a disordered state of nutrition, consists of, or is doubtless attended with, an increase or diminution of the chemical stimuli which ordinarily abound in the blood.
Chemistry conclusively shows, that the ani- mal fabric is composed of a variety of ele- mentary constituents, many of which, as car- bon, soda, potass, lime, sulphur, phosphorus, iron, &c, furnish homoeopathy with its most efficient remedies. It is probable that the quantities of these various elements of the system, existing in the fluids and solids of every adult, which substances, as medicines, are exhibited by the homoeopath in infinites- imal doses, as his most active remedies, would furnish to any honest prescriber, on the strict principles of Hahnemann, more than would
HOMOEOPATHY. 143
suffice for active prescription, the entire period of the longest professional life, if not of sev- eral lives.
An illustration still more demonstrative of homoeopathic irrationality, may be derived from the phenomena of diseases manifested during their progress, and often at the period of their origin. Facts of the most obvious character show, that in many formidable di- seases, the healthy balance of the elements composing the organic fabric becomes deran- ged, presenting a deficiency or preponderancy of some of these, furnishing often the most prominent agency of derangement. Thus, in calcular affections, the natural acids, or alkalies, acquire such ascendency as to exhibit the most marked features of the disease. In rickets, a deficiency of limy compounds is proved by the defective supply of that substance for the solidification of the bones. Scurvy presents a putrescent and alkaline condition of the fluids and solids of the system, requiring, with improved diet and tonics, a large supply of acids to correct this altered condition of the healthy organic compounds.
These diseases, as well as gout, rheuma- tism, and some others, exhibit indubitable evi- dence that great derangement in the equilib- rium of the constituent elements of the sys- tem often exists ; and whether this constitutes
144 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
a primary or secondary agent of disease, it certainly affords an indication of chief im- portance in their treatment, that remedies, in adaptation of quantities as well as kinds, should be applied with the view to restore the ele- mentary inequality.
In such condition of disease, a rational se- lection of remedies would be such as had re- ference to a restoration of the healthy equili- brium that had been interrupted, by furnishing such substances, as remedies, which were of a nature to supply the deficient, or to neutralize the preponderating element, and thereby aid in a restoration of the normal healthy standard. But, by homoeopathic theorizing, such obvious state of disease is to be combatted, not by the exhibition of acids, alkalies, tonics, &c, in the rational quantity of a compensating supply of the deficient elements, as neutralizing agents of those superabounding, but rather by a charm in the name of "millionth" or " decillionth dilu- tions" of such remedies, by which the elementa- ry discords are to be removed, and the unnatural strife hushed to an immediate healthy repose. But it is not only preposterous, but the extreme of folly, seriously to pretend that the deranged relations of these abounding systemic ele- ments can be restored to their healthy propor- tions by the baseless nothings which is the literal interpretation of all homoeopathic pre- scription.
HOMCEOPATIIY. 145
Chemical analysis shows conclusively, that many substances employed as nutrients con- tain some of the most active medicinal poisons, which the homoeopath affects to administer but in doses of a millionth or decillionth dilu- tion of an ordinary alloeopathic quantity, but which are often taken daily, as food or condi- ments, in great comparative concentration. Of these are, prussic acid, in the peach, almond, &c. ; opium, oxalic acid, &c, in lettuce, sorrel, and a variety of sallads.
Even the atmosphere which we inspire, ever contains carbonic acid, an active compound of carbon, estimated at from one hundredth to one thousandth parts of its volume. Occa- sionally many other of the most energetic sub- stances are diffused in the air in a gaseous form, and in frequent instances are moment- arily introduced within the system in consider- able quantities. Indeed, were all the active substances thus daily taken into the economy by the invisible natural processes, but pre- scribed by the alleoeopathic physician, in view of the Hahnemannic lights, there is little ques- tion that (from a prescient view of the disas- trous result) a homicide, "secundum artem" would not fail to be announced.*
* In view of such manifest dangers, which a necessary science unfolds to him, the intelligent homoeopath is
13*
146 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
This recent novelty founds its claims, not on the pretended discovery of new physiological principles, or new remedial agents for the cure of disease, but on the employment of such as have long been known and thoroughly investi- gated by physicians. It is true that Hahne- mann, its originator, has announced the novel theory, that all diseases owe their primary origin to the mind; and he is entitled to the credit of the discovery, that a knowledge of the anatom-
certainly an object requiring the commisseration of all the humane; since Providence has immersed him in perils, (which his science can but unfold,) by imposing upon him necessities, both in his structure and position, the indulgence of which is perpetually saturating his system with formidable poisons in allceopathic quantities. In such condition, with the knowledge that the effects of a single dose of a millionth or a trillionth portion of a grain, (as taught by Hahnemann,) continues its effects during a period of from four to six days, either for safety or danger, the exceeding frail tenor on which he holds existence must ever be fearfully before him, and even its hourly continuance must appear a perpetual mar- vel and demonstrative miracle. In addition, it may be presumed that his humane sympathies for the brute creation would be hopelessly annoying to his mental quiet, as he ought to view them as furnished with pro- visionary instincts, directing them, when diseased, to appropriate remedies, which they are compelled to re- ceive allceopathically, for the want of the means of homoeopathic manipulation ; as nature has furnished no remedies of sufficient dilution in which their highest curative " potcnccs" can be attained.
HOMCEOPATHY. 147
ical structure of the system is without utility to the physician ; as he teaches that a perception of the locality of disease, or of the particular organ affected, renders no aid, nor is this to be taken into consideration in the applications for its cure. Divested of such absurd notions, and the most wild and visionary theorizing on the nature of disease, announced in a train of equally absurd reasoning and a new verbal coinage, probably as little comprehended by the writer as his readers, the tangible novelty of homoeopathy consists in the simple but strange announcement, that remedial agents are salutary and efficacious for the cure of disease, only, when exhibited in quantities so infinitely minute, that no reflective or rational mind, versed in the character of the animal economy, or the agency of causes by which it is affected, can for a moment admit their effi- cacy, either upon the system of the patient or his disease, in the least degree, except what may be derived through the credulous faith of those inviting its exhibition. In fact, no such investigation can result in any other conclu- sion, than that homoeopathic prescription acts merely as a mental anodyne during the period that the conservative powers with which the organic economy is endowed, by their unaided efforts, either expel the morbid agents, thereby restoring healthy action to the organs, or, if
148 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
less successful in their attempts, yield them to their destructive influence.
Such is the remedial power with which or- ganization is endowed, that, by its unaided efforts, morbid agencies are often successfully counteracted, and many grave diseases re- moved, not unfrequently when its power is embarrassed by the noxious administration of the quack, or the injudicious employment of his nostrums. It is, therefore, little surprising that the Homoeopathic pretender, aided in his assumptions by this conservator of the econ- omy, should not want his purloined occasions to boast of recoveries from disease subsequent to his prescriptions ; notwithstanding similar claims might, with far greater justice, be pre- ferred by every matronly village dispenser of mullen, catnip, and her various anti-drug for- mulas ; or, by the prescriber of relics and charms to the nervously affected invalid, re- quiring such appropriate mental stimulus as a credulous faith is often capable of imparting.
The above remarks are, beyond question, true as regards prescription in accordance with the ostensible tenets of Homoeopathy. But it is highly probable that most of its professional advocates have embraced its doctrines, with the view to make its novelties available to se- cure public patronage, and thereby enhance their interests, rather than from the convic-
HOMOEOPATHY. 149
tion of the real value of the claims which it proffers.
From such presumption may be derived a hope, that the sum of evil accruing to society from the omissions of Homoeopathy to supply efficacious treatment to imminent disease may, in a considerable degree, be diminished in the apparent amount, which an ordinary estimate of the judgment would be likely to give. A courteous charity must suggest that such ac- commodating professors, when prescribing for grave diseases requiring energetic prescription, would make such judicious appropriation of the resources of the two opposite systems as the emergency might require, although their consistency, as well as expediency r, should dictate that alloeopathic quantities be denominated Homoeopathic, when exhibited before confi- ding spectators of their acts.
AH empirical nostrums and systems, that have ever been announced, have had the ac- companiment of an assumed evidence of their superiority over the established system, which it was the aim of their projectors to supercede. Indeed, the sagacity of the inventors would be justly impeached, were their systems presented to a common sense public, without such indis- pensible requisite for the attainment of their pre- meditated designs. As the ambition for popular eclat, however transient or unmerited, and an
150 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
engrossing self-interest, are the impelling mo- tives which influence the empirical pretender to construct his inventions, a common estimate of his intellect would naturally excite the expecta- tion, that his fabric would be woven in conform- ity with that propensity of the mind, hertofore alluded to, upon which he must be presumed to be aware his success alone depends ; and that it should be fortified by an ostensible armature of assumed facts, sufficient to subdue the natural skepticism of the mind, and delude to a surren- der of its belief in the novelty presented.
In such adaptations of its texture, and the necessary display of assumptions and pretended facts requisite to ensure a temporary success, the Hahnemanic theory is not defective, or un- worthy of a comparison with its defunct pre- decessors. Nor will it appear that its author is undeserving a reputation for sagacity, and an intimate knowledge of ordinary human nature. For, while he has indulged a propensity for the novel and the marvelous, he has entrenched himself within a cloud of subtleties and mysti- cisms, more profoundly obscured by his reason- ings and new-coined technicality. Whether true, therefore, or false, it may perhaps ever remain a perplexing paradox to ordinary rea- son and the senses, for the cause, that the ob- jects and facts pretended to be embraced are too intangible, and too far beyond their pre-
HOMOEOPATHY. 151
cincts, to be made the subjects of their inves- tigation.
Such is the texture and adaptations of the Homoeopathic novelty, which evidently has been moulded in a conformity with the cre- dulity of the existing period of advancement in the sciences. A period when such gross sys- tems as astrology and its kindred species, which were adapted to the false sciences of the middle ages, could in no degree be counte- nanced, even by the most ignorant. Yet, singular as it may appear, this theory is not wanting presumed disinterested advocates, pos- sessing intelligence and science, who have been captivated by its plausible novelties, so far as to yield it their support. This phe- nomenon must be explained on the supposition that these, by over-rigid speculations on the acknowledged imperfections of reason, have adjudged its entire fallibility ; and are there- fore ready to embrace, as a substitution, the figments of its rival, imagination. Or that, from a knowledge of the imperfections of le- gitimate medical science, they are inclined to discard the entire system for the embrace of such novelties as may be rendered specious by a given number of assumed facts, although these, they may be compelled to receive, mainly, on the authority of their promulgators alone ; or perhaps, in some instances, the theory mav
152 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
have been adopted through the influence of a preponderating tendency of the mind to a ready faith in the marvelous and obscure, by which its decisions have been biased, while under excitement from the novelties presented, rather than by a dispassionate examination which the importance of the subject undoubt- edly demands.
Homoeopathy, however, may not be un- worthy of a consideration in estimating de- grees of negative merit, when contrasted with the over-drugging quack and the mercen- ary nostrum-monger. For while the latter, through eagerness for gain, often destroys health and life by encouraging quantitive exhibition of their specifics, the infinitesimal doses of the former, though contributing no aid to the sanative power of nature, certainly is not chargeable with interposing the least de- gree of embarrassment to its conservative ope- rations.
From the exposition of the tenets of ho- moepathy which has been given it will appear, that their reception as legitimate science, not only involves the discussion, that the essential principles on which all past and existing med- ical prescription is founded are erroneous and false, but that the rational deduction in nat- ural philosophy, that causes hold a corres- ponding relation to the effects which they
HOMCEOPATHY. 153
originate, is a position alike fallacious and un- tenable, which is an assumption too prepos- terous to need the attempt to refute.
It is to be feared, that the easy faith of converts to this theory has been biased by the probabilities which have been realized by the extraordinary inventions in the arts, in modern periods, rather than by sober philo- sophical investigation of the relations that such bear to the principles discovered by preceding cultivators of science. It will, however, ap- pear manifest to all familiar with the scien- tific history of the principles upon which such inventions are dependent, that their authors, though entitled to distinguished consideration for their discoveries, have been able to acquire their reputation by so availing themselves of the labors of their predecessors, as, by a hap- py application and combination of previous discoveries, to accomplish the great results that emanate from their genius.
If these individual inventions in the arts are generally but completing combinations of structures, by their fortunate discoverers, that have long been in progress by the efforts of a succession of laborers in the field of the phys- ical sciences, much less can it be expected that a complicated system, like that of medicine, based on the vital laws and embracing the en- tire range of the natural sciences, should be
14
154 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
developed and perfected by any individual, however intellectually endowed. But far less can it be rationally hoped to be accomplished by such adventurous speculatists as have uni- versally been the authors of its innovating rival theories.
No one questions but that medical science is jet susceptible of the greatest improvements. But it is the extreme of folly to entertain a notion of the probability, that this time- confirmed system is to be demolished by the infantile genius of homoeopathy, and that its own fabric is destined to be erected on its ruins.*
* Since this section was in press, the author has met with an epistolary essay, addressed to the public, which is admirably illustrative of the data on which homoeo- pathy relies for its success. Of the writer's scientific character, moral orthodoxy, or standing with the fra- ternity to wThich he has attached himself, farther than his portraiture in his epistle shows, the author is wholly ignorant ; but (as is common in similar cases) he an- nounces that he has passed the tedious ordeal of allceo- pathy. It is to be understood that the former is of course proved ; and his conversion to homoeopathy, upon the presentation of certain important facts, may be received as evidence of his honesty and extreme conscienciousness. Throughout the pages of this document, the interesting canines appear beautifully protrusive and prominent. Skeptics also, (unless hopelessly willful,) may obtain light, as in addition to the opportunities afforded in said circular, the writer, in furtherance of his object of pro- moting true science and the public welfare, has candidly
HOMCEOPATHY. 155
If such idea may be entertained, that a recent novel invention, like this, with but
and beneficently given information that his office is at the corner of Water and Wall.
Besides a liberal diffusion of the trite empirical boasts of wonder-workings by homoeopathy, the usual amount of lugubrious wailings regarding allceopathic persecu- tion, (the infallible resort of quackery, with the view to invoke the aid of public sympathy,) and the wanton pro- fanation of the names of the immortal Gallileo, Harvey and Fulton, by presuming to assimilate their discoveries with the Hahnemanic humbug, the writer has well suc- ceeded in rendering " darkness visible" by an attempt to demonstrate his art by a reference to malaria, conta- gion, electricity, and others, their congenial imponder- ables. So far he has safely indulged in flippant specu- lation and imaginary deduction in proof of homoeopathy, without essential hazard to his reputation for sagacity and medical learning, for the reason, that such is the general ignorance regarding the nature of these subtle and indefinable elements, that visionary assertion and criticism hold a like unsubstantial basis. It may be stated here, that no honest rational individual, con- versant with the visible operations of such agencies as electricity, galvanism, caloric, and gravitation, will at- tempt to establish an analogy between their manifest forces and that of an atom, or monad of gross matter, such as is pretended to be detached by Hahnemanic at- tenuation, and exhibited, a solitary wanderer, in its rela- tively deep profound, a drop of distilled wrater, or impris- soned within the granular pastry sphere, after its arrest by the ingenious device of the infinitesimal manipulator.
The forces above named (for aught we know) may be identical ; and, like fluids generally, when their equi- librium is interrupted, may act with an energy derived from the entire mass with which the disturbed portion
156 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
the most limited amount of evidence adduced in its support, presents the probability that it is
is connected. These, however, are expedient subter- fuges for the support of a baseless fabric, like that of homoeopathy, and its advocates have not failed to retreat within their obscure precincts for refuge, when pursued by the overwhelming demonstrations of reason, and the equally forcible proofs derived from the senses. Unfor- tunately for himself, however, the writer, in his zeal to popularize his art, has ventured upon the more definite and comprehensible domain of pathology, for a demon- stration of his favorite infinitesimals. This being so man- ifestly designed for sensible effect on the class of sufferers from the affection instanced, is worthy of a passing no- tice, lest the beauty of the artfully adjusted pelt should divert attention from the elongated ears concealed be- neath. Thus it reads : " While the system is in an abnormal condition, it is more susceptible of impressions or influences than w^ien in a normal or healthy state. A blow, for instance, which would inflict very little pain on a healthy body, would have caused great agony had it fallen on an inflamed part." Ergo : " From what has been stated, it will be perceived by the unprejudiced mind, that minute doses of homoeopathic, or specific remedies, may possess the power of effecting a mighty revolution in a diseased organic structure or tissue, while no change is wrought upon the normal or healthy portion of the system. Experience, our best teacher, most faithfully sustains us in this conclusion. "
Impressed with such a sensible and feelingly demon- strative argumentation, it is difficult to decide in what dilemma the sagacious reasoner ought to hold a rank. It will, however, appear manifest to every intelligent mind that has escaped the bias of the "one idea," that by this appeal to the acute sensibilities of those who have expe-
HOMCEOPATHY. 157
destined to supplant the long confirmed prin- ciples of existing medical science, then may
rienced a " blow" on a boil, or other species of inflamma- tion, the writer has hoped, by the re-excitement of the agonizing twinge, (when listening to his teachings,) to smother the reasoning, by an appeal to the sensitive ca- pacities, and therefore falls into the category of the knave ; or, (which is equally inexcusable,) that he is ut- terly deficient in a knowledge of the vital phenomena and laws controling the animal economy, whether in health or disease, rendering him, consequently, incompetent for the office of the physician ; and, therefore, that he legitimately ranks with the empirical pretender.
Such must necessarily be the conclusion formed re- garding the assumption above presented. Those but moderately versed in the science of physiology and pa- thology, are doubtless aware that the instance, so com- placently adduced, is one in which mechanical causes are often effective in its production ; and its attendant, acute sensibility, (so feelingly depicted,) is solely the re- sult of mechanical irritation of the local nerves of the part affected, produced by an embarrassed or altered circulation within the diseased space ; the consequent accumulation of fluids, causing pressure or distention ; and the changes of structure constituting the disease. In cases where the inflammation is sufficiently extensive to involve the system in the diseased sympathetic action, an inordinate torpor of the general functions result, in consequence of the withdrawal from these of a portion of their ordinary vital energy, and its concentration upon the disordered part, for the temporary sustentation of its embarrassed vitality. This is proved by the at- tendant general languor, headache, torpor of the diges- tive functions, &c. In this state, all experience proves, that increased quantities and more energetic qualities
14*
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it be admitted, that science, like dynasties and political institutions, is subject to revolutions
of remedies are requisite to produce a given amount of action than is demanded in a state of healthy function.
The causes of disease are, unquestionably, of a de- bilitating or sedative character, and their operation ever tends to a suppression of the vital power. Hence in- ductive reasoning teaches, and all experience derived from observation correspondingly proves, that doses of medicines efficient in a state of health, generally (in a greater or less degree) fail to arouse the desirable and requisite energies in the system, when torporized by the causes of general disease. There are few sufferers from the ordinary bilious affections who are not aware, from painful experience, that common cathartic doses, to prove effective, often require a repetition of from two to twenty-fold the quantities required to produce the same decree of effect in health or the slighter ailments. Cramp of the stomach, and other spasmodic or neuralgic affections, are known by all witnessing or experiencing the intense sufferings therefrom, (whether physician or non-professional,) to require, and the system is well known to tolerate, in such cases, quantities enormously increased beyond those ordinarily administered in the milder affections and in health. In fact, in these and many other of the most grave affections, but little or no degree of influence toward their removal is obtained, except from quantities of remedies which would prove extremely hazardous of administration to the same sub- jects in a condition of health.
Indeed, few instances of the more grave diseases exist, (not excepting severe inflammation, though a local affection,) in which observation, substantiated by all rational experience of the effects of medicines, does not infallibly prove, that the causes of disease have so depreciated and diminished the vital energies of the
HOMCEOPATHY. 159
from slight incidental causes; and that no pro- duction of the human mind approximates to stability. In such bewildering and deplorable contemplation of mental imbecility, we must be compelled to consider universal experience of mankind, but as a suspected aggregation of error, the more mischievous and dangerous because strengthened by lapse of time and concurrence of numbers in its capricious dog- mas. Indeed, in this drama, in which the human mind is represented in characters so humiliating, the senses appear as without other standard than individual caprice, and reason itself but as a mental principle, whose conclu- sions possess a like instability with its subtle creative rival, imagination.
But no such depressing view of the insta- bility of all mental products, need be enter- tained. The rationalist may still, with confi- dence, expect a confirmation of the principles so ardently collated and compiled, as those constituting the basis of medical, as well as its collateral sciences ; while no prophetic vision is required to confirm his convictions, that ho-
system, as to require a power in remedies additional to that abundantly effective in health or slight affections. This is generally indispensable to excite their requisite action in the several organs, when torporized and embar- rassed by formidable disease.
160 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
moeopathy, like its kindred empirical systems, though enabled probably to sustain a brief ex- istence through its successive periods of juven- ility, adolescence, and senility, will pass un- honored to the tomb of its predecessors — where its congenital epitaph,
Requiescat in pace,
has ever been legibly enstamped, for the view of every reflective observer of the frailty of its structure.
SECTION VIII.
Mesmerism.
Society has recently been surprised by the announcement of a new agent in mental sci- ence, termed mesmerism, which, from its in- tricate and unexplained principles, may well be ranked with the occult sciences of the middle ages. Like alchemy and astrology, it can claim no support from any known da- ta, or even analogies supplied by the ordinary properties or laws of matter and mind. Al- though it has not yet claimed the introduc- tion to the astonished senses of invisible per- sonalities, like those evoked by the wand of the magician, or the conjuror, yet by mani- pulations equally enigmatical, termed passes, it affects the manifestation of hitherto latent entities no less mysterious, which, if inferior in corporiety, possess energies no less potent than their more defined ghostly rivals, educed by the necromancer. It need not be stated, that the mesmeric empiric assumes the ability to communicate his own ideas to the mind of his patient, whose individual identity he claims to have fascinated by the charm of his mysterious passes to an amalgamation with
162 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
his own, and made it obedient to the influences by which his own is governed; and that in this condition, an intercommunication of thought is effected without the aid of signs addressed to the senses, but by the agency of his personal volition alone. By such ex- traordinary pretensions, it will be perceived that the entire agency of the senses in origi- nating ideas in the mind, may be dispensed with ; and that instead of these being the ex- clusive channels through which the mind takes cognizance of agencies exterior to itself, mesmerism has traced an avenue of mental perception, by which its power is manifestly exaggerated above that which it derived from grosser sensible influences. This must ap- pear to any one possessing a knowledge of the mental properties, or even with the ordi- nary operations of his own mind, too ridicu- lous and absurd to require a serious refuta- tion.
It announces a principle of mental percep- tion, or a mode of originating ideas, wTholly at variance with any known laws governing mind ; holding, it is true, an analogy with its manifestations in dreams, visions, and super- natural revelations, but essentially differing from either, and far surpassing them all in mental prodigies exhibited. Dreams, it being understood, consisting in fanciful combina-
MESMERISM. 163
tions of former sensations in store in the mind, while the others are affirmed to consist in direct impressions of ideas, by means of an extra-natural agency, acting through ordinary sensations and intellect; while mesmerism, by its prescribed conditions and formal ges- ticulation, affects to suspend the volition, sen- sation, and intellect of its recipient, and to convert her mind into a mental mirror, by which is reflected, not only the ideas of the actor, but the shadows of the invisible present and the future are depicted in outlines more definite than those delineated through the prophetic inspiration of the scriptures.
Now the principles upon which all the as- serted phenomena of mesmerism depend, af- ter deducting the collusions of its empirical pretenders, are undoubtedly the same which have been noticed in all ages as erratic sympa- thies occasionally manifested in individuals of excitable nervous systems, when subjected to influences of a novel and unwonted char- acter.
It has not been sufficiently considered by the admirers of mesmerism, that a collusion is possible between the manipulator and the mesmerised, through which a language of signs may exist, by means of which each, in their exhibitions, is understood by the other, and upon which it is presumable most of its
164 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
pretended phenomena are dependent. Even a tedious discipline would not be required, to enable individuals of ordinary intelligence to adopt signs, based upon vocal inflections, em- phasis, and intonations, together with modes of questioning and other significant action, by which interrogations relative to the great- est variety of objects and ideas, might be an- swered with an accuracy equaling the most astonishing coincidences which have been exhibited by the mesmeric mountebank as proofs of his pretended science.
Without a detail of the singular history of particular cases of somnambulism, which have ever been of occasional occurrence, independ- ent of the aid of manipulations, and previous to the pretended existence of a special mes- meric art, we would refer to hvsteria and catalepsy, nervous affections often excited by mental emotion, in which are exhibited occa- sionally erratic phenomena, no less singular than the real facts which mesmerism, in sub- jects suitably organized for its experiments, undoubtedly may effect. But the former are manifested without the aid of the imposing mysterious gesticulation, the induced sympa- thetic emotion, the faith and credulity of the patient, which must be admitted as essentially contributing to the induction of the phenom- ena of the latter. Ecstasy, trance and cho-
MESMERISM. 165
rea,* with their singular manifestations, may be mentioned as presenting irregularities in
* Those curious to learn some of the singular phe- nomena of the nervous system, when in a disordered state, may find such detailed in several cases of these affections (viz. trance, chorea, &c.) mentioned in Black- wood's Magazine, No. 379, for May, 1846. These cases occurred and were treated as grave nervous affec- tions, and as they were mostly anterior to the era of the recent art of mesmerism, of course they will not be claimed as eductions of its artificial formalities. A double consciousness characterizes most of these cases ; i. e., the patients, (who were females,) when affected, lost the consciousness of what had passed previous to the at- tack, and, vice versa, had no knowledge of their acts during the intervals. In three cases mentioned, one by M. Petatin in 1787, one by M. Delpet, 1807, and one by Dr. Despine, 1829, the patients " did not see with their eyes nor hear with their ears. But they heard at the pit of the stomachy and perceived the approach of persons when at some distance from their residence, and read the thoughts of those around" Another case is mentioned, the subject of which "could read by the touch alone ; if she pressed her hand against the whole surface of a writ- ten or printed page, she acquired a perfect knowledge of its contents. A line of a folded note, pressed against the back of her neck, she read equally well. She called this sense feeling."
Similar cases have ever abounded in medical history, and, although great allowance is doubtless to be made for collusion and deceptions, sufficiently adroit to escape the detection of spectators, and often their medical at- tendants, enough remains as reality to exhibit the occa- sional extraordinary perversion of sensation, and the extreme acute susceptibility of the senses, when influ-
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166 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
mental action, of an extraordinary, and oc- casionally of a most marvelous character. Epilepsy often occurs from sympathy, on wit- nessing others affected with the real disease, as occurred among a large number of factory girls in Lancashire, England. This sympa- thetic affection originated from a female, who became affected with spasms, in consequence of a mouse being mischievously placed in her bosom, by one of her companions. Large numbers witnessing the disorder, were in like manner affected, and it even extended through- out the neighborhood and its vicinity, and did not terminate for a considerable period. The dancing mania,* which occurred in Europe in
enced by certain diseased conditions of the nervous system. There is little doubt, however, that in most cases where the ordinary sphere of the senses has been thus extensively enlarged, a vanity to astonish by mar- velous exhibitions has induced the patients, (either by a collusion with friends, or by individual suggestion,) to add a variety of deception to their disordered abili- ties, for the purpose of promulgating a reputation which they were conscious it was within their power to ac- quire through the extraordinary acquisition.
* This affection commenced, and was attended throughout its course, with an irresistible propensity to dance. It was considered a purely nervous affection, and was propagated by sympathy or imitation, on wit- nessing others affected.
A case of imitative cholera convulsions was related to the author by a credible spectator, which occurred on a
MESMERISM. 167
the fourteenth century, and continued a pe- riod of some years, was a sympathetic disor- der, in which the strange abnormities of the nervous system became manifest to a most alarming extent.
Witchcraft, when prevailing as an epidem- ic, as has frequently been the case in all civ- ilized countries, aroused the erratic elements of the mind, and led most of society to a be- lief that they were the witnesses, and in many instances even the subjects, of the marvelous tales which emanated from the illusion.
Sympathy is one of the inexplicable phe- nomena of animated beings, which has ever
attracted the attention of philosophers.
Through this influence, the lulling motion of a carriage, the placid water-fall, the silent mo- tion of forests agitated by the gentle breeze,
Mississippi steamboat in 1833. An individual, a fellow- passenger of the narrator, in a cabin conversation on cholera, profanely expressed his disbelief of the horrid spasms and convulsions usually attendant on the disease ; and after an oath expressing a wish to disprove such by personal observation of a case, pronounced all such rela- tion a humbug. He was soon after called to be a spec- tator of a severe case of cholera, occurring among the passengers on deck. After intently gazing a few mo- ments at the fearfully convulsed invalid, he fell on the deck in convulsions similar to those witnessed, which, however, subsided on his being conveyed to bed, without other characteristics of the disease being manifested.
168 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
with a variety of other motions, tend to and often effect placid sleep. Such are simple ef- fects produced upon an organism so adapted to the arrangement of nature, that health and enjoyment may be derived therefrom.* But
* It may be here stated, for the information of the general reader, that the term sympathy, as employed in this work, is generally used in its physiological or medi- cal signification. It is one of the most prominent facts in physiology, that by a mutual interchange of nerves, by which the cerebral influence is conveyed throughout the system, such intimate connection exists as to cause each organ to partake of the affections of its congeners, whether diseased or healthful.
The mental structure of man is such, that not only his corporeal structure generally, participates in its affections, but through its influence the entire organic action is prone to assume an affection similar to that manifested in its associates, whether of a healthful or dis- ordered character. This sympathy between the several organs, as well as that operating externally, generally holds a correspondence with the exalted susceptibility, or the ordinary healthy state of the nervous system.
In view of such controling influence of the nervous system on the organic economy, and of the efficacy of mesmerism, in many instances, in arousing those dor- mant sympathetic energies, which are often indicative of predispositions to nervous disease, it may not be an unprofitable suggestion to its professors, that when, from a subsidence of its novelties, its profits become lessened, it be proffered as a test, or (if the coinage be allowable) pathometer, by which such state may be detected, and perhaps by their aid, hysterics, with some other equally grave nervous affections, may be pre-announced to the inquisitive of future health and prospects.
MESMERISM. 169
when we consider the mesmeriser, armed with his ridiculous but affectedly mysterious passes ; the prescribed fixed position of the patient's eyes upon those of the operator ; and the novel condition of the credulous expect- ant of a mysterious effect; aided in most cases by an overpowering faith in expected changes about to be induced by the necro- tic display of the manipulator, it is little sur- prising that those of extreme nervous suscepti- bility should yield their powers, by means of such imposing influence, to a state of torpor, like that recently termed mesmeric sleep. There is no doubt, that the induction of this state by artificial means is possible, and may have really been effected by the agency of the mesmeriser. But there is little reason to doubt, that with this effect his personal agency terminates ; and that the remainder of the manifestations of mesmerism, exclusive of a collusion between the actor and the recipient, are but accidental effusions of irregular trains of ideas, such as exist in the mind of a dream- er during a disturbed and unnatural state of sleep. This form of sleep would be that likely to succeed the active mental influence alluded to, and its phenomena would more naturally be elicited by an address to the partially wakeful senses through the actor by whom such state had been adduced. But it is
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170 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
probable that most of its visible demonstra- tions result merely from a concerted collusion between a knave and an impostor, who con- duct the jugglery. Indeed, the realities of this art, instead of being a newly discovered prin- ciple in physiological or psychological sci- ence, is but a compilation of long known facts, wrought into an art, and invested with a suf- ficiency of marvels to impose upon the pub- lic credulity, for mercenary or other sinister considerations.
The frequent confessions of mesmerists, that their art is inadequate to derive its phe- nomena from a considerable number of indi- viduals, upon whom its efforts are exerted, ought to confirm skepticism in its disbelief of the claims which it proffers. It affords the strongest grounds for the presumption, that the subjects who are really impressed by its influence, are those whose nervous svstems have acquired a morbidly susceptible state, while the apathetic or unimpressible, are those in whom it has retained its healthy equilib- rium.
It is an undoubted fact, that the brain and nervous system of very many individuals, es- pecially those of the more delicately formed females, though in a state of apparent regu- larity of function, are, in some degree, actually in a morbidly susceptible condition.
MESMERISM. 171
This state has generally been induced through the almost innumerable exciting caus- es which exist, and are operative throughout all civilized communities ; and as the abo- riginal tribes are little subject to like affec- tion, it may be conceived that they are evils which civilization suffers as a penalty for the vices which it originates and cherishes.
This constitutional imperfection is unques- tionably derived from a great diversity of causes. Among these may be enumerated, the predisposition derived from hereditary trans- mission. It also has been the product of agencies originating through the manners and customs of refined societies, such as the unnatural and inordinate exercise of the passions, in prosecuting the objects of a mor- bidly aspiring ambition for the imaginary boon which the distinctions of wealth and honors confer. It has likewise originated from the intemperance of fashion and appetite, as well as from the various wants and privations which abound in all civilized communities. All these, by opposing a counteracting influ- ence to a healthful action of the natural laws of the animal economy, tend to effect a derange- ment of the normal vital functions, and to in- duce, if not actual disease, at least those un- natural susceptibilities of the nervous system, which essentially control their manifestations.
172 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
Such, it is presumed, are the efficient influ- ences to which mesmerism is indebted for the real facts by which it sustains its mountebank- ery, as well as medical history for the mani- festation of erratic sympathies, by which many grave diseases are simulated, and often made formidable. By these the effects of re- medial agents are made abnormal, and they, doubtless, develop for contemplation the almost innumerable moral obliquities, such as are ex- hibited in wild fanaticism, and the various extatic excitations and delusions, which have baffled the speculation of moralists and meta- physicians, in their attempts to systematize the mental operations.
Instances in corroboration of the above po- sition, relative to the influence of sympathy and imagination upon the nervous tempera- ment, in the production of phenomena of a similar character to those of mesmerism, might to any extent be adduced ; but a further de- tail is deemed unnecessary. The pretended prophetic abilities of persons in a mesmeric state, their acquirement of new faculties and perceptions, such as the ignorant evincing a knowledge of the organic economy, its de- rangements, and the appropriate remedies, su- perior to that of the most scientific physician, are absurdities which it would be humiliating seriously to attempt to refute.
MESMERISM. 173
With such view of the animal economy and its occasional manifestations as an attentive research into its history furnishes, it will ap- pear obvious, that all the pretensions of mes- merism are founded upon the exceptionable phenomena of the nervous system ; and that its actual exhibitions are but a solicitation of these, by the imposing formulary which it employs.
It will therefore be perceived, that the prin- cipal merit which the originators of the art can justly claim for the pretended discovery is, that by their ridiculous mummery they have been able to arouse dormant sympathies, which may be conceived indicative of those latent conditions of the animal economy, termed predispositions, which hitherto were mainly unfolded by the more active exciting causes of disordered action.
Had mesmerism, and the exploded phe- nomena once claimed as being; obedient to the metalic tractors of the celebrated Perkins,*
* Perkins was an American, who, about the close of the last or commencement of the present century, pre- tended to have made the discovery that certain steel instruments, styled metalic tractors, constructed in a prescribed form, and charged with magnetism, a la mode Perkins, possessed the ability, in his hands, by certain peculiar strokinga over the body, or at the parts affected, to beguile the disease from its habitation, and thereby
174 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
existed as cotemporaries, there is little doubt that each might have derived powerful aid from a union ; or, perchance, had their re- spective claims assumed an attitude of rivalry, a contest would, probably, have ensued for precedence, terminating both more speedily, through the efforts of their respective friends to expose the follies which constituted the principal facts upon which each was based.
It is certainly a deplorable contemplation, that such irrational claims as those presented
cause it to be ejected from the system. The author, after effecting numerous infallible cures on his countrymen, who possessed sufficient faith in the marvelous power of his tractors, and from whom he reaped no inconsiderable pecuniary harvest, visited England with the view to test their efficiency on the distended pockets of the more wealthy Englishmen. His prospects there became highly flattering, until a distinguished but envious " regu- lar1' threw his tractable reputation into convulsions, by mischievously employing, on some credulous converts to tractoration, instruments of wood, formed and painted to represent the real tractors, which proved equally salutary in their effects with the magical reality of Per- kins. The author's professional and pecuniary vitality remaining after these malignant experiments, became completely extracted by an ingenious burlesque poem, entitled " Terrible Tractoration," assailing the unlucky tractors, written by Thomas Green Fessenden, an au- thor of burlesque notoriety. The unfortunate Perkins returned to his country after this signal failure in his contemplated projects, a striking memorial of popular gullibility and the fate of imposture.
MESMERISM. 175
by mesmerism, should attract other attention, in an intellectual period like the present, than a speedy consignment of its promulgators to a rank with the impostors who have, too suc- cessfully, ever made traffick of the simplicity of the injudiciously confiding and credulous of all communities. That mesmerism, however, with all its pretensions and wonders as a new and distinct science, is destined to be num- bered with the delusions with which the present age is affected, cannot be a matter of rational doubt with those physiologically investigating its character.
If evidence was required to show that the public mind is, at this time, far from being in a rationally healthy condition ; that it is subject to the dictates of passion and imagination, rather than of reason and common sense ; re- ference might be made to the success of the various fanatical systems of religion, and the innumerable political theories, which have been, and are perpetually invented, and which are attracting to their standards adherents in this and other countries. For illustration of this, we need but instance the success whicli has attended Mormonism, Millerism, Four- rierism, Socialism, and various others too nu-
176 CREDULITY AND SUPERSTITION.
merous to mention. So successful have been the promulgators of such systems, in acquiring proselytes to doctrines, however ridiculous and absurd, that it would not be inapt to liken so- ciety to an infinitely chorded instrument, the vibration from any chord of which is capable of deriving a response, in harmonious unison, from the minds of some individuals composing its entire mass.
A
PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY
ON
ANIMAL FASCINATION, OR CHARMING.
A common belief exists with a large por- tion of society, that serpents, and some other animals of a formidable character, are armed with a mysterious power, termed fascination, or charming, by which they exert a silent but efficient and destructive influence over their marked victims, which is operative through a space that would render nugatory the ordinary power which they possess for their arrest.
Although it may not be strictly proper to consider such belief either as a credulity or superstition, yet as it is believed that this is one of the erroneous notions which have been derived from, and is dependent upon physical causes, existing principally in the victim of its supposed influence, and not from the existence of a real power in these animals themselves, any further than as being objects of dread and apprehension, it is, therefore, deemed not unprofitable to notice this asserted singular power, as a correlative of these, which has contributed its aid to the variety of fallacies
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proceeding from their prolific fountains of mental error.
Whatever may be the facts upon which the belief in fascination, as a distinct animal power, is founded, it is most probable that the deductions therefrom are erroneous; and that these, instead of being adequate to establish such conclusions, ought to be viewed but as manifestations of faculties which all animals exhibit in a manner adapted to the varied con- ditions of their existence.
If a belief in the real existence of ghosts, of witchcraft, or mesmerism, is to be alone tested by the apparent facts which are adduced in their support, their reality, as a conse- quence, must be admitted. But if (as is be- lieved to be the fact) these can be shown to be illusions, emanating either from a disor- dered condition of the optic nerves, or the brain; from an excited imagination ; or from an occasional singular manifestation of a dis- eased nervous system ; then their existence as distinct agencies becomes annihilated, and they are to be considered merely as dis- eased, or abnormal actions, which vitality, when under peculiar influences, or when in an unnatural state, exhibits. So if it can be made to appear as probable, that the facts ad- duced in support of fascination, as a distinct and singular power attributed to some ani- mals only, are but the varied exercise of a
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 179
sagacity, which all, in a greater or less degree, possess, then the marvel of such incompre- hensible agent ceases, and the mind is led rather to admire that superior wisdom wliich has devised such a wonderful adaptation in the economy of living beings, without resort- ing to a profuse multiplication of agencies in effecting its preservation.
It is a characteristic of the mind, to invest with extra- natural power whatever excites its extreme dread and apprehension. This men- tal trait is more especially manifested when the cause of such affection is rendered diffi- cult of investigation, either from the dangers with which it is attended, or from the sub- tleties and mystery by which it is enveloped. Thus death, to the philosophic spectator of the event, presents but the natural phenome- na incident to the cessation of organic action ; yet to the ignorant and credulous it often ex- cites the notion of such extra-natural influ- ences, superinduced at the period of dissolu- tion, as to render it an object of superstitious dread and apprehension.
The most deadly poisons have ever, by cre- dulity, been invested with qualities allied to the marvelous, such as have never been veri- fied in any substance in nature. But scien- tific analysis, by designating and defining their real properties, has mostly dispelled the mys- tery which once magnified their powers ;
180 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
and these, though now viewed as formidable agencies, excite but a small degree of terror, in comparison with that derived from their magical history.
There are no members of the animal king- dom, however formidable many may be to man, that excite such natural abhorrence and dread, as do those of the serpent species. This affection, although mainly derived from their formidable and dangerous character, is, no doubt, essentially aggravated (in the view of many) by associations derived from sacred historical evidence regarding their agency in effecting original transgression, so vitally af- fecting human destiny. Such views and agen- cy, associated with the observation of his wily instincts, together with his naturally repulsive form and singular actions, have, beyond doubt, presented the serpent species to the ever pro- lific imagination, as endowed with qualities more mysterious and formidable than any other species.
It may perhaps be objected, that was fasci- nation an imaginary power, derived from such source, it ought alone to be manifested in formidable animals, and not in those less noxious, as the feline, or cat species, and some others, ordinarily viewed with indifference. But it may be answered, that a character termed formidable, is to be estimated but in
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 181
view of the relations that exist between the va- rious species ; and that these relations can alone be determined from observation of the natural hostility of animals, and the modes by which the stronger effect the destruction of their weaker adversaries. In all cases of the existence of these hostile connections, there is little question that the superior are viewed by the inferior kinds, in an attitude no less ter- rible and dangerous, than are the most ven- omous of the serpent species by man.
Was the asserted power of fascination a real endowment of any animal, it might ra- tionally be presumed, that it would be em- ployed on all occasions, and at all seasons when the promptings of appetite were instant and urgent ; which is evidently far from being the fact, as ordinary physical force is that generally employed, both by serpents and the feline kinds, in arresting the animals on which they prey.
The species that are the reputed victims of fascination, such as the smaller birds, squirrels, &c, (from which most instances of the exer- tion of this singular faculty are derived,) gene- rally seek the vicinity of the dwellings of man, at their periods of rearing offspring, probably from the instinctive or acquired con- sciousness, that most of their more powerful
16*
182 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
adversaries avoid such localities. It is in these situations where most of the cases of supposed charming are brought within obser- vation. Although various instances to the contrary may doubtless be adduced, it is pre- sumed that attentive investigation will demon- strate, that the victim is ever within the parent- al domain which the intruder has invaded. It is likewise believed, that the season when its operation has been mostly observed, is that of propagation and rearing of their young. If exceptions occasionally occur, it is, most probable, where individuals of species have accidentally been delayed in the exercise of this important annual instinct. At this pe- riod, these animals furnish indubitable evi- dence, that parental anxiety and solicitude often lead to a disregard of the ordinary love of life, when the safety of their offspring requires its hazardous exposure for their de- fense.
It is mainly from analogical evidence, de- rived from observation of similar habits in different species, and of some phenomena asserted to have been tested by the experience of a few of the human species, in their con- nection with reptiles, that the power of fasci- nation has been claimed as an endowment possessed by cats and other less noxious ani- mals. As instances which have been witnessed
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 183
are of most rare occurrence, the question of its existence, as a distinct faculty, becomes nar- rowed to a degree, that the most rational doubts may well be entertained whether it does not admit of explanation, as being a varied opera- tion of faculties possessed in common with predatory animals generally.
It is worthy of consideration, in a discussion on this more than doubtful faculty, that it is not claimed as being possessed but by a very limited number of species, — and these are in- variably such as in ordinary physical arma- ture, for the arrest of their objects of prey, are adequately endowed, without the superaddi- tion of such faculty to secure the necessities for their existence. Indeed, in a comparison, they appear to surpass most other animals in their offensive and defensive armor. An ar- gument might therefore be adduced against the existence of such attribute, from a specula- tion upon the compensating equalities which the divine economy has ever been recognized as observing, in its supply of endowments to the animal kingdom. Such provisionary com- pensation has not only arrested the attention, but it has excited the admiration of every at- tentive observer of the animal, and 'even the vegetable kingdoms.
In such view, speed, instinct, or intellect, will ever be found as antagonistic to superiority of
184 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
strength and armature ; and separate or sever- ally, have been exercised with sufficient success to insure the perpetuation of the species pos- sessing them. Were it otherwise, or were such a dangerous invisible agency as that of fascination, superadded to the ordinary power- ful armature of animals of such ferocious dis- positions as the asserted wielders of fascina- tion, it might well be questioned whether the existence of species, against which its influ- ence was exerted, could be for any consider- able period insured ; more especially in the localities inhabited by their highly gifted an- tagonists.
If further facts were required to show that the admission of a faculty, like that presented by fascination, was a figment of the imagina- tion, derived from the formidable affection of animals to which it has been attributed, as well as its furnishing an exceptionable de- viation in the manifest principle of the divine economy in supplying endowments to animals, it may be stated, that it has been supposed to be possessed only by the small portion of the serpent species, which are the most formidable, in consequence of their dangerous properties, while the weaker and inoffensive varieties, that are viewed with less dread, but possess a similar organization, and consequently similar necessities, are supposed wanting the important
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 185
provision. It will therefore be perceived, that this view confers on some members of the same family, a multiplicity of power for pro- viding sustenance and defense, whilst others, in comparison, are greatly defective in means for sustaining their organic wants.
The scriptural history of the serpent, as well as many of his peculiar structural actions and habits, have ever enshrouded his character in no inconsiderable degree of mystery. It is, therefore, not singular that the imagination should have invested him with properties de- viating from those of other animals. Nor does it present a singularity in mental asso- ciation, that a mysterious power, once admit- ted, should be applied to all such animals as effect the aims of their nature through anala- gous influences, however baseless, in fact, may have been the notion that originated the be- lief of its existence.
It is not denied that phenomena similar to those believed to exist as effects of a fascina- ting power, have been apparently manifested by some animals toward the victims of its sup- posed influence. But as it is inconceivable that an agent should be operative in circum- stances and in a form like that in question, an attempt will be made briefly to elucidate the phenomena presented, by principles fur- nished from the more familiar attributes of the
186 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
animal economy. Although, in the view taken, a marvelous and incomprehensible power may be dissipated, yet an explanation of the real /acts of fascination may be afforded, more ac- cordant with the known vital laws.
The ability is asserted for the fascinating animal, to present to its supposed spell-bound victim, colors the most enchanting, and the ac- quirement of such control of the senses and mental faculty, that an irresistible impulse operates to urge the victim, involuntarily, to a horrid destruction, which, in the unbiassed state of the mind, is, above all others, the most repulsive and terrible. Even with the irre- sistible impulse to approach the danger, a resistance is, for a period, instituted by an antagonistic dread, which vainly strives in re- sistance of the foe, and only yields the contest to a multiplication of the impalpable power, and by the continued efforts and approach of the deadly charmer.
For the purpose of showing that during the exhibition of effects like these, the supposed fascinator exerts but a passive agency, except that imparted by the influence of his naturally formidable character, and that the operating cause, by which such effects are produced, exist mostly in the apparent spell-bound vic- tim, reference will here briefly be made to physical facts of a less mysterious character,
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 187
which are presumed capable of producing similar phenomena, and which are believed adequate to solve the mysterious enigma of animal fascination.
It is a principle in optics, familiar to those versed in the science, that an intense view of any one of the original or compound colors, for a period varying in different individuals, produces a change of the image of the color first formed on the retina, and in its stead is introduced that of a color opposite, or varying from that first apparent This phenomenon is what is termed occular spectra, or acci- dental colors, and may at any time be made to appear by intently observing, as for example, a red color, for a sufficient time, on a white ground. In this instance, the red will diminish in brilliancy, and a yellow spectrum will ap- pear on the white ground by averting the eye thence. In like manner, by the substitution of different colors, different spectra will be exhibited, as blue for orange, white for black, black for white, &c. Such change occurs, it will be understood, in all the colors, when placed on opposite ground to that of the color first made the subject of experiment. This change is, doubtless, to be explained from the fatigue induced upon the fibres of the optic nerve, by means of the unusual stimulus of the vivid image acting on the retina. It will be
188 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
readily perceived, that by the action of this natural optical phenomenon, in a steady view of objects of variegated colors, a constant succession of changes in the several tints will occur, — capable, in many cases, of presenting to the mind a splendid variety of brilliant and pleasing hues.
Fear, when operating in its greatest inten- sity, undoubtedly holds the strongest and most engrossing influence over the intellect of any of the mental affections. Such is the control which it exerts over the mind, when inordi- nately aroused, that the influence of reason appears suspended by an induced temporary insanity, and the animal thus affected, is often involuntarily and irresistibly impelled into the danger which it is its object to avoid, feuch is often the effect of this blind passion, that safety (which is the object of its specific action) becomes sacrificed in the bewildering vortex created by its deranging influence.
In the explanation of the phenomena of apparent fascination, what more rational can be given, or what more accordant with the state of facts presented, than that which is capable of being derived from the optical phe- nomena alluded to, aided by the physical effects susceptible of being induced by fear, when in a state of extreme stimulation ? It is principally the most formidable reptiles, such
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 189
as the crotilus horrida, or rattlesnake, the cobra, or hooded snake, and a few others of the most venomous character, and therefore the most excitant to fear, which are supposed to be invested with the power of charming. This fact is worthy of being borne in mind in the explanation of the phenomena of fascination, as here proposed to be given.
The variegated colors of most poisonous reptiles, as the rattlesnake, &c, are adequate to explain the reputed dazzling and changing hues, said to be presented by the charmer to the charmed, during the unaverted view which his situation would be likely to elicit, and which, it is understood, is an indispensable condition for the operation of the fascinating influence. No condition can be conceived more favorable for the presentation of the above noticed ocular phenomena, or none in which the bewildering effects of fear would be more likely to be induced, than that in which the timid are placed, when in dangerous prox- imity with so formidable a foe as a deadly reptile. The intense gaze, with an extremely excited imagination, would not only be likely to confer intensity on the ever-changing hues of the ocular spectree presented to the aston- ished vision, but the deranging influence of fear would, doubtless, be manifested in the
17
190 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
excitable subject, to a degree rarely effected from any other causes.
It may even be conceived, that the visual changes of hue, to those unacquainted with their true character, (particularly in the ner- vously susceptible,.) might be adequate to the production of a temporary distraction of the intellect. But when, in addition, we have to consider the accessory aid which these influen- ces acquire from the engrossing affection of fear, it is not surprising that such concurrence should be productive of a temporary suspension of all the faculties of the mind, or that they should suffer derangement to such a degree as to cause them to act in contravention, both to the salutary decisions of reason and the or- dinary promptings of the instinct of self-pre- servation.
The physiological effects of colors alluded to, would unquestionably be greatly enhanced under circumstances of great excitement from terror, originating from objects of vision, and in all cases would be likely to act as a sub- sidiary disturbing cause to that emotion, so efficient in influencing mental action. More especially might this be expected, when, in addition to the necessary requisite, an una- verted gaze, was that of mental excitation to the extent of abstracting the attention and concentrating it upon the exciting object. In
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 191
connection, therefore, with the extreme opera- tion of the passion, fear, there can be no doubt but the influence of this phenomenon would bear a prominent agency, and essentially modify the results ordinarily produced by the former; but it is assumed, that it acts merely as an adjunct to the engrossing passion, to which all the principal effects are to be at- tributed. That the popular notion of ex- tremely dazzling hues, with their enticing influences, said to be presented by the fasci- nator to his victim, are in a great degree fictitious exaggerations, is most probable ; but that the former actually occurs in some cases of human subjects, when excited by a formi- dable reptile, is not inconsistent with the opti- cal facts alluded to, and therefore may have been actually represented.
As further proof that the apparently varie- gated colors, which are reputed to surround the fascinator, are but natural optical illusions of the subject of his influence, in the presen- tation of which the former is an entirely pas- sive agent, may be adduced the fact, that the inferior animals, which are far the most fre- quent victims of the supposed charm, proba- bly possess in no considerable degree a per- ception of the beauty of colors. And as it is evident that they are but slightly, if at all, en- dowed with sentiment and imagination, on
192 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
which the finer sensibilities are dependent, it cannot be these influences upon the intellect that essentially effect the fatal results.
Whatever, therefore, may be the character of the affection termed fascination, whether excited, as is asserted in the human species, by serpents, or in minor animals, as squirrels, birds, &c, by the same, as well as animals of the feline species, it is reasonable to suppose that the mental influence is the same by which their powers are involuntarily brought into subjection to their deadly foes.
It is extremely probable, as before asserted, that in all cases of apparent affection by the power in question, whether proceeding from reptiles or other animals, it is a sense of their formidable attributes which alone impresses the intellect of the victim. It is, therefore, evidently the impression made by fear upon the mental faculties, which mainly effects such bewildering and exhausting derangement as to deprive the intellect of the ability to exer- cise its ordinary provisionary caution, and impels to dangers which its unbiased action ever admonishes to avoid.
Fear is a passion with which all animals, but more especially the weaker, are endow- ed ; the final cause of which is self-protec- tion and preservation. In cases of danger, when aided by the deliberative faculties, it
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 193
adopts the most efficacious means for the ac- complishment of this important object. The design of the endowment is the same in all ani- mals, whether made subject to reason or in- stinct, and as its object is to prompt to efforts for safety in danger, where the deliberative faculties would often be inefficient, its action is often simultaneous with the sense of peril by which it is stimulated. But it occasionally happens that the extreme effects of the emo- tion is so powerful, from an instant sense of the magnitude of danger presented, that the salutary provision, caution, becomes paralyzed and inoperative, or the action which it insti- tutes becomes so perverted, that its final aims are frustrated. The faculties of the mind and admonitory instincts, are prostrated to a degree, that thev are unable to institute salu- tary decisions, and the entire animal impulses act with an incongruity which presents them as destructive, rather than salutary monitors.*
* A much esteemed friend of the author, of accom- plished mind and high attainments in the legal pro- fession, of a nervous temperament and delicate health, in a conversation on the influence of extreme fear, in- formed him that, on overlooking a precipice, an in- voluntary impulse ever prompted him to pass over the declivity, although, in the act, inevitable destruction was depicted. An experience of similar impressions, from a sudden view of like danger, has not unfrequently been
17*
194 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
Instances in illustration of the effects of the extreme action of the passions and emo- tions, bat more especially that of fear, may,
stated to the author, and probably is not unfamiliar to the reader. The melancholy death of a lady, the wife of a distinguished clergyman, at Trenton Falls, a few years since, by a precipitation into the chasm and waters beneath, has been imputed to the influence men- tioned, and, perhaps, affords the most satisfactory ex- planation of that mysterious event. The deranging influence of the strong and sudden emotion of fear, as well on the senses as the mind, is thus beautifully illus- trated by Shakspeare's description of Dover Cliffs :
How fearful
And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! The crows and choughs, that wing the midway air, Shew scarce so gross as beetles. Half way down Hangs one that gathers samphire ; dreadful trade ! Methinks he seems no bigger than his head. The fishermen that walk upon the beach, Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring bark, Diminish'd to her cock; her cock, a buoy, Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge, That on th' unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more, Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight Topple down headlong."
These facts, in illustration of the influence of sudden fear, in effecting derangement of the mental faculties, are appropriate evidence to show that the same influ- ence, aided by the circumstances mentioned in the text, are adequate to explain the phenomena, as well as their effects, witnessed in the apparent state of charming by animals.
Anger, as a passion nearly allied to fear, as regards its instantaneous operation on the mind, when stimulated by unexpected occasions for its action, often effects
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 195
to any extent, be adduced. Thus the human mother will plunge into fire or water, to grasp her infant perishingin those elements, thought- less of the consequences to her own safety. Death is often sought, and effected, in the extreme distractions of grief, in counteraction of the instinctive love of life ; and despair, from sudden and irretrievable losses, often impels to a voluntary self-immolation. Many animals, in extreme and sudden fright, in their attempts for safety, often destroy their lives by the incautious means employed. The par- tridge often plunges against buildings or trees, by which its destruction is effected, when ex- cited by an instant representation of danger. The horse refuses to leave his burning stall, and if compelled to a place of safety, rushes back to destruction, when not secured by res- traint. Various other instances of the disas- trous effects of excessive and sudden fear might be mentioned, but it is presumed that they will readily be suggested to the reader. Indeed, general observation will attest, that
temporary derangement of the faculties. In this state the mind becomes so deprived of the power of delibera- tion, as to produce like disastrous results with the latter. Both, when stimulated by sudden and inordinate causes, are often converted into the most destructive agents, thereby becoming perversive of the objects for which they were manifestly designed by the Creator.
196 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
both instinct and intellect, the natural con- servative agents of life, often become the most ready instruments for its destruction, when dangers are presented in attitudes that dis- concert the influence which they ordinarily hold over their dependent organs.
All animals are endowed with admonito- ry instincts, which prompt to the embrace of appropriate means for securing a supply of their systematic wants, as well as for the pro- tection of themselves and their offspring. — This monitor, doubtless, directs some animals, such as the reputed charmers, or those that prey upon the weaker species, to excite in their intended victims the extreme emotion of fear, for the purpose of their arrest ; either by assuming before them a terrific attitude, there- by directly disconcerting their powers of es- cape, by the overwhelming influences of instant jeopardy ; or it directs them to seek a posi- tion in the vicinity of their young progeny, to excite apprehension for the safety of these, and thereby induce an exhausting struggle in their defense.
This induced exertion, aided by the dis- tracting influence of parental solicitude, while it renders them reckless of individual safety, effects an exhaustion of their bodily powers that not unfrequently terminates in their fall-
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 197
ing victims to parental affection.* Even the school boy will attest to the bold and perse- vering efforts of the most timid parent bird, in the resistance made to his incursions upon the domain of her progeny, and the daring exposures of her individual safety in their de- fense. But when the danger arises from her natural enemy, the reptile or the cat, her ef- forts are increased in reckless daring, to a degree proportionate to her instinctive con- sciousness of the deadly designs of the adver- sary. The wily intruder, sensible that per- severance will most likely effect his design, patiently awaits the period when, through ex- haustion, or wild desperation, she ventures within his grasp.
* The love of offspring, as often manifested in the human and other species, often equals that of life, and when brought into conflict, the former not unfrequently predominates. When extremely aroused by imminent perils to which its object is exposed, it often prompts to effort for protection, equally vigorous and daring as when personal safety is the consideration. This strong and engrossing passion is most manifest in animals when their young are in the stage of rearing, in which helpless state few animals will abandon them when en- dangered by their natural or other foes, until resistance becomes hopeless by their destruction, or their own powers yield, through their protracted struggles in their defense.
198 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
That the asserted fascinator is a passive agent in effecting the changes acting upon the victim of his influence, either in present- ing variable hues, or other factitious represen- tations deviating from those originating from ordinary animal endowments, is rendered certain from the fact, that the more calm and indifferent beholder witnesses no deviation whatever, either in his ordinary colors, or other natural qualities, any further than those which his ordinary instinct, or experience, might suggest as most suitably adapted for the arrest of his prey.
Every species of animals evidently possess instincts operating in some degree diverse from those of others, which are to be viewed as wise adaptations to the wants and abilities of the or- ganic structure of their possessors. That the few species, therefore, represented as charmers, should exhibit actions, when employed in pro- curing sustenance, deviating from others of a different organization, need not surprise the observer of general animal nature, since sim- ilar deviations in animal attributes will be found characterizing most other kinds, which, if less marvelous in consequence of being view- ed as immediate stuctural operations, are no less mysterious and inexplicable. If many of these have not been referred to a power hav- ing no sensibly material origin, like that of
ANIMAL FASCINATION. 199
the conceived power of fascination, it is proba- bly for the reason, that their accompanying phenomena have failed to impress the mind with the requisite marvels and mysteries which the latter is better calculated to gene- rate. Such mysterious character is proved by all observation to be a necessary aliment to sustain a belief in whatever is obscure, incom- prehensible, and difficult of investigation by the senses.
The power under consideration, in the light in which it has been presented, admits of explanation, as an ordinary faculty, either by viewing it as an original sagacity supplied by intellect or instinct, or that these have been improved by the experience of a long succes- sion of their species, in localities and under circumstances deviating from those for which their original natures were destined.
This improvement and accommodation of animal attributes, as well instinct as intel- lect, is exhibited in most species when trans- lated to situations in which the natural ob- jects on which they subsist are deficient. As it is an obvious fact, that most kinds of ani- mals, from various accidents, have been exten- sively dispersed from their original locations, there is great reason for believing that many kinds have acquired greater or less additions to the sagacities with which they were origi- nally supplied.
200 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
A reference to either or both of the above suppositions, may afford an explanation of the artful sagacity which leads serpents, or other supposed charming animals, to locations where their contemplated victims are employed in the rearing of offspring, that by exciting the conflicting instincts in the manner stated, they may be subdued by the artful device, and the captor be enabled to secure a supply of his wants from a source that his natural organic abilities would seem to render him otherwise hopeless of obtaining. In a physiological view of the subject, therefore, the conclusion, from the state of facts, is nearly imperative, that the reputed state of fascination, with all its at- tendant phenomena, is but a mental, or per- haps in the lower species, an instinctive be- wilderment, effected by the deranging action of extreme passion. This may, perhaps, be aided in some cases by the optical illusions noticed, when in dangerous proximity with a formidable and deadly foe, in which state a lively sense of imminent peril so operates upon the intellect, as to produce a temporary hallucination or derangement of the natural faculties, or so disorders the action of the self- protective instincts, as for a time to abolish the ordinary physical ability to secure safety. In this condition the victim is impelled, in- voluntarily, to rush into the formidable danger, (by a striking sense of which, the deranged
ANIMAL FASCINATION 201
state of the intellect has been induced,) even against the admonition of the will and the instincts, which, in a state of deliberation, promptly admonish a retreat from its precincts.
If, therefore, all the actions of animals in the assumed state of fascination, as well as those by which this condition is induced, are susceptible of a reference to the operation of their ordinary but generally incomprehensible instincts, passions and intellect, it certainly is more rational to resort to the intricate though admitted organic action that originate these, for an explanation of the celebrated phenom- ena, than to refer them to a still more inexpli- cable and incomprehensible power, the exist- ence of which is a mere assumption from a series of extraordinary actions witnessed, to which are imputed energies capable of being operative far beyond the ordinary organic or physical force of the agent by which they are exerted.
In the intricate phenomena of nature, it is altogether more philosophical to have recourse to known facts, and where these are deficient, to analogies, for their solution, than by aban- doning such, because inadequate for their en- tire explanation, to assume the existence of animal properties which neither matter or mind are known to possess. Indeed, this must be conceded as the only justifiable mode of
18
202 ANIMAL FASCINATION.
reasoning, especially when the opposing facts are mere conceivable existences, incapable of being reconciled with any of the recognized laws by which either are governed.
The above being an admitted position, it of course follows, that if the facts apparent in the assumed state of fascination are suscepti- ble of an explanation, as being ordinary mani- festations of instinct, passion, or intellect, with one or all of which every animal is evidently endowed, it is unphilosophical to reject these ordinary animal properties in attempting its solution, for the reason only that they may ap- pear inadequate to explain its minor phenom- ena. This view is far more rational than that which admits a new agency for its production, which neither holds a similitude with any of the affections admitted as legitimate animal attributes, nor in fact is susceptible of being derived from any known property or law of animal nature.
If such a principle is admitted as legitimate in the science of life, there is reason to appre- hend that the truths dependent upon physiolo- gical science will be involved in obscurity ; and, indeed, that the natural sciences generally, instead of arriving at the state of development which their friends and cultivators have anti- cipated, are in danger of failing in their at- tainment of that exactness from which their greatest utility can be derived.
CONCLUSION.
It is to be regretted that, in this enlightened age, the propensity for the novel and the mar* velons should be permitted so far to obscure reason and judgment, as to prevent a reference to known phenomena or facts, for an explana- tion of whatever appears new, strange, or mys- terious ; more especially when such is opposed to all sensible and rational experience.
The various illusions of the senses, and the impositions which have ever been practiced to deceive mankind in less enlightened ages, ought to admonish us not to give our assent to pretended discoveries or speciously con- structed systems, which are discordant with common observation and general experience, without a deliberate examination. By a neglect of such caution, there is danger that evils sim- ilar to those alluded to, as having been instru- mental in earlier periods in retarding man- kind in their progress toward true knowledge, should have the like effect on the present age. Every age has had its peculiar superstitions and objects of credulity, which have flourished and held a duration proportionate to the ability of their promulgators to sustain their character for novelty, and the drapery of mystery which
204 CONCLUSION.
concealed their deformities. This essential aliment to credulity has been well understood and applied by designing knaves and impos- tors, to obtain the ends of their unholy ambi- tion; and observation too clearly manifests the success which has attended their experiments on popular credulity. To attest this fact re- quires but a reference to the attention and popular approbation with which the pretended discoveries alluded to are generally received. Such are the varieties of nostrums and pana- ceas of the quack, of mesmerism, of fanatical sects in religion, together with the almost in- finite variety of other worthless inventions and fictions of the imagination, which knavery is perpetually devising, and which are thrust upon the public by their inventors with an ar- rogance and impudence unparalleled, except in the history of charlatanism.
These are too commonly grasped with avid- ity by the devotees of novelty, to the no small detriment of their interests and intellectual claims.
Each nostrum or superstition enjoys, in turn, a period of ascendency sufficient to accom- plish the selfish object which led the impostor to its invention. Each has succeeded in a de- gree proportioned to the ability of its inventor to sustain its occult character, and each inva- riably has declined in a ratio having corres-
CONCLUSION. 205
pondence with the loss of this essential re- quisite for success.
Such is the uniform character which history aud observation furnishes of credulity and su- perstition, and such the arts and machinations with which designing impostors, in every age, have approached the weak and the credulous,' with designs upon their interest and welfare! It may well then be asked, whether, in an en- lightened period like the present, with exam- ples so abounding as those furnished from past ages, the time has not arrived when it would be proper to review our position by the light which the past furnishes ; and before we ridi- cule past generations for their errors and delu- sions, furnish evidence that we, though per- haps in other forms, are not in a like category, and therefore in danger of being jeered in turn by our successors, for the errors which we foster and cherish.
If such happy result as the banishment of error from the entire mass of society is ever accomplished, it can alone be effected by allowing reason a legitimate predominance over the passions and imagination, that it may be enabled to separate truth from falsehood, by the standards which it is capable of fur- nishing. Such exercise of reason, aided by experience and a healthy operation of the senses, would divest knavery and imposture of
18*
206 CONCLUSION.
their mystery and marvelousness ; and the impostors, who weave their detestable fabrics, would be shorn of their ability to prey upon the interests and happiness of the species in which they claim a rank. By allowing the native faculties of the mind this salutary exer- cise, a test might be afforded by which the line of demarkation between truth and error would be defined ; reason would assume the governance of mental action ; impostors, with their arts and delusive systems, would be con- signed to merited obloquy ; and the progress of society would be onward toward that per- fection for which the Creator manifestly de- signed the human species.
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Or, Meditations on the Death and Passion of our Blessed Lord and Saviour. Edited by W. F. Hook, D.D., Vicar of Leeds. l6mo, 63 cts. Reduced to 50 cts.
Hooker. — The Complete Works
Of that learned and judicious divine, Mr. Richard Hooker, with an account of his Life and death, by Isaac Walton. Arranged by the Rev. John Keble, M.A. First American from the last Oxford edition. With a complete genera] Index, and Index of the texts of Scripture, prepared expressly for this edition. Two volumes, 8vo, $4,00.
6
Appletons7 Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
RELIGIOUS. Ives. — The Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship ;
Five Sermons, preached in the principal Churches of his Diocese, during hia Spring Visitation, 1844. By the Right Rev. L. S. Ives, D.D., LL.D. lGmo 63 cents. Reduced to 50 cents.
James. — Happiness, its Nature and Sources.
By Rev. John Angell James. One volume, 32mo, 25 cents.
James. — The Young Man from Home.
In a Series of Lectures, especially intended for the Moral Advancement of Youth. By Rev. John Angell James. Fifth edition. One vol. 18mo, 38 cts.
James. — The Widow Directed
To the Widow's God. By Rev. John Angell James. One vol. l8mo, 38 cents.
jarvis. — A Reply to Doctor Milner^s " End of Deli-
gious Controversy," so far as the Churches of the English Communion arc concerned. By Samuel Fakmar Jarvis, D.D., LL.D. l2mo, 75 cents.
Keble. — The Christian Year.
Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holidays throughout the Year. l6mo, 75 cents; illustrated, $1,00.
KingJ^y.—Tlte Sacred Choir.
A Collection of Church Music, consisting of Selections from the most distin- guished Authors, among whom are the names of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Pergolessi, &,c, &c , with several pieces of Music by the Author ; also a Pro- gressive Elementary System of Instruction for Pupils By George Kingsley, Author of the Social Choir, &c, &c. A new edition. 75 cents.
Light in the Dwelling ;
Or, a Harmony of the Four Gospels, with short and simple Remarks, adapted to Reading at Family Prayers, and arranged in 365 sections, for every day in the year. By the author of" Peep of Day," " Line upon Line," etc., etc. One volume, 8vo, $1,75.
Lyra Apostoliccc.
From the Fifth English edition. One elegantly-printed volume, 75 cts.
Magee — On Atonement and Sacrifice.
Discourses and Dissertations on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice, and on the Principal Arguments advanced, and the Mode of Reason- ing employed by the Opponents of those Doctrines, as held by the Established Church. By the late most Rev. William Magee, D. D., Archbishop of Dublin. Two volumes, 8vo, .$5,00.
Marshall. — Notes on the Episcopal Polity
Of the Holy Catholic Church, with some account of t he Developments of Mo- dern Religious Systems By Thomas William Marshall, B. A., of the Dio- cese of Salisbury. Edited by Jonathan M Wainwright, DD. With a new and complete Index of the Subjects and of the Texts of Scripture. One vol, 12mo, $1,25. Reduced to $1,00.
Manning. — The Unity of the Church.
By the Rev. Henry Edward Manning. M. A., Archdeacon of Chichester. One volume, lGmo, $2,00. Reduced to 75 cts.
9
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
m . 1
RELIGIOUS.
Maurice. — The Kingdom of Christ ;
Or, Hints respecting the Principles, Constitution and Ordinances of the Catholic Church. Bv Rev. Frederic Denison Maurice, M. A., London. One volume, 8vo, 600 pages, $250.
Matrimony. — The Manual of Matrimony,
And Connubial Companion ; gathered together for the Safety of the Single, and the Weal of the Wedded. By a Bachelor. One volume, miniature size, 31-£
More. — Practical Piety.
By Hannah More. Two volumes, 32mo, frontispieces, 75 cts.
More. — Private Devotion :
A Series of Prayers and Meditations, with an Introductory Essay on Prayer chiefly from the writings of Hannah More. From the twenty-fifth London edition. One volume, 32mo, frontispiece, cloth gilt, 31 cts.
Newman. — Paroch ial Sermons.
By John Henry Newman, B D. Six volumes of the English edition in two vols. 8vo, $5,00.
Neivman. — Sermons bearing on Subjects of the Pay.
By John Henry Newman, B.D. 1 vol.,12mo. Reduced to §1,00.
Ogilby. — On Lay-Baptism .
Ail Outline of the Argument against the Validity of Lay-Baptism. By John D. Ogilby, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History. One vol., I2mo, 75 cts.
Ogilby. — Catholic Church in England and America.
Three Lectures: I. The Church in England and America, Apostolic and Cath- olic. II. The Causes of the English Reformation. III. Its Character and Re- sults. By John D. Ogilby, D.D. Reduced to 50 cts.
Palmer. — A Treatise on the Church of Christ.
Designed chiefly for the use of Students in Theology. By the Rev. William Palmer, M. A , of Worcester College, Oxford. Edited, with Notes, by the Right Rev. W. R Whittingham, D.D , Bishop of the Prot. Epis. Church in the Diocese of Maryland. Two volumes, 8vo, §5,00.
Parables of our Lord ;
Richly illuminated with appropriate borders printed in colors, and in black and gold ; with a design from one of the early German engravers. Square fcp. 8vo, in a massive carved binding, in the style of the beginning of the 16th century. Price §3,50.
Paget. — Tcd.es of the Village.
By the Rev. Francis E. Paget, M. A. 3 vols., 18mo. Reduced to §1,25.
Pearson. — An Exposition of the Creed.
By John Pearson, D.D., late Bishop of Chester. With an Appendix, contain- ing the principal Greek and Latin Creeds. Revised and corrected by the Rev. W. S. Dobson, M. A., Peterhouse, Cambridge. One vol. 8vo, $2,00.
Philip.— Devotional and Experimented, Guides.
By Robert Phi lit. With an Introductory Essay by Rev. Albert Barnes, Two volumes, 12mo, $1,75. Containing Guide to the Perplexed. Guide to the Devotional, Guide to the Thoughtful, Guide to the Doubting, Guide to the Conscientious, Guide to Redemption.
10
Ajrpleions* Catalogue of Valuable Publications,
RELIGIOUS. Philip. — Younjj Maris Closet Library.
Bv Robert Philii\ With an Introductory Essay by Rev. Albert Barnes. 12mo, 81,00.
Philip. — Lady's Closet Library.
The Marys, or Beauty of Female Holiness ; The Marthas, or Varieties of Fe- male Piety; The Lydias.or Development of Female Character ; The Hannahs, or Maternal Influence of Sons. By Robert Philip. Each vol., 18mo, 50 eta.
Philip, — Love of the Spirit traced in his Work ;
A Companion to the Experimental Guides. By Robert Philip. One volume, 18mo, 50 cts.
jP Salter, The; or Psalms of David:
Together with the Canticles of the Morning and Evening Prayer and Occasion- al Offices of the Church, figured for Chanting : to which are prefixed an Ex- planatory Preface and a Selection of Chants. Edited by W. A. Mulenbergh, D.D. 1 vol. 12mo, 50 cts. Cheap binding, 38 cts.
Pulpit Oyclqpcedia cmd Ministers Companion.
Containing three hundred and sixty Skeletons and Sketches of Sermons, and eighty-two Essays on Biblical Learning, Theological Studies, and the Compo- sition and Delivery of Sermons. By the Author of " Sketches and Skeletons of 400 Sermons," " Christian Daily Portion," etc. The London edition of four volumes complete in one 8vo. vol. of over 600 pages, $2,50.
S' rmons:
Five Hundred Sketches and Skeletons of Sermons, suited for all occasions ; including nearly one hundred on Types and Metaphors. By the author of Pulpit Cyclopaedia. Large 8vo, $2,50.
Sherlock — The Practical Christian ;
Or, the Devout Penitent ; a Book of Devotion, containing the Whole Duty of a Christian in all Occasions and Necessities, fitted to the main use of a holy life. By R. Sherlock, D.D. With a Life of the Author, by the Right Rev. Bishop Wilson. Author of" Sacra Private," &c. lGmo. Reduced to 75 cents.
Spevcer. — The Christian Instructed
i:i the Ways of the Gospel and the Church, in a series of Discourses delivered St. James's Church, Goshen, N. Y. By the Rev. J. A. Spencer, M.A., late Rector. One volume, l6mo. Reduced to §1,00.
wkes. — McmucH of Private Devotion:
Collected from the writings of Archbishop Land, Bishop Andrews, Bishop Ken, Dr. Hickes, Mr. Kettle well, Mr. Spiockes, and other eminent old English divines. With a Preface by the Rev. Mr. Spinckes. Edited by Francis E. Paget, M.A. One elegant volume, lGmo. Reduced to 75 cents.
Sutton. — DisceVwere — Learn to Live:
Wherein is shown that the Life of Christ is and ought to be an Express Pattern for Imitation unto the Life of a Christian. By Christopher Sutton, D.D. 16mo. Reduced to 75 cents.
Swa/rt. — Letters to My Godchild.
By the Rev. J. W. Swart, A.M., of the Diocese of Western New- York. One volume, 32mo, cloth, gilt leaves, 38 cents.
11
AppIetons) Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
EELIGIOUS.
Self -Examination ;
A Form of Self-Examination, with a few Directions for Daily Use. 32mo, 6£ cts.
Taylor, Bislwp Jeremy. — Holy Living and Dying.
A new edition. One volume l2mo, $1,00.
Taylor. — The Sacred Order and Offices of Episco- pacy Asserted and Maintained ; to which is added, Clerus Domini, a Discourse on the Office Ministerial. By Bishop Jeremy Taylor, D.D. 16mo, 75 cts.
Taylor. — The Golden Grove:
A choice Manual, containing what is to be Believed, Practised, and Desired, or Prayed for ; the Prayers being fitted for the several Days of the Week. To which is added, a Guide for the Penitent. Also, Festival Hymns, &c. By the Right Rev. Bishop Jeremy Taylor. One volume, 16mo, 50 cents.
Trench. — Notes on the Parables of mvr Lord.
By the Rev. Rich'd C. Trench, M.A. From the 3d Lond. ed. 1 vol. 8vo, $1,75.
Watson. — Lectures on Confirmation.
The Pastor Preparing his Flock for Confirmation ; four Lectures. By the Rev. Alex. Watson, A.M. 18mo, 12£ cents.
Whiston. — The Constitution of the Holy Apostles,
Including the Canons ; Whiston' s version, revised from the Greek ; with a Prize Essay at the University of Bonn, upon their origin and contents ; trans- lated from the German by the Rev. Ira Chase, D.D. 1 vol. 8vo, $2,50.
Wilberf or ce.— -Manual for Communicants /
Or, The Order for Administering the Holy Communion ; conveniently arranged with Meditations and Prayers from old English Divines ; being the Eucharis- tica of Samuel Wilberforce, D.D , Bishop of Oxford. 38 cents.
Wilson. — Expository Lectures on St. PmiPs Epistle
to the Colossians ; in which the Apostle's argument respecting the Errors on the subject of the Mediation of Christ, prevailing at Colosse, is applied to the present Circumstances of our Protestant Church. By Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta. One volume, 12mo. Reduced to 75 cents.
Women of the Bible,
Delineated in a Series of Sketches of remarkable Females mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. Illustrated by eighteen characteristic Steel Engravings. Edited by J. M. Wainwright, D.D. One volume imperial 8vo, embossed leather, $7,00 ; morocco elegant, $10,00 ; colored plates, embossed leather, $12,00 ; morocco elegant, $15,00.
Women of the New Tesfcwient,
Delineated in a Series of Sketches. Illustrated with eighteen beautiful Steel Engravings. Edited by the Rev. Dr. Sprague. One Volume imperial 8vo, to match " Women of the Bible." (In press.)
Wyatt. — The Christian Altar ;
Or, Office of Devotion for the use of persons receiving the Lord's Supper : to- gether with a Treatise relating to that Sacrament, and Directions for the Com- municant's daily walk with God. Third edition, 18mo, 37^ cents.
Wilson. — Sacra Privata.
The Private Meditations, Devotions, and Prayers of Rt. Rev. T. Wilson, D.D., Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man. Complete edition. 16mo, 75 cents.
12
Apple-tons1 Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
1 ■■ — ' — — — — »
SCIENCE AND THE AETS.
I. AGRICULTURE.
BouisscmgcmU. — AgritmUwral Chemistry.
Rural Economy, in its Relations with Chemistry, Physics, and Meteorology ; or, Chemistry applied to Agriculture. By J. B. Bouissangault. Translated, with Notes, etc., by Geo. Law, Agriculturist. 12mo, over 500 pages, §1,50.
Falkner. — The Farmer'* s Manual :
A Practical Treatise on the Nature and Value of Manures, founded from Ex- periments on various crops ; with a brief account of the most Recent Disco- veries in Agricultural Chemistry. By F. Falkner and the Author of" British Husbandry " ]2rao, cloth, 50 cents.
Marshall. — The Farmers Hand-Booh :
Being a Full and Complete Guide for the Farmer and Emigrant : comprising — The Clearing of Forest and Prairie Lands; Gardening; Farming Generally ; Farriery; The Management and Treatment of Cattle ; Cookery; The Con- struction of Dwellings ; Prevention and Cure of Disease ; with copious Tables, Recipes, Hints, &c, &c. By Josiah T. Marshall. 12mo, illustrated, $1,00.
Thomson* — Expevimen tal Researches
On the Food of Animals and the Fattening of Cattle, with Remarks on the Food of Man : founded on Experiments made by order of the British Government, by Robert Dundas Thomson, M. D , Prof. University of Glasgow. 12mo, cloth, 50 cts. Paper cover, 38 cts. i
II. ARCHITECTURE AND MECHANICS-
A i m oh — Goth ic A rch itectu ? *e,
Applied to Modern Residences. Containing designs for Entrances, Halls, Stairs and Parlors, Window Frames and Door Panelling, the jamb and label Mouldings on a large scale ; the decoration of Chimney Breasts and Mantels ; Panelling and Graining of Ceilings, with the appropriate furniture. The whole illustrated with Working and perspective Drawings, and forming all the ne- cessary parts of a modern dwelling By D. H. Arnot, Architect. Now publishing in Nos., to be completed in onevol.,4to.
Byrne. — Encyclopcedia of Machines, Afechanics, and
Engineering. Comprising Working Drawings, and Description of every im- portant Machine in practical Use in the United States, Great Britain, etc., in- cluding a complete Treatise on Mechanics, Machinery, and Engine Work. By Oliver Byrne, Civil Engineer.
•** This work (now in preparation) will be published in Nos., at 25 cents each. It will com- prise nearly 2000 pages, and 1500 Engravings.
Bourne. — A Catechism of the Steam Engine.
Illustrative of the Scientific principles upon which its operation depends, and the practical details of its structure, in its application to Mines, Mills, Steam Navigation and Railways. With various suggestions of Improvement. By John Bourne, C. E., lGmo, 75 cts.
Hodge. — The Steam Engine :
Its Origin and gradual improvement, from the time of Hero to the present day, as adapted to Manufactures, Locomotion and Navigation. Illustrated with 48 Plates in full detail, numerous wood -cuts, &c By Paul R. Hodge, C. E One volume folio of plates, and letterpress in Svo, $10.
13
Appletojis' Catalogue, of Valuable Publications.
SCIEXCE AND THE ARTS.
Lafever. — Beauties of Modern Architecture ;
Consisting of forty-eight Plates of Original Designs, with Plans, Elevations, and Sections — also a Dictionary of Technical Terms ; the whole forming a complete Manual for the Practical Builder. By M. Lafever, Architect. Large 8vo, .$5.
III. MEDICINE AND CHEMISTRY.
Ve Levee. — Practical Instruction in Animal Magnet- ism. By J. P. F. De Leuze. Translated by Thomas C. Hartshorn. Revised edition, with an Appendix of Notes by the Translator, and Letters from emi- nent Physicians and others, descriptive of cases in the U. S. 1 vol. 12mo, §1.
Fresen ins. — Cliemical Analysis.
Elementary Instruction in Chemical Analysis. By Dr. C. Rhemigius Fresenius. With a Preface by Prof. Liebig. Edited by I.Lloyd Bullock. l2mo, cloth, §1.
Hall. — The Principles of Diagnosis.
By Marshall Hall, M. D. F. R. S., &c. Second edition, with many im- provements, by John A. Sweet. One volume, 8vo, $2.
Liebig. — Familiar Letters on Chemistry,
And its relation to Commerce; Physiology, and Agriculture. By Justus Lie- big, M. D. Edited by John Gardner, M. D. One vol., 25 cts., bound.
Leger. — Animal Magnetism,
Or Psychodunamy. By Theodore Leger, M. D., late Prof, ef Anatomy at the Practical School, Paris. One vof. 12mo, §],25.
Wilson. — On Healthy SJrin:
A Popular and Practical Treatise on Healthy Skin ; with Rules for the Medi- cal and Domestic Treatment of Cutaneous Diseases. Bv Erasmus Wilson, F. R. S. l2mo, illustrated, $1.
IV. USEFUL ARTS.
Cooley. — The Booh of Useful LTnoivledge :
A Cyclopaedia of Six Thousand Practical Receipts, and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures and Trades ; including Medicine, Pharmacy, and Domestic Economy : designed as a compendious Book of Reference for the Manufacturer, Tradesman, Amateur, and Heads of Families. By Arnold James Cooley, Practical Chemist. Illustrated with numerous Wood Engrav- ings. One volume, Svo, oi 650 pages* Price $2,00, bound.
^arnelJ. — Applied Chem istry,
In Manufactures, Arts, and Domestic Economy. Edited by E. A. Parnell. Illustrated with numerous Wood Engravings, and Specimens of Dved and Printed Cottons. Paper cover, 75 cts. ; cloth, .$1.
Ure. — Dictionary of Arts, Manvfactu res, and Mines ;
Containing a clear Exposition of their Principles and Practice. By Andrew Ure, M. D., F R. S , &c. Illustrated with 1450 Engravings on wood. One thick volume, with Supplement complete, .$5.
Ure. — A Supplement to Dr. Ure^s Dictionary.
8vo, 200 cuts. §1,50.
V. MILITARY.
Hailed:. — Elements of Military Science and Art;
Or, a Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactics of Battles, &c. ; embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Engineers; adapted to the Use of Volunteers and Militia. By H. Wager Halleck, A. M., Lieut, of Engineers of U. S. Armv. One vol. 12mo, illustrated, $1,50.
14
Appletojis' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Acton; or, The Circle of Life.
A Collection of Thoughts and Observations, designed to delineate Life, Man, and the World. l2mo, §1,25 ; gilt edges, §1,50 ; extra gilt, §1,75.
Ansted. — The Gold Seekers Manual.
Being a practical and Instructive Guide to all Persons emigrating to the newly discovered Gold Regions of California. By Prof. D. Ansted. 12mo, 25 cts.
Arih/u r. — Tired of Housekeeping.
ByT. S. Arthur, author of " Insubordination," etc , etc. 18mo, frontisp , 38 cts. Forming one of the series of'* Tales for the People and their Children."
Adler. — A Dictionary of the German and English
Languages. Compiled from Hilpert, Flugel, Greib, &c. By G. J. Adler, Prof. German in the University of New- York. 1 large vol ,8vo, 1400 pp. §5.
A gn eh — Chess for Winter Even ings ;
Or, Useful and Entertaining Lessons on the Game of Chess. Compiled from the best English sources and translations from the French. By H. R. Ag.vel. Illustrated with fine Steel Plates, from paintings by R. YV. Weir. l2mo, §1,75.
Appletons^ Steetmhoat and Railroad Companion :
Being a Traveller's Guide through New England and the Middle States, with Routes in the Southern and Western States and also in Canada ; forming like- K a complete Guide to the White Mountains, Catskill Mountains, &c, Ni- agara Falls, Trenton Falls. 6cc, Saratoga Springs, and other watering places ; and containing full and accurate Descriptions of all the Principal Towns, Vil- lages, the Natural and Artificial Curiosities in the vicinity of the routes ; w«th Distances, Fares, &c. Illustrated with thirty Maps and numerous Engravings. By W. Williams. One very neat volume, §1,25.
Appletons1 Southern and Western Guide Boole.
Accompanied with numerous Maps and Plans of cities. By W. Williamsl One volume l6mo.
Appletvnrf New- Yorlc City Guide.
Accompanied with a Map. 18mo. 38 cts.
Appletons? New City Metps,
Of New-York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Price, 12^ cts. each, in a case.
Appletons* Lihrary Manual:
Containing a Catalogue Raisonne of upwards of 12,000 of the most important Works in every department of Knowledge, and in all Modern Languages. Part I. Subjects alphabetically arranged. II. Biography, Classics, Miscella- neous, and Index to Part I. 1 vol. 8vo, 450 pages, §1,00 ; half bound, §1,25.
Arnold. — The Mi^cdkmeous Works
Of Thomas Arnold, D.D., with nine additional Essays, not included in the English collection. One vol. 8vo, §2.
Bhi/ichard. — Tourist and, Trevvellers.
By Laman Blancharp. One volume 24mo. Illustrated, 25 cts.
Broohs. — Four Mouths among tlie Gold Finders in
California; beinc the Diary of an Expedition from San Francisco to the Gold Districts. By J. Tyrrwhitt Brooks, M. D., 8vo. paper, 25 cts.
15
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Bond. — Golden Maxims ;
Or, a Thought for every Day in the Year. Devotional and Practical. Selected by the Rev. Robert Bond. 32mo, 31 cts.
Bryant. — What I saw in California'.
Being the Journal of a Tour, by the Emigrant Route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the Continent of North America, the Great Desert Basin and through California, in the years 1846, 1847. By Edwin Bryant. late Alcalde of San Francisco. Sixth edition, with an Appendix containing Accounts of the Gold Mines, various Routes, Outfit, etc., etc., with maps of California and the Gold Region. l2mo, §1,25.
Calif or nian Ghaide Book*
Comprising Col. Fremont's Geographical Account of Upper California ; Major Emory's Overland Journey, and Captain Fremont's Narrative of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains and to Oregon and California, accompanied with a Map of the various Routes, and a Map of the Gold Regions. 8vo, 50 cts.
Chapman. — Instruction to Young Ifarksmen,
In all that relates to the general construction, Practical Manipulation, etc., etc. as exhibited in the Improved American Rifle. By John Ratcliffe Chapman Civil Engineer. Illustrated with plates. l2mo, $1,25.
Cooley. — The American in Egypt;
With Rambles through Arabia Petrsea and the Holy Land, during the years 1839-40. By James Ewing Cooley. Illustrated with numerous Steel En- gravings ; also Etchings and Designs by Johnson. 8vo, of 610 pages, §2.
Coroould. — The History and Adventures of Margor
ret Catchpole, a Suffolk Girl. By the Rev. Richard Corbould. 8vo, paper cover, 2 Steel plates, 25 cts.
Don Quixote de La Mancha.
Translated from the Spanish of Miguel Cervantes Sauvedra. Embellished with eighteen Steel Engravings. 16mo, §1,50.
Drury. — Friends and Fortune ;
A Moral Tale, by Anne Harriet Drury. 12mo, 75 cts. ; paper, 50 cts.
Dianas. — Marguerite De Valois ;
An Historical Romance. By Alexander Dumas. 8vo, paper cover, 25 cts.
Edwards. — Voyage up the Biver Amazon ;
Including a Residence at Para. By W. H. Edwards. 12mo, cloth, §1,00 ; paper cover, 75 cts.
Ellis. — Prevention better than Cure ;
Or, the Moral Wants of the World we live in. By Mrs. Ellis. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts.
Ellis. — The Women of England ;
Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits. By Mrs. Ellis. 1 vol. l2mo, 50 cts.
Ellis. — The Motliers of England ;
Their Influence and Responsibility. By Mrs. Ellis. 1 vol. l2mo, 50 cts.
Ellis. — The Minister }s Family ;
Or, Hints to those who would make Home happy. By Mrs. Elms. 18mo, 38 cts.
16
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Ellis. — First Impressions ;
Or, Hints to those who would make Home happy. By Mrs. Ellis. 18mo, 38 cts.
7:7/ /.v. — Some rv ill e Hall ;
Or, Hints to those who would make Home happy. By Mrs. Ellis. 16mo, 38 cts.
jEMis. — Family Secrets / or, Tlxe Dangers of Dining
Out. By Mrs. Ellis. 16mo, 38 cts.
Ellis. — Social Distinctions ; or, Hearts and Homes.
By Mrs. Ellis. 8vo.
*** It is written in the spirit of Modern Progressive Philosophy, and seems to he illustrative of great social truths, while aiming a well directed blow agaiust cruel and proscriptive usages of so- ciety."— J\"at. Era.
Ellis. — A Voice from the Vintage ; or, T lie Force of
Example. Addressed to those who Think and Feel. By Mrs. Ellis. 8vo, paper, 6 cts.
Fmlury. — Nature's Gems* or, American Flowers
in their Native Haunts. By Emma C. Embury. With twenty Plates of Plants carefully colored after Nature, and Landscape Views of their Localities, from drawings taken on the spot, by E. W. Whitefield. One imperial octavo vol- ume, printed on the finest paper and elegantly bound. Price $6.
Emory and Fremont. — Notes of Travel in California.
Comprising the prominent Geographical, Agricultural, Geological and Minera- logical features of the country ; also the Route from Fort Leavenworth, in Mis- souri to San Diego, in California, from the official Reports of Col. Fremont and Major Emory. 8vo, paper, 25.
Everett. — A System of English Versification.-
Containing Rules for the Structure of the different kinds of Verse. Illustrated by numerous examples from the best Poets. By Erastus Everett, A. M. 12mo, 75.
Frost. — Travels in Africa.
The Book of Travels in Africa, from the Earliest Ages to the present time. Compiled from the best authorities, by John Frost, L.L. D. l2mo, illustrated with over 100 plates, $1.
Frost. — The Booh of the Indians of North America.
Their Manners, Customs, and Present State. Compiled from the most recent authorities. By John Frost, L.L. D. 12mo, illustrated, §1.
Frost. — The Book of the Army :
Comprising a General Military History of the United States, from the period of the Revolution to the present time, with particular Accounts of all the most celebrated Battles ; compiled from the best authorities. By John Fin «T, L.L. D. Illustrated with numerous Engravings and Portraits. l2mo, $1,25.
Frost, — The Booh of the Navy:
Comprising a General History of the American Marine, and particular Accounts of all the most celebrated Naval Battles, from the Declaration of Independence to the present time ; compiled from the best authorities. By John Frost, L.L. D. With an Appendix, containing Naval Songs, Anecdotes, &c. Embellished with numerous original Engravings and Portraits. 12mo, §1.
17
Appletmis' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
MISCELLANEOUS. Frost — The Book of the Colonies :
Comprising a History of the Colonies composing the United States; from the Discovery in the 10th Century, to the Commencement of the Revolutionary War. Compiled from the best authorities. By John Frost, L.L. D. 12mo, illustrated, §1.
Frost. — The Book of Good Examples :
Drawn from Authentic History and Biography. Designed to illustrate the ben- eficial Effects of Virtuous Conduct. By John Frost, L.L. D. 12mo, illustra- ted, $1.
Frost. — The Book of Illustrious Mechomics of Europe
and America. Translated from the French of Edward Foncaud. Edited by John Ffost, L.L. D. l2mo, illustrated, 31.
Frost. — The Book of Anecdotes ;
Or, the Moral of History, taught by Real Examples. By John Frost, L. L. D. With illustrations. l2mo, $i,00.
Foster. — Biog., Lit., and Philo. Essays,
Contributed to the Eclectic Review. By John Foster,, author of " Essays on Decision of Human Character," etc. One vol. 12mo, $1,25.
Fremont. — Oregon and California Expedition.
Narrative of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the year 1842, and to Oregon and North California in the years 1843-4. By Brevet Capt. J. C. Fremont. Reprinted from the official report ordered to be published by the United States Senate. One vol. Svo, paper cover, 25 cts ; or printed on thick paper, bound, 63 cts.
Fullerton. — Ellen Middleton .
A Tale, by Lady Georgiana Fullerton. l2mo, 75 cts. ; paper cover, 50 cts.
Fullerton. — ^Grantly Manor.
A Tale, by Lady Georgiana Fullerton. 12mo, 75 cts. ; paper cover, 50 cts.
Goldsmith. — Pictorial Vicar of Wakefeld.
By Oliver Goldsmith. Illustrated with upwards of 100 Engravings on Wood. 1 beautiful vol. 8vo, of 300 pages, $1,25 ; l2mo, 75 cts. ; miniature size, 38 cts.
Grace Leslie ; or, The History of a Month.
A Tale. 12mo, 75 cts. ; paper cover, 50 cts.
Grant. — Memoirs of an American Lady :
With Sketches of the Scenery and Manners in America, as they existed previ- ous to the Revolution. By Mrs. Grant, (of Laggaw.) 12mo, paper cover, 50 cts. ; cloth, 75 cts.
Gil Bias. The Adventures of Gil Bias of Saniillam.
Translated from the French of Le Snue, by T. Smollet. With an account of the Author's Life. Splendid Illustrations, l6mo, §1,50.
Guizot. — Democracy in France.
By Monsieur Guizot. l2mo, paper cover, 25 cts.
Jones. — My Uncle Hbbson and L:
Or, Slashes at Life with a Free Broad-Axe. By Pascal Jones. 12mo, papet cover, 50 cts. ; cloth, 75 cts.
IS
Applctons* Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Lienrnj. — The Ma mad of Chess :
Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game. Illustrated with Diagrams, Recent Games, and Original Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 vol 32mo, cloth.
Kip. — The Christmas Hohjdays in Home.
By the Rev. William Ingraham Kip, MA.' l2mo, $1,00.
Lamb. — Literary Sketches and Letters ;
Being the Final Memorials of Charles Lamb, never before published. By Thomas Noon Talfourd, one of his executors. 12mo, 75 cents.
Lamartine. — Les Confidences.
Confidential Disclosures By Alphonse de Lamartine. Translated from the French, by Eugene Plunkett. 12mo, paper cover, 25 cents ; cloth, 50 cents.
Lamartine. — Les Confidences et Raphael.
Par M. De Lamartine. Two volumes in one. 8vo, $1,00.
Lanman. — Summer in the Wilderness :
Embracing a Canoe Voyage up the Mississippi and around Lake Superior. By Charles Lanman. l2mo, paper cover, 50 cents; cloth, G3 cents.
Letter- Writer.
The Useful Letter-writer, comprising a succinct Treatise on the Epistolary Art, and Forms of Letters for all ordinary Occasions of Life. Compiled from the best auihorities. Frontispiece, 32mo, gilt leaves, 33 cents.
Lover. — Hand if And;/ :
A Tale of Irish Life. By Samuel Lover. Illustrated with twenty-three characteristic Steel Engravings. One volume &vo, cloth, $1 25, boards, $1 ; cheap edition, two Plates, paper, 50cts.
Lover. — L. S. L).; Treasure Trove:
A Tale. By Samuel Lover. 8vo, two Steel Engravings, paper cover,25cts.
Ma/neon i. — The Betrothed.
I Promissi Sposi ; The Betrothed. By Alessandro Manzoni. A new trans- lation. Two volumes, 12mo, paper cover, §1,00 ; cloth, $1,50.
Maxwell. — Fortunes of Hector OLLaUorein
And his man Mark Antony 6'Toole. By W. H Maxwell. One vol. 8vo, two plates, paper, 50 cents; twenty-four plates, boards, §1,00; cloth, $1,25.
Maxivell. — Hill-side wnd Border Sketches;
With Legends of the Cheyiots and the Summer Muir. By W. H. Maxwell. 8vo, paper cover, 25 cents.
McLntosh. — Ttvo Li/oes;
Or, To Seem and To Be. A Tale, by Maria J. McIntosii, author of" Praise and Principle," etc. One vol. l2mo, paper cover, 50 cents; cloth, 75 cents.
Mcintosh. — Avnt Kitty's Tales.
By Maria J. McIwTOSH. One vol. l2ino, paper cover, 50 cts ; cloth; 75 cts.
McLntosh. — Charms and Coimter-c7iarms.
By Maria J. McLntosh. l2mo, paper, 75 cts. ; cloth, $1,00.
19
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Miles. — The Horse's Foot,
And how to keep it sound ; with illustrations. By William Miles. From the third English edition. 12mo, paper cover, 25 cents.
Reid. — A Dictionary of the English Language.
Containing the Pronunciation, Etymology, and Explanation of all words au- thorized by eminent writers: to which are added a Vocabulary of the Roots of English Words, and an Accented List of Greek, La^in, and Scripture Proper Names. By Alexander Reid, A.M., Rector of the Circus School, Edinburgh. With a Critical Preface by Henry Reed, Prof, of Eng. Lit. in the University of Pennsylvania. One vol. l2mo, of near 600 pages, well'bound in leather, §1,00.
Republic, The, of the United States of America :
Its Duties to Itself, and its responsible relations to other Countries. Embracing also a Review of the late war between the United States and Mexico ; its causes and results ; and of those measures of Government which have charac- terized the democracy of the Union. l2mo, paper, 75 cents; cloth, §1,00.
Richardson. — Dogs, their Origin and Varieties:
Directions as to their General Management ; with numerous Original Anec- dotes. Also, Simple Instructions as to their Treatment under Disease. By H. D. Richardson. Illustrated. l2mo, paper cover, 25 cents.
Roget. — Economic Chess-Board Companion ;
By which the Game of Chess may be played in Railroad Cars and in Steam- boats without any inconvenience. Invented by P. M. Roget, M.D. 50 cents.
Rough and Ready Annual ;
Or Military Souvenir. Illustrated with twenty Portraits and Plates. l2mo, morocco, §1,00.
Pure Gold from the Rivers of Wisdom:
A Collection of Short Extracts from the most Eminent Writers — Bishop Hall, Jeremy Taylor, Barrow, Hooker, Bacon, Leighton, Addison, Wilberforee, John- son, Young, Southey, Lady Montague, Hannah More, etc. 32mo, 31 cents.
Sawyer. — A Plea for Amusements.
By Frederick W. Sawyer. 12mo, 50 cents.
Sewell. — Amy Herbert :
A Tale. By Miss Sewell. Edited by the Rev. W. Sewell, B.D. One vol. l2mo, paper cover, 50 cents ; cloth, 75 cents.
Sewell. — Laneton Parsonage :
A Tale. By Miss Sewell. Edited' by the Rev. W. Sewell, B.D. Three vols. 12mo, paper cover, §1,50 ; cloth, $2,25.
Sewell. — Margaret Percival :
A Tale. By Miss Sewell. Edited by the Rev. W. Sewell, B.D. Two vols. 12mo, paper cover, $1,00 ; cloth, $1,50.
Sewell. — Gertrude :
A Tale. By Miss Sewell. Edited by the Rev. W. Sewell, B.A. 12mo,
cloth, 75 cents; paper cover, 50 cents.
Sewell. — Walter Lorrimer :
And other Tales. By Miss Sewell. Illustrated with six colored frtatee 12mo, 75 cents.
20
Apple tons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
MISCELLANEOUS. Smith. — Th<: Natural History of the Gent.
By Albert Smith. Illustrated with numerous Wood Engravings. l8mo,25cts.
Smith. — The Natural History of the Ballet Girl.
By Albert Smith. Illustrated with numerous Wood Cuts. 18mo, 25 cts.
South gate. — Visit to the Syrian Ohv/rcK
Narrative of a Visit to- the Syrian [Jacobite] Church of Mesopotamia ; with Statements and Reflections upon the Present State of Christianity in Turkey, and the Character and Prospects of the Eastern Churches. By the Rt. Rev. Horatio Southgate, D.D. One vol. 12mo, with a Map, $1,00.
Southgate. — Narrative of a Tour through Armenia,
Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia : with an Introduction, and Occasional Observations upon the Condition of Mohammedanism and Christianity in those Countries. By the Rev. Horatio Southgate. Two vols. 12mo, §1,50.
Southey. — Life of Oliver Cromwell.
By Robert Southey. One vol. 18mo, 38 cents.
Something for Every Body :
Gleaned in the Old Purchase, from fields often reaped. By Robert Carlton, Esq. l2mo, paper cover, 50 cents ; cloth, 75 cents.
Sprague. — History of the Florida War.
The Origin, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War: to which is ap- pended a record of Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, Musicians, and Privates of the U. S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, who were killed in battle, and others who died from disease ; as also the Names of Officers who were distin- guished by Brevets, and the Names of others recommended ; together with the Orders for Collecting the Remains of the Dead in Florida, and the Ceremony of Interment at St. Augustine, on the 14th Aug., 1842. By Jno. T. Sprague, Brevet Capt. 8th Reg't U. S. Infantry. 1 vol. 8vo, $2,50.
Stewart — On the Management of Horses.
Stable Economy : a Treatise on the Management of Horses, in relation to Stabling, Grooming, Feeding, Watering, and Working. By John Stewart, Veterinary Surgeon. With Notes and Additions, adapting it to American Food and Climate, by A. B. Allen. 12mo, illustrated with 23 Engravings, $1,00.
Surenne. — Pronovnci ng French Dictionary.
The Standard Pronouncing Dictionary of the French and English Languages. Part I. French and English. Part II. English and French. By Gabriel Surenne, F.A.S.E. One vol. 12mo, near 900 pages, strongly bound, $1,50.
Taylor. — Anecdote Book.
Anecdotes of Zachary Taylor and the Mexican War. By Tom Owen, the Bee-Hunter. Illustrated with Engravings. 8vo, 25 cents.
Tuckerma/ri. — Artist Life ;
Or Sketches of American Artists. By H. T. Tuckerman. One vol. 12mo, 75 ct*.
Warner. — Budimmtal Lessons in Music:
Containing the Primary Instruction requisite for all beginners in the Art, whether Vocal or Instrumental. By James F. Warner. 18mo, 50 cents.
Warner. — The Primary Note Header /
Or First Steps in Singing at Sight. By James F. Warner. 12mo, 25 cti.
21
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications,
MISCELLANEOUS. Wayland. — Heal Life in Engl. and.
By Mrs. Wayland ; with a Preface by President Wayland. 1 vol. l6mo, 38ctr
Whipple, — Essays and Reviews.
By Edwin P. Whipple^ Two vols. l2mo, §2,25.
Heads of Contents. — Vol. I. Macaulay ; Poets and Poetry of America; Talfourd ; Words; James' NoveU ; Sidney Smith ; Daniel Webster ; Neat's History of the Puritans ; Wordsworth; Byron ; English Poets of the Nineteenth Century ; Vagaries of Volition. — Vol. II. Old English Dramatists ; South's Sermon- : Romance of Rascality ; The Croakers of Society and Litera- ture ; British Critics ; Rufus Choate ; Coleridge as a Philosophical Critic ; Prescott's Histories ; Prescott's Conqaest of Peru ; Shakspeare's Critics ; Richard B. Sheridan ; Appendix; Thomaa Hood; Leigh Hunt; Thomas Carlyle ; Novels of the Season.
Woman1 s Worth :
Or, Hints to Raise the Female Character. First American from the last English edition. With a Recommendatory Notice, by Emily ?Jarshall. 18mo,38cts.
ZscliokJce. — Incidents of Social Life Amid the Euro- pean Alps. Translated from the German of J. H. Zschokke. l2mo, §1.
LAW BOOKS.
Antlion. — Contributions to Legal Science.
By John Anthox. 1 vol. 8vo. (In press.)
Holcomhe. — A Selection of Leading Cases upon Com- mercial Law, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States ; with Notes and Illustrations. By James P. Holcombe. 1 vol. law sheep, §4.
Holcomhe. — A Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme
Court of the U. S., from its organization to the present time, by James P. Hol- combe. A new edition, with an Appendix of Latest Cases. 8vo, $6.
Holcomhe. — Tlie Law of Debtor and Creditor,
In the United States and Canada. By James P. Holcombe. 8vo, $4.
*%* These volumes are highly commended by Chief Justices Taney and Woodbury, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, Chancellor Kent, &c.
Smith. — A Compendium of Mercantile Law.
By the late John W. Smith. Greatly enlarged from the third and last English edition, by James P. Holcombe and Wm. T. Gholson. 1 vol. 8vo, law sh'p, $4.
Warren. — Law Studies :
A Popular and Practical Introduction to Law Studies, and to every Department of the Legal Profession — Civil, Criminal, and Ecclesiastical ; with an Account of the State of Law in Ireland and Scotland, and occasional Illustrations from American Law. By Samuel Waerex, F. R. S., author of" Ten Thousand a Year," etc. Revised, with an American Introduction and Appendix, by The*. W. Clerke, Counsellor at Law. One vol. 8vo, 675 pages, §3,50.
JUYEXILE. Aunt Fannfs Story L>ooh
Illustrated with many Plates. 16mo, 50 cts.
AuntKitti- 'Lh'c*.
Containing Florae.0 Aruot, Blind Alice, and other Tales. By Maria i McIntosh. l2mo, 75 cts.
22
Appletons* Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
JUVENILE.
Boone. — Adv< //tares of Daniel Boone,
The Kentucky Rifleman. By the author of" Uncle Philip's Conversations." One volume, 37 \ cts.
Boy 6- Manual.
Comprising a Summary View of the Studies, Accomplishments and Principles of Conduct, best suited for promoting Respectability and Success in Life. 50 cts.
Bob the Squwrdy The Adventures of.
Finely illustrated. Square lGmo, 50 cts.
Booh of Animals, The.
For the Amusement and Instruction of Young Persons ; exemplified by original and select illustrative Anecdotes. By T. Bilby. Illustrated with twelve elegant Designs. Suare lGmo, 50 cts.
BwrdeU. — -Never Too Late:
An American Domestic Tale. By Charles Burdett. 18mo, 38 cts.
Burdett. — Chances and Changes;
Or, Life as it is: Illustrated in the History of a Straw Hat. By Charles Bur- dett. l8mo, 38 cts.
Cameron. — The Farmers Daughter :
A Tale of Humble Life. By Mrs. Cameron, author of" Emma and her Nurse," " The Two Mothers,*' etc., etc. 1 vol. 18mo, frontispiece, 37£ cts.
( ! v >ley. — El i i ll/y Friends] tips.
By Mrs. Copley. With a frontispiece. One volume, 18mo, 37^ cts.
Copley. — The Poplar Grove ;
Or, Little Harry and His Uncle Benjamin. A Tale for Youth. By Esther Copley. lGmo, 3^ els.
Cotton. — Elizabeth, or, The Exiles of Siberia.
By Madame Cotton. Miniature size, 31^ cts.
De Foe. — Pictorial Pobinson Crusoe.
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel De Foe. With a Memoir of the Author, and an Essay on his Writings, with upwards of 300 spirited Engravings, by the celebrated French artist, Grandville. One elegant volume, 8vo, of 500 pages, $1,75.
Edgeworth. — The Fireside Story Booh
Containing " Waste Not, Want Not," " The Bracelets," and " Lazy Lawrence." By Maria Edgeworth. With illustrations from original designs. 16mo, 50 cts.
Edgeworth. — Moral Tales ;
Containing " Forester," " The Prussian Vase," " The Knapsack," etc , etc. By Maria Edgeworth. Embellished with original designs by Darley. lGmo, 75 cts.
Edgeworth. — Popular TdU 8 :
Containing " Mured the Unlucky," " The Grateful Negro," " The Contrast," etc. By Maria Edgeworth. With original designs by Croome. lGmo, 75 cts.
Even mgs with the Chroniclers — Uncle Ruperts Tales
of Chivalry. By R. M. Evans. With 24 Illustrations. lGmo, 75 cts.
23
Appletons Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
JUVENILE.
Friday Christian, or, The First-born on PitcairrCs
Island. By A Poor " Member of Christ." 16mo, 50 cts.
George! s Journey to the Land of Happiness.
By A Lady. Illustrated with 16 colored Engravings. 16mo, 75.
Girls' Manual ;
Comprising a Summary View of Female Studies, Accomplishments, and Prin- ciples of Conduct. l6mo, 50 cts.
Grandmamma Fastfs New Pictorial Toy Books f
Illustrated with large colored Engravings. Harmlessly entertaining, or moral and instructive. Twelve kinds, assorted. 12 cts. each.
Gmizot. — The Youncj Student ;
Or, Ralph and Victor. By Madame Guizot. From the French, by Samuel Jackson. 1 vol. 500 pp. with illustrations. 75 cts., or in 3 volumes, $1,12.
Happy Children;
A Tale of Home, for Young People. With elegant engravings. 16mo, 50 cts.
Hernan Cortez. — The Adventures of Hernan Cortez.
The Conqueror of Mexico. By the author of Uncle Philip. 16mo, 38 cts.
Holiday House.
A Series of Tales. By Miss Sinclair. From the Third London Edition. Prettily illustrated by Croome. 16mo, 75 cts.
Home for the Holidays — A Pleasant Pemembrance
of My Early Days. Illustrated by Kenny Meadows. 4to, 25 cts , gilt edg. 50 cts.
Hoioitt. — The Child's Picture and Verse-Book ;
Commonly called " Otto Speekter's Fable-Book." Translated from the German, by Mary Howitt. 100 wood Engravings. Square l2mo, rich binding, $1,00.
Hoioitt. — Popular Tales by Mary Hoioitt:
Comprising— MY OWN STORY ; Or, the Autobiography of a Child. 18mo,
two plates, 38 cts. MY UNCLE, THE CLOCKMAKER. 18mo, two plates, 38 cts. . THE TWO APPRENTICES : A Tale for Youth. 18mo, two plates, 38 cts. LOVE AND MONEY: An Every-Day Tale. 18mo, two plates, cloth
gilt, 33 cts. LITTLE COIN, MUCH CARE ; Or, How Poor People Live. 18mo, two
plates, 38 cts. SOWING AND REAPING; Or, What will come of It. 18mo, two
plates, 38 cents. ALICE FRANKLIN ; A Sequel to Sowing and Reaping: A Tale. ISmo,
two plates, cloth gilt, 38 cts. WORK AND WAGES ; Or, Life in Service : A Tale. 18mo, two plates,
cloth gilt, 38 cts. STRIVE AND THRIVE. 18mo, two plates, cloth gilt, 38 cts, WHO SHALL BE GREATEST. 18mo, two plates, cloth gilt, 38 cts. WHICH IS THE WISER ; Or, People Abroad. 18mo, two plates, 38 cts. HOPE ON, HOPE EVER ; Or, The Boyhood of Felix Law. 18mo, two
plates, cloth gilt, 38 cts. NO SENSE LIKE COMMON SENSE: 18mo, two plates, cloth gilt, 38 cts.
24
Applctons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
JUVENILE
Hudson. — The A* wes cf Henry Hudson.
By the author of" Uncle Philip's Conversations." F'piece, ISrno, cloth, 37 eta
Jerram. — The Child's Oxen Story Book ;
Or, Tales and Dialogues for the Nursery. By Mrs. Jerram. 16mo, 50 cts.
Joan of Are, The Story of.
By R. M. Evans. With twenty-four fine plates. lGmo, 75 cts.
Johnson. — The History of Llassela*, Prince of Ahys-
sinia. A Tale. By Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 32mo, gilt leaves, 38 cts.
Juvenile Scrap Book ;
A Christmas and New Year's Present for Young People, edited by Grandfather Merryman. With twenty-eight Engravings on Steel. lGmo, $1.
Tittle Annie* First Book;
Chiefly in Words of Three Letters. By her Mother. Illustrated. 16mo, 38 cts.
Little Lessons for Little Learners ;
In Words of One Syllable. By Mrs. Barwell. Colored plates. 16mo, 50 cts.
Looking- Glass for the Mind ; or, Intellectual Mirror.
B^ing an elesrant Collection of the most Delightful little Stories and interesting Tales ; chiefly translated from that much admired work, L'Ami des Enfans. Numerous Wood Cuts. From the 20th London edition. 1 vol. 18mo, 50 cts.
Mammals Bible Stories for her Little Boys and Girls :
A Series of Reading: Lessons taken from the Bible, and adapted to the capaci- ties of very Young Children. Finely illustrated, lb'mo, 50 cts.
Marryat. — The Settlers in Canada.
Written for Young People. By Capt. Marryat. Two volumes, 18mo, frontis piece, 75 cents. Two volumes in one, G3 cents.
Marryat. — The Mission; or, Scenes in Africa.
Written for Young People. By Capt. Marryat. T^vo volumes, 18rno, frontis- piece, 75 cents. Two volumes in one, 63 cents.
Ma/rryat. — Masterman Beady ; or, Wreck of the Pa- cific. Written for Young Persons. By Capt. Marryat. Complete in 3 vols, 18mo, with frontispiece, cloth, §1,12. Two vols, in one, 75 cts.
Marti up, nim — The Crofton Boys:
A Tale for Youth. By Harriet Martineau. 18mo, frontispiece, 38 cts.
Ma/rtmeaM. — The Peasant and the Prince:
A Tale of the French Revolution. By Harriet Martixeau. One volume, lPmo, frontispiece, cloth, gilt, 38 cts.
More. — Domestic Tales and Allegories^
Illustrating Human Life. By Hannah More. 18mo, 38 cts.
More. — Brtral Tales.
By Hannah More. One vol. 18mo, 38 cents.
Philip Randolph:
A Tfile of Virginia. By Mary Gertrude. 16mo, 38 cents.
4"
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
JUVENILE
Picture Story Boohs.
By Great Authors and Great Painters. Comprising " Life of Punchinello," 25 cts. ; " Good Lady Bertha's Honey Broth," 25 cts. ; " Bean-Flower and Pea- Blossom," 25 cts. ; " Genius Goodfellow and the Wood-Cutters Dog/' 25 cts. ; — the four Parts bound in one volume, cloth, 75 cents ; gilt edges, §1,00.
Pratt. — Dawnings of Genius /
Or, the Early Lives of Some Eminent Persons of the last Century. By Anne Pratt. One volume ISmo, frontispiece, 38 cents.
Prize Story Booh:
Consisting of Tales translated from the German, French, etc. ; embellished with numerous Original Designs. l6mo, 75 cents.
Puss in Boots, and the Marquis of Carabas.
A pure translation from the German. Illustrated with twelve Original De- signs by Otto Speckter, engraved by Lossing. Square 18mo, gilt, 75 cents.
Rhymes for the Nursery.
By the author of " Original Poems." A new illustrated edition, with sixteen Designs, engraved by Croome. l6mo, 50 cents.
Sandham. — The Twin Sisters :
A Tale for Youth. By Mrs. Saxdham. From the twentieth London edition One vol. 18mo, frontispiece, cloth gilt, 33 cents.
Saint Pierre. — Paul and Virginia:
A Tale. By J. B. H. de Saint Pierre. 1 vol. 32mo, frontispiece, cloth gilt, 31 cts.
Smith. — Adventures of Captain John Smith,
The Founder of the Colony of Virginia. By the author of " Uncle Philip's Conversations." One vol. 18mo, frontispie-ce, 38 cents.
Story of Little John.
By M. Charles Jeaxxel. Translated from the French by F. G. Skinner, with Original Designs. l6mo, 63 cents.
Uncle John:
Fancy Picture Books, in a new and unique style. Six kinds, 25 cents each.
Watts. — Divine and Moral Songs,
For the Use of Children. By Isaac Watts, D.D. Illustrated with twenty- four Engravings in the highest style of the Art. 16mo, 75 cents.
Wright. — Ocean Work, Ancient and Modern*
Or, Evenings on Sea and Land. By J. Hall Wright. 18mo, 38 cents.
Youth's Booh of Nature i
Or, The Four Seasons Illustrated ; being Familiar Descriptions of Natural History, made during Walks in the Country. By the Rev. H. B. Draper. Illustrated with upwards of fifty Wood Engravings. Square 16mo, 75 cents.
Youth's Hi stor iced Gift:
A Christmas, New- Year, and 'Birth-day Present. Containing Familiar De- scriptions of Civil, Military, and Naval Events ; also the History of Joan of Arc, and her Times. Edited by R. M. Evans. Forty Engravings. §1,00.
Zschohhe. — The Goldmaheds Village.
Translated from the German of H. Zschokke. l8mo 38 cei:
Appletofis' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
EDUCATIONAL WORKS.
I. GREEK AND LATIN.
Arnold. — A Mrst and Second Latin Boo\
And Practical Grammar. By Thomas K. Arnold, A.M. Revised and care- fully corrected by J. A. Spencer, A.M. One vol. l2mo, neatly bound, 75 cts.
Arnold. — Latin Prose Composition:
A Practical Introduction to Latin Prose Composition. By Thomas K. Arnold. A.M. Revised and corrected by J. A. Spencer, A.M. One vol. l2mo, $1,00.
Arnold. — First Greek Lessons :
With Easy Exercises and Vocabulary. By Thomas K. Arnold, A.M. Re- vised and corrected by J. A. Spencer, A.M. 12mo, 63 cents.
Arnold. — Greek Prose Composition:
A Practical Introduction to Greek Prose Composition. By Thomas K. Arnold, A.M. Revised and corrected by J. A. Spencer, A.M. One vol. 12mo, 75 cts.
Arnold. — A Greek Beading Book;
Including a Complete Treatise on the Greek Particles. By Thos. K. Arnold, A.M. Revised and enlarged by J. A. Spencer, A.M. l2mo, §1,50
Arnold. — Cornelius Nepos /
With Practical Questions and Answers, and an Initiative Exercise on each Chapter. By Thomas K. Arnold, A.M. Revised, with additional Notes, bv E A. Johnson, Professor of the Latin Language in the University of the City of New- York. One volume l2mo, $1,00.
Bern. — Xovurn Testamentum Domini JYostri Jesu
Christi. Interprete Theodoro Beza. l2mo, 62£ cents.
Cicero De Oficiis ;
With Critical Notes, Indexes, &c., by Prof. Thacher, of Yale College. 12mo.
ro De Senectute et de Amicitia :
With Critical Notes, Indexes, &c, by E. A. Johnson, Professor of Latin in the University of the City of New-York. . One vol. l2mo. (In press.)
Cicero, — Select Orations of;
With Critical and Philological Notes, Indexes, &c, by E. A. Johnson, Profes- sor of Latin in the University of the City of New- York. 12mo. (In press.)
CcesaSs Commentaries :
With Notes, Critical and Philological, Indexes, Lexicon, &c, by Rev. J. A. Spencer, A.M. One vol. l2mo, $1,00.
Horace ;
With Notes, Philological, Critical, and Exegetical, Indexes, &c, by J. L. Lincoln, Prof, of Latin in Brown University. 12m. (In press.)
Livq :
With English Notes, Grammatical and Explanatory: together with a Geogra- phical and Historical Index, by J. Lincoln, Professor of Latin in Brown Uni- versity. One vol. l2mo, (1,00.
Sallusfs Catiline cmd Jugwrtha ;
With Critical, Philological, and Exegetical Notes, Indexes, Lexicon, &c, by Noble Butler, A.M. One volume l2mo. (In press.)
27
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
EDUCATIONAL WORKS. Sewett. — A Classical Speaker;
For the Use of Schools. Selected from Classical, Greek, Latin, Italian, French and English Writers: Demosthenes, Thucydides, Homer, Sophocles, Cicero, Livy, Virgil, Lucretius, Shakspeare, Milton, Burke, Bacon, &c. By Rev. W. Sewell, B.D., author of " Christian Morals," " Christian Politics," &c , &c: with additions by Henry Reed, Prof, of English Lit. in the Univ. of Penn'a.
Tacitus, — The Histories of:
With Notes, Indexes, &c, by W. S. Tyler, Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages in Amherst College. 12mo, §1,25.
Tacitus. — The Germania and Agricola of Caius
Cornelius Tacitus : with Notes for Colleges, by W. S. Tyler, 12mo, 62J cts.
il. FRENCH.
Collot. — New Dramatic French Header.
Chefs-d'CEuvres Dramatiques de la Langue Francaise. Mis en Ordre Progres- sif, et Annotes, pour en faciliter PIntelligence. Par A. G. Collot, Professeur de Langues et de Litterature. One vol. 12mo of 520 pages, $1>00.
De Fivas. — The Advanced French Header :
With a fall and complete Lexicon of all the Words. Translated into English, by J. L. Jewett. l2mo. (In pre^s.)
De Fivas. — New Elementary French Header.
An Introduction to the French Language : containing Fables, Select Tales, Remarkable Facts, Amusing Anecdotes, &c. With a Dictionary of all the Words translated into English. By M. De Fivas, Member of several Literary Societies. l6mo, 50 cents.
Ollendorff's Primary Lessons in French.
Edited by Prof. Greene, of Brown University. One vol. 18mo. (In press.)
Ollendorff. — New French Grammar.
A New Method of Learning to Read, Write, and Speak the French Language. By H. G_. Ollendorff. With an Appendix, containing the Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers, and full Paradigms of the Regular and Irregular, Auxiliary, Reflective, and Impersonal Verbs, by J. L. Jewett. One vol. 12mo. $1,00. A KEY TO THE EXERCISES, in a separate volume, 75 cts.
Surenne. — Standard Pronouncing Dictionary of the
French and English Languages. In two Parts. Part I., French and Eng- lish; Part II. , English and French. The first Part, comprehending ^words in common use — terms connected with Science — terms belonging to the Fine Arts — 4,000 Historical Names — 4,000 Geographical Names — 11,000 terms lately published, with the pronunciation of every word, according to the French Academy and the most eminent Lexicographers and Grammarians ; together with 750 Critical Remarks, in which the various methods of pronouncing employed by different authors, are investigated and compared with each other. The second' Part, containing a copious Vocabulary of English words and ex- pressions, with the pronunciations according to Walker. The whole preceded by a practical and comprehensive system of French pronunciation. By Gabriel Surenne, F.A S.E., French Teacher in Edinburgh, Corresponding Member of French Grammatical Society of Paris. 12mo, nearly 900 pages, §1,50.
23
Appfcions' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
EDUCATIONAL WORKS. Rowan — New Modern French Reader.
Morceaux Choisies des Auteurs Modernes, k la Usage de \l Jeunesse ; with a Vocabulary of the New and Difficult Words and Idiomatic Fhrases adopted in Modern French Literature. By F. Rowan. Edited by J. L. Jewett, Editor of Ollendorff's French System. One vol. l2mo, 75 cents.
III. GERMAN.
Adler. — A Progressive German Header.
Prepared with reference to Ollendorff's German Grammar, with copious Notes and a Vocabulary. By G. J. Adler, Professor of the German Language and Literature in the University of the City of New- York. l2mo, §1,00.
Adler. — A New Dictionary of the German and Fng-
Ush Languages : Indicating the Accentuation of every German Word, con- taining several hundred German Synonymes ; together with a Classification and Alphabetical List of the Irregular Verbs, and a Dictionary of German Ab- breviations. Compiled from the works of Hilpert, Flugel, Grieb, Heyse, and others. In two Parts. I. German and English ; II. English and German. By G. J. Adler, A.M., Professor of the German Language in the New- York City University. One elegant volume, of 1400 pages, large 8vo, $5,00.
Ollendorff. — New German Grammar.
A New Method of Learning to Read, Write, and Speak the German Language. By H. G. Ollendorff. Reprinted from the Frankfort edition ; to which is added a Systematic Outline of the different Parts of Speech, their Inflection and Use, with full Paradigms, and a complete list of the Irregular Verbs, by G. J. Adler, Prof, of the German Language in the Univ. of the City ofN. Y. 12mo, $1,50. A KEY TO THE EXERCISES, in a separate volume, 75 cts.
IV. ITALIAN.
Foresti. — Crestomazia Italiana :
A Collection of Selected Pieces in Italian Prose, designed as a Class Reading- Book for Beginners in the Study of the Italian Language. By E. Felix Foresti, LL.D , Professor of the Italian Language and Literature in Columbia College, and in the University of the City of New- York. One neat volume, 12mo, $1,00.
Ollendorff. — New Italian Grammar.
A New Method of Learning to Read, Write, and Speak the Italian Language. By H. G. Olf-Endorff. With Additions and Corrections, by Felix Foresti, Professor of the Italian Language in the University of the City of New-York. One volume 12mo, $1,50.
A KEY TO THE EXERCISES, in a separate volume, 75 cts.
V. SPANISH.
Ollendorff. — New Method of Learning to Read, Write,
and Speak the Spanish Language: with an Appendix, containing a brief, but comprehensive Recapitulation of the Rules, as well as of all the Verbs, both Regular and Irregular, so as to render their use easy and familiar to the most ordinary capacity ; together with Practical Rules for Spanish Pronunciation, and Models of Social and Commercial Correspondence — the whole designed for young Learners and Persons who are their own Instructors. By M. Velaz- quez and T. Simonnd, Prof, of the Spanish and French Languages. $1,50. A KEY TO THE EXERCISES, in a separate volume, 75 cts.
29
Apple ions'' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
EDUCATIONAL WORKS.
Velazquez. — The Spcmish Phrase Bool :
Containing a large collection of Conversational Phrases in general use. By Mabianno Velazquez, de la Cadena. l8mo. 33 cts,
Velazquez and Seoane, — A New Dictionary of the
Spanish and English Languages. Part I , Spanish and English ; Part II., English and Spanish. By Profelsors Velazquez and Seoane. One volume, large 8vo. (In press.)
Yelazquez. — A New Spanish Header :
Consisting of Extracts from the Works of the most approved Authors in Prose and Verse, arranged in Progressive Order, with especial reference to those who wish to obtain a practical knowledge of the Language. With Notes explanatory of the Idioms and most difficult constructions, and a copious Voca- bulary. By M. Velazquez, de la Cadena. One vol. l2mo, §1,25.
VI- HEBREW,
Geseniutfs Hebrew Grammar.
Fourteenth Edition, as Revised by Dr. E. Rodiger. Translated by T. J. Co- nant, Prof, of Hebrew in Madison University, N. Y. With the Modifications of the Editions subsequent to the Eleventh, by Dr. Davis, of Stepney College, London. To which are added, A Course of Exercises in Hebrew Grammar and a Hebrew Chrestomathy, prepared by the Translator. 8vo, §2,00.
VII. ENGLISH.
Arnold. — Lectures on Modem History.
By Thomas Arnold, D D. With an Introduction and Notes, by Prof. Henry Reed. One volume l2mo, .§1,25.
Bogesen. — A Manual of Grecian and Roman Anti- quities. By E. F. Bogesen. Translated from the German ; edited, with Notes, and a complete series of Questions, by the Rev. T. K. Arnold, M.A. Revised, with Additions and Corrections. 12mo, 31,00 ; or in separate volumes, 62 cts.
Chase. — A Treatise on Algebra,
For the use of Schools and Colleges. By T. Chase, Professor of Mathematics in Dartmouth College. One volume 12mo. $1,00.
Everett. — A Si/stem of English Yersif cation :
Containing Rules for the Structure of the different kinds of Verse ; illustrated by numerous Examples from the best Poets. By Erastus Everett, A.M. 12mo, 75 cents.
Graheim. — English Synonymes ;
Classified and Explained, with Practical Exercises. By G. T. Graham, author of" Helps to English Grammar," &e. Edited, with illustrative authorities, by H. Reed, Prof, of English Lit. in the University of Pennsylvania. 12mo, §1,00.
Greene. — Historical Series:
Comprising, I. A History of Rome. II. Ancient History. III. History and Geography of the Middle Ages. IV. Modem History down to the French Revolution. By Prof. Greene, of Brown University. Each volume will com- prise about 400 pages. (In press.)
Guizot. — Genered History of Civilization in Europe,
From the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution. Translated from the French of F. Guizot, Professor of History to La Faculie des Lettres of Paris ; with Notes, by C. S. Henry, D.D. l2mo, $ 1 ,00.
30
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
EDUCATIONAL WORKS. PA — The Shakspearicm Bead r :
A Collection of the most approved Plays of Shakspeare, carefully revised ; with Introductory and Explanatory Notes, and a Memoir of the Author. Prepared expressly for the Use of Classes, and the Family Reading-Circle, by John W. S. Hows. l2mo, $1,25
j\: iqMi y. — The Mythology of Greece and Italy ;
Designed for the Us.- of Schools. By Thomas Keightley. Numerous wood- cut iflustrationS. One volume 18mo, half bound, 44 cents.
Mandeville. — Series of Beading Boohs :
■Comprising I Primary Reading Book ; one vol. lfimo. II. Second Reader; one vol l6mo. III. Third Reader; one vol. l6mo. IV. Fourth Reader; one vol. l2mo. V. Course of Reading, or Fifth Reader ; 12mo. VI. Ele- ments of Reading and Oratory ; one vol. large 12mo. By Henry Mandeville, D.D., Professor of Moral Philosophy and Relies Lettres in Hamilton College.
'tgncdl — Histoi md Miscellaneous Q uestions.
By Rich WGNALL. First American from the Eighty-fourth London edi-
tion with large additions: embracing the Elements of Mythology, Astronomy, Architecture, Heraldry, &c, &c, adapted for Schools in the United States, by Mrs. Julia Lawrence. Embellished with numerous Engravings on Wood. l2mo, $1,00.
—History of England,
From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Reign of Victoria. By Mrs. Mark- ham. A new Edition, revised and enlarged; with Questions adapted to Schools in the United States, by Eliza Robbins. l2mo, 75 cents.
Pute and Arnold.— Mcmual of Ancient Geography
and History. By William Putz, Principal Tutor in the Gymnasium of Duren. Translated from the German. Edited with Notes, by the Rev. Thos. K Arnold, M.A. One volume l2rao. $1,00,
2ft /,/.— A Dictionary of the English Language;
Containing the Pronunciation, Etymology, and Explanation of all Words au- thorized by eminent Writers; to which are added a Vocabulary of the Roots of English Words, and an accented list of Greek, Latin, and Scripture Proper Name's By Alexander Reid, A.M., Rector of the Circus School, Edinburgh. With a Critical Preface, by Henry Reed, Professor of English Literature in the University of Pennsylvania. One vol. 12mo, near 600 pages, $1.00.
Tanjlar.—A ManiM of Ancient andModern History;
Comprising, I. Avient History, containing the Political History. Geographi- cal Position, and Social State of the Principal Nations of Antiquity, carefully digested from the Ancient Writers, and illustrated by the discoveries of Modern Scholars and Travellers. II. Moderu History, containing the Rise and Pro- 99 of the Principal European Nations,their Political History. and th • ( hanges fnt] on; with a History of the ( founded 1 ans.
By W Cooke Taylor, L.L.D., of Trinity College, Dublin. Revised, with Additions on American 1 &» Professor of History id
ciie 1 f New-York. One volume 8vo, .$-..
Wright. — Primary Lessor :
Bein" a Speller and Reader, on an Original Plan, in which one letter is taught at a lesson, with its power; an application being immediately made, m words, of each letter thus learned, and those words being directly arranged into reading lessons By Albert D. Wright, author of "Analytical Orthography," "Phono- logical Chart," &c. 18mo, containing 144 pages, and 28 engravings, 12J cts,
31
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
ADDENDA.
D. APPLETON & CO/S LATEST PUBLICATIONS.
Appletons1 Nero and Complete United States Travel- lers' Guide, including the Canadas, &c, illustrated by fifty Maps of Railroad Routes, Cities, States, &c, and numerous Engravings. 16mo. (Nearly ready.)
Boise, — Exercises in Greek Prose Composition,
Adapted to the First Book of Xenophon's Anabasis. By James R. Boise, Pro- fessor of Greek in Brown ^University. 1 vol. 12mo, 75 cts.
Crosby, — First Lessons in Geometry,
Upon the mode of Colburn's First Lessons in Arithmetic. By Alpheus Crosby. With an Introduction, by Stephen Chase. 1 vol. lCmo, 38 cts.
De Fivas — The Classic French Header,
For advanced Students ; or, Beauties of the French Writers, Ancient and Modern. By Allain De Fivas. With a Vocabulary, French and English, of all the Words and Idioms contained in the work, by J. L. Jewett. 1 vol. 12mo, §1.
Europe, — The Countries of Europe described,
With Anecdotes, and numerous Illustrations. By the Author of " The Peep of Day," &c., &c. 16mo, 75 cts.
Trench, — JSTotes on the Miracles of our Lord.
By the Rev. Richard C. Trench, M. A. 1 vol. 8vo. (In press.)
Furniss. — The Old World ;
Or, Scenes and Cities in Foreign Lands. By William Furniss. With a Map and Illustrations. 1 vol. 12mo, $1 25.
Girardin, — Lectures on Dramatic Literature ;
Or, The Employment of the Passions in the Drama. By Saint-Mark Girar- din. Translated from the French, by Robert Gibbes Barnwell. 1 vol. 12mo, $1.
Greene, — Ollendorff's JVeto Method of Learning to
Read, Write, and Speak the French Language ; or, First Lessons in French, Introductory to Ollendorff's Larger Grammar. By G. W Greene, Instructor in Modern Languages in Brown University. 1 vol. 16mo, 38 cts. With Key, 50 cts.
Gayarre. — JRomance of the History of Louisiana.
A Series of Lectures. By Charles Gayarre. 1 vol. 12mo, $1.
Ttalian Comedies, — Select Comedies ;
Translated from the Italian of Goldoni, Giraud, and Nota. 1 vol. l2mo, $1.
Jaeger. — Class Book of Zoology ;
Designed to afford to Pupils in Common Schools and Academies, a Knowledge of the Universal Kingdom, with a List of the different Species found in the State of New-York. The whole scientifically and systematically arranged, by Prof. B. Jaeger. 1 vol. 16mo, 42 cts.
32
App7etons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
ADDENDA. Kna/pen. — The Mechanics* Assistant;
A thorough practical Treatise on Mensuration and the Sliding Rule, teaching the manner of Drawing all Regular Superfices, and the most concise Methods of finding the Areas of all Regular Superfices, and the Contents of all Regular Solids, both by Numbers and by the Sliding Rule. Treating also of the Laws of Motion, the Descent of Falling Bodies, the Strength of Materials, the Me- chanical Powers, the Elasticity-end Force of Steam, Specific Gravities, Level- ling, the Pendulum, &c. Adapted for the use of Carpenters, Shipwrights, Wheelwrights, Sawyers, Gaugers, Lumbermen, Students, and Artisans gen- erally. By D. M. Knapew, A^ M. l2mo, $1.
Lady Alice, or the New Una.
A Novel. 1 vol. 8vo. Paper, 38 cts.
MoreU. — The Philosophy of Religion.
By J. D. Morell, A. M., Author of the " History of Modem Philosophy," &c. 1 vol. !2mo, $1.
Nan Nemo. — A Layma/rfs Lesson to a Lord Bishop
on Sacerdotal Powers ; or, the Necessity of Confession, Penance, and Absolu- tion. By Non Nemo. l2mo. Paper, 25 cts.
JPowdl. — The Living Authors of England ;
With Illustrations from their Works. By Thomas Powell, Esq., Author of " Florentine. Tales," " English Authors," <; English Critics," &c , &c. 1 vol. 12mo.
Sewed. — The First History of Rome.
By E. M. Sewell, Author of "Amy Herbert," "Laneton Parsonage," &c, &c. 1 vol. 16mo, 50 cts.
Son they. — Life of Oliver Cromwell.
By Robert Southey, LL. D. A new Edition. 18mo, 38 cts.
Story of a Genius ;
Or, Cola Monti. By the Author of " How to win Love," " Michael the Mi- ner," &c. lOmo, 38 cts.
Women of the New and Old Testament;
A Series of Eighteen exquisitely finished Engravings of Female Characters of the New and Old Testament. With Descriptions by the following eminent American Clergymen: — Rev. Dr. Beman, Rev. Dr. Cox, Rt. Rev. Bishop Hop- kins, Rt. Rev. Bishop Henshaw, Rev. R. A. Hallam, Rev. Dr. Halley, Rev. Dr. Kip, Rev. E. N. Kirk, Rev. Dr. E. Mason, Rev. Dr. Murray, Rev. Dr. Sprague, Rev. J. F. Stearns, Rev. R. S. Storrs, Jr., Rev. Dr. Smyth, Rev. Dr. Todd, Rev. A. A. Wood, Rev. C. Wadsworth.
List of Subjects. — Michal, daughter of Saul; Miriam, sister of Moses; Martha, sister of Lazarus; Witch of Endor ; WTife of Ephraim, the Levite ; Bathsheha ; Naomi, wife of Blimelech ; Zipporah, wife of Moses ; Sarah, wife of Abraham ; Woman of Samaria ; Herodias, Lrran<! daughter of Herod ; Daugh- ter of Jairus ; Rahab, hostess of the city of Jericho ; Virgin and Infant Saviour ; Elizabeth, wife of Zacharias ; Mary Magdalen; Canaanitish Woman; Anna, the Prophetess.
One very elegant Volume, Imperial Octavo — in various styles of binding.
33
Appletons7 Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
A DICTIONARY
GERMAN AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES,
INDICATING THE ACCENTUATION OF EVERY GERMAN WORD, CONTAINING SEVERAL HUNDRED GERMAN SYNONYMS. TOGETHER WITH A CLASSIFICATION AND ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE IRREGULAR VERB4, AND A DICTION- ARY OF GERMAN ABBREVIATIONS.
COMPILED FROM THE WORKS OF HILPERT, FLUGEL, GRELB, HEYSB,
AND OTHERS.
! N TWO P A RTS :
I. GERMAN AND ENGLISH — II. ENGLISH AND GERMAN.
BY G. J. ADLER, A. M.,
Professor of the German Language and Literature in the University of tht City of Mew-York.
One large volume, 8vo , of MOO pages. Price $5. Strongly and neatly bound
Extract from the Preface.
In preparing this volume, our principal aim was to offer to the American student of the German a work whicn would embody all the valuable results of the most recent investigations in German Lexicography, arid which might thus become not only a relia- ble guide for the practical acquisition of that language, but one which would not forsake him in the higher walks of his pursuit, to which its literary and scientific treasures would naturally invite him. The conviction that such a work was a desideratum, and one which claimed immediate attention, was first occasioned by the steadily increasing inter- est manifested in the study of the German by such among us as covet a higher intellect- ual culture, as well as those who are ambitious to be abreast with the times in all that concerns the interests of Learning, Science, Art, and Philosophy.
In comparing the different German-English Dictionaries, it was found that all of them were deficient in their vocabulary of foreign words, which now act so important a part not only in scientific works, but also in the best classics in the reviews, journals, news- papers, and even in conversational language of ordinary life. Hence we have endeav- oured to supply the desired words required in Chemistry, Mineralogy, Practical Art, Commerce, Navigation, Rhetoric, Grammar, Mythology, both ancient and modern. The accentuation of the German words, first introduced by Hemsius. and not a little improved by Hilpert and his coadjutors, has also been adopted, and will be regarded as a mo^t de- sirable and invaluable aid to the student. Another, and it is hoped not the least, valu- able addition to the volume, are the synonyms, which we have generally given in an abridged and not unfrequently in a new" form, from Hilpert, who was the first that offered to the English student a selection from the rich store of Eberhard, Maas. and Gruber. Nearly alf the Dictionaries published in Germany having been prepared with special reference to the German student of the English, and being on that account incomplete in the German-English part, it was evidently our vocation to reverse the order for this side of the Atlantic, and to give the utmost possible completeness and perfection to the Ger- man part. This was the proper sphere of our labor.
Morning Courier and JVeic-York Enquirer.
The Appletons have just published a Dictionary of the German Language, containing English nanies of German words, and German transitions of English words, by Mr. Adler, Professor of German in the University of the Cuy of New-York.
In view of the present and rapidly increasing disposition of American students to make themselves familiar with the Language and "Literature of Germany, the publication of this work seems especially timely and important. It is in form a large, substantial octavo volume of 1400 pages, beautifully printed in clear and distinct type, and adapted in every way to the constant services for which a lexicon is made. The purpose aimed at by the editor cannot be more distinctly stated than in his own words, quoted from the preface, in which he states that he sought "to embody all the valuable results of the most recent investigations in German Lexicography, so that his work might thus become not only a reliable guide for the practical acquisition of that language, but one which would not forsake him in the higher walks of his pursuits, to which its literary treasures would naturally invite him." AD who are in any degree familiar with German, can bear wit- ness to the necessity that has long been felt for such a work. It is needed by students of the language at every stage of their progress. None of those hitherto in use have been satisfactory— the best of them, that published in Philadelphia, in 1845, lacking verv many of the essentials of a reliable and servicabie lexicon. Prom a somewhat close examina- tion of its contents, we are satisfied that Mr. Adlkr's Dictionary will be universally re- garded as the best extant. Its great superiority lies in its completeness, no word in any lepartment of science or literature being omitted. We cannot doubt that it will become it once the only German lexicon in use throughout the country.
34
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
NEW MECHANICAL WORK.
D. Appleton fy Compamj have in course of jyubUcation,
A DICTIONARY
OF
MACHINES, MECHANICS, ENGINEAYOEK, AND ENGINEERING.
DESIGNED FOR PRACTICAL WORKING-MEN, AND THOSE INTENDED FOR THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION.
EDITED BY
OLIVER BYRNE,
Formerly Professor of Mathematics, College of Civil Engineers, London, Author of u The Calculus of Form. :)
To be completed in about 30 Nos., price 25 cts. each.
This will be the most practical, as well as the most perfect work ever published on Machines, Mechanics, Engine-work, and Engineering. The Mechanic, Engineer, or Machinist, from the time he commences his profession till he arrives at the zenith of the most successful prefessional career, will find this an indispensable work of reference.
The volume will be of royal 8vo. size, containing nearly 2000 pages, and 1500 plates ; it will fill up a chasm that has long been a requirement to practical working-men, and those intended for the engineering profession. It will present Working Drawings, and Descriptions of every important Machine in practical use in the United States ; and independent of its American value as embracing the results of American ingenuity, it will contain a complete treatise on Mechanics, Machinery, Engine- work, and the substance of at least a thousand dollars' worth of books, scat- tered in expensive folio volumes or magazines.
Jfotn ^rrljitrrittntl Wmt
D. Appleton <$• Co. are now publishing in Nos., 25 cts. each,
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
APPLIED TO MODERN RESIDENCES.
BY D. H. ARNOT, ARCHITECT.
"The illustrations will be such as to give a true idea to the owner selecting specimens for the adornment of his house, and at the same time accompanied with all the necessary detail to a working scale, to enable the workmen to give an accurate estimate of cost, based on actual mea- surement, which is the only true criterion of the value of this style of work ; on being carefully reduced to the standard of surfaces and girths of mouldings, will prove in most cases of less su- perfices of ornament and moulding, than any Grecian, Roman, or Egyptian model; and conse- quently, if its practice is thoroughly understood, less costly as requiring less material; and less subject to decay as presenting less surface to the action of the weather or other c . i from
the depth of cutting and picturesque grouping of the mouldings, in want of less carving to pro- duce richness of surface, than any other style.
Although numerous Bpecimena and adaptations of Gothic art are already before the public, still they relate to plans and purposes foreign to the taste and practice of this country; conse- quently in this particular branch of art. ihi.~ work may be i • ■• first attempt to sup- ply a want which has long been felt both by the professional man and amateur/1
TO BE COMPLETED IN TWELVE NUMBERS
Appletons' Catalogue of Valuable Publications.
GREAT REDUCTION
IN THE PRICES OF APPLETONS' EDITIONS
OF
THE BOOK OE COMMON PRAYER
B. APPLETON & COMPAXY
Have just published new editions of the Book of Common Prayer, from new ste- reotype plates, carefully revised from the late standard. While their editions have been long celebrated for the accuracy and beauty of the typography, they believe the present editions possess superior excellence in every respect. They are illus- trated as heretofore with the exquisite designs of Overbeck, engraved on steel, and illuminated title pages, not found in any other edition. They have recently bound a new style of antique morocco stamped and bevelled, 32mo. size, which they offer as low as gl, and the 18mo. size same style at §1 25. All the other styles and sizes, constituting every variety of the Prayer Book, they have reduced to nearly one-half their former prices. They trust by this means to prevent the circulation of inferior editions. The trade and the public are invited to examine their large assortment before purchasing elsewhere.
The following comprise the sizes and styles of binding :
18mo.
>vo.
Turkey morocco, extra.
Do do 2 clasps.
Roan, marbled. Do gilt.
l2mo. Turkey morocco, extra.
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16mo.
Turkey morocco, extra. Do do clasp.
Do do bevelled boards.
Do do do do clasp.
Turkey morocco, extra.
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alto relievo. |
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D. A. & CO. have for sale an immense stock of
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Of every style and size of binding, at prices varying from 50 cts. to .$50
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