Here we remember only how from among dark clouds the last light of his
genius shone on the path of those who were endeavouring to make the
daily bread of intellectual life—good books—common to all.
H.M.
February, 1884.
LETTERS
ON
DEMONOLOGY AND WITCHCRAFT
To J.G. LOCKHART, ESQ.
LETTER I.
Origin of the general Opinions respecting Demonology among
Mankind—The Belief in the Immortality of the Soul is the main
inducement to credit its occasional re-appearance—The Philosophical
Objections to the Apparition of an Abstract Spirit little understood
by the Vulgar and Ignorant—The situations of excited Passion
incident to Humanity, which teach Men to wish or apprehend
Supernatural Apparitions—They are often presented by the Sleeping
Sense—Story of Somnambulism—The Influence of Credulity contagious,
so that Individuals will trust the Evidence of others in despite of
their own Senses—Examples from the “Historia Verdadera” of Bernal
Dias del Castillo, and from the Works of Patrick Walker—The
apparent Evidence of Intercourse with the Supernatural World is
sometimes owing to a depraved State of the bodily Organs—Difference
between this Disorder and Insanity, in which the Organs retain their
tone, though that of the Mind is lost—Rebellion of the Senses of a
Lunatic against the current of his Reveries—Narratives of a
contrary Nature, in which the Evidence of the Eyes overbore the
Conviction of the Understanding—Example of a London Man of
Pleasure—Of Nicolai, the German Bookseller and Philosopher—Of a
Patient of Dr. Gregory—Of an Eminent Scottish Lawyer, deceased—Of
this same fallacious Disorder are other instances, which have but
sudden and momentary endurance—Apparition of Maupertuis—Of a late
illustrious modern Poet—The Cases quoted chiefly relating to false
Impressions on the Visual Nerve, those upon the Ear next
considered—Delusions of the Touch chiefly experienced in
Sleep—Delusions of the Taste—And of the Smelling—Sum of the
Argument.
You have asked of me, my dear friend, that I should assist the “Family Library” with the history of a dark chapter in human nature, which the increasing civilization of all well-instructed countries has now almost blotted out, though the subject attracted no ordinary degree of consideration in the older times of their history.