Curiosities & wonders > Demonology and witchcraft

LETTERS ON
the Evidence of the Eyes overbore the Conviction of the Under¬
standing—Example of a London Man of Pleasure—Of
Nicolai, the German Bookseller and Philosopher—Of a Pa¬
tient of Dr. Gregory—Of an Eminent Scottish Lawyer deceased
—Of this same fallacious Disorder are other instances, which
have hut 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 Smell—Sum of the Argument.
||0U have asked of me, my dear friend, that I
should assist the Family Library,#withthe
history of a dark chapter in human nature,
which the increasing civilisation 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.
Among much reading of my early days, it is no doubt
true that I travelled a good deal in the twilight regions
of superstitious disquisitions. Many hours have I
lost,—“ I would their debt were less ! ”—in examining
old, as well as more recent narratives of this character,
and even in looking into some of the criminal trials so
frequent in early days, upon a subject which our fathers
considered as matter of the last importance. And, of
late years, the very curious extracts published by
Mr. Pitcairn, from the Criminal Records of Scotland,
are, besides their historical value, of a nature so much
calculated to illustrate the credulity of our ancestors on
such subjects, that, by perusing them, I have been
* Published by William Tegg.