Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions: Or, An Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to Their Physical Causes |
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Page ix
... Spirits , 25 31 · V. The Opinions entertained that Ghosts were attri- butable to Fancy or Imagination , VI . The Opinions which attribute the supposed In- fluence of Fancy to the direct Operations of the Soul , VII . The Notions ...
... Spirits , 25 31 · V. The Opinions entertained that Ghosts were attri- butable to Fancy or Imagination , VI . The Opinions which attribute the supposed In- fluence of Fancy to the direct Operations of the Soul , VII . The Notions ...
Page x
... Spirits , re- corded in Popular Narratives , 138 III . General Remarks on the Apparitions connected with Demonology , 160 IV . General Remarks on the Apparitions of Departed Spirits , 191 PART IV . AN ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE THE MENTAL ...
... Spirits , re- corded in Popular Narratives , 138 III . General Remarks on the Apparitions connected with Demonology , 160 IV . General Remarks on the Apparitions of Departed Spirits , 191 PART IV . AN ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE THE MENTAL ...
Page 6
... spirits are not to be persuaded that their apparitions were simply the creatures of their senses . You may tell them of the impositions that are frequently prac- * Preface to the Memorials by the Rev. Mr Robert Law , edited by Charles ...
... spirits are not to be persuaded that their apparitions were simply the creatures of their senses . You may tell them of the impositions that are frequently prac- * Preface to the Memorials by the Rev. Mr Robert Law , edited by Charles ...
Page 16
... spirits of a different sort from fairies had taken the honest clergyman by the head , and though he has omitted the circumstance in his marvellous narration , I have no doubt but that the good man saw double on the occasion , and that ...
... spirits of a different sort from fairies had taken the honest clergyman by the head , and though he has omitted the circumstance in his marvellous narration , I have no doubt but that the good man saw double on the occasion , and that ...
Page 18
... spirits returned from the mansions of the dead , but nothing more than thin films , pellicles , or membranes , cast off from the surfaces of all bodies like the exuviæ or sloughs of reptiles . An opinion , by no means dissimilar to that ...
... spirits returned from the mansions of the dead , but nothing more than thin films , pellicles , or membranes , cast off from the surfaces of all bodies like the exuviæ or sloughs of reptiles . An opinion , by no means dissimilar to that ...
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Common terms and phrases
2d Stage actual impressions afterwards angels apparitions appeared arise astral spirits blood body brain catalepsy CHAPTER degree of vividness demonology demons devil divels dreams duergar ecstacy effect entertained explain external eyes faint Fancy fear figure frequently ghosts heard hierarchy of angels human imagination imparted induced ject kind Laplanders less vivid manner ment mental excitement mental feelings metaphysicians mind morbific causes narrative nature nerves ness night nitrous oxide notion object observed occasion opinion organs of sense painful feelings particular past feelings perfect sleep person phantasms phenomena philosophers pleasurable feelings present principle Rabbi Akkiva recollected images Reginald Scot remarks rendered renovated feelings retina says second sight seen sensations and ideas shew shewn sions somnambulism Soul spectral illusions spectral impressions spirits stage of excitement subsist superstition supposed TABULAR VIEW thing thou thought tion unconsciousness vanished various vision vivifying influence waking writer
Popular passages
Page 49 - I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be the devil : and the devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, — As he is very potent with such spirits, — Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds More relative than this: — the play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.
Page 143 - How oft do they their silver bowers leave, To come to succour us that succour want ! How oft do they with golden pinions cleave The flitting...
Page 194 - It is the heaviest stone that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell him he is at the end of his nature ; or that there is no further state to come, unto which this seems progressional, and otherwise made in vain.
Page 272 - True, I talk of dreams ; Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air, And more inconstant than the wind...
Page 393 - A pleasing land of drowsy-head it was, Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye ; And of gay castles in the clouds that pass, For ever flushing round a summer sky...
Page 225 - ... imagined might happen by some accident in the candle. But lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to his extreme amazement, that there was before him, as it were suspended in the air, a visible representation of the Lord JESUS CHRIST upon the cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory; and was impressed, as if a voice, or something equivalent to a voice, had come to him, to this ef*fect, (for he was not confident as to the very words;) " Oh sinner, did I suffer this for thee,
Page 138 - Spirits, when they please, Can either sex assume, or both ; so soft And uncompounded is their essence pure, Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh ; but, in what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their aery purposes, 430 And works of love or enmity fulfil.
Page 213 - Europe, have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions, as mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it : and I willingly take this opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent compliment, which so many that believe the Bible pay to those who do not believe it.
Page 228 - Being thus doubtful in my chamber, one fair day in the summer, my casement being opened towards the south, the sun shining clear, and no wind stirring, I took my book, De Veritate...
Page 190 - And shake us with the vision that's gone by, The dread of vanish'd shadows — Are they so ? Is not the past all shadow ? What are they ? Creations of the mind ? — The mind can make Substance, and people planets of its own With beings brighter than have been, and give A breath to forms which can outlive all flesh.