Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions: Or, An Attempt to Trace Such Illusions to Their Physical Causes |
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Page v
... - ferred , is , that apparitions are nothing more than ideas , or the recollected images of the mind , which have been rendered more vivid than actual im- pressions . An explanation is next rendered of the parti- cular morbid.
... - ferred , is , that apparitions are nothing more than ideas , or the recollected images of the mind , which have been rendered more vivid than actual im- pressions . An explanation is next rendered of the parti- cular morbid.
Page vi
... explanation is next rendered of the parti- cular morbid affections with which the production of phantasms is often connected . It is also pointed out , that in many ghost - stories of a supposed supernatural character , the ideas ...
... explanation is next rendered of the parti- cular morbid affections with which the production of phantasms is often connected . It is also pointed out , that in many ghost - stories of a supposed supernatural character , the ideas ...
Page vii
... explained phenomena , I have not thought fit to fashion this discourse to the exclusive taste either of metaphysicians or physiologists ; but , on the contrary , have so endeavoured to treat it , that , without any previous study of the ...
... explained phenomena , I have not thought fit to fashion this discourse to the exclusive taste either of metaphysicians or physiologists ; but , on the contrary , have so endeavoured to treat it , that , without any previous study of the ...
Page x
... Explanation of the Mode in which the Ideas which are suggested by various Popular Superstitions become recalled in a highly - vivified State , so as to constitute the Imagery of Spectral Illusions , 125 II . Remarks on the Apparitions ...
... Explanation of the Mode in which the Ideas which are suggested by various Popular Superstitions become recalled in a highly - vivified State , so as to constitute the Imagery of Spectral Illusions , 125 II . Remarks on the Apparitions ...
Page 8
... explains the state of his system at the time ; but this important part of the account not being at present connected with our subject , it will be noticed in its proper place . " In the first two months of the year 1791 , I was much ...
... explains the state of his system at the time ; but this important part of the account not being at present connected with our subject , it will be noticed in its proper place . " In the first two months of the year 1791 , I was much ...
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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.