A philosophical essay on credulity and superstition : and also on animal fascination, or charming / by Rufus Blakeman.

  • Blakeman, Rufus
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A philosophical essay on credulity and superstition : and also on animal fascination, or charming / by Rufus Blakeman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    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.
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