Letters on demonology and witchcraft. Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq / by Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
- Walter Scott
- Date:
- 1831
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Letters on demonology and witchcraft. Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq / by Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![temperament; and when such occur in an early period of society, they are almost certain to be considered as real supernatural a])peai’ances. They differ from those of Nicolai, and others formerly noticed, as being- of short duration, and constituting no habitual or constitutional derangement of the system. The apparition of Maupertuis to Monsieiu’ Gleditsch, that of the Catholic clergyman to Captain C , that of a late poet to his friend, are of the latter character. They bear to the former the ana- logy, as we may say, -which a sudden and temporary fev^er-lit has to a sei’ious feverish illness. But, even for this very reason, it is more difficult to bring such momentary impressions back to their real sphere of optical illusions, since they accoxxl much better with our idea of ghmpses of the future world than those in which the vision is continued or repeated for hours, days, and months, affording opportunities of discovering, from other circumstances, that the symptom originates in deranged health. Before conclucUng these observations upon the deceptions of the senses, we must remark, that the eye is the organ most essential to the purpose of realizing to oiu’ mind the appearance of external ol»jects, and that when the visual organ becomes depraved for a greater or less time, and to a farther or more hmited extent, its misrepresentation of the objects of sight is pecuharly apt to terminate in such hallucinations as those we have been detaihng. Yet the other senses or organs, in their turn, and to the extent of their power, are as ready, in their various departments, as the sight itself, to retain false or doubtful impressions, which mislead, instead of informing, the party to whom they are addressed.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22029667_0067.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
