POSSESSION AND MEDIUMSHIP, 227 



all liis trouble" througli the diligent prayers of Dr. Templar, 

 with the happy result' that both he and his wife and " some others 

 who were too much byassed with the Principles of the Quakers " 

 acquired " a perfect dislike of that way." 



Demon possession is at the present time common in China, and 

 a number of curious cases have been collected and published re- 

 cently by a missionary who has had forty years' experience among 

 the Chinese.* Most of his narratives are in the third person, but 

 one is given in the patient's own words. His name was Kwo, and 

 he is described as a " hardy mountaineer, thirty-eight years of age, 

 bright and entertaining, with nothing in his appearance which 

 could be regarded as unhealthy or abnormal." His account is as 

 follows : f 



"Near the close of year before last (1877) I bought a number 

 of pictures, including one of Wang Mu-niang, the wife of Yu- 

 hwang [the chief divinity of China]. For the goddess Wang Mu- 

 niang I selected the most honorable position in the house; the 

 others I pasted on the walls here and there as ornaments. On the 

 second day of the first month I proposed worshiping the goddess, 

 but my wife objected. The next night a spirit came, apparently 

 in a dream, and said to me : ' I am Wang Mu-niang of Yuin-men 

 san [the name of a neighboring mountain]. I have taken up my 

 abode in your house.' It said this repeatedly. I had awakened, 

 and was conscious of the presence of the spirit. I knew it was a 

 shie-kwei (evil spirit), and as such I resisted it, and cursed it, say- 

 ing, ' I will have nothing to do with you.' This my wife heard, 

 and begged to know what it meant, and I told her. After this all 

 was quiet and I was not disturbed for some days. About a week 

 afterward a feeling of uneasiness and restlessness came over me 

 which I could not control. At night I went to bed as usual, but 

 grew more and more restless. At last, seized by an irresistible 

 impulse, I arose from my bed and went straight to a gambler's den 

 in Kao kia, where I lost at once sixteen thousand cash [sixteen 

 dollars, a large sum for a peasant Chinaman]. I started for home 

 and lost my way. But when it grew light I got back to my house. 

 At that time I was conscious of what I was doing and saying, but 

 I did things mechanically, and soon forgot what I had said." In 

 this condition he remained for some days, the prey of irresistible 

 impulses, which soon took a homicidal turn, and culminated in 

 maniacal outbursts, alternating with epileptiform attacks. He was 

 chained in bed, and for five or six days raved wildly. " My friends 

 were in great distress. They proposed giving me more medicine, 

 but the demon, speaking through me, replied, * Any amount of 



* Demon Possession and Allied Themes. By Rev. John L. Nevius, D. D. Dr. Nevius is 

 convinced that these phenomena are really produced by demons. f Op. cit., p. 22, 



