45 6 On Phyftognomy. 



difpofitions in the form, and features of the human fpecies. 

 The modern ethical application of this doftrine, to the 

 fubjeft of compaflion, or the generation of moral fentiments 

 I have nothing to do with. Hence the dodlrines of figna- 

 tures and fympathies appear to have been in many cafes 

 intimately connefled, the former in fuch cafes being con- 

 fidered as the exponent of the latter. To the dodlrines of 

 fignatures and fympathies are owing in my opinion, the 

 uncertain and popular notions of the efficacy of amulets 

 and fpecjfics, and the effeft of the mother's imagination and 

 inclinations on the fcetus. It is not uncommon for the 

 abfurdities of the learned in one century to become the 

 current opinions of the vulgar in another. * 



I proceed now to notice fome few circumftances refpeft- 

 ing that fingular clafs of myfticsf ufually known by the 



appellation 



• The Pythagoro-platonic cabalifts, at the head of whom with us was 

 the learned and excellent Dr. H. More, were almoft as fanciful as the 

 theofophic myftics. His Difcourfe on the Immortality of the Soul contains 

 a flrange coUeftion of abfurd relations. See that difcourfe for inftances of 

 fignatures on the fcetus, out of Fienus and Sennertus, book III, chap, 6; 

 and in chap. 13, there are fome remarks on the fympathy between the 

 earthly and the aftral body, which More is almoft inclined to adopt from 

 Paracelfus. Mr. Boyle's medicinal receipts contain recommendations of 

 amulets ; and in his Treatife on the Ufefulnefs of Philofophy, he ftrenuoufly 

 infifls on the fympathetic cure of wounds and the ufefulnefs of the fympa- 

 thetic powder both from his own experience and that of others. The 

 fympathetic powder was ufually fome ftyptic, fuch as dyed green or white 

 vitriol. 



■\ Although among the Pagans may be reckoned as myftics j i. the 

 initiate into the myfteries ; 2. the Pythagoreans ; 3. the Platonifts; 4. the 

 Plotinians with Jamblichus and Porphery : — among the Jews; i. the 

 Cabalifts j 2, the Platonifts or Philonifts j yet the term has ufually been 

 appropriated to certain feiSs fince the introduflion of, and proferting 

 cbrijlianity : as i. to the firft Gnoftics j 2. the ecledlic Gnoftics ; 3. the 

 Afketics, Eremites and Monks; 4. the Theofophers, divifible into Paracel- 

 fians, Fluddifts, Behmenifts and Roficrufians ; 5. the difciples of Molinos 

 (i.e. Quietifts), Janfenius, Bourignon and Guion ; 6. the Quakers, Bohe- 

 mian brethren Hernhutters or Moravians, and the Merhodifts, whether 



Antinomian, 



