REMEDIES FOR SUPERSTITION. 



the universe is governed. In particular, the 

 attention should be directed to those discoveries 

 which have been made by philosophers in the 

 different departments of nature and art, during 

 ihe last two centuries. For this purpose, the 



Divinely great ; they in their powers exult ; 

 They see the blazing wondei rise anew, 

 In seeming terror clad, but kindly bent 

 To work the will of all-sustaining Love.&quot; 



Thomson s Summer. 



Such are the sublime emotions with which a 



study of natural history, as recording the van- pergon en i ightened w j t h the beams of science 

 ous facts respecting the atmosphere, the waters, contemp i ates t h e return of a comet, or any un- 

 the earth, and animated beings, combined with common ce l es tial appearance. He will wait 



the study of natural philosophy and astronomy, the approach o f suc h phenomena with pleasing 



is explaining the causes of the phenomena of expectat i on j n hopes of discovering more of 



nature, will have a happy tendency to eradicate 



from the mind those false notions, and, at the 



same time, will present to view objects of de- 



Hghtful contemplation. Let a person be once 



thoroughly convinced that Nature is uniform in 



her operations, and governed by regular laws, 



impressed by an all- wise and benevolent Being, 



he will soon be inspired with confidence, and 



will not easily be alarmed at any occasional 



phenomena which at first sight might appear as 



exceptions to the general rule. 



For example, let persons be taught that 



eclipses are occasioned merely by the shadow 



of one opaque body falling upon another that 



they are the necessary result of the inclination 



of the moon s orbit to that of the earth that the 



times when they tak place depend on the new 



or full moon happening at or near the points of 



intersection and that other planets which have 



moons, experience eclipses of a similar nature 



that the comets are regular bodies belonging 



to our system, which finish their revolutions, 



and appear and disappear in stated periods of 



time that the northern lights, though seldom 



saen in southern climes, are frequent in the 



the nature and destination of those distant orbs ; 

 and will be led to form more enlarged ideas of 

 their omnipotent Creator. 



Again, to remove the apprehensions which 

 arise from the fear of invisible and incorporeal 

 beings, let persons be instructed in the various 

 optical illusions to which we are subject, aris 

 ing from the intervention of fogs, and the indis 

 tinctness of vision in the night-time, which make 

 us frequently mistake a bush that is near us for 

 a large tree at a distance ; and, under the influ- 

 enceof which illusions, a timid imagination 

 will transform the indistinct image of a cow or 

 a horse into a terrific phantom of a monstrous 

 size. Let them also be taught, by a selection 

 of well-authenticated facts, the powerful influ 

 ence of the imagination in creating ideal forms, 

 especially when under the dominion of fear 

 the effects produced by the workings of con 

 science, when harassed with guilt by very 

 lively dreams, by strong doses of opium, by 

 drunkenness, hysteric passions, madness, and 

 other disorders that affect the mind, and by 

 the cunning artifices of impostors to promote 

 some sinister or nefarious designs. Let them 



regions of the North, and supply the inhabitants likewise be instructed in the nature of upon- 



with light in the absence of the sun, and have taneous combustions and detonations, occasioned 



probably a relation to the magnetic and electric ^ v tne acc idental combustion and explosion of 



fluids that the ignesfatui are harmless lights, g aseS) which produce occasional noises and 



formed by the ignition of a certain species of lights in church-yards and empty houses. Let 



gas produced in the soils above which they 

 hover that the notes of the death-watch, so 

 far from being presages of death, are ascer 

 tained to be the notes of love, and presages of 

 hymeneal intercourses among these little in 

 sects ;* let rational information of this kind be 

 imparted, and they will soon learn to contem 

 plate nature with tranquillity and composure 



the experiments of optics, and the striking phe 

 nomena produced by electricity, galvanism, 

 magnetism, and the different gases, be exhi 

 bited to their view, together with details of the 

 results which have been produced by various 

 mechanical contrivances. In fine, let their at 

 tention be directed to the foolish, whimsical, and 

 extravagant notions, attributed to apparitions, 



Nay, a more beneficial effect. than evenjhis, and to t h e i r inconsistency with the wise and 



benevolent arrangements of the Governor of 

 the universe.* 



That such instructions as those I have now 

 ith emotions of hinted at would completely produce the intended 

 effect, may be argued from this consideration, 

 tliatthey have uniformly produced this effect on 

 every mind which has been thus enlightened. 

 Where is the man to be found, whose mind is 

 enlightened in the doctrines and discoveries of 



will, at the same time, be produced. Those 

 objects which they formerly beheld with alarm 

 will now be converted into sources of enjoy 

 ment, and be contemplated 

 delight. 



&quot; When from the dread immensity of space, 

 The rushing comet to the sun descends, 

 With awful train projected o er the world ; 

 The enlighten d few, 



Whose god-like miuds philosophy exalts, 

 The glorious stranger hail. They feel a joy 



This fact was particularly ascertained by Dr. 

 Oerham. Philosophical Transactions, No. 291. 



See Appendix, No. VII. for an illustration of some 

 of the causes which have concurred to propagM 

 the belief of apparitions. 



