82 



WIT WITCH. 



this view, he entered as a private pupil with doctor 

 John Redman, and attended the lectures then given 

 in the medical school of Philadelphia, which was 

 daily rising in public estimation. In 17*-'. he re- 

 ceived the degree of bachelor of medicine, after 

 passing an uncommonly satisfactory examination ; 

 and, in the course of the next year, he left America 

 to pursue his studies in Europe. In 1786, he gra- 

 duated at Edinburgh with great reputation, and 

 published his thesis De Animo demisso. He travel- 

 led over a great part of England on foot, examining 

 the mining and manufacturing districts of that coun- 

 try, and whatever else was likely to engage the at- 

 tention of a man of science. He perambulated Scot- 

 land also in the same way. The associations he 

 formed, the friendships he contracted, and the repu- 

 tation he established wherever he resided, were 

 honourable to himself and his country. The royal 

 medical society of Edinburgh chose him a member. 

 In February, 1787, he returned to Philadelphia, and 

 was appointed, soon after his return, consulting 

 physician to the Philadelphia dispensary, and was 

 one of its early attending physicians. He was 

 further appointed physician to the hospital, and 

 afterwards became adjunct professor to doctor 

 William Shippen, in the departments of anatomy 

 and surgery. As assistant to doctor Shippen, he 

 acquired the practical skill, as a dissector and de- 

 monstrator, which laid the foundation of his subse- 

 quent reputation. On the decease of doctor Ship- 

 pen, doctor Wistar was appointed to fill the chair 

 of his departed friend : he had, in fact, long per- 

 formed the duties of this department. In 1816, he 

 was unanimously elected president of the American 

 philosophical society. Doctor Wistar was too ac- 

 tively engaged to appear often in the character of 

 an author ; but his Remarks on the Fever of 1793, 

 his Memoirs on the Ethmoid Bone, and on the Re- 

 mains of an Animal of the Bos Species, were well 

 calculated to enhance his reputation. His System 

 of Anatomy, (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1812), com- 

 prising the heads of his course, is a most useful 

 compend, embracing not merely the anatomy, but 

 the anatomical physiology, of the parts noticed, ac- 

 cording to the best views at present known of that 

 branch of the subject. Doctor Wistar was a most 

 active contributor to knowledge of all kinds, by his 

 scientific meetings at his own house, which \vas 

 the place of resort of all strangers who had infor- 

 mation to communicate, KS well as of his friends 

 who were engaged in any scientific pursuit. As a 

 professor of anatomy, he was remarkable for the 

 skill and care with which his subjects were prepared 

 and brought forward ; the simple, neat, intelligible 

 style of his lectures ; the kind and friendly charac- 

 ter of his voice and manner ; and his anxiety to 

 make his students fully comprehend what they had 

 to learn. He died on January 22, 1818. He was 

 twee married, and, by his second wife, left two 

 children. 



WIT is the faculty of detecting, and presenting 

 in a lively manner, similarities in things in which 

 common observers see only diversity. The finding 

 of such similarities presupposes comparison ; and 

 wit might therefore be defined a facility in the com- 

 paring power to discover unexpected relations, or a 

 playful exercise of the power of comparison. We 

 sometimes apply the name of wit to various other 

 sorts of ingenious thoughts expressed in words, in 

 which sense it corresponds to the French ban mot. 

 Wit is the more striking, the more easily it brings 

 together things which, to the common observer, j 



appear distinct, and the ?ess obvious the resein. 

 blances which it discovers. It is intimately con- 

 nected with vivacity and quickness of imagination . 

 and is much improved by practice. The similarities 

 or differences which wit points out, need not actu- 

 ally exist, but may be merely the creation of the 

 imagination. There must, however, be some ground 

 for the relation presented, though it may be a trifl- 

 ing one, which is called the point of comparison 

 (terlium comparationis). Dugald Stewart inclines 

 to believe that the pleasure afforded by wit, is 

 founded, to a considerable degree, on the surprise 

 of the hearer at the command which the man of wit 

 has acquired over a part of the constitution so little 

 subject to the will. Hence it is that we are more 

 pleased with a bon mot which occurs in conversation, 

 than with one which appears in print ; and we never 

 fail to receive disgust from wit, when we suspect it 

 to be premeditated. Doctor Campbell remarks that 

 a witty repartee is infinitely more pleasing than a 

 witty attack, and that an allusion will appear ex- 

 cellent when thrown out extempore in conversation, 

 which would appear execrable in print. Wit is a 

 dangerous power. When employed to attack pe- 

 dantry, pretension, or folly, not easily assailable in 

 other ways, it is in its proper sphere ; but its power 

 may be, and often has been, used to make truth ridi- 

 culous. Its influence is most dangerous among those 

 nations whose apprehension is most quick, and whose 

 sensibility is most lively. How important an influ- 

 ence have some ions mots exerted in France, false 

 and noxious though they were ! Wit has even some- 

 times taken the place of philosophy in that country ; 

 but its influence, at present, is much diminished. 

 Wherever it becomes the habitual exercise of the 

 mind, it impairs the nobler powers of the under- 

 standing, and chills the feelings. When too much in 

 vogue, it gives a superficial character to the tone of 

 society, and creates a craving for evanescent excite- 

 ment. The merely witty are seldom popular : they 

 are feared and hated, because they have a weapon 

 which others feel the want of; but when wit is 

 united with superior intellectual powers, and parti- 

 cularly with a kind disposition, it is a most valuable 

 gift, and of very great advantage to public men. 

 Wit is a talent, and therefore natural ; but it may be 

 much developed by exercise, and is promoted by 

 general liveliness of conceptions, agreeable social 

 intercourse, and an easy condition in life. It is, at 

 the same time, one of the most difficult talents to 

 manage, as few will abstain from a witty observa- 

 tion from fear of hurting the feeJings of other*, and 

 departing from the tone of kindness so necessary in 

 good society. 



WITCH, WITCHCRAFT. A witch is a per- 

 son who has acquired supernatural power by enter- 

 ing into a compact with evil spirits. In this sense 

 of the word, the notions of witchcraft are essen- 

 tially of modern origin, being entirely distinct from 

 the superstitions of the ancients concerning the 

 magical powers of the enchantments of their sor- 

 cerers. (See Magic.) The term witch occurs, in- 

 deed, in our version of the Scriptures, according to 

 which, the law of Moses is, " Thou shalt not suffer 

 a witch to live" (Exodus, xxii, 18); but, besides 

 that many commentators believe the Hebrew term 

 charasp, here translated witch, should be rendered 

 poisoner, there is nothing to indicate any such in- 

 fernal league between the Hebrew sorceress and 

 diabolical powers, as is the distinctive mark of 

 modern witchcraft. Trafficking with idols, using 

 charms, invocations, &c., seem to constitute the 



