LECTURE II 53 



also alludes to one of tin m<-t .il.>urd and de- 

 grading superstition* tliat -\er entered the liuman 

 niind. Ahotit tin- year 1732, an idea prevailed in 

 some parts of Poland an<l HIM. tun 



human bodies, after interment, became possessed 

 of a power of extracting or absorbing blood from 

 those \vli-i urn so unfortunate as to pass over, or 

 stand near their gra\es: such bodies were said to 

 In- possessed by Vampyres, and in order to put a 

 stop to their pernicious power, it was supposed 

 necessary to disinter them, and wound them with 

 a sword. Astonishing as this folly may appear, it 

 is yet more astonishing to find that a great many 

 learned treatises were written on the subject, and 

 tint while some endeavoured to combat the ab- 

 surdity upon all the principles of sound philosoplu , 

 others defended it, from what they called un- 

 doubted facts. In the Bibliotheca Anatomica of 

 the learned Mailer may be found a list of m< 

 the publications on this .subject, and uh< 

 read.s that entertaining work of the late Lord 

 Orford, entitled Reminiscences*, will be fully 



* In this work we are informed by his lordship, that a very 

 xalted personage, in the time of his father, was perfectly coo- 



