DEMONOLOGY. 
pofition in a manner entirely new, in fuppofing that the 
imagination of a lick or dying perfon, who longs to be. 
hold fome abfent friend or relation, acts on the mind of 
this abfent perfon fo (trongly, as to produce an idea of 
the prefence of the fick or dying man. This will appear 
more clear' y, and more advantageoufly, in his own words. 
“ A perfon lick or dying, or in fome imminent danger, 
llghs after his abfent friend, his brother, his relations, or 
his wife : thefe are ignorant of his ficknefs or of his dan¬ 
ger; they are not thinking of him at that moment. The 
dying man, carried away by the ftrength of his imagina¬ 
tion, pierces walls, flies through fpace, and appears in 
his actual fittiation ; in other words, lie gives fuch figns 
of his pretence as approach to reality. But is this a cor¬ 
poral prefence ? not in the leaft. The fick or dying per¬ 
fon lies languifhing in his bed ; and his friend, perhaps, 
in good health, is failing on the troubled ocean ; a real 
prefence is therefore impoffible. How then is the ap¬ 
pearance brought about ? What cnufe is it which a6ts in 
the delirium of one upon the vifual faculty of the other ? 
It is the imagination ; imagination mad with love and 
anxiety ; concentrated, as it were, in the focus of pallion.” 
This hypothefis would explain other pretended appear¬ 
ances ; the effects of an evil eye, the curies of a longing 
woman, and the fuccefs of the operations with waxen 
figures ; but how does it explain the apparitions of the 
dead, (for death terminates all bodily affections, ultranc- 
quc cura ncquc, gaudio locum-,) without having recourfe to 
the other theories already mentioned ? But if it be al¬ 
lowed, that the imagination of another can produce fo 
wonderful an imprellion on the mind, how much more 
eafy is it to conceive a man’s own imagination impofing 
delufions on him ? There are many moments, when the 
operations of fancy are extremely fallacious in healthy 
men ; and in nervous difeafes, where the patient appears 
but little altered in the firength of his faculties, there is 
much tranfient delirium, and much falfe imagination. 
When the fancy is once fet in motion, old impreffions ge¬ 
nerally revive, and friends and relations rufh upon us; 
the caprices of affociation in fome perfons are unaccount¬ 
able ; and many may cry out with the poet, Metaftalio, 
Delirando io vivo. 
It is an opinion of confiderable antiquity, that the bo¬ 
dies of deceafed men were fometimes re-animated by de¬ 
mons. The firff accounts of this kind are to be found in 
Phlegon T.rallianus, and Philoftratus Diofcyles. A ri¬ 
diculous ftory to the fame purpofc, was circulated re- 
fpecting Agrippa: one of his fcholars, it was laid, got 
into his ftudy, during his abfence, and taking up a book 
which contained the titles of certain demons, began to 
read : prefently a demon popped his head into the room 
and alked what was required of him ; perceiving the 
boy frightened, the impudent devil llrangled him on the 
fpot. When Agrippa returned, he was, of courfe, a good 
deal vexed at the accident; however, with infinite ad- 
drefs, he ordered a demon to enter the' body immediate¬ 
ly, to walk once or twice round the market-place, and 
then to let the carcafedrop, that the boy might appear 
to have died luddenly. A few other inftances of the 
fame kind might be picked out from the legendary wri¬ 
ters ; but it was not till the fixteenth century, that the 
bodies re-animated were fuppoled to do any mifchief. 
Then, in Germany, Dr. Martin Weinrich, a collector of 
incredible hiltories, publilhed an account of two rcdivivi ; ' 
one was the Ihoemaker of Brellaw, the other was a man 
o L ' confequence, Cuntius, whofe ftory was lately tranllated 
from Dr. More’s Antidotus advcrj'us AtheiJ'mum , and repub- 
liihed in the Antiquarian Repertory. So troublefbme 
and infolent was the revived lhoemalcer, that the people 
whom he diftreffed were on the point of leaving their 
houfes to fettle elfewhere. 
Paracelius found a ready theory in hi's philofophy tor 
this fpecies of re-animation ; the devil, according to him, 
can do what he will in his own kingdom, and he can pre- 
ferve a dead body for any length of time, by his know- 
i 
711 
ledge of the true balfam. Ouod in Domino non moritur, mo - 
ritur in diabolo. Jam vero divos in fuo regno diabolits far ere 
potejl. Quibus rebus homo a putredine prejervitur, quovis ho- 
mine txaBius ncvit, utpote veri ba/J'ami gnarus. This ftrange 
delufion prevailed very generally among the modern 
Greeks ; and they knew the remedy for the difturbance, 
which confifted in publicly burning the carcafe of the 
vroucoiacas, as they termed the rcdivivus. But the tri¬ 
umph of this abfurdity was referred for an advanced pe¬ 
riod of the eighteenth century. Somewhere about the 
year 1730, an alarm began in Hungary, of fome houfes 
being haunted by perfons deceafed, who fucked the blood 
of (ome of the family during their fieep. The fufferers 
were fenlible of this terrible operation, and commonly 
recognized the features of the apparition : the Hunga¬ 
rians termed thefe nofturnal vifitors vampires. In confe- 
quence of thefe practices, the perfons fucked became 
weak and emaciated; the corpfe of the vampire, on the 
contrary, was found, even after long interment, frefh, flo¬ 
rid, and full of blood ; fometimes to fuch a degree, as to 
pour out bloodJVom the nofe, mouth, and ears. This 
extravagance, produced by the oppreffive dreams of ple¬ 
thoric perfons, on the eve of difeafe, was fir ft publilhed 
by the marquis d’Argens, in the Jewilh Letters; a ft vik¬ 
ing contraft to his fcepticifm on lome other points, but 
an inconfiftence not uncommon with perfons deiftically 
inclined. But the (object foon got into different hands; 
for the learned Dont Calrnet, well known by his critical 
differtations on the Bible, publilhed a hiftory of vam¬ 
pires, rich in abfurdity, of which the following paffage 
is a fpecimen, but it is neceflary to add, quoted from 
Voltaire : “ In Hungary, two officers, commiflioned by 
the emperor Charles VI. affifted by the bailiff of the 
place, and the executioner, went to examine a vampire,, 
who had been dead for fix weeks, and who fucked the 
whole neighbourhood. They found him in his coffin.,, 
frefh, lively, with open eyes, and defiring fomething to 
eat. The bailiff palled fentence. The executioner tore 
out the vampire’s, heart, after which the vampire ale no 
more.” 
Some queftions, apparently puzzling, occur on the fub- 
je£f of thofe difturbances: How could all the inhabitants 
of confiderable towns be impofed on, in a matter fo nearly 
refpedling the peace and fafety of each individual, as uni- 
verfally to impute actions to fupernatural influence, which 
perhaps were no more than knavilh ? How could they be 
deceived in the folemn and public infpeCtion of the vam¬ 
pire’s body, which always took place? And how could 
the deltrudtion of a wretched carcafe, long dead, become 
the means of reftoring public tranquillity, fo as to be or¬ 
dered by the magiftrates ? The beft explanation is, to 
fhew, by unqueftionable facts, how fuch delufions have 
taken place; this will alfo elucidate the nature of the 
other illufions already mentioned. When Tournefort 
vilited the illand of Mycone, in 1 701, .the principal town, 
at which he refided, was difturbed by a vroucoiacas, or. 
rcdivivus-, the confternation was fo great, that molt of the 
inhabitants (lept in tents, in the market-place : their 
peace was reftored by burning the carcafe of the rcdivivus, 
after a public examination, in which it was declared to 
be frelh. Thefe are the principal faffs, and.apparently 
ftrong : now let 11s unveil their origin, by an abftradt of 
Tournefort’s obfervations. 1. Tournefort o.bferves, that 
the perfon accufed of thofe difturbances had been quar- 
relfome during his life, and was murdered privately. So 
that he was a proper fubjeft of fufpicion; fuppofing the 
general delufion once eftabliffied. 2. The,redivivus was 
accufed of nothing which might not have been pratftifed 
by ordinary vagabpnds ; “ he. was feen to walk in the 
night with great halte ; he tumbled about people’s goods, 
put out their lamps, &c.” The wonders related of the 
German rcdivivi are only exaggerations. 3. The ftory. 
never gained full credit, till the papas, (priefts,) for their 
own honour and intereft, took it up. 4. During the ex¬ 
amination at the chapel, the popular fury againft the.. 
deceafed 
