decgafed carried every thing before it : “ the corpfe 
flank fo oitenfively, that they were obliged to burn 
frankincenfe ; but the fmoke mixing with the exhala¬ 
tions, from tiie carcafe, increafed the flench, and began 
to affect the poor people’s brains. Their imaginations, 
flruck with the fpedtacle before them, became full of 
vifions. They fancied that a thick fmoke arofe out of 
the body ; we durft not fay it was the fmoke of the in- 
cenfe. They were inceffantly bawling out vroucolacas, 
( 3 ;ay.c\ay.a.(;.) - Several people prefent averred that 
tiie wretch’s blood was extremely red : the butcher 
fwore tiie body was ftill warm.- Juft at that inftant 
came in a flock of people, loudly protefting they plainly 
perceived that the body was not grown (tiff, when it was 
carried from the fields to church to be buried, and that 
confeqnently it was a true vroucolacas.-- I do not 
doubt but they would have fvvorn it did not ftink, if we 
had not been there.- And for us, who had got as 
clofe to the corpfe as we could, that we might be more 
exadt in our obfervations, we were alrnofl poifoned by 
the intolerable flench that ifi'ued from it. When they 
aficed us what we thought of tills body, (every one 
knows that Tournefort was a phyfician,) we told them 
we believed it to be thoroughly dead ; but, as we were 
willing to cure, or at leaft not to exafperate their preju¬ 
diced imaginations, we reprefented to them, that it was 
no wonder the butcher fliould feel a little warmth, when 
he groped among the putrid inteflines; that it was no 
extrordinary thing for the body to emit fumes, fince dung 
turned up will do the fame ; that, as for the pretended 
rednefs of the blood, it flill appeared, by the butcher’s 
hands, to be nothing but a very foetid natty fmear.” 
Upon the whole, then, the opinion of a vroucolacas, 
like the others already examined, appears to be only an 
liypothefis, formed to account for phenomena, whole 
caufes were not obvious to the people. But if a philo- 
iopher had not unluckily been prefent at this curious 
trarifadlion, the annals of credulity could fcarcely have 
furnifhed a ftronger proof than this, of the exiflence of 
redivivi, confeqnently of all forts of demoniacal opera¬ 
tions. It feems alfo, that when men are unacquainted 
with the natural caufe of a particular appearance, and at 
the fame time are perfuaded of the pofiibility of diabo¬ 
lical illufions, they will impofe even on their own fenfes, 
to favour the admifiion of a theory fo interefling to their 
imaginations. 
The miracles of the abbe Paris, while they afford the 
ftrongeft proof of this affertion, and while they fltevv that 
illufions fcarcely credible may prevail in the brightefl 
periods of fcience and art, require particular attention, 
as Mr. Hume has affedted to compare them with the mi¬ 
racles of our religion; though they were refuted in pub¬ 
lications of the time never much known, and now gene¬ 
rally forgotten. The report of th.efe miracles began in 
1727, foon after the death of the abbe Paris, when dif¬ 
ferent perfons fuppofed themfelves relieved from i.ndif- 
pofitions, by employing portions of his clothes, or of the 
bed on which he died, as relics. A concourfe of the 
bifeafed, the fuperfidious, and the curious, was made to 
his tomb, in the church-yard of St. Medard, at Paris, 
where miraculous cures and fudden converfions were laid 
to take place every hour. But contact with the tomb 
produced a curious eftedt on many : they were thrown 
into convulfions, which continued till they thought fit 
to defeend from their flation ; and this appearance was 
fo common, that the cures and converfions were compa¬ 
ratively little confidered ; the votaries of the abbe Paris 
came to be known by the title of convit/Jioni/ls, and many 
perfons confidered thofe gambols as the only eftedt of the 
miraculous power. A collection of the moft remark¬ 
able cures, tlrengthened by the depofitions of the friends 
and medical attendants of the patients, was drawn up by 
Mr. de Montgeron, a counfellor of the parliament, who 
had been converted at the tomb, and by him prefented 
to the king. The archbifliop of Paris oppofed the au- 
O L O G Y. 
thenticity of the miracles; but a report in favour of 
them was prefented to him, certified by twenty-three 
cures (vicars) refiding in Paris; two bifliops declared 
for them, in the pulpit, and the cardinal de Noailles 
ffipported them with his authority. The advocates for 
tliefe miracles infilled chiefly on the cures: the convul¬ 
fions were objedted to them by their enemies, who con¬ 
fidered them as demoniacal, which was allowed by fome 
of the convultionifts themfelves, as well as that fome in¬ 
decencies were exhibited at the tomb. 
The infatuation continued, with increafing force, al- 
moft five years, during which the controverfy was carried 
on fo fiercely, as to occafion feveral divifions among the 
defenders of the miracles themfelves. Government at 
length found it necelfary to interpofe ; the tomb was 
blocked up and guarded, (for the abbe Paris produced 
no miracle efficacious againfl a fixed bayonet,) and Mont¬ 
geron was imprifoned, very foon after prefenting his book. 
Tliefe meafures did not flop the controverfy, however, 
or diminifh the credit of the miracles : Voltaire fays, 
the latter continued for thirty years fucceffively. It is 
eafy to perceive, that this whole bufinefs was.contrived 
to lupport the party of the appellants, who oppofed the 
Bull Unigenitus, attempted to be forced at that time on 
the Gallican church. 
After tliefe matters came to be fully explained, the 
conteft was heard of no more, and the influence of true 
pliilofophy increafed to fuch a degree, that it was pre¬ 
fumed the age would now be fecure from the phrenzy of 
the moft fpecious delufion. However, in 1778, Dr. Mef- 
mer began to diftinguilh himfelf by his operations \n ani¬ 
mal magnetifm , which foon became as famous as the mira¬ 
cles of the holy deacon of St. Medard. Paris was the 
theatre of,this new wonder; and as it v/as not immedi¬ 
ately known, that Dr. Mefmer’s opinions were chiefly 
borrowed from the exploded liypothefis of Van Helmont, 
he drew a fufficient concourfe of patients to his liotife, to 
attradl the attention of government. A committee of 
perfons, well known by their philofopliical publications, 
was appointed to examine the merits of this pretended 
difeovery, and their inquiries, which it is unneceffary to 
repeat here, terminated in this conclufion, “ that animal 
magnetifm is a mere chimaera.” In fact, whatever may 
have been the operator’s opinion, it is evident that the 
patients were adted upon by the force of imagination 
alone, which, however, produced very violent effedts, 
evidently hyflerical in the female patients, whom the 
commiflioners obferved to be more generally affedted than 
thofe of the other fex. When the pradtice was no longer 
permitted in Paris, it found fhelter in the capital of "this 
country, where, though the operations are fomewhat va¬ 
ried, fadls are not wanting to prove that the principle is 
ftill the fame. 
Van Helmont was the principal fupporter of that opi¬ 
nion which fuppofed a magnetic fpirit in the human 
body, by adtion on which he explained all the phenome¬ 
na of dileafe, and all the fadls of demonology. Other 
philofophers contented themfelves with believing, in ge¬ 
neral, that thofe appearances, and particularly in the 
cure of diforders, depended on an emanation or tranfmif- 
fion of fpirits, and it was thought that even the faculties 
and affedtions of the mind could be thus transmitted. 
This was the opinion of Bacon. In confequence of this, 
it was fuppofed that the fympathy which had fublifled 
among the parts of an individual, continued after the 
reparation of thofe parts ; hence the cure by lytnpathy, 
that is, without application to the parts affected. Upon 
this principle, inftead of applying lalve to a wound, it 
was applied to the fword which inflidted the injury. But¬ 
ler did not let this folly efcape : he fays of Sidrophel, 
He had a fympathetic powder 
That wounds nine miles point-blank would folder. 
Willis and Dr. Boulton were both fympathifts. But 
the moft curious inftance of fympathy is contained in a 
paper 
