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Origin of the general Opinions respecting Demonology among Mankind--The Belief in the Immortality of the Soul…

Date of account: Published 1830
Source: Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft
Reference: Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft · selected passage 4
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

Origin of the general Opinions respecting Demonology among Mankind--The Belief in the Immortality of the Soul is the main inducement to credit its occasional re-appearance--The Philosophical Objections to the Apparition of an Abstract Spirit little understood by the Vulgar and Ignorant--The situations of excited Passion incident to Humanity, which teach Men to wish or apprehend Supernatural Apparitions--They are often presented by the Sleeping Sense--Story of Somnambulism--The Influence of Credulity contagious, so that Individuals will trust the Evidence of others in despite of their own Senses--Examples from the "Historia Verdadera" of Bernal Dias del Castillo, and from the Works of Patrick Walker--The apparent Evidence of Intercourse with the Supernatural World is sometimes owing to a depraved State of the bodily Organs--Difference between this Disorder and Insanity, in which the Organs retain their tone, though that of the Mind is lost--Rebellion of the Senses of a Lunatic against the current of his Reveries--Narratives of a contrary Nature, in which the Evidence of the Eyes overbore the Conviction of the Understanding--Example of a London Man of Pleasure--Of Nicolai, the German Bookseller and Philosopher--Of a Patient of Dr.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This is a historical account assembled under the reporting and publishing conventions of its period. It may preserve testimony, hearsay, retelling and editorial interpretation together.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

A modern comparison can identify recurring descriptions and possible explanations, but the account is not treated as independently verified evidence merely because it appeared in print.

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