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intention of life. As the biblical history of the Old Testa ment is the seed and the type of all later history, so in the New Testament, for the first time, like the flower unfolding from the bud, is developed a perfect revelation of the truth. The Judaism of the Old Testament has a real perception of the true tree of life of the inner, progressive development by means of cultivation; all other heathen nations, with their various systems of religion, are the lopped branches of the great tree of life, which has vegetated, it is true, but which are incapable of inner growth. Judaism is that real mystery which appears in Christianity as the ideal of holiness and union with God. But as the fruit is matured from the blossom only by progressive degrees, so also does this maturity in the new history advance forward with a measured step. Religion and morals, art and science, are, it is true, progressing in new and widely ramifying paths in this later Christian time, but they are as yet very far from their goal, which is perfection. The same may be said with regard to magnetism, which has yet advanced only so far as the intelligence of those minds which have laboured to comprehend it have themselves advanced. Thus, for example, visions have through the universally diffused doctrines of Christianity assumed in all cases a character in accordance with the current comprehension of good and. evil, and of these as God, angels, devils, &c., in human form, with the idea of beauty and goodness, or of deformity and wickedness in its manifold distortion.

A purer and more scientific treatment and understanding of magical appearances commenced in the 16th century; and the clear declaration of magnetism as a peculiar power of nature which might be systematically applied for the cure of diseases, was first made by Fredric Anton Mesmer, so that he really is the discoverer and the central point in the history of magnetism, between the old centuries slumbering on in a shadowy dream life, and the new ages still in twilight, not having as yet advanced into perfect day. For if the knowledge of the mysterious laws and operations of nature was in the olden time of an imaginative character, producing only fantastic results, the knowledge of modern times is of a hard and dry intellectual character, with a certain wide ramification, it is true, but gathering up a

Ideal of rubbish with its truth. Hence all higher life which as beyond its perception is a subject of derision, and it cannot comprehend any possible utility in magical power. That of which the ancient times had too much, modern times have too little, namely, the want of a stedfast religious sentiment, the want of the symbolic perception and the artistic imaginative power of the Middle Ages, and, beyond everything else, the want of a firm belief in the immediate operation of God in nature.

Goethe's Mephistopheles describes this age excellently in the following lines :

:

Ein Kerl, der speculirt, ist wie ein Thier auf dürrer Haide
Von einem bösen Geist im Kreis herumgeführt,

Und ringsumher liegt schöne grüne Weide.

-Wer will was Lebendiges erkennen und beschreiben,
Sucht erst den Geist heraus zu treiben ;
Dann hat er die Theile in seiner Hand,
Fehlt leider! nur das geistige Band.
Encheiresin naturæ nennts die Chemie,
Spottet ihrer selbst und weiss nicht wie.

APPENDIX.

[Without in any measure attempting to explain, or pass judgment upon the narratives contained in the following Appendix, we would simply present them to the reader as a collection of relations illustrative of Dr. Ennemoser's views, drawn from various and accredited sources, and which the reader may apply to the author's text according to his own individual views.]

APPARITIONS.

THE GHOSTS OF THE SLAIN AT THE BATTLE OF MARATHON.

Pausanias writes, that four hundred years after the battle of Marathon, there were still heard in the place where it was fought, the neighing of horses, and the shouts of soldiers, animating one another to the fight. Plutarch also speaks of spectres seen, and dreadful howlings heard in the public baths, where several citizens of Choronea, his native town, had been murdered. He says, that the inhabitants had been obliged to shut up these baths, but that, notwithstanding the precaution, great noises were still heard, and dreadful spectres frequently seen by the neighbours. Plutarch, who is an author of acknowledged gravity and good sense, frequently makes mention of spectres and apparitions; particularly he says, that in the famous battle above alluded to, several soldiers saw the apparition of Theseus fighting for the Greeks and against the Persians.

THE KÖNIGSBERG PROFESSOR.

"I am not so decidedly sceptical on the possibility of supernatural appearance," said Count Falkesheim to Sir

Nathaniel Wraxall, "as to treat them with ridicule, because they may appear to be unphilosophical. I received my educa tion in the university of Königsberg, where I had the advantage of attending lectures in ethics and moral philosophy, delivered by a professor who was esteemed a very superior man in those branches of science. He had, nevertheless, though an ecclesiastic, the reputation of being tinctured with incredulity on various points connected with revealed religion. When, therefore, it became necessary for him in the course of his lectures to treat on the nature of spirit as detached from matter, to discuss the immortality of the soul, and to enter on the doctrine of a future state, I listened with more than ordinary attention to his opinions. In speaking of all these mysterious subjects, there appeared to me to be so visible an embarrassment, both in his language and in his expressions, that I felt the strongest curiosity to question him further respecting them. Finding myself alone with him soon afterwards, I ventured to state to him my remarks on his deportment, and entreated him to tell me if they were well founded or only imaginary suggestions.

"The hesitation which you noticed," answered he, "resulted from the conflict that takes place within me, when I am attempting to convey my ideas on a subject where my understanding is at variance with the testimony of my senses. I am equally, from reason and reflection, disposed to consider with incredulity and contempt the existence of apparitions. But an appearance, which I have witnessed with my own eyes, as far as they, or any of the perceptions can be confided in; and which has even received a sort of subsequent confirmation, from other circumstances connected with the original facts, leave me in that state of scepticism and suspense which pervaded my discourse. I will communicate to you its cause. Having been brought up to the profession of the church, I was presented by Frederick William the First, late King of Prussia, to a small benefice, situated in the interior of the country, at a considerable distance south of Königsberg. I repaired thither in order to take possession of my living, and found a neat parsonage house, where I passed the night in the bedchamber which had been occupied by my predecessor.

"It was in the longest days of summer: and on the following morning, which was Sunday, while lying awake, the curtains of the bed being undrawn, and it being broad daylight, I beheld the figure of a man, habited in a sort of loose gown, standing at a reading desk, on which lay a large book, the leaves of which he appeard to turn over at intervals; on each side of him stood a little boy, in whose face he looked earnestly from time to time, and as he looked he seemed always to heave a deep sigh. His countenance, pale and disconsolate, indicated some distress of mind. I had the most perfect view of these objects, but being impressed with too much terror and apprehension to rise or to address myself to the appearances before me, I remained for some minutes a breathless and silent spectator, without uttering a word or altering my position. At length the man closed the book, and then taking the two children, one in each hand, he led them slowly across the room; my eyes eagerly followed him till the three figures gradually disappeared, or were lost behind an iron stove which stood at the farthest corner of the apartment.

"However deeply and awfully I was affected by the sight which I had witnessed, and however incapable I was of explaining it to my own satisfaction, yet I recovered sufficiently the possession of my mind to get up, and having hastily dressed myself I left the house. The sun was long risen, and directing my steps to the church, I found that it was open; but the sexton had quitted it, and on entering the chancel, my mind and imagination were so strongly impressed by the scene which had recently passed, that I endeavoured to dissipate the recollection by considering the objects around me. In almost all Lutheran churches of the Prussian dominions, it is the custom to hang up against the walls, or some part of the building, the portraits of the successive pastors or clergymen, who have held the living. A number of these paintings, rudely performed, were suspended in one of the aisles. But I had no sooner fixed my eyes on the last in the range, which was the portrait of my immediate predecessor, than they became rivetted to the object; as I instantly recognized the same face which I had beheld in my bed-chamber, though not clouded by the same deep impression of me

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