AN ESSAY
ON
DEMONOLOGY, GHOSTS AND APPARITIONS,
AND
POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS,
ALSO,
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
WITCHCRAFT DELUSION AT SALEM,
IN 1682.
By JAMES THACHER, M. D., A. A. S.
'With spells and charms I break the viper's jaw,
Cleave solid rocks, oaks from their fissures draw,
Whole woods remove, the airy mountains shake,
Earth forced to groan, and ghosts from graves awake.'
Ovid's Metamor.
There are mysteries even in nature, which we cannot
investigate, paradoxes which we can never resolve.
BOSTON:
CARTER AND HENDEE.
M DCCC XXXI.
ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the
year 1831, by CARTER & HENDEE, in the Clerk's
Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
BOSTON CLASSIC PRESS.
I. R. BUTTS.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The following pages were in substance composed to be read before the
Plymouth Lyceum, in 1829. When it was understood that Rev. CHARLES W.
UPHAM was about to favor the public with a work on the same subject,
it was determined that this little performance should be suppressed.
The Rev. Author observed in a letter, 'that although we may traverse
the same field, it is highly probable that we pursue different tracks.
The subject is so various, ample and abundant in instruction, that
good rather than evil would result from the application of more than
one mind to its discussion.' Since therefore, in the deeply
interesting work referred to, the learned author has not particularly
discussed the subjects of Ghosts, Apparitions, Mental Illusions, &c,
there may be no impropriety in submitting the following imperfect
production to the public, with the hope that it will not be considered
as altogether superfluous.
J. T.
Plymouth, Nov. 1831.