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Samuel B. Emmons. The Spirit Land
The Spirit Land
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS
CHAPTER II. INDUCTIVE PHILOSOPHY NOT UNDERSTOOD
CHAPTER III. IGNORANCE OF THE CAUSES OF DREAMS
CHAPTER IV. EFFECTS OF THE IMAGINATION ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
CHAPTER V. IGNORANCE OF MENTAL PHILOSOPHY
CHAPTER VI. IGNORANCE OF TRUE RELIGION
CHAPTER VII. BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT
CHAPTER VIII. NECROMANCY AND FORTUNE TELLING
CHAPTER IX. FAIRIES, OR WANDERING SPIRITS
CHAPTER X. OMENS, CHARMS, AND DIVINATION
CHAPTER XI. MODERN MIRACLES
CHAPTER XII. PRETENDED PROPHETS AND CHRISTS
CHAPTER XIII. MORMON SUPERSTITION
CHAPTER XIV. MILLER DELUSION
CHAPTER XV. INTERCOURSE WITH DEPARTED SPIRITS
CHAPTER XVI. EVIL EFFECTS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS
CHAPTER XVII. BANISHMENT OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS
PART SECOND. MIRACLE IN SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
PERSONS TRAINED BY A LECTURER
SCENE AT EAST BOSTON
EXTRACT FROM THE PURITAN RECORDER
EXTRACT FROM THE HOME JOURNAL
FORETELLING FUTURE EVENTS
VISIONS, MIRACLES, AND WONDERS
CLAIRVOYANT PHYSICIANS
STYLE OF "SUPERNAL" COMPOSITIONS
MYSTERIOUS PHENOMENA, WITH THEIR AGENTS OR CAUSES
EXPERIMENTS IN BIOLOGY
FACULTY OF IMITATION
UNSEEN LETTERS AND SIGNATURES
A DANCING LIGHT
SAILORS' OMENS
LOVE CHARMS
EFFECTS OF A BELIEF IN A GHOST
THE INVISIBLE LADY
SORCERERS IN THE EAST
SINGULAR METAMORPHOSES
PERNICIOUS ERRORS RELATING TO HEALTH
Отрывок из книги
Samuel B. Emmons
Published by Good Press, 2021
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In the sandy plains of Egypt, the mirage is seen to great advantage. These plains are often interrupted by small eminences, upon which the inhabitants have built their villages in order to escape the inundations of the Nile. In the morning and evening, objects are seen in their natural form and position; but when the surface of the sandy ground is heated by the sun, the land seems terminated, at a particular distance, by a general inundation; the villages which are beyond it appear like so many islands in a great lake; and an inverted image of a village appears between the hills.
The Swedish sailors long searched for a supposed magic island, which, from time to time, could be descried between the Island of Aland and the coast of Upland. It proved to be a rock, the image of which was presented in the air by mirage. At one time, the English saw, with terror, the coast of Calais and Boulogne, in France, rising up on the opposite side of the Channel, and apparently approaching their island. But the most celebrated example of mirage is exhibited in the Straits of Messina. The inhabitants of the Calabrian shore behold images of palaces, embattled ramparts, houses, and ships, and all the varied objects of towns and landscapes, in the air—being refracted images from the Sicilian coast. This wonderful phenomenon is superstitiously regarded by the common people as the work of fairies.
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