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. CONTENTS. Page. Ghosts and Apparitions, 1 Power of Imagination, 21 Illusions, 26 Imagination and Fear, 47 Superstition, 63 Witchcraft and Sorcery, 74 Salem Witchcraft, 113 Omens and Auguries, 204 Medical Quackery, 225 ESSAY. GHOSTS AND APPARITIONS.