CHAPTER I.

Man is credulous because he is naturally sincere— Men of Bupenor intellect liave reduced their fellow-men to submis- non by acting upon their paasions through their credulity — ^The recitals of marvels which conduced to this end are not wholly inventive — It is useful as well as curious to study the facts contained in these narrations, and their causes.
1—6
CHAPTER n.
Difference between Miracles and Prodigies — Circumstances that render marvellous Histories credible — 1st. The number and agreement of the narrations, and the confidence which the observers and witnesses of them merit. — 2nd. The possibility of tracing out some one or other of the principal causes that may have given a miraculous colouring to a natural event .... 7 — 16
XXXVUl CONTENTS.