CHAPTER XIII.

Optics- — Effects similar to those exhibited in the modern Dioramas and Phantasmagorias — Apparitions of the Gods, and shades of the dead — The Camera obscura — Magicians changing their appearances and their forms, is an incredible miracle.
All our senses are tributary to the empire of the marvellous ; the eye is more so than the ear. By too much prolongation, agreeable sounds lose their charm ; loud, fear-inspiring noises become merely deafening ; and miraculous voices become suspected ; but optical illusions, though succeeding each other without a pause, never fail to keep up the attention of the individual eager after novel spectacles : their variety and their contrasts leave no space for reflection, nor cause any fatigue in beholding them.
From the nature of some optical wonders displayed in the assumed miracles of the Thaumaturgists, and in the pompous and terrible representations of mysteries and initiations, we are authorised to conclude that the aid of scientific resources was requisite for carrying them into effect. The ancients were acquainted with
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the mode of fabricating mirrors, which presented the images multiplied or reversed; and, what is more remarkable, in certain positions lost entirely the pro- perty of reflecting. It is unimportant whether the latter peculiarity depended solely on sleight of hand, or was analogous to polarized light, # which reaching the reflecting body, under a certain angle, is absorbed with- out producing any image. It is very evident that, in either case, the employment of such mirrors was well fitted to give birth to numerous apparent miracles. Aulus Gellius,f quoting Varro, informs us of these facts, at the same time, he considers the study of such curious phenomena as unworthy the attention of a philosopher.
* On the supposition that light consists of particles of matter transmitted from the sun and luminous bodies, in rectilinear directions or straight lines, its polarization is the effect produced upon these particles by the attraction exercised upon them by the particles of what are called doubly-refracting crystals, and certain reflecting surfaces ; when the particles of light pass through the former, or fall upon the latter at a particular angle. — Ed.
■j- Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic, lib. xvi. cap. xviii. The following is the termination of the Latin passage : " ut speculum in loco certo positum nihil imaginet ; aliorsum translatum faciat imagines." The compiler repeating what he has not proved, believes that the phe- nomenon belongs to the place, and not to the position of the mirror.
Aulus Gellius, a celebrated Roman grammarian, was born at Rome in the commencement of the second century, and died in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. His " Nodes Atticœ" were written in the winter evenings, whilst he was in Attica, to amuse his children. The work is a medley of history, anecdotes, poetry, and dissertations on philosophy, geometry, and grammar ; but it often affords good explanations of antique monuments. — Ed.
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From whatever may have given rise to an opinion so unreasonable, yet so universal, even among the enlightened classes of the ancients, and held by Archi- medes himself,* its vast advantage to the Thauma- turgists is easily perceived. Had those who, under the enlightening influence of increasing civilization, were the reformers of science devoted their efforts to the experi-
* Although the wonders related as having been achieved by this extraordinary mathematician have been probably exaggerated, yet there can be only one opinion of his advance far beyond the period in which he lived, in every branch of physical science. Indepen- dent of the machinery which he is said to have employed to lift out of the water, and again drop into it, the barks that constituted the fleet of Marcellus, the Roman Consul, when he besieged Syra- cuse, the burning mirrors which he constructed to set on fire the enemy's fleet is a sufficient proof of his acquirements. According to Tzetzes, the historian, who has recorded the events of the siege, " when the fleet of Marcellus was within bow-shot, the old man, Archimedes, brought an hexagonal mirror, which he had pre- viously prepared, at a proper distance from which he also placed other smaller mirrors of the same kind, that moved in all direc- tions on hinges ; and when placed in the sun's rays, directed them upon the Roman fleet, whereby it was burnt to ashes." The screw known by his name, and now employed instead of paddles in steam navigation ; and the art of determining the value of metals by their relative specific gravity, are among the inventions ascribed to Archimedes. His acquaintance with the power of the lever led him to make this celebrated declaration — " Give me the place on which I may sfand, and I will move the earth." He was so deeply engaged in solving a problem when the Roman soldiers entered Syracuse, that he was not aware of their being in posses- sion of the town ; and a soldier , not knowing who he was, killed him, although Marcellus had given orders intended to secure the safety of the philosopher. His death occurred 212 years before the birth of Christ. — Ed.
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mental elucidation of phenomena, instead of confining themselves to theoretical inquiries, the miraculous secrets of the charlatan could no longer have merited the name of magic.
The luxurious gardens, the magnificent palaces, which in the initiations suddenly appeared, from the depths of obscurity, brilliantly illuminated by magic light, or, as it were, by a sun of their own,* are reproduced for us in the justly-admired modern inven- tion of the Diorama. The principal artifice lies in the manner of throwing light upon the objects, while the spectator is kept in darkness. This was not difficult, as the initiated hurried from one subter- raneous apartment to another; and, being now ele- vated in the air, and again suddenly precipitated, he might easily imagine himself to be still in the bowels of the earth, from the obscurity of the place that inclosed him, although on the level of the ground. And how, we may inquire, could it happen that the Thaumaturgist, whose whole aim was to discover means of multiplying his wonders, could remain unacquainted with this inven- tion? Observation was sufficient to reveal it, without any effort of art. If a long gallery was terminated by an arbour of umbrageous trees, and the gallery lighted at one extremity only, the landscape, beyond the arbour, would appear nearer, and display itself to the eye of a spectator like the picture in a Diorama.
The illusion was susceptible of being increased, by
* Solem que suum, sua lumina norunt.
Virgil. Mneid, lib. vi. ver. 641.
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the union of mechanical agents aiding the effects of painting and of perspective. Thus, in the Diorama, exhibited in Paris, in 1826, representing a ruined cloister,* a door was violently closed and opened, as if from the effects of a strong wind. When open, an extensive beautiful country was seen beyond it ; shadows were cast, by trees, on the old walls, more or less deep, according as the clouds flew rapidly across the sky above the ruins, and might be supposed occasionally, to interrupt, more or less, the light of the sun. When this artifice, however little it is es- timated by the severer votaries of the fine arts, trans- ported the credulous spectator to the interior of a sanctuary, and displayed before him, excited as he was by other apparent miracles, would he have had the smallest doubt regarding the reality of the appearances ; or, that they were true representations of animated nature ?
Apparitions, although the most common of miracles founded on optics, have obtained the greatest cele- brity.
In very remote times, and under the empire of unprogressing civilization, it was believed that every man who had seen a God must die, or at least lose the use of his eyes. This singular belief, the cause of which we shall notice elsewhere, and the dread it excited in the ardent imaginations of the enthusiastic, yielded in time, owing to the direct communication with the object of his adoration, which circumstances afforded. Apparitions of the Gods, far from being
* The cloister of Saint Wandrille, near Rouen.
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dreaded, were deemed significant of their favour; and hallowed the place, where they received the homage of mortals. The Temple of Enguinum, in Sicily, was revered, not so much on account of its antiquity, as because it had been occasionally favoured by the apparition of the Goddess-Mothers.* Esculapius had a temple at Tarsus, where he frequently manifested himself to his worshippers.f Cicero mentions frequent apparitions of the Gods.j And Varro, quoted by St. Augustine,§ affirms that Numa and Pythagoras saw images of the Gods in the water, and that this kind of divination had been brought from Persia into Italy, as well as the art of causing apparitions of the dead.|| In
* Plutarch, in vit. Marcell.
f Philostrat. in vit. Apollon, lib. i. cap. v.
% Cicer. de natur. Deor. lib. n.
§ S. Augustin. De civitate Dei. lib. vu. cap. xxxv.
|| The efficacy of invocation of the dead, is not doubted by St. Justin, (Pro christianis. Apoll. n.) In the dialogue with the Jew Tryphon, this father of the church acknowledges that the souls of the just, and of the prophets, are subject to the power of the Psychagogues, as the soul of Samuel obeyed the witch of Endor.
The ancient Greeks, who obtained their theology from the Egyptians ; the Romans, who procured theirs from the Greeks, and the northern nations, who followed the superstitions of both, were firm believers that the souls of the dead revisited the earth, and appeared to the living ; and that magicians had the power of calling them up. They also believed that the spirits of the departed were capable of foretelling future events. Spirits were, therefore, apparently called, and the images of the dead presented to the eyes of the living. It was not essential that these should necessarily be deceptions of the priests ; for when the mind is
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fact, these two arts ought to form but one ; and we find them in Asia, long before the age of Numa, or of
prepared for them, and the nervous system is in an excitable state, spectral phantasms are both seen and heard.
It is unnecessary to insert here any of the many thousand tales of apparitions which have been recorded both in ancient and in modern times, in every country in both hemispheres of the globe ; my object being to explain these spectral-phantasms, not to relate instances of them, except such as may be useful for the illustra- tion of my argument, I contend that these phantasms never occur in a healthy condition of the brain and nervous system, which, in order to produce them, must be either transiently or permanently excited.
Under transient changes from the normal state of the nervous system, if these have been produced by an exciting agent, all ordinary sensations are felt with an increased intensity ; and, con- sequently, in certain states of the habit, impressions of former things, by the influence of association alone, awakened, as it were, by incidental circumstances, become so vivid to the mind, that they appear as actual impressions perceived at the moment through the organ of sight. The inhalation of some gases, as, for instance, nitrous oxide, and the excitement of the mind by expectation, will produce such a change in the nervous centres as will cause either the most pleasurable or the most frightful sensa- tions to be experienced, accompanied with vivid images of a corresponding character. The delirium of a fever is an augmented derangement of the nervous system ; during the continuance of which, images of persons often long before dead became vivid to the eye, and their voices audible to the ear, so that: the patient sees them, and holds conversation with them, and can only be aroused from the reverie by some one really speaking to him, and for a moment interrupting the morbid association of ideas ; into which, however, he relapses, as soon as his attention ceases to be directed into a new channel. Such spectral illusions occurring independent of fever, in a highly susceptible frame, operate so energetically on the brain, as to make impressions sufficiently power-
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Pythagoras. The witch of Endor, who summoned be- fore Saul the shade of Samuel, declared she saw Gods
ful to produce disease, and even to destroy life, when a confirmed belief in their reality exists. Many cases might be quoted cor- roborative of this opinion. I will mention two only. A distin- guished physician having suffered great fatigue from a long pro- fessional journey, during which he had taken scarcely any nourish- ment, after seeing his patient, retired to his sleeping apartment, and sat down before the fire, previously to undressing and going to bed. He had not sat long, before he imagined he saw the door of the room open, and a little old woman, dressed in a scarlet riding-habit, enter, leaning on a crutch. She advanced towards him, and raising her crutch, gave him a blow with it upon the head. He fell to the ground, and lay a considerable time insen- sible ; but on recovering his senses, he became conscious that he had had an epileptic fit, and that the little woman was a mere spec- tral illusion. The daughter of Sir Charles Law, being awake about two o'clock in the morning, saw close to her bed the apparition of a little woman, who told her that she was her deceased mother ; that she was happy, and at twelve o'clock that day she should be with her. On receiving this information, the young lady called her maid to bring her clothes ; and when she was dressed, she went into her closet, and did not leave it until nine, and then brought with her a sealed letter, addressed to her father, which she deli- vered to her aunt, the Lady Everard, told her what had happened, and desired that as soon as she was dead it might be sent to him. She requested the chaplain to read prayers to her ; and, when these were ended, she took her guitar and psalm-book, and sat down upon a chair, " and played and sung so melodiously and admirably that her music-master, who was then there, admired at it. And near the stroke of twelve, she rose and sat herself down in a great chair with arms ; and fetching a strong breathing or two, expired." In the first of these two cases, the physician was a man of strong mind, and possessed of that knowledge which enabled him to refer the illusion to a temporary physical change in his nervous system, and therefore to disregard it. The lady
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rising out of the earth. # This expression, repeated more than once, in the text, serves to interpret a passage in Pliny, where he speaks of a seat, made of a conse- crated stone, and placed in the ancient temple of Her- cules at Tyre ; from which " The Gods arose," or in other words, from which miraculous apparitions appeared to issue.f
was a person of delicate frame of body and highly susceptible ner- vous system, with a corresponding degree of superstitious credu- lity, which induced her to believe that the illusion was truly a visitation of her deceased mother, the overpowering effect of which upon the brain was sufficient to verify the prediction. To the same cause may be referred the well-known death of the libertine Lord Lyttleton.
When the derangement of the nerves is of a more permanent nature, it is frequently productive of that description of hypochon- driasm which borders upon insanity, but differs from it in the patient not believing in the reality of the spectral phantasms, which are generally also of a different character, not transient visitations, but continued illusions. I was acquainted with a young lady, who imagined that she was constantly attended by a small black dog, which ran by her side when she walked out, and sat on a table or on a chair near her at home. Sir Walter Scott, in his " Demonology," details the case of a gentleman who imagined that a little smartly dressed fop always attended him, in the capacity of a master of ceremonies, and, after some length of time, changed into a ske- leton, which always remained near him, night and day. He was sensible both were illusions, but the distressing character and the constancy of the latter, brought on a state of irritative fever, which terminated fatally»
Looking at these conditions of the nervous system, and their results, I have no hesitation in referring to them every tale of apparitions, however well authenticated, ancient or modern. — Ed.
* 1 Kings, cap. xxvur.
t Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxvu. cap. xl. — Eusebius, ex eo lapide . . . .facta sedes, ex quâ DU facile surgebant.
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Among a people, situated far from Asia, but one of whose colonies occupied a part of the shores of the Euxine, traditions and secrets exist referring to the art of questioning the dead. In the Hervorar Saga, we find a Scandinavian poet clothing in exalted poetry, the invocations to a warrior killed in battle ; the long resistance by which he opposed the demand made to him to yield ; the menacing predictions which he uttered ; and by which he threatened vengeance for the violence of his death.
An art transmitted by Persia to Italy was not likely to remain unknown in Greece; and, at a very early period, we find traces of it there. " Orpheus inconsolable for thedeath of Eurydice/'resorted to Aornos,# where stood a sanctuary (Nekyomantion), for the invocation of the dead. He was led to imagine that he was followed by the shade of Eurydice; but on turning, and finding himself deceived, he committed suicide. f This historical explanation of the fable of Orpheus, reveals to us the curious fact of the existence, in ancient times, of places, specially consecrated to the invocation of the dead, and the apparition of spirits.
Sometimes these shades were dumb ; but more fre- quently the engastrimysme, which was employed by the
* Aornos was situated in Thesprotia, and was the place of a celebrated Oracle, which delivered responses by calling up the dead. But the whole story of Euridyce is properly regarded as a mere allegorical allusion to events connected with the religious observances which Orpheus attempted to establish; and the moral instructions which he taught in opposition to the Baccha- nalian mysteries, and their gross immoralities. — Ed.
f Pausanias. Bceotic. cap. xxx.
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sorceress consulted by Saul, generally furnished them with speech, and enabled them to utter Oracles. This conjecture, not easily set aside, throws a new light on the Eleventh Book of the Odyssey. There Homer des- cribes the admission of Ulysses, and of him alone* into a Nekyomantion, where he converses with his friends, who have been separated from him by death. An in- numerable multitude of apparitions, and a terrific noise interrupted this marvellous discourse ; and Ulysses re- tires, dreading lest Proserpine enraged might, from the depths of the infernal regions, cause the head of the Gorgon to appear.f Such was, probably, the method put in practise, in order to get rid of the spectators, as soon as their curiosity became embarrassing, or was prolonged beyond the resources for the exhibition.
It is into one of these that Achilles is introduced by Homer, extolling life as the greatest blessing, preferring the most miserable lot of a living man, before his own imperishable celebrity. j The inconsistency of the spirit of Achilles with the established character of the intre- pid warrior has been severely criticised. As a poetic fiction it may be open to censure, but it is to be admired for its fidelity as a narration. An epoch existed, and it was, in Greece, still recent at the date of the siege of Troy, in which the priesthood, till then commanding exclusively the veneration of men, became indignant, in seeing the warriors crowned with any other titles than those of courage and strength, and those which their
* Odyss. lib. x. vers. 528.
f Odyss. lib. xi. vers. 631—634.
% Odyss. lib. xi. vers. 486 — 490.
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battles claimed for them ; recognised as the children of Divinities, as Demi-Gods and Heroes ; and occupying the admiration and influence which they conceived to be due only to the possessors of the magical art. What doc- trines, conveyed by religious revelation, was it their in- terest to promulgate ? Such undoubtedly as were best fitted to check the enthusiasm of the warrior. And in Greece, with the refinement of art, they adroitly chose the great soul of Achilles to be the means of communicating that pusillanimous sentiment, which implies that "A living dog is better than a dead lion,"* At least two cen- turies subsequent to the travels of Ulysses, the same lesson was inculcated on the warlike Arabs, in a work evidently emanating from the theocratical school.
The dispute between the censer and the sword ap- pears to have been quite at an end, when Virgil undertook to tread in the steps of Homer: and the poet would have gratuitously dishonoured himself, had he placed in his hero's mouth words opposed to the contempt of death. The sixth book of the iEneid is a magnificent picture of the most prominent and dramatic scenes of initiation, rather than a description of a Nekyomantion.
From the commencement of its purely historical times, the art of invocation declined in Greece. The last appa- rition that restored it to notice, was that of Cleonice, who appeared to her murderer Pausanius. Remorse and love drove this Prince to a Nekyomantion, There the Psychagogues summoned the shade of Cleonice to appear before him ; the ambiguous answer he received * Ecclesiast. cap. ix. vers. 4.
t2
276 INVOCATIONS OF THE DEAD.
from her, might be interpreted either as conveying the pardon of Heaven, or the announcement of a violent death to Pausanias, as the just punishment of his crimes.*
Elysius of Therina having lost an only son, and desirous to invoke the spirit of this beloved child, unexpectedly visited a Pschycomantium ; but as there was no time to prepare an apparition, bear- ing the resemblance to the object of his affection, the bereaved father was obliged to rest satisfied with an oracle which declared death to be the greatest boon.f
We should be in error were we to conclude from this fact, that the art had perished in Italy: when Cicero wrote, it still existed in Rome ; and that author, in several places, speaks of experiments in Pschyco- mantics, to which his cotemporary Appius was greatly addicted»! Two centuries later Caracalla invoked the shades of Commodus and of Severus.|j
One cause, however, effectually operated to prevent the people from frequenting the Nekyomantions : namely, the terrible consequences which sometimes arose from these apparitions. Those that applied for them, were not always mere restless, inquisitive, men, eager to
* Pausanias. Laconic, cap. xvn. — Plutarch. De sera numinum Vindictd.
f Cicer. Tuscul. Quœst. lib. i. cap. xlii. — Plutarch. De consola- tione.
X Cicer. De divinat. lib. i. cap. lviii. — Tuscul. Qucest. lib. i. cap. xvi. et xl vin.
|| Xiphilin. in Caracalld. — Dion. lib. lxxvii.
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dive into the secrets of futurity ; they were more fre- quently persons, like Orpheus or Elysius, beings full of love and deprived, by death, of the object that had engaged their fondest affections. Thus the faithful wife of Protesilaus, importuning the Gods to grant her, but for one moment, to behold again her husband who had fallen on the shores of Troy, no sooner saw his spirit, than, without hesitation, she endeavoured to follow him by precipitating herself into the flames, and was des- troyed. These apparitions acting on broken hearts and exalted imaginations at a crisis of grief, the sen- sitive being fled to death as the greatest blessing ; and with a strong conviction that death would afford a re- union with the dearer and better part of itself.
Nothing was more calculated to aid such a belief than the apparition, which, in restoring for an instant the semblance, seemed to point out the road by which fondly remembered felicity might be regained.
Disuse, however, although it threw into oblivion, yet did not annihilate the secret of invoking apparitions. In the second century, St. Justin mentions invocations of the dead, as a fact which no one thought of doubting.*
* S. Justin. Apologet. lib. n. — St. Justin, called the Philoso- pher, was born at Neapolis, the ancient capital of Samaria, early in the second century. He was educated in all the errors and superstitions of Paganism; but after seeking for truth in the schools, he was converted to Christianity by an old man he met accidentally on the sea- shore ; and he soon afterwards went to Rome. His previous education had conferred upon him the powers of elocution, in an eminent degree ; and he employed it assidu- ously in promoting and defending the faith he had adopted. Justin left Rome, but returned ; when he was arrested and carried
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Lactantius,* in the third century, still more posi- tively represents the magicians as always prepared to convince the sceptical by apparitions of the dead.f In the ninth century, the Emperor Basil, the Macedo- nian, inconsolable for the death of his son, had recourse to the prayers of a Pontiff already celebrated for the power of working apparent miracles.j An image of this dear son, magnificently apparelled, and mounted on a superb horse, was made to appear before him; but, the spectral son advancing towards him, disappeared, in the act of rushing into his father's arms. To ex- plain this historical extract, is it requisite to admit the improbable supposition, that a horseman was appointed
before Rusticus, the Roman prefect, who after endeavouring to persuade him and his companions to renounce Christianity and return to the worship of the Gods, and finding them immove- able, condemned them to be scourged, and then beheaded ; a sen- tence which was immediately executed. St. Justin's martyrdom occurred in a.d. 164. He wrote two works in support of Chris- tianity, which he termed " Apologies ;" the first was addressed to the Emperor Antoninus, the second to Marcus Aurelius. — Ed.
* Ceecilius Ferminius Lactantius, was in his youth a disciple of Anobeus at Sicca in Africa, and celebrated as a Latin orator. In 317, when an old man, he was appointed preceptor to Crispus Csesar, the son of Constantine the Great ; and in the execution of that trust, he nearly fell a victim to a false accusation of the Empress Fausta, that he had made an attempt upon her chastity. He early became a convert to the Christian faith ; and, on account of his eloquence, was called, the " Christian Tully." He outlived his royal pupil, and died at Triers. — Ed.
f Lactant. Div. institut, lib. vu. cap. xiii.
X Theodore Santabaren, Abbot Archbishop of Euchaites. See Glycas, Annal, part iv. page 296; Leo. grammat. in vitd Basilii imp. § 20.
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to play the part of the young Prince, as the resemblance must have been perfect ; and would not the father have seized, held, and folded him in his embrace ? And would not the false nature of the apparition have been discovered and denounced, by the enemies of the Thaumaturgists,* on the knowledge of the existence of the man ; and would not the remarkable resemblance, which made him of use on this occasion, have afterwards discovered him.f Connecting this fact with earlier traditions, and par- ticularly with the very ancient writers on the Nekyoman- tions, is it not more consistent with probability, to acknowledge that in our own days, the phantasmagoria has been only restored, not invented,! and to trace many of the apparitions of the Gods, and the invocations of the dead to its deceptions;! especially when we read of
* The resemblance of a woman named Oliva, to the Queen Marie Antoinette, aided in 1785, the intrigue known by the name of the Procès du Collier. But Oliva was soon arrested and tried. The substitute for the son of the Greek Emperor would have been seized in like manner, by the rivals of Santabaren : for envy is as clever, and active as a police, especially at court.
f Sir David Brewster has explained the mode in which this apparition was produced by means of two concave mirrors reflect- ing the image of a picture of the Emperor's son on horseback, as if in the air. As the picture was approached towards the first mirror, the image appeared to advance into the father's arms, when it was withdrawn, it of course eluded his grasp. — Ed. See Letters on Natural Magic, p. 68.
+ See in the Souvenirs d'un homme de cour, tome i. pages 324 — 329, the account of a phantasmagoric apparition, which dates about the middle of the eighteenth century. It consisted parti- cularly in giving the appearance of life and motion to figures on tapestry.
|| Pythagoras taught that the spirits of the dead do not wink
280 INVOCATIONS OF THE DEAD.
shades, endowed with a striking resemblance, to the beings, or images they represent, suddenly vanishing from the embrace that would retain them ?
with their eyes. The assertion is just, says our author ; as this movement would be difficult to manage with a phantasmagoric apparition. But the Editor must remark that it is not so difficult ; and that it was executed to the life in the exhibition of M. Philip- stal.
The phantasmagoria brought out in London in 1802, by