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lge, being asked by a lady, if he believed in ghosts, No, madam, I have seen too many!" Paradoxical as irst sight appear, it is nevertheless good sense, and xplanatory: for Coleridge is one of those highly nen-an opium eater, too-who can create ghosts at I who has, I verily believe, seen, as he says too lieve in them. It is not every person, however, who usly endued with the imaginative faculty,-nor is it ho can divest his mind of certain deeply-rooted superich have grown with his growth, and strengthened ength." True it is, that the beneficial effects of modern 1 of that inestimable blessing the diffusion of knowledge, een more curiously exhibited than in explaining away g superstitions, and in accounting for the marvellous of mysterious events, by tracing them to a direct, physical cause. Chemistry having escaped from the es of its prototype Alchemy, has opened our eyes to much and taught us to look rather lower than the surface, for n of many of our grandmother's awful tales of ghosts and -of "white spirits and black, red spirits and grey, with trumpery!" The late Sir Humphrey Davy, in his pretty ok on Fly Fishing, entitled Salmonia, has explained to

us in a very plain and simple manner, some abstruse points in meteorology. Thus, among others equally interesting, the reason why a red sunset, tinged with purple, portends a fine day, is, that the air, when dry, refracts more red, or heat-making rays, and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again reflected in the horizon. A copper, or yellow sun-set, usually foretells rain; but as an indication of approaching wet weather, nothing is more certain than a halo round the moon. This is produced by the precipitated water, and the larger the halo, the nearer are the clouds, and consequently the more ready to fall. It is lucky in spring to see two magpies together; because it is an indication of fine warm weather, these birds never leaving the nest together, when the weather is likely to be stormy. By the converse proposition of the same rule, one magpie is indicative of bad weather.

To approach nearer our present subject, we can now readily account for those dark and dismal forebodings, which are sometimes observed about the house of death. Who has not listened with horror, and a sickening heart, to the croaking of the raven, and the dull flapping of its wings against the shuttered window ;—to the dull, doleful, and monotonous baying of dogs-a sound, if once heard, never to be mistaken :-and to the involuntary and untangible ringing of bells, when a beloved object is hovering between life and death, and we know not which is strongest in our bosoms, hope or despair? Our simple forefathers attributed these dolorous omens to supernatural interposition, but we, in this enlightened age of diffusible knowledge, well know, that they depend upon causes purely physical, without any intervention from the world of spirits. As life is departing, the animal body, in some cases, emits a gas, which the keen olfactories of the dog, and the raven, speedily sniff.* The same subtle essence, probably by means of some electric agency, causes the bells to ring, and, occasionally, the doors to shut, with a loud and startling sound. Thus these "awful sounds extraordinary" may be resolved into a little chemistry, and found to have their origin in-gas!

"In very early times," says Dr. Hibbert, "we find philosophers inclined to doubt, if apparitions might not be accounted for on natural principles, without supposing that a belief in them was either referable to hallucinations-to human imagination, or to impositions that might have been practised. At length, Lucretius attacked the popular notice entertained of ghosts, by maintaining that they were not spirits, returned from the mansions of the dead, but nothing more than their films, pellicles, or membranes, cast off from the surfaces of bodies, like the exuvia, or sloughs of reptiles."

* In the extensive deserts of Arabia, and in the sandy plains of Egypt, no sooner does an animal die, than the air becomes clouded with vultures and other birds of prev, no signs of which could be previously discovered-so keen must be the scent of these birds.

This is exceedingly curious, and deserving of particular attention, for, we find, that this strange opinion prevailed among the Epicureans, and was revived in Europe about the middle of the 17th century. It had its origin in Palingenesy, or the resurrection of plants, a grand secret, known to Sir Kenelen Digby, Kircher, Schot, Gafferel, Vallemont, and others. The operation of Palingenesy was no trivial one, and this was the order of its performance! A plant was selected, bruised, and burnt; its ashes were then collected, and the salt which their calcination produced, was carefully extracted. This salt was then put into a phial, and mixed with some peculiar substances, which were never disclosed. The compound thus formed was of a bluish colour, and easily reduced to powder. This powder was now submitted to a gentle heat, when its particles being instantly put into motion, there then gradually rose, as from the midst of the ashes, a stem, leaves, and flowers, or, in other words, an apparition of the plant, which had been submitted to this combustion. But as soon as the heat was abstracted, the form of the plant which had been thus sublimed, was precipitated to the bottom of the vessel. Heat was then re-applied, and the vegetable phoenix was resuscitated; it was withdrawn, and the form once more became latent among the ashes. This notable experiment was said to have been performed before the Royal Society, and it satisfactorily proved to that erudite body, that the presence of heat gave a sort of life to the vegetable apparition, and that the absence of heat or caloric caused its dissolution.

Cowley, the poet; was quite enraptured with this sage experiment, and his teeming imagination detected the same phenomenon in the letters written with the juice of lemons, which were rendered legible on the application of heat; and he celebrated the mystical influence of caloric, after the following fashion :

"Strange power of heat! thou yet dost show,
Like winter earth, naked, or cloth'd with snow;
But as quick'ning sun approaching near,

The plants arise up by degrees

A sudden paint adorns the trees,

And all kind nature's characters appear.

So nothing yet in thee is seen,

But when a genial heat warms thee within,

A new-born wood of various lines there grows;

Here buds an A, and there a B,

Here sprouts a V, and there a T,

And all the flourishing letters stand in rows!"

The famous metaphysician, Kirchen, attempted the rationale of this famous experiment, made on the ashes of the rose. He imagined that the seminal virtue of every known substance was contained in its salt. This salt was concealed in the ashes of the rose, and heat put it in motion. The particles of the salt were quickly sublimed, and being moved about, vortex-like, in the

phial, at length assumed their natural arrangement. It was evident; then, from this experiment, that these saline particles had a tendency to observe the same order of position which they held in the living plant. Thus, for instance, each saline corpuscule, which, in its prior state was placed on the stem of the rose slip, sympathetically fixed itself in a corresponding position on the phial: other particles were subjected to the same influence, and thus, at length, the entire apparition of a plant was generated.

Having achieved this, it was easy enough to apply the rationale of this experiment to the elucidation of the popular belief in ghosts. No sooner was a body committed to the earth, than the saline particles of which it was composed, were exhaled by putrefaction; these particles, as in the case of the rose, resumed the relative situations, which they held in the living body, and thus was manufactured "a horrid apparition, tall and ghastly," calculated to frighten and appal, every one but a Palingenesist!

An accident revealed to the Alchemists this extraordinary discovery. Three of them, with a view of searching for the Philosopher's stone, had obtained some mould from the Church of St. Innocent, at Paris. While they were carefully distilling the precious dust, they suddenly perceived in their retorts the miniaturé forms of men, which very naturally caused them immediately to desist from their labours. An occurrence so wonderful soon reached the knowledge of the Institute of Paris, which, under the patronage of Louis XIV., took up the matter with much seriousness, and the result of its learned labours was duly recorded for the benefit of mankind, and is to be found properly authenticated in the "Miscellanea Curiosa." I must find room for one of these precious morsels :

"A malefactor was executed, and his body obtained by a physician for dissection. After disposing of the other parts of the body, he ordered his assistant to pulverize part of the skull, which was a remedy at that time used in medicine. The powder was left in a paper on a table in the Museum, where the assistant slept. About midnight he was awakened by a noise in the room, which obliged him to rise immediately. The noise continued about the table, without any visible agent; and at length he traced it to the powder, in the midst of which he now beheld, to his unspeakable. dismay, a small head, with open eyes, staring at him: presently two branches appeared, which assumed the forms of arms and hands; then the ribs became more visible, which were soon clothed with muscles and integuments: next the lower extremities sprouted out, and when they appeared perfect, the puppet-for he was nothing more-reared himself on his feet: instantly his clothes came upon him (!) and he appeared in the very cloak he wore at his execution ! The affrighted assistant, who stood hitherto mumbling his prayers with unceasing assiduity, now thought of making his escape from the resuscitated ruffian: but this was impossible, for the apparition planted himself in his way, and after