Part 11 (1/2)

”The suspicion that the cholera was caused by poisoning the wells was universal a the peasantry of the counties of Zips and Zemplin, and every one was fully convinced of its truth The first commotion arose in Klucknohere, it is said, so the preservatives; whether by an iht they were to take chloride of lime internally, is not known This story, with a sudden and violent breaking out of the cholera at Klucknow, led the peasants to a notion of the poisoning of the wells, which spread like lightning In the sequel, in the attack of the estate of Count Czaki, a servant of the chief bailiff was on the point of being murdered, when, to save his life, he offered to disclose so important He said that he received from his master two pounds of poisonous powder, with orders to throw it into the wells, and, with an ax over his head, took oath publicly, in the church, to the truth of his statement These statements, and the fact that the peasants, when they forcibly entered the houses of the land-owners, every where found chloride of lime, which they took for the poisonous powder, confirmed their suspicions, and drove the people to madness In this state of excite excesses Thus, for instance, when a detachn, attempted to restore order in Klucknow, the peasants, ere ten times their number, fell upon then was bound, tortured with scissors and knives, then beheaded, and his head fixed on a pike as a trophy A civil officer in coe broken, and, chloride of lie, one of the inain confirmed the notion of poison On the attack of the house of the lord at Klucknow, the countess saved her life by piteous entreaties: but the chief bailiff, in whose house chloride of liether with his son, a little daughter, a clerk, a maid, and two students who boarded with hie; wherever a nobleman or a physician was found, death was his lot; and in a short tih constable of the county of Zemplin, and several counts, nobles, and parish priests, had been ed because he refused to take an oath that he had thrown poison into a well; the eyes of a countess were put out, and innocent children cut to pieces Count Czaki, having first ascertained that his family was safe, fled from his estate at the risk of his life; but he was stopped at Kirtchtrauf, pelted with stones, and wounded all over, torn from his horse, and only saved by a worthy ot the rascal' He drew the count into a neighboring convent, where his wounds were dressed, and a refuge afforded him His secretary was struck from his horse with an ax, but saved in a si conveyed with his master to Leutschau”[31]

[31] Quoted from an address delivered in Boston by Edward Everett

A little knowledge on the part of the peasantry would have prevented these horrible scenes Had they learned even the eley and chemistry, they would have known that cleanliness is essential to health at all tinant epidemic it is doubly needful They would have known, also, that chloride of lime is not a medicine to be taken internally, but that it is very useful for disinfecting offensive apartments, and that its tendency, when properly used, would be to counteract the cause of the disease which they so es of the world, ignorance has not only debarred mankind from many exquisite and sublime enjoyreatly increase the sues of the world, a total eclipse of the sun or of the arded with the utmost consternation, as if some unusual catastrophe had been about to befall the universe Believing that the h the influence of enchanters, the tre of bells, the sounding of tru of brazen vessels, and to loud and horrid exclamations, in order to break the enchantht not hear them Nor are such foolish opinions and customs yet banished fro tails, were long regarded, and still are byfamines and inundations, or the downfall of princes and the destruction of eazed at with si been thrown into consternation by the fantastic coruscations of these lahts ar with blood, while others behold states overthrown, earthquakes, inundations, pestilences, and the most dreadful calamities

Because some one or other of these calamities formerly happened soon after the appearance of a comet or the blaze of an aurora, therefore they are considered either as the causes or the prognostics of such events

Popular ignorance has given rise to the practice of _judicial astrology_; an art which, with all its foolish notions so fatal to the peace of mankind, has been practiced in every period of time Under a belief that the characters and the fates of men are dependent on the various aspects of the stars and conjunctions of the planets, the most unfounded apprehensions, as well as the most delusive hopes, have been excited by the professors of this fallacious science Such irossest absurdity and the s; still, in the ht of science which the present century has shed upon the world, the astrologer meets with a rich support[32] even in the ers, get great gain by their craft in various portions of the United States The extensive annual sale of hundreds of thousands of copies of alical predictions in the United Stales and in Great Britain, and the extent to which they are consulted, affords a striking proof of the belief which is still attached to the doctrines of this fallacious science, and of the ignorance and credulity from which such a belief proceeds

[32] See Appendix to dick's I stars, fiery meteors, lunar rainbows, and other atmospherical phenomena, have likewise been considered by soarded in a very different light by scientific observers Thestars of which the world has furnished any record itnessed throughout the United States on theexhibition covered no inconsiderable portion of the earth's surface The first appearance was every where that of fire-works of thethe entire vault of heaven withsky-rockets; but the most brilliant sky-rockets and fire-works of art bear less relation to the splendors of this celestial exhibition than the twinkling of the lare of the noonday sun Their coruscations were bright, glea, and incessant, and they fell thick as the flakes in the early snows of Deceested to soe e of the sixth seal, when ”the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untihty wind”

While these scenes of grandeur were vieith unspeakable delight by enlightened scientific observers, the ignorant and superstitious were overpowered with horror and disave of the effect produced by this phenonorant blacks will apply well to many hardly better informed white persons ”I was suddenly awakened,” said he, ”by thecries that ever fell upon my ears Shrieks of horror and cries of roes of three plantations, aht hundred While earnestly listening for the cause, I heard a faint voice near the door callingmy sword, stood at the door At this, 'O! my God, the world is on fire!' I then opened the door, and it is difficult to say which excited me most, the awfulness of the scene or the distressed cries of the negroes Upward of one hundred lay prostrate on the ground, some speechless, and some with the bitterest cries, butGod to save the world and them The scene was truly awful, for never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the sanes fatui_, which hover above linorant asto deceive the bewildered traveler and lead hi dove, the ticking noise of the little insect called the death-watch, the howling of a dog in the night-ti in the road, the breaking of a looking-glass, and even the falling of salt fro candle, together with arded with apprehensions of terror, being considered as unfailing signs of i death

Dr dick rehlands of Scotland--and it should be borne in mind that the Scotch are, as a nation, better instructed, and ious in their habits, than any other people in Europe--the o, considered o before new year's day, if a black cloud appeared in any part of the horizon, it was thought to prognosticate a plague, a fareat ; and in order to ascertain the place threatened by the oh the whole night In the saard certain days as _unlucky_, or ominous of bad fortune The day of the week on which the third of May falls is deeht change, a part of this description would apply well to our own country, even up to the present time How many thousands of days are lost annually in the United States in consequence of superstitious fears in relation to setting out upon a journey, entering upon a new pursuit of any kind, or even beginning to plant or plow on Friday, the unlucky day of the Americans How many persons have had misfortunes attend them all their lives because they were born, or christened, or married on Friday! How un, raised, or moved into on Friday! How many steamboats and vessels have been burned or wrecked because they were launched or sailed on Friday! And yet, strange as it may seee that resulted in the discovery of the New World

Many people, and in so, sowing, and reaping on Tuesday, though by this rule the most favorable weather for these purposes is frequently lost Others, again, will not, on any account, perfore of the moon is alsothe vulgar Highlanders, an opinion prevails, that if a house takes fire while the moon is in the decrease, the family will from that time decline in its circumstances and sink into poverty In this country, equally unfounded and ridiculous opinions are entertained Passing by the more commonly received opinions that if swine are killed in the old of the moon, the pork will shrink in the pot; that seed sown at this time will be less likely to do well, etc, etc, I will h equally well founded, are less commonly received, and which may therefore o, I spent so state, in a community where the belief was coles should not be laid nor stakes driven in the old of the moon, because the former would be more likely to warp, and the latter to be thrown by the frost The same and kindred opinions are extensively held in various portions of the United States

These are a few, and but a very few, of the superstitious notions and vain fears by which the great e and country, have been enslaved, as he ill take the pains to peruse Dr dick's admirable treatise on the ie can not fail to be convinced That such absurd notions should ever have prevailed is a ht, e consider the noble faculties hich reat extent, even in our own country, is a striking proof that as yet we are, as a people, but just eloom of intellectual darkness The prevalence of such opinions is to be regretted, not only on account of the groundless alarms they create, but chiefly on account of the false ideas they inspire with regard to the nature of the Supreovernhtened with true science perceives throughout all nature the n, and rejoices in the benignity of the Great Parent of the universe, discovering nothing in the arrangements of the Creator, in any department of his works, which has a direct tendency to produce pain to any intelligent or sensitive being

The superstitious man, on the contrary, contemplates the sky, the air, the waters, and the earth as filled with s, ever ready to haunt him with terror or to plot his destruction The for the movements of the material world by fixed and invariable lahich none but himself can counteract or suspend The latter views these movements as continually liable to be controlled by capricious and ratify the most trivial passions How very different, of course,the attributes and govern! While the one views him as the infinitely wise and benevolent Father, whose paternal care and goodness inspire confidence and affection, the other , and offer up his adorations under the influence of fear

These and like notions have also an evident tendency to habituate thewhich unfit it for legitimate conclusions in its researches after truth They , and unfit it for the appreciation of those noble and enlarged viehich revelation and modern science exhibit of the order, extent, and economy of the universe It is las endoith the faculty of reason, who can not by any means be persuaded of the nitudes of the heavenly bodies, should sithout the least hesitation, opinions ten thousand ti the mathematical certainty of the truth of the Copernican system of astronomy, I have never yet become extensively acquainted with any co a respectable degree of intelligence, and even official members of orthodox churches, who entirely discredit its sublis; and yet so that an old woh the air on a broomstick What contracted notions such persons htiness of the Deity, and of the infinite depth of es of Scripture: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge--_Ps_ xix, 1-2

It has been already remarked, that the whole history of the world justifies the statenorant and uncultivated ary were referred to in illustration We are now prepared to remark, what is worse still, that where such superstitious notions as we have been considering are held, even by persons who are somewhat educated, they almost invariably lead to the perpetration of deeds of cruelty and injustice Many of the barbarities coious worshi+p and their civil polity, and most of the cruelties inflicted on the victims of the Romish Inquisition, have flowed from this source[33]

Nor are the annals of Great Britain and the United States deficient in examples of this kind About the commencement of the last century, the belief in witchcraft, which was alhout Christendoland, which admitted its existence and punished it with death, were adopted by the Puritans of New England, and in less than twenty years fro of the colony, one individual was tried and executed for the supposed crime

Half a century later the delusion broke out in Salehter and niece were subject to convulsions acco they were bewitched, cast his suspicions on an Indian woman who lived in the house, and hipped until she confessed herself a witch; and the truth of the confession, although obtained in this as not doubted During the same year more than fifty persons were terrified into the confession of witchcraft, twenty of ere put to death Neither age, sex, nor station afforded any safeguard against a charge for this supposed crime

Woistrates were conde the executed So late as 1722 a wo the last executions in that country

[33] In the Duchy of Lorraine, nine hundred fe _witches_, by one inquisitor alone Under this accusation, it is reckoned that upward of _thirty thousand women_ have perished by the hands of the Inquisition--Quoted by Dr dick from ”_Inquisition Unmasked_”

It appears that these superstitious notions, so far fro innocent and harmless speculations, lead to the ht, therefore, to be underhly eradicated by all persons ish to proeneral society This duty is especially incumbent upon parents and teachers, and can be effected only by rendering correct early education universal

Ignorance of the laws and econoreat source of these absurd opinions They have not only no foundation in nature or experience, but are directly opposed to both In proportion, then, as we advance in our researches into Nature's economy and laws, shall we perceive their futility and absurdity As in other cases, take away the cause, and the effect will be removed

_Education will dissipate all these evils_ It is true that an acquaintance with a nues, with Roman and Grecian antiquities, with the subtleties of y, and with politics and poetry, may coexist with these superstitions, as was true in the case of the late Dr Saht_ However important in other respects these departments of an extensive and varied education ainst the admission of superstitious opinions In order to do this, the mind must be directed to the study of the material universe, to contemplate the various appearances it presents, and to mark well the uniforoverned In particular, the attention should be directed to those discoveries which have been made by philosophers in the different depart the last two centuries

For this purpose, the study of natural history, as recording the various facts respecting the ats, combined with the study of natural philosophy and astrono the causes of the phenomena of nature, will have a happy tendency to eradicate from the mind superstitious and false notions, and at the sahtful contehly convinced that nature is uniforular laws i, and he will soon be inspired with confidence, and will not easily be alarht appear as exceptions to the general rule