Lectures and Biographical Sketches (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1904. Excerpt: ... NOTES NOTES DEMONOLOGY MR. EMERSON gave a course of ten lectures on Human Life, in Boston in the winter of 1838-39, of which "Demonology" was the last. In 1877 it was published in the North American Review. Much of the matter was drawn from his journals of 18 3 7 and 1838. At that time Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism and Clairvoyance were attracting much attention, and wizards, male and female, found Boston a good field for their arts, and excited the curiosity and obtained the credence even of some persons of culture and religious character. When the lecture was revised for publication as an essay, so-called " Spiritualism " -- Mr. Emerson always spoke of it as "Spiritism"--had, from its humble beginnings in the "Rochester Knockings," spread far and wide in the United States, and invaded England also; so passages from journals between the years 1850 and 1860 referring to it were introduced. It appears also that one or two pages in "Spiritual Laws," in the first series of Essays, were transferred thither from "Demonology," the lecture which followed it in the course. Page 3, note I. Taylor's Philip van Artevelde, Act 1v., Scene I. Page 4, note I. Scott, Lady of the Lake, canto I. Page 5, note I. Journal, September, 1866. "Struggled hard last night in a dream to repeat and save a thought or sentence spoken in the dream; but it eluded me at last: only came out of the pulling with this rag, -- "' his the deeper problem, But mine the better ciphered.'" Mr. Emerson was a good sleeper, yet had, at least at certain periods, frequent and vivid dreams. These were due to the activity of his imagination, for his fare was simple, and he was remarkably temperate in his eating and drinking. He often wrote, however, until late in the evening. His journals show that he was greatly interested in the psy...