An History of Magic, Witchcraft, and Animal Magnetism, Vol. 1

in the various states and conditions of the sensitive powers. The consequence of this has been that when we happen to stumble upon a phenomenon which appears foreign to the usual train of our ideas, but which we find it impossible to reject in toto, we become incapable of appreciating its true nature and value, and are induced either to overlook it altogether, as something utterly anomalous and incomprehensible, or to refer it to certain imaginary causes. In such cases, those who are considered learned are, probably, the least capable of exercising a sound and impartial judgment, in consequence of their prejudices. To all such problems, they immediately give a dogmatic solution, without giving themselves the trouble of instituting an experimental inquiry.

A new truth, however—which, when rightly understood, is capable of throwing additional light upon some particular department of our knowledge—frequently substitutes reality for illusion, and shows that things are occasionally different in nature from what they appear to be in our preconceived systems. But unreasoning dogmatism is itself a mental disease; frequently a very stubborn or even incurable disorder; and it is always a very difficult matter to abandon opinions once seriously entertained, even upon insufficient evidence;