Даниэль Дефо
The Friendly Daemon, or the Generous Apparition
After the Butler had reported these marvellous Passages to my Lord and his Family, the two Bishops, that were present, among other Quality, were thereupon consulted, whether or no, it was proper for the Butler to follow the Spirit's Advice, in taking Plantane Juice for the Cure of his Fits, and whether he had done well or ill, in refusing the Liquid Dose which the Spectre would have given him; the Question, at first, seem'd to be a kind of moot Point, but, after some struggle in the Debate, their Resolution was, that the Butler had acted, through the whole Affair, like a good Christian, for that it was highly sinful to follow the Devil's Advice in any thing, and that no Man should do Evil that Good might come of it; so that, in short, the poor Butler, after all his Fatigue, had no amends for his trouble, but was deny'd, by the Bishops, the seeming Benefit that the Spirit intended him.
I do not introduce this old surprising Story to amuse you, but to let you know, that it is no new thing for Spectres to turn Doctors to such ailing Persons as they retain a Respect for, and that your Genius was not the first Spirit that ever practis'd Physick; therefore, if this Narrative reported by Glanvil, Beaumont, and others, may obtain Credit, upon the Authorities of my Lord Orrery, Mr. Greatrix, and divers Persons, who were in a great measure Eye-Witnesses of the matter, I see no Reason I have to doubt the Truth of your Letter, since I know your Integrity; besides, it has always been allow'd by such Dæmonologers as have Publish'd their Thoughts upon the visibility of Spirits, that Scotland, is never without such a sort of People as they call Second-sighted, who have not only the Power of discerning Apparitions, but, by their frequent Conversation with Spirits, foretel future Events, to the great Astonishment of all Persons that consult them: That there are such sort of Diviners in the World, especially in Scotland, I am throughly convinc'd; of which Number I take your self to be one, but how to account for your mysterious Performances, I readily confess, I know not, and therefore shall submit that Task to such as are qualify'd with a more subtil Penetration.
I doubt I have tir'd your Patience with too much Prolixity upon familiar Spirits, therefore, to make you amends, I will be but short in my Dissertation upon the Loadstone; which in the first place, is, a very ponderous Fossile, found in different Climates, and seems in its Nature and Qualities to be nearly related to Iron Oar, from whence it is endow'd with a peculiar property of drawing Iron to its self by the Power of Sympathy, or the natural Disposition it has to Embrace that particular Metal. In Ægypt there are large Mines of it, some few Magnets have been found in Æthiopia, which have attracted Iron very forcibly; but two sorts are dug up at the foot of the Sardinian Mountains, of such different Natures, that as one draws Iron, the other will repel it; as you will find it reported by Johannes Jonstonus, in his History of Nature, also by Pliny, in his Second Book, who, for the aforesaid Reason, calls this Stone Theamedes: As to the singular Virtues hitherto discover'd in the common Loadstone, the most admirable of all are the strict Correspondence it maintains with the two Poles, and the wonderful Property it communicates, by a touch, to the Needle, for the Benefit of Mariners. The Power of its Attraction, is thought by some Virtuosos to be owing to a clammy bituminous Substance, by which the Contexture of the more solid Parts are closely semented and confirm'd; to prove this, work a Loadstone in the Fire and it shall cast forth a blewish Flame, like that of lighted Brimstone, and so continue, till it spends its Life and loses the Power of Attraction. There is a great deal of Sulphur in Iron as well as in the Loadstone, which is the principal Cause of their Sympathising with each other, and if you destroy the first in either, the last will fail in course, which is the Reason, why the Loadstone will not attract the Rust of Iron, tho' it will the Filings, because in the former, the bituminous Matter is quite spent and nothing left but a kind of Caput mortuum. The Loadstone hath also two Poles, which answer those in the Heavens, if you touch the Needle with the North Pole of the Stone, it will point to the Artick, if with the South part thereof, as it stood posited in the Mine, it will point to the Antartick, but not with the utmost exactness, except it stands in the Meridian: But to be further satisfy'd in these Mysteries, have recourse to Libavius, Cardanus, Pliny, Bodin, Porta, our own Philosophical Transactions, and such Authors as have treated more largely upon this Subject: for, I suppose, all that you want to know of me is, if ever I have heard from others, or discover'd by my own Experience, any such Physical Virtue in the Loadstone, as may tend to the Cure of any Chronical or other Disease incident to humane Bodies, that may strengthen the Opinion you seem to entertain of it in such Cases, from the Benefit your self has lately receiv'd in so extraordinary a manner.
In answer to this, I confess, I have heard it affirm'd (but not by a Physician) that the Loadstone hath withdrawn the Inflamation and given Ease in the Gout, and by changing the Application of it from one side to the other, has at length chas'd it away, to the perfect recovery of the Patient; but in any other Case, excepting your own, I never heard of a Cure so much as facilitated or attempted to be perform'd thereby; therefore, as the Use of it in any Disease is quite Foreign to the common Practice of Physick, if others, as well as your self, have receiv'd Benefit by this new Discovery, I think not my self oblig'd to account for it, till it becomes practical among my own Fraternity, and then it will be Time enough for any Physician to give his Thoughts thereon; besides, I am a Stranger to the Preparation prescrib'd to you by your Genius, and without the knowledge of that material Secret, it is impossible for any Physician, in your Case, to make a clear Judgment, or to know which of the two your Cure is chiefly owing to, the Powder or the Loadstone; for how far the latter may operate upon a Body prepar'd by Pulvis Martis or other Chalybeates, I shall not pretend to determine, tho', for ought I know, wonderful Cures may be perform'd in that way, but upon what Reason in Nature, such a new System can be founded, seems very remote from my present understanding; but, since you are become sole Master of so wonderful a Secret, my Advice is, that you keep the Recipe to your self, in Obedience to your Genius, and tho' you Assist others, never to do it without Fee or Reward, for all useful Discoveries ought to be render'd Profitable.
In answer to the last Article of your Request, I shall now proceed to say something of Sympathy, and the Cures reported to have been done thereby. The Sympathetick Powder, so highly esteem'd about a hundred Years since, by Men of Art in this Kingdom, was first brought into Europe by a Religious Carmelite, who in his Travels thro' India, Persia, and China, had made himself Master of this Secret, and from some of those Eastern Countries, came over into Tuscany, where he perform'd many considerable Cures by this occult Method, to the great Astonishment of the most eminent Physicians and Surgeons in those Parts; insomuch that the Duke of Tuscany himself was very desirous of becoming Master of this surprizing Arcanum, but, the honest Fryar by many handsome Excuses brought himself off, and would not be prevail'd upon to communicate his Nostrum to his Highness.
