hese and many other respects, there
is the most striking contrast between popular ghosts and the
supernatural communications and appearances recorded in Scripture."

I might, perhaps, safely dismiss this subject, and proceed to the
consideration of other topics; but, before doing so, it may be well to
state that many of the views here presented, and all that come within
the range of the subjects discussed by him, are fully sustained by Dr.
Lardner, whose popular lectures on science and art have been so well
received both in Europe and America. His publishers justly remark, that
"probably no public lecturer ever continued, for the same length of
time, to collect around him so numerous audiences." The author himself
states, in the preface to his Lectures,[35] that from November, 1841,
when he commenced his public lectures in the lecture-room of Clinton
Hall, in New York, to the close of the year 1844, when he concluded his
public labors in this country, he "visited every considerable city and
town of the Union, from Boston to New Orleans, and from New York to St.
Louis. Most of the principal cities were twice visited, and several
courses were given in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Nor did the
appetite for this species of intellectual entertainment appear to flag
by repetition."

[35] In two large volumes, published by Greeley and McElrath, New York.

I can not forbear making a few quotations from the preface to the work
under consideration, which are creditable to the comparative
intelligence of the American people, and show the avidity with which
they seek instruction and useful knowledge. Dr. Lardner observes, that
"it was usual on each evening to deliver from two to four of the essays
which compose the contents of the present volumes, and the duration of
the entertainment was from two to three hours. On every occasion the
most profound interest was evinced on the part of the audience, and the
most unremitting and silent attention was given. These assemblies
consisted of persons of both sexes, of every age, from the elder classes
of pupils in the schools to their grandfathers and grandmothers.
Frequently the audiences amounted to twelve hundred, and sometimes, as
at the Philadelphia Museum, they exceeded two thousand. Nor was the
manifestation of this interest confined, as might be imagined, to the
northern Atlantic cities, where education is known to be attended to,
and where, as in New England, the