New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
GYPSY SORCERY.

Godfrey Leland CopionsE iilustrs ibN, oS s ny
This is n book which perhaps no other man
living could have undertaken with the same
preparcdncss and if, after all the pains bestowed
upon it, it is rather an introduction to the SUBJECT
than an exhaustive review, the fact must oc as
cribed to the immense extent of the field TO nc
covered Mr.. Leland approaches his topic in
truly scientific spirit and this is in itself great
advantage both TO him and to his readers. lie
has assmilated that new knowledge which the
student of psychology is to-day impcrativey re-
auired 10 MASTER that experimental knowledge
founded upon the data furnished chiefly by french
and German men Of science-data which have al
ready revolutionized opinion concerning WIDE
range Of obscure phenomena, and though as yet
far from the finality of gertrude. have taught the
world to expect solutions of many occult problems
In deeper analysis of the abnormal conditions of the
human intelligence Mr. Leland has penetrated
one of the secrets of medieval supestitons which
was for so many generations scaled book 10 the
sceptical mind Of Europe. The eighteenth century,
in the energy of its reaction against pima
creduity, altogether failed TO comprehend the
element Of reality which pervaded the witchcraft
of the middle ages, and which can alone explain TO
us the vitality and the persistence o. the belief
in the agency of malefc powers.
Modern investigators, following heedlessly in
The footsteps Of these icOn0clastc critics, have
done violence 10 all probability by assuming that
numbers, not merely of average men, but of highly
acute integences. were fooled by decisions so
gross and palpable that a nineteenth century
child w~nd not be deceived by them. But
modern science has made it necessary to review
these hasty and unphilosophic judgments, by
demonstrating that faith is really creative that
strong belief can work miracles palpabe and
radical extending even to the alteration of tissue.
TO the setting mp of new functional movements, to
the renewal of health in diseased parts, and to
the extinction of life in the entire organism
When belief in the powers of witchcraft was
cardinal tenet in the creed of the masses, real
results flowed from it. Those who thought them
selves bcwtched often suffered what their I'M
agination conceived as the normal effects OF such
operations; and in this way the general 1alth III
the reality of witchcraft was confirmed, and evil
dence was created which could be dealt with by
the courts The investigation of hypnotsm has
done more than aught else to illuminate medlaeVal
superstition and TO enable us to understand why
and how fances which now appear childishy
grotesquc were accepted as grim earnest by edu-
Gated men no less than by the ignorant The
same influences which produced and sustained
those old beliefs in witchcraft sorcery and magic
are moreover, by no means extinct, as Mr.. Leland
very conclusvely shows in this volume. Science
and education have driven the manifestations from
the surface of civilized society but they subsist
in the depths scarcely or not at all modliled
Millions of men and women throughout Europe
continue to hold to supersttions which were hoary
in the fifteenth century, and the practice of the
ruder kind Of ceremonial magic has never dled
out among the people anywhere.
Mr. Leland holds that the Gypsies were among
The first to introduce magic and sorcery into Eu
tbotf hoy
he has collected mass of testimony in support
of this hypothesis. Tie Romanys themselves he
thinks are genuine believers in much of the
"hanky-panky7 business tley practice, and cs-
pecially as regards the telling of fortunes. In
this branch of their art if so it can be called.
they often have remarkable success. and Mr.
Leland gives several striking anecdotai lllustra-
tons bf their fulfilled predictions. When 1t
comes TO offering a rational explanation of these
true prophecies, many difficulties arise. Mr. L.
land has theory of his own. elaborated from
study Of dreams which seems TO us TO lack definite
ness and lucidty He is Of opinion that the
cultivation of the memory can he so extended
as to bring within the scope and use Of everyday
practical fc those cratic and mysterious prompt
incs. suggestions and visions which hitherto have
been the property of dreams, whether diurnal or
nocturnal He asserts that the possibilities of
educating the memory are infinite, and no doubt
his educational experiences lend much weight to
his views upon this head. But, after ALL memory
is only record of experiences. and from all such
records the events of the future are necessarily
excluded. A human being may, one can under.
stand be enabled TO recall whatever has hap
pened TO it In the past but how can 1t acquire
the power of percciving that which has not yet
happened? perfectly knowing intelligence
would he able to forctell the future from the past
and present, hut only Approximately, since the
conditions of no two situations are never exactly
alike and every change of condition involves diff
ference of results. The GypsieS we may suppose,
learn by long practice to read character in the
face. They become expert physOgnomists, in
fact But few faces afford any clcws to the future,
md for prediction some other faculty than face
or even mind-readinC seems necessary.
Gypsv clarvOyance Mr.. Leland will not admit,
though II is at least plausible an explanation
as that which he presents, and more lntelhgibie
on the whole. II must, however, he said that
he has only opened this interesting phase of his
subject and that great deal of, fresh study
will evidently have to be gone through before
the data will be sufficient 10 ground judgment
upon. As regards the greater part of gypsy magic
md sorcery as mere illustrated, it is of piece
with the most vulgar portion of medieval super
stition. consisting mainly in the observance Of
certain fantastic forms and ceremonies and the
exhibition of prescriptions of the faracelsan ana
Chinese patterns Our ancestors from very early
ace arrived at the conclusion that one of the chief
points in supernatural remedies must he n2stlncSs.
This principle has beer applied equally by all races
and whether we examine the pharmacopcla OF the
Thracian witches that Of the vot1rcs of Obeah or
Noodoo we shall find il observed With the same
care and persistence. Reptiles noXious insects.
snails bats all manner of ugly creatures. were
almost naturally devoted to the purposes of the
Black Art. The philosophy of Dualism. working
itself out through the naive imagination of the
common people, decked the service of Ahriman
with everything that was ugly, venomous, malign,
obscene and sombre. 4 black cat. black hen,