says in another place, de Is. et Osir. p. 361, 'that Isis and Osiris were, for their virtue, changed from good dæmons into gods, as were Hercules and Bacchus afterwards, receiving the united honors both of gods and dæmons.' The word dæmon is used indifferently in a good and in a bad sense. In the former sense it is very common among the ancient heathens. Pythagoras held that dæmons sent diseases to men and cattle. Diogen. Laert. Vit. Pythag. Zaleucus, in his preface to his Laws, supposes that an evil dæmon might be present with a man to influence him to justice. The dæmons of Empedocles were evil spirits, and exiles from heaven. And Plutarch in his life of Dion says, it was the opinion of the ancients that evil and mischievous dæmons, out of envy and hatred to good men, oppose whatever they do.' Scarce did any opinion more generally prevail in ancient times than this, viz. that as the departed souls of good men became good dæmons, so the departed souls of bad men became evil dæmons. Besides the two forementioned kinds of dæmons, the fathers, as well as the ancient philosophers, held a third, viz. such as sprang from the congress of superior beings with the daughters of men. In the theology of the fathers these were the worst kind of dæmous. Different orders of dæmons had different stations and employments assigned them by the ancients. Good dæmons were considered as the authors of good to mankind; evil dæmons brought innumerable evils both upon men and beasts. Amongst evil dæmons there was a great distinction with respect to the offices assigned them; some compelled men to wickedness, others stimulated them to madness. See DEMONIAC. Much has been said concerning the dæmon of Socrates; who declared to the world that a friendly spirit, whom he called his damon, directed him how to act on every important occasion in his life, and restrained him from imprudence of conduct. See SOCRATES.

We have seen above, not only the meaning of the word dæmon, but how the ancients worshipped dæmons. They were of various orders, and, according to the situation over which they presided, had different names. Hence the Greek and Roman poets talk of satyrs, dryads, nymphs, fauns, &c. &c. See MYTHOLOGY. These different orders of intelligences, which, though worshipped as gods or demigods, were yet believed to partake of human passions and appetites, led the way to the deification of departed heroes, and other eminent benefactors of the human race; and from this latter probably arose the belief of natural and tutelar gods, as well as the practice of worshipping these gods through the medium of statues cut into a human figure. Dæmons, however, were not more zealously worshipped among the heathens, than they have been among Christians. Bishop Newton, after establishing the meaning of Paul's prophetic words, 1 Tim. iv. 1, above referred to, as corresponding exactly to the heathen dæmon worship, says, 'It appears then that the doctrines of dæmons, which prevailed so long in the heathen world, should be revived and established in the Christian church; and is not the worship of saints and angels now in all respects the same that

the worship of dæmons was in former times? The name only is different, the thing is identically the

same.'

DÆMONIAC, a human being, whose volition and other mental faculties are overpowered and restrained, and his body possessed and actuated, by some created spiritual being of superior power. Such seems to be the determinate sense of the word; but it is disputed whether any of mankind ever were in this unfortunate condition.

It is the opinion of some, that neither good nor evil spirits are known to exert such authority at present over the human race: but in the ancient heathen world, and among the Jews, particularly in the days of our Saviour, evil spirits, at least, are thought by many to have possessed more influence than they do now. The Greeks and Romans imagined that their deities, to reveal future events, frequently entered into the prophet or prophetess who was consulted, overpowered their faculties, and uttered responses with their organs of speech. Apollo was believed to enter into the Pythoness, and to dictate the prophetic answers received by those who consulted her. Other oracles, besides that of Delphi, were supposed to unfold futurity by the same machinery. And in various other cases, either malignant dæmons or benevolent deities were thought to enter into, and to actuate, human beings. The Lymphatici, the Cerriti, the Larvati, of the Romans, were all of this description; and the Greeks, by the use of the word dayonCoμero, show that they referred to this cause the origin of madness. Among the ancient heathens, therefore, it appears to have been a generally received opinion, that superior beings entered occasionally into men, overpowered the faculties of their minds, and actuated their bodily organs. They might imagine that this happened in instances in which the effects were owing to the operation of different causes; but an opinion so generally prevalent had surely some plausible foundation. The Jews, too, both from the sacred writings, and Josephus, appear to have believed in dæmoniacal possession. of Saul may be recollected as one among many in which superior created beings were believed by the Jews to exert in this manner their influence over human life. The general tenor of their history and language, and their doctrines concerning good and evil spirits, prove the opinion of dæmoniacal possession to have been well known and generally received among them.

The case

We shall here subjoin the chief popular arguments on each side of this interesting subject, and add a few remarks. Those who are unwilling to allow that angels or devils have ever intermeddled with the concerns of human life, urge a number of specious arguments. The Greeks and Romans of old, say they, did believe in the reality of dæmoniacal possession. They supposed that spiritual beings did at times enter into the sons or daughters of men, and distinguish themselves in that situation by capricious freaks deeds of wanton mischief, or prophetic enunciations. But, in the instances in which they supposed this to happen, it is evident that no such thing took place. Their accounts of the

mous.

state and conduct of those persons whom they believed to be possessed in this supernatural manner, show plainly that what they ascribed to the influence of dæmons were merely the effects of natural diseases. Whatever they relate concerning the larvati, the cerriti, and the lymphatici, shows that these were merely people disordered in mind, in the same unfortunate situation with those madmen and idiots, and melancholy persons, whom we have among ourselves. Festus describes the larvati as being furiosi et mentemoti. Plato, in his Timæus, says, aduc γαρ έννους εφάπτεται μαντικής ενθεους, αληθους. Lucian describes dæmoniacs as lunatic, and as staring with their eyes, foaming at the mouth, and being speechless. It appears still more evidently, that all the persons spoken of as possessed with devils in the New Testament, were either mad or epileptic, and precisely in the same condition with the madmen and epileptics of modern times. The Jews, among other reproaches which they threw out against our Saviour, said, He hath a devil, and is mad: why hear ye him? The expressions, he hath a devil, and is mad, were certainly used on this occasion as synonyWith all their virulence they would not surely ascribe to him at once two things that were inconsistent and contradictory. Those who thought more favorably of the character of Jesus, asserted concerning his discourses, in reply to his adversaries, These are not the words of him that hath a dæmon; meaning, no doubt, that he spoke in a more rational manner than a madman could be expected to speak. The Jews appear to have ascribed to the influence of dæmons, not only that species of madness in which the patient is raving and furious, but also melancholy madness. Of John, who secluded himself from intercourse with the world, and was distinguished for abstinence and acts of mortification, they said, He hath a dæmon. The youth, whose father applied to Jesus to free him from an evil spirit, describing his unhappy condition in these words, Have mercy on my son for he is lunatic, and sore vexed with a dæmon; for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water, was plainly epileptic. Every thing, indeed, that is related in the New Testament concerning dæmoniacs, proves that they were people affected with such natural diseases as are far from being uncommon among mankind in the present age. When the symptoms of disorders cured by our Saviour and his apostles, as cases of dæmoniacal possession, correspond so exactly with those of diseases well known as natural in the present age, it would be absurd to inpute them to a supernatural cause. It is much more consistent with common sense and sound philosophy, to suppose, that our Saviour and his apostles wisely, and with that condescension to the weakness and prejudices of those with whom they conversed, which so eminently distinguished the character of the author of our holy religion, and must always be a prominent feature in the character of the true Christian, adopted the vulgar language in speaking of those unfortunate persons who were groundlessly imagined to be possessed with dæmons, though they well knew the notions which had given rise to such modes of expression

to be ill founded, than to imagine that diseases which arise at present from natural causes, were produced in days of old by the intervention of dæmons, or that evil spirits still continue to enter into mankind in all cases of madness, melancholy, or epilepsy. Besides, it is by no means a sufficient reason for receiving any doctrine as true, that it has been generally received through the world. Error, like an epidemical disease, is communicated from one to another. In certain circumstances, too, the influence of imagination predominates, and restrains the exertions of reason. Many false opinions have extended their influence through a very wide circle, and maintained it long. On every such occasion as the present, therefore, it becomes us to inquire, not so much how generally any opinion has been received, or how long it has prevailed, as from what cause it has originated, and on what evidence it rests. When we contemplate the frame of nature, we behold a grand and beautiful simplicity prevailing through the whole. Notwithstanding its immense extent, and though it contains such numberless diversities of being, yet the simplest machine constructed by human art does not display greater simplicity, or a happier connexion of parts. We may therefore infer, by analogy, from what is observable of the order of nature in general to the present case, that to permit evil spirits to intermeddle with the concerns of human life, would be to break through that order which the Deity appears to have established through his works; it would be to introduce a degree of confusion unworthy of the wisdom of Divine Providence.

In opposition to these arguments the following are urged by the Dæmonianists. In the days of our Saviour, it would appear that dæmoniacal possession was very frequent among the Jews and the neighbouring nations. Many were the evil spirits whom Jesus is related in the gospels to have ejected from patients that were brought unto him as possessed and tormented by those malevolent dæmons. His apostles, too, and the first Christians, who were most active and successful in the propagation of Christianity, appear to have often exerted the miraculous powers with which they were endowed on similar occasions. The dæmons displayed a degree of knowledge and malevolence which sufficiently distinguished them from human beings: and the language in which the dæmoniacs are mentioned, and the actions and sentiments ascribed to them in the New Testament, show that our Saviour and his apostles did not consider the idea of dæmoniacal possession as being merely a vulgar error concerning the origin of a disease or diseases produced by natural causes. The more enlightened cannot always avoid the use of metaphorical modes of expression; which, though founded upon error, yet have been so established in language by the influence of custom, that they cannot be suddenly dismissed. But in descriptions of characters, in the narration of facts, and in the laying down of systems of doctrine, we require different rules to be observed. Should any person, in compliance with popular oninions, talk in serious language of the exist sitions, declarations, and actions

beings whom he knew to be absolutely fabulous, we surely could not praise him for integrity: we must suppose him to be either exulting in irony over the weak credulity of those around him, or taking advantage of their weakness, with the dishonesty and the selfish views of an impostor. And if he himself should pretend to any connesion with this imaginary system of beings; and should claim, in consequence of his connexion with them, particular honors from his contemporaries; whatever might be the dignity of his character in all other respects, nobody could hesitate to brand him as an impostor. In this light must we regard the conduct of our Saviour and his apostles, if the idea of dæmoniacal possession were to be considered merely as a vulgar error. They talked and acted as if they believed that evil spirits had actually entered into those who were brought to them as possessed with devils, and as if those spirits had been actually expelled by their authority out of the unhappy persons whom they had possessed. They demanded, too, to have their professions and declarations believed, in consequence of their performing such mighty works, and having thus triumphed over the powers of hell. The reality of dæmoniacal possession stands upon the same evidence with the gospel system in general. Nor is there any thing unreasonable in this doctrine. It does not appear to contradict those ideas, which the general appearances of nature and the series of events suggest, concerning the benevolence and wisdom of the Deity, by which he regulates the affairs of the universe. We often fancy ourselves able to comprehend things to which our understanding is wholly inadequate we persuade ourselves at times that the whole extent of the works of the Deity must be well known to us, and that his designs must always be such as we can fathom. We are then ready whenever any difficulty arises to us, in considering the conduct of Providence, to model things according to our own ideas; to deny that the Deity can possibly be the author of things which we cannot reconcile; and to assert that he must act on every occasion in a manner consistent with our narrow views. This is the pride of reason; and it seems to have suggested the strongest objections that have been at any time urged against the reality of dæmoniacal possession. But the Deity may surely connect one order of his creatures with another. We perceive mutual relations and a beautiful connexion to prevail through all that part of nature which falls within the sphere of our observation. The inferior animals are connected with mankind, and subjected to their authority, not only in instances in which it is exerted for their advantage, but even where it is tyrannically abused to their destruction. Among the evils to which mankind have been subjected, why might not their being liable to dæmoniacal possession be one? While the Supreme Being retains the sovereignty of the universe, he may employ whatever agents he thinks proper in the execution of his purposes: he may either cominission an angel or let loose a devil, as well as bend the human will, or communicate any particular impulse to matter. All that revelation makes known, all that human

reason can conjecture, concerning the existence of various orders of spiritual beings, good and bad, is perfectly consistent with, and even favorable to, the doctrine of dæmoniacal possession. It is mentioned in the New Testament in such language, and such narratives are related concerning it, that the gospels cannot well be regarded in any other light than as pieces of imposture, and Jesus Christ must be considered as a man who took advantage of the weakness and ignorance of his contemporaries, if this doctrine be nothing but a vulgar error. It teaches nothing inconsistent with the general conduct of providence. In short, it is not the caution of philosophy, but the pride of reason, that suggests objections against this doctrine.

Such are the leading arguments generally urged on this subject; the reader must of course judge for himself between them; but we cannot dismiss the article without a few additional remarks. It is argued by those who deny the influence of dæmons or evil spirits, that to permit such an influence on the concerns of human life, would be to break through that order which the Deity appears to have established throughout his works, and to introduce a degree of confusion unworthy of the Divine Providence. This, to say the least of it, is a most gratuitous assertion. For surely those who make it are well aware of the existence of much real evil in the affairs of human life, and yet the Divine government moves on with a regularity and an order that cannot fail to excite the admiration of every well-disposed mind. Now to meet the objection in all its bearings, we would ask those who make it, whether they think that all the evil which they see existing around them, or any part of it, is effected without the medium of any kind of agency? This, we conceive, no rational man would venture to maintain. The question then is simply this, of what nature is this agency? To this question, as the point at issue rests solely on the authority of Divine Revelation, we reply, it is of a purely spiritual nature, and has its origin in the spiritual world. The existence of such agency, both of a good and of an evil nature, is as clearly taught as any fact made known by the sacred writings. It is by means of it that the various affections of the human mind are produced; nor would any difficulty be experienced by us on this point were we constantly to keep in mind that man, in his present state, is intimately connected with both worlds; with the invisible by means of his spirit, and with the visible or material world by means of his body. The cases of dæmoniacal possession that occurred during the time of Christ's sojourning on earth were exactly what, from the information of Scripture, might have been expected to take place. The Eternal (according to the opinion of a vast body of Christians) assumed the human nature, that in it He might, in the sight of mankind, effect their deliverance from the infernal influence which threatened their destruction. This was accomplished by His passing through a series of the most unparalleled trials, which terminated in a conflict unutterably awful. The numerous cases of dæmoniacal possession that are introduced to

Russians claim the sovereignty of Daghestan, which is divided into four districts; but their authority is not universally acknowledged. Many of the inhabitants subsist by plunder; but it has recently been the scene of contest between the Persians and Russians. The chief towns are Tarki, Derbend, Baschli, and Ottermisch.

DAGO, or DAGHO, an island in the Baltic Sea, on the coast of Livonia, between the gulf of Finland and Riga. It is of a triangular figure, and may be about twenty miles in circumference. It has nothing considerable but two castles called Daggerwort and Paden. Long. 22° 50′ E., lat. 58° 44' N.

DAGOE, DAGHO, or DAGEN, an island of the Baltic, at the entrance of the gulf of Finland, near the coast of Esthonia, and separated from the island of Oesel by a narrow channel. It is about forty miles long, and from twenty-six to thirty-six broad, and is well peopled. At Dagerort there is a lighthouse.

DAGON, the idol of Ashdod or Azotus. He is commonly represented as a monster, half man and half fish; whence most learned men derive the name from the Hebrew dag, which signifies a fish. Those who make him to have been the inventor of bread corn, derive his name from the Hebrew, 17, Dagon, signifying corn; whence Philo-Biblius calls him Zeve Aparpetos, Jupiter Aratrius. This deity continued to have a temple at Ashdod to the time of the Maccabees: for the author of the first book of Maccabees tells us, that Jonathan, one of the Maccabees, having beaten the army of Apollonius, Demetrius's general, they fled to Azotus, and entered into Bethdagon (the temple of their idol); but Jonathan set fire to Azotus, and burnt the temple of Dagon and all those who were fled into it.' Dagon, according to some, was the same with Jupiter, according to others Saturn or Venus; but according to most Neptune.

DAHALAK, DALAKA, OF DALACCA, an island in the Red Sea, near the coast of Abyssinia, about twenty-five miles in length, and twelve in breadth, anciently celebrated for its pearl fishery. It is low and flat, with a sandy soil, and in summer destitute of every kind of herbage, except a small quantity of bent grass, which is barely sufficient to feed a few antelopes and goats. From the end of March to the beginning of October, they have no rain in Dahalak; but in the intermediate months they have heavy showers, when the water is collected into artificial cisterns, to supply the inhabitants during the ensuing summer. Of these cisterns, which are supposed to be either the work of the Persians or of the first Ptolemies, upwards of 300 remained at a recent period, cut out of the solid rock. Its principal port is Dahalece-el-Kebar, but it will only admit small vessels; and its trade is with Masuah. It was formerly much more populous than at present. This as well as the neighbouring islands is dependent upon Masuah; and the governor is furnished monthly with a goat from each of the twelve villages; besides which every vessel putting in here for Masuah, pays him a pound of coffee, and every one from Arabia, a dollar. From these his revenue chiefly arises. Long. 39° 0' E., lat. 15° 40′ N.

DAHL, or DAL, a large river of Sweden, which runs through the provinces of Dalecarlia and Gestricia, and falls into the gulf of Bothnia, four leagues E. S. E. of Gefle. Near Elfkarleby it forms a celebrated cataract, scarcely inferior to the fall of the Rhine at Lauffen.

DAHLIA, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the syngenesia class and polygamia order, thus named by Cavanilles in honor of Dr. Andrew Dahl, a Swedish botanist. The stems die every winter, but the root is perennial and tuberous. The known species are but four. 1. D. pinnata, figured by Cavanilles, and in Andrew's Botanical Repository: it has bipenuate leaves of a deep purple color. 2. D. rosea, a rose-colored variety figured by Cavanilles in his Icones. 3. D. coccinea, a scarlet variety; and, 4. D. crocata, a saffron-colored species. These beautiful plants are now becoming so general in British gardens, that a lengthened description would be superfluous: it is sufficient to say, that they elevate the stem like the holly-hock, and bear fine showy axillary and terminal flowers late in the autumn.

DAHOMEY, or DAUMA, a kingdom of Africa, on the coast of Guinea, situated about sixty or seventy miles from the Atlantic, to the east of Ashantee. This kingdom,which is correctly placed in various old maps, particularly that of Mercator, who names its ancient capital Dauina, was erased from the maps of Africa in 1700, and the existence of the nation of Dauma denied; but it emerged from obscurity in 1727, by the fame of its conquests of the maritime states of Whidah and Ardra. Dahomey, as known at present, is supposed to reach from the sea coast 150 miles in land, but no European has yet penetrated to that distance from the coast. The soil is a deep rich clay, of a reddish color, with a little sand on the surface, except about Calmina, where it is more light and gravelly; but there is not to be found a stone so large as an egg in the whole country, so far as it has been visited by Europeans. Of farinaceous vegetables, the country yields a plentiful supply, in proportion to the culture. The Dahomese likewise cultivate yams, potatoes, the cassada or manioka, the plantain, and the banana. Pine-apples, melons, oranges, limes, guavas, and other tropical fruits, also abound in this fertile country. Nor is it destitute of productions adapted for commerce and manufacture; such as indigo, cotton, the sugar-cane, tobacco, palm-oil, with a variety of spices, particularly a species of pepper, very similar in flavor, and indeed scarcely distinguishable from the black pepper of the East Indies. The Dahomese, like the other inhabitants of tropical climates, plant twice a-year, viz., at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes; after which the periodical rains prevail. The harmattan, or dry wind, blows here strongly from the north-east; but Mr. Norris does not ascribe to it those pestilential qualities which have often been supposed, for while it parches up the ground, and injures every species of vegetable, it does not induce any fatal diseases. It is even said to cure cutaneous eruptions, and stop the progress of small pox, fluxes, and remittent fevers. The greatest bane of the climate is the periodical rains; which are attended with terri