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[Letter of Francis William Newman to J. Chapman, Esq.] 7 Park Village
East, Dear Sir, I thank you for your Preface to Davis's book. You have introduced the subject in a clear, candid & amiable style, excellently adapted to promote a useful discussion of the book itself, and to gain you much credit as a publisher for the spirit & principles on which you proceed. The conclusion to which you incline will probably take other readers, like me, quite by surprise. If correct, it seems to be a reestablishing of a large part of the superstitions which we fondly thought had been laid in the tomb. Oracles of the cave of Trophanies, necromancy, or what not, now become not credible only, but probable. Ghosts are, as with Baxter, once more a proof of the immortality of the soul. I cannot help thinking that a little time will show that Mr. Davis's case, if simply & truly reported, is nothing but one more instance of the elevation of certain powers, as by opium or wine. Believe me Sincerely
yours,
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