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THE NIGHT-SIDE OF NATURE

Or,

Ghosts and Ghost-Seers.

by

CATHERINE CROWE

Authoress of “Susan Hopley,” “Lilly Dawson,” “Aristodemus,” etc.


   "Thou com’st in such a questionable shape,
   That I will speak to thee.”






New York:
J. S. Redfield, Clinton Hall.
Boston:—B. B. Mussey & Co.
1850.




                            P R E F A C E.

                 *        *        *        *        *

IN my late novel of “Lilly Dawson,” I announced my intention of
publishing a work to be called “The Night-Side of Nature;" this is it.

The term “Night-Side of Nature” I borrow from the Germans, who derive it
from the astronomers, the latter denominating that side of a planet
which is turned from the sun, its _night-side_. We are in this condition
for a certain number of hours out of every twenty-four; and as, during
this interval, external objects loom upon us but strangely and
imperfectly, the Germans draw a parallel between these vague and misty
perceptions, and the similar obscure and uncertain glimpses we get of
that veiled department of nature, of which, while comprising as it does,
the solution of questions concerning us more nearly than any other, we
are yet in a state of entire and wilful ignorance. For science, at least
science in this country, has put it aside as beneath her notice, because
new facts that do not fit into old theories are troublesome, and not to
be countenanced.

We are encompassed on all sides by wonders, and we can