{"product_id":"2940013693098","title":"On Ghosts","description":"What a different earth do we inhabit from that on which our forefathers\u003cbr\u003edwelt! The antediluvian world, strode over by mammoths, preyed upon by\u003cbr\u003ethe megatherion, and peopled by the offspring of the Sons of God, is a\u003cbr\u003ebetter type of the earth of Homer, Herodotus, and Plato, than the\u003cbr\u003ehedged-in cornfields and measured hills of the present day. The globe\u003cbr\u003ewas then encircled by a wall which paled in the bodies of men, whilst\u003cbr\u003etheir feathered thoughts soared over the boundary; it had a brink, and\u003cbr\u003ein the deep profound which it overhung, men's imaginations,\u003cbr\u003eeagle-winged, dived and flew, and brought home strange tales to their\u003cbr\u003ebelieving auditors. Deep caverns harboured giants; cloud-like birds cast\u003cbr\u003etheir shadows upon the plains; while far out at sea lay islands of\u003cbr\u003ebliss, the fair paradise of Atlantis or El Dorado sparkling with untold\u003cbr\u003ejewels. Where are they now? The Fortunate Isles have lost the glory that\u003cbr\u003espread a halo round them; for who deems himself nearer to the golden\u003cbr\u003eage, because he touches at the Canaries on his voyage to India? Our only\u003cbr\u003eriddle is the rise of the Niger; the interior of New Holland, our only\u003cbr\u003eterra incognita; and our sole mare incognitum, the north-west passage.\u003cbr\u003eBut these are tame wonders, lions in leash; we do not invest Mungo Park,\u003cbr\u003eor the Captain of the Hecla, with divine attributes; no one fancies that\u003cbr\u003ethe waters of the unknown river bubble up from hell's fountains, no\u003cbr\u003estrange and weird power is supposed to guide the ice-berg, nor do we\u003cbr\u003efable that a stray pick-pocket from Botany Bay has found the gardens of\u003cbr\u003ethe Hesperides within the circuit of the Blue Mountains. What have we\u003cbr\u003eleft to dream about? The clouds are no longer the charioted servants of\u003cbr\u003ethe sun, nor does he any more bathe his glowing brow in the bath of\u003cbr\u003eThetis; the rainbow has ceased to be the messenger of the Gods, and\u003cbr\u003ethunder longer their awful voice, warning man of that which is to come.\u003cbr\u003eWe have the sun which has been weighed and measured, but not understood;\u003cbr\u003ewe have the assemblage of the planets, the congregation of the stars,\u003cbr\u003eand the yet unshackled ministration of the winds:--such is the list of\u003cbr\u003eour ignorance.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083156570352,"sku":"2940013693098","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013693098_p0.jpg?v=1763584618","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013693098","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}