"How flattering to the pride of man to think that the stars on their courses watch over him, and typify, by their movements and aspects, the joys or the sorrows that await him! He, less in proportion to the universe than the allbut invisible insects that feed in myriads on a summer's leaf are to this great globe itself, fondly imagines that eternal worlds were chiefly created to prognosticate his fate."



The original 'skeptic', Charles Mackay's masterpiece presented in two original volumes explained the folly of various 'popular delusions' of the time, from Alchemists to Witches, and FortuneTellers to the Crusades.