(from fanum, a temple). Originally, the fanatic was he who performed the duties of a temple, the religious personage, the priest who in the temple was the organ of the god. Whatever may be its etymology, the word fanaticism has long been used in a much more limited and discreditable sense. It signifies in common language a religious exaltation which perverts reason and leads to actions that are reprehensible, but which the fanatic believes he ought to do to please God. This is religious fanaticism. In a wider sense this name is given by analogy to all excessive prepossession with any order of ideas, whatever that may be; thus there is a fanaticism for liberty, a fanaticism for patriotism, love, &c. No country has given more lamentable proofs of the pernicious nature of both political and philosophical fanaticism than France, as in the age of philosophical scepticism which preceded the revolution, and in the phrenzy for liberty which produced the fearful excesses and inhumanity of the Terrorists. This fanatical fury produced equally disastrous results under the Reaction or Abolitionist party in Naples and in Spain. Among the republican fanatics of France there were no doubt men of true nobility of soul who were led to the commission of crime by blindly following the hypocritical zeal of their leaders; others, under the cloak of zeal for the public good, were actuated by criminal desires and propensities which have nothing in common with fanaticism. Sir James Mackintosh says: "Fanaticism is the most incurable of all mental diseases, because in all its forms—religious, philosophical, or political—it is distinguished by a sort of mad contempt for experience, which alone can correct the errors of practical judgment."

Fanaticism is a real moral malady, a kind of madness, with which imagination has much to do. It finds at first some difficulty in supplanting reason; but if it succeed it becomes then the sole rule of conduct, and generally induces a state of dejection and melancholy. It is never universal in the individual, but rather belongs to that class of mental maladies which is called monomania.

The most deplorable characteristic of this mental disorder is, that it is really contagious, as are all those which depend on the imagination. When once it has established itself in a country, it often assumes the character and authority of a principle, so that many may be for a length of time victims to it without being excited by the same feelings as those in whom it originated. It is thus that human sacrifices most probably commenced and were continued, and that the supposed superior sanctity of the first anchorites spread and multiplied the various orders of monks and friars.

The following is an instance of fanaticism in its most frightful character:—Kiesewetter in his Pathologie de l'Âme Humaine relates that a shepherd who dwelt in a village in Prussia often conversed with the schoolmaster of the place on religious subjects. The schoolmaster affirmed that faith and piety were then not nearly so great as in ancient times, especially in the time of the patriarchs, and instanced the faith and obedience of Abraham when commanded to offer up his son Isaac. The shepherd, who had three sons whom he dearly loved, conceived that it would be the most incontestable evidence of his faith and piety were he to sacrifice them to God; and when the tears and prayers of the children for a time stayed his hand and revived humanity in his heart, he reproached himself for listening to the suggestions of the evil spirit, which had prevented him from consummating his good work; but after a short struggle with himself, fanaticism triumphed, and the children fell under the hatchet of their wretched father. This instance, however, may more properly come under the class of monomania. A more criminal species of fanatical acts are those of individuals who have attempted to destroy rulers and others whom they have conceived to be enemies to religion or to political liberty; as, for instance, Jacques Clément, who killed Henri III. of France (1589), and Ravaillac, the assassin of his successor, Henri IV. (1610), and the murderers of Archbishop Sharpe in 1679.

George Fox, Emanuel Swedenborg, and Madame Guyon, are examples of a mystical state of this phrenzy. The fanaticism displayed by the Independents in Cromwell's army and the Scottish Covenanters in the time of Charles II., is of a more noble character, from its being combined with piety and a love of liberty, which nerved its subjects for deeds of valour and endurance. There are instances of this disorder which are only distinguished by ridiculous folly and delusion, such as that of Johanna Southcote, and that of Mrs Buchan, who, in the neighbourhood of Dumfries, in 1786, persuaded her followers that they should never die, but soon be received up into heaven. One morning she led out her people to a hill to take their flight upwards. There they waited till they were tired, but still found themselves fixed to earth; but she assured them that it was their want of faith that prevented their ascension. She then persuaded them that it would be necessary to fast forty days and forty nights, and then they should be taken up. They tried the experiment till some were near dying of starvation, but the trial was too severe, and they dropt off one by one.

When fanaticism manifests itself in atrocities such as murder and assassination, it is more startling; but it is infinitely less disastrous than in the milder type when those who believe that an adherence to certain theological dogmas or actual observances are so essential to the salvation of the soul, that they consider it their duty not only to observe them themselves, but to compel others to take the same track to heaven, although it should be necessary even to resort to pains and penalties to force them.

It is this that has desolated the finest portions of the earth; and it is much to be regretted that the cruelty and oppression of fanaticism has not been confined to the be- lievers in the Koran or the Shasters, but that in a greater or less degree it has afflicted all the countries calling themselves Christian.

The best means of counteracting the tendency to fanaticism is a vigorous and rational education and a philosophical training. If ignorance is the mother of devotion, it would be unreasonable to expect that such devotion should be enlightened, pure, spiritual, and beneficent. The mind when left un instructed cannot comprehend the true, and clings more closely to the false.