241. Formerly the name of possession was given to this dominion exercised by evil spirits, when their influence extended to the aberration of the faculties. Possession, for us, would be synonymous with subju- > gation. We have two reasons for not adopting this term ; the first, that it implies beings created for, and perpetually devoted to, evil, while really there are only beings, more or less imperfect, who can all be made better ; the second, that it also implies the idea of taking possession of the body by a foreign spirit — a sort of cohabitation ; while really there is only con straint. The word subjugation perfectly renders the thought. Thus, for us, there are no possessed, in the ordinary sense of the word ; there are only obsessed, subjugated, and fascinated.
