Justin Croft : Rare & Fine Antiquarian Books - Specialist in antiquarian books, especially in the field of literature, history, social sciences, religion, art and architecture, science and medicine

First edition. The physician John Ferriar was among the first to argue that ghostly apparitions should be understood as psychological rather than supernatural phenomena and should be investigated therefore by scholars of the brain. His theme was human insanity, both temporary and permanent, and he provides numerous examples of 'apparitions' from his own medical experience together with influential accounts of the characters of literary creations who were touched by madness, including Hamlet and Don Quixote. Ferriar was a Scot by birth but practiced in Manchester where he became acquainted with the important and radical circle associated with the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. He worked on theories of the 'vital principles' of life (a notion which became central to Romantic preoccupations) and published his important Essay on the Medical Properties of the Digitalis Purpurea, or Foxglove in 1799.