PHILOSOPHY OF APPARITIONS - 1825 - GHOSTS, SPIRITS, SUPERNATURAL & THEIR CAUSES

SKETCHES OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF APPARITIONS; OR, AN ATTEMPT TO TRACE SUCH ILLUSIONS TO THEIR PHYSICAL CAUSES Book Details + Condition: Oliver & Boyd (Edinburgh) and Geo. B. Whittaker (London). The Second Edition (Enlarged), 1825. Beautifully bound in marbled boards with marbled text block; pasted titling label to cloth spine. 475 pages. Illustrated, and includes large fold-out of ailments and their symptoms. Scottish physician and geologist Samuel Hibbert wrote this volume, possibly in response to the growing popularity of Spiritualism, as a scientific explanation for sightings of ghosts and related phenomena. Hibbert notes medical conditions which might cause one to see apparitions, including brain inflammation, hysteric temperament, neglect of periodical blood-letting, alcoholism, dreams, and other maladies of the time. The main chapter headings include: - Sketches of Certain Opinions, Ancient and Modern, Which Have Been Entertained on the Subject of Apparitions- The Particular Morbid Affections With Which the Production of Phantasms is Often Connected- Proofs That the Objects of Spectral Illusions Are Frequently Suggested by the Fantastic Imagery of Superstitious Belief- An Attempt to Investigate the Mental Laws Which Give Rise to Spectral Illusions- Slight Remarks on the Modifications Which the Intellectual Faculty Often Undergoes During Intense Excitements of the Mind- Summary of the Comparative Degrees of Faintness, Vividness, or Intensity Subsisting Between Sensations and Ideas, During Their Various Excitements and Depressions PROVENANCE: From the massive occult collection of Dr. Alan Gauld (1932–2024), distinguished British psychologist, parapsychologist, and historian of psychical research based at the University of Nottingham. His library included significant works on mediumship, hypnotism, and the founders of psychical research, often marked with his ownership inscriptions or ex libris labels. He authored many respected works, including The Founders of Psychical Research (1968), Mediumship and Survival (1982), and A History of Hypnotism (1992). Beautiful binding remains in very good condition; Gauld's ex libris and name to front endpapers; foxing to first and last few pages, as well as to large fold-out; interior is otherwise clean and free of markings. All books are carefully packed, and shipped in boxes.