Essay on Superstition: Being an Inquiry into the Effects of Physical Influence on the Mind in the Production of Dreams, Visions, Ghosts, and Other ... - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge) - Softcover

Newnham, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108044239 ISBN 13: 9781108044233

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2012

Synopsis

William Newnham (1790–1865) was a general medical practitioner, also qualified as an apothecary, who played a prominent role in his profession and was widely recognised for his skill. His particular medical interest lay within the fields of gynaecology and obstetrics, although he also published several papers on topics including phrenology and human magnetism. This 1830 publication contains a series of essays he had recently written for The Christian Observer. In them, Newnham argues that dreams, visions, apparitions and other apparently spiritual manifestations, whether good or bad, arise from physiological rather than supernatural causes. He provides evidence that the effects on the brain from disease, medications (including nitrous oxide and opium) and trauma, causing 'disturbance of brainular function', can produce such experiences. Anticipating criticism, he insists that the light of science benefits true religion rather than undermining it, contrasting 'real Christianity' with 'superstitious' creeds including Catholicism, Islam and Hinduism.

About this title

Book Description

Newnham (1790–1865) was an influential medical practitioner with special interests in obstetrics, pharmacology and the brain. In this 1830 publication he argues, from a firmly Christian perspective, that 'supernatural' manifestations, such as visions, arise from the effects on the brain of material influences such as disease, medications and trauma.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108044239
• ISBN 13: 9781108044233
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 452