On Hallucinations A History And Explanation Of Apparitions Visions Dreams Ecstasy Magnetism And Somnambulism PDF Download

"A philosophical physician said, in speaking of the first edition of this work: "If the author had been satisfied to treat the vast question of hallucinations as medical men usually treat a question of pathology, the medical press would have announced his monograph according to custom, with simple praises and very inoffensive criticisms; medical science would have numbered one more good work, and so the matter would have ended. But such has not been the case. M. Brierre de Boismont, in giving a less scholastic turn to his treatise, and introducing questions of historic psychology, has succeeded in electrifying both the press and the public. Thence have arisen those warm eulogies which have appeared in excellent journals, unconnected with medicine; thence those keen, but polite criticisms which have been impartially received in a scientific magazine. It appears to me that this is a great triumph. It is no easy matter to make the chords of contemporary criticism, in general so slack, thus vibrate. The success is still greater, if a similar result has been obtained in defending the cause of truth and common sense""--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).