Read and Download Free eBooks
/
Categories
Browse by category
1,965 books to get lost inYours to read. Yours to keep.
No books found.
Try another title or author.
Try another title or author.
John Alderson investigates reports of ghosts through the experiences of people who believed they had seen them. A physician at Hull, he uses cases from his practice to explore how apparently external figures might arise from bodily conditions and the operations of perception, without requiring supernatural agency.
Four chapters consider widespread beliefs in apparitions, the cases supporting his explanation, differences between hallucination and other states of mind, and examples drawn from Locke and Shakespeare. The revised 1823 edition includes an introduction tracing the essay’s earlier publication in 1810 and 1811. Its original pages run through the author’s conclusion and final printer’s notice.