An essay on demonology, ghosts and apparitions, and popular superstitions : also, an account of the witchcraft delusion at Salem, in 1692 / by James Thacher.

  • Thacher, James, 1754-1844.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on demonology, ghosts and apparitions, and popular superstitions : also, an account of the witchcraft delusion at Salem, in 1692 / by James Thacher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    58/243
    long since, an instance was published, of a child having died of a disease of the heart, in consequence of a fright received by being thrown upwards and caught in its fall for amusement. Few persons are aware of the extreme dan- ger of sudden fright on timid minds. The most melancholy consequences have on some occasions resulted from stratagems with effi- gies, representing apparitions for innocent and momentary amusement. Instances are not wanting of a total loss of intellect during life, from such inexcusable folly. Parents and nurses should carefully avoid imbuing the minds of children with idle stories of ghosts and apparitions. The following facts, select- ed from numerous others, will illustrate the ef- fects of terror on the mind. In a poor-house in Haerlem, a girl was seized with a convul- sive disorder, which returned in regular par- oxysms; not long after, another was taken, and others in succession, till all the boys and girls in the house were affected in a similar manner. The medical prescriptions failed to perform a cure. At length the celebrated Dr Boerhaave, ascribing the occurrences to the