VISIONS: STUDY OF FALSE SIGHT PSEUDOPIA, E. Clarke 1st/1st 1878 Substance Abuse

VISIONS: A STUDY OF FALSE SIGHT (PSEUDOPIA), by Dr. Edward Clarke ~ First Edition / First Printing, 1878 ~ Study of Hallucinations Brought on by Substances ~ RARE

Publisher: Houghton, Osgood and Company, Boston (1878)

A very rare first edition, first printing of "Visions A Study of False Sight (Pseudopia)" by Dr. Edward H. Clarke, from 1878, in very well preserved condition. Dark green boards with gilt writing on spine, and illustrated; 315 pages. The boards and binding are solid and tight with very little shelf-wear. The pages are crisp and clean save for some foxing on the first three blank pages. The remaining pages are crisp and clean, with no interior markings. Please see below for more information on this fascinating work.

Description

A 19th century study of hallucinations and visions, and their causes. It contains an interesting study of the effects of drugs such as quinine, digitalis, opium, Indian Hemp (hashish), ether and alcohol on vision, as well as the influence of disease and volition. Clarke details a case communicated to him by the neurologist and novelist S. Weir Mitchell, one of the most prominent physicians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Oliver Wendell Holmes edited the work after Clarke’s death, writing a memorial sketch and biographical introduction. A friend and classmate of Holmes at Harvard, Clarke succeeded Jacob Bigelow as Professor of Materia Medica there, a post he held for twenty years. He wrote this book in his last days, Holmes rendering frequent visits to assist the dying author.