A Treatise on Acupuncturation: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This little work is a very early study of the pseudoscience of acupuncture (pseudoscience as we have firmly established it does absolutely nothing that any other placebo won't accomplish without the risk of infection). It is quite interesting, especially since the concept of sterilizing surgical instruments had not yet been widely adopted in the 1820s. It contains several interesting anecdotes regarding specific patients.

30 pages.

Prayer and the Healing of Disease: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This little manuscript was crafted against the backdrop of an era in which rationalism, spiritism, orthodox religion, and zealous fire-and-brimstone Christendom were all holding a decades-long pitched battle, replete with oratory, debates, protests and counter-protests. This specific little booklet expresses the view, in large part, that faith healing tends to be a charlatan endeavor, which robs "genuine" religion by using the title "Christian." A multitude of anecdotes and stories are told here, especially involving people who died because they refused "natural" medicine- using scripture to evince the opinion that this is neither necessary nor proper.

32 pages.

A Treatise on Animal Magnetism: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This intermediate length work is presented here partially for cautionary reasons; Mesmer and his school of thought were briefly accepted as miraculous and spiritually significant until the fraudulent nature of some of his practices were exposed. That being said, this text is mostly a compilation of testimonial work regarding the efficacy of magnetic bathing and associated practices within a medical context. No less important than studying the claims of those involved with the witch trials (also self evidently true, or so the people then living believed at the time!) the claims of this era with regards to some of the fantastical medical movements of the day are of import to any serious student of occultism genuinely speaking, teaching the often hard lesson to question things, even if they are presented as self evident, scientific, or miraculous.

103 pages.

Hypnotism, Personal Magnetism, Physical Culture, Health Breathing, and Magnetic Bathing: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

And now the award for most obtusely titled booklet goes to!...

Zach Shed is an interesting individual; I can't seem to find any info about him other than that he authored this booklet at the dawn of the 20th century; originally, it was horizontally aligned (wider than tall) and its title beckons the question "why?" Nonetheless, it's a good work overall; it suggests the use of healthy breathing exercises, positivity, hypnosis, and magnetic bathing, as well as dietary changes, to prolong health and generally stave off disease and age. Some of its suggestions are in vogue even today; a lot of health "nuts" drink lemon water preferentially and endorse the breathing practices of Tai Chi, etc. Proponents of the alkaline diet beware- this work stresses the need for balanced acidity.

61 pages.

The Family Companion and Physician: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This semi-short work is a fine one, because it combines herbal remedies (the recipes thereof, that is) with what amounts to diagnosis, and bridges the gap between prior works (which tended to be quite superstitious) and latter ones (which were more scientific in the truly modern sense. In the mid 19th century, the scientific and the spiritual segued into one another seamlessly. The incantations of grimoires slowly got displaced by the apothecary receipts of the more recent era. It includes as well a short lecture on health which is at times hilarious, blaming "self abuse" (now known as masturbation) for lunacy and various developmental disabilities.

I cannot recommend the concoctions utilized here in this booklet but some of the species and preparations are indeed chemically active and at the time would likely have been tested with at least some degree of rigor. It is an interesting look at the eras' medicinal lore. One of the best, actually.

65 pages.

Mind And Body: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This work is notable for its extensive treatment of the history of faith healing, mesmerism, hypnosis, and similar topics. The overarching topic is, in the latter half, about suggestion, but leads up to it by presenting material about how cells communicate with one another, and some various philosophy. Some of its material is badly dated but other content has held up over time (the potential therapeutic use of hypnosis, for example, at least for some purposes.)

It is well written and somewhat dense, with a large number of quoted secondary sources both ancient and then-modern.

110 pages.

The Remedial Uses of Hypnotism: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

While extremely short this work needed to be released in a modern edition because it is perhaps one of the best examples of claims made by proponents of hypnotism in its era; its efficacy at treating certain disorders is now beyond question but claims here that it works almost invariably and can cure everything from tuberculosis to asthma of course are now rendered into the same family as bloodletting and electroshock.

The arguments made against the comic use of mesmerism as entertainment, and its words about the use of hypnotism in crimes are both quite a good read.

24 pages.

Christian Science, Medicine, and Occultism: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This little booklet is the result of the famous Albert Moll, whose forays into debunking spiritual things are of greater interest than his more mainstream content (including major contributions to the study of gender.)

It is interesting that here, while he casts a disdainful eye over the topic of the occult at large, he accepts that some of its content is legitimate at least insofar as healing can take place as the result of mesmerism misclassified- we today call this the "placebo effect." Much of the content here is about Christian Science; which persists in minor form today as a loose collective of groups which engage in faith healing. While it is usually a mild form of quackery, even modern medicine states that in some cases if can be efficacious because the underlying problem is mental, and not caused by injury, infection, etc.

38 pages.

The Tree of Life, Physical Regenesis: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This work is the first of a number of quack medicine, herbal, and spiritualist works with pseudoscience that I intend to release this year; it's one of the strangest, suggesting overlap between the twelve signs of the zodiac and twelve inorganic materials that are used by cells (thus proving in the mind of the author, a spiritually significant connection.) Much like Dowers' explanation of "radium" and its importance spiritually, Carey likens the human being to a steam powered apparatus, with the pores as vents and other various miraculous similarities.

While thus hilarious at times, it also contains Careys' apparent post-revelational vision of utopia and a good deal of spiritual commentary on avoiding alcohol, overeating, sexual contact, and other corrupting forces in order to inevitably lead mankind to a higher plane of existence in which labor is automated and humans live a peace loving existence in visible company with angels.

52 pages.

General Update: Herbals Forthcoming!

I have decided to fixate upon three medically related works for the month of April and, once they are done (could be soon, I might have to pay an illustrator, I'm tired of slowing my work down to draw up, scan, format, and re-edit interior images!) I intend to begin working on another manuscript of my own composition on the topic of robotics, automation, synthetic life, and similar topics.

These three works are summarized:

1. Weeds as Medicine: A government-crafted tract on the medicinal use, form, and habit of several dozen species considered at the time to be pests nonetheless worth harvesting to supplement the income of farmers. Things like foxglove, poison hemlock, and yarrow are mentioned here.

2. Valuable Herbal Prescriptions: A work I had already edited in January but never illustrated; a homeopathic work of sorts, combining the design of a short herbal into a medicinal form for basic remedies.

3. Counterblast to Tobacco: An extremely early public health manifest against smoking written by the infamous King James I, of "Daemonologie" fame, the lord of the burning times themselves.

If any artist I pay to complete the illustrations for the first two works quickly I may indeed also release the South Sea herbal, which at first appears freakishly short, but is actually about as long as the others, and merely in an old, compacted form as many herbals were prior to the enlightenment.

Herbal, Homeopathic, and Folk Medicine Books for Sale

The following is a continuously edited list of texts related to herbal medicine, homeopathy, and quack doctoring, which I have edited and released. This list will be updated over time as new titles become available.

PRIMITIVE PHYSIC
Click to Purchase
An extensive mid 18th century text of folk and herbal medicine.

MAGIC PLANTS
Click to Purchase
A short tract detailing the philosophy of natural magic and herbalism.

THE WITCHES' PHARMACOPOEIA
Click to Purchase
A very good work on herbal and similar imagery in witch lore.

GUNPOWDER AS A WAR REMEDY
Click to Purchase
A WWI homeopathic work of note suggesting the use of small doses of tincture of black powder.

CANADIAN HERBAL
Click to Purchase
A combination receipt book for disease and herbal guide.

THE USEFUL FAMILY HERBAL
Click to Purchase
A short herbal with a large number of (often odd) recipes.

COUNTERBLAST TO TOBACCO
Click to Purchase
A very short tract on the spiritual and physical evils of tobacco, by King James the first.

WEEDS USED AS MEDICINE
Click to Purchase
A government bulletin listing several dozen common and noxious medicinal species.

VALUABLE HERBAL PRESCRIPTIONS
Click to Purchase
A homeopathic work listing some late 19th century remedies and various species used therein.

ASTROLOGICAL PHYSICIAN
Click to Purchase
A text that claims to treat and diagnose disease by observing astrology.

THE TREE OF LIFE
Click to Purchase
Carey's utopian guide to better living, likening the spiritual and then-scientific.

HYPNOTISM
Click to Purchase
A DeLaurence work on mesmerism and hypnotism along with their medical applications. Pure Victorianism! 

THE FAMILY NURSE
Click to Purchase
An excellent manuscript covering herbal remedies, ointment crafting, poisons, and more.

THE SECRETS OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM
Click to Purchase
A work on mesmerism and clairvoyance that partially relates them to medical applications.

THE INCUBUS
Click to Purchase
A work on sleep paralysis which also describes herbal remedies, demonic folklore, and other subtopics.

REMEDIAL USES OF HYPNOTISM
Click to Purchase
An interesting little essay on the medical application of hypnotism.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM
Click to Purchase
A pro-hypnotism, anti-mesmerism manuscript, with some amusingly dated opinions of the use of the former.

MIND AND BODY
Click to Purchase
A treatment of hypnotism, faith healing, and the general history of alternative medicine.

THE FAMILY COMPANION AND PHYSICIAN
Click to Purchase
A collection of diseases, cures, preparations, and a lecture on moral ills.

THE LAW OF NATURAL HEALING
Click to Purchase
A work speaking of autosuggestion and its therapeutic usages, some still accepted today.

HYPNOTISM, PERSONAL MAGNETISM, ETC
Click to Purchase
A long-titled booklet of alternative medicine stressing dietary change, exercises, and hypnosis.

A TREATISE ON ANIMAL MAGNETISM
Click to Purchase
A tract on Mesmerism and magnetic bathing, and its various anecdotal claims of efficacy.

AMERICAN MEDICINAL FLOWERS AND FRUITS
Click to Purchase
A short field guide to some medically active species of North America and their usage.

AMERICAN MEDICINAL HERBS AND LEAVES
Click to Purchase
A short field guide to more medically active species. Fully illustrated.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF FLOWERS, TREES, FRUITS, AND PLANTS
Click to Purchase
A lengthy collection of botanical folklore, often Roman, Norse, Arthurian, or European Victorian.

FIFTEEN LECTURES ON MEDICAL BOTANY
Click to Purchase
A series of entries on the use of botanicals in medicine, the dangers of antimony and mercury, and plenty of religious allusions.

JACOBS ROD
Click to Purchase
A work on dowsing that mentions energy healing and homeopathy. Half translated from Baritel.

OCCULT FAMILY PHYSICIAN
Click to Purchase
An excellent, 307 page work on herbs, medical recipes, homeopathy, and some social tracts, all compiled.

THE INDIGENOUS DRUGS OF INDIA
Click to Purchase
An intermediate length work of anthropology compiling some of the materials and recipes available in mid 19th century Indian bazaars as medicine.

FRAYS GOLDEN RECIPES
Click to Purchase
A booklet containing various herbal remedies, lifestyle advice, and nutrition tips.

FOLK MEDICINE: A COLLECTION
Click to Purchase
My full length collection of materials involving herbal medicine, folk cures, homeopathic remedies, and more.

CURES; THE STORY OF CURES THAT FAILED
Click to Purchase
A fascinating look at quackery, leechcraft, and fad medicine, with a cautionary tale about spiritual placebos.

AYURVEDA: OR THE HINDU SYSTEM OF MEDICAL SCIENCE
Click to Purchase
A short work which describes the basic materia medica, some recipes, and theoretical categories within Ayurvedic practice.

PRAYER AND THE HEALING OF DISEASE
Click to Purchase
A short tract mainly opposing faith healing, giving scriptural examples.

SLACKS HERBAL
Click to Purchase
A Thompsonian work with a full materia medica, specific recipes for various pills, ointments, etc, and a dietary section.

THE OLD ROOT AND HERB DOCTOR
Click to Purchase
A short Thompsonian work importantly including poisons and their antidotes, with allusions to "Native" tribes as a marketing gimmick.

THE PRINCIPLES OF OCCULT HEALING
Click to Purchase
A work of Theosophy detailing the advance of "drugless healing" and the coming era of miraculous healings foretold by Blavatsky.

MEDICAL FASHIONS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Click to Purchase
A little work detailing some of the evolution of medicine through the 1800s. An invaluable comparison to the current era of magical cloth squares and pseudoscientific lockdowns.

PARACELSUS AND HIS INFLUENCE ON CHEMISTRY AND MEDICINE
Click to Purchase
A little text about Paracelsus, his character, his de facto invention of premodern chemistry, and his involvement with herbal materia medica, etc.

A TREATISE ON ACUPUNCTURATION
Click to Purchase
A short and early work detailing the basic premise of acupuncture, cupping, and some medical anecdotes.

OUTLINES OF GREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE
Click to Purchase
A collection of major figures, practices, and ideas, from Rome and Greece from antiquity through the middle ages.

THE SANITARY CODE OF THE PENTATEUCH
Click to Purchase
A work laying out the various dietary, sanitary, and similar regulations and customs of the ancient Jews.

THE DIVINE ORIGIN AND CRAFT OF THE HERBALIST
Click to Purchase
A work comparing religious rituals to herbal medicine in Rome, Egypt, the Islamic World, Babylon, and more.

MEDIEVAL MEDICINE
Click to Purchase
A treatment of surgical and herbal lore from the Middle Ages, especially about Salerno, Montpellier, and the rise of Benedictine hospitals.

TAYLORS HERBAL
Click to Purchase
A short work from the dawn of the era of organic chemistry listing various plant species and their curative effects.

A PLEA FOR BOTANIC MEDICINE
Click to Purchase
A lengthy work detailing Thomsonian medicine.

BOTANIC MATERIA MEDICA
Click to Purchase
An encyclopedic list of many medicinal herbal remedies and their healing categories.

AN EPITOME OF THE HOMEOPATHIC HEALING ART
Click to Purchase
An exhaustive list of medical conditions and homeopathic treatments, with inclusions on various medicines and their usages generally.

THE USE OF BATHING IN MEDICINE
Click to Purchase
A work exploring ancient and modern usages of saunas, herbal baths, cold baths, and Galenism.

Primitive Physic: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This wonderful text dates all the way back to the middle of the 18th century. Mostly herbal and folk remedies, it is an extensive receipt-style work covering over 100 specific conditions for which, often, there are several distinct methods of cure listed. Some of the remedies it lists are dangerous and as such I will mention here that in no way do I condone or encourage its use as a medical guide.

Some things are mentioned more frequently within Wesley's treatise here; agrimony, chamomile, vitriol, and a few other materials are listed dozens of times; others, such as quicksilver, are less frequently employed in his physic system. Overall, it's one of the more comprehensive guides to folk remedy from its era, predating many similar types of work that came half a century or more after its manufacture.

122 pages.

Three New Works I Acquired

I was unable to obtain one of the works I had in mind for the archive and release; a scrapbook and partly hand-written civil war era medical quack work with various recipes and letters and other miscellaneous inclusions; the price quickly surpassed my willingness to buy a work I was not able to physically examine for condition.

However I did obtain three quack-era works related to medicine, including two on homeopathy and a third on the usage of gunpowder as a remedy. I will release these works as free scans for the archive as soon as I figure out my new printer/scanner combo and will also craft them into new editions.

from the ebay listing

I Am Attempting To Obtain some Extremely Important Works

By tonight I may have a very, very special treat for people interested in strange medical and spiritual literature. Lest someone try to outcompete me I won't mention what the specific titles are; but suffice it to say that at least two of the works I am trying to obtain in one lot off ebay are not even mentioned on any website (I doubt the person selling them has any idea of their true value) and a separate work is literally one of a kind. I will do everything in my power to grab these works up, scan them for the archives, and release editions of them as well to perpetuate their apparently exceptionally rare content. No book should ever be entirely forgotten.

Only after the bidding has completed and the works are (I hope) officially mine, will I show them off here and speak of their titles and content. I am extremely excited right now because they relate to the upcoming herbal/etc category I intend to build.

I am also on the lookout for a few other things I wish to obtain also, not all of which relate to literature. I've wanted for some time to get a victorian-era garnet ring but I have to find the exact size and style I desire.

Herbal and Homeopathic Works: New Category Forthcoming

I am pleased to say I finally obtained enough material to begin rendering a series of works to print which will culminate in an entirely new category of literature which, after they are edited, will be listed on this blog; specifically, herbals, homeopathy, and similar works related to folk medicine and similar topics. Some of the titles are hereby listed:

Weeds Used in Medicine (1917)- An interesting and partly illustrated basic herbal.
South Sea Herbal (1715)- A short herbal with many illustrations.
The Treatment of Disease (1886)- An early scientific medical tract.
A Brief Treatise on Various Ailments (1890)- A list of diseases and their herbal remedies.
The Canadian Herbal (1851)- A longer medical tract with various remedies.
Dr Chases' Recipes (1866)- Remedies, herbs, quack medicine, and other material.
Occult Science in Medicine (1893)- Alchemy, astronomy, medicine, and more.
On Snake Bites and their Antidotes (1862)- An article on the obvious from the transactions of the philosophical society of New South Wales.

There are a half dozen other, much longer, works as well that I have acquired for release.

Tract on the Tincture and Oil of Antimony: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This was a one-day editing work alongside some material I got done for Sickness in Hell and the Greater Key; a little work by Roger Bacon on processing antimony to make the infamous red oil of the philosophers, using also lead, in a way quite similar to the work of Hollandus on the topic of Saturn.

The process here is quite literal so those who desire more how-to and less metaphoric alchemical lore will probably appreciate this specific tract. The medical applications of the final result of this work are considered here to be quite prolific- ranging from treating gout to preventing or stopping mania and fever.

24 pages.

What Your Neighbor's Say: Now Available!

CLICK TO PURCHASE

This little booklet is one of the most bizarre things I've ever edited. It manages to combine Victorian-Era quack medicine (various and often psychotropic pills and tablets) with a fairly decent dream interpretation section (similar to that of Tousey's "Napoleon's Oraculum) and multiple "recipes for invalids." It also contains some folkish material, specifically regarding the preservation of linens, cleaning kitchenware, and fire safety.

The testimonials and ads for Dr. Pierces' medicines are amusing but not generally connected to the more interesting dreams-and-folkishness content.

36 pages.

A New Booklet I Obtained; And More!

I have obtained a copy of Dr. Pierces' "What your Neighbors Say about You." This long-running quack pharmaceutical pamphlet is half dream interpretation and half other material- the "other" category is mostly medical ads for quack healing but also contains some herbal at-home remedies, recipes, and other stuff. The particular edition I purchased from ebay isn't like any of those I have seen on the internet as pdf scans so I can only guess at some of the content.

Obviously I plan to scan this for the occult archive (as the first new file available there in several years! Huzzah!) as well as to create a paperback edition for others to purchase. The dream interpretation section appears to be almost as long as that found in Napoleon's Oraculum.

I am currently editing "The Hieroglyphical Fortune Teller" which is similar to the early 1900s Oraculum but has Hebrew lettering instead of nativity symbols and has several different questions and a dissimilar casting system. It will take quite a bit of time to complete despite its short length because I am simultaneously writing "Sickness in Hell" (I am now done with the epilogue and first three chapters!) and editing The 1875 work "The Secret Book of the Black Arts" (not to be confused with the similarly titled work by Cavendish much later.) It's a somewhat longer work (about 200 pages) so I will release three or four shorter manuscripts while editing it.