Bookplate from Volume I of "Demonology and Devil-lore."
The supernatural has enduring appeal in pop culture — as evidenced by the popularity of shows like Supernatural, True Blood, and Misfits — but also has a firm place in more academic surroundings. Before the physiological or neurological reasons were known for issues like epilepsy or schizophrenia, demoniac possession or the curse of a deity seemed as good an explanation as any for the symptoms at hand.
In the late nineteenth century, Moncure Daniel Conway invested considerable time and effort in his multi-volume Demonology and Devil-lore, both a mythological examination of the traditions and stories around evil spirits and demons and a whole-hearted condemnation of what he saw as their effects on the modern world: “The natural world is overlaid by an unnatural religion…” (vii)
Conway discusses devils, demons, and evil spirits from a range of Eastern and Western sources and a pantheistic perspective, including discussion of the figure of the ‘devil’ in Hindu and Christian traditions, for example.
The volumes may be of interest to those with a mythological bent — similar, perhaps, to Edith Hamilton’s Mythology or interesting to browse alongside Bulfinch’s Mythology. But it should also prove interesting to researchers working with medieval, early modern, or even modern sources in the history of medicine. Diagnoses have been described in terms of deity and demon; patients describe their symptoms in terms that make sense to them and those terms are often based in familiar narratives such as fairy-tales and mythological stories like the ones Conway examines.
And if you happen to be in the Boston area, the Countway has a great exhibit featuring more on Dr. Deetjen, the collector of this volume.
As always, for more from the Medical Heritage Library, please visit our full collection!