Excerpt from On Certain Conditions of Nervous Derangement: Somnambulism, Hypnotism, Hysteria, Hysteroid, Affections, Etc A book, published in 1876, having for the last two years been out of print, I have taken the opportunity afforded by the demand for a new edition - which would long ago have been complied with but for the stress of other engagements - to thoroughly revise the work, and while adding largely to the subjects now considered, to make it more homogeneous by omitting everything specially relating to spiritualism. The interesting conditions of which the present volume treats are being very attentively studied both in this country and in Europe, and ought to be brought to the knowledge of the general reader. They are the fields upon which the miracle-worker expends his most energetic labor, for he knows something of the forms under which they are manifested, and he also knows that by making adroit use of them he can deceive thousands of innocent but ignorant people to his own advantage, and that of any system which requires miracles for its establishment or aggrandizement. As a knowledge of the conditions in question becomes more diffused, the ability to work miracles will be correspondingly diminished, and in the hope of contributing to these ends this little book is written. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.