Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds Vol. I (1852)

The object of the author in the following pages has been to collect the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray. Contents: the Mississippi scheme, the south-sea bubble, the tulipomania, the alchemists, modern prophecies, fortunetelling, the magnetizers, influence of politics and religion on the hair and beard, the crusaders, the witch mania, the slow poisoners, haunted houses, popular follies of great cities, popular admiration of great thieves, duels and ordeals, relics. Illustrated with engravings.