Letters to a candid inquirer, on animal magnetism
Letters to a Candid Inquirer, on Animal Magnetism is a mid-nineteenth-century medical treatise by the Scottish chemist and physician William Gregory, published in Philadelphia by Blanchard and Lea in 1851 for a general readership curious about mesmerism. The four pictures are plain black-and-white line cuts: a mirrored-looking inscription of stylised letters, a sweeping flame-like leaf or fire motif, a shield with a caduceus between wings and the motto 'Prosunt quae omnibus', and a tavern scene of figures around a table. A designer could draw on the crisp heraldic shield and the bold, economical line work of the flame and inscription.
