BASTIAN

[Sir James Crichton-Browne, Scottish physician and psychiatrist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('James Crichton Browne') to 'Bastian', i.e. Charlton Bastian, questioning the 'overwhelming conclusions' of his 'ingenious and laborious experiments'.

Author: 
Sir James Crichton-Browne (1840-1938), Scottish physician, psychiatrist and neurologist [(Henry) Charlton Bastian (1837-1915), physician and neurologist]
Publication details: 
Ivy Bush Hotel, Carmarthen (on cancelled letterhead of 'Crindau | Dumfries, N.B.' [Scotland]); 13 January 1907.
£250.00

The entry on Bastian in the Oxford DNB finds one of 'the great paradoxes of Bastian's work' to be 'that in neurology his views were highly conventional, while in biology, and what became bacteriology, they became unorthodox and eventually eccentric.' Chief among Bastian's heterodox positions was his belief in the spontaneous generation of bacteria, the subject of the present letter. 8pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums, both with mourning borders. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with minor damp staining. He begins by thanking him for his letter and 'the interesting abstract enclosed'.

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