James Finaghty

Alfred Webb

1878

Finaghty, James, an Irish astrologer and exorcist, flourished the end of the 17th century. He acquired a wonderful reputation for curing diseases by passes and incantations, and was followed at times by vast crowds, so that persons were trodden to death in their eagerness to approach him. His deceptions were eventually unmasked by the efforts of Sir William Petty, and he sank into obscurity.

Sources

115. Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science (4). Dublin, 1846-'77.

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