William Newnham (physician)

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William Newnham (1790–1865) was a British physician.Bartrip, Peter. (2004). [http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/20030 "Newnham, William (1790-1865), General Medical Practitioner"]. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

He was born in Farnham, Surrey. He was qualified in apothecary. In 1836, he became one of the first members of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association (later called the British Medical Association). He was also a member of the Royal Society of Literature.Greenhill, William Alexander. (1885). Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 40. Smith, Elder & Company. pp. 354-355

He was the author of Essay on Superstition (1830) which argued that apparitional experiences, dreams and spiritual visions had a physiological rather than a supernatural basis. It was republished in 2010 by Cambridge University Press.[http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/history-ideas-and-intellectual-history/essay-superstition-being-inquiry-effects-physical-influence-mind-production-dreams-visions-ghosts-and-other-supernatural-appearances "Essay on Superstition"]. Cambridge University Press.