Pseudo-Science and Society in 19th-Century America PDF
Preview Pseudo-Science and Society in 19th-Century America
Pseudo-Science and Society in Nineteenth Century America This page intentionally left blank Pseudo-Science and Society in Nineteenth Century America ARTHUR WROBEL, Editor THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Copyright© 1987 by the University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmme College, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky Histoncal Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Ed1tonal and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0024 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pseudo-science and society in nineteenth-century America. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Therapeutic systems-United States-History- 19th century. 2. Quacks and quackery-United States History-19th century. 3. United States-Social life and customs-History-19th century. I. Wrobel, Arthur, 1940- R733.P78 1987 615.5 87-12464 ISBN: 978-0-8131-5544-9 Contents Acknowledgments vii 1. Introduction 1 ARTHUR WROBEL 2. Robert H. Collyer's Technology of the Soul 21 TAYLOR STOEHR 3. "Nervous Disease" and Electric Medicine 46 JOHN L. GREENWAY 4. Hydropathy, or the Water-Cure 74 MARSHALL SCOTT LEGAN 5. Andrew Jackson Davis and Spiritualism 100 ROBERT W DELP 6. Phrenology as Political Science 122 ARTHUR WROBEL 7. Sexuality and the Pseudo-Sciences 144 HAROLD ASPIZ 8. Washington Irving and Homoeopathy 166 GEORGE HENDRICK 9. Sculpture and the Expressive Mechanism 180 CHARLES THOMAS WALTERS 10. Mesmerism and the Birth of Psychology 205 ROBERT C. FULLER 11. Afterword 223 ARTHUR WROBEL Contributors 234 Index 237 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I wish to thank friends and colleagues who cheerfully read the various drafts of my contributions to this volume and made helpful suggestions with tact: Lance Olsen, Joseph A. Bryant, Jr., and Rush Welter. Taylor Stoehr shared with me a wealth of valuable information and minimized errors and oversights with his incisively critical readings. The volume also benefited im measurably from the care with which Howard Kerr read the entire manuscript and gave of his knowledge and critical in sights. Whatever errors remain, however, are my responsibility. My dissertation director at the University of North Carolina, C. Carroll Hollis, not only introduced me to the subject of the nineteenth-century pseudo-sciences, and phrenology in par ticular, but nurtured me both as a mentor and as a friend. I also wish to acknowledge my appreciation and debt to S.B.W., who saw me through the long foreground that led to this book, and to my wife, Maureen, for her patience and love. Arthur Wrobel This page intentionally left blank ARTHUR WROBEL---------- 1. Introduction Recent studies about the nineteenth-century pseudo-sciences primarily phrenology, mesmerism, spirtualism, hydropathy, and homoeopathy-have assumed a new character. Instead of being polemics by either partisans or opponents, or mere jour nalistic histories recounting the sensational and eccentric, these studies range from the popular and biographical to the intellectually esoteric. They are also interpretive. Scholars are discovering that these disciplines were warmly received during their heyday, not only among the uninformed and credulous but also among the respectable and educated, and that the diffusion and practice of these disciplines intertwined with all the major medical, cultural, and philosophical revolutions in nineteenth century America. On the surface, these pseudo-sciences have apparent dif ferences. Homoeopathy and hydropathy, for instance, were medical sects, while spiritualism, mesmerism, and phrenology explored uncharted avenues of knowledge. Such differences, however, should not be overemphasized. Of greater significance are the remarkable number of premises, methodologies, and teleological assumptions they shared and that placed them squarely in the midst of major currents of nineteenth-century thought. Their doctrines complemented the national belief that America occupied a special place in mankind's history; denied the distinction between body and mind, the material and the spiritual; gave credence to the message delivered by reformers that health and happiness are accessible to men; and presented a
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