Pseudo-Science and Society in 19th-Century America

254 Pages·1987·24.968 MB·English

by  Arthur Wrobel (ed.)

Pseudo-Science
and Society
in Nineteenth
Century America
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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
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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
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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