SKULLS, RAPPERS, GHOSTS AND DOCTORS
By PHILIP D. JORDAN
Henry Ward Beecher, fashionable eastern
preacher, thought
it vulgar to call phrenology the science
of skull bumps, but, despite
his protests that this popular
pseudo-science was an investigation
of the mind,1 thousands of Americans
hung gaily-colored charts
above tin wash-basins and analyzed
themselves while they shaved.
Lawyers plead their clients after
exhaustive cranial examinations,
and physicians, not to be outdone by the
antics of barristers,
solemnly diagnosed ailments with the aid
of phrenological dia-
grams and journals. They even turned to
mesmerism, spiritualism
and a dozen other strange cults which
involved the supernatural
and made the middle decades of the
nineteenth century a hot-bed
of chicanery. So great an impact did
phrenology make upon
medicine that as late as 1900 a respectable medical dictionary
treated the subject seriously.2
From the 1830's until the turn of the
century, Americans
eagerly sought the wisdom hidden in the
contours of the skull
and concealed within portions of the
body. Gentle ladies avidly
pored over articles devoted to the
mysteries of phrenology, learn-
ing that the "heart lay in the
head" and that "as the heart was
always considered a lady's province, we
thought our sex had now,
good authority for looking to their own
heads at least."3 In
New York, Boston, Lexington and
Cincinnati, groups gathered to
be instructed in the mysteries of
phrenological wisdom. Literary
journals seriously debated the merits of
the system which had
originated in Germany under the
direction of J. J. Gall and was
carried to England by John Gasper
Spurzheim where George
Combe popularized it.
1 Henry W. Beecher, Eyes and
Ears (Boston, 1864), 21.
2 George
M. Gould, An Illustrated Dictionary of Medicine, Biology, and Allied
Sciences (Philadelphia, 1900), 1075.
3 American Ladies' Magazine (Boston, 1864), 21.
339
340
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"From what we have said."
commented a western editor when
speaking of Gall,
it will be evident that Phrenology is
yet in its infancy; it will be evident
also, that its first propagator sought
to establish its truth by observation,
the only way in which it can be
established. We make this remark, because
it has been said and repeated in a
spirit that is as foolish as it is unfair,
that he mapped out the brain
arbitrarily, fixing each faculty as his own
good pleasure directed. It has been
argued that Phrenology leads to ma-
terialism, fatalism, and immorality;
these questions we reserve for another
time; the doctrine has been called
absurd, childish, and degrading; it has
been treated in a way that casts shame
upon the assailants; in short, it has
been attacked by argument, ridicule, and
invective, notwithstanding all
which, it still lives, and is still
believed in.4
A Presbyterian pastor, after examining
the tenets of phren-
ology, was not as generous as were some
editors or even other
clergymen. In Cincinnati, a minister
wrote bluntly: "The very
high claims of Phrenology, and the very
extensive and important
influence it proposes to exert in
modifying or entirely changing
the received exposition of the word of
God are certainly good
reasons why its principles should be
subjected to careful scrutiny."
He went on to say: "It is the more
important that this be done,
because, unlike most other systems of
philosophy, it has been
completely popularized. Its influence is
by no means confined
to men of speculative minds. It is a
visible, tangible thing. Men
have only to learn the geography of
the skull, look at its general
shape, and feel its protuberances and
indentations, and they can
at once read the whole character of the
individual, intellectual
and moral!"5 Therefore, the system could lead only to material-
ism, denial of a free will, and
inconsistency with virtue and a
moral social order.
But the effect of phrenology upon
society disturbed its found-
ers very little. They were primarily
concerned with learning the
secrets of the human brain and, if
possible, discovering the physio-
logical roots of nervous disorders and
mental derangement. Combe
believed that phrenology alone could
claim the solidity of a
4 Western Monthly Magazine (Cincinnati), I (1833), 136.
5 N. L. Rice, Phrenology Examined,
and Shown to be Inconsistent with the Prin-
ciples of Physiology, Mental and Moral Science, and
the Doctrines of Christianity
(New York, 1849), 19.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 341
physiological foundation,6 and
both Gall and Spurzheim were
committed to the idea that the
development of the brain might
be illuminated by the configuration of
the head.7 Dr. Charles H.
Stedman, physician and surgeon to the
United States Marine
Hospital, firmly believed that
phrenology had established a foun-
dation upon which would rest all
subsequent discoveries in the
physiology of the brain. It is little
wonder that other American
physicians should endorse a doctrine
advanced by distinguished
European neurologists, for all three of
phrenology's founders--
Gall, Spurzheim, and Combe--held the
medical degree.
But phrenology did not come full-strong
as a popular pas-
time to the United States until 0. S.
Fowler, after being stimulated
by Beecher at Amherst College, began
publishing the Phrenological
Almanac in 1840. Five years earlier, however, a phrenological
catechism had been published which
defined the study as a branch
of philosophy and said that it was daily
gaining converts both at
home and abroad.8 Fowler's
almanac, a garish paper priced to
suit a popular market sold a
surprisingly large number of copies.
Within two years after the appearance of
the almanac, the un-
trained and conceited Fowler brought out
his American Phrenolog-
ical Journal and Miscellany
which popularized the theory that
"the various faculties of the mind
occupy distinct and separate
areas in the brain-cortex, and that the
predominance of certain
faculties can be predicated from
modifications of the parts of the
skull overlying the areas where these
faculties are located." Fow-
ler then laid off the head in areas and
located the human character-
istics and abilities, neatly and nicely,
in each area.
He pigeonholed the "animal
propensities--irritability, prof-
ligacy, destructiveness, selfishness--at
the sides of the head,
around and between the ears; he placed
the "social" affections--
connubial love, parental love, love of
home--in the back and lower
portions of the head; he tucked the
"aspiring" faculties--self-
esteem, firmness, spirituality, memory,
language, and reasoning--
6 Andrew Combe, Observations on Mental Derangement, being the
Application of
the Principles of Phrenology to the
Elucidation of the Causes, Symptoms, Nature, and
Treatment of Insanity (Boston,
1834), 194. First American edition.
7 J. G. Spurzheim, The Anatomy of the
Brain, with a General View of the Nervous
System (Boston,
1834), xv. First American edition.
8 Member of the Phrenological Society of
Edinburgh, A Catechism of Phrenology
(Philadelphia, 1835), 13, 15. From
the sixth Glasgow edition, but the first American
edition.
342
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
at the crown with the moral virtues on
its top and the intellectual
abilities in the forehead; he assigned
the perceptions "which re-
late man to matter"--form, size,
and weight--around the eyes;
and he gave the
"reflectives"--imitation, mirth, casuality--a posi-
tion in the upper portion of the
forehead.9 A place for every
human trait, and every trait in its
place was the epitome of
Fowler's system.
If his adherents found difficulty in
locating on their own
heads the thirty-seven characteristics,
they could purchase from
the firm of Fowler and Wells in New York
City a plaster phreno-
logical bust which was guaranteed, after
payment of a dollar and
twenty-five cents, to enable everyone to
study without an instruc-
tor. The Irish laborer, suspecting that
his area of combativeness
was too highly developed, might purchase
a paper chart for as
little as a penny, although he could, if
he wished, spend fifty cents
and secure a more artistic diagram done
in colors and with due
regard for human curves. Visitors in New York were invited
to visit the Phrenological Cabinet at
129 Nassau Street where
casts and busts from the "heads of
most of the distinguished men
that ever lived" were on display
and where spectators could com-
pare the shape and size of their own
heads with an impressive
display of monkey skulls. If they wished
to pay a small fee they
were given a professional examination
resulting in verbal and
written descriptions of character,
"including directions as to the
lost suitable
occupations, the selection of partners in business,
congenial companions for life, and the
government of children."10
Gullible Americans, easily duped as the
showman Barnum
proved again and again, flocked to
phrenological readers in an
attempt to solve their personal,
professional and business problems.
A New York firm advertised for a boy to
learn a trade, but said
that he must bring a recommendation from
a phrenologist. Even
figures in the literary world took
advantage of the soothsayer in
bumps. Lydia H. Sigourney, for example,
permitted an extensive
character analysis to be published. Not only did her examiner
9 American Phrenological Journal (New York), IX (1847), 14; in addition to
phrenology, the Fowlers also dabbled in
architecture. See 0. S. Fowler, A Home for
All, or the Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building (New
York, 1854).
10 Ibid., XI (1849),
inside cover.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 343
reveal all her moral and intellectual
attainments, but was suffi-
ciently skilled in his craft to
determine that "her appetite is
naturally good, but
controllable."11 Modern psychiatry
could
do little better! Politicians and
diplomats, not to be caught with-
out knowledge of their talents, besought
the phrenologist's aid.
Cassius M. Clay, James K. Polk
and Louis Kossuth all were
subjected to the Fowler system of
character reading. As a matter
of fact, it was not absolutely necessary
for an individual to appear
in person for examination. The phrenologist could perform
equally well if given a photograph or
even a reasonable facsimile
of a subject.
But phrenology as the "mirror of
human nature"12 soon was
to expand, in the hands of the wily,
until it embraced a score of
systems all calculated to solve the
intimate problems of the mind.
Among the phrenological reformers in the
western country was
Joseph R. Buchanan, editor of the Journal
of Man and professor
of cerebral physiology at the Eclectic
College of Medicine in
Cincinnati. Buchanan, elaborating upon
Fowler's system, devised
the subjects of cerebral physiology,
pathogomy and sacrognomy,
Upon these he lectured to medical
students and, in 1854, incor-
porated his notes in a heavy volume
entitled Outlines on the
Neurological System of
Anthropology.13
Fumbling in clumsy fashion, Buchanan
sought to show the
relationships between brain areas and
resultant mental powers.
His pathogomy was the result of an
attempt to determine the
"mathematical laws of muscular
action as governed by the
brain,"14 and his science
of sarcognomy recognized the "indi-
cations of mind in the bodily frame, and
traced the entire corre-
spondence of the body with the brain and
mind--thus doing for
the body what craniology has done for
the brain."15 In other
words, just as the bumps on the head
indicated certain mental
capabilities, so did the various
portions of the human body house
other temperaments and personal
characteristics. Working from
11 L. N. Fowler, "Phrenological Description of Mrs. L. H.
Sigourney," Phrenological
and Physiological Almanac (New York, 1847), 27.
12 R. H. Collyer, Manual of Phrenology (Cincinnati, 1839),
7.
13 Joseph R. Buchanan, Outlines on
the Neurological System of Anthropology as
Discovered, Demonstrated and Taught in
1841 and 1842 (Cincinnati,
1854).
14 Ibid., 278.
15 Ibid., 359.
344
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
the top down, Buchanan laid off the body
frame in four great
divisions: the region from the top of
the head to the place where
the neck met the shoulders was
the location of spirituality; from
the shoulders to the knees was the
region of humanity; from the
knees to the ankles was the region of
animality; and from the
ankles to the bottom of the feet was the
area of vegetation. Each
of these areas was subdivided further,
so that, for example, re-
ligious characteristics were located in
the upper chest of the
region of humanity and "hate"
was found in the left buttock with
the region of crime and selfishness
beginning on the opposite
cheek and extending up the back. Along
the margin of the ribs
lay irritability, fear, melancholy,
disease, and sensitiveness. "Am-
bition, upon the anterior surface of the
arm," corresponded with
"turbulence upon the posterior of
the leg."16
As the young medical student absorbed
this knowledge, he
came to realize the tremendous
significance of Buchanan's system
in treating the sick. He learned, for
example, that the well-
trained physician, by glancing at the
hair of a patient, could deter-
mine personal traits. "Firm and
erect," wrote the master, the
hair "displays the line of Firmness
and Energy, or of occipital
force; flat and drooping, it shows the
lack of force of character."17
Such teachings affected medical practice
of the nineteenth cen-
tury more than has been commonly
believed, and when physicians
managed to secure testimonials from
prominent public figures,
the average man was completely taken in.
Dr. R. H. Collyer, for example, was a
physician with a large
following in Cincinnati and
vicinity. During January, 1839,
Collyer gave instruction in phrenology
to a group in Columbus.
At the close of the course of lectures,
the class, on motion of
Dr. J. Dunham, passed a resolution which
said, in part, that "as
to the merits of Dr. Collyer as a
Lecturer, as an intelligent man,
and as an independent friend of truth,
we hereby tender him our
best wishes for his future success in
life; and our thanks for his
laudable efforts to rescue an important
branch of science, inti-
mately connected with physiology and
pathology, or man in every
16 Ibid., 372.
17 Ibid., 357.
OHIO
MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR
345
stage of existence, from the destroying
hand of imposters, and
from the ruthless grasp of ignorant
opponents."
Collyer, of course, had brought to
Columbus with him an
impressive collection of documents which
testified to his success
as a phrenologist. Thomas Ewing, once
United States Senator
from Ohio, wrote that "this morning Dr. Collyer examined my
head, when an entire stranger to me. In
his observations, during
the examination, he disclosed a
knowledge of traits and even
shades of my character, which would
hardly be known to my
familiar friends." A careful
reading of this testimony could lead
a skeptic to believe that Ewing was
dealing in double-talk, but the
language of Henry Clay, whom Collyer examined at Ashland,
Kentucky on August 25, 1838 was couched
in terms of unmistak-
able praise. Even Dr. William Gibson, professor of surgery at
the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in
1836 that Collyer's find-
ings were correct in every particular.18
Such evidence, of course, sharpened the
appetite of the Amer-
ican for phrenological study, and this
zest was increased when it
was learned that Dr. Andrew Combe,
physician extraordinary to
the Queen of Scotland and consulting
physician to the King and
Queen of the Belgians, was practicing
phrenology with royal ap-
proval. In 1849, after seven Edinburgh editions of Combe's
book
had been brought out, Fowler published
the first American edition
which soon became a best seller.19 When
Fowler began to tour
the country in the interest of
phrenology, the people were stimu-
lated further.20 By this time the publishing house of
Fowler and
Wells was issuing thirty books,
pamphlets, almanacs and periodi-
cals devoted exclusively to phrenology.
In addition, the firm put
out thirty-two titles concerning
hydrotherapy, twenty-one titles
dealing with physiology, three titles on
phonography, eleven titles
on mesmerism and psychology and nineteen titles of a miscel-
laneous nature.21
Some of the saner members of the medical
profession, real-
izing that phrenology was degenerating
even more into racketeer-
18 Collyer, Manual, "Testimonials,"
1-4.
19 Andrew Combe, The Principles of
Physiology Applied to the Preservation of
Health and to the Improvement of Physical and Mental
Education (New York, 1849).
20 The Water-Cure Journal and
Herald of Reforms (New York),
XVII (1854), 88.
21 Ibid., 68-9.
346
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ing, attempted to sound a warning. At the annual meeting of
the Germain Association of Naturalists and Physicians held at
Weisbaden in 1852,
the opinion was reached that phrenology was
void of any anatomical or physiological
basis, and that the "di-
vision and allocation of the several
mental faculties, so glibly ac-
complished by the phrenologist was
totally unwarranted and un-
psychological." 22 Yet the following year in the trial for
murder
of Nancy Farrer, a Hamilton County Court
in Ohio accepted the
testimony of a physician-phrenologist as
well as the opinions ad-
vanced by other doctors.23 In 1860, when the public became
exercised over the trial of the Reverend
Mr. Jacob S. Harden
who was found guilty of poisoning his
wife, a phrenologist pointed
to the fact of his guilt before the jury
brought in its verdict. "His
head is broad above the ears,"
wrote an analyst,
and not well expanded in the top. He has
an emotional temperament, and
an animal nature. We should pronounce it
an unfavorable head in a regi-
ment, if we were examining their heads
in the dark. He appears to have
small Cautiousness, but little
Conscientiousness, not much
Benevolence,
strong animal propensities generally,
and very active Approbativeness, not
a high order of intellect, and our
wonder is why he had a desire to be a
preacher, and how he could render
himself acceptable to an intelligent
public as such.24
Not only was the phrenologist competent
to pass upon the
complexities of criminal character, he
also courageously attempted
the solution of matrimonial
problems. Fowler claimed that his
study showed
what organizations and phrenological
developments naturally assimilate and
harmonize with each other; that is, with
whom given individuals can, and
with whom they cannot, so unite
as to live affectionately and happily: ex-
plains in order to diminish or remove,
occasions of discord between husbands
and wives, by showing them how to adapt
themselves to the phrenological
developments of each other, and thus how
to strengthen the ties of con-
nubial love; and conducts all who follow
its principles to a happy union
for life with a congenial spirit.25
22 The Western Lancet (Cincinnati), XIV (1853), 125.
23 Ibid., XVI (1855),
657.
24 American Phrenological
Journal (New York),
XXXII (1860), 17.
25 O. S. Fowler, Matrimony: or Phrenology and Physiology Applied to
the Selection
of Congenial Companions for Life: Including Directions to the Married
for Living
Together Affectionately and
Happily (New York, 1851), v; L.
N. Fowler, Marriage:
Its History and Ceremonies; With a
Phrenological and Physiological Exposition of the
Functions and Qualifications of Happy Marriages (New York), 1847.
OHIO
MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR
347
That
the
American
people saw nothing humorous in Fowler's
book on
matrimony which he himself said that
he wrote in the
business intervals of one week is
attested by the fact that five
thousand copies of the first edition
sold within three months and
that a second edition sold ten thousand
copies within four months.
A sixty-first edition was published in
1851, and by that time the
total number of copies sold had reached
staggering proportions.
The book told all from an analysis and
adaptation of amativeness,
the evils of modern courtship, and
directions for courting and mar-
rying phrenologically to "never let
pride interfere with love,"
important hints to young ladies, and
directions to the married,
Fowler laid down such dictums as;
"I say, then, with emphasis,
that no man should ever pay his
addresses to any woman, until
he has made his selection, not even to aid him
in making that
choice";26 "In forming the
matrimonial relations, let special care
be taken properly to blend the
qualities and assimilate the affec-
tions of each with those of the other"; 27 and
Above all, do not marry a soft and
delicate hand; for, soft hands neces-
sarily accompany soft brains, and a mind
too soft to be sensible; because
the whole organization, mental and
physical, partakes of one and the same
character; so that a soft, pliable,
yielding, delicate hand indicates a pre-
dominance of the same characteristic
throughout. Such may do for a
parlor toy, but not for a wife or
mother.28
While the people avidly were digesting
this type of wisdom
and applying it to their personal
problems, other phrenologists.
sensing the dollar-and-cents success of
Fowler, were publishing
similar nonsense and setting up shop as
character readers, mind
readers, ghost seers and
mesmerists. They issued handbooks by
the dozens.29 Their offices and consultation rooms
lined the
streets of many cities. The Civil War, with its attendant emo-
tional factors, stimulated the trade of
the phrenological fakir and
his "scientific" cousins--the
spirit medium, the mesmerist and the
character analyst--still further. The city of Washington was
26 Ibid., 79.
27 Ibid., 63.
28 Ibid., 53.
29 See,
for example, Samuel R. Wells, How to Read Character: A New Illustrated
Hand-Book of Phrenology and
Physiognomy for Students and Examiners (New
York,
1873); J. Stanley Grimes, The Mysteries
of the Head and the Heart Explained: In-
cluding an Improved System of Phrenology;
a New Theory of Emotions, and an
Explanation of the Mysteries of
Mesmerism, Trance, Mind-Reading, and the Spirit
Delusion (Chicago, 1875).
348
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
filled with them.30 In 1862, one New York newspaper printed
the advertisements of four medical
clairvoyants, twelve public
mediums and four spiritualistic
associations which were holding
regularly scheduled meetings.31 Even the Lincolns were not ad-
verse to mediums. The President
permitted a spiritualistic seance
in the White House in April, 1863, when
Charles E. Shockle was
invited to display his supernatural
powers,32 and Mrs. Lincoln
once journeyed to Georgetown to consult
a Mrs. Laury regarding
the death of Willie.33
Not only was the President and his
official family interested,
in varying degree, in the supernatural,
but many
other prominent
figures took a serious interest in the
antics of spiritualistic me-
diums. The world-famous band of singers
from the Old Granite
State, the Hutchinson Family, composed a
popular song about
the mystic forces of nature and delved
into spiritualistic practice
themselves, believing in the
"ministry of angels and that the
spiritual world is a present
reality."34 They were friends of
Fowler's, having frequently run across
him on tour while they
were giving concerts and he was
delivering his phrenological lec-
tures.
Upon one occasion they turned over their home, "High
Rock," near Lynn, Massachusetts, to
one of the nation's leading
spiritualists. At High Rock, Andrew Jackson Davis conducted
a spiritual congress to which came
phantom representatives of
the Jews, China, Persia, Japan, Turkey,
Greece, Rome, Germany,
Poland, Russia, Austria, Sweden and
Italy. There were also
"delegates" from Switzerland, Spain, Mexico, France,
Scotland,
England, Ireland, Africa and America,
including the native In-
dian. Other distinguished
"guests" included Solon and St. John.35
Davis gave modern spiritualism much of
its vocabulary and
formulated many of its underlying
principles. Born in New York
state in 1826, he had only five months'
formal schooling; yet
before his death in 1910, he had
published twenty-six books and
was editor of The Herald of Progress,
a newspaper devoted to
30 For a description of the oddities in
Washington society during the Civil War,
see Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington,
1860-1865 (New York, 1941).
31 The Herald of Progress (New York), January 11, 1862.
32 Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln:
The War Years (New
York, 1939), III, 343-6.
33
Ibid., II, 253.
34 John W. Hutchinson, Story of the
Hutchinsons (Boston, 1896), I, 274.
35 Andrew Jackson Davis, The Present
Age and Inner Life (New York, 1853),
83-120.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 349
the discovery and application of truth.
Known for his clairvoyant
descriptions of disease, he practiced
both mesmerism and spir-
itualism, but was wholly identified with
neither.36 In addition,
Davis wrestled with the problem of
insanity, coming to the con-
clusion that it was an hereditary
disease which "like the symp-
toms of consumption and cancer, may be
roused to full develop-
ment by the disobedience of organic or
mental laws."37 He
listed
fourteen contributive causes to mental
disability, which intrigued
physicians of the day and which included
physical over-exertion,
excessive eating and drinking,
protracted enthusiasm or joy, con-
tinued suspense of mind, and anxiety.
By this time the nation was a spiritual
sounding board with
the rappings of the departed thumping
out messages from an-
other world. In 1853, for example, a
medium in Cincinnati con-
tacted the spirit of Henry Clay which
expressed sentiments
against slave drivers and against
capitalists who had the spirit
of slave drivers.38
In Berlin, New York, Marietta Davis fell
into a nine-day
trance from which she could not be
wakened and when she awoke,
according to the sworn testimony of her
mother and two sisters,
"said that she had been in Heaven;
that she had seen there many
of her old friends and relations who
were dead; and Jesus, the
Redeemer." Dr. Emerson Hull who treated her said that
when
Marietta returned to consciousness she
told wondrous tales of
the hereafter and of her angelic guide.
"That form," wrote the
celestial visitor, "more lovely
than language hath power to por-
tray, moved silently as it drew near me.
Upon her head was a
crown, formed like gems of clustering
rays. The light of her
countenance reflected like a flowing
garment the encircling mani-
festations of celestial love. In her
left hand was a cross, emblem
of meekness, innocence, and redeeming
grace; in her right hand
a wand of pure intellectual
light."39
About the same time, William H. Beecher testified that he
had "magnetized" a lad whom
physicians had been unable to cure.
36 Dictionary of American Biography
(New York, 1930), V, 105.
37 Davis, Present Age, 251.
38 Cleveland Daily True Democrat, July 29, 1853.
39 J. L. Scott, Scenes Beyond
the Grave: Trance of Marietta Davis (New York,
1854), 15; a fourth edition was
published by Stephen Deuel, Dayton, Ohio. in 1856.
350
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"What is the matter with you
?" asked Beecher.
"My brain is sore," came the
answer.
"Where?" prodded Beecher.
"Where it joins the spinal
marrow."
"Can Doctor A--cure you?"
"No," said the lad.
"Why not?"
"He don't know anything about
it," came the decided reply.
"Can Doctor C--?"
"No, he don't understand it."
"Will the medicine you now use do
you good ?" continued
Beecher.
"No."
"Of what is it composed ?"
"There is turpentine in it," said the
boy.
"Does the Doctor give it to you for
tape-worm?"
"Yes."
"Have you any?"
"No."
"Would you like to walk?" inquired
Beecher.
"Yes."
"Well, walk!"
The boy thereupon arose promptly,
stepped between the
chairs, walked from the wall to the door
and returned. After
a time he became so highly
"charged" that he instantly would
taste or eat anything his sister tasted
or ate.40
The renowned Catharine Fox and her
mother, the "original
rappers," were performing in
Cleveland, and a Forest City judge
affirmed his faith in the occult.41
When, in 1864, a spiritualistic
convention met in Chicago, its sessions
caused as much sensation
as did the convention of mediums in New
York City two months
earlier.42
The pseudo-physicians, reformers,
up-lifters, water-doctors,
and Bloomerites who convened in these
cities brought not only
contact with the spirit world, but also
a score of techniques
40 John B. Newman, Fascination,
or the Philosophy of Charming (New York, 1851).
172-6.
41 Cleveland Daily True Democrat, August
5, 10, 1853.
42 Cleveland Leader, May
24; July 2; August 17, 1864.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 351
which, in their judgment, would
alleviate the physical and spir-
itual sufferings of afflicted man. Some
followed John A. Wroc
and John Reid and maintained that man
was a self-acting Gal-
vanic battery. A few felt themselves in
direct contact with the
"etherium" and so could
communicate light, heat, electricity and
mental emotion from one mind to another.
Others, following
the pattern set by Franz Antoine Mesmer,
fiddled with magnetic
plates, rods, and the baquet, a
circular tub filled with water, vials
and patients and charged with magnetic
iron bars to magnetize
the water. More were mediums possessing
that dramatic power
to levitate the human body as introduced
by Henry Gordon in
1851. On one occasion Gordon said he was
transported for sixty
feet through the New York air from one
house to another. Others
in attendance at the conventions were
adept in the art of spirit-
writing on slates, the use of the ouija
board, the materialization
of luminous apparitions and of the
appearance of physical objects,
such as birds, animals and even portions
of the human body.43
Antics such as these made a deep
impression upon the public,
especially when the phrenologist and
clairvoyant solemnly assured
relief from pain and worry. Even the
medical profession, fum-
bling for the origins of many common
diseases and mental dis-
turbances, was impressed, if skeptical.
Benjamin Rush, valiantly
attempting to solve the problem of insanity, believed that the
"cause of madness is seated
primarily in the blood-vessels of the
brain," and his diagnosis of
dreaming, nightmare and somnam-
bulism was little better than the
interpretations of some spiritual-
ists.44 Other early attempts
at psychology fared little better, and
when a medium, such as the Reverend Mr.
C. Hammond, was
able to converse directly, by means of
spirit writing, with Thomas
Paine, many men felt assured that the
spiritualist, not the physi-
cian, held the key to unlock the
solution of human woes. "We
shall not seek to correct the outward
service." wrote Paine's
crayon on the spiritualist's slate,
"but the inner man; and, when
the mind is reformed, the outward
condition will become har-
43 E. Douglas Branch, The
Sentimental Years (New York, 1934), Chap. XII.
44 Benjamin Rush, Medical Inquiries and
Observations upon the
Diseases of the
Mind (Philadelphia, 1830), 15;
Chap. XIV.
352 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
monious with it."45 Then came the
ringing promise "Onward
is the word. Onward is progress. Onward
is thy motto. On-
ward is thy passport. And, when thou
shalt reach the mansion,
thou wilt say, Onward. Onward will admit
thee, guide thee, and
give thee a wisdom thou hast not known. Onward,
then, will
unfold a change of thy mind, and qualify
thee for usefulness."46
What scientist could have promised as
much?
No wonder that A. Brierre de Boismont, a
fully accredited
French physician, Chevalier of the
Legion of Honor, and member
of the National Academy of Medicine,
wrote his history and ex-
planation of hallucinations and that
Robert T. Hulme, member
of the Royal College of Surgeons of
England and lecturer on
comparative anatomy at the Grosvenor
Place of Medicine should
translate it into English. An Ohio edition was published at
Columbus in 1860 by the Joseph H. Riley
& Company.47 Yet this
book was no defense of the spiritualist
and, indeed, offered little
comfort to those who thought the
millennium could be achieved
only through the medium. Rather Brierre
sought to show that
hallucinations were the result of
"moral" or physical causes and,
in general, indicated maladjustment.48
He demonstrated further
that hallucinations might be caused by
insanity, but uncomplicated
by monomania, mania and dementia; by
insanity combined with
monomania, stupidity, mania, dementia
and imbecility; by delirium
tremens, drunkenness and the effects of
narcotic and poisonous
substances; by nervous diseases, such as
catalepsy, epilepsy, hys-
teria, hypochondriasis and hydrophobia;
and by febrile diseases.
inflammations, acute, chronic and other
affections, and with "cer-
tain states of the atmosphere."49
Followers of Fowler, Davis, Buchanan and
the other leaders
of phrenology, mesmerism and
spiritualism scorned any literature
which belittled their supernatural
talents. They still yearned for
the peace of the Seventh Circle where
all was harmony and
where no evil or pain intruded. They
spent their hard-earned
45 C. Hammond, The Pilgrimage
of Thomas Paine and Others to the Seventh
Circle in the Spirit World (Rochester, New York, 1852), 257.
46 Ibld.
47 Robert T. Hulme, On Hallucinations:
A History and Explanation of Apparitions,
Visions, Dreams, Ecstasy, Magnetism, and Somnambulism (Columbus, Ohio, 1860).
48 Ibid., XVI.
49 Ibid., 31-2.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY --- PRE-CIVIL WAR 353
money for instruction in
ventriloquism for "the proper
practice
of ventriloquism is a real blessing to those who have Weak
Lungs, Dyspepsia, or Liver
Affections"; by mail they ordered
sympathetic animal magnets which were
advertised as giving the
"Possessor all the Feelings and
Desires of the Giver"; and they
purchased the Passional Elastic Ring
alleged to 'very Greatly
Increase the Human Vitality."50
The faithful continued to pore over
literature purporting to
reveal the seven dynamic agents of nature and the doctrines of
correspondence ;51 to learn the
lessons of the philosophy of disease
and nervous force; 52 and to attempt to
unlock the secrets of clair-
voyance as applied to physiology and
medicine.53 They sought to
emulate the medium, Emma, who, for more
than eighteen months,
possessed the power to see the internal
organs of the body and
to taste medicines through tightly
corked bottles.54 Others
pur-
chased elaborate texts which not only
claimed to impart the arts
of magic, but also to furnish directions
for invoking, controlling,
and discharging spirits.55 Calipers for measuring heads were
being sold to the public for $3.50.
By 1874, despite substantial advances
made by the medical
profession, cheaply printed texts,
selling at ridiculously low prices,
offered complete directions for becoming
a clairvoyant as well as
instructions for practicing psychology
and mesmerism. Not only
did these booklets chart in exact detail
the precise passes which
the mesmerist should make over the head,
chest and stomach of
his subject, but they also advocated
mesmerism as a substitute
for established medical practice and for
anesthesia. It was said
that mesmerism offered
safety and a total paralysis of the
nerves of sensation; its disadvantages
are the length of time required to
mesmerize a new subject, and the general
ignorance of its action and uses by
medical men. When we consider its
advantages . . . and its few
disadvantages, we think, when comparing it
50 The Good Samaritan and Domestic Physician (New York), XX (n.d.), 4.
51 William Fishbough, The Macrocosm and Microcosm (New York, 1876),
Chaps.,
VIII, XXI.
52 John Bovee Dods, The
Philosophy of Electrical Psychology (New York, 1876),
Chap. IV.
53 Joseph Haddock, Psychology; or the
Science of the Soul (New York, 1876).
95-100.
54 Ibid., 95, 99.
55 Progressive Thinker Publishing House,
Art Magic, or Mundane, Sub-Mundane
and Super-Mundane Spiritism (Chicago, 1898).
354
OHIO ARCHAELOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
with the anaesthetic agents now in
general use, that it has decidedly the
fewest objections. Thus we have
instances of teeth being extracted, can-
cers removed and arms amputated without
producing the least pain. An-
other decided advantage is that patients
may be kept in this state for several
days at a time, without the least apparent danger, or bad
effects, thus giving
time to change the first bandages after
an operation before the patient is
aroused.56
This was only the beginning of the
clairvoyant's claims to
medical proficiency. It was claimed that
the mystic was a superior
diagnostician because he "was able
to see and explain the con-
dition of every organ in the
body."57 The mesmerist asserted also
that he could treat disease and
testified that he allayed fever. reme-
died diseases of the brain and of the
functional nervous system,
and was successful in caring for
blindness due to the 'torpor of
the optic nerve."58
As the nineteenth century came to a
close. the erratic cults
of earlier years gradually were being
replaced by scientific systems
based upon experimentation and research.
Neurology, under the
able leadership of Silas Weir Mitchell,
was forging ahead. A
new psychiatry, directed by such men as
William A. White, Smith
E. Jelliffe and Henry M. Hurd, replaced
the phrenological studies
of Fowler, the spiritualism of Davis, and the anthropology of
Buchanan. These exercises lingered to testify only that their
heyday was past and to mark the nadir of
a once powerful in-
fluence in American social life.59
56 How to Become a Clairvoyant (New York, 1874), 125-6.
57 Ibid., 127.
58 Ibid., 126-7.
59 As late as 1938, for example, M. Tope was publishing the
thirty-fourth volume
of The Phrenological Era in
Bowerston, Ohio.
SKULLS, RAPPERS, GHOSTS AND DOCTORS
By PHILIP D. JORDAN
Henry Ward Beecher, fashionable eastern
preacher, thought
it vulgar to call phrenology the science
of skull bumps, but, despite
his protests that this popular
pseudo-science was an investigation
of the mind,1 thousands of Americans
hung gaily-colored charts
above tin wash-basins and analyzed
themselves while they shaved.
Lawyers plead their clients after
exhaustive cranial examinations,
and physicians, not to be outdone by the
antics of barristers,
solemnly diagnosed ailments with the aid
of phrenological dia-
grams and journals. They even turned to
mesmerism, spiritualism
and a dozen other strange cults which
involved the supernatural
and made the middle decades of the
nineteenth century a hot-bed
of chicanery. So great an impact did
phrenology make upon
medicine that as late as 1900 a respectable medical dictionary
treated the subject seriously.2
From the 1830's until the turn of the
century, Americans
eagerly sought the wisdom hidden in the
contours of the skull
and concealed within portions of the
body. Gentle ladies avidly
pored over articles devoted to the
mysteries of phrenology, learn-
ing that the "heart lay in the
head" and that "as the heart was
always considered a lady's province, we
thought our sex had now,
good authority for looking to their own
heads at least."3 In
New York, Boston, Lexington and
Cincinnati, groups gathered to
be instructed in the mysteries of
phrenological wisdom. Literary
journals seriously debated the merits of
the system which had
originated in Germany under the
direction of J. J. Gall and was
carried to England by John Gasper
Spurzheim where George
Combe popularized it.
1 Henry W. Beecher, Eyes and
Ears (Boston, 1864), 21.
2 George
M. Gould, An Illustrated Dictionary of Medicine, Biology, and Allied
Sciences (Philadelphia, 1900), 1075.
3 American Ladies' Magazine (Boston, 1864), 21.
339