William Hughes
Search for other papers by William Hughes in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
‘A field for quacks to fatten in’
Phrenology in the British Isles
Abstract only
Log-in for full text

This chapter starts by reassessing the significance of the intellectual hostility expressed towards Franz Joseph Gall’s former assistant, Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, by the Edinburgh physician John Gordon. This opens the chapter up to the first substantial assessment of the content, significance and consequences of Spurzheim’s lecture tour, which began in London, took him across the English provinces and saw him also lecture on, and practically demonstrate, phrenology first in Ireland and latterly in Scotland. The chapter advances an unprecedented body of detail with regard to the content of the lectures delivered in London in particular, with substantial quotation from unreprinted contemporary accounts of these events. The significance and impact of Spurzheim’s later symposia is also discussed at length, with particular reference being made to his lectures in Bath and Bristol, and his tour of Irish venues which saw him speak in Dublin and Cork prior to a long tour of Scotland.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

All of MUP's digital content including Open Access books and journals is now available on manchesterhive.

 

The dome of thought

Phrenology and the nineteenth-century popular imagination

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 840 264 49
Full Text Views 42 9 0
PDF Downloads 26 7 0