Packham, Ellen (Author)
In this paper, I examine the controversial career of William Gregory (1803–1858). As a chemistry professor and chemical author, Gregory made many attempts to redefine the bounds of chemical science to incorporate mesmerism, phrenology and animal magnetism. I use a series of letters between Gregory and the prominent phrenologist George Combe to highlight the fact that the definition of ‘established science’ and its disciplinary boundaries were matters that occupied the thoughts and affected the careers of both men. Gregory maintained his reputation as a chemist while simultaneously being ridiculed for his public promotion of phrenology, mesmerism and animal magnetism. Where previous scholarship has tended to separate Gregory's chemical work from his support for disputed phenomena, this paper aims to prove that, for Gregory and his contemporaries, work on mesmerism, animal magnetism and phrenology was methodologically inseparable from chemical work. Gregory argued that all facts and theories should be judged and debated using the same criteria for credibility, accuracy, scepticism and rigour. He and others pushed to include contested phenomena within the boundaries of science to ensure that the facts, controversies and theories relating to them could be subjected to the same rigorous investigation and legitimate debates as were expected of chemical facts and theories.
...More
Article
John van Wyhe;
(2020)
Johann Gaspar Spurzheim: The St. Paul of Phrenology
(/isis/citation/CBB951876615/)
Article
Dyde, Sean;
(2015)
George Combe and Common Sense
(/isis/citation/CBB001551284/)
Chapter
van Wyhe, John;
(2007)
The Diffusion of Phrenology through Public Lecturing
(/isis/citation/CBB000773402/)
Article
Adam Crabtree;
Eberhard Bauer;
(2022)
On why history is never finished: Puységur, animal magnetism, and the importance of collective scholarship
(/isis/citation/CBB896534888/)
Book
Stack, David;
(2008)
Queen Victoria's Skull: George Combe and the Mid-Victorian Mind
(/isis/citation/CBB000951986/)
Article
Adam Crabtree;
(2019)
1784: The Marquis de Puységur and the psychological turn in the west
(/isis/citation/CBB552242153/)
Article
Carlos S Alvarado;
(2019)
Jules Bernard Luys on magnetic pathology
(/isis/citation/CBB875248563/)
Book
Montiel, Luis;
(2006)
Daemoniaca: Curación mágica, posesión y profecía en el marco delmagnetismo animal romántico
(/isis/citation/CBB000830258/)
Book
van Wyhe, John;
(2004)
Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific Naturalism
(/isis/citation/CBB000470085/)
Article
Benjamin Kahan;
(2021)
The Unexpected American Origins of Sexology and Sexual Science: Elizabeth Osgood Goodrich Willard, Orson Squire Fowler, and the Scientification of Sex
(/isis/citation/CBB635751906/)
Article
Sarah Bull;
(2021)
More Than a Case of Mistaken Identity: Adult Entertainment and the Making of Early Sexology
(/isis/citation/CBB616546207/)
Article
Staley, Thomas W.;
(2009)
Keeping Philosophy in Mind: Shadworth H. Hodgson's Articulation of the Boundaries of Philosophy and Science
(/isis/citation/CBB001030596/)
Article
Bartolucci, Chiara;
Lombardo, Giovanni Pietro;
(2012)
The Origins of Psychology in Italy: Themes and Authors That Emerge through a Content Analysis of the Rivista di Filosofia Scientifica
(/isis/citation/CBB001251154/)
Article
Rowlinson, J. S.;
(2009)
The Border between Physics and Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB000954652/)
Chapter
Regourd, François;
(2008)
Mesmerism in Saint Domingue: Occult Knowledge and Vodou on the Eve of the Haitian Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB000774590/)
Book
Brain, Robert Michael;
Cohen, R. S.;
Knudsen, Ole;
(2007)
Hans Christian Ørsted and the Romantic Legacy in Science: Ideas, Disciplines, Practices
(/isis/citation/CBB000773725/)
Article
René Sigrist;
(2019)
The First Generations of Russian Chemists (1700-1830). Between Pharmacy, Technical Know-How and Academia
(/isis/citation/CBB825742258/)
Thesis
Harris, Martha Lynn;
(2008)
The Physico-Chemical Nature of the Chemical Bond: Valence Bonding and the Path of Physico-Chemical Emergence
(/isis/citation/CBB001561124/)
Book
Gisela Boeck;
Hans-Uwe Lammel;
(2011)
Wissen im Wandel – Disziplinengeschichte im 19. Jahrhundert: Referate der interdisziplinären Ringvorlesung des Arbeitskreises „Rostocker Universitäts- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte“ im Wintersemester 2007/08
(/isis/citation/CBB074305093/)
Book
Lykknes, Annette;
Opitz, Donald L.;
Tiggelen, Brigitte Van;
(2012)
For Better or for Worse: Collaborative Couples in the Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB001202383/)
Be the first to comment!