Pseudo-science and society in nineteenth-century America / Arthur Wrobel, editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Wrobel, Arthur, 1940- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alternative medicine--United States--History--19th century.

Alternative medicine.

Quacks and quackery--United States--History--19th century.

Quacks and quackery.

United States--Social life and customs--19th century.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (254 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lexington, Kentucky : The University Press of Kentucky, 1987.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Progressive nineteenth-century Americans believed firmly that human perfection could be achieved with the aid of modern science. To many, the science of that turbulent age appeared to offer bright new answers to life's age-old questions. Such a climate, not surprisingly, fostered the growth of what we now view as ""pseudo-sciences"" -- disciplines delicately balancing a dubious inductive methodology with moral and spiritual concerns, disseminated with a combination of aggressive entrepreneurship and sheer entertainment.Such ""sciences"" as mesmerism, spiritualism, homoeopathy, hydropathy, and

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; 2. Robert H. Collyer's Technology of the Soul; 3. ""Nervous Disease"" and Electric Medicine; 4. Hydropathy, or the Water-Cure; 5. Andrew Jackson Davis and Spiritualism; 6. Phrenology as Political Science; 7. Sexuality and the Pseudo-Sciences; 8. Washington Irving and Homoeopathy; 9. Sculpture and the Expressive Mechanism; 10. Mesmerism and the Birth of Psychology; 11. Afterword; Contributors; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Z

Notes:

Includes bibliographies and index.

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-8131-6503-2

OCLC:

568690396