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Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the head readers : literature, humor, and faddish phrenology / Stanley Finger, Washington University, St. Louis.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Finger, Stanley, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Phrenology--History.
- Phrenology.
- Phrenology--Attitides.
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910.
- Twain, Mark.
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894.
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell.
- Genre:
- History.
- Physical Description:
- xviii, 346 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2023.
- Summary:
- "Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes had lifelong interests in phrenology. Their writings, often humorous, reflect their negative opinions of the head readers and craniology, but not phrenology's other tenets. This book shows how great literature can shed light on the science and medicine of the past"-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- The birth of a controversial doctrine
- Coming to America
- Skeptical in Hannibal
- The river, the West, and phrenology abroad
- Mark Twain's "small test"
- Tom, Huck, and the head readers
- More head readings and a phrenological farewell
- Young Holmes and phrenology in Boston
- An American in Paris
- Quackery and Holmes's head reading
- Holmes's professor on "bumpology"
- Holmes's "medicated novels"
- Mr. Clemens and Dr. Holmes
- Phrenology assessed.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Benjamin Franklin Library Fund.
- ISBN:
- 9781009301299
- 1009301292
- OCLC:
- 1338131614
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