Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Thematic Connections
- Chapter One Charlotte Temple, A Tale of Truth (1791), entire work
- Chapter Two The Life of Washington; with Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honorable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen (1800), selections
- Chapter Three American Tract Society, entire works (1825–Present)
- Chapter Four Awful Disclosures, by Maria Monk, of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal (1836), selections
- Chapter Five The Illustrated Self- Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology (1840), selections
- Chapter Six A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School (1841), selections
- Chapter Seven The Quaker City: Or, The Monks of Monk Hall A Romance of Philadelphia Life, Mystery, and Crime (1845), selections
- Chapter Eight Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie (1847), entire work
- Chapter Nine Reveries of a Bachelor: Or, A Book of the Heart (1850), selections
- Chapter Ten Uncle Tom's Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lowly (1852), selections
- Chapter Eleven Ten Nights in a Bar- Room, and What I Saw There (1854), entire work
- Chapter Twelve Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter (1860), entire work
- Chapter Thirteen Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Boot- Blacks (1868), entire work
- Chapter Fourteen Little Women, or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (1868), selections
- Chapter Fifteen The Gates Ajar (1868), entire work
- Chapter Sixteen The Luck of Roaring Camp (1868), entire work John Jenkins, Or, the Smoker Reformed (1871), entire work
- Chapter Seventeen Ben- Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), selections
- Chapter Eighteen The Hidden Hand: or, Capitola the Madcap (1888), selections
- Chapter Nineteen In His Steps. “What Would Jesus Do” (1896), selections
Chapter Five - The Illustrated Self- Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology (1840), selections
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Thematic Connections
- Chapter One Charlotte Temple, A Tale of Truth (1791), entire work
- Chapter Two The Life of Washington; with Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honorable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen (1800), selections
- Chapter Three American Tract Society, entire works (1825–Present)
- Chapter Four Awful Disclosures, by Maria Monk, of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal (1836), selections
- Chapter Five The Illustrated Self- Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology (1840), selections
- Chapter Six A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School (1841), selections
- Chapter Seven The Quaker City: Or, The Monks of Monk Hall A Romance of Philadelphia Life, Mystery, and Crime (1845), selections
- Chapter Eight Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie (1847), entire work
- Chapter Nine Reveries of a Bachelor: Or, A Book of the Heart (1850), selections
- Chapter Ten Uncle Tom's Cabin; Or, Life Among the Lowly (1852), selections
- Chapter Eleven Ten Nights in a Bar- Room, and What I Saw There (1854), entire work
- Chapter Twelve Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter (1860), entire work
- Chapter Thirteen Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Boot- Blacks (1868), entire work
- Chapter Fourteen Little Women, or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (1868), selections
- Chapter Fifteen The Gates Ajar (1868), entire work
- Chapter Sixteen The Luck of Roaring Camp (1868), entire work John Jenkins, Or, the Smoker Reformed (1871), entire work
- Chapter Seventeen Ben- Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), selections
- Chapter Eighteen The Hidden Hand: or, Capitola the Madcap (1888), selections
- Chapter Nineteen In His Steps. “What Would Jesus Do” (1896), selections
Summary
Phrenology, a science centered on discovering and exploiting correlations between the shape of a person's head and that person's personality and intellect, enjoyed incredible popularity among Americans throughout the nineteenth century. Franz Joseph Gall (1758– 1828), a Viennese physician, created what others would later call this “science of the mind.” Gall argued that the brain could be separated into 37 different “organs,” all of which corresponded to a different mental faculty, such as “spirituality,” “self- esteem,” “hope” and “destructiveness.” He believed that one could identify every person's strong and weak organs by the shape of his or her head and then move to improve areas that were underdeveloped and take advantage of a person's natural gifts. It was a highly optimistic system that promised tremendous self- improvement based on rigorous self- examination and discipline.
By the 1830s, more than forty phrenological societies had been established in the United States, and by the 1850s even the smallest American towns had been touched by a frenzied interest in the possibilities of phrenology. “Bump doctors” traveled the countryside lecturing, selling phrenological books and tracts and analyzing the heads of all willing to pay their fees. Countless Americans applied phrenology to the most practical matters of their lives, from choosing a mate to picking a career.
The most successful popularizers and educators of phrenology in America were members of the Fowler family: Orson, Lorenzo, Charlotte, and Charlotte's husband, Samuel Wells. Among the earliest traveling phrenologists, Orson and Lorenzo crisscrossed the country, promoting phrenology through their writings, lectures, and consultations. Among the more famous heads they analyzed were those of John Brown, Horace Greeley, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and Clara Barton. They eventually stopped traveling to establish the American Phrenological Institute in New York City, edit the country's first phrenological magazine, American Phrenological Journal, and work on a host of other phrenological projects and writings. One of their most famous works was The Illustrated Self- Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology. First published in 1840, it proved to be one of the century's most popular self- instruction manuals, going through more than twenty editions in the next fifty years.
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- Bestsellers in Nineteenth-Century AmericaAn Anthology, pp. 137 - 176Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2016