Embodied Selves an ANTHOLOGY of PSYCHOLOGICAL TEXTS 1830-1890
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GENIUS, WOMANHOOD AND THE STATISTICAL IMAGINARY: 1890s HEREDITY THEORY IN THE BRITISH SOCIAL NOVEL by ZOE GRAY BEAVIS B.A. Hons., La Trobe University, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (English) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2014 © Zoe Gray Beavis, 2014 Abstract The central argument of this thesis is that several tropes or motifs exist in social novels of the 1890s which connect them with each other in a genre, and which indicate a significant literary preoccupation with contemporary heredity theory. These tropes include sibling and twin comparison stories, the woman musician’s conflict between professionalism and domesticity, and speculation about biparental inheritance. The particulars of heredity theory with which these novels engage are consistent with the writings of Francis Galton, specifically on hereditary genius and regression theory, sibling and twin biometry, and theoretical population studies. Concurrent with the curiosity of novelists about science, was the anxiety of scientists about discursive linguistic sharing. In the thesis, I illuminate moments when science writers (Galton, August Weismann, William Bates, and Karl Pearson) acknowledged the literary process and the reading audience. I have structured the thesis around the chronological appearance of heredity themes in 1890s social novels, because I am arguing for the existence of a broader cultural curiosity about heredity themes, irrespective of authors’ primary engagement with scientific texts. Finally, I introduce the statistical imaginary as a framework for understanding human difference through populations and time, as evidenced by the construction of theoretical population samples – communities, crowds, and peer groups – in 1890s social fictions. -
Special Articles
Walmsley Crichton-Browne’s biological psychiatry special articles Psychiatric Bulletin (2003), 27,20^22 T. WAL M S L E Y Crichton-Browne’s biological psychiatry Sir James Crichton-Browne (1840^1938) held a uniquely the brothers at the centre of British phrenology in distinguished position in the British psychiatry of his Edinburgh in the 1820s. time. Unburdened by false modesty, he called himself The central proposition of phrenology ^ that ‘the doyen of British medical psychology’ and, in the the brain is the organ of the mind ^ seems entirely narrow sense, he was indeed its most senior practitioner. unremarkable today. In the 1820s, however, it was a At the time of his death, he could reflect on almost half provocative notion with worrying implications for devout a century’s service as Lord Chancellor’s Visitor and a religious people. In Edinburgh, George Combe attached similar span as a Fellow of the Royal Society. great importance to drawing the medical profession into Yet,today,ifheisrememberedatall,itisasanearly an alliance and he pursued this goal with determination proponent of evolutionary concepts of mental disorder and occasional spectacular setbacks. (Crow, 1995). Summarising his decade of research at In 1825, Andrew Combe advanced phrenological the West Riding Asylum in the 1870s, Crichton-Browne ideas in debate at the Royal Medical Society and the proposed that in the insane the weight of the brain furore which followed resulted in the Society issuing writs was reduced, the lateral ventricles were enlarged and the prohibiting the phrenologists from publishing the burden of damage fell on the left cerebral hemisphere in proceedings. -
Evolution by Natural Selection
Approaches to studying animal behavior Foundations of modern study of behavior 1. Evolution by natural selection 2. Genetics and inheritance 3. Comparative method Evolution by natural selection Evolution by natural selection Species are not immutable Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913) Charles Darwin (1809-1882) Contributions to the Theory Origin of Species, 1859 of Natural Selection, 1870 Descent of Man, 1871 Thomas Malthus Descent from a common ancestor Evolution by natural selection Comparative method Reasons why Darwin‟s (and Wallace‟s) ideas weren‟t widely accepted: Comparative method: comparing traits and environments across taxa in search of correlations Lord Kelvin: Earth is only 15-20 million years old that test hypotheses about adaptation Darwin had no idea where genetic variability came from Thomas Hunt Morgan Darwin didn‟t George Romanes understand inheritance (1848-1894) Gregor Mendel 1 Ethology Ethology Scientific study of animal behavior Oskar Heinroth (1871-1945) Charles Otis Whitman (1842-1910) Appetitive behavior Wallace Craig (1876-1954) Douglas Spalding (1841-1877) tests the concept of instinct Consummatory behavior Rise of ethology Experimental ethology Karl von Frisch (1886-1982) Jakob von Uexkϋll (1864-1944) von Uexkϋll‟s tick and the Umwelt Ethology’s triumvirate Ethology’s triumvirate Konrad Lorenz Niko Tinbergen Karl von Frisch (1903-1989) (1907-1988) (1886-1982) 2 Sign stimuli Sign stimuli Lorenz‟s accidental discovery of sign stimuli or releasers Experimental ethology Experimental ethology Tinbergen‟s experiments -
Psychology Old and New
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons IRCS Technical Reports Series Institute for Research in Cognitive Science 1-1-2001 Psychology Old and New Gary Hatfield University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports Part of the Psychology Commons Hatfield, Gary, "Psychology Old and New" (2001). IRCS Technical Reports Series. 23. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/23 University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Technical Report No. IRCS-01-07. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/23 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Psychology Old and New Abstract Psychology as the study of mind was an established subject matter throughout the nineteenth century in Britain, Germany, France, and the United States, taught in colleges and universities and made the subject of books and treatises. During the period 1870-1914 this existing discipline of psychology was being transformed into a new, experimental science, especially in Germany and the United States. The increase in experimentation changed the body of psychological writing, although there remained considerable continuity in theoretical content and non-experimental methodology between the old and new psychologies. This paper follows the emergence of the new psychology out of the old in the national traditions of Britain (primarily England), Germany, and the United States, with some reference to French, Belgian, Austrian, and Italian thinkers. The final section considers some methodological and philosophical issues in these literatures. Disciplines Psychology Comments University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Technical Report No. IRCS-01-07. -
William Bateson: a Biologist Ahead of His Time
Ó Indian Academy of Sciences PERSPECTIVES William Bateson: a biologist ahead of his time PATRICK BATESON* Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, Cambridge CB3 8AA, UK William Bateson coined the term genetics and, more than son in a letter to Adam Sedgwick in 1905 when he hoped anybody else, championed the principles of heredity dis- to be appointed to a new chair (B. Bateson 1928). covered by Gregor Mendel. Nevertheless, his reputation William Bateson was the most vigorous promoter of is soured by the positions he took about the discontinui- Mendel’s ideas at the beginning of the twentieth century ties in inheritance that might precede formation of a new and effectively launched the modern subject of genetics. species and by his reluctance to accept, in its full- Historians of biology acknowledge the importance of this blooded form, the view of chromosomes as the control- contribution but criticise his ideas on sudden changes in lers of individual development. Growing evidence sug- evolution leading to the origin of new species and his gests that both of these positions have been vindicated. questioning of the role of chromosomes (Mayr 1982). In New species are now thought to arise as the result of this article I re-examine these criticisms of Bateson in the genetic interactions, chromosomal rearrangements, or light of modern advances in biology. both, that render hybrids less viable or sterile. Chromo- Bateson was born on 8 August 1861. He was raised in somes are the sites of genes but genes move between a comfortable home and had an eminent father who was chromosomes much more readily than had been previ- for 24 years Master of St John’s College, Cambridge. -
Exhibition Brochure
ince antiquity, science had meant Suncovering the unchanging elements REWRITING that underlay a changing world. This science meshed with religious accounts, which depicted the creation as inten- T H E B O O K tional and hierarchical. By the early 19th century, revolutions in science, politics, and technology had thrown OF NA T U R E all this into doubt. Into this upended Jacques Christophe Valmont de Bomare (1731–1807) world came Charles Darwin. Dictionnaire raisonné universel CHARLES DARWIN d’histoire naturelle (1764; Lyon, 1791) and the RISE of REWRITING THE An exhibition in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of EVOLUTIONARY THEORY Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) and the BOOK OF NATURE 150th anniversary of the publication of CHARLES DARWIN a n d t h e R I S E o f EVOLUTIONARY THEORY On the Origin of Species (24 November 1859) HARLES DARWIN’S VISION—“from so simple a beginning, endless forms most Produced by the History of Medicine Division C of the National Library of Medicine and the beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved”—now forms the foun- Office of History, National Institutes of Health dation of the biological sciences. Radical Curators: Paul Theerman & Michael Sappol in sweep, evolutionary theory laid bare the deep connections witin the living world—and Design: Joanna Ebenstein implicated humanity as deeply as any other species. Darwin rewrote the book of nature, and THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE CONTRIBUTED TO THE MAKING OF THIS EXHIBITION: forced us to rethink our own place within it. Kathleen Amos, Doug Atkins, Roxanne Beatty, Janet Browne, David Cantor, Ba Ba Chang, Rachel-Ray Cleveland, Kathy Cravedi, Amy Donahue, Laurie DuQuette, Sarah Eilers, Elizabeth Fee, Stephen Greenberg, Holly Herro, Adam Hetland, Margaret Kaiser, Sheldon Kotzin, Donald A.B. -
Evolution and Ethics, Revisited
Evolution and Ethics, Revisited thenewatlantis.com/publications/evolution-and-ethics-revisited They persuade the world of what is false by urging upon it what is true.” That is John Henry Newman in The Idea of a University (1852) referring to the sciences of his day, which threatened to dominate and even overwhelm theological education in the university. A science’s teaching might be true in its proper place but fallacious “if it be constituted the sole exponent of all things in heaven and earth, and that, for the simple reason that it is encroaching on territory not its own, and undertaking problems which it has no instruments to solve.” While Newman’s notion of science was far broader than ours, including even painting and music, his description of the overreach of science is still apt. We now have a term — “scientism” — for that fallacy, exemplified, as has been demonstrated in these pages, by Richard Dawkins’s pronouncement that genes “created us, body and mind,” and Edward O. Wilson’s claim that biology is the “basis of all social behavior.” If scientism has become so prevalent, it is partly because of the emergence of new sciences, each encroaching, as Newman said, on “territory not its own” (invading, we would now say, the turf of others), and each professing to comprehend (in both senses of that word) the whole. Intended as an epithet, the term has been adopted as an honorific by some of its practitioners. A chapter in the book Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized (2007) by three philosophers is entitled “In Defense of Scientism.” 1/9 Newman’s book appeared seven years before Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, which provoked the classic case of scientism — the mutation of Darwinism into social Darwinism. -
George Combe and Dr
GEORGE COMBE AND DR. ANDREW COMBE GEORGE COMBE ANDDREW COMBE The soothing advice of the professional biological determinist is ever the same regardless of era: “Don’t bother to try too hard, just relax and go with the flow, because you are what you are.” The professional biological determinist of Thoreau’s era was the phrenologist, whereas the professional biological determinist of our own era is the Thoreau Society’s pet sociobiologist, Professor E.O. Wilson of Harvard. Thoreau was familiar with phrenology, having studied the works of the founders of that discipline while a student at Harvard College, and having rubbed elbows with one of the chief local advocates of phrenology, Mr. Horace Mann, Sr. Phrenologists were even disturbing graves in Concord. It is marvelous that this had no influence on Henry, did not persuade him at all. HDT WHAT? INDEX DR. ANDREW COMBE GEORGE COMBE 1788 October 21, Tuesday: George Combe was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He would make of himself a lawyer and would turn to the science of Franz Josef Gall of Paris, known as “phrenology,” in an attempt to identify criminals at the earliest moment so that they could be proactively intercepted and prevented from beginning their lives of crime, and to identify the insane so they could be earlier committed to asylums. HISTORY’S NOT MADE OF WOULD. WHEN SOMEONE REVEALS, FOR INSTANCE, THAT A PARTICULAR INFANT WOULD MAKE OF HIMSELF A LAWYER AND WOULD TURN TO THE SCIENCE OF FRANZ JOSEF GALL OF PARIS, KNOWN AS “PHRENOLOGY,” IN AN ATTEMPT TO IDENTIFY CRIMINALS AT THE EARLIEST MOMENT, AND TO IDENTIFY THE INSANE, S/HE DISCLOSES THAT WHAT IS BEING CRAFTED IS NOT REALITY BUT PREDESTINARIANISM. -
The Distribution of Variation Before, During and After Speciation
The Distribution of Variation Before, During and After Speciation Chris Pritchard ABSTRACT Francis Galton and Charles Darwin both came to consider Quetelet’s law of error, now the normal curve, to be the best model for the distribution of variation in the characters of species where there is little pressure to survive. The initial focus for Galton was the distribution of abilities in humans and in this context he speculated that pressures arising from artificial selection, specifically differential birth rates across the social strata, distorted the distribution. He did not concern himself directly with the distribution of variation as species separate, though it is possible to picture the shape of the distribution implicit in his discussion of saltationism. Charles Darwin argued in Nature that, under changed conditions, the symmetry of the distribution would be lost around the point at which species separate but his son, George Darwin, showed how the symmetry would be restored. By a different argument, George Romanes also explained that the symmetry of the normal distribution would return and, with his analysis, Galton was in full agreement. Galton on the distribution of abilities before, during and after eugenic intervention In Hereditary Genius, published in 1869, Galton extended Quetelet’s use of the error law to model the distribution of abilities in humans. His interest was in the extent and manner in which intelligence was ranged in the population and how it might be transmitted from one generation to the next. Whilst he had nothing to say about animal species, he did draw conclusions about different races in man. -
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Charles Darwin on Animal Rights Gene Kritsky Department of Biology College of Mount St. Joseph Mount St. Joseph, Ohio 45051 Charles Darwin, the founder of the theory of evolution by natural selection, still stirs controversy as the public tries to grapple with his theories of selection and their implications for our species and its future. Yet as controversial as evolution by natural selection was, Darwin never publicly debated his views, rather he relied on colleagues and letters to newspapers to be his forum. However, there was one subject that so moved Darwin that he appeared before a Royal Commission of Parliament to discuss his views. Views so strong, that his son Francis said his father would become so angry that he hardly could trust himself to speak. The subject was animal rights (Darwin 1897). Animal rights, or vivisection as it was called in England at the time, concerned the use of animals in scientific experiments. This was a subject that not only concerned Charles Darwin, but also several members of his family. Darwin one time cautioned his friend, George Romanes, not to bring up the subject in front of the family to avoid an uncomfortable situation. The Darwin family's disdain for suffering was not restricted to animals but also included human suffering. The Darwin's had long been opposed to slavery. On the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, Charles' letters to home vividly show his disgust with the practice (Burkhardt and Smith 1985). With regard to animals, Darwin had a reputation in Downe such that carriage drivers would slow their horses when they past Darwin's estate. -
Marked Phrenological Heads
Journal of the History of Collections 9 no 1 (1997) pp 139-159 MARKED PHRENOLOGICAL HEADS Their evolution, with particular reference to the influence of George Combe and the Phrenological Society of Edinburgh M. H. KAUFMAN AND N. BASDEN Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jhc/article/9/1/139/767414 by guest on 28 September 2021 Franz Joseph Gall created the science oforganology on which phrenology was based; the latter being promulgated by Johann Gaspar Spurzhetm. In the British Isles phrenology was championed by George Combe who co-founded the Phrenological Society in Edinburgh m 1820. Phrenological or marked busts were produced as one of the keys to understanding phrenology, and were useful m identifying the relative positions of the phrenological 'organs'. Because the evidences of phrenology were gained by subjective and personal observation, a great number of conflicting or conjectural views arose. The busts at any one time or from any one individual clearly exhibit such changes m phrenological optmon. Here we shall consider the influences acting upon the phrenological bust with especial reference to George Combe and the Phrenological Society. More precisely we will illustrate these changes by examining examples surviving from the Phrenological Society's museum — now part of the William Ramsay Henderson Trust collection, supplemented by illustrations of several important items from other collections. The museum collection of the Edinburgh Miscellany (later the Phrenological Journal and Maga- Phrenological Society zine of Moral Science). The latter ran from 1838 to 1847 and was established, with financial support from THE collection of marked phrenological heads dis- the Henderson Trust, to stimulate debate, publicize played in the museum of the Department of Ana- the activities of the membership and to provide a tomy, University of Edinburgh, is of particular forum to propagate the gospel of Phrenology. -
Treasure Your Exceptions
Treasure Your Exceptions Treasure Your Exceptions The Science and Life of William Bateson By Alan G. Cock University of Southampton Southampton, UK and Donald R. Forsdyke Queen’s University Kingston, ON, Canada Authors Alan G. Cock (1926–2005) Donald R. Forsdyke (1938– ) University of Southampton Queen’s University Southampton, UK Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 Canada ISBN: 978-0-387-75687-5 e-ISBN: 978-0-387-75688-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008931291 © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connec- tion with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com To past, present, and future Christiana Herringhams and Eliza Savages, who treasure those “the system” will not. William Bateson, 1905 Contents Abbreviations ............................................................................................ ix Prologue....................................................................................................