The dome of thought

The dome of thought
Author: William Hughes
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2022-03-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1526143747

The dome of thought is the first study of phrenology based primarily on the popular – rather than medical – appreciation of this important and controversial pseudoscience. With detailed reference to the reports printed in popular newspapers from the early years of the nineteenth century to the fin de siècle, the book provides an unequalled insight into the Victorian public’s understanding of the techniques, assumptions and implications of defining a person’s character by way of the bumps on their skull. Highly relevant to the study of the many authors – Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot, among them – whose fiction was informed by the imagery of phrenology, The dome of thought will prove an essential resource for anybody with an interest in the popular and literary culture of the nineteenth century, including literary scholars, medical historians and the general reader.

On Psychological Language

On Psychological Language
Author: Graham Richards
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2021-11-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1000377202

First published in 1989, On Psychological Language and the Physiomorphic Basis of Human Nature was written to provide a new and controversial analysis of the nature of psychological language. The book argues that psychological concepts of all kinds are ultimately derived from concepts about the external world, so that ‘human nature’ is nothing more than ‘internalized Nature’. It draws attention to problems regarding the nature of linguistic reference, and puts forward a route for considering human psychological evolution, raising questions about the nature of psychology as a discipline and its relationship with the physical sciences. This ‘physiomorphic theory’ challenged ways of thinking about psychological language at the time of original publication. Interdisciplinary in its approach, On Psychological Language and the Physiomorphic Basis of Human Nature has enduring relevance for those with an interest in psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and linguistics.

Medical Meddlers, Mediums and Magicians

Medical Meddlers, Mediums and Magicians
Author: Dr Keith Souter
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2011-11-30
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0752478079

The Victorians had a thirst for knowledge. This drove them to explore the unchartered corners of the world, plumb the unfathomable depths of science, discover evolution and create some of the engineering and architectural marvels of the world. Yet this open-mindedness also at times made them utterly gullible. Because of their closeness to disease and the ever-present threat of their own mortality, it was inevitable that they would be open to the claims of quacks who promised all kinds of panaceas, and to mediums who offered a means of communicating with the dead. So too did it make them eager for diversion and entertainment by the conjurers and illusionists of the great music halls. Strangely, it was through the magic-making skill of the conjurers that the activities of many of the tricksters and fraudulent mediums finally came to be exposed. Medical Meddlers, Mediums & Magicians is a box of delights for all students of Victoriana.