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Kathleen Goligher
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20


Kathleen Goligher


William Jackson Crawford

Kathleen Goligher (born 1898) was an Irish spiritualist medium. Goligher was endorsed by engineer William Jackson Crawford who wrote three books about her mediumship but was exposed as a fraud by physicist Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe in 1921.

Investigations

Goligher was born in Belfast. She held séances in her own home with seven of her family members. The psychical researcher and engineer William Jackson Crawford (1881–1920) investigated the mediumship of Goligher and claimed she had levitated the table and produced ectoplasm.[1]

Crawford in his books developed the "Cantilever Theory of Levitation" due to his experiments with Goligher. According to his theory the table was levitated by "psychic rods" of ectoplasm which came out of the body of the medium to operate as an invisible cantilever. Crawford took flashlight photographs of the ectoplasm, and described the substance as "plasma". Crawford investigated Goligher's mediumship at her house for six years.[2] He committed suicide on 30 July 1920 for unknown reasons. Crawford's photographs of Goligher showed that the ectoplasm, frequently issued from her vagina.[3]

There were no scientific controls in the Crawford's séances with Goligher as she and her family members had their hands and legs free at all times.[4] After Crawford's death the physicist Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe investigated the medium Goligher at twenty sittings and arrived at the opposite conclusion to Crawford. According to d'Albe no ectoplasm or levitation had occurred with Goligher and stated he had found evidence of fraud. On 22 July 1921 he observed Goligher holding the table with her foot.[5] He also discovered that the "ectoplasm" substance in the photographs of Crawford was muslin. During a séance d'Albe had observed white muslin between Goligher's feet.[6]

In a letter to Harry Houdini, d'Albe wrote "I must say I was greatly surprised at Crawford's blindness."[7] The conclusion from d'Albe was that the Goligher family were involved in the mediumship trickery and had duped Crawford. D'Albe published The Goligher Circle in 1922 which exposed the fraudulent mediumship of Goligher and because of the exposure she retired from mediumship in the same year.[8]

Critical evaluation


Goligher with muslin

Crawford's experiments were criticized by scientists for their inadequate controls and lack of precaution against fraud.[9][10]

Physician Morton Prince in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology noted that Crawford's psychic rod hypothesis "fails to account for much and cannot be reconciled with what is scientifically known as matter, or force, or electricity, or energy."[9]

A review in the Journal of Applied Psychology suggested that Crawford does "not seem to have been able to avoid self-deception, and his experiments are not convincing."[11]

Psychical researcher Hereward Carrington noted that the photographs taken by Crawford look "dubious in appearance" and that "with rare exceptions, no other investigators had an opportunity to check-up his results, since outsiders were rarely admitted to the sittings."[12]

The surgeon Charles Marsh Beadnell published a booklet in 1920 that debunked the experiments. He also offered a cash prize to any medium who could produce a single levitation under controlled conditions.[7]

Bryan Donkin, M.D., studied the Crawford experiments called attention to "the superabundant exposure of the massive credulity and total defect of logical power displayed by Dr. Crawford," who gives "the most pathetic picture of a willing victim of pernicious deception".[13]

Psychologist Joseph Jastrow criticized the Crawford experiments as unscientific and wrote that "the minute detail of apparatus and all the paraphernalia of an engineering experiment which fills the Crawford books must ever remain an amazing document in the story of the metapsychic. As proof of what prepossession can do to a trained mind the case is invaluable."[14]

Joseph McCabe suggested that Goligher had used her feet and toes to levitate the table and move objects in the séance room and compared her fraudulent mediumship to Eusapia Palladino who performed similar tricks.[15] Edward Clodd also dismissed the experiments as fraudulent and noted that Goligher refused invitation to be examined by a group of magicians and scientists.[16]

Researchers such as Ruth Brandon and Mary Roach have heavily criticized Crawford's investigation, describing him as credulous and having a sexual interest in Goligher, such as an obsession with her underwear.[8][17] Crawford held a deep fixation on underwear, for example psychical researcher Theodore Besterman noted that before his suicide he "spent all his money (consequently leaving nothing) on a stack of woollen underwear for his family, sufficient to last for several years."[8]

In 1988, Susan Blackmore claimed that she had communicated with Dingwall about the case. Blackmore stated that Crawford had confessed to Dingwall that all the Goligher phenomena was fraudulent. Blackmore quotes Crawford as saying "Ding, I have to tell you something. It was all faked, all of it."[18]

See also

• Eva Carrière
• Mina Crandon

References

1. Buckland, Raymond. (2005). The Spirit Book: The Encyclopedia of Clairvoyance, Channeling, and Spirit Communication. Visible Ink Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-1578592135
2. Crawford, William Jackson. The Reality of Psychic Phenomena. (1918), Experiments in Psychical Science. (1919) and The Psychic Structures of the Goligher Circle (1921).
3. Jones, Kelvin I. (1989). Conan Doyle and the Spirits: The Spiritualist Career of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Aquarian Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-0850308372
4. Franklyn, Julian. (1935). A Survey of the Occult. Kessinger Publishing. p. 233. ISBN 978-0766130074
5. C. E. Bechhofer Roberts. (1932). The Truth About Spiritualism. Kessinger Publishing. p. 128. ISBN 978-1417981281
6. Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe. (1922). The Goligher Circle. J. M. Watkins. p. 37
7. Houdini, Harry. (2011 edition, originally published 1924). A Magician Among the Spirits. Cambridge University Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-1108027489
8. Roach, Mary. (2010). Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife. Canongate Books Ltd. pp. 110-116. ISBN 978-1847670809
9. Prince, Morton. (1919). Review of Experiments in Psychical Science, by W. J. Crawford. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 14: 355-361.
10. Jastrow, Joseph. (1920). A Psychic Tragedy: The Case of Professor Crawford. The Weekly Review 3: 412-415.
11. Anonymous. (1920). Experiments in Psychical Science. Journal of Applied Psychology 4 (2-3): 280.
12. Carrington, Hereward. (2003). The Story of Psychic Science. Kessinger Publishing. p. 197-200. ISBN 978-1161351118
13. Jastrow, Joseph. (1935). Wish and Wisdom: Episodes in the Vagaries of Belief. D. Appleton-Century Company. p. 377
14. Murchison, Cark. (1927). The Case For And Against Psychical Belief. Clark University p. 307
15. McCabe, Joseph. (1920). Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. London Watts & Co. pp. 58–61
16. Clodd, Edward. (1922). Occultism: Two Lectures Delivered in the Royal Institution on May 17 and 24, 1921. London: Watts & Co. pp. 28–34
17. Ruth Brandon. (1983). The Spiritualists: The Passion for the Occult in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. pp. 150-151. ISBN 0-297-78249-5
18. Blackmore, Susan. (1988). The Adventures of a Parapsychologist. Prometheus Books. p. 211. ISBN 1-57392-061-4

Further reading

• Charles Marsh Beadnell. (1920). The Reality or Unreality of Spiritualistic Phenomena: Being a Criticism of Dr. W.J. Crawford's Investigation into Levitations and Raps. Watts & Co.
• William Jackson Crawford. (1921). The Psychic Structures at the Goligher Circle. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company.
• Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe. (1922). The Goligher Circle. J. M. Watkins.
• Joseph Jastrow. (1920). A Psychic Tragedy: The Case of Professor Crawford. The Weekly Review 3: 412-415.
• Martyn Jolly. (2006). Faces of the Living Dead: The Belief in Spirit Photography. Miegunyah Press. ISBN 978-0977282739
• Joseph McCabe. (1920). Is Spiritualism Based On Fraud? The Evidence Given By Sir A. C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. London Watts & Co.
• Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick. (1917). Review: The Reality of Psychic Phenomena: Raps, Levitation etc. By W. J. Crawford. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 18: 29-31.

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London Missionary Society
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20

-- The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett, 1851-1904

-- London Missionary Society, by Wikipedia

-- Chapter I: India in 1795, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter II:Nathaniel Forsyth and Robert May, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter III: Pioneer Work in South India: 1804-1820, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter IV: Pioneer Work in North India, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

-- Chapter V: South Indian Missions: 1820-1895, Excerpt from The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895, by Richard Lovett [1851-1904]

Around 1900, the London Missionary Society produced a series of glass magic lantern slides depicting the missionary efforts of David Livingstone such as this one.

The London Missionary Society was a predominantly Congregationalist missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Dr Edward Williams working with evangelical Anglicans and various nonconformists. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational missions in Oceania, Africa, and the Americas, although there were also Presbyterians (notable for their work in China), Methodists, Baptists and various other Protestants involved. It now forms part of the Council for World Mission (CWM).

Origins

In 1793, Edward Williams, then minister at Carr's Lane, Birmingham, wrote a letter to the churches of the Midlands, expressing the need for world evangelization and foreign missions.[1] It was effective and Williams began to play an active part in the plans for a missionary society. He left Birmingham in 1795, becoming pastor at Masbrough, Rotherham, and tutor of the newly formed Masbrough academy.[2] Also in 1793, the Anglican cleric John Eyre of Hackney founded the Evangelical Magazine. He had the support of the presbyterian John Love, and congregationalists Edward Parsons and John Townshend (1757–1826).[3]

Proposals for the Missionary Society began in 1794 after a Baptist minister, John Ryland, received word from William Carey, the pioneer British Baptist missionary who had recently moved to Calcutta, about the need to spread Christianity. Carey suggested that Ryland join forces with others along the non-denominational lines of the Anti-Slavery Society to design a society that could prevail against the difficulties that evangelicals often faced when spreading the Word. This aimed to overcome the difficulties that establishment of overseas missions had faced. It had frequently proved hard to raise the finance because evangelicals belonged to many denominations and churches; all too often their missions would only reach a small group of people and be hard to sustain. Edward Williams continued his involvement and, in July 1796, gave the charge to the first missionaries sent out by the Society.[1][4]

The society aimed to create a forum where evangelicals could work together, give overseas missions financial support and co-ordination. It also advocated against opponents who wanted unrestricted commercial and military relations with native peoples throughout the world.

After Ryland showed Carey's letter to Henry Overton Wills, an anti-slavery campaigner in Bristol, he quickly gained support. Scottish ministers in the London area, David Bogue and James Steven, as well as other evangelicals such as John Hey, joined forces to organize a new society. Bogue wrote an influential appeal in the Evangelical Magazine for September 1794:[5][6]

Ye were once Pagans, living in cruel and abominable idolatry. The servants of Jesus came from other lands, and preached His Gospel among you. Hence your knowledge of salvation. And ought ye not, as an equitable compensation for their kindness, to send messengers to the nations which are in like condition with yourselves of old, to entreat them that they turn from their dumb idol to the living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven? Verily their debtors ye are.

John Eyre responded by inviting a leading and influential evangelical, Rev. Thomas Haweis, to write a response to Bogue's appeal. The Cornishman sided firmly with Bogue, and immediately identified two donors, one of £500, and one of £100. From this start, a campaign developed to raise money for the proposed society, and its first meeting was organised at Baker's Coffee House on Change Alley in the City of London. Eighteen supporters showed up and helped agree to the aims of the proposed missionary society -– to spread the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations. By Christmas over thirty men were committed to forming the society.

In the following year, 1795, Spa Fields Chapel was approached for permission to preach a sermon to the various ministers and others by now keenly associated with the plan to send missionaries abroad. This was organised for Tuesday 22 September 1795, the host chapel insisting that no collection for the proposed society must be made during the founding event which would be more solemn, and formally mark the origin of the Missionary Society. Hundreds of evangelicals attended, and the newly launched society quickly began receiving letters of financial support, and interest from prospective missionaries.

Early days

Joseph Hardcastle of Hatcham House, Deptford became the first Treasurer, and the Rev. John Eyre of Hackney (editor of the Evangelical Magazine ) became the first Secretary to the Missionary Society—the latter appointment providing it with an effective 'newspaper' to promote its cause. The Missionary Society's board quickly began interviewing prospective candidates. In 1800 the society placed missionaries with the Rev. David Bogue of Gosport for preparation for their ministries.[7]


The cession of the district of Matavai in the island of Tahiti to Captain James Wilson for the use of the missionaries.

A Captain James Wilson offered to sail the missionaries to their destination unpaid. The society was able to afford the small ship Duff, of 267 tons (bm). It could carry 18 crew members and 30 missionaries. Seven months after the crew left port from the Woolwich docks in late 1796 they arrived in Tahiti, where seventeen missionaries departed. The missionaries were then instructed to become friendly with the natives, build a mission house for sleeping and worship, and learn the native language. The missionaries faced unforeseen problems. The natives had firearms and were anxious to gain possessions from the crew. The Tahitians also had faced difficulties with diseases spread from the crews of ships that had previously docked there. The natives saw this as retribution from the gods, and they were very suspicious of the crew. Of the seventeen missionaries that arrived in Tahiti, eight soon left on the first British ship to arrive in Tahiti.

When Duff returned to Britain it was immediately sent back to Tahiti with thirty more missionaries. Unfortunately this journey was disastrous. A French privateer captured Duff, landed its prisoners in Montevideo, and sold her. The expense of the journey cost 'The Missionary Society' ten thousand pounds, which was initially devastating to the society. Gradually it recovered, however, and in 1807 was able to establish a mission in Guangzhou (Canton), China under Robert Morrison.

Another missionary who served in China was John Kenneth Mackenzie. A native of Yarmouth in England, he served in Hankow and Tientsin.

Starting in 1815, they hired Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir as a translator, to work on many texts including the gospels.[8]

After attending Homerton College, then in Hampstead, William Ellis (missionary) was ordained in 1815. Soon after his marriage to Mary Mercy Moor on 9 November 1815 they were posted to the South Sea Islands returning in 1824. He later become Chief Foreign Secretary.[9]

In September 1816 Robert Moffat (1795–1883) was commissioned in the Surrey Chapel, on the same day as John Williams. Moffat served in South Africa until 1870. Mary Moffat joined him and they married in 1819. The LMS only employed male missionaries and it preferred them to be married. The Moffats were to have several children who also became and/or married missionaries.[10]

In 1817 Edward Stallybrass was sent out to Russia to start a mission among the Buryat people of Siberia. The mission received the blessing of Alexander I of Russia, but was suppressed in 1840 under his successor Nicholas I. Alongside Stallybrass worked Cornelius Rahmn [Wikidata] of Sweden, William Swan and Robert Yuille of Scotland.

Later work and notable missionaries


London Missionary Society, Sāmoa (1949)

In 1818, the society was renamed The London Missionary Society.

In 1822, John Philip was appointed superintendent of the London Missionary Society stations in South Africa where he fought for the rights of the indigenous people.

1823 - John Williams discovered the island of Aitutaki, in Rarotonga. It is here that the missionary work was first established. In later years John Williams visited Rarotonga, taking with him two Tahitians he picked up from Tahiti. One of the Tahitians, named Papehia, was used as intermediaries to convince local chiefs to join the new gospel.

1830 – John Williams sighted the coast of Savai'i in Samoa and landed on August 24, 1830 at Sapapali'i village in search of Malietoa Vai‘inupo, a paramount chief of Samoa. John Williams was greeted by his brother Taimalelagi. Upon meeting Malietoa at a large gathering in Sapapali'i, the LMS mission was accepted and grew rapidly throughout the Samoan Islands. The eastern end of the Samoan archipelago, was the kingdom of Manu'a. The paramount chief, Tui-Manu'a embraced Christianity and Manu'a also became a LMS island kingdom.

1832 – John Williams landed at Leone Bay in what was later to become American Samoa. (Tala faasolopito o le Ekalesia Samoa) He was informed that men of their village have accepted the 'lotu' brought by an Ioane Viliamu in Savai'i; not knowing John Williams now stood before them. A monument stands before the large Siona Chapel – now CCCAS in Leone, American Samoa – in honor of John Williams.

In 1839 John Williams's missionary work whilst visiting the New Hebrides came to an abrupt end, when he was killed and eaten by cannibals on the island of Erromango whilst he was preaching to them. He was traveling at the time in the Missionary ship Camden commanded by Captain Robert Clark Morgan (1798-1864). A memorial stone was erected on the island of Rarotonga in 1839 and is still there today. His widow is buried with their son, Samuel Tamatoa Williams, at the old Cedar Circle in London's Abney Park Cemetery, the name of her husband and the record of his death described first on the stone. John Williams' remains were sought by a group from Samoa and his bones were brought back to Samoa, where throngs of the LMS mission attended a funeral service attended by Samoan royalty, high-ranking chiefs and the LMS missionaries. His remains were interred at the native LMS church in Apia. A monument stands in his memory across from the Congregational Christian Church of Apia chapel.

Rev. Alexander MacDonald and his wife Selina Dorcas (née Blomfield) arrived in Rarotonga in May 1836, then Samoa in April 1837 and settled at Safune on the central north coast of Savai'i island in [Samoa in August 1837. He left the LMS in 1850 when he accepted a position with the Congregational church in Auckland, New Zealand.[11]

1839–1879 – Reverend George Pratt served as a missionary in Samoa for many years, at the station at Matautu on Savai'i island.[12] Pratt was a linguist and authored the first grammar and dictionary on the Samoan language, first published in 1862 at the Samoa Mission Press.

In 1840 the medical missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873) departed for South Africa, arriving in 1841, and serving with the LMS until 1857. Moffat and Livingstone met circa 1841. In 1845 Livingstone married Robert and Mary Moffat's daughter Mary (1821-1862).

1844 – London Missionary Society established Malua Theological College at the village of Malua on Upolu to educate local men to become village clergy for the rapidly growing mission with over 250 villages and 25,000 membership.

1844 – London Missionary Society sent Samoan missionaries to surrounding islands; Rotuma, Niue, Tokelau, Ellice Islands, Papua, Vanuatu. Over 300 served in Papua alone.

The society soon sent missionaries all over the world, notably to India, China, Australia, Madagascar and Africa. Famous LMS missionaries included

• Robert Morrison (1782–1834) who went to China in 1807;
• John Smith (1790–1824) was a LMS missionary whose experiences in the West Indies, beginning in 1817, attracted the attention of the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. As a result of his actions in the Demerara rebellion of 1823, trial by court martial and subsequent death in 1824, whilst under imprisonment, Smith became known as the "Demerara Martyr";[13]
• John Abbs (1810–1888) who went to India in 1837. he spent twenty-two years in Travancore, Southern India.[14]
• James Legge (1815–1897), Sinologist;
• David Livingstone (1813–1873) who went to South Africa in 1840;
• Griffith John 楊格非 (1831-1912) from 1855 in Hubei [Hupeh], Hunan, [Szechwan], China;
• John Mackenzie (1835–99) who went to South Africa in 1858, argued for the rights of the Africans and against the racism of the Boers, and was instrumental in the creation of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (modern Botswana);
• Fred C. Roberts (1862-1894) went to Tientsin, China in 1887, taught at the first Western medical school in China and brought famine relief to rural villagers [15]
• Ernest Cromwell Peake (1899-1922) who brought 'western medicine' to Hengchow, China;
• Ernest Black Struthers (1886-1977) who travelled to Hong Kong in 1913;
• Eric Liddell, 1924 Olympic gold medalist in the 400 metres race, served as an LMS missionary to China.

Merger

The London Missionary Society merged with the Commonwealth Missionary Society (formerly the Colonial Missionary Society) in 1966 to form the Congregational Council for World Mission (CCWM). At the formation of the United Reformed Church in 1972 it underwent another name change, becoming the Council for World Mission (Congregational and Reformed). The CWM (Congregational and Reformed) was again restructured in 1977 to create a more internationalist and global body, the Council for World Mission.

The records of the London Missionary Society are held at the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

See also

• List of London Missionary Society missionaries in China
• Protestant missionary societies in China during the 19th Century
• School of Oriental and African Studies in London
• The Historical Background to Church Activities in Zambia
• List of ships named John Williams, seven LMS missionary ships
• SS Ellengowan, a missionary ship
• Missionary Day, French Polynesian holiday celebrating the arrival of the Duff in 1797

Publications

• Rev. C.W Abel, 'Savage Life in New Guine'
• Rev. George Pratt, 'A Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language'
• Dr. M. Christhudhas, 'Christianity and Health & Educational Development in South Travancore : The Work of the London Missionary Society from 1890-1947'

References

1. Wadsworth KW, Yorkshire United Independent College -Two Hundred Years of Training for Christian Ministry by the Congregational Churches of Yorkshire Independent Press, London, 1954
2. The LMS and the academy at Masbrough both date from the year 1795.
3. Porter, Andrew (2004). "Founders of the London Missionary Society (act. 1795), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/42118. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
4. Morison, John Fathers and Founders of the London Missionary Society - a Jubilee Memorial pages 427-443 chapter titled Memoir of the Late Edward Williams London: Fisher 1844. This publication may be viewed online at https://archive.org/stream/fathersfound ... 6/mode/2up
5. Laird, Michael. "Bogue, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2766. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
6. James Hay; Henry Belfrage (1831). A memoir of the Reverend Alexander Waugh: with selections from his ... correspondence, pulpit recollections, &c. ... Hamilton, Adams, & Co. p. 203.
7. Parker, Irene (1914). Dissenting academies in England: their rise and progress, and their place among the educational systems of the country. Cambridge University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-521-74864-3.
8. Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir". Encyclopædia Britannica. I: A-ak Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. pp. 23. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.
9. Jane Holloway (2019). Wisbech's Forgotten Hero. AuthorHouse.
10. "Moffat, Robert (1795–1883), missionary in Africa and linguist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18874. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
11. Lovett, Richard (1899). The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895. London : Henry Frowde.
12. Marjorie Crocombe & Ron Crocombe (1968). Works of ta'unga: records of a Polynesian traveller in the south seas, 1833-1896. University of the South Pacific. p. 19. ISBN 982-02-0232-9.
13. "Wallbridge's 'The Demerara Martyr'"
14. Charles Sylvester: The Story of the L. M. S., 1795-1895, 1895, p. 298. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
15. Bryson, Mary (1895). Fred C. Roberts of Tientsin. London: H.R. Allenson.

Bibliography

• Ellis, William (1844), 'History of the London Missionary Society', London: John Snow Volume One
• Lovett, Richard (1899), 'History of the London Missionary Society 1795-1895', London: Henry Frowde Volume One, Volume Two
• Goodall, Norman (1954), 'History of the London Missionary Society 1895-1945', London: O.U.P.
• Hiney, Thomas (2000), 'On the Missionary Trail', New York: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Chamberlain, David (1924), 'Smith of Demerara', London: Simpkin, Marshall &co
• Northcott, Cecil (1945), 'Glorious Company; 150 Years Life and Work of the London Missionary Society 1795–1945', London:Livingstone Press
• The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle
• Spa Fields Chapel Minutes, British History Online: Spa Fields Chapel Minutes: 1784-1811 | British History Online

External links

• The Council for World Mission (which incorporated the former LMS)
• Pilots website Youth organisation originally established to support the LMS
• Works by London Missionary Society at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about London Missionary Society at Internet Archive
• Griqua Coinage
• The papers of the London Missionary Society, and the Council for World Mission are held at SOAS Archives

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The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895 [Excerpt]
by Richard Lovett, 1851-1904

'This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.

'Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.' — Zech. iv. 6, 7.

'When in London Carey had asked John Newton, "What if the Company should send us home on our arrival in Bengal?" "Then conclude," was the reply, "that your Lord has nothing there for you to accomplish. But if He have, no power on earth can hinder you."' — Smith's Life of William Carey (1887), p. 55.

'A Hindu may choose to have a faith and a creed, if he wants a creed, or to do without one. He may be an atheist, a deist, a monotheist, or a polytheist, a believer in the Vedas or Shastras, or a sceptic as regards their authority, and his position as a Hindu cannot be questioned by anybody because of his belief or unbelief, so long as he conforms to social rules.' — Guru Prosad Sen

.

'It is not unreasonable to suppose that the last conquests of Christianity may be achieved with incomparably greater rapidity than has marked its earlier progress and signalized its first success; and that in the instance of India the ploughman may overtake the reaper, the treader of grapes him that soweth the seed," and the type of the prophet realized, that "a nation shall be born in a day."' — SIR J. E. Tennant's Christianity in Ceylon, p. 327 

CHAPTER I: INDIA IN 1795

In the last decade of the eighteenth century the vast majority of the inhabitants of Great Britain knew less about India than those of to-day know about Patagonia, and their interest in the welfare of its myriad peoples was slighter far than their knowledge of the country. The shareholders in the East India Company, and that limited section of the mercantile community which was awakening to the importance of India as a field for commercial and military enterprise, valued it as a means of rapid fortune-making. The only people who were beginning to devote serious and earnest attention to the nation's responsibilities in India were the despised evangelical section — voices crying in the wilderness — represented by such men as Carey and Bogue among the Nonconformists of England, and by men like Charles Grant of the East India Company. India then was more remote from the currents of common life and thought than Thibet is to-day. The fire of love to Christ, of faith in God, of quenchless desire to heal the sorrows of men, burning in humble yet consecrated hearts, supplied the motive power which has brought about the wonderful progress in India during the last century.

To reach India in 1795 was a serious undertaking, involving a voyage of long and uncertain duration. So little was known of the country that when, in 1804, Cran and Des Granges were sent to South India, their instructions indicated that they were expected to superintend churches in Tinnevelly, and also initiate a mission among the Northern Circars; that is, they were to carry on mission work in two centres, differing in every possible respect, and separated by at least 500 miles! And this ignorance is not marvellous when it is borne in mind that with all the information which has been circulated among missionary circles during the century, not one in ten of even the intelligent supporters of missionary enterprise can name the chief languages spoken in India, or indicate with any completeness the most powerful hindrances, due to native custom and thought, to the spread of the Gospel in the different parts of that vast land.

India is really a continent; as large as Europe less half of European Russia, and more varied in its different portions than Europe itself. In 1795 the population was about 150,000,000, one-fifth of the whole human race. By these myriads at least thirteen distinct, historic, literary languages were spoken, and no less than 100 minor languages and dialects are found in different parts. India, moreover, was the home of an ancient if simple civilization, the people were dominated by hoary and powerful religions, they were self-contained, self-satisfied, and conscious of no need of enlightenment such as Christianity brings, and in the world's history no enterprise has seemed so forlorn as Carey's when he sailed up the Hugli to 'attempt great things for God' among the teeming millions of Bengal.

Long years passed before the Church at home began to comprehend the mighty forces arrayed against the Gospel in India. Some of these sprung from the Hindus themselves, their manners, customs, laws, and beliefs; while others were due also in no small degree to the East India Company. To realize what the task attempted by the Christian Church in India from 1792 to 1825 really was, it is needful to glance at these in turn. The Rev. E. P. Rice, B.A., of the London Mission, Bangalore, has very ably set forth the chief of these:1 —

'1. First, there is the institution of caste, by which Hindu society is divided up into several thousands of sections, between which all intermarriage and exchange of hospitality is forbidden by the heaviest penalties. It has really no parallel in any other nation, and is generally recognized to be a more formidable barrier than any usage Christianity in the whole course of its history has had to contend against.

'2. Connected with this is the absence of all religious and social liberty, which makes the adoption of any other than the traditional customs the reason for relentless persecution by the whole community, and (until recently) for the forfeiture, not only of property, but of all civil and social and family privileges.

'3. The utterly perverted standard of conduct, which places Custom in the room of Conscience, and above all the laws of the Decalogue, demanding external conformity, and caring little for motive or character. There is no punishment in Hindu society for real wickedness, nor any encouragement for pure virtue. It lays supreme stress only upon such things as meats, and drinks, and sect-marks.

'4. The overweening arrogance and oppressive supremacy of the Brahman class, who by the gross abuse of their high intellectual gifts have made themselves to be regarded as "gods upon earth," moulded of superior clay to the rest of mankind, to whom all gifts are due by virtue of their mere birth, in whose interests all Hindu legislation has been made, and who have got into their hands all the positions of influence, and the control of all the wealth in the land, and who treat the remaining 95 per cent of the population as if called into being solely for their benefit.

'5. The gigantic system of Polytheistic idolatry — strong chiefly on account of its enormous endowments, the number of persons who make their living by it, and its power of deadening the conscience; a system which is served by a dissolute priesthood, popularized by festivals, processions, ritual, and legends; and stained by licensed prostitution and other forms of immorality.

'6. The fear of malignant demons (called euphemistically in Government returns "Animism"), which forms the worship of well-nigh half the population, who present their bloody offerings to the spirits whom they suppose to be the authors of cholera, small-pox, and cattle disease.

'7. The belief in religions merit to be obtained by acts of idol-ritual, pilgrimages to supposed sacred spots, and bathing in supposed sacred waters, by self-mortification, by almsgiving, and by the service of the Brahmans.

'8. The seductive Pantheistic teaching, which wipes out the distinction between right and wrong, denies the authority of conscience, the personality of God and the responsibility of man, and makes universal apathy the highest ideal of life, utterly paralyzing the will for any good, divorcing morality from religion and conduct from conviction.

'9. The degradation of woman, who is decreed to be mistress of herself at no period from birth to death, and showing itself in infant marriages, the immolation or cruel treatment of widows, the seclusion of vast multitudes in the zenana, and the withholding from her of education.

'10. The sad and immemorial degradation of the low castes (Panchamas), numbering some 50,000,000, who are treated as the lepers and offscouring of the earth, whose touch is pollution, denied the right to live in the villages, to draw water from the wells, to attend the schools, and sometimes even the use of the public roads.

'11. Add to these a whole jungle of superstitions beliefs and corrupt practices, which have been allowed to grow and multiply, rank and unchecked, for ages: astrology, belief in omens, obscene tantric rites, human sacrifices, Thuggism, infanticide, false-swearing, forgery, cunning exalted to the place of a virtue, policy to that of righteousness, unscrupulous usury, the prohibition of foreign travel, and the spirit of compromise, which takes under its sanction every form of superstition, as well as of vice and lust and cruelty. All these have to be replaced by the light of knowledge, and by the sweet atmosphere of Christian love, purity, justice, trust, and godliness.  

'By these great evils had the natural charm and graces of the Indian character been overborne. A frugal, home-loving, docile, courteous, and religious people, with a simple civilization, with many gracious traits and beautiful customs, and with much power of subtle thought, had been misled by the ignorance or unscrupulousness of their leaders. No kinder act could be done for them than to deliver the Hindus from Hinduism, and the Brahmans from Brahmanism, and to bring them into the glorious liberty and joy of the sons of God, and into the high privilege of discipleship to Him who has shown Himself the world's great Redeemer, the sinless Friend of sinners. Such was the task which the Church set before itself in the missionary enterprise.

'To all this must be added the conversion to Christ of the great Muhammadan population, numbering 58,000,000, more numerous in India than in any other country, inheriting many true conceptions respecting God and man, together with a chastely simple form of worship, and yet unable to reap the advantages of this inheritance, because of the pure externality in which they have made the essentials of religion to consist, their bigoted resistance to all new truth, and the finality they attribute to the traditional teaching and practices of Muhammad.'

To those who ponder this colossal system of religious beliefs and practices, and who remember the vast populations concerned, it will be obvious that victory over it can be won by no brief, spasmodic attacks, but only by a careful, many-sided propaganda, patiently and steadily maintained for a prolonged period. In previous centuries the Christian Church has never realized these facts, and has attempted the conversion of India by puny and inadequate efforts foredoomed to failure. During the nineteenth century it selected the most appropriate methods, and on a larger scale, which in due time will accomplish its purpose, and replace Hinduism by a fairer Christianity.

In addition to these tremendous obstacles, the early missionaries had to face bitter opposition where they might have reasonably expected, if not active co-operation, at least sympathy and toleration — at the hands of the East India Company. By the close of the eighteenth century the Company had become practically, though not yet absolutely, masters of India. Actually the Company held sway over only the Bengal, Behar, and Benares districts of the Ganges Valley, together with some stations on the Madras and Malabar coasts and Seringapatam. But the condition of the rest of India was such as to render the subsequent progress of conquest inevitable. In the earlier stages of its history the Company was not unmindful of its duties towards its employes, and endeavoured to secure for the main stations suitable chaplains. But at no period of its history does it ever seem to have considered the instruction of the natives in Christianity to be any part of its duty. From time to time among the officials and chaplains there were individuals who felt and who tried to discharge this responsibility; but it was done always in spite of, not with, official sanction. The ablest man of this class, and one to whom India owes an incalculable and yet largely unacknowledged debt, was Charles Grant. After thirty years' service he went home, became Chairman of the Directors, and in 1797 presented to the Board his Observations on the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain.  This treatise, so full of information and suggestions of the highest value, was kept back by his colleagues, and was not generally circulated until the year1813.

Public opinion at home, especially in those circles influenced by the 'Clapham Sect,' was becoming strongly aroused to the necessity of ending the complacent paganism of the East India Company's policy. In 1793, when the renewal of the charter came before Parliament, Wilberforce succeeded in passing a resolution 'that it is the peculiar and bounden duty of the British Legislature to promote, by all just and prudent means, the interest and happiness of the inhabitants of the British dominions in India; and that for these ends such measures ought to be adopted as may gradually tend to their advancement in useful knowledge, and to their religious and moral improvement.' But this resolution, tame and commonplace as it reads to-day, aroused such an angry storm that the Government threw over both it and its author, and for another twenty years the misdirected bigotry and short-sightedness of the East India House had their way. Not until 1813 was the victory won for religious freedom. 'The charter of 1813 was the foundation not only of the ecclesiastical establishment, but, what is of far more importance for the civilization and the Christianization of its people, of the educational system of India.'2

The result was immediate, and was also progressively satisfactory. Prior to 1813 missionaries had to be smuggled into the country, and could be expelled by the arbitrary dictum of the local governor. Not only was nothing done to teach the Hindus the folly and error of their religious systems, but in many ways British influence was used to protect and maintain them. As late as 1819 a Sepoy was expelled from the army for the crime of becoming a Christian, and Sir Peregrine Maitland, Commander-in-Chief of the Madras army, resigned rather than submit to the degradation of saluting idols. Even after 1813, Christian officials were not allowed in their private capacity the privilege of attempting to show Hindus 'the more excellent way' they followed themselves. But from the moment the charter passed, India entered upon a new path of political, social, and religious progress.

'At no period in the history of the Christian Church, not even in the brilliant century of legislation from Constantine's edict of toleration to the Theodosian code, has Christianity been the means of abolishing so many inhuman customs and crimes as were suppressed in India by the Company's Regulations and Acts in the first half of the nineteenth century. The Christ-like work kept rapid step with the progress of Christian opinion and beneficent reforms in Great Britain, but it was due in the first instance to the missionaries in India. In the teeth of the supporters of Hinduism, European as well as Brahmanical, and contrary to the custom of centuries, it ceased to be lawful, it became penal, even in the name of religion: (1) to murder parents by suttee, by exposure on the banks of rivers, or by burial alive; (2) to murder children by dedication to the Ganges, to be devoured by crocodiles, or daughters by the Rajpoot modes of infanticide; (3) to offer up human sacrifices in a temple, or to propitiate the earth-goddess; (4) to encourage suicide under the wheels of idol-cars, or wells, or otherwise; (5) to promote voluntary torment by hook-swinging, thigh-piercing, tongue-extraction, &c.; or (6) involuntary torment by mutilation, trampling to death, ordeals, and barbarous executions. Slavery and the slave-trade were made illegal. Caste was no longer supported by law, nor recognized in appointments to office. The long compromise with idolatry during the previous two centuries ceased, so that the Government no more called its Christian soldiers to salute idols, or its civil officers to recognize gods in official documents, or manage the affairs of idol-temples, and extort a revenue from idol-pilgrimages. A long step was taken by legislative Acts to protect the civil rights of converts to Christianity as to any other religion, and to leave Hindu widows free to marry.' 3

As Dr. George Smith points out in his Short History of Missions,4 'the real missionary influence of the East India Company, exercised by Providence through it in spite of its frequent intolerance and continued professions of neutrality till it was swept away in the blood of the Mutiny, was like that of the Roman Empire: (1) the Company rescued all Southern Asia from anarchy and made possible the growth of law, order, property, and peace as a sort of moral police; (2) the Company introduced roads, commerce, wealth, and the physical preparation for the Gospel during a time of transition; (3) the Company quickened the conscience of Great Britain and its churches as they awoke to their duty after the close of the eighteenth century, partly by its extreme opposition to missions, partly by the earnest civilians and officers, and in a very few cases merchants and chaplains, whom it sent home with knowledge and experience. The East India Company has hardly any higher praise than that of the pagan Roman Empire, but it is entitled to that — it did for the southern nations of Asia what Rome had done for the northern nations of Europe.'

To the India thus prepared for the Gospel went the missionaries of the London Missionary Society, the first to follow where Carey, with quenchless faith, indomitable energy, and sound common sense, had so bravely led the way.

[Authorities. — Letters and Official Reports ; Dr. George Smith's Conversion of India, and Short History of Missions; A Primer of Modern Missions, edited by R. Lovett, M.A.; A History of Protestant Missions in India, 1706-1882, by M. A, Sherring, revised by E. Storrow, 1884]  

_______________

Notes:

1 Primer of Modern Missions, p. 34.

2 The Conversion of India, by Dr. George Smith, p. 109.

3 The Conversion of India, p. 110

4 p. 145.  

CHAPTER II: NATHANIEL FORSYTH AND ROBERT MAY

The Report for 1798 contains the earliest reference in the Society's annals to definite work in India. There we read: 'A pleasing expectation is entertained of the Rev. Nathaniel Forsyth, who is a well-informed man, and appears to be animated by a truly missionary spirit. He has been set apart for his work, and has lately embarked for the Cape of Good Hope.' To this man belongs the abiding honour of having been the first, and for some years the sole, missionary sent out by the Society to the vast field of India. The Reports for the years 1800 to 1803 continue his story: —

'Since the last General Meeting, the Directors have received several letters from Mr. Forsyth, the Society's missionary in the East Indies. It is expected that before this time he has fixed on a favourable spot (in the vicinity of Calcutta) for the commencement of his missionary labours, as it does not appear that he has met with any material impediment in his design of prosecuting this important service. He complains of, and feelingly laments, the extreme depravity and deeply rooted superstitions of the Hindoos, which render them very inimical to the simplicity and purity of the Gospel. He requests that additional missionaries may be sent to his assistance, and points out such means for their introduction and patronage as the Directors trust will prove a providential opening, for the increase of missionary labour and success in that populous but dreadfully depraved country. This mission must therefore be considered as in its infancy: very little as yet can have been done, but much useful information has been acquired, and the Directors will, no doubt, avail themselves of every assistance that has been, or may be, given to send out more labourers into this eastern part of our Lord's vineyard.'1

'A letter, dated August 5, 1800, has lately been received from Mr. Forsyth, the Society's missionary in India. At that time he was well in health, had made considerable proficiency in the language of the country, and was about to begin a school for the instruction of the children of the natives. Mr. Forsyth appears to possess a true missionary spirit, and he exhibits fidelity and disinterestedness of character and conduct. The Directors have long since been authorized to increase the mission to that part of the world, but circumstances have occurred to frustrate their desires and intentions.'2

'The Directors, on referring to the solitary labours of Mr. Forsyth in the East Indies, cannot help lamenting that a region so extensive, with a population proportionably great, and also deplorably superstitious and idolatrous, should not have shared more largely in the benevolent exertions of this Society. The resolutions of general meetings have so frequently authorized and recommended missions to several parts of the East Indies, that these objects could not possibly be forgotten, and they have not been, nor will they be neglected, whenever missionary zeal and ability shall combine and present means to accomplish them; but the Directors have not yet been favoured with offers from persons whose qualifications are suited, in their opinion, to strengthen, enlarge, and establish efficient missionary exertions in the East Indies. By letters which have been received from Mr. Forsyth, it appears that he continues to labour with diligence and zeal: and, it is hoped, not without attestation of divine approbation and influence. It is both right and necessary to add that Mr. Forsyth has acted in a very disinterested manner towards this Society, having subjected it to no expense on his account since his arrival in India.'3 'They trust that their solitary missionary in India (Forsyth), who has long expressed his ardent desire for assistance in that extensive field of action, will have this desire gratified; and that the many millions of heathens in those idolatrous regions will be continually receiving fresh accessions of Christian missionaries from this Society and others, who, like friendly allies, will afford their mutual aid in the cause of their common Lord.'4

Thus in the first eight years of its existence the Society was able to send and to maintain in India only one solitary missionary. But the reasons for this were many, and readily account for seeming slackness on the part of the Directors. The India of 1800 was further away from London than the heart of Darkest Africa is to-day. The East India Company was so bitterly hostile to all efforts for carrying to the Hindus a knowledge of the Gospel that missionaries were expressly forbidden to land, and even if they succeeded in landing were deported by force. Carey, who had preceded Forsyth by only five years, owed his gaining a foothold to the providential fact that Denmark held a small patch of Indian territory around Serampore, and threw over him and his colleagues the mantle of her protection. It is one of the ironies of history that while Great Britain, one of the most powerful of European nations, from whom Carey sprang, exerted her power to frustrate his benevolent  aims, Denmark, one of the least influential of European peoples, was able to hold open the door of blessing through which Carey and his colleagues, and also Nathaniel Forsyth, entered to begin their beneficent labours for the millions of India.

All the original records of Forsyth's work in India seem unhappily to have disappeared, and he is a man of whom we would have gladly known more. In 1812 he was joined at Chinsurah by Mr. and Mrs. May. The former was an ardent and skilful educationalist, and carried on a most successful system of school-work. About the same time Forsyth ceased to be directly connected with the Society, and he died at Chandernagore on Feb. 14, 1816. G. Gogerly, one of his immediate successors in the Bengal Mission, gives the following sketch5 of him: —

'Mr. Forsyth is described as being a man of most singular self-denial and large-heartedness, and as generous to an extreme. His whole time, talents, and property he devoted most conscientiously to his missionary work, and to the relief of suffering humanity. From the funds of the London Missionary Society he never received anything, with the exception of a few dollars when he embarked for India. His private resources were exceedingly limited, and, in consequence, his mode of living was most simple and inexpensive. "For a time," said his friend Mr. Edmond, whom everybody in Calcutta knew and loved, "he had no stated dwelling-place, but lived in a small boat, in which he went up and down to preach at the different towns on the banks of the river."

'By the Dutch Local Government Mr. Forsyth was appointed minister of the Church at Chinsurah; and, after frequently refusing any remuneration for his services, consented at last to accept fifty rupees a month. The Hon. Mr. Harrington, a firm friend of missions, placed at his disposal a small bungalow at Bandel, about three miles above Chinsurah, from which spot he regularly walked every Sunday morning to discharge his duties; afterwards, not unfrequently, he would proceed to Calcutta to preach at the General Hospital, by permission of the Rev. David Brown, then senior presidency and garrison chaplain.

'This injudicious mode of living in a country like Bengal, denying himself almost the common necessaries of life, refusing to travel either by carriage or palankeen, but always walking where he could not be conveyed by boat, produced, as might be expected, the prostration of a naturally strong constitution; and after eighteen years of labour Mr. Forsyth died in 1816, aged forty-seven years. Thus fell the first pioneer connected with the London Missionary Society in Bengal; not, however, until he had given an impetus to that glorious work which will go on until the whole of India is brought into subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ.'

Robert May was an educationalist of no mean power. He was spared to labour for only five years, but during that time he accomplished some remarkable results.

'How eminently successful he was in this branch of labour may be gathered from the fact, that at the end of 1815 he had twenty schools under his charge, in which instruction was imparted to 1651 children, of whom as many as 258 were the sons of Brahmans, a remarkable circumstance in those times. The scheme of education was highly approved by Mr. Gordon Forbes, the Commissioner of Chinsurah, and was by him recommended to the Supreme Government. The Marquis of Hastings readily complied with the request of Mr. Forbes, that the scheme should be aided from the imperial funds, and with great liberality appropriated a monthly grant of 600 rupees (about £60) for the purpose. By the aid of the grant, in the course of the next year, the schools and scholars were still further multiplied, so that at its close Mr. May had under his superintendence as many as thirty schools, in which 2,600 children received instruction. The Government, on hearing these rapid results, forthwith increased its grant to 800 rupees monthly. Mr. May found himself unable to attend to this great work alone, and was soon joined by the Rev. J. D. Pearson, sent out from England, and by Mr. Hasle, a European who had resided for several years in India.' 6

The mission continued in the hands of the London Society for a long period. It was prosecuted with much zeal, and conveyed much useful knowledge to tens of thousands of the people. One of the most diligent missionaries of the Society was the Rev. G. Mundy, who took up the work in Chinsurah in 1820. He suffered much in his family and in himself from ill health, and ceased to have any direct connection with Chinsurah in 1844. He was succeeded by James Bradbury, who had joined the mission in 1842, and who laboured there until the station was, in 1849, transferred to the Free Church of Scotland. The last reference to Chinsurah in the Reports occurs in 1849. 'The Directors are gratified to state that, having been led to relinquish this station in consequence of the inadequate resources of the Society, arrangements have been made for its transfer to the Free Church of Scotland.' Mr. Bradbury in 1849 removed to Berhampur, and the Society's direct association with the scene of the labours of Nathaniel Forsyth thus came to a close.

[Authorities. — Official Reports; Transactions of the Society, vols i-iv; History of Protestant Missions in India, Sherring; The Pioneers: A Narrative of Facts connected with Early Christian Missions in Bengal, chiefly relating to the operations of the London Missionary Society, George Gogerly, London, 1871.]  

_______________

Notes:

1 Report, 1800.

2 Ibid. 1801.

3 Report, 1S02.

4 Ibid. 1803.

5 Pioneers of the Bengal Mission, p. 60.  

6 Protestant Missions in India (1884), M. A. Sherring, p. 80.

[admin]

American Association for the Advancement of Science
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20

It was William Fletcher Barrett's visit to America that ultimately led to the formation of the American Society for Psychical Research in December, 1884. Barrett was invited by several members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

-- American Society for Psychical Research, by Wikipedia

-- Heredity: Address of the President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science: Two addresses delivered at the Australia meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, by Prof. William Bateson, M.A., F.R.S.

American Association for the Advancement of Science
AAAS logo
Founded: September 20, 1848 (171 years ago)
Focus: Science education and outreach
Location: William T. Golden Center for Science and Engineering, Washington, DC
Members: more than 120,000
Website: AAAS.org
Formerly called: Association of American Geologists and Naturalists

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the betterment of all humanity.[1] It is the world's largest general scientific society, with over 120,000 members,[2] and is the publisher of the well-known scientific journal Science.

History

Creation

The American Association for the Advancement of Science was created on September 20, 1848, at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a reformation of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists.[3] The society chose William Charles Redfield as their first president[4] because he had proposed the most comprehensive plans for the organization. According to the first constitution which was agreed to at the September 20 meeting, the goal of the society was to promote scientific dialogue in order to allow for greater scientific collaboration.[5] By doing so the association aimed to use resources to conduct science with increased efficiency and allow for scientific progress at a greater rate.[6] The association also sought to increase the resources available to the scientific community through active advocacy of science. There were only 78 members when the AAAS was formed.[7] As a member of the new scientific body, Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN was one of those who attended the first 1848 meeting.[8]

At a meeting held on Friday afternoon, September 22, 1848, Redfield presided, and Matthew Fontaine Maury gave a full scientific report on his Wind and Current Charts. Maury stated that hundreds of ship navigators were now sending abstract logs of their voyages to the United States Naval Observatory. He added, "Never before was such a corps of observers known."[7] But, he pointed out to his fellow scientists, his critical need was for more "simultaneous observations." "The work," Maury stated, "is not exclusively for the benefit of any nation or age." The minutes of the AAAS meeting reveal that because of the universality of this "view on the subject, it was suggested whether the states of Christendom might not be induced to cooperate with their Navies in the undertaking; at least so far as to cause abstracts of their log-books and sea journals to be furnished to Matthew F. Maury, USN, at the Naval Observatory at Washington."

William Barton Rogers, professor at the University of Virginia and later founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered a resolution: "Resolved that a Committee of five be appointed to address a memorial to the Secretary of the Navy, requesting his further aid in procuring for Matthew Maury the use of the observations of European and other foreign navigators, for the extension and perfecting of his charts of winds and currents." The resolution was adopted and, in addition to Rogers, the following members of the association were appointed to the committee: Professor Joseph Henry of Washington; Professor Benjamin Peirce of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Professor James H. Coffin of Easton, Pennsylvania, and Professor Stephen Alexander of Princeton, New Jersey.[9] This was scientific cooperation, and Maury went back to Washington with great hopes for the future.

In 1850, the first female members were accepted, they were: astronomer Maria Mitchell, entomologist Margaretta Morris, and science educator Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps.

Growth and Civil War dormancy

By 1860, membership increased to over 2,000. The AAAS became dormant during the American Civil War; their August 1861 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, was postponed indefinitely after the outbreak of the first major engagement of the war at Bull Run. The AAAS did not become a permanent casualty of the war.

In 1866, Frederick Barnard presided over the first meeting of the resurrected AAAS at a meeting in New York City. Following the revival of the AAAS, the group had considerable growth. The AAAS permitted all people, regardless of scientific credentials, to join. The AAAS did, however, institute a policy of granting the title of "Fellow of the AAAS" to well-respected scientists within the organization. The years of peace brought the development and expansion of other scientific-oriented groups. The AAAS's focus on the unification of many fields of science under a single organization was in contrast to the many new science organizations founded to promote a single discipline. For example, the American Chemical Society, founded in 1876, promotes chemistry.

In 1863, the US Congress established the National Academy of Sciences, another multidisciplinary sciences organization. It elects members based on recommendations from colleagues and the value of published works.

Advocacy

Alan I. Leshner, AAAS CEO from 2001 until 2015, published many op-ed articles discussing how many people integrate science and religion in their lives. He has opposed the insertion of non-scientific content, such as creationism or intelligent design, into the scientific curriculum of schools.[10][11][12][13]

In December 2006, the AAAS adopted an official statement on climate change, in which they stated, "The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society....The pace of change and the evidence of harm have increased markedly over the last five years. The time to control greenhouse gas emissions is now."[14]

In February 2007, the AAAS used satellite images to document human rights abuses in Burma.[15] The next year, AAAS launched the Center for Science Diplomacy to advance both science and the broader relationships among partner countries, by promoting science diplomacy and international scientific cooperation.[16]

In 2012, AAAS published op-eds,[17] held events on Capitol Hill and released analyses of the U.S. federal research-and-development budget, to warn that a budget sequestration would have severe consequences for scientific progress.[18][19]

Sciences

AAAS covers various areas [20] of sciences and engineering. It has twelve sections, each with a committee and its chair. These committees are also entrusted with the annual evaluation and selection of Fellows (see: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science). The sections are:

• Astronomy
• Engineering
• Anthropology
• Education
• Medical Sciences
• Biological Sciences
• Industrial Science and Technology
• Geology and Geography
• History and Philosophy of Science
• Agriculture, Food & Renewable Resources
• Linguistics and Language Sciences
• General Interest in Science and Engineering

Governance


AAAS officers and senior officials in 1947. Left to right, standing: Sinnott, Baitsell, Payne, Lark-Horovitz, Miles, Stakman, sitting: Carlson, Mather, Moulton, Shapley.

The most recent Constitution of the AAAS, enacted on January 1, 1973, establishes that the governance of the AAAS is accomplished through four entities: a President, a group of administrative officers, a Council, and a Board of Directors.

Presidents

Main article: President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Individuals elected to the presidency of the AAAS hold a three-year term in a unique way. The first year is spent as President-elect, the second as President and the third as Chairperson of the Board of Directors. In accordance with the convention followed by the AAAS, presidents are referenced by the year in which they left office.

Geraldine Richmond is the President of AAAS for 2015–16; Phillip Sharp is the Board Chair; and Barbara A. Schaal is the President-Elect.[21] Each took office on the last day of the 2015 AAAS Annual Meeting in February 2015.[22][23] On the last day of the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting, February 15, 2016,[24] Richmond will become the Chair, Schaal will become the President, and a new President-Elect will take office.

Past presidents of AAAS have included some of the most important scientific figures of their time. Among them: explorer and geologist John Wesley Powell (1888); astronomer and physicist Edward Charles Pickering (1912); anthropologist Margaret Mead (1975); and biologist Stephen Jay Gould (2000).

Notable Presidents of the AAAS, 1848–2005

• 1849: Joseph Henry
• 1871: Asa Gray
• 1877: Simon Newcomb
• 1880: Joseph Lovering
• 1882: J. William Dawson
• 1886: Edward S. Morse
• 1887: Samuel P. Langley
• 1888: John Wesley Powell
• 1927: Arthur Amos Noyes
• 1929: Robert A. Millikan
• 1931: Franz Boas
• 1934: Edward L. Thorndike
• 1942: Arthur H. Compton
• 1947: Harlow Shapley
• 1951: Kirtley F. Mather
• 1972: Glenn T. Seaborg
• 1975: Margaret Mead
• 1992: Leon M. Lederman
• 2000: Stephen Jay Gould

Administrative officers

There are three classifications of high-level administrative officials that execute the basic, daily functions of the AAAS. These are the executive officer, the treasurer and then each of the AAAS's section secretaries. The current CEO of AAAS and executive publisher of Science magazine is Rush D. Holt.[25]

Sections of the AAAS

The AAAS has 24 "sections" with each section being responsible for a particular concern of the AAAS. There are sections for agriculture, anthropology, astronomy, atmospheric science, biological science, chemistry, dentistry, education, engineering, general interest in science and engineering, geology and geography, the history and philosophy of science, technology, computer science, linguistics, mathematics, medical science, neuroscience, pharmaceutical science, physics, psychology, science and human rights, social and political science, the social impact of science and engineering, and statistics.[26]

Affiliates

AAAS affiliates include 262 societies and academies of science, serving more than 10 million members, from the Acoustical Society of America to the Wildlife Society, as well as non-mainstream groups like the Parapsychological Association.[27]

The Council

The Council is composed of the members of the Board of Directors, the retiring section chairmen, elected delegates and affiliated foreign council members. Among the elected delegates there are always at least two members from the National Academy of Sciences and one from each region of the country. The President of the AAAS serves as the Chairperson of the Council. Members serve the Council for a term of three years.

The council meets annually to discuss matters of importance to the AAAS. They have the power to review all activities of the Association, elect new fellows, adopt resolutions, propose amendments to the Association's constitution and bylaws, create new scientific sections, and organize and aid local chapters of the AAAS. The Council recently has new additions to it from different sections which include many youngsters as well. John Kerry of Chicago is the youngest American in the council and Akhil Ennamsetty of India is the youngest foreign council member.

Board of directors

The board of directors is composed of a chairperson, the president, and the president-elect along with eight elected directors, the executive officer of the association and up to two additional directors appointed by elected officers. Members serve a four-year term except for directors appointed by elected officers, who serve three-year terms.

The current chairman is Gerald Fink, Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor at Whitehead Institute, MIT. Fink will serve in the post until the end of the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting,[28] 15 February 2016.[29] (The chairperson is always the immediate past-president of AAAS.)

The board of directors has a variety of powers and responsibilities. It is charged with the administration of all association funds, publication of a budget, appointment of administrators, proposition of amendments, and determining the time and place of meetings of the national association. The board may also speak publicly on behalf of the association. The board must also regularly correspond with the council to discuss their actions.

AAAS Fellows

Further information: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
The AAAS council elects every year, its members who are distinguished scientifically,[30] to the grade of fellow (FAAAS). Election to AAAS is an honor bestowed by their peers and elected fellows are presented with a certificate and rosette pin. To limit the effects and tolerance of sexual harassment in the sciences, starting 15 October 2018, a Fellow's status can be revoked "in cases of proven scientific misconduct, serious breaches of professional ethics, or when the Fellow in the view of the AAAS otherwise no longer merits the status of Fellow."[31]

Meetings

Formal meetings of the AAAS are numbered consecutively, starting with the first meeting in 1848. Meetings were not held 1861–1865 during the American Civil War, and also 1942–1943 during World War II. Since 1946, one meeting has occurred annually, now customarily in February.

Awards and fellowships

Each year, the AAAS gives out a number of honorary awards, most of which focus on science communication, journalism, and outreach – sometimes in partnership with other organizations. The awards recognize "scientists, journalists, and public servants for significant contributions to science and to the public’s understanding of science.”[32] The awards are presented each year at the association's annual meeting.

The AAAS also offers a number of fellowship programs.[33]

Currently active awards include

• Award for Science and Diplomacy
• Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science
• The Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology
• Kavli Science Journalism Awards – Children's Science News
• Kavli Science Journalism Awards – Magazine
• Kavli Science Journalism Awards – Newspapers (< 100,000 daily circulation)
• Kavli Science Journalism Awards – Newspapers (> 100,000 daily circulation)
• Kavli Science Journalism Awards – Online
• Kavli Science Journalism Awards – Radio
• Kavli Science Journalism Awards – Television
• Leadership in Science Education Prize for High School Teachers
• Mentor Award
• Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement
• Newcomb Cleveland Prize
• Philip Hauge Abelson Prize
• Public Engagement with Science Award
• Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award
• John McGovern Lecture
• William D. Carey Lecture
• Golden Goose Award

Publications

The society's flagship publication is Science, a weekly interdisciplinary scientific journal. Other peer-reviewed journals published by the AAAS are Science Signaling, Science Translational Medicine, Science Immunology, Science Robotics and the interdisciplinary Science Advances.[34][35] They also publish the non-peer-reviewed Science & Diplomacy.

EurekAlert!

In 1996,[36] AAAS launched the EurekAlert! website, an editorially independent, non-profit news release distribution service[37] covering all areas of science, medicine and technology.[38][39][40] Eurekalert! provides news in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese.[41][39] In 2007, EurekAlert! Chinese was launched.[42]

Working staff journalists and freelancers who meet eligibility guidelines can access the latest studies before publication and obtain embargoed information in compliance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation Fair Disclosure policy.[43][44] By early 2018, more than 14,000 reporters from more than 90 countries have registered for free access to embargoed materials. More than 5,000 active public information officers from 2,300 universities, academic journals, government agencies, and medical centers are credentialed to provide new releases to reporters and the public through the system.[36][42][37]

In 1998, European science organizations countered Eurekalert! with a press release distribution service AlphaGalileo.[39]

Eurekalert! has fallen under criticism for lack of press release standards[45] and for generating churnalism.[46][47][48][49]

See also

• AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility
• British Association for the Advancement of Science
• EuroScience, the European equivalent of the AAAS
• National Postdoctoral Association
• National Science Foundation
• Renaissance, sculpture outside the AAAS headquarters.
• SAGE KE, Science of Aging Knowledge Environment, provided by AAAS
• Science's STKE, Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment, provided by AAAS
• United States National Academy of Sciences

References

1. "About AAAS". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
2. "About – AAAS MemberCentral". membercentral.aaas.org. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
3. "150 Years of Advancing Science: A History of AAAS Origins: 1848–1899". AAAS. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
4. Reingold, Nathan (1964). Science in Nineteenth-Century America: A Documentary History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-226-70947-5.
5. "1856 AAAS Constitution". AAAS Archives & Records Center. AAAS. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
6. "The How and Why of Scientific Meetings". Visionlearning. 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
7. "Sep. 20, 2013". The Writer's Almanac. September 20, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
8. "Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury". Naval Oceanographic Portal. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
9. "Articles of Incorporation of the American Association for the Advancement of Science". AAAS. 1993. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
10. "'Academic Freedom' Bill Dangerous Distraction," Alan I. Leshner, The Shreveport Times 28 May 2008
11. "Anti-science law threatens tech jobs of future," Archived 2009-04-29 at the Wayback MachineAlan I. Leshner, The Times-Picayune 6 May 2008
12. "Design: Critical Deception?," Alan I. Leshner, Akron Beacon-Journal 11 September 2006
13. "Science and Public Engagement," Alan I. Leshner, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle Review 13 October 2006
14. AAAS Board Statement on Climate Change http://www.aaas.org December 2006
15. "Satellite Images Verify Myanmar Forced Relocations, Mounting Military Presence". ScienceMode. Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
16. "AAAS – AAAS News Release – "AAAS Opens New Center for Science Diplomacy to "Promote International Understanding and Prosperity""". http://www.aaas.org. Archived from the original on May 12, 2009. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
17. "Stalling science threatens every domain of modern life" Archived 2013-04-30 at the Wayback Machine Alan I. Leshner, Bradenton Herald 27 September 2012
18. Edward W. Lempinen (November 21, 2012). "Sequestration Budget Cuts Would Cripple U.S. Scientific Progress, Experts Warn". AAAS.org.
19. "Federal and State Research Could Be Crippled by Looming Cuts, Says New AAAS Report" Earl Lane, AAAS 28 September 2012
20. "Committee on Sections". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
21. About AAAS, AAAS.org
22. AAAS Annual Meeting Archives (dates) Archived 2010-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, AAAS.org
23. "Gerald R. Fink Chosen To Serve As AAAS President-Elect", AAAS.org
24. Future AAAS Annual Meetings (dates) Archived 2011-04-18 at the Wayback Machine, AAAS.org
25. Rush D. Holt, AAAS.org
26. AAAS Sections Archived 2009-06-17 at the Wayback Machine, AAAS.org
27. list of affiliates starting with the letter P.
28. Board of Directors, AAAS.org
29. 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting Archived 2015-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, AAAS.org
30. "General Process". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
31. "Revocation Process". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
32. "AAAS Awards". AAAS.org. June 19, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
33. [1]
34. McNutt, Marcia; Leshner, Alan I. (February 14, 2014). "Science Advances" (PDF). Science. 343(6172): 709. doi:10.1126/science.1251654. PMID 24523283.
35. "Science Journals". American Association for the Advancement of Science. August 21, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
36. "INSIDE EUREKALERT, THE NEWS HUB THAT SHAPES THE SCIENCE YOU READ". Wired.com.
37. Jump up to:a b "Association of British Science Writers (ABSW)". http://www.facebook.com. Retrieved February 12,2018.
38. "2017 top science news release breaks EurekAlert!'s all-time record". EurekAlert!. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
39. Kiernan, Vincent (2006). Embargoed Science. University of Illinois Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0252030970.
40. Anagnostelis, Betsy; Cooke, Alison; Welsh, Sue (2004). Finding and Using Health and Medical Information on the Internet. Routledge. p. 73. ISBN 978-1135477424.
41. Hornig Priest, Susanna (2010). Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Communication, Volume 1. SAGE. p. 40. ISBN 9781412959209.
42. Jump up to:a b "Eurekalert celebrates 20 years forefront science communication". AAAS.org. AAAS.
43. Shipman, Matthew (2015). Handbook for Science Public Information Officers. University of Chicago Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780252030970.
44. Shipman, Matt (September 4, 2013). "Defining a Reporter: EurekAlert! and the Question of Access". Science Communication Breakdown.
45. "It's time for AAAS and EurekAlert! to crack down on misinformation in PR news releases". HealthNewsReview.org. October 9, 2018. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
46. Yong, Ed (January 11, 2010). "Adapting to the new ecosystem of science journalism". National Geographic Phenomena. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013.
47. Choi, Charles Q. (January 24, 2012). "From the Writer s Desk: The Dangers of Press Releases". Scientific American Blog Network.
48. Shipman, Matt (April 16, 2014). "The News Release Is Dead, Long Live the News Release". Science Communication Breakdown.
49. "Why science reporters were thrown for a loop this week". Christian Science Monitor. September 16, 2016. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved February 12, 2018.

External links

• Official website

[admin]

G. Stanley Hall
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20

Memorandum Number Four: The Leipzig Connection

The link between German experimental psychology and the American educational system is through American psychologist G. Stanley Hall, in his time probably the foremost educational critic in the U.S.

The Hall family is Scotch and English and goes back to the 1630s, but Hall was not a Yale graduate, and at first sight there is no connection between Hall and The Order.

On the other hand, Hall is a good example of someone whose life has major turning points and on probing the turning points, we find The Order with its guiding hand. The detail below is important to link Hall with The Order. It is an open question how much Hall knew, if he knew anything at all, about The Order and its objectives.

After graduation from Williams College, Hall spent a year at the Union Theological Seminary, New York. Our "Addresses" books for The Order do not give church affiliations for members citing the ministry as their occupation. We do know that Rev. Henry Sloane Coffin ('97) was Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Union from 1904-1926 and President of Union Seminary from 1926 to 1945, but we cannot trace any members at Union before 1904.

Fortunately, Hall was an egocentric and wrote two long, tedious autobiographies: Recreations Of A Psychologist and Life And Confessions Of A Psychologist. This is how Hall described his entry to Union in the latter book (pp. 177-8):

"Recovering from a severe attack of typhoid fever the summer after graduation and still being very uncertain as to what I would be and do in the world, I entered Union Theological Seminary in September 1867."

Later Hall adds,

"The man to whom I owe far more in this group than any other was Henry B. Smith, a foreign trained scholar, versed more or less not only in systematic theology, which was his chair, but in ancient and modern philosophy, on which he gave us a few lectures outside the course. Of him alone I saw something socially. He did me perhaps the greatest intellectual service one man can render another by suggesting just the right reading at the right time. It was he, too, who seeing my bent advised me to go to Europe."

The Rev. Henry Boynton Smith cited by Hall was Professor of Church History at Union Seminary from 1850 to 1874, and in the "liberal" wing of the Presbyterian Church, he edited Theological Review from 1859-1874 and translated several German theological works. Smith was not a member of The Order.

How did Hall, who says he was broke, get from New York to Europe, specifically to Germany?

Here's the interesting twist. Someone he didn't know (but whom today we can trace to The Order) gave him $1,000 -- a lot of money in those days. Here's how it happened. While preaching in Pennsylvania in 1868, Hall received a letter from Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, whose church he attended in New York:

"... asking me to call on him. I immediately took the train and Beecher told me that through the Manns (friends) he had learned that I wished to study philosophy in Germany but lacked the means ... (he) gave me a sealed note to the lumber magnate Henry Sage, the benefactor of Cornell, which I presented at his office without knowing its contents. To my amazement, after some scowling and a remark to the effect that his pastor took amazing liberties with his purse, he gave me a check for one thousand dollars. Taking my note to repay it with interest, he told me to sail for Germany the next day" (Confessions, p. 182).

Who was "lumber magnate Henry Sage, the benefactor of Cornell"?

The Sage family had several "Henrys" involved with Yale and Cornell Universities in those days. The "Henry Sage" cited is probably William Henry Sage (1844-1924) who graduated Yale 1865 and then joined the family lumber company, H.W. Sage & Company in New York. Henry Sage was a member of Scroll & Key, the sister Senior Society to Skull & Bones at Yale. Furthermore, two of Henry Sage's nephews were in The Order, but well after 1868:

• Dean Sage ('97)
• Henry Manning Sage ('90)

Both Sages entered the family lumber business, by then renamed Sage Land & Lumber.

In brief: the funds to get Hall to Germany on his first trip came from a member of Scroll & Key, i.e., Henry Sage, while Sage's two nephews joined The Order later in the century.

In Germany, Hall studied philosophy at the University of Berlin for two years under Hegelians Trendelenberg (Gilman of The Order also studied under Trendelenberg) and Lepsius. There were few American students in Berlin at this time. So few that the American Minister George Bancroft could entertain them at the U.S. Embassy to meet German Chancellor von Bismarck.

Hall At Antioch College

Hall returned to the U.S. from Germany in 1871 and by design or accident found himself under the wing of The Order.

Again, the detail is important. There are two versions of Hall's life immediately after returning from his first trip to Germany. According to Hall's Confessions, he became tutor for the Seligman banking family in New York and was then contacted by James K. Hosmer, Professor at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Hosmer asked, and this is very unusual, if Hall would like his professorial post at Antioch. Said Hall, "I gladly accepted."

There is another version in National Cyclopaedia Of American Biography which states, "In 1872 he (Hall) accepted a professorship at Antioch College, Ohio, that formerly was held by Horace Mann." In any event Hall went to Antioch, a "liberal" Unitarian college with a more than "liberal" view of education. And at Antioch College, G. Stanley Hall was at the core of The Order.

Horace Mann, whom we met in Memorandum Two as the promoter of "look-say" reading, was the first President of Antioch (1853-1860). The most prominent trustee of Antioch College was none other than the co-founder of The Order, Alphonso Taft. According to Hall, "(I) occasionally spent a Sunday with the Tafts. Ex-President Taft was then a boy and his father, Judge Alonzo (sic) Taft was a trustee of Antioch College" Confessions, p. 201).

Furthermore, Cincinnati, Ohio, at that time was the center for a Young Hegelian movement including famous left Hegelian August Willich, and these were well known to Judge Alphonso Taft.


The Americanization of Wilhelm Wundt
HERBART
HEGEL
WILHELM WUNDT (University of Leipzig 1875-1920) -- Trains American Students including G. Stanley Hall
DANIEL COIT GILMAN (THE ORDER) BECOMES PRESIDENT OF JOHNS HOPKINS -- HIRES HALL -- TRAINS JOHN DEWEY
WILLIAM WELCH (THE ORDER) STARTS HOPKINS MEDICAL SCHOOL
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, Teachers College
John Dewey (1904-1930)
E.L. Thorndike (1899-1942)
James E. Russell (1897-1927)
Dept. of Psychology, James McCattell (1891-1917)
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, School of Education
John Dewey (1894-1904)
Charles Judd (1909-1946)
Funded by Rockefeller Foundations General Education Board and Carnegie Foundation

In brief, while at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Hall came under the influence of four groups:

(a) the legend of Horace Mann, a hero of the modern education movement.

(b) the Unitarian Church, which will enter our later reports,

(c) a Hegelian discussion group comprised of left Hegelians, and

(d) the co-founder of The Order, Alphonso Taft. And Hall knew William Howard Taft, also a member of The Order ('78) and future President and Chief Justice of the United States.

Hall stayed four years at Antioch, then took off again for Europe, while Alphonso Taft went to Washington, D.C. as Secretary of War, then as Attorney General in the Grant Administration. Hall paused a while in England and then went on to Germany, to Leipzig and Wilhelm Wundt. He became the first of a dozen Americans to receive a Ph.D. in psychology (a new field) under Wundt.

The Hegelian Influence On Hall

So between 1870 and 1882, a span of twelve years, Hall spent six years in Germany. As Hall himself comments,

"I do not know of any other American student of these subjects (i.e., philosophy and psychology) who came into even the slight personal contact it was my fortune to enjoy with Hartmann and Fechner, nor of any psychologist who had the experience of attempting experimental work with Helmholtz and I think I was the first American pupil of Wundt. The twelve years included in this span, more than any other equal period, marked and gave direction to modern psychology ..." [2]

Who were these four German philosophers who so influenced Stanley Hall?

Eduard von Hartmann (1842-1906), a prominent philosopher. Hartmann's views on individual rights are entirely contrary to our own, i.e., "The principle of freedom is negative ... in every department of life, save religion alone, compulsion is necessary ... What all men need is rational tyranny, if it only holds them to a steady development, according to the laws of their own nature."

There isn't too much difference between Hegel and Hartmann on the idea of social progress. Individual freedom is not acceptable to these philosophers, man must be guided by "rational tyranny."

Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887). Fechner disliked Hegel, who Fechner said, "unlearned men to think." However, Fechner was mainly interested in psycho-physics, i.e., parapsychology:

"... he was particularly attracted to the unexplored regions of the soul and so he became interested in somnambulism, attended seances when table tapping came into vogue."

Herman L. F. von Helmholtz (1821-1894) was undoubtedly Germany's greatest scientist in the 19th century and was rooted in Kant, the predecessor of Hegel.

For Helmholtz:

"The sensible world is a product of the interaction between the human organism and an unknown reality. The world of experience is determined by this interaction but the organism itself is only an object of experience and is to be understood by psychology and physiology."

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), Professor of Philosophy at University of Leipzig, was undoubtedly the major influence on G. Stanley Hall. Modern education practice stems from Hegelian social theory combined with the experimental psychology of Wilhelm Wundt. Whereas Karl Marx and von Bismarck applied Hegelian theory to the political field, it was Wilhelm Wundt, influenced by Johann Herbart, who applied Hegel to education, which in turn, was picked up by Hall and John Dewey and modern educational theorists in the United States.

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was born August 16, 1832 at Neckarau, a suburb of Mannheim, Germany. His father Maximilian (1787-1846) was a minister. Wundt's grandfather on the paternal side is of significant interest: Kirchenrat Karl Kasimir Wundt (1744-84) was Professor at Heidelberg University in the history and geography of Baden and pastor of the church at Wieblingen, a small neighborhood town.

The Illuminati-Order documents show that "Raphael" in the IIluminati is identified as this same Professor Karl Kasimir Wundt and is referred to in the Illuminati Provincial Report from Utica (i.e., Heidelberg) dated September 1782. [3]

The magnum opus of Wilhelm Wundt, i.e., Volkerpsychologie, is also today a recommended book in Internationales Freimaurer Lexikon (page 50).

Historical links aside, Wundt is important in the history of American education for the following reasons:

(1) He established in 1875 the world's first laboratory in experimental psychology to measure individual responses to stimuli.

(2) Wundt believed that man is only the summation of his experience, i.e., the stimuli that bear upon him. It follows from this that, for Wundt, man has no self will, no self determination. Man is in effect only the captive of his experiences, a pawn needing guidance.

(3) Students from Europe and the United States came to Leipzig to learn from Wundt the new science of experimental psychology. These students returned to their homelands to found schools of education or departments of psychology, and trained hundreds of Ph.D.s in the new field of psychology.

The core of our problem is that Wundt's work was based on Hegelian philosophical theory and reflected the Hegelian view of the individual as a valueless cog in the State, a view expanded by Wundt to include man as nothing more than an animal influenced solely by daily experiences.

This Wundtian view of the world was brought back from Leipzig to the United States by G. Stanley Hall and other Americans and went through what is known among psychologists as "The Americanization of Wundt."

Although Hall was primarily psychologist and teacher, his political views were partially Marxist, as Hall himself writes: "... (I) had wrestled with Karl Marx and half accepted what I understood of him" (Confessions, p. 222).

In the next Memorandum, Number Five, we will link Hall with Gilman and trace their joint influence on American education.

-- America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones, by Antony C. Sutton

G. Stanley Hall
Granville Stanley Hall by Frederick Gutekunst, circa 1910
Born: Granville Stanley Hall, February 1, 1846, Ashfield, Massachusetts
Died: April 24, 1924 (aged 78), Worcester, Massachusetts
Nationality: American
Alma mater: Williams College; Harvard University; Clark University
Scientific career
Fields: Psychologist
Institutions: Antioch College; Johns Hopkins University
Doctoral advisor: William James
Doctoral students: William Lowe Bryan

Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1846 – April 24, 1924[1]) was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on childhood development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psychological Association and the first president of Clark University. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Hall as the 72nd most cited psychologist of the 20th century, in a tie with Lewis Terman.[2]

Biography

Childhood

Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Hall grew up on a farm with his parents, Granville Bascom Hall, who served on the Massachusetts legislature, and Abigail Beals, who attended school at Albany Female Seminary and went on to become a teacher herself. During his time as a child he spent much of his time reading and taking advantage of the educational advantages he could gain from his parents and the local schools. At a young age he was interested in animals and bodily skills.[3] At the age of 16 he began to teach other students, most of whom were older than he was.

Teacher

Hall attended Williston Seminary and graduated from Williams College in 1867, then studied at the Union Theological Seminary. Inspired by Wilhelm Wundt's Principles of Physiological Psychology, Hall pursued doctoral studies at Harvard University where he met William James, an adjunct professor who had just taught the nation's first psychology class. In 1878, Hall earned the first psychology doctorate awarded in America.[4] After Hall graduated with his doctorate, there were no academic jobs available in psychology, so he went to Europe to study at the University of Berlin, and spent a brief time in Wundt's Leipzig laboratory in 1879.

He began his career by teaching English and philosophy at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and then teaching history of philosophy at Williams College in Massachusetts. Following successful lecture series at Harvard and Johns Hopkins University, Hall secured a position in the philosophy department at Johns Hopkins, teaching psychology and pedagogy. He remained at Johns Hopkins from 1882 to 1888 and, in 1883, began what is considered by some to be the first formal American psychology laboratory.[5] There, Hall objected vehemently to the emphasis on teaching traditional subjects, e.g., Latin, mathematics, science and history, in high school, arguing instead that high school should focus more on the education of adolescents than on preparing students for college.

Hall was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1888.[6]

New discipline of psychology

In 1887, Hall founded the American Journal of Psychology, and in 1892 was appointed as the first president of the American Psychological Association.[5] In 1889 he was named the first president of Clark University, a post he filled until 1920. During his 31 years as president, Hall remained intellectually active. He was instrumental in the development of educational psychology, and attempted to determine the effect adolescence has on education. He was also responsible for inviting Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to visit and deliver a lecture series in 1909 at the Clark Conference. Hall promised Freud an honorary degree from Clark University in exchange. Hall and Freud shared the same beliefs on sex and adolescence. This was Freud's first and only visit to America and the biggest conference held at Clark University. It was also the most controversial conference, given that Freud's research was based on theories that Hall's colleagues criticized as non-scientific.[7]

In 1888, when he was tapped for the Clark presidency from the faculty of Johns Hopkins University, the 44 year-old Hall was already well on his way to eminence in the then emerging field of psychology. His establishment of experimental laboratories at Johns Hopkins, the first in the discipline, quickly became the measure of the fully modern psychology department. Over his 32 years as a scholar/teacher president at Clark, he had an influence over the future shape of the field of psychology.[8]

What attracted some to Hall and his ideas, and alienated others, were his "music man" propensities. He was the promoter, the impresario par excellence. Hall could "put on a party", as he did with the extraordinary celebrations in 1899 and 1909, on the occasions of the 10th and 20th anniversaries of the opening of Clark University. He did so with an incomparable sense of daring—inviting major figures with unconventional, unpopular, or even scandalous ideas, and then promoting them with the press. He seemed always to be founding new journals or scholarly associations to disseminate his ideas and those of scholars whose perspectives were consistent with his own. Among his creations were the widely respected American Journal of Psychology and the American Psychological Association. He also helped found the Association of American Universities. Ross described this side of Hall as journalist, entrepreneur, and preacher.[8]

In 1917, Hall published a book on religious psychology, Jesus the Christ in the Light of Psychology. The book was written in two volumes to define Jesus Christ in psychological terms. Hall thoroughly discussed all that is written about Christ, and the probable mental mechanisms of Christ and all of those who believed in him and wrote about him. He analyzes the myths, the magic, etc., built up about the name and life of Christ. He dissects the parables and discusses the miracles, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. He endeavors to reduce all possible expressions or trends which he finds in Jesus and his followers to their genetic origins, and with that aid in comparative psychology, especially the knowledge of anthropology and childhood tendencies, he points out here and there certain universal trends which are at the bottom of it all.[9] This was his least successful work. In 1922, at the age of 78, he published the book Senescence, a book on aging.[7]


Group photo 1909 in front of Clark University. Front row: Sigmund Freud, Granville Stanley Hall, C. G. Jung; back row: Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sándor Ferenczi.

Darwin's theory of evolution and Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory were large influences on Hall's career. These ideas prompted Hall to examine aspects of childhood development in order to learn about the inheritance of behavior. The subjective character of these studies made their validation impossible. He believed that as children develop, their mental capabilities resemble those of their ancestors and so they develop over a lifetime the same way that species develop over eons.[10] Hall believed that the process of recapitulation could be sped up through education and force children to reach modern standards of mental capabilities in a shorter length of time.[11] His work also delved into controversial portrayals of the differences between women and men, as well as the concept of racial eugenics.[5] While Hall was a proponent of racial eugenics, his views were less severe in terms of creating and keeping distinct separations between races. Hall believed in giving "lower races" a chance to accept and adapt to the "superior white civilization".[11] Hall even commended high ranking African Americans in society as being "exception to the Negro’s diminished evolutionary inheritance".[12] Hall viewed civilization in a similar fashion he viewed biological development. Humans must allow civilization to "run its natural evolution".[12] Hall saw those who did not accept the superior civilization as being primitive "savages". Hall viewed these civilizations in a similar fashion as he viewed children, stating that "their faults and their virtues are those of childhood and youth".[11] Hall believed that men and women should be separated into their own schools during puberty because it allowed them to be able to grow within their own gender. Women could be educated with motherhood in mind and the men could be educated in more hands-on projects, helping them to become leaders of their homes. Hall believed that schools with both sexes limited the way they could learn and softened the boys earlier than they should be.[11] "It is a period of equilibrium, but with the onset of puberty the equilibrium is disturbed and new tendencies arise. Modifications in the reproductive organs take place and bring about secondary sexual characteristics. Extroversion gives way slowly to introversion, and more definitely social instincts begin to play an increasing role."

Hall was also influenced by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and his theory of evolution. Hall found the idea of passing on memories from parent to offspring was a plausible mode of inheritance.[13]

Anomalistic psychology

Hall was one of the founding members and a vice President of the American Society for Psychical Research.[14] The early members of the society were skeptical of paranormal phenomena.[15] Hall took a psychological approach to psychical phenomena. By 1890 he had resigned from the society.[16] He became an outspoken critic of parapsychology.[17]

Hall was an early psychologist in the field of anomalistic psychology.[18] Hall and his assistant Amy Tanner from Clark University were notable debunkers of spiritualism and carried out psychological and physiological tests on mediums. Tanner published Studies in Spiritism (1910) with an introduction by Hall.[19] The book documented the tests carried out by Hall and Tanner in the séance sittings held with the medium Leonora Piper.[20] Hall and Tanner had proven by tests that the personalities of Piper were fictitious creations and not discarnate spirits.[21]

Personal views

Social views

Hall was deeply wedded to the German concept of Volk, an anti-individualist and authoritarian romanticism in which the individual is dissolved into a transcendental collective. Hall believed that humans are by nature non-reasoning and instinct driven, requiring a charismatic leader to manipulate their herd instincts for the well-being of society. He predicted that the American emphasis on individual human right and dignity would lead to a fall that he analogized to the sinking of Atlantis.

Hall was one of the founders of the child-study movement in the 1880s. A national network of study groups called Hall Clubs existed to spread his teaching. He is popularly known today for supervising the 1896 study Of Peculiar and Exceptional Children, which described a series of only child eccentrics as permanent misfits. For decades, academics and advice columnists alike disseminated his conclusion that an only child could not be expected to go through life with the same capacity for adjustment that siblings possessed. "Being an only child is a disease in itself," he claimed.[22]

Hall argued that child development recapitulates his highly racialized conception of the history of human evolutionary development. He characterized pre-adolescent children as savages and therefore rationalized that reasoning was a waste of time with children. He believed that children must simply be led to fear God, love country, and develop a strong body. As the child burns out the vestiges of evil in his nature, he needs a good dose of authoritarian discipline, including corporal punishment.[7] He believed that adolescents are characterized by more altruistic natures than pre-adolescents and that high schools should indoctrinate students into selfless ideals of service, patriotism, body culture, military discipline, love of authority, awe of nature, and devotion to the state and the well being of others.[23] Hall consistently argued against intellectual attainment at all levels of public education. Open discussion and critical opinions were not to be tolerated. Students needed indoctrination to save them from the individualism that was so damaging to the progress of American culture.

Hall popularised the phrase "storm and stress" with reference to adolescence, taken from the German Sturm und Drang movement. His colleague William Burnham had published this phrase in relation to adolescence in an 1889 article titled 'Economy in Intellectual Work'.[24] The concept's three key aspects are conflict with parents, mood disruptions, and risky behavior. As was later the case with the work of Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget, public interest in this phrase, as well as with Hall's role, faded. Recent research has led to some reconsideration of the phrase and its denotation. In its three aspects, recent evidence supports storm and stress, but only when modified to take into account individual differences and cultural variations. Currently, psychologists do not accept storm and stress as universal, but do acknowledge the possibility in brief passing. Not all adolescents experience storm and stress, but storm and stress is more likely during adolescence than at other ages.

Hall had no sympathy for the poor, the sick, or those with developmental differences or disabilities. A firm believer in selective breeding and forced sterilization, he believed that any respect or charity toward those he viewed as physically, emotionally, or intellectually weak or "defective" simply interfered with the movement of natural selection toward the development of a super-race.[11]

Hall's major books were Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime and Religion (1904) and Aspects of Child Life and Education (1921). In his book Adolescence, which was based on the results of the child-study movement, Hall described his system of psychology (which he called "genetic psychology") and the evolutionary benefits of development from the womb to adolescence. The book comprises six sections: biological and anthropological standpoint, medical standpoint, health and its tests, nubility of educated women, fecundity of educated women, and education. Hall hoped that this book would become a guide for teachers and social workers in the education system. His most direct influence in shaping our view of humankind came from his theories about adolescence.[8]

In 1904, Hall published "Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relation to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education". In this 2-volume study, based on the idea that child development recapitulates human evolution, Hall took on a variety of issues and synthesized scholarship from a wide range of disciplines.[25] After his retirement in 1920, Hall wrote a companion volume on aging. This important account has been labeled "prophetic" in its recognition of an emerging "crisis of aging" in the 20th century, in which longer lifespan, narrowing family roles, and expulsion from the workforce combined to dramatically isolate the elderly and restrict their active participation in public life.[26] Hall railed against this process, arguing that the wisdom conferred by old age meant that the elderly had valuable and creative contributions to make to society. Yet, the stigma of aging meant that, instead, many were engaged in the foolish pursuit of youth, trying to avoid being excluded from full participation in their communities. In the conclusion of the book, Hall expressed a tangible sense of personal anger against this form of discrimination.[27] His stirring call for a better understanding of the aging process anticipated the development of gerontology, and his critique of the marginalization of the elderly still resonates today.[25]

Hall was a transitional figure between Victorian conservatism and early 20th Century modernism—reflecting major intellectual characteristics of each. As might be expected, that combination was not always well received by advocates from either camp. His controversial Adolescence was banned from some libraries because of its lengthy and sometimes lyrical treatment of sex. Yet, the book was also characterized by urgent religious strictures on behavior. A contemporary of Hall, E.L. Thorndike, described him as a man "whose doctrines I often attack, but whose genius I always admire." When commenting on Adolescence to another noted psychologist, Thorndike said that Hall's magnum opus was "chock full of errors, masturbation, and Jesus. He is a mad man."[8]

Hall viewed masturbation as an immoral act and a blemish of the human race that interfered with moral and intellectual growth. Hall discussed masturbation in reference to men and did not discuss it in terms of women. It is not known whether he knew this act occurred in women or that Hall believed adolescent boys must go through what he described as "conversion". This conversion releases the boys from biological sins that were passed onto them by their ancestors. This passing on of sins through generations is guided by Lamarckian evolution.[13] He claimed that conversion occurred as naturally as a "blossoming flower".[11] Instead of masturbation, Hall viewed spontaneous emissions as a natural and acceptable alternative to forced ejaculation.[13] Hall believed that he went through conversion during his freshman year at Williams College.[12]

Hall also coined the technical words describing types of tickling: knismesis, or feather-like tickling; and gargalesis, for the harder, laughter inducing type.

Hall's voracious appetite for learning and prodigious work habits, his insistence on building theory from experience, and his penchant for bringing different fields of study together, would themselves have made him a formidable figure. But the force of his personality, his taste for controversy, and his untiring will added to the mix. Dorothy Ross, his biographer, wrote that from his extraordinary efforts came the "formative impulses of progressive education, child development, educational psychology, clinical psychology, school hygiene, and mental testing." Among his many students who made significant future contributions in fields he stimulated were the philosopher John Dewey (when Hall was at Johns Hopkins) and the famous psychologists Lewis Terman, Henry Goddard, and Arnold Gesell (when Hall was at Clark). By his very prominence and productivity, Hall created a demand for the scientific study of children and the field of child psychology.[8] Hall is best remembered for his contributions to psychology, for his support of applied psychology, and for his success in advising many doctoral students who have made great contributions to psychology. Hall also mentored the first African American to get a PhD in psychology, Francis Cecil Sumner in 1920.[7]

Religious views

Hall is listed in the Cambridge Companion to Atheism as having been an atheist.[28]

Views on eugenics

Hall expressed openly eugenic views in many of his writings. He was listed in numerous American eugenic organizations as its leader. The Eugenical News (1916–1922) celebrated the development of new American eugenic scholarly organization by highlighting that its roster included such as in the following announcement about "new active members of Eugenics Research Association... C. C. Brigham, Psychological Laboratory, Princeton, N. J., G. Stanley Hall, Clark University, C. E. Seashore, State University of Iowa, Lewis, M. Terman, Stanford University, Calif., John B. Watson, Johns Hopkins Hospital" (p. 53). Although Hall is credited with bringing notable psychoanalytic scholars to the U.S., including S. Freud and C. Jung, Hall expressed openly anti-psychoanalytic views in his writings that emphasized his eugenic commitments. For example, in the first issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, of which Stanley G. Hall (1917) was an editor, his opening article proclaimed that the U.S. psychology had to "draw any lesson... from the present war, in which the great Nordic race which embraces the dominant elements of all the belligerent nations is committing suicide" (p. 9) The most significant of these lessons, according to Hall, was for American psychology to fight against the "revisionary conceptions of Freud...that it is... normal for man at times to plunge back and down the evolutionary ladder" (p. 12).

Hall included openly anti-Semitic statements in his writings such as in his book On the Aspects of German Culture in which he discussed the supposed destruction of Western civilization by "rapacious Jews." Consistent with typical anti-Semitic stereotypes promoted by eugenicists such as Charles Davenport Hall remarked that the psychoanalytic focus on "sex" in addition to this approach's "rapid growth... found outside the circle of specialists [academic experimental psychologists]" made psychoanalysis and "the number of out-and-out disciples" to be a form of a "cult" (p. 412). Moreover, Hall stated that the "Freudian theory of therapy... is mistaken" (p. 12), giving a warning example of how an individual's culturally unacceptable sexual desires and behaviors could be justified through psychoanalytic interpretations rather than "cured by the very modesty" based on cultural or religious norms (p. 13).

Hall held Victorian moral positions in regard to sexuality which regarded all divergent sexual experiences as amoral, including masturbation, same-sex sexuality, sex outside of marriage, and so forth. Hall claimed that psychoanalytic treatment would "destroy" this religious "morality" during the process of analysis (p. 13). In his book Jesus, the Christ, In the Light of Psychology Hall openly praised eugenics and discussed that the presence of supposedly evolutionary unfit people (i.e., the poor, racial minorities, immigrants) served the purpose of teaching the evolutionary fit people (i.e., Nordic wealthy Whites) virtues of caring for the lower classes. Other openly eugenic writings by Hall include his 1903 article entitled "The White Man's Burden versus Indigenous Development of the Lower Races" in The Journal of Education. A majority of American eugenic organizations listed Hall as its leader (e.g., American Eugenic Society, American Eugenic Research Organization). His students included many notable eugenicists, including H. H. Goddard, Robert Yerkes, Lewis Terman, and many others.

Literary activities

An important contributor to educational literature, and a leading authority in that field, he founded and was editor of the American Journal of Psychology. In addition, he edited the Pedagogical Seminary (after 1892),[29][30] the American Journal of Religious Psychology and Education (after 1904), and the Journal of Race Development (after 1910). Hall was, from his student days to his death, interested in philosophy, psychology, education and religion in every one of their aspects which did not involve detailed experimentation, intricate quantitative treatment of results, or rigor and subtlety of analysis. There was, however, an order of emphasis, the years from '80 to '90 being devoted to problems of general psychology and education, those from 1890 to 1905 being especially devoted to the concrete details of human life, particularly the life of children and adolescents, and those from 1905 on being more devoted to wide-reaching problems of man's emotional, ethical and religious life.[31]

Legacy and honors

Hall contributed a large amount of work in understand adolescent development, some of which still holds true today. Hall observed that males tend to have an increase in sensation seeking and aggression during adolescence.[13] Hall also observed an increase in crime rates during the adolescent years.[11] He noted that in terms of aggression there are two types; relational aggression and physical aggression. Relational aggression relates to gossiping, rumor spreading, and exclusions of others. Hall noted that relational aggression occurs more frequently in females while physical aggression occurs more often in males.[11]

Much of the mark that Hall left behind was from his expansion of psychology as a field in the United States. He did a lot of work to bring psychology to the United States as a legitimate form of study and science. He began the first journal dedicated only to psychology in the United States of America, called the American Journal of Psychology. He was also the first president of the American Psychological Association. All of the work that Hall did in the field of psychology and for psychology in the United States of America allowed for all the other psychologists to follow in his foot steps and to become psychologists in the United States. Without the effort from Hall it could have taken many more years for psychology to become a field in the United States.[32]

The World War II Liberty Ship SS Granville S. Hall was named in his honor.

Publications

• Adolescence : its psychology and its relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion and education (1904)
• Aspects of German Culture (1881)
• Hints toward a Select and Descriptive Bibliography of Education (1886), with John M. Mansfield
• The Contents of Children's Minds on Entering School (1893)
• Supervised the study Of Peculiar and Exceptional Children by E. W. Bohannon, Fellow in Pedagogy at Clark University (1896)
• A Study of Dolls (1897)
• Confessions of a Psychologist (1900)
• Hall, G. S. (1903). The white man's burden versus indigenous development of the lower races. The Journal of Education, 58(4,1438), 83-83.
• Adolescence (Volume 1, Volume 2 1907)
• Spooks and Telepathy (1908)
• Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene (1909)
• Introduction to Studies in Spiritism by Amy Tanner (1910)
• Educational Problems (Volume 1, Volume 2 1911)
• Hall, G. S. (1917b). Practical relations between psychology and the war. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1(1), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0070238
• Jesus, the Christ, in the Light of Psychology (Volume 1, Volume 2 1917)
• Founders of Modern Psychology (1912)
• Morale, The Supreme Standard of Life and Conduct (1920)
• Aspects of Child Life and Education (1921)
• Senescence, The Last Half of Life (1922)

See also

• Developmental psychology
• Recapitulation theory
• Theory of evolution
• Eugenics

Notes

1. Thorndike, Edward L. (1925). National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir of Granville Stanley Hall (PDF). National Academy of Sciences.
2. Haggbloom, Steven J.; Powell, John L., III; Warnick, Jason E.; Jones, Vinessa K.; Yarbrough, Gary L.; Russell, Tenea M.; Borecky, Chris M.; McGahhey, Reagan; et al. (2002). "The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century". Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): 139–152. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139.
3. Thorndike, Edward (1925). Biographical Memoir of Granville Stanley Hall. National Academy of Sciences. pp. 135–136.
4. Thorne, B. Michael & Henley, Tracy B. (2001). Connections in the History and Systems of Psychology.Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-04535-X.
5. "A Brief Biographical Sketch of G. Stanley Hall". Ithaca.edu. December 19, 2003. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
6. American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
7. Benjamin, Ludy (2007). A Brief History of Modern Psychology. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 63–68. ISBN 978-1-4051-3205-3.
8. "About Clark | Clark University". http://www.clarku.edu. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
9. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Old Corner Bookstore, Incorporated. January 1, 1919.
10. Wegner, Daniel L. Schacter, Daniel T. Gilbert, Daniel M. (2010). Psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4-292-3719-2.
11. Hall, G. Stanley (1904). "Adolescence: ITS PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS RELATIONS TO PHYSIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, SEX, CRIME, RELIGION AND EDUCATION". Classics in the History of Psychology. 2. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
12. Youniss, James (2006). "G. Stanley Hall and his times: Too much so, yet not enough". History of Psychology. 9 (3): 224–235. doi:10.1037/1093-4510.9.3.224. PMID 17153145.
13. Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen (2006). "G. Stanley Hall's Adolescence: Brilliance and nonsense". History of Psychology. 9 (3): 186–197. doi:10.1037/1093-4510.9.3.186. PMID 17153143.
14. Eugene Taylor. (2009). The Mystery of Personality: A History of Psychodynamic Theories. Springer. p. 30. ISBN 978-0387981031
15. John Melton. (1996). Psychical Research in Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Gale Group. ISBN 978-0810394865
16. Wade Pickren, Alexandra Rutherford. (2010). A History of Modern Psychology in Context. Wiley. ISBN 978-0470276099
17. Paul Kurtz. A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. p. 551. ISBN 978-0879753009
18. Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Psychology Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0805805086
19. Amy Tanner with an introduction by G. Stanley Hall. (1910). Studies in Spiritism. New York and London: D. Appleton and Company
20. David J. Hess. (1993). Science in the New Age: The Paranormal, Its Defenders and Debunkers, and American Culture. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0299138240
21. Rodger Anderson. (2006). Psychics, Sensitives And Somnambules: A Biographical Dictionary With Bibliographies. McFarland & Company. p. 238. ISBN 978-0786427703
22. One and Done by Lauren Sandler, TIME July 19, 2010, pp. 35-41.
23. Hall, G. Stanley (1904). "Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education". Classics in the History of Psychology. 2. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
24. Burnham, William. "Economy in Intellectual Work". Scribner's Magazine.
25. Parry, Manon (July 1, 2006). "G. Stanley Hall: Psychologist and Early Gerontologist". American Journal of Public Health. 96 (7): 1161. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.090647. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 1483855. PMID 16735608.
26. Cole, TR (1984). "The prophecy of Senescence: G. Stanley Hall and the reconstruction of old age in America". American Journal of Public Health. 96 (7): 1161. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.090647. PMC 1483855. PMID 16735608.
27. Woodward, K (2003). "Against wisdom: the social politics of anger and aging". American Journal of Public Health. 96 (7): 1161. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.090647. PMC 1483855. PMID 16735608.
28. Martin, Michael, ed. (2006). The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 310. ISBN 978-1-1398-2739-3.
29. "The Pedagogical Seminary archives". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
30. The Pedagogical seminary. Worcester, Mass. : J.H. Orpha. January 1, 1891.
31. Thorndike, Edward (1925). Biographical Memoir of Granville Stanley Hall. National Academy of Sciences.
32. Parry, Manon (July 2006). "G. Stanley Hall: Psychologist and Early Gerontologist". American Journal of Public Health. 96 (7): 1161. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.090647. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 1483855. PMID 16735608.

References

• Clarence Karier, 1986, The Individual Society and Education, 2nd edition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
• Biography and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
• Eugenical News. (1916-1922). Monthly publication of the Eugenics Record Office, Cold Springs, NY. Retrieved on February 22, 2018 at https://babel.hathitrust.org/ cgi/pt?id=coo.31924063788834

Further reading

• G. E. Partridge, Genetic Philosophy of Education: An Epitome of the Published Writings of G. Stanley Hall (New York, 1912) New International Encyclopedia
• Gail Bederman, Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917 (Chicago, 1995)
• Jill Lepore (March 11, 2011). "American Chronicles: Twilight". The New Yorker. 87 (4): 30–35.
• Lorine Pruette, G. Stanley Hall: A Biography of a Mind. (D. Appleton, 1926)

External links

• Media from Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations from Wikiquote
• Texts from Wikisource
• National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
• Works by G. Stanley Hall at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about G. Stanley Hall at Internet Archive
• Works by G. Stanley Hall at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• G. Stanley Hall at Find a Grave

[admin]

Louis Agassiz
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20

-- Harvard sued by descendant of U.S. slave photographed in 19th century [Peabody Museum], Gabriella Borter

Louis Agassiz, ForMemRS
Born: May 28, 1807, Haut-Vully, Switzerland
Died: December 14, 1873 (aged 66), Cambridge, Massachusetts
Citizenship: United States
Alma mater: University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Known for: Ice age, Polygenism
Spouse(s): Cecilie Braun; Elizabeth Cabot Cary
Children: Alexander, Ida, and Pauline
Awards: Wollaston Medal (1836)
Scientific career
Fields: Paleontology; Glaciology; Geology; Natural history
Institutions: University of Neuchâtel; Harvard University; Cornell University
Doctoral advisor: Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius
Other academic advisors: Ignaz Döllinger, Georges Cuvier, Alexander von Humboldt[1]
Notable students: William Stimpson, William Healey Dall, Carl Vogt[1]

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (/ˈæɡəsi/; French: [aɡasi]; May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss biologist and geologist recognized as an innovative and prodigious scholar of Earth's natural history. Agassiz grew up in Switzerland. He received doctor of philosophy and medical degrees at Erlangen and Munich, respectively. After studying with Cuvier and Humboldt in Paris, Agassiz was appointed professor of natural history at the University of Neuchâtel. He emigrated to the United States in 1847 after visiting Harvard University. He went on to become professor of zoology and geology at Harvard, to head its Lawrence Scientific School, and to found its Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Agassiz is known for his regimen of observational data gathering and analysis. He made vast institutional and scientific contributions to zoology, geology, and related areas, including writing multivolume research books running to thousands of pages. He is particularly known for his contributions to ichthyological classification, including of extinct species such as megalodon, and to the study of geological history, including to the founding of glaciology.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, Agassiz's resistance to Darwinian evolution, belief in creationism, and the scientific racism implicit in his writings on human polygenism have tarnished his reputation, and led to controversies over his legacy.

Early life

Further information: Agassiz family

Louis Agassiz was born in Môtier (now part of Haut-Vully) in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. The son of a pastor,[2] Agassiz was educated first at home; he then spent four years of secondary school in Bienne, entering in 1818 and completing his elementary studies in Lausanne. Agassiz studied successively at the universities of Zürich, Heidelberg, and Munich; while there, he extended his knowledge of natural history, especially of botany. In 1829, he received the degree of doctor of philosophy at Erlangen, and in 1830, that of doctor of medicine at Munich.[3] Moving to Paris, he came under the tutelage of Alexander von Humboldt (and later his financial benevolence).[4]

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a Prussian polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography. Humboldt's advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring.

Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in the Americas, exploring and describing them for the first time from a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. Humboldt was one of the first people to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular).

Humboldt resurrected the use of the word cosmos from the ancient Greek and assigned it to his multivolume treatise, Kosmos, in which he sought to unify diverse branches of scientific knowledge and culture. This important work also motivated a holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity. He was the first person to describe the phenomenon and cause of human-induced climate change, in 1800 and again in 1831, based on observations generated during his travels.

-- Alexander von Humboldt, by Wikipedia

Humboldt and Georges Cuvier launched him on his careers of geology and zoology, respectively.

Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (French: [kyvje]; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century and was instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology through his work in comparing living animals with fossils.

Cuvier's work is considered the foundation of vertebrate paleontology, and he expanded Linnaean taxonomy by grouping classes into phyla and incorporating both fossils and living species into the classification. Cuvier is also known for establishing extinction as a fact—at the time, extinction was considered by many of Cuvier's contemporaries to be merely controversial speculation. In his Essay on the Theory of the Earth (1813) Cuvier proposed that now-extinct species had been wiped out by periodic catastrophic flooding events. In this way, Cuvier became the most influential proponent of catastrophism in geology in the early 19th century. His study of the strata of the Paris basin with Alexandre Brongniart established the basic principles of biostratigraphy.

Among his other accomplishments, Cuvier established that elephant-like bones found in the USA belonged to an extinct animal he later would name as a mastodon, and that a large skeleton dug up in Paraguay was of Megatherium, a giant, prehistoric ground sloth. He named the pterosaur Pterodactylus, described (but did not discover or name) the aquatic reptile Mosasaurus, and was one of the first people to suggest the earth had been dominated by reptiles, rather than mammals, in prehistoric times.

Cuvier is also remembered for strongly opposing theories of evolution, which at the time (before Darwin's theory) were mainly proposed by Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Cuvier believed there was no evidence for evolution, but rather evidence for cyclical creations and destructions of life forms by global extinction events such as deluges. In 1830, Cuvier and Geoffroy engaged in a famous debate, which is said to exemplify the two major deviations in biological thinking at the time – whether animal structure was due to function or (evolutionary) morphology.[5] Cuvier supported function and rejected Lamarck's thinking.

-- Georges Cuvier, by Wikipedia

Ichthyology soon became a focus of his life's work.[5]

Work


Agassiz in 1870

In 1819–1820, German biologists Johann Baptist von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius undertook an expedition to Brazil. They returned home to Europe with many natural objects, including an important collection of the freshwater fish of Brazil, especially of the Amazon River. Spix, who died in 1826, did not live long enough to work out the history of these fish, and Martius selected Agassiz for this project. Agassiz threw himself into the work with an enthusiasm that would go on to characterize the rest of his life's work. The task of describing the Brazilian fish was completed and published in 1829. This was followed by research into the history of fish found in Lake Neuchâtel. Enlarging his plans, in 1830, he issued a prospectus of a History of the Freshwater Fish of Central Europe. In 1839, however, the first part of this publication appeared, and it was completed in 1842.[3]

In 1832, Agassiz was appointed professor of natural history at the University of Neuchâtel. The fossil fish in the rock of the surrounding region, the slates of Glarus and the limestones of Monte Bolca, soon attracted his attention. At the time, very little had been accomplished in their scientific study. Agassiz, as early as 1829, planned the publication of a work, which more than any other, laid the foundation of his worldwide fame. Five volumes of his Recherches sur les poissons fossiles (Research on Fossil Fish) were published from 1833 to 1843. They were magnificently illustrated, chiefly by Joseph Dinkel.[6] In gathering materials for this work, Agassiz visited the principal museums in Europe, and meeting Cuvier in Paris, he received much encouragement and assistance from him.[3] They had known him for seven years at the time.


With Benjamin Peirce

Agassiz found that his palaeontological analyses required a new ichthyological classification. The fossils he examined rarely showed any traces of the soft tissues of fish, but, instead, consisted chiefly of the teeth, scales, and fins, with the bones being perfectly preserved in comparatively few instances. He, therefore, adopted a classification that divided fish into four groups: ganoids, placoids, cycloids, and ctenoids, based on the nature of the scales and other dermal appendages. This did much to improve fish taxonomy, but Aggasiz's classification has since been superseded.[3]

Agassiz needed financial support to continue his work. The British Association and the Earl of Ellesmere—then Lord Francis Egerton—stepped in to help. The 1,290 original drawings made for the work were purchased by the Earl, and presented by him to the Geological Society of London. In 1836, the Wollaston Medal was awarded to Agassiz by the council of that society for his work on fossil ichthyology; and, in 1838, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society. Meanwhile, invertebrate animals engaged his attention. In 1837, he issued the "Prodrome" of a monograph on the recent and fossil Echinodermata, the first part of which appeared in 1838; in 1839–40, he published two quarto volumes on the fossil echinoderms of Switzerland; and in 1840–45, he issued his Études critiques sur les mollusques fossiles (Critical Studies on Fossil Mollusks).[3]

Before Agassiz's first visit to England in 1834, Hugh Miller and other geologists had brought to light the remarkable fossil fish of the Old Red Sandstone of the northeast of Scotland. The strange forms of Pterichthys, Coccosteus and other genera were then made known to geologists for the first time. They were of intense interest to Agassiz, and formed the subject of a monograph by him published in 1844–45: Monographie des poissons fossiles du Vieux Grès Rouge, ou Système Dévonien (Old Red Sandstone) des Îles Britanniques et de Russie (Monograph on Fossil Fish of the Old Red Sandstone, or Devonian System of the British Isles and of Russia).[3] In the early stages of his career in Neuchatel, Agassiz also made a name for himself as a man who could run a scientific department well. Under his care, the University of Neuchâtel soon became a leading institution for scientific inquiry.


Portrait photograph by John Adams Whipple, circa 1865

In 1842–1846, Agassiz issued his Nomenclator Zoologicus, a classification list, with references, of all names used in zoological genera and groups.

Ice age

In 1837, Agassiz proposed that the Earth had been subjected to a past ice age.[7] He presented the theory to the Helvetic Society that not only had ancient glaciers flowed outward from the Alps, but even larger glaciers had covered the plains and mountains of Europe, Asia, and North America, smothering the entire Northern Hemisphere in a prolonged ice age. In the same year, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Prior to this proposal, Goethe, de Saussure, Venetz, Jean de Charpentier, Karl Friedrich Schimper, and others had studied the glaciers of the Alps, and Goethe,[8] Charpentier, and Schimper[7] had even concluded that the erratic blocks of alpine rocks scattered over the slopes and summits of the Jura Mountains had been moved there by glaciers. These ideas attracted the attention of Agassiz, and he discussed them with Charpentier and Schimper, whom he accompanied on successive trips to the Alps. Agassiz even had a hut constructed upon one of the Aar Glaciers, which for a time he made his home, to investigate the structure and movements of the ice.[3]

In 1840, Agassiz published a two-volume work entitled Études sur les glaciers (Studies on Glaciers).[9] In this, he discussed the movements of the glaciers, their moraines, and their influence in grooving and rounding the rocks and in producing the striations and roches moutonnees seen in Alpine-style landscapes. He accepted Charpentier and Schimper's idea that some of the alpine glaciers had extended across the wide plains and valleys of the Aar and Rhône, but he went further, concluding that, in the recent past, Switzerland had been covered with one vast sheet of ice, originating in the higher Alps and extending over the valley of northwestern Switzerland to southern slopes of the Jura. The publication of this work gave fresh impetus to the study of glacial phenomena in all parts of the world.[10]

Familiar, then, with recent glaciation, Agassiz and English geologist William Buckland visited the mountains of Scotland in 1840. There, they found clear evidence in different locations of glacial action. The discovery was announced to the Geological Society of London in successive communications. The mountainous districts of England, Wales, and Ireland were understood to have been centres for the dispersion of glacial debris. Agassiz remarked, "that great sheets of ice, resembling those now existing in Greenland, once covered all the countries in which unstratified gravel (boulder drift) is found; that this gravel was in general produced by the trituration of the sheets of ice upon the subjacent surface, etc."[11]


The man-sized iron auger used by Agassiz to drill up to 7.5 m deep into the Unteraar Glacier to take its temperature

United States

With the aid of a grant of money from the King of Prussia, Agassiz crossed the Atlantic in the autumn of 1846 to investigate the natural history and geology of North America and to deliver a course of lectures on "The Plan of Creation as shown in the Animal Kingdom,"[12] by invitation from J. A. Lowell, at the Lowell Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman Catholic crusader state and theocracy located along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Teutonic Knights were under the leadership of a Grand Master, the last of whom, Albert, converted to Protestantism and secularized the lands, which then became the Duchy of Prussia.

The Duchy was initially a vassal of the Kingdom of Poland, as a result of the terms of the Prussian Homage whereby Albert was granted the Duchy as part of the terms of peace following the Prussian War. When the main line of Prussian Hohenzollerns died out in 1618, the Duchy passed to a different branch of the family, who also reigned as Electors of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire. While still nominally two different territories, Prussia under the suzerainty of Poland and Brandenburg under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire, the two states are known together historiographically as Brandenburg-Prussia.

Following the Second Northern War, a series of treaties freed the Duchy of Prussia from vassalage to any other state, making it a fully sovereign Duchy in its own right. This complex situation (where the Hohenzollern ruler of the independent Duchy of Prussia was also a subject of the Holy Roman Emperor as Elector of Brandenburg) laid the eventual groundwork for the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. For diplomatic reasons, the rulers of Prussia called themselves King in Prussia from 1701 to 1772. They still nominally owed fealty to the Emperor as Electors of Brandenburg, so the "King in Prussia" title (as opposed to "King of Prussia") avoided offending the Emperor. Additionally, calling themselves "King of Prussia" implied sovereignty over the entire Prussian region, parts of which were still part of Poland.

As the Prussian state grew through several wars and diplomatic moves throughout the 18th century, it became apparent that Prussia had become a Great Power in its own right. By 1772, the pretense was dropped, and the style "King of Prussia" was adopted. The Prussian kings continued to use the title "Elector of Brandenburg" until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, reflecting the legal fiction that their domains within the empire were still under the ultimate overlordship of the Emperor. Legally, the Hohenzollerns ruled Brandenburg in personal union with their Prussian kingdom, but in practice they treated their domains as a single unit. The Hohenzollerns gained de jure sovereignty over Brandenburg when the empire dissolved in 1806, and Brandenburg was formally merged into Prussia.

In 1871, in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was formed, and the King of Prussia, Wilhelm I was crowned German Emperor. From that point forward, though the Kingdom of Prussia retained its status as a constituent state of the empire (albeit by far the largest and most powerful), all subsequent Kings of Prussia also served as German Emperor, and that title took precedence.

-- List of monarchs of Prussia, by Wikipedia

Hon. John Amory Lowell (November 11, 1798 – October 31, 1881) was an American businessman and philanthropist from Boston. He became the sole trustee of the Lowell Institute when his first cousin, John Lowell, Jr. (1799–1836), the Institute's endower, died....

His father maintained a well-established law firm in the city, and three years after John Amory's birth, retired for reasons of his failing health. After retiring in 1801, the elder Lowell spent much of his time and wealth patronizing the burgeoning horticultural society in Boston, so much so that he became known to his friends and family as "The Norfolk Farmer." John Amory Lowell's paternal grandfather, also named John Lowell (1743–1802) but referred to as "The Old Judge," was a Federal Judge appointed by President George Washington and is considered to be the founding father of the Boston Lowells. (Greenslet 1946).

Like his father and grandfathers before him, Lowell would be the fourth member in his family line to graduate from Harvard College in 1815, at the age of 17.

After spending an extended time traveling through Europe and then establishing himself as a successful merchant in Boston, Lowell married his first wife, Susan Cabot Lowell (1801–1827), a daughter of his uncle, Francis Cabot Lowell.[3] Together, they would have two children, Susan Cabot and John. Lowell's wife died during childbirth in 1827. Their son, John, would be appointed to the U.S. District Court in 1865 by President Abraham Lincoln, and in 1878, appointed to the U.S. Circuit Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes. John Amory's grandson, James Arnold Lowell, would also go on to become a Federal Judge...

Lowell was a Fellow of Harvard College (1837–1877), a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Linnean Society of London. Later, in 1851, Harvard would honor John Amory with an LLD.

The trust—or Lowell Institute, as it came to be known...proved to be an extraordinarily innovative philanthropic force...

The list of Lowell Lecturers during his tenure was a veritable pantheon of the most internationally celebrated figures in science, literature, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology, including Britain's most celebrated geologist, Sir Charles Lyell, Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz, and novelists Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray.

The lectures were so immensely popular that crowds crushed the windows of the Old Corner Bookstore where the tickets were distributed and certain series had to be repeated by popular demand. John Amory tirelessly led the Lowell Institute for more than 40 years before naming his son, Augustus, as his replacement.

-- John Amory Lowell, by Wikipedia

The financial offers presented to him in the United States induced him to settle there, where he remained to the end of his life.[11] He was elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1846.[13] Agassiz had a cordial relationship with Harvard botanist Asa Gray, but they disagreed on some scientific issues.[14] For example, Agassiz was a member of the Scientific Lazzaroni, a group of mostly physical scientists who wanted American academia to mimic the autocratic academic structures of European universities, whereas Gray was a staunch opponent of that group.

("Lazzaroni" was slang for the homeless idlers of Naples who live by chance work or begging - so called from the Hospital of St Lazarus, which served as their refuge.) These scientists then gained greater support and laid the foundation for the National Academy of Sciences...

These Lazzaroni were mostly professional physical scientists, interested in geophysical problems, who admitted a few kindred souls from other fields to their ranks. Their interests and range of influence extended to all of the sciences and included much of the research performed in universities and the government. They were consciously promoting the development of a professional scientific community in America...

The Lazzaroni wanted to mimic the autocratic academic structures of European universities. The members of the Lazzaroni wanted only university-educated scientists, at one point, so as to create a "pure science" for America. Therefore, the scientists who did not match the code and "oath" of the initial members would be forced, if possible, out of their vocation and not allowed to advance unless they met the qualifications of the Lazzaroni, who often kept scientists out of any professional scientific position. They used their influence together, a group of top scientists against any one individual.

-- Scientific Lazzaroni, by Wikipedia

Agassiz also felt each human race had different origins, but Gray believed in the unity of all humans.[15]

Agassiz's engagement for the Lowell Institute lectures precipitated the establishment, in 1847, of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University [Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences], with Agassiz as its head.[16]

The formation of the Lawrence Scientific School in 1847 marked Harvard's first major effort to provide a formal, advanced education in science and engineering.

The school was named for Massachusetts industrialist and entrepreneur Abbott Lawrence, who donated $50,000 (a then-unprecedented sum) to create the institution. While he did not attend Harvard, he had a long personal history with key faculty members such as Louis Agassiz and understood the value of science and engineering. In the letter that accompanied his gift, Lawrence explained his rationale for forming a school:[7]

But where can we send those who intend to devote themselves to the practical applications of science? Our country abounds in men of action. Hard hands are ready to work upon our hard materials; and where shall sagacious heads be taught to direct those hands?...

In 1891, industrialist Gordon McKay designated the Lawrence Scientific School his beneficiary. In 1906, before the first payment from his bequest, Lawrence's scientific and engineering programs were incorporated into Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The School ceased to exist as an independent entity...

In 1934, the School began offering graduate-level and professional programs in engineering. During World War II, Harvard participated in the V-12 Navy College Training Program to provide training for commissioned officers. In 1942, the undergraduate Department of Engineering Sciences changed to the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics to reflect an increased emphasis on applied physics. Harvard President James Bryant Conant created what was known as "Conant's Arsenal," a research hub for defense-related engineering projects including radar jamming, night vision, aerial photography, sonar, explosives, napalm, and atomic bomb research. One notable project from this era was the Harvard Mark I computer; one of the first programs to run on the Mark I was initiated on March 29, 1944 by John von Neumann, who worked on the Manhattan Project at the time, and needed to determine whether implosion was a viable choice to detonate the atomic bomb that would be used a year later. The Mark I also computed and printed mathematical tables, which had been the initial goal of British inventor Charles Babbage for his "analytical engine."

By 1945, Harvard income from government contracts was $33.5 million, the third highest among U.S. universities.[15] Between 1946 and 1949, the Graduate School of Engineering merged its faculty with the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics into the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences within the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

-- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, by Wikipedia

Harvard appointed him professor of zoology and geology, and he founded the Museum of Comparative Zoology there in 1859, serving as the museum's first director until his death in 1873. During his tenure at Harvard, Agassiz studied the effect of the last ice age on North America.

The Museum of Comparative Zoology, full name "The Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology", often abbreviated simply to "MCZ", is the zoology museum located on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is one of three natural history research museums at Harvard whose public face is the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Harvard MCZ's collections consist of some 21 million specimens, of which several thousand are on rotating display at the public museum...

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is physically connected to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology; for visitors, one admission ticket grants access to both museums. The research collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology are not open to the public.

-- Museum of Comparative Zoology, by Wikipedia

Agassiz continued his lectures for the Lowell Institute. In succeeding years, he gave lectures on "Ichthyology" (1847–48 season), "Comparative Embryology" (1848–49), "Functions of Life in Lower Animals" (1850–51), "Natural History" (1853–54), "Methods of Study in Natural History" (1861–62), "Glaciers and the Ice Period" (1864–65), "Brazil" (1866–67), and "Deep Sea Dredging" (1869–70).[17] In 1850, he married an American college teacher, Elizabeth Cabot Cary, who later wrote introductory books about natural history and a lengthy biography of her husband after he died.[18]

Agassiz served as a nonresident lecturer at Cornell University while also being on faculty at Harvard.[19] In 1852, he accepted a medical professorship of comparative anatomy at Charlestown, Massachusetts, but resigned in two years.[11] From this time, Agassiz's, scientific studies dropped off, but he became one of the best-known scientists in the world. By 1857, Agassiz was so well-loved that his friend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote "The fiftieth birthday of Agassiz" in his honor, and read it at a dinner given for Agassiz by the Saturday Club in Cambridge.[11] His own writing continued with four (of a planned 10) volumes of Natural History of the United States, published from 1857 to 1862. He also published a catalog of papers in his field, Bibliographia Zoologiae et Geologiae, in four volumes between 1848 and 1854.

Stricken by ill health in the 1860s, Agassiz resolved to return to the field for relaxation and to resume his studies of Brazilian fish. In April 1865, he led a party to Brazil. Following his return in August 1866, an account of this expedition, entitled A Journey in Brazil, was published in 1868. In December 1871, he made a second eight-month excursion, known as the Hassler expedition under the command of Commander Philip Carrigan Johnson (brother of Eastman Johnson), visiting South America on its southern Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. The ship explored the Magellan Strait, drawing the praise of Charles Darwin.

Elizabeth Agassiz wrote, at the Strait: '. ... .the Hassler pursued her course, past a seemingly endless panorama of mountains and forests rising into the pale regions of snow and ice, where lay glaciers in which every rift and crevasse, as well as the many cascades flowing down to join the waters beneath, could be counted as she steamed by them. ... These were weeks of exquisite delight to Agassiz. The vessel often skirted the shore so closely that its geology could be studied from the deck.'

Legacy


Agassiz in middle age

From his first marriage to Cecilie Bruan, Agassiz had two daughters in addition to son Alexander.[20] In 1863, Agassiz's daughter Ida married Henry Lee Higginson, who later founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra and was a benefactor to Harvard and other schools. On November 30, 1860, Agassiz's daughter Pauline was married to Quincy Adams Shaw (1825–1908), a wealthy Boston merchant and later benefactor to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.[21]

In the last years of his life, Agassiz worked to establish a permanent school where zoological science could be pursued amid the living subjects of its study. In 1873, a private philanthropist (John Anderson) gave Agassiz the island of Penikese, in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts (south of New Bedford), and presented him with $50,000 to permanently endow it as a practical school of natural science, especially devoted to the study of marine zoology.[11] The John Anderson school collapsed soon after Agassiz's death; it is considered a precursor of the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, which is nearby.[22]

Agassiz had a profound influence on the American branches of his two fields, teaching many future scientists who would go on to prominence, including Alpheus Hyatt, David Starr Jordan, Joel Asaph Allen, Joseph Le Conte, Ernest Ingersoll, William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, Nathaniel Shaler, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, Alpheus Packard, and his son Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, among others. He had a profound impact on paleontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott and natural scientist Edward S. Morse. Agassiz had a reputation for being a demanding teacher. He would allegedly "lock a student up in a room full of turtle-shells, or lobster-shells, or oyster-shells, without a book or a word to help him, and not let him out till he had discovered all the truths which the objects contained."[23] Two of Agassiz's most prominent students detailed their personal experiences under his tutelage: Scudder, in a short magazine article for Every Saturday,[24] and Shaler, in his Autobiography.[25] These and other recollections were collected and published by Lane Cooper in 1917,[26] which Ezra Pound was to draw on for his anecdote of Agassiz and the sunfish.[27]

In the early 1840s, Agassiz named two fossil fish species after Mary Anning —Acrodus anningiae, and Belenostomus anningiae— and another after her friend, Elizabeth Philpot. Anning was a paleontologist known around the world for important finds, but because of her gender, she was often not formally recognized for her work. Agassiz was grateful for the help the women gave him in examining fossil fish specimens during his visit to Lyme Regis in 1834.[28]

Agassiz died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1873 and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery, joined later by his wife. His monument is a boulder from a glacial moraine of the Aar near the site of the old Hôtel des Neuchâtelois, not far from the spot where his hut once stood; his grave is sheltered by pine trees from his old home in Switzerland.[11]

The Cambridge elementary school north of Harvard University was named in his honor and the surrounding neighborhood became known as "Agassiz" as a result. The school's name was changed to the Maria L. Baldwin School on May 21, 2002, due to concerns about Agassiz's involvement in scientific racism, and to honor Maria Louise Baldwin the African-American principal of the school, who served from 1889 until 1922.[29][30] The neighborhood, however, continues to be known as Agassiz.[31] An elementary school called the Agassiz Elementary School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, existed from 1922 to 1981.[32]


Agassiz's grave, Mt Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a boulder from the moraine of the Aar Glaciers, near where he once lived.

An ancient glacial lake that formed in the Great Lakes region of North America, Lake Agassiz, is named after him, as are Mount Agassiz in California's Palisades, Mount Agassiz, in the Uinta Mountains, Agassiz Peak in Arizona, and in his native Switzerland, the Agassizhorn in the Bernese Alps. Agassiz Glacier (Montana) and Agassiz Creek in Glacier National Park and Agassiz Glacier (Alaska) in Saint Elias Mountains, Mount Agassiz in Bethlehem, New Hampshire in the White Mountains also bear his name. A crater on Mars Crater Agassiz[33] and a promontorium on the moon are also named in his honor. A headland situated in Palmer Land, Antarctica, is named in his honor, Cape Agassiz. A main-belt asteroid named 2267 Agassiz is also named in association with Louis Agassiz.

Several animal species are named in honor of Louis Agassiz, including Apistogramma agassizii Steindachner, 1875 (Agassiz's dwarf cichlid); Isocapnia agassizi Ricker, 1943 (a stonefly); Publius agassizi (Kaup, 1871) (a passalid beetle); Xylocrius agassizi (LeConte, 1861) (a longhorn beetle); Exoprosopa agassizii Loew, 1869 (a bee fly); Chelonia agassizii Bocourt, 1868 (Galápagos green turtle);[34] Philodryas agassizii (Jan, 1863) (a South American snake);[34] and the most well-known, Gopherus agassizii (Cooper, 1863) (the desert tortoise).[34]. More recently in 2020, a new genus of pycnodont fish (Actinopterygii, Pycnodontiformes) named Agassazilia erfoundina (Cooper and Martill, 2020) from the Moroccan Kem Kem Group was named in honor of Agassiz who first identified the group in the 1830s.

In 2005, the European Geosciences Union Division on Cryospheric Sciences established the Louis Agassiz Medal, awarded to individuals in recognition of their outstanding scientific contribution to the study of the cryosphere on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system.[35]

Agassiz took part in a monthly gathering called the Saturday Club at the Parker House, a meeting of Boston writers and intellectuals. He was, therefore, mentioned in a stanza of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. poem "At the Saturday Club":

There, at the table's further end I see
In his old place our Poet's vis-à-vis,
The great PROFESSOR, strong, broad-shouldered, square,
In life's rich noontide, joyous, debonair
...

How will her realm be darkened, losing thee,
Her darling, whom we call our AGASSIZ!

The Saturday Club, established in 1855, was an informal monthly gathering in Boston, Massachusetts, of writers, scientists, philosophers, historians, and other notable thinkers of the mid-Nineteenth Century.

The club began meeting informally at the Albion House in Boston. Publishing agent and lawyer Horatio Woodman first suggested the gatherings among his friends for food and conversation. By 1856, the organization became more structured with a loose set of rules, with monthly meetings held over dinner at the Parker House. The Parker House served as their place of meeting for many years. It was a hotel built in 1854 by Harvey D. Parker.

The gatherings led to the creation of the Atlantic Monthly, to which many of the members contributed. The name was suggested by early member Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.[5]

The original members of the group included Woodman, Louis Agassiz, Richard Henry Dana Jr., and James Russell Lowell. In the following years, membership was extended to Holmes, Cornelius Conway Felton, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and William Hickling Prescott. Other members included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Asa Gray, John Lothrop Motley, Benjamin Peirce, Charles Sumner, John Greenleaf Whittier, and others. Invitations to the group were considered a sort of affirmation of acceptance into Boston's high society. Ohio-native William Dean Howells was invited by James Russell Lowell in 1860 and recalled in a memoir that it seemed like a rite of passage. Holmes joked that Howells's presence serve as "something like the apostolic succession... the laying on of hands". A few years later, Howells was named editor of the Atlantic Monthly, which published many of the works by members of the group.

-- Saturday Club (Boston, Massachusetts), by Wikipedia

Daguerreotypes of Renty and Delia Taylor


Renty

In 1850 Agassiz commissioned daguerreotypes, described as "haunting and voyeuristic" of the enslaved Renty Taylor and Taylor's daughter Delia to further his arguments about black inferiority.[36] They are the earliest known photographs of slaves.[37][38][36][39] Agassiz left the images to Harvard and they remained in the Peabody Museum’s attic until 1976 when they were re-discovered by Ellie Reichlin. In 2019 Taylor's descendants sued Harvard for the return of the images and unspecified damages.[40] The lawsuit was supported by forty-three living descendants of Louis Agassiz, they wrote a letter of support that read in part "For Harvard to give the daguerreotypes to Ms. Lanier and her family would begin to make amends for its use of the photos as exhibits for the white supremacist theory Agassiz espoused,” and that everyone must evaluate fully "his role in promoting a pseudoscientific justification for white supremacy."[37]

Polygenism


After the 1906 San Francisco earth­quake toppled Agassiz's statue from the façade of Stanford's zoology building, Stanford President David Starr Jordan wrote, "Somebody‍—‌Dr. Angell, perhaps‍—‌remarked that 'Agassiz was great in the abstract but not in the concrete.'"[41]

After Agassiz came to the United States, he wrote prolifically on polygenism, which holds that animals, plants, and humans were all created in "special provinces" with distinct populations of species created in and for each province, and that these populations were endowed with unequal attributes.[42] Agassiz denied that migration and adaptation could account for the geographical age or any of the past. Adaptation takes time; in an example, Agassiz questioned how plants or animals could migrate through regions they were not equipped to handle.[43] According to Agassiz the conditions in which particular creatures live "are the conditions necessary to their maintenance, and what among organized beings is essential to their temporal existence must be at least one of the conditions under which they were created".[43] Agassiz was opposed to monogenism and evolution, believing that the theory of evolution reduced the wisdom of God to an impersonal materialism.[43]

Agassiz was influenced by philosophical idealism and the scientific work of Georges Cuvier. Agassiz believed one species of humans exists, but many different creations of races occurred.[43] These ideas are now included under the rubric of scientific racism. According to Agassiz, genera and species were ideas in the mind of God; their existence in God's mind prior to their physical creation meant that God could create humans as one species, yet in several distinct and geographically separate acts of creation. Agassiz was in modern terms a creationist who believed nature had order because God created it directly. Agassiz viewed his career in science as a search for ideas in the mind of the creator expressed in creation.

Agassiz, like other polygenists, believed the Book of Genesis recounted the origin of the white race only and that the animals and plants in the Bible refer only to those species proximate and familiar to Adam and Eve. Agassiz believed that the writers of the Bible knew only of regional events; for example that Noah's flood was a local event known only to the regions near those populated by ancient Hebrews.[43]

Stephen Jay Gould asserted that Agassiz's observations sprang from racist bias, in particular from his revulsion on first encountering African-Americans in the United States.[44] However, others have asserted that, despite favoring polygenism, Agassiz rejected racism and believed in a spiritualized human unity.[43] Agassiz believed God made all men equal, and that intellectualism and morality, as developed in civilization, make men equal before God.[43] Agassiz never supported slavery and claimed his views on polygenism had nothing to do with politics;[45] however his views on polygenism emboldened proponents of slavery.[37]

Accusations of racism against Agassiz have prompted the renaming of landmarks, schoolhouses, and other institutions (which abound in Massachusetts) that bear his name.[30] Opinions on these events are often mixed, given his extensive scientific legacy in other areas.[46] In 2007, the Swiss government acknowledged his "racist thinking," but declined to rename the Agassizhorn summit.[47] In 2017, the Swiss Alpine Club declined to revoke Agassiz's status as a member of honor, which he received in 1865 for his scientific work, because the club considered this status to have lapsed on Agassiz's death.[48]

Works

• Recherches sur les poissons fossiles (1833–1843)
• History of the Freshwater Fishes of Central Europe (1839–1842)
• Études sur les glaciers (1840)
• Études critiques sur les mollusques fossiles (1840–1845)
• Nomenclator Zoologicus (1842–1846)
• Monographie des poissons fossiles du Vieux Gres Rouge, ou Systeme Devonien (Old Red Sandstone) des Iles Britanniques et de Russie (1844–1845)
• Bibliographia Zoologiae et Geologiae (1848)
• (with A. A. Gould) Principles of Zoology for the use of Schools and Colleges (Boston, 1848)
• Lake Superior: Its Physical Character, Vegetation and Animals, compared with those of other and similar regions (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 1850)
• Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1857–1862)
• Geological Sketches (Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1866)
• A Journey in Brazil (1868)
• De l'espèce et de la classification en zoologie [Essay on classification] (Trans. Felix Vogeli. Paris: Bailière, 1869)
• Geological Sketches (Second Series) (Boston: J.R. Osgood, 1876)
• Essay on Classification, by Louis Agassiz (1962, Cambridge)

See also

• Biography portal
• Geology portal
• Category:Taxa named by Louis Agassiz
• List of geologists

References

1. Nicolaas A Rupke, Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography, University of Chicago Press, 2008, p 54
2. Frank Leslie's new family magazine v 1 (1857), p 29
3. Woodward 1911, p 367
4. Andrea Wulf, The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World New York: Alfred A Knopf 2015, p 250
5. Kelly, Howard A ; Burrage, Walter L , eds (1920) "Agassiz, Jean Louis Rudolph" American Medical Biographies Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company
6. "Agassiz's Fossil Fish" The Geological Society
7. E P Evans: "The Authorship of the Glacial Theory", North American review Volume 145, Issue 368, July 1887 Accessed on January 24, 2018
8. Cameron, Dorothy (1964) Early discoverers XXII, Goethe-Discoverer of the ice age Journal of glaciology (PDF)
9. Louis Agassiz: Études sur les glaciers, Neuchâtel 1840 Digital book on Wikisource Accessed on February 25, 2008
10. Woodward 1911, pp 367–368
11. Woodward 1911, p 368
12. Smith, p 52
13. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF) American Academy of Arts and Sciences Retrieved April 6, 2011
14. Dupree, A Hunter (1988) Asa Gray, American Botanist, Friend of Darwin Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press pp 152–154, 224–225 ISBN 978-0-801-83741-8
15. Dupree, A Hunter (1988) Asa Gray, American Botanist, Friend of Darwin Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press pp ix–xv, 152–154, 224–225 ISBN 978-0-801-83741-8
16. Smith (1898), pp 39–41
17. Smith (1898), pp 52–66
18. Agassiz, Elizabeth Cabot Cary (1893) Louis Agassiz; his life and correspondence MBLWHOI Library Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company
19. A History of Cornell by Morris Bishop (1962), p 83
20. Irmscher, Christoph (2013) Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
21. Museum of Fine Arts (1918) "Quincy Adams Shaw Collection" Boston, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts: 2
22. Dexter, R W (1980) "The Annisquam Sea-side Laboratory of Alpheus Hyatt, Predecessor of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, 1880–1886" In Sears, Mary; Merriman, Daniel (eds ) Oceanography: The Past New York: Springer pp 94–100 doi:10 1007/978-1-4613-8090-0_10 ISBN 978-1461380900 OCLC 840282810
23. James, William "Louis Agassiz, Words Spoken at the Reception of the American Society of Naturalists [Dec 30, 1896] pp 9–10 Cambridge, 1897 Quoted in Cooper 1917, pp 61–62
24. Erlandson, David A ; et al (1993) Doing Naturalistic Inquiry: A Guide to Methods Sage Publications pp 1–4 ISBN 978-0803949386 ; Originally published in: Scudder, Samuel H (April 4, 1874) "Look at your fish" Every Saturday 16: 369–370
25. Shaler, Nathaniel; Shaler, Sophia Penn Page (1909) The Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler with a Supplementary Memoir by his Wife Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company pp 92–99
26. Cooper, Lane (1917) Louis Agassiz as a Teacher: Illustrative Extracts on his Method of Instruction Ithaca: The Comstock Publishing Company
27. Pound, Ezra (2010) ABC of Reading New York: New Directions pp 17–18 ISBN 978-0811218931
28. Emling 2009, pp 169–170
29. [1][permanent dead link]
30. "Committee Renames Local Agassiz School | News | The Harvard Crimson" www thecrimson com
31. "Archived copy" (PDF) Archived from the original on June 7, 2010 Retrieved October 3, 2005 cambridgema gov
32. "Agassiz" mpshistory mpls k12 mn us Retrieved July 6, 2017
33. Schmadel, Lutz D (2012) Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Springer Science & Business Media p 176 ISBN 978-3642297182
34. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011) The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press xiii + 296 pp ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5 ("Agassiz, J L R ", p 2)
35. "Louis Agassiz Medal" European Geosciences Union 2005 Retrieved February 8, 2015
36. "Who Should Own Photos of Slaves? The Descendants, not Harvard, a Lawsuit Says" March 20, 2019 Retrieved March 29, 2019
37. Moser, Erica "Descendants of racist scientist back Norwich woman in fight over slave images" theday com The Day Retrieved June 21, 2019
38. Browning, Kellen "Descendants of slave, white supremacist join forces on Harvard's campus to demand school hand over 'family photos'" www bostonglobe com The Boston Globe Retrieved June 21, 2019
39. "The World Is Watching: Woman Suing Harvard for Photos of Enslaved Ancestors Says History Is At Stake" Democracy Now! March 29, 2019 Retrieved March 29, 2019
40. Tony Marco, Ray Sanchez and "The descendants of slaves want Harvard to stop using iconic photos of their relatives" /www cnn com CNN Retrieved June 21, 2019
41. "Earthquake impacts on prestige" Stanford University and the 1906 earthquake Stanford University Retrieved June 22, 2012
42. Edward Lurie, "Louis Agassiz and the Races of Man," Isis 45, no 3 (1954): 227–242
43. Paul M Blowers, 2008, "Entering 'This Sublime and Blessed Amphitheatre': Contemplation of Nature and Interpretation of the Bible in the Patristic Period, In "Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: Up to 1700", 2 vols (Scott Mandelbrote & Jitse van der Meer, Eds ), doi:10 1163/ej 9789004171916 i-782, book ISBN 9789047425236, pp 147–176, esp 159–164 and 151–154, chapter doi:10 1163/ej 9789004171916 i-782 34}, accessed June 8, 2014
44. Gould, Stephen Jay (1980) "Flaws in a Victorian Veil, Chapter 16" The Panda's Thumb
45. John P Jackson, Nadine M Weidman Race, Racism, and science: social impact and interaction, Rutgers University Press, 2005, p 51
46. See for instance: Author needed, 2001, "Political Correctness Run Amok: School Students Dishonor a Genius of Science", Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no 32 (Summer 2001): 74–75
47. "Louis Agassiz vom Sockel holen und dem Sklaven Renty die Würde zurückgeben" Die Bundesversammlung – Das Schweizer Parlament September 14, 2007
48. "Louis Agassiz ne sera pas déchu de son titre au Club alpin suisse" Le Temps (in French) August 23, 2017 Retrieved August 23, 2017

Sources

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Woodward, Horace Bolingbroke (1911). "Agassiz, Jean Louis Rodolphe". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 367–368.
• Dexter, R W (1979). "The impact of evolutionary theories on the Salem group of Agassiz zoologists (Morse, Hyatt, Packard, Putnam)". Essex Institute Historical Collections. 115 (3). pp. 144–71. PMID 11616944.
• Emling, Shelley (2009). The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman whose Discoveries Changed the World. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-61156-6.
• Irmscher, Christoph (2013). Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0547577678.
• Lurie, E (1954). "Louis Agassiz and the races of Man". Isis; an International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences. 45 (141) (published September 1954). pp. 227–42. PMID 13232804.
• Lurie, Edward (1988). Louis Agassiz: A Life in Science. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801837432.
• Lurie, Edward (2008). "Agassiz, Jean Louis Rodolphe". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 72–74.
• Mackie, G O (1989). "Louis Agassiz and the discovery of the coelenterate nervous system". History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. 11 (1). pp. 71–81. PMID 2573108.
• Menand, Louis (2002). "Agassiz". The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. Macmillan. pp. 97–116. ISBN 978-0374528492.
• Numbers, Ronald L. (2006). The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design (2nd ed.).[full citation needed]
• Rogers, Molly (2010). Delia's Tears: Race, Science, and Photography in Nineteenth-Century America. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300115482.
• Smith, Harriet Knight, The history of the Lowell Institute, Boston: Lamson, Wolffe and Co., 1898.
• Winsor, M P (1979). "Louis Agassiz and the species question". Studies in History of Biology. 3. pp. 89–138. PMID 11610990.
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Agassiz, Jean Louis Rudolphe" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

External links

• Publications by and about Louis Agassiz in the catalogue Helveticat of the Swiss National Library
• Works by Louis Agassiz at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Louis Agassiz at Internet Archive
• Works by Louis Agassiz at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by Louis Agassiz online at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
• Weisstein, Eric Wolfgang (ed.). "Agassiz, Jean (1807–1873)". ScienceWorld.
• Pictures and texts of Excursions et séjours dans les glaciers et les hautes régions des Alpes and of Nouvelles études et expériences sur les glaciers actuels by Louis Agassiz can be found in the database VIATIMAGES.
• "Geographical Distribution of Animals", by Louis Agassiz (1850)
• Runner of the Mountain Tops: The Life of Louis Agassiz, by Mabel Louise Robinson (1939) – free download at A Celebration of Women Writers – UPenn Digital Library
• Thayer Expedition to Brazil, 1865–1866 (Agassiz went to Brazil to find glacial boulders and to refute Darwin. Dom Pedro II gave his support for Agassiz's expedition on the Amazon River.)
• Louis Agassiz Correspondence, Houghton Library, Harvard University
• Illustrations from 'Monographies d'échinodermes vivans et fossiles'
• National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
• Agassiz, Louis (1842) "The glacial theory and its recent progress" The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. 33. p. 217–283. (Linda Hall Library)
• Agassiz, Louis (1863) Methods of study in natural history – (Linda Hall Library)
• Agassiz Rock, Edinburgh – during a visit to Edinburgh in 1840, Agassiz explained the striations on this rock's surface as due to glaciation

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Part 1 of 2

William James
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20

-- The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature , by William James, LL.D., Erc.

William James, MD
James in 1903
Born: January 11, 1842, New York City, US
Died: August 26, 1910 (aged 68), Tamworth, New Hampshire, US
Nationality: American
Alma mater: Harvard University, MD (1869)[1]
Era: 19th-/20th-century philosophy
Region: Western philosophy
School: Pragmatism functional psychology radical empiricism
Institutions: Harvard University
Notable students: Edwin Holt, Ralph Barton Perry
Main interests: Pragmatism, psychology, philosophy of religion, epistemology, meaning
Notable ideas: Will to believe doctrine; pragmatic theory of truth; radical empiricism; James–Lange theory of emotion; psychologist's fallacy; brain usage theory; soft determinism; dilemma of determinism; stream of consciousness; James' theory of the self; the term multiverse
Influences: Louis Agassiz William Kingdon Clifford[2] David Hartley Hermann Helmholtz David Hume Pierre Janet Jules Lequier Ernst Mach John Stuart Mill Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Bernard Renouvier Bernhard Riemann F. C. S. Schiller Afrikan Spir[3] Emanuel Swedenborg
Influenced: Henri Bergson Jimmy Carter Morris Raphael Cohen John Dewey W. E. B. Du Bois Émile Durkheim Edwin Holt Edmund Husserl C. Wright Mills Gertrude Stein[4] Hilary Putnam Richard Rorty Bertrand Russell George Santayana F. C. S. Schiller Alfred Schütz Alfred North Whitehead Antonio Damasio William Sheldon

William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.[5] James is considered to be a leading thinker of the late nineteenth century, one of the most influential philosophers of the United States, and the "Father of American psychology".[6][7][8]

Along with Charles Sanders Peirce, James established the philosophical school known as pragmatism, and is also cited as one of the founders of functional psychology. A Review of General Psychology analysis, published in 2002, ranked James as the 14th most eminent psychologist of the 20th century.[9] A survey published in American Psychologist in 1991 ranked James's reputation in second place,[10] after Wilhelm Wundt, who is widely regarded as the founder of experimental psychology.[11][12] James also developed the philosophical perspective known as radical empiricism. James's work has influenced philosophers and academics such as Émile Durkheim, W. E. B. Du Bois, Edmund Husserl, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hilary Putnam, and Richard Rorty.[13]

Born into a wealthy family, James was the son of the Swedenborgian theologian Henry James Sr. and the brother of both the prominent novelist Henry James and the diarist Alice James. James trained as a physician and taught anatomy at Harvard, but never practiced medicine. Instead he pursued his interests in psychology and then philosophy. James wrote widely on many topics, including epistemology, education, metaphysics, psychology, religion, and mysticism. Among his most influential books are The Principles of Psychology, a groundbreaking text in the field of psychology; Essays in Radical Empiricism, an important text in philosophy; and The Varieties of Religious Experience, an investigation of different forms of religious experience, including theories on mind-cure.[14]

Early life


William James in Brazil, 1865

William James was born at the Astor House in New York City on January 11, 1842. He was the son of Henry James Sr., a noted and independently wealthy Swedenborgian theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. The intellectual brilliance of the James family milieu and the remarkable epistolary talents of several of its members have made them a subject of continuing interest to historians, biographers, and critics.

William James received an eclectic trans-Atlantic education, developing fluency in both German and French. Education in the James household encouraged cosmopolitanism. The family made two trips to Europe while William James was still a child, setting a pattern that resulted in thirteen more European journeys during his life. His early artistic bent led to an apprenticeship in the studio of William Morris Hunt in Newport, Rhode Island, but he switched in 1861 to scientific studies at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard College.

In his early adulthood, James suffered from a variety of physical ailments, including those of the eyes, back, stomach, and skin. He was also tone deaf.[15] He was subject to a variety of psychological symptoms which were diagnosed at the time as neurasthenia, and which included periods of depression during which he contemplated suicide for months on end. Two younger brothers, Garth Wilkinson (Wilky) and Robertson (Bob), fought in the Civil War. The other three siblings (William, Henry, and Alice James) all suffered from periods of invalidism.

He took up medical studies at Harvard Medical School in 1864 (according to his brother Henry James, the author). He took a break in the spring of 1865 to join naturalist Louis Agassiz on a scientific expedition up the Amazon River, but aborted his trip after eight months, as he suffered bouts of severe seasickness and mild smallpox. His studies were interrupted once again due to illness in April 1867. He traveled to Germany in search of a cure and remained there until November 1868; at that time he was 26 years old. During this period, he began to publish; reviews of his works appeared in literary periodicals such as the North American Review.

James finally earned his M.D. degree in June 1869 but he never practiced medicine. What he called his "soul-sickness" would only be resolved in 1872, after an extended period of philosophical searching. He married Alice Gibbens in 1878. In 1882 he joined the Theosophical Society.[16]

James's time in Germany proved intellectually fertile, helping him find that his true interests lay not in medicine but in philosophy and psychology. Later, in 1902 he would write: "I originally studied medicine in order to be a physiologist, but I drifted into psychology and philosophy from a sort of fatality. I never had any philosophic instruction, the first lecture on psychology I ever heard being the first I ever gave".[17]

In 1875–1876, James, Henry Pickering Bowditch (1840–1911), Charles Pickering Putnam (1844–1914), and James Jackson Putnam (1846–1918) founded the Putnam Camp at St. Huberts, Essex County, New York.[18]

Career

James interacted with a wide array of writers and scholars throughout his life, including his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson, his godson William James Sidis, as well as Charles Sanders Peirce, Bertrand Russell, Josiah Royce, Ernst Mach, John Dewey, Macedonio Fernández, Walter Lippmann, Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, G. Stanley Hall, Henri Bergson, Carl Jung, Jane Addams and Sigmund Freud.

James spent almost all of his academic career at Harvard. He was appointed instructor in physiology for the spring 1873 term, instructor in anatomy and physiology in 1873, assistant professor of psychology in 1876, assistant professor of philosophy in 1881, full professor in 1885, endowed chair in psychology in 1889, return to philosophy in 1897, and emeritus professor of philosophy in 1907.

James studied medicine, physiology, and biology, and began to teach in those subjects, but was drawn to the scientific study of the human mind at a time when psychology was constituting itself as a science. James's acquaintance with the work of figures like Hermann Helmholtz in Germany and Pierre Janet in France facilitated his introduction of courses in scientific psychology at Harvard University. He taught his first experimental psychology course at Harvard in the 1875–1876 academic year.[19]

During his Harvard years, James joined in philosophical discussions and debates with Charles Peirce, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Chauncey Wright that evolved into a lively group informally known as The Metaphysical Club in 1872. Louis Menand (2001) suggested that this Club provided a foundation for American intellectual thought for decades to come. James joined the Anti-Imperialist League in 1898, in opposition to the United States annexation of the Philippines.


William James and Josiah Royce, near James's country home in Chocorua, New Hampshire in September 1903. James's daughter Peggy took the picture. On hearing the camera click, James cried out: "Royce, you're being photographed! Look out! I say Damn the Absolute!"

Among James's students at Harvard University were luminaries such as Boris Sidis, Theodore Roosevelt, George Santayana, W. E. B. Du Bois, G. Stanley Hall, Ralph Barton Perry, Gertrude Stein, Horace Kallen, Morris Raphael Cohen, Walter Lippmann, Alain Locke, C. I. Lewis, and Mary Whiton Calkins. Antiquarian bookseller Gabriel Wells tutored under him at Harvard in the late 1890s.[20]

Following his January, 1907 retirement from Harvard, James continued to write and lecture, publishing Pragmatism, A Pluralistic Universe, and The Meaning of Truth. James was increasingly afflicted with cardiac pain during his last years. It worsened in 1909 while he worked on a philosophy text (unfinished but posthumously published as Some Problems in Philosophy). He sailed to Europe in the spring of 1910 to take experimental treatments which proved unsuccessful, and returned home on August 18. His heart failed on August 26, 1910, at his home in Chocorua, New Hampshire.[21] He was buried in the family plot in Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He was one of the strongest proponents of the school of functionalism in psychology and of pragmatism in philosophy. He was a founder of the American Society for Psychical Research, as well as a champion of alternative approaches to healing. He challenged his professional colleagues not to let a narrow mindset prevent an honest appraisal of those beliefs.

In an empirical study by Haggbloom et al. using six criteria such as citations and recognition, James was found to be the 14th most eminent psychologist of the 20th century.[22]

Family


Alice Runnels James (Mrs. William James), John Singer Sargent, 1921

William James was the son of Henry James (Senior) of Albany, and Mary Robertson Walsh. He had four siblings: Henry (the novelist), Garth Wilkinson, Robertson, and Alice.[23] William became engaged to Alice Howe Gibbens on May 10, 1878; they were married on July 10. They had 5 children: Henry (born May 18, 1879), William (June 17, 1882 - 1961), Herman (born 1884, died in infancy), Margaret (born March, 1887) and Alexander (the artist) (born December 22, 1890).

Writings

William James wrote voluminously throughout his life. A non-exhaustive bibliography of his writings, compiled by John McDermott, is 47 pages long.[24]

He gained widespread recognition with his monumental The Principles of Psychology (1890), totaling twelve hundred pages in two volumes, which took twelve years to complete. Psychology: The Briefer Course, was an 1892 abridgement designed as a less rigorous introduction to the field. These works criticized both the English associationist school and the Hegelianism of his day as competing dogmatisms of little explanatory value, and sought to re-conceive the human mind as inherently purposive and selective.

President Jimmy Carter's Moral Equivalent of War Speech, on April 17, 1977, equating the United States' 1970s energy crisis, oil crisis and the changes and sacrifices Carter's proposed plans would require with the "moral equivalent of war," may have borrowed its title, much of its theme and the memorable phrase from James' classic essay "The Moral Equivalent of War" derived from his last speech, delivered at Stanford University in 1906, and published in 1910, in which "James considered one of the classic problems of politics: how to sustain political unity and civic virtue in the absence of war or a credible threat ..." and which "... sounds a rallying cry for service in the interests of the individual and the nation."[25] [26] [27][28]

Epistemology


Portrait of William James by John La Farge, circa 1859

James defined true beliefs as those that prove useful to the believer. His pragmatic theory of truth was a synthesis of correspondence theory of truth and coherence theory of truth, with an added dimension. Truth is verifiable to the extent that thoughts and statements correspond with actual things, as well as the extent to which they "hang together," or cohere, as pieces of a puzzle might fit together; these are in turn verified by the observed results of the application of an idea to actual practice.[29][30]

The most ancient parts of truth…also once were plastic. They also were called true for human reasons. They also mediated between still earlier truths and what in those days were novel observations. Purely objective truth, truth in whose establishment the function of giving human satisfaction in marrying previous parts of experience with newer parts played no role whatsoever, is nowhere to be found. The reasons why we call things true is the reason why they are true, for 'to be true' means only to perform this marriage-function.

— "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth," Pragmatism (1907), p. 83.

James held a world view in line with pragmatism, declaring that the value of any truth was utterly dependent upon its use to the person who held it. Additional tenets of James's pragmatism include the view that the world is a mosaic of diverse experiences that can only be properly interpreted and understood through an application of 'radical empiricism.' Radical empiricism, not related to the everyday scientific empiricism, asserts that the world and experience can never be halted for an entirely objective analysis; the mind of the observer and the act of observation affect any empirical approach to truth. The mind, its experiences, and nature are inseparable. James's emphasis on diversity as the default human condition—over and against duality, especially Hegelian dialectical duality—has maintained a strong influence in American culture. James's description of the mind-world connection, which he described in terms of a 'stream of consciousness,' had a direct and significant impact on avant-garde and modernist literature and art, notably in the case of James Joyce.

In "What Pragmatism Means" (1906), James writes that the central point of his own doctrine of truth is, in brief:[31]

Truths emerge from facts, but they dip forward into facts again and add to them; which facts again create or reveal new truth (the word is indifferent) and so on indefinitely. The 'facts' themselves meanwhile are not true. They simply are. Truth is the function of the beliefs that start and terminate among them.

Richard Rorty made the contested claim that James did not mean to give a theory of truth with this statement and that we should not regard it as such. However, other pragmatism scholars such as Susan Haack and Howard Mounce do not share Rorty's instrumentalist interpretation of James.[32]

In The Meaning of Truth (1909), James seems to speak of truth in relativistic terms, in reference to critics of pragmatism: "The critic's trouble…seems to come from his taking the word 'true' irrelatively, whereas the pragmatist always means 'true for him who experiences the workings.'"[33] However, James responded to critics accusing him of relativism, scepticism, or agnosticism, and of believing only in relative truths. To the contrary, he supported an epistemological realism position.[i]

Pragmatism and "cash value"

Pragmatism is a philosophical approach that seeks to both define truth and resolve metaphysical issues. William James demonstrates an application of his method in the form of a simple story:[34][31]

A live squirrel supposed to be clinging on one side of a tree-trunk, while over against the tree’s opposite side a human being was imagined to stand. This human witness tries to get sight of the squirrel by moving rapidly round the tree, but no matter how fast he goes, the squirrel moves as fast in the opposite direction, and always keeps the tree between himself and the man.… The resultant metaphysical problem now is this: Does the man go round the squirrel or not?

James solves the issue by making a distinction between practical meaning. That is, the distinction between meanings of 'round.' Round in the sense that the man occupies the space north, east, south, and west of the squirrel; and round in the sense that the man occupies the space facing the squirrel's belly, back and sides. Depending on what the debaters meant by “going round,” the answer would be clear. From this example James derives the definition of the pragmatic method: to settle metaphysical disputes, one must simply make a distinction of practical consequences between notions, then, the answer is either clear, or the “dispute is idle.”[34] Both James and his colleague, Charles Sanders Peirce, coined the term 'cash value':[35]

When he said that the whole meaning of a (clear) conception consists in the entire set of its practical consequences, he had in mind that a meaningful conception must have some sort of experiential “cash value,” must somehow be capable of being related to some sort of collection of possible empirical observations under specifiable conditions.

A statement's truthfulness is verifiable through its correspondence to reality, and its observable effects of putting the idea to practice. For example, James extends his Pragmatism to the hypothesis of God: “On pragmatic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true.… The problem is to build it out and determine it so that it will combine satisfactorily with all the other working truths."[36] From this, we also know that 'new' truths must also correspond to already existent truths as well.

From the introduction by Bruce Kuklick (1981, p. xiv) to James' Pragmatism:

James went on to apply the pragmatic method to the epistemological problem of truth. He would seek the meaning of 'true' by examining how the idea functioned in our lives. A belief was true, he said, if it worked for all of us, and guided us expeditiously through our semihospitable world. James was anxious to uncover what true beliefs amounted to in human life, what their "cash value" was, and what consequences they led to. A belief was not a mental entity which somehow mysteriously corresponded to an external reality if the belief were true. Beliefs were ways of acting with reference to a precarious environment, and to say they were true was to say they were efficacious in this environment. In this sense the pragmatic theory of truth applied Darwinian ideas in philosophy; it made survival the test of intellectual as well as biological fitness.

James' book of lectures on pragmatism is arguably the most influential book of American philosophy. The lectures inside depict his position on the subject. In his sixth lecture, he begins by defining truth as "agreement with reality."[29] With this, James warns that there will be disagreements between pragmatics and intellectualists over the concepts of "agreement" and "reality", the last reasoning before thoughts settle and become autonomous for us. However, he contrasts this by supporting a more practical interpretation that: a true idea or belief is one that we can blend with our thinking so that it can be justified through experiences.[37]

If theological ideas prove to have a value for concrete life, they will be true, for pragmatism, in the sense of being good for so much. For how much more they are true, will depend entirely on their relations to the other truths that also have to be Acknowledged.

— Pragmatism (1907), p. 29

Whereby the agreement of truths with 'reality' results in useful outcomes, "the 'reality' with which truths must agree has three dimensions:"[37][13]

1. "matters of fact;"
2. "relations of ideas;" and
3. "the entire set of other truths to which we are committed."

According to James' pragmatic approach to belief, knowledge is commonly viewed as a justified and true belief. James will accept a view if its conception of truth is analyzed and justified through interpretation, pragmatically. As a matter of fact, James' whole philosophy is of productive beliefs.

Belief in anything involves conceiving of how it is real, but disbelief is the result when we dismiss something because it contradicts another thing we think of as real. In his "Sentiment of Rationality", saying that crucial beliefs are not known is to doubt their truth, even if it seems possible. James names four "postulates of rationality" as valuable but unknowable: God, immorality, freedom, and moral duty.[37][38]

In contrast, the weak side to pragmatism is that the best justification for a claim is whether it works. However, a claim that does not have outcomes cannot be justified, or unjustified, because it will not make a difference.

"There can be no difference that doesn't make a difference."

— Pragmatism (1907), p. 45

When James moves on to then state that pragmatism's goal is ultimately “to try to interpret each notion by tracing its respective practical consequences,” he does not clarify what he means by “practical consequences.”[39] On the other hand, his friend, colleague, and another key founder in establishing pragmatist beliefs, Charles S. Peirce, dives deeper in defining these consequences. For Peirce, “the consequences we are concerned with are general and intelligible."[40] He further explains this in his 1878 paper “How to Make Ideas Clear,” when he introduces a maxim that allows one to interpret consequences as grades of clarity and conception.[41] Describing how everything is derived from perception, Peirce uses the example of the doctrine of transubstantiation to show exactly how he defines practical consequences. Protestants interpret the bread and wine of the Eucharist is flesh and blood in only a subjective sense, while Catholics would label them as actual meat and blood, even with the physical properties of bread and wine. But to everyone, there can be no knowledge of the wine and bread of the Eucharist unless it is established that either wine and bread possesses certain properties or that anything that is interpreted as the blood and body of Christ is the blood and body of Christ. With this Peirce declares that “our action has exclusive reference to what affects the senses,” and that we can mean nothing by transubstantiation than “what has certain effects, direct or indirect, upon our senses."[42] In this sense, James' pragmatic influencer Peirce establishes that what counts as a practical consequence or effect is what can affect one's senses and what is comprehendible and fathomable in the natural world.

Yet James never “[works] out his understanding of ‘practical consequences’ as fully as Peirce did,” nor does he limit these consequences to the senses like Peirce.[40] It then raises the question: what does it mean to be practical? Whether James means the greatest number of positive consequences (in light of utilitarianism), a consequence that considers other perspectives (like his compromise of the tender and tough ways of thinking),[43] or a completely different take altogether, it is unclear to truly tell what consequence truly fits the pragmatic standard, and what doesn’t. The closest James is able to get in explaining this idea is by telling his audience to weigh the difference it would “practically make to anyone” if one opinion over the other were true, and although he attempts to clarify it, he never specifies nor establishes the method in which one would weigh the difference between one opinion over the other.[39] Thus, the flaw in his argument appears in that it is difficult to fathom how he would determine these practical consequences, which he continually refers to throughout his work, to be measured and/or interpreted.

Will to believe doctrine

Main article: The Will to Believe

In William James' 1896 lecture titled "The Will to Believe", James defends the right to violate the principle of evidentialism in order to justify hypothesis venturing. This idea foresaw 20th century objections to evidentialism and sought to ground justified belief in an unwavering principle that would prove more beneficial. Through his philosophy of pragmatism William James justifies religious beliefs by using the results of his hypothetical venturing as evidence to support the hypothesis' truth. Therefore, this doctrine allows one to assume belief in a god and prove its existence by what the belief brings to one's life.

This was criticized by advocates of skepticism rationality, like Bertrand Russell in Free Thought and Official Propaganda and Alfred Henry Lloyd with The Will to Doubt. Both argued that one must always adhere to fallibilism, recognizing of all human knowledge that "None of our beliefs are quite true; all have at least a penumbra of vagueness and error," and that the only means of progressing ever-closer to the truth is to never assume certainty, but always examine all sides and try to reach a conclusion objectively.

Free will

In his search for truth and assorted principles of psychology, William James developed his two-stage model of free will. In his model, he tries to explain how it is people come to the making of a decision and what factors are involved in it. He firstly defines our basic ability to choose as free will. Then he specifies our two factors as chance and choice. "James's two-stage model effectively separates chance (the in-deterministic free element) from choice (an arguably determinate decision that follows causally from one's character, values, and especially feelings and desires at the moment of decision)."[44]

James argues that the question of free will revolves around “chance.” The idea of chance is that some events are possibilities, things that could happen but are not guaranteed. Chance is a neutral term (it is, in this case, neither inherently positive nor “intrinsically irrational and preposterous,” connotations it usually has); the only information it gives about the events to which it applies is that they are disconnected from other things – they are “not controlled, secured, or necessitated by other things” before they happen.[45] Chance is made possible regarding our actions because our amount of effort is subject to change. If the amount of effort we put into something is predetermined, our actions are predetermined.[46]

Free will in relation to effort also balances “deals and propensities—the things you see as best versus the things that are easiest to do. Without effort, “the propensity is stronger than the ideal.” To act according to your ideals, you must resist the things that are easiest, and this can only be done with effort.[47] James states that the free will question is therefore simple: “it relates solely to the amount of effort of attention or consent which we can at any time put forth.”[46]

Chance is the 'free element,' that part of the model we have no control over. James says that in the sequence of the model, chance comes before choice. In the moment of decision we are given the chance to make a decision and then the choice is what we do (or do not do) regarding the decision.

When it comes to choice, James says we make a choice based on different experiences. It comes from our own past experiences, the observations of others, or:[44]

A supply of ideas of the various movements that are…left in the memory by experiences of their involuntary performance is thus the first prerequisite of the voluntary life.

What James describes is that once you've made a decision in the past, the experience is stockpiled into your memory where it can be referenced the next time a decision must be made and will be drawn from as a positive solution. However, in his development of the design, James also struggled with being able to prove that free will is actually free or predetermined.

People can make judgements of regret, moral approval and moral disapproval, and if those are absent, then that means our will is predetermined. An example of this is "James says the problem is a very "personal" one and that he cannot personally conceive of the universe as a place where murder must happen."[48] Essentially, if there were no regrets or judgements then all the bad stuff would not be considered bad, only as predetermined because there are no options of 'good' and 'bad'. "The free will option is pragmatically truer because it better accommodates the judgements of regret and morality."[48] Overall, James uses this line of reasoning to prove that our will is indeed free: because of our morality codes, and the conceivable alternate universes where a decision has been regarded different than what we chose.

In "The Will to Believe", James simply asserted that his will was free. As his first act of freedom, he said, he chose to believe his will was free. He was encouraged to do this by reading Charles Renouvier, whose work convinced James to convert from monism to pluralism. In his diary entry of April 30, 1870, James wrote:[49]

I think that yesterday was a crisis in my life. I finished the first part of Renouvier's second Essais and see no reason why his definition of free will—"the sustaining of a thought because I choose to when I might have other thoughts"—need be the definition of an illusion. At any rate, I will assume for the present—until next year—that it is no illusion. My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.

In 1884, James set the terms for all future discussions of determinism and compatibilism in the free will debates with his lecture to Harvard Divinity School students published as "The Dilemma of Determinism".[50] In this talk he defined the common terms hard determinism and soft determinism (now more commonly called compatibilism).[50]

Old-fashioned determinism was what we may call hard determinism. It did not shrink from such words as fatality, bondage of the will, necessitation, and the like. Nowadays, we have a soft determinism which abhors harsh words, and, repudiating fatality, necessity, and even predetermination, says that its real name is freedom; for freedom is only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.[51]:149

James called compatibilism a "quagmire of evasion,"[51]:149 just as the ideas of Thomas Hobbes and David Hume—that free will was simply freedom from external coercion—were called a "wretched subterfuge" by Immanuel Kant.

Indeterminism is “the belief in freedom [which] holds that there is some degree of possibility that is not necessitated by the rest of reality.”[52] The word “some” in this definition is crucial in James’ argument because it leaves room for a higher power, as it does not require that all events be random. Specifically, indeterminism does not say that no events are guaranteed or connected to previous events; instead, it says that some events are not guaranteed – some events are up to chance.[47] In James’ model of free will, choice is deterministic, determined by the person making it, and it “follows casually from one’s character, values, and especially feelings and desires at the moment of decision.”[53] Chance, on the other hand, is indeterministic, and pertains to possibilities that could happen but are not guaranteed.[45] James described chance as neither hard nor soft determinism, but "indeterminism":[51]:153

The stronghold of the determinist argument is the antipathy to the idea of chance...This notion of alternative possibility, this admission that any one of several things may come to pass is, after all, only a roundabout name for chance.

James asked the students to consider his choice for walking home from Lowell Lecture Hall after his talk:[51]:155

What is meant by saying that my choice of which way to walk home after the lecture is ambiguous and matter of chance?...It means that both Divinity Avenue and Oxford Street are called but only one, and that one either one, shall be chosen.

With this simple example, James laid out a two-stage decision process with chance in a present time of random alternatives, leading to a choice of one possibility that transforms an ambiguous future into a simple unalterable past. James' two-stage model separates chance (undetermined alternative possibilities) from choice (the free action of the individual, on which randomness has no effect). Subsequent thinkers using this model include Henri Poincaré, Arthur Holly Compton, and Karl Popper.

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Part 2 of 2

Philosophy of religion


Excerpt

James did important work in philosophy of religion. In his Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh he provided a wide-ranging account of The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) and interpreted them according to his pragmatic leanings. Some of the important claims he makes in this regard:

• Religious genius (experience) should be the primary topic in the study of religion, rather than religious institutions—since institutions are merely the social descendant of genius.
• The intense, even pathological varieties of experience (religious or otherwise) should be sought by psychologists, because they represent the closest thing to a microscope of the mind—that is, they show us in drastically enlarged form the normal processes of things.
• In order to usefully interpret the realm of common, shared experience and history, we must each make certain "over-beliefs" in things which, while they cannot be proven on the basis of experience, help us to live fuller and better lives.
• Religious Mysticism is only one half of mysticism, the other half is composed of the insane and both of these are co-located in the 'great subliminal or transmarginal region'.[54]

James investigated mystical experiences throughout his life, leading him to experiment with chloral hydrate (1870), amyl nitrite (1875), nitrous oxide (1882), and peyote (1896).[citation needed] James claimed that it was only when he was under the influence of nitrous oxide that he was able to understand Hegel.[55] He concluded that while the revelations of the mystic hold true, they hold true only for the mystic; for others, they are certainly ideas to be considered, but can hold no claim to truth without personal experience of such. American Philosophy: An Encyclopedia classes him as one of several figures who "took a more pantheist or pandeist approach by rejecting views of God as separate from the world."[56]

Mysticism

William James provided a description of the mystical experience, in his famous collection of lectures published in 1902 as The Varieties of Religious Experience.[57] These criteria are as follows

• Passivity – a feeling of being grasped and held by a superior power not under your own control.
• Ineffability – no adequate way to use human language to describe the experience.
• Noetic – universal truths revealed that are unable to be acquired anywhere else.
• Transient – the mystical experience is only a temporary experience.

Instincts

See also: Instinct

Like Sigmund Freud, James was influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection.[58] At the core of James' theory of psychology, as defined in The Principles of Psychology (1890), was a system of "instincts". James wrote that humans had many instincts, even more than other animals.[58] These instincts, he said, could be overridden by experience and by each other, as many of the instincts were actually in conflict with each other.[58] In the 1920s, however, psychology turned away from evolutionary theory and embraced radical behaviorism.[58]

Theory of emotion

James is one of the two namesakes of the James–Lange theory of emotion, which he formulated independently of Carl Lange in the 1880s. The theory holds that emotion is the mind's perception of physiological conditions that result from some stimulus. In James's oft-cited example, it is not that we see a bear, fear it, and run; we see a bear and run; consequently, we fear the bear. Our mind's perception of the higher adrenaline level, heartbeat, etc. is the emotion.

This way of thinking about emotion has great consequences for the philosophy of aesthetics as well as to the philosophy and practice of education.[59] Here is a passage from his work, The Principles of Psychology, that spells out those consequences:

[W]e must immediately insist that aesthetic emotion, pure and simple, the pleasure given us by certain lines and masses, and combinations of colors and sounds, is an absolutely sensational experience, an optical or auricular feeling that is primary, and not due to the repercussion backwards of other sensations elsewhere consecutively aroused. To this simple primary and immediate pleasure in certain pure sensations and harmonious combinations of them, there may, it is true, be added secondary pleasures; and in the practical enjoyment of works of art by the masses of mankind these secondary pleasures play a great part. The more classic one's taste is, however, the less relatively important are the secondary pleasures felt to be, in comparison with those of the primary sensation as it comes in. Classicism and romanticism have their battles over this point.

The theory of emotion was also independently developed in Italy by the anthropologist Giuseppe Sergi.[60][61]

William James' bear

From Joseph LeDoux's description of William James's Emotion:[62]

Why do we run away if we notice that we are in danger? Because we are afraid of what will happen if we don't. This obvious answer to a seemingly trivial question has been the central concern of a century-old debate about the nature of our emotions.

It all began in 1884 when William James published an article titled "What Is an Emotion?"[63] The article appeared in a philosophy journal called Mind, as there were no psychology journals yet. It was important, not because it definitively answered the question it raised, but because of the way in which James phrased his response. He conceived of an emotion in terms of a sequence of events that starts with the occurrence of an arousing stimulus (the sympathetic nervous system or the parasympathetic nervous system); and ends with a passionate feeling, a conscious emotional experience. A major goal of emotion research is still to elucidate this stimulus-to-feeling sequence—to figure out what processes come between the stimulus and the feeling.

James set out to answer his question by asking another: do we run from a bear because we are afraid or are we afraid because we run? He proposed that the obvious answer, that we run because we are afraid, was wrong, and instead argued that we are afraid because we run:

Our natural way of thinking about…emotions is that the mental perception of some fact excites the mental affection called emotion, and that this latter state of mind gives rise to the bodily expression. My theory, on the contrary, is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur IS the emotion (called 'feeling' by Damasio).

The essence of James's proposal was simple. It was premised on the fact that emotions are often accompanied by bodily responses (racing heart, tight stomach, sweaty palms, tense muscles, and so on; sympathetic nervous system) and that we can sense what is going on inside our body much the same as we can sense what is going on in the outside world. According to James, emotions feel different from other states of mind because they have these bodily responses that give rise to internal sensations, and different emotions feel different from one another because they are accompanied by different bodily responses and sensations. For example, when we see James's bear, we run away. During this act of escape, the body goes through a physiological upheaval: blood pressure rises, heart rate increases, pupils dilate, palms sweat, muscles contract in certain ways (evolutionary, innate defense mechanisms). Other kinds of emotional situations will result in different bodily upheavals. In each case, the physiological responses return to the brain in the form of bodily sensations, and the unique pattern of sensory feedback gives each emotion its unique quality. Fear feels different from anger or love because it has a different physiological signature (the parasympathetic nervous system for love). The mental aspect of emotion, the feeling, is a slave to its physiology, not vice versa: we do not tremble because we are afraid or cry because we feel sad; we are afraid because we tremble and are sad because we cry.

Philosophy of history

One of the long-standing schisms in the philosophy of history concerns the role of individuals in social change.

One faction sees individuals (as seen in Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution, A History) as the motive power of history, and the broader society as the page on which they write their acts. The other sees society as moving according to holistic principles or laws, and sees individuals as its more-or-less willing pawns. In 1880, James waded into this controversy with "Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment", an essay published in the Atlantic Monthly. He took Carlyle's side, but without Carlyle's one-sided emphasis on the political/military sphere, upon heroes as the founders or overthrowers of states and empires.

A philosopher, according to James, must accept geniuses as a given entity the same way as a biologist accepts as an entity Darwin's "spontaneous variations". The role of an individual will depend on the degree of its conformity with the social environment, epoch, moment, etc.[64]

James introduces a notion of receptivities of the moment. The societal mutations from generation to generation are determined (directly or indirectly) mainly by the acts or examples of individuals whose genius was so adapted to the receptivities of the moment or whose accidental position of authority was so critical that they became ferments, initiators of movements, setters of precedent or fashion, centers of corruption, or destroyers of other persons, whose gifts, had they had free play, would have led society in another direction.[65]

View on spiritualism and associationism


James in a séance with a spiritualist medium

James studied closely the schools of thought known as associationism and spiritualism. The view of an associationist is that each experience that one has leads to another, creating a chain of events. The association does not tie together two ideas, but rather physical objects.[66] This association occurs on an atomic level. Small physical changes occur in the brain which eventually form complex ideas or associations. Thoughts are formed as these complex ideas work together and lead to new experiences. Isaac Newton and David Hartley both were precursors to this school of thought, proposing such ideas as "physical vibrations in the brain, spinal cord, and nerves are the basis of all sensations, all ideas, and all motions…"[67] James disagreed with associationism in that he believed it to be too simple. He referred to associationism as "psychology without a soul"[68] because there is nothing from within creating ideas; they just arise by associating objects with one another.

On the other hand, a spiritualist believes that mental events are attributed to the soul. Whereas in associationism, ideas and behaviors are separate, in spiritualism, they are connected. Spiritualism encompasses the term innatism, which suggests that ideas cause behavior. Ideas of past behavior influence the way a person will act in the future; these ideas are all tied together by the soul. Therefore, an inner soul causes one to have a thought, which leads them to perform a behavior, and memory of past behaviors determine how one will act in the future.[68]

James had a strong opinion about these schools of thought. He was, by nature, a pragmatist and thus took the view that one should use whatever parts of theories make the most sense and can be proven.[67] Therefore, he recommended breaking apart spiritualism and associationism and using the parts of them that make the most sense. James believed that each person has a soul, which exists in a spiritual universe, and leads a person to perform the behaviors they do in the physical world.[67] James was influenced by Emanuel Swedenborg, who first introduced him to this idea. James stated that, although it does appear that humans use associations to move from one event to the next, this cannot be done without this soul tying everything together. For, after an association has been made, it is the person who decides which part of it to focus on, and therefore determines in which direction following associations will lead.[66] Associationism is too simple in that it does not account for decision-making of future behaviors, and memory of what worked well and what did not. Spiritualism, however, does not demonstrate actual physical representations for how associations occur. James combined the views of spiritualism and associationism to create his own way of thinking.

James was a founding member and vice president of the American Society for Psychical Research.[69] The lending of his name made Leonora Piper a famous medium. In 1885, the year after the death of his young son, James had his first sitting with Piper at the suggestion of his mother-in-law.[70] He was soon convinced that Piper knew things she could only have discovered by supernatural means. He expressed his belief in Piper by saying, "If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black, it is enough if you prove that one crow is white. My white crow is Mrs. Piper."[71] However, James did not believe that Piper was in contact with spirits. After evaluating sixty-nine reports of Piper's mediumship he considered the hypothesis of telepathy as well as Piper obtaining information about her sitters by natural means such as her memory recalling information. According to James the "spirit-control" hypothesis of her mediumship was incoherent, irrelevant and in cases demonstrably false.[72]

James held séances with Piper and was impressed by some of the details he was given; however, according to Massimo Polidoro a maid in the household of James was friendly with a maid in Piper's house and this may have been a source of information that Piper used for private details about James.[73] Bibliographers Frederick Burkhardt and Fredson Bowers who compiled the works of James wrote "It is thus possible that Mrs. Piper's knowledge of the James family was acquired from the gossip of servants and that the whole mystery rests on the failure of the people upstairs to realize that servants [downstairs] also have ears."[74]

James was convinced that the "future will corroborate" the existence of telepathy.[75] Psychologists such as James McKeen Cattell and Edward B. Titchener took issue with James's support for psychical research and considered his statements unscientific.[76][77] Cattell in a letter to James wrote that the "Society for Psychical Research is doing much to injure psychology".[78]

James' theory of the self

James' theory of the self divided a person's mental picture of self into two categories: the "Me" and the "I". The "Me" can be thought of as a separate object or individual a person refers to when describing their personal experiences; while the "I" is the self that knows who they are and what they have done in their life.[37] Both concepts are depicted in the statement; "I know it was me who ate the cookie." He called the "Me" part of self the "empirical me" and the "I" part "the pure Ego".[79] For James, the "I" part of self was the thinking self, which could not be further divided. He linked this part of the self to the soul of a person, or what is now thought of as the mind.[80] Educational theorists have been inspired in various ways by James's theory of self, and have developed various applications to curricular and pedagogical theory and practice.[59]

James further divided the "Me" part of self into: a material, a social, and a spiritual self, as below.[79]

Material self

The material self consists of things that belong to a person or entities that a person belongs to. Thus, things like the body, family, clothes, money, and such make up the material self. For James, the core of the material self was the body.[80] Second to the body, James felt a person's clothes were important to the material self. He believed a person's clothes were one way they expressed who they felt they were; or clothes were a way to show status, thus contributing to forming and maintaining one's self-image.[80] Money and family are critical parts of the material self. James felt that if one lost a family member, a part of who they are was lost also. Money figured in one's material self in a similar way. If a person had significant money then lost it, who they were as a person changed as well.[80]

Social self

Our social selves are who we are in a given social situation. For James, people change how they act depending on the social situation that they are in. James believed that people had as many social selves as they did social situations they participated in.[80] For example, a person may act in a different way at work when compared to how that same person may act when they are out with a group of friends. James also believed that in a given social group, an individual's social self may be divided even further.[80] An example of this would be, in the social context of an individual's work environment, the difference in behavior when that individual is interacting with their boss versus their behavior when interacting with a co-worker.

Spiritual self

For James, the spiritual self was who we are at our core. It is more concrete or permanent than the other two selves. The spiritual self is our subjective and most intimate self. Aspects of a spiritual self include things like personality, core values, and conscience that do not typically change throughout an individual's lifetime. The spiritual self involves introspection, or looking inward to deeper spiritual, moral, or intellectual questions without the influence of objective thoughts.[80] For James, achieving a high level of understanding of who we are at our core, or understanding our spiritual selves is more rewarding than satisfying the needs of the social and material selves.

Pure ego

What James refers to as the "I" self. For James, the pure ego is what provides the thread of continuity between our past, present, and future selves. The pure ego's perception of consistent individual identity arises from a continual stream of consciousness.[81] James believed that the pure ego was similar to what we think of as the soul, or the mind. The pure ego was not a substance and therefore could not be examined by science.[37]

Notable works

• The Principles of Psychology, 2 vols. (1890), Dover Publications 1950, vol. 1: ISBN 0-486-20381-6, vol. 2: ISBN 0-486-20382-4
• Psychology (Briefer Course) (1892), University of Notre Dame Press 1985: ISBN 0-268-01557-0, Dover Publications 2001: ISBN 0-486-41604-6
• Is Life Worth Living? (1895), the seminal lecture delivered at Harvard on April 15, 1895
• The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)
• Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine (the Ingersoll Lecture, 1897)
o The Will to Believe, Human Immortality (1956) Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-20291-7
• Talks to Teachers on Psychology: and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals (1899), Dover Publications 2001: ISBN 0-486-41964-9, IndyPublish.com 2005: ISBN 1-4219-5806-6
• The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902), ISBN 0-14-039034-0
• Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907), Hackett Publishing 1981: ISBN 0-915145-05-7, Dover 1995: ISBN 0-486-28270-8
• A Pluralistic Universe (1909), Hibbert Lectures, University of Nebraska Press 1996: ISBN 0-8032-7591-9
• The Meaning of Truth: A Sequel to "Pragmatism" (1909), Prometheus Books, 1997: ISBN 1-57392-138-6
• Some Problems of Philosophy: A Beginning of an Introduction to Philosophy (1911), University of Nebraska Press 1996: ISBN 0-8032-7587-0
• Memories and Studies (1911), Reprint Services Corp: 1992: ISBN 0-7812-3481-6
• Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912), Dover Publications 2003, ISBN 0-486-43094-4
o critical edition, Frederick Burkhardt and Fredson Bowers, editors. Harvard University Press 1976: ISBN 0-674-26717-6 (includes commentary, notes, enumerated emendations, appendices with English translation of "La Notion de Conscience")
• Letters of William James, 2 vols. (1920)
• Collected Essays and Reviews (1920)
• Ralph Barton Perry, The Thought and Character of William James, 2 vols. (1935), Vanderbilt University Press 1996 reprint: ISBN 0-8265-1279-8 (contains some 500 letters by William James not found in the earlier edition of the Letters of William James)
• William James on Psychical Research (1960)
• The Correspondence of William James, 12 vols. (1992–2004) University of Virginia Press, ISBN 0-8139-2318-2
• "The Dilemma of Determinism"
• William James on Habit, Will, Truth, and the Meaning of Life, James Sloan Allen, ed. Frederic C. Beil, Publisher, ISBN 978-1-929490-45-5

Collections

• William James: Writings 1878–1899 (1992). Library of America, 1212 p., ISBN 978-0-940450-72-1
Psychology: Briefer Course (rev. and condensed Principles of Psychology), The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, Talks to Teachers and Students, Essays (nine others)
• William James: Writings 1902–1910 (1987). Library of America, 1379 p., ISBN 978-0-940450-38-7
The Varieties of Religious Experience, Pragmatism, A Pluralistic Universe, The Meaning of Truth, Some Problems of Philosophy, Essays
• The Writings of William James: A Comprehensive Edition (1978). University of Chicago Press, 912 pp., ISBN 0-226-39188-4
Pragmatism, Essays in Radical Empiricism, and A Pluralistic Universe complete; plus selections from other works
• In 1975, Harvard University Press began publication of a standard edition of The Works of William James.

See also

• Biography portal
• Philosophy portal
• Psychology portal
• "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life"
• Psychology of religion
• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers
• William James Lectures
• William James Society

References

Notes

1. See his Defense of a Pragmatic Notion of Truth, written to counter criticisms of his Pragmatism's Conception of Truth (1907) lecture.

Citations

1. Goodman, Russell (2 June 2019). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 2 June 2019 – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
2. Krey, Peter (2004), "The Ethics of Belief: William Clifford versus William", p. 1.
3. "Bill James, of Harvard, was among the first foreigners to take cognizance of Thought and Reality, already in 1873...", Lettres inédites de African Spir au professeur Penjon (Unpublished Letters of African Spir to professor Penjon), Neuchâtel, 1948, p. 231, n. 7.
4. Hoffman, Michael J. “Gertrude Stein in the Psychology Laboratory.” American Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 1, 1965, pp. 127–132. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2711342. Accessed 2 Mar. 2020.
5. T.L. Brink (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. "Unit One: The Definition and History of Psychology". p. 10
6. "William James: Writings 1878–1899". The Library of America. 1992-06-01. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
7. "William James: Writings 1902–1910". The Library of America. 1987-02-01. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
8. Dr. Megan E. Bradley. "William James". PSYography. Faculty.frostburg.edu. Archived from the original on 2014-11-24. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
9. Haggbloom, Steven J.; Warnick, Renee; Warnick, Jason E.; Jones, Vinessa K.; Yarbrough, Gary L.; Russell, Tenea M.; Borecky, Chris M.; McGahhey, Reagan; Powell III, John L.; Beavers, Jamie; Monte, Emmanuelle (2002). "The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century". Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): 139–152. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139.
10. J. H. Korn, R. Davis, S. F. Davis: "Historians' and chairpersons' judgements of eminence among psychologists". American Psychologist, 1991, Volume 46, pp. 789–792.
11. "Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt" in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
12. Tom Butler-Bowdon: 50 Psychology Classics. Nicholas Brealey Publishing 2007. ISBN 1857884736. p. 2.
13. "William James". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Stanford University. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
14. James, William (2009). The Varieties of Religious Experience. The Library of America. pp. 74–120. ISBN 978-1598530629.
15. Sachs, Oliver (2008). Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Vintage Books. pp. xiii. ISBN 978-1-4000-3353-9.
16. Antony Lysy, "William James, Theosophist", The Quest Volume 88, number 6, November–December 2000.
17. Ralph Barton Perry, The Thought and Character of William James, vol. 1, (1935), 1996 edition: ISBN 0-8265-1279-8, p. 228.
18. "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2016-02-01. Note: This includes Rachel D. Carley (January 2012). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Putnam Camp" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-02-01. and Accompanying photographs
19. Duane P. Schultz; Sydney Ellen Schultz (22 March 2007). A History of Modern Psychology. Cengage Learning. pp. 185–. ISBN 978-0-495-09799-0. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
20. Schmidt, Barbara. "A History of and Guide to Uniform Editions of Mark Twain's Works". twainquotes.com. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
21. Capps, Donald (October 23, 2015). The Religious Life: The Insights of William James. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781498219945 – via Google Books.
22. Haggbloom, S. J.; et al. (2002). "The 100 Most Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century". Review of General Psychology. 6 (2): 139–152. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.6.2.139. Archived from the originalon 2006-04-29.. Haggbloom et al. combined 3 quantitative variables: citations in professional journals, citations in textbooks, and nominations in a survey given to members of the Association for Psychological Science, with 3 qualitative variables (converted to quantitative scores): National Academy of Science (NAS) membership, American Psychological Association (APA) President and/or recipient of the APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, and surname used as an eponym. Then the list was rank ordered.
23. Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L., eds. (1920). "James, William" . American Medical Biographies . Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.
24. John J. McDermott, The Writings of William James: A Comprehensive Edition, University of Chicago Press, 1977 revised edition, ISBN 0-226-39188-4, pp. 812–58.
25. William James' The Moral Equivalent of War Introduction by John Roland. Constitution.org. Retrieved on 2011-08-28.
26. William James' The Moral Equivalent of War – 1906. Constitution.org. Retrieved on 2011-08-28.
27. Harrison Ross Steeves; Frank Humphrey Ristine (1913). Representative essays in modern thought: a basis for composition. American Book Company. pp. 519–. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
28. ""The Moral Equivalent of War" by William James, McClure's Magazine, August 1910". UNZ.org. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
29. James, William. 1907. "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth" (lecture 6). Pp. 76–91 in Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. New York: Longman Green and Co. Archived from the original 15 July 2006.
30. "Pragmatic Theory of Truth." Pp. 427–28 in Encyclopedia of Philosophy 6. London: Macmillan. 1969.
31. William James. 1907 [1906]. "What Pragmatism Means" (lecture 2). Pp. 17–32 in Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. New York: Longman Green and Co. via The Mead Project, Brock University (2007). Available via Marxist Internet Archive (2005).
32. H. O. Mounce (1997). The two pragmatisms: from Peirce to Rorty. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-15283-9. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
33. James, William. 1909. The Meaning of Truth. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co. p. 177.
34. Gunn, Giles (2000). William James: Pragmatism and Other Writings. Penguin Group. pp. 24–40.
35. Burch, Robert (June 22, 2001). "Charles Sanders Peirce". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
36. Gunn, Giles (2000). William James: Pragmatism and Other Writings. Penguin Group. pp. 119–132.
37. Pomerleau, Wayne. "William James (1842–1910)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. IEP. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
38. James, William. 1897 [1882] “The Sentiment of Rationality.” The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green & Co.
39. James, William (2000) [1842-1910]. Pragmatism and other writings. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-043735-5. OCLC 943305535.
40. Legg, Catherine (14 March 2019). "Pragmatism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
41. Atkin, Albert. "Charles Sanders Peirce: Pragmatism". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
42. Peirce, Charles S. 1878. "'How to Make Our Ideas Clear." Popular Science Monthly. — (excerpt). Pp. 212–218 in An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century American Science Writing, edited by C. R. Resetarits. Anthem Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-85728-651-2. doi:10.7135/upo9780857286512.037
43. James, William (1 May 2002). "Pragmatism". The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pragmatism. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
44. Doyle, Bob. 2011. Free Will: the Scandal in Philosophy. I-Phi Press. The Information Philosopher.
45. James, William. 2009 [1887]. “The Will to Believe”, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. at Project Gutenberg, produced by A. Haines.
46. James, William. 2018 [1918]. The Principles of Psychology, vol. 2, New York: Henry Holt and Company at Project Gutenberg, produced by C. Graham and M. D'Hooghe .
47. Viney, Donald Wayne (1986). "William James on Free Will and Determinism". The Journal of Mind and Behavior. 7 (4): 555–565. JSTOR 43853234.
48. Shouler, Kenneth A. 2008. The Everything Guide to Understanding Philosophy: the Basic Concepts of the Greatest Thinkers of All Time – Made Easy!. Adams Media.
49. Perry, Ralph Barton. The Thought and Character of William James 1. p. 323. — Letters of William James 1. p. 147.
50. James, William. 2009 [c. 1884]. “The Dilemma of Determinism”, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green & Co. at Project Gutenberg, produced by A. Haines.
51. James, William. 1956 [1884]. “The Dilemma of Determinism.” In The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. New York: Dover.
52. Pomerleau, Wayne P. “William James (1842-1910).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "William James" Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Article.
53. Doyle, BOB (2010). "Jamesian Free Will, the Two-Stage Model of William James". William James Studies. 5: 1–28. JSTOR 26203733.
54. James, William (1985). The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Penguin Classics. p. 426.
55. William James, "Subjective Effects of Nitrous Oxide"
56. John Lachs and Robert Talisse (2007). American Philosophy: An Encyclopedia. p. 310. ISBN 978-0415939263.
57. "Mysticism Defined by William James". http://www.bodysoulandspirit.net.[dead link]
58. Buss, David M. 2008. "Chapter 1." Pp. 2–35 in Evolutionary psychology: the new science of the mind. Pearson.
59. Ergas, Oren (2017). Reconstructing 'education' through mindful attention. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-58781-7.
60. Sergi, Giuseppe. 1858. L'origine dei fenomeni psichici e loro significazione biologica. Milano: Fratelli Dumolard. ISBN 1271529408.
61. Sergi, Giuseppe. 1894. "Storia Naturale dei Sentimenti." Principi di Psicologie: Dolore e Piacere. Milano: Fratelli Dumolard. ISBN 1147667462.
62. LeDoux, Joseph E. 1996. The Emotional Brain: the Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life. ISBN 0-684-83659-9. p. 43.
63. James, William. 1884. "What is an Emotion?" Mind 9:188–205.
64. Grinin L. E. 2010. "The Role of an Individual in History: A Reconsideration." Social Evolution & History 9(2):95–136. p. 103.
65. William James. 2007 [1880]. "Great Men, Great Thoughts and the Environment." Atlantic Monthly46:441–59.
66. James, William. 1985 [1892]. Psychology (Briefer Course). University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0-268-01557-0.
67. Richardson, Robert D. 2006. William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-43325-2.
68. James, William. 1890. The Principles of Psychology.
69. Eugene Taylor. (2009). The Mystery of Personality: A History of Psychodynamic Theories. Springer. p. 30. ISBN 978-0387981031
70. Deborah Blum. (2007). Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life. Penguin Group. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-14-303895-5.
71. Gardner Murphy, Robert O. Ballou. (1960). William James on Psychical Research. Viking Press. p. 41
72. Francesca Bordogna. (2008). William James at the Boundaries: Philosophy, Science, and the Geography of Knowledge. University Of Chicago Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0226066523
73. Massimo Polidoro. (2001). Final Séance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. p. 36. ISBN 978-1573928960
74. Frederick Burkhardt and Fredson Bowers. (1986). Essays in Psychical Research. Harvard University Press. p. 397 in William James. The Works of William James. Edited by Frederick H. Burkhardt, Fredson Bowers, and Ignas K. Skrupskelis. 19 vols. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. 1975–1988.
75. About the Shadow World. Everybody's Magazine. v. 20 (1909).
76. Lamont, Peter. (2013). Extraordinary Beliefs: A Historical Approach to a Psychological Problem. Cambridge University Press. pp. 184–188.
77. Kimble, Gregory A; Wertheimer, Michael; White, Charlotte. (2013). Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology. Psychology Press. p. 23. ISBN 0-8058-0620-2
78. Goodwin, C. James. (2015). A History of Modern Psychology. Wiley. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-118-83375-9
79. Cooper, W. E. (1992). "William James's theory of the self". Monist 75(4), 504.
80. "Classics in the History of Psychology (archived copy)". Archived from the original on 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
81. "Introduction to William James". http://www.uky.edu.

Sources

• Essays Philosophical and Psychological in Honor of William James, by his Colleagues at Columbia University (London, 1908)

Further reading

• James Sloan Allen,ed., William James on Habit, Will, Truth, and the Meaning of Life (2014). Frederic C. Beil, Publisher, ISBN 978-1-929490-45-5
• Margo Bistis, "Remnant of the Future: William James' Automated Utopia", in Norman M. Klein and Margo Bistis, The Imaginary 20th Century (Karlsruhe: ZKM, 2016).
• Émile Boutroux, William James (New York, 1912)
• Werner Bloch, Der Pragmatismus von James und Schiller nebst Exkursen über Weltanschauung und über die Hypothese (Leipzig, 1913)
• K. A. Busch, William James als Religionsphilosoph (Göttingen, 1911)
• Jacques Barzun. A Stroll with William James (1983). Harper and Row: ISBN 0-226-03869-6
• Deborah Blum. Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death (2006). Penguin Press, ISBN 1-59420-090-4
• Wesley Cooper. The Unity of William James's Thought (2002). Vanderbilt University Press, ISBN 0-8265-1387-5
• Howard M. Feinstein. Becoming William James (1984). Cornell University Press, ISBN 978-0-8014-8642-5
• Théodore Flournoy, La Philosophie de William James (Saint-Blaise, 1911)
• Sergio Franzese, The Ethics of Energy. William James's Moral Philosophy in Focus, Ontos Verlag, 2008
• Sergio Franzese & Felicitas Krämer (eds.), Fringes of Religious Experience. Cross-perspectives on William James's Varieties of Religious Experience, Frankfurt / Lancaster, ontos verlag, Process Thought XII, 2007
• Peter Hare, Michel Weber, James K. Swindler, Oana-Maria Pastae, Cerasel Cuteanu (eds.), International Perspectives on Pragmatism, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009
• James Huneker, "A Philosophy for Philistines" in his The Pathos of Distance (New York, 1913)
• Henry James's A Small Boy and Others (1913) and Notes of a Son and Brother (1914)
• Amy Kittelstrom, The Religion of Democracy: Seven Liberals and the American Moral Tradition. New York: Penguin, 2015.
• H. V. Knox, Philosophy of William James (London, 1914)
• R, W. B. Lewis The Jameses: A Family Narrative (1991) Farrar, Straus & Giroux
• Louis Menand. The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America (2001). Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, ISBN 0-374-52849-7.
• Ménard, Analyse et critique des principes de la psychologie de W. James (Paris, 1911) analyzes the lives and relationship between James, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Charles Sanders Peirce, and John Dewey.
• Gerald E. Myers. William James: His Life and Thought (1986). Yale University Press, 2001, paperback: ISBN 0-300-08917-1. Focuses on his psychology; includes 230 pages of notes.
• Giuseppe Sergi L'origine dei fenomeni psichici e loro significazione biologica, Milano, Fratelli Dumolard, 1885.
• Giuseppe Sergi Principi di Psicologie: Dolore e Piacere; Storia Naturale dei Sentimenti, Milano, Fratelli Dumolard, 1894.
• James Pawelski. The Dynamic Individualism of William James (2007). SUNY press, ISBN 0-7914-7239-6.
• R. B. Perry, Present Philosophical Tendencies (New York, 1912)
• Robert D. Richardson. William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism (2006). Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-618-43325-2
• Robert D. Richardson, ed. The Heart of William James (2010). Harvard U. Press, ISBN 978-0-674-05561-2
• Jane Roberts. The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher: The View of William James (1978. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-018515-9.)
• Josiah Royce, William James and Other Essays on the Philosophy of Life (New York, 1911)
• J. Michael Tilley, "William James: Living Forward and the Development of Radical Empiricism," In Kierkegaard's Influence on Philosophy: Anglophone Philosophy, edited by Jon Stewart, 2012, Ashgate Publishing, 87–98.
• Linda Simon. Genuine Reality: A Life of William James (1998). Harcourt Brace & Company, ISBN 0-226-75859-1
• Michel Weber. Whitehead’s Pancreativism. Jamesian Applications. Ontos Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-386838-103-0
• Michel Weber, "On Religiousness and Religion. Huxley’s Reading of Whitehead’s Religion in the Making in the Light of James’ Varieties of Religious Experience", Jerome Meckier and Bernfried Nugel (eds.), Aldous Huxley Annual. A Journal of Twentieth-Century Thought and Beyond, Volume 5, Münster, LIT Verlag, March 2005, pp. 117–32.
• Michel Weber, "James’s Mystical Body in the Light of the Transmarginal Field of Consciousness", in Sergio Franzese & Felicitas Krämer (eds.), Fringes of Religious Experience. Cross-perspectives on William James's Varieties of Religious Experience, Frankfurt / Lancaster, Ontos Verlag, Process Thought XII, 2007, pp. 7–37.
• Wiseman, R. (2012). Rip it up: The radically new approach to changing your life. London, UK: Macmillan

External links

• Media from Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations from Wikiquote
• Texts from Wikisource
• Data from Wikidata
• William James Society
• Emory University: William James – major collection of essays and works online
• William James correspondence from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
• Harvard University: Life is in the Transitions: William James, 1842–1910 – online exhibition from Houghton Library
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: William James
• William James on Information Philosopher
• Booknotes interview with Linda Simon on Genuine Reality: A Life of William James, June 7, 1998
• William James: Looking for a Way Out
• New York Times obituary
• Works by William James at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about William James at Internet Archive
• Works by William James at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• William James at Find a Grave

[admin]

Peabody Essex Museum
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20

Early museums both represented and obscured the Massachusetts colony's links to Europe, Africa, and Asia; early institutions such as the East India Marine Society (founded in Salem in 1799) preserved goods and specimens collected by prominent members of the early settler mariner colony, while museums established later in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries, such as the Peabody Essex or the Museum of Fine Arts (founded 1870) mark the place of Boston within imperial global connections and interdependencies.31 Museums, like colonial archives, are not static repositories or records. James Clifford, borrowing of Mary Louise Pratt's concept, suggests that museums are "contact zones," or spaces of encounter, exchange, and conflict. In the museum, an asymmetrical relationship between the collector and the collected, the viewer and the viewed is at work; objects are taken out of time and history, placed in glass cases, and staged to be viewed within a tableau of new meanings.32 Museums naturalize the authority of the sponsoring culture through normative standards of classification, selection, and display, and they solicit the public as viewers of the objects collected. In this sense, museums are a material pedagogy that positions not only subject and object, but also defines the past and present, the living and the dead. They are, as Svetlana Alpers famously put it, "a way of seeing." Ivan Karp observed that within the conditions of increasing pluralism of multicultural and global perspectives, contemporary museum display practices now seek teh perspectives of living communities with stakes or knowledge in their exhibits, yet curatorial decisions may often continue to reflect institutional judgments defining what the nation or culture is or ought to be, as well as who may claim citizenship or belonging in that nation.33 It is in this way that historian Jean O'Brien observes that local historical museums of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, or Connecticut often represent the English settlers as both "first and last," both preceding native people, and surviving their demise. Even when new forms of museum practice, display, and consultation aim for respectful inclusion and seek to give voice to contemporary indigenous peoples, they can often reiterate the common myth that Native Americans have vanished, and render them historically past, rather than representing the complex history through which policies created incremental dispossession and forcible assimilation.

The membership of the East India Maritime Society, forerunner of the Peabody Essex Museum that stands in Salem today, was originally composed of shipmasters and mariners who had traveled around both the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn (The East-India Marine Society 3). The Society's first printed catalogue in 1821 emphasized that its collection "of natural and artificial curiosities" would serve as the patrimony for successive American generations; a motto of the Society that often served as a toast at Society Dinners was: "A Cabinet. That every mariner may possess the history of the world." The "curiosities" collected by the settler-mariners included archeological objects, natural specimens, and art objects, conflating native peoples and cultures with natural minerals and plants, and blurring the provenance of objects from India, China, Tahiti, Hawaii or Turkey, with those of Native American tribes or indigenous Hawaiian peoples. The 1821 Catalogue of Articles records ships' voyages, such as "No. 27. Ship Fame, Jeremiah Briggs master, from Salem to Cochin China, Manilla and back, 1803-1804" or "No. 43. Ship Derby, Thomas West master, from Boston to Naples, Canton, and back, 1805- 1806" (The East-India Marine Society 25, 27). It also lists a bewildering variety of collected objects, including weapons, shoes, cloths, clothing, ornamental jewelry, tools, etc. as well as mineral specimens, stones, birds, snakes, fish, shells, coins, insects (from China, Egypt, South America, as well as North America, etc.). Like the British East India Company, the Salem East India Maritime Society was part of an early phase of globalization as mercantilism shifted from company monopolies to liberal free trade, from long-term contracted agreements to lucrative new markets, from territorial conquest to liberal governance, and from slavery to abolition. In the late nineteenth century, the East India Marine Society combined with the Peabody Academy of Science, and then in the late twentieth century, it joined the Essex Institute to become the Peabody Essex Museum, bringing together the collections associated with marine voyages, natural history, and ethnology. In museum historian Walter Whitehill's words, the Peabody Essex "thus still fulfilled both the purpose of the East India Marine Society to collect 'natural and artificial curiosities' and the object of George Peabody's trust to promote science and useful knowledge" (131). Today, the Peabody Essex features a distinguished collection of Native American art, China export trade goods, and Australasian and Pacific Islander souvenirs, staged to give visitors a sense of an earlier social Zeitgeist, to replicate what the early museum may have looked like.34 Wood carved figureheads from ships' prows adorn the walls lined with cabinets that assemble items of disparate and distant origins: an Incan figure, a Tahitian mask, a Lakotan pipe bowl, and a Calcutta likeness of Jagannatha share a shelf with an early American voting box. Furthermore, the museum has steadily acquired Asian decorative arts, and now possesses the largest collection of Chinese export goods in the United States.

Like the British East India Company, the Salem East-India Maritime Society was part of an early phase of globalization as mercantilism shifted away from monopolies of Companies to liberal free trade, from long-term contracted agreements to lucrative new markets, new trade routes, from colonialism to liberal governance, from slavery to abolition. The museum had a clear relationship to the emerging nation; its motto "First in the United States" for "descendants, in some distant day" represents its mission of collecting and constituting a nationalist legacy to be passed on from American settler-mariner fathers to citizen-sons. The symbolic capital of traditional and new elites was acquired through newly invented divisions of "highbrow" and "lowbrow" cultures and objects, through inventing tradition and "heritage" for the "public" and becoming a state pedagogy and a resource for tourism. As a changing, situated cultural institution, the museum tells the "self-fashioned providential story," in Jean O'Brien's words (xii), of the emergence of a national state and its specific engagements with local commerce, as well as its ultimate transformations in relation to globalization. Even when the museum is commemorative, historical, or educational, it is never wholly separate from these commercial forces.

-- Harbors, Flows, and Migrations: The USA in/and the World, edited by Anna De Biasio, Gianna Fusco, Serena Fusco and Donatella Izzo

Peabody Essex Museum
The main entrance to the museum
Peabody Essex Museum is located in MassachusettsPeabody Essex Museum
Established: 1799
Location: 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970
Type: Art museum
Accreditation: AAM, NARM
Director: Brian Kennedy
Public transit access: Newburyport/​Rockport Line; Salem Station Handicapped/disabled access
Website pem.org

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799.[1] It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and the Essex Institute.[2][3] PEM is the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States [4] and holds one of the major collections of Asian art in the United States. Its total holdings include about 1.3 million pieces, as well as twenty-two historic buildings.[5]

The Peabody Essex ranks among the top 20 art museums in the United States by measures including gallery space and endowment. Once the Advancement Campaign is complete and the newly expanded museum opens in 2019, PEM will rank in the top 10 North American art museums in terms of gallery square footage, operating budget and endowment. The PEM holds more than 840,000 works of historical and cultural art covering maritime, American, Asian, Oceanic and African art, Asian export art and two large libraries with over 400,000 books and manuscripts.[6]

History

In 1992, the Peabody Museum of Salem merged with the Essex Institute to form the Peabody Essex Museum.[5] Included in the merger was the legacy of the East India Marine Society, established in 1799 by a group of Salem-based captains and supercargoes. Members of the Society were required by the society's charter to collect "natural and artificial curiosities" from beyond the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. They were also required to personally circumnavigate the globe, and share navigational discoveries with other Society members, thereby increasing their chances of returning from their voyages safely. Due to the institution's age, the items they donated to the collections are significant for their rare combination of age and provenance. The East India Marine Society built East India Marine Hall, a National Historic Landmark now embedded in the museum's facilities, in the 1820s to house its collection. This collection was acquired by the Peabody Academy of Science (later renamed the Peabody Museum of Salem) in 1867, along with the building, which continued to serve as a museum space through these mergers and acquisitions.


George Peabody, benefactor

2000s–2010s


The East India Marine Hall is one of the oldest parts of the museum, built in 1825. The space is used for special events, and for temporary art installations

In 2003, the museum completed a massive $100 million renovation and expansion resulting in the Peabody Essex Museum opening a new wing designed by Moshe Safdie, more than doubling the gallery space to 250,000 square feet (23,000 m²); this allowed the display of many items from its extensive holdings, which had previously been unknown to the public due to lack of exhibition space. At this time, the museum also opened to the public the Yin Yu Tang House, an early 19th-century Chinese house from Anhui Province that had been disassembled in its original village and reconstructed in Salem.[5]

In 2011, the Peabody Essex Museum announced it had raised $550 million, with plans to raise an additional $100 million by 2016.[7] The Boston Globe reported this was the largest capital campaign in the museum's history, vaulting the Peabody Essex into the top tier of major art museums.[8] The PEM trustee co-chairs Sam Byrne and Sean Healey with board president Robert Shapiro led the campaign.[9]$200 to $250 million will fund the museum’s 175,000-square-foot (16,300 m2) expansion bringing the total square footage to 425,000 square feet (39,500 m2).[10]

In May 2012, the PEM confirmed that its expansion will not be finished until 2019, due to the unexpected death of museum architect Rick Mather in April 2012 and the search for his replacement. The firm of Ennead Architects was chosen after successfully completing the first phase of the building project, which included master planning and the renovation of the museum's Dodge wing, scheduled to open in November 2013. [11][12]

On September 28, 2019 the museum opened a new 40,000-square-foot wing, designed by Ennead Architects of New York, adjacent to East India Marine Hall. This addition included 15,000 square feet of Class A galleries as well as a 5,000-square-foot-garden designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects. [13][14]

Leadership

The museum was led by Dan Monroe, the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Director and CEO from 1993 until his retirement in 2019.[15][16] He was succeeded on July 15, 2019 by Brian Kennedy, who previously directed the Toledo Museum of Art.[17][18] Kennedy has served as assistant director of the National Gallery of Ireland, director of the National Gallery of Australia, and director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. Kennedy has an abiding interest in perception and visual literacy and is deeply committed to arts education. [19]


Peabody Museum of Salem origins

Collections

African Art

The Peabody Essex Museum's collection of African art includes approximately 3,600 objects as of 2014. [20] The acquisition of these works began in the early 19th century, as members of the East India Marine Society collected objects from West and sub-Saharan Africa. These objects include ceremonial masks, pottery, woven baskets, and a significant collection of Ethiopian art—particularly Christian icons and metalwork, many of which are based in the traditions of Byzantine art.[21] In 1812, Salem became the headquarters of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, which went on to establish missions throughout the continent. These missions facilitated trade, particularly with the Zulu in South Africa, and contributed significantly to the growth of the collection.[22]

American Art

PEM's extensive collection of American art includes over 1,000 portraits,[23] among them works by John Singer Sargent, Fitz Henry Lane, and James Bard. Furniture, folk art, and needlework are also prominent features of the collection. The museum's New England heritage has brought it an especially large array of decorative arts from the Northeastern United States. Many of these objects were initially collected by the Essex Institute, which was dedicated to preserving the cultural and physical history of Essex County.[24]

Chinese Art

The museum's collection of Chinese art, which includes over 6,000 objects[25], features contemporary and ancient works as well as works by minority nationalities within China.[26] Ceramics, textiles, and calligraphy form the bulk of the collection, which began in the 18th century with exports acquired by New England traders. Even before the founding of the East India Marine Society, missionaries such as Reverend William Bentley were collecting sculptures, fans, and other pieces that would form the foundation of the museum's collection.[27] The largest piece at the museum is the Yin Yu Tang House, a late 18th century home from the Anhui province of China. This house, constructed during the Qing Dynasty, was acquired by Nancy Berliner, at the time PEM's curator of Chinese art and culture, before being taken apart and reassembled in Salem.[28]

Indian Art

The Peabody Essex Museum's collection of Indian art includes over 5,000 objects.[29] It also possesses numerous works of Tibetan and Nepalese origins, along with perhaps the most important collection of contemporary Indian art outside of India.[30] PEM's Herwitz Gallery, opened in 2003 and named to honor art collectors Chester and Davida Herwitz, is the first American museum gallery dedicated to modern Indian art.[31] PEM's collection spans a wide array of eras and mediums, forming a detailed record of India's artistic transformations during colonial rule and its aftermath. As PEM's ex-curator of South Asia and Korean Art Susan S. Bean observed, "the global development of industrial production brought machine-woven textiles, printed images, and photography into competition with handlooms, sculpture, and painting," all of which are art forms well represented throughout PEM's collection.[32]

Japanese Art

Featuring approximately 18,300 objects,[33] PEM's collection of Japanese art began with the museum's inception in 1799. Its collections of work from the Edo Period and Meiji Period are particularly robust, featuring armor, sculpture, painted scrolls, furniture, and more.[34] Much of the collection has its origins in the travels of Edward S. Morse, the third director of the museum, who acquired many pieces over the course of three trips to Japan. Morse also helped raise interest in Japanese art in Massachusetts and New England: as Midori Oka states, Morse was "instrumental in influencing the area intellectuals and connoisseurs to turn their interests to Japanese art."[35]

Korean Art

The Peabody Essex Museum has approximately 1,800 pieces of Korean art in its collection, including ceramics, textiles, and painted screens. The collection began in 1883, as the result of a collaboration between museum director Edward Sylvester Morse and Korean scholar Yu Kil-chun, who was a member of the first official Korean delegation to the United States.[36] Much of the collection consists of art of the Joseon Dynasty, which occupied the transitional period between the traditional Korean empire and modernity.[37] Many of the pieces in the collection, particularly those from the Joseon period, display the centrality of art in the habits, rituals, and ceremonies of everyday Korean life. As former PEM curator Susan S. Bean observes, art objects were "essential to the conduct of social life because they conveyed values, fulfilled wishes, provided access to deities and ancestors, taught lessons and conferred prestige."[38]

Maritime Art

By the end of the 18th century, coinciding with the museum's 1799 founding, Salem was one of the nation's most prosperous seaports, and extensive trading of furs, spices, dyes, and other goods brought much wealth to the region.[39] This long legacy of trade contributed greatly to the foundation and growth of PEM's maritime art collection, which is among the finest of its kind in the country.[40] The collection includes over 50,000 objects, including paintings, model ships, scrimshaw, and more. Many diverse styles and periods of maritime art are on display in the collection, from navigational tools such as sextants to modern marine art, which addresses "nostalgic themes" and represents "the seafaring life of previous times."[41] One significant feature of the currently installed collection is a recreation of a room in Cleopatra's Barge, an opulent yacht which was built by Salem's Crowninshield family and eventually became the royal yacht of King Kamehameha II.

Native American Art

PEM's collection of Native American art includes over 20,000 objects,[42] spanning a wide variety of tribal affiliations and time periods. The collection includes masks, textiles, jewelry, clothing, sculpture, and more, along with many pieces by contemporary Native American artists such as Frank Day and Kay WalkingStick.[43] The origins of PEM's collection can be traced to even before the museum's 1799 founding: the maritime fur trade, as well as the trading of iron to local tribes, made the exchange of art objects a frequent occurrence. As Richard Conn writes, "in some cases, objects of considerable importance were given by their native owners as gifts to their European trading partners. The intent here was probably to enhance the trading relationship and to insure that the Yankee or British ship would return next year with more iron."[44]

Oceanic Art

Featuring objects from over 36 different groups of islands in Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia, the Peabody Essex Museum's collection of Oceanic art contains over 15,000 objects in total.[45] These objects, consisting of sculptures, weapons, clothing, and more, include pieces made from traditional Oceanic materials such as porpoise teeth, abalone, and human hair. Also worth noting is the museum's particularly substantial collection of Hawaiian art, which includes over 5,000 objects.[46] While Salem had little direct trade with Hawaii during the 18th and 19th centuries, regional trade and donations from prominent sea captains led to the acquisition of many significant pieces, including some associated with Kamehameha I and James Cook.[47]

Photography

PEM's collection of photography is its largest single collection by number of objects, featuring over 850,000 images.[48] The collection began in 1840, just one year after the invention of photography. It includes work by pioneering photographers such as William Henry Fox Talbot and Antoine Claudet. It also features a collection of rare Civil War photographs by Matthew Brady, one of the first American photographers. The collection has a vast variety of subjects and styles, from records of native life in the Philippines to photographs by Walker Evans which document the Great Depression.[49]


The spacious central atrium has movable solar shades – (July 2013)

The museum presently owns collections of maritime art, including works by marine artist James Bard.[50] The museum also has collections of rare books, manuscripts and ephemera (in the Phillips Library); photography (a collection comprising more than a half million rare and vintage images). On December 8, 2017, much to the dismay of Salem residents, Dan L. Monroe, PEM’s Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Director and CEO, issued a press release announcing that the 42,000 linear feet of historical documents will be permanently relocated to Rowley, Massachusetts and Plummer Hall and Daland House, the two historic buildings which had housed the Phillips Library, will be utilized as office and meeting space.[51]

Architecture in the collection

The museum owns 24 historic structures and gardens, some of which are concentrated in the old Essex Institute grounds which now form the Essex Institute Historic District. 5 of these buildings are National Historic Landmarks and 8 others are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Some are shown in the gallery below. The full set of buildings are: Daniel Bray House, Gilbert Chadwick House, Cotting-Smith Assembly House, Crowninshield-Bentley House, John Tucker Daland House, Derby-Beebe Summer House, East India Marine Hall (integrated into the main museum), Gardner-Pingree House and Gardner-Pingree Carriage House, Lyle-Tapley Shoe Shop, Dodge Wing of the Peabody Essex Museum, Asian Export Art Wing of the Peabody Essex Museum, Peirce-Nichols House, Samuel Pickman House, Plummer Hall, Quaker Meeting House, L. H. Rogers Building, Ropes Mansion, Andrew Safford House, Summer School Building, Vilate Young (Kinsman) House, and John Ward House.[5] Some of these properties are open to guided tours.


John Tucker Daland House


Plummer Hall (formerly Salem Athenaeum)


Derby-Beebe Summer House


Ropes Mansion


Peirce-Nichols House

American art


Nathaniel Hawthorne by Charles Osgood

Among the American artists represented in the museum's collection:

• Clifford Warren Ashley[52]
• James Bard[52]
• Frank Weston Benson[53]
• John Prentiss Benson
• James E. Buttersworth[52]
• John Singleton Copley[53]
• Michele Felice Cornè[52]
• George Washington Felt (1776–1847)[53]
• Alvan Fisher[53]
• Fitz Hugh Lane[52]
• Charles Osgood[53]
• Frederic Remington[53]
• George Ropes, Jr. (1788–1819)[53]
• Robert Salmon[52]
• John Singer Sargent[53]
• William Pierce Stubbs
• Charles Wilkes[52]

See also

• Huangshan District
• Essex Institute Historic District

References

1. PEM website. "Museum history." Retrieved 2011-02-16
2. The manual of museum exhibitions by Gail Dexter Lord (Rowman Altamira, 2002) https://books.google.com/books?id=dTKb1 ... navlinks_s
3. [1] Archived February 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
4. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-ent ... admission/
5. Peabody Essex Museum collections (Peabody Essex Museum, 1999)
6. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424 ... 3690093908
7. Peabody Essex announces $650 million campaign, WickedLocal.com, November 14, 2011
8. Peabody Essex vaults into top tier by raising $550 million Archived 2012-07-09 at the Wayback Machine, Boston Globe, November 6, 2011.
9. PEM announces $650 million advancement Archived 2013-01-26 at the Wayback Machine, Peabody Essex Museum press release, November 7, 2011.
10. https://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/sa ... pares.html
11. McGreevy, Nora (July 12, 2019). "Peabody Essex Museum expansion to open in September". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
12. http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news ... 23.article
13. Lorch, Danna (July 1, 2019). "The Peabody Essex Museum Prepares to Unveil a Thoughtfully Designed 40,000-square-foot Expansion". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
14. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/sto ... -expansion
15. Whyte, Murray (March 7, 2019). "Peabody Essex Museum names its new director". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
16. Dobrzynski, Judith H. (Jan 28, 2013). "A New Way Forward". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
17. "PEM names Brian Kennedy as Director and CEO". Peabody Essex Museum. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
18. Shea, Andrea (March 7, 2019). "Brian Kennedy Named The Peabody Essex Museum's New Director And CEO". WBUR. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
19. Whyte, Murray (March 7, 2019). "Peabody Essex Museum names its new director". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
20. "Current Status of Collection Documentation," Peabody Essex Museum Curatorial Department, March 25, 2014
21. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore-art/african-art Retrieved 2015-07-13
22. Grimes, John R. (1984). "The Tribal Style: Selections from the African Collection at the Peabody Museum of Salem."
23. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore ... erican-art Retrieved 2015-07-13
24. Whitehall, Walter M. (1949). "The East India Marine Society and the Peabody Museum of Salem: A Sesquicentennial History."
25. "Current Status of Collection Documentation," Peabody Essex Museum Curatorial Department, March 25, 2014
26. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore-art/chinese-art Retrieved 2015-07-13
27. Johnston, Patricia (2012). "Global Knowledge in the Early Republic: The East India Marine Society's 'Curiosities' Museum."
28. Rozhon, Tracy. "Moving House, With 2,000 Chinese Parts." The New York Times, February 6, 2001.
29. "Current Status of Collection Documentation," Peabody Essex Museum Curatorial Department, March 25, 2014
30. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore-art/indian-art Retrieved 2015-07-20
31. SACHI: the Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India. http://sachi.org/event%20PDFs/SACHI_June_050113.pdf Retrieved 2015-07-20.
32. Bean, Susan S. (2006). Arts of Asia Vol. 36, No.3
33. "Current Status of Collection Documentation," Peabody Essex Museum Curatorial Department, March 25, 2014
34. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore ... panese-art Retrieved 2015-07-20.
35. Oka, Midori (2006). Arts of Asia Vol. 36, No.3
36. The Peabody Essex Museum, "A Teacher's Sourcebook for Korean Art & Culture." https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=aux/pdf ... ea-tsb.pdf
37. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore-art/korean-art Retrieved 2015-07-13
38. Bean, Susan S. (2006). Arts of Asia Vol. 36, No.3
39. "Salem's International Trade". National Park Service, Department of the Interior. https://www.nps.gov/sama/learn/historyculture/trade.htm Retrieved 2015-07-20.
40. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore ... nd-history Retrieved 2015-07-20.
41. Finamore, Daniel (2002). "The Peabody Essex Museum and the Sea." Antiques and Fine Arts Magazine. Retrieved 2015-07-20.
42. "Current Status of Collection Documentation," Peabody Essex Museum Curatorial Department, March 25, 2014
43. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore ... erican-art Retrieved 2015-07-20.
44. The Peabody Essex Museum (1997). Gifts of the Spirit: Works by Nineteenth-Century & Contemporary Native American Artists.
45. "Current Status of Collection Documentation," Peabody Essex Museum Curatorial Department, March 25, 2014
46. http://www.pem.org/sites/archives/asian2.htm. Retrieved 2015-07-20.
47. Peabody Museum of Salem (1920). The Hawaiian Portion of the Polynesian Collections in the Peabody Museum of Salem.
48. "Current Status of Collection Documentation," Peabody Essex Museum Curatorial Department, March 25, 2014
49. https://www.pem.org/index.php?p=explore-art/photography Retrieved 2015-07-20.
50. Mariner's Museum and Peluso, Anthony J., Jr., The Bard Brothers – Painting America under Steam and Sail, Abrams, New York 1997 ISBN 0-8109-1240-6
51. "Statement Regarding PEM Phillips Library". Peabody Essex Museum. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
52. Peabody Essex Museum. Maritime Art and History. Retrieved 2011-12-07
53. Peabody Essex Museum. American Art. Retrieved 2011-12-07

Further reading

• Christina Hellmich Scarangello (1996). "Pacific Collection in the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts". Pacific Arts (13/14). JSTOR 23409781.
• Re-enactment and the Museum Case: Reading the Oceanic and Native American Displays in the Peabody Essex Museum. Anna Boswell. Journal of New Zealand Literature, No. 27 (2009). JSTOR 25663046.
• Traute M. Marshall (2009). "Peabody Essex Museum". Art Museums Plus: Cultural Excursions in New England. University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-58465-621-0.

External links

• Official website

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The East India Traders of Old Salem
by Maddy's Ramblings
November 1, 2015

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

And the first Indian in Salem....

Most people have concentrated on the connections India had with Britain in the centuries and decades leading eventually to Indian Independence. However, for a brief period of time, there existed a robust amount of trade between the American state of Massachusetts and India. Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were the destinations of choice to some of the early merchant sailors of the cities of Salem and Boston. While they traded in traditional items such as textiles, spices and so on, these ships even went on to carry exotic items like ice from the Walden pond across the wide oceans, a topic I had written about earlier. The time period between 1780 and 1850 was a time when the sea routes to India were shared by the Americans. And that was also the time when the first Indians visited America.

The British East India Company started trading with Indian merchants at the start of the 17th century and were in joint control of the sea coasts of India, though sharing some power with the Portuguese and the Dutch. Soon the members became incredibly wealthy, and were able to form a complete monopoly by the 18th century. Even though the French were rivals to some degree. Indian goods were in high demand in the Post-Industrial revolution Europe, and the standards of living improved Britain, and the EIC [East India Company] went on to become more imperialist and monopolist in their approach resulting in the enforcement of the tea act in America which led to rebellions, the Boston tea party, and eventually the 1776 American declaration of Independence. But things continued as before in subservient India where the British government taking over from the EIC made merry and continued with the enriching of the imperial coffers and themselves.


Trade Routes Developed by Salem Ships Prior to the Year 1800

America, which had just become independent, were also eyeing this lucrative business resulting from Indian contacts. The state of Massachusetts was foremost in matters of maritime adventures, and was home to wealthy merchants. In fact Salem, which was in 1726 just 100 years old in age as a European settlement, deriving its name from the Hebrew word Shalom or peace, went on to top the exploits at sea. Until 1763, the maritime industry of Salem did well on account of its good fishing exploits, and during the revolution the sailors became privateers hell-bent on capturing British ships. Salem soon became numero uno in this business, with about 50 armed ships, and after the revolution these took to the open oceans looking for trade. One of the big ship-owning merchants was Richard Derby.


EH Derby

Towards the end of the revolution, he handed over the management of the family business to his second son, Elias Hasket Derby, who was destined to become the foremost American merchant of his time. By 1776, three of the peace-loving Derby ships were destroyed by the British, and so he decided to arm his fleet (25 owned and 25 partnership-owned ships, 158 ships in total at Salem). He also possessed larger 300 ton ships, and two of them were the well-armed Grand Turk and Astrea. Ships like the Grand Turk and Astrea, though only of some 300 tons burden, were too large for coastwise and west Indies trade.

Salem had a population of roughly 5,000 during this period, and as we saw, its mariners early established quite a daring reputation. It is said that they followed the advice of the old salt: "Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two, and go between the pieces."

This aggressive American merchant, Elias Hasket Derby, promoted discovery of new avenues, sailing routes, and markets. At Derby Wharf, he built up one of the leading mercantile establishments in the United States, and through the development of his extensive trade to Europe, the East Indies. and China, did a great deal to promote the growth and prosperity of the country. We see that by 1790, Salem had become the sixth largest city in the country, and a world-famous seaport, and that Derby's ship Grand Turk had sailed to the Chinese exporting port of Canton.

On the second voyage of the Grand Turk to the Isle of France (Mauritius), which began in December 1787, Mr. Derby sent along his eldest son, Elias Hasket Derby, Jr., a young man 21 years of age, to serve as his agent. This move proved to be a wise one, for during the 3 years he spent in the East the young man formed profitable relationships with the leading merchants at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, and had a hand in breaking the monopoly of the British East India Company.


EH Derby, Jr.

As American vessels did business at Mauritius, the Dutch and Portuguese collaborated with these new traders, and the British had no choice but to admit American vessels to the ports of India on the basis of the most-favored foreigners. This decree went into effect about the time Elias Hasket Jr. arrived at the Isle of France. Derby vessels were allowed access to Madras, Bombay, or Calcutta for cotton and other India goods. On the arrival of a ship from the East at Derby Wharf, a small part of her cargo would be sold in Salem, and much would find their way to Boston, New York, or Philadelphia, and even back to Europe if the price there was better starting in 1788. Hasket continued to trade in India throughout the late 1780s, eventually returning home in 1790. The Derby ships were to frequent Indian shores with marked regularity after the initial establishment of the relationship. "Boston was the Spain, Salem the Portugal, in the race for Oriental opulence," writes historian Samuel Eliot Morison and Salem's hugely profitable trade with the Orient transformed this hardscrabble New England seaport into a global powerhouse, and by the early 1800s, the wealthiest city per capita in the United States. Derby's business thrived, and he is considered to be America's first millionaire.

But interestingly, while Derby Jr. from Salem was trading with Madras, a chap from Madras was destined to American shores, and appears in the annals of history as one of the, if not the first, Indian to formally visit and live in America for a while. The year is 1790.

It all started with Derby's acquisition of the 140 ton copper-bottomed brig Sultana, and a visit to Bombay on the ship, together with sister ship Peggy, during the fall of 1788. That was the very first time an American ship touched Indian shores (An earlier ship United States visited French Pondicherry in 1784). They visited various ports on the west coast of Malabar in addition to Bombay. The cotton that was shipped back to Salem in 1789 on the sister ship Peggy found few buyers, and the rough cotton proved unpopular. They wanted coffee in America! So the cotton was sent to Liverpool.


An EastIndaman

Derby went on the Sultana to Madras, caught dysentery, and to add to the discomfiture found that there were no buyers for his American wine in Madras. He spent awhile in an 'out of town' plantation recuperating. Meanwhile on the west coast, the Maratha piracy was picking up, and the seas were a little dangerous for the Americans. But remember that these American ships were privateer ships too once and knew how to handle such threats!

This was when the ships Henry, Lighthouse and Atlantic joined the team scouting or trade in India. They visited various ports in Malabar and the Coromandel, Ceylon included, and were the first to fly American colors at Calcutta in 1789. Eventually Sultana was sold off in 1789 in Madras, and Henry was to proceed back to Salem. Henry was loaded with cotton, of which a large amount was disposed of in Mauritius. The space was loaded with Bourbon Coffee. The Lighthorse went on to become the first American ship to touch Canton.

Henry was captained by Benjamin Crowninshield (Derby's cousin). Captn John Gibaut, a well-educated man, who was related to him through his mother, accompanied him. Benjamin happened to be Derby's school buddy, and both he and Crowninshield were to make big names in the India trade. Derby and friends were finally returning to Salem, flush with profits from India, three years after Derby Jr had set out to the east. John Gibaut we see was a Harvard graduate and mariner from Salem, the son of Edward Gibaut and Sarah Crowninshield.

But there was one exotic item that had come on the ship Henry which the Americans were to observe and record for the first time. Henry incidentally sailed from Calcutta to the West Indies. Gibaut and the Indian man thence proceeded to Salem on another Derby vessel.

The Indian man, as he was known since then, was a person presumably from the Indian Coromandel coast, a Tamilian perhaps. Regrettably his name was never recorded by anybody, and even though he spent a few months at Salem, it is quite an anomaly that we cannot find his real name anywhere, or his antecedents. Was he Gibaut's servant, a lascar, a dubash (translator), a bania or chetty trader, or was he Gibaut's friend? It is very difficult to make a conclusion. Some accounts mention him as Gibaut's servant, and that he joined the voyages in March 1790.


Ft. St. George Madras 1754

It was perhaps not the first time a person of Indian origin visited the American shores. Many British merchantmen ships had lascars from Bombay, Cochin, or Malabar on their ships. So surely others preceded the Indian man of 1790. It is clear that there were others brought into America by British as slaves. In fact, they date back to 1719, and are quite a few in number, though details are sketchy. But this happens to be the first on record. Now let us see what more we can find out about 'the Indian man' of Salem.

What he did for the next few months is not clear, but it is believed that the Indian man spent the winter in Salem, and left with Gibaut on the ship Astrea, back to India in May 1791.


Rev. Bentley

William Bentley records in his diary -- Had the pleasure of seeing for the first time a native of the Indies from Madras. He is of very dark complexion, long black hair, soft countenance, tall & well-proportioned. He is said to be darker than Indians in general of his own cast, being much darker than any native Indians of America. I had no opportunity to judge of his abilities, but his countenance was not expressive. He came to Salem with Capt. J. Gibaut, and has been in Europe.

In 1799, Salem's globe-traveling sea captains and traders established the city's East India Marine Society, whose bylaws charged members to bring home "natural and artificial curiosities." We see a number of them at the Peabody, Salem and other museums of Massachusetts. As is explained -- The city seal of Salem, Massachusetts, features neither a black-clad Puritan elder nor an American eagle but, instead, a robe-and-slippered Sumatran dignitary standing next to a row of palm trees. Below him, the city motto: Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum sinum ("To the farthest port of the rich East"); indeed, that Salem owed its brief but dazzling period of commercial glory.

The Astrea, with Gibaut as master, faced a lot of misfortune, and in 1793 the Sultan of Pegu detained it for his own use and held Gibaut a hostage. But as it appears [b]Gibaut spent time collecting curiosities in Burma for Rev Bentley's museum. The Astrea was misused by the Sultan and had to be condemned in Calcutta. He sailed back on the Henry but was waylaid by the British this time at the Cape of Good Hope. Three years later Gibaut was back in Salem after these hair-raising adventures.

Gibaut was an expert mathematician, and the first American Navigator, who introduced the practice of Lunar observations into the USA. He was briefly involved earlier in the survey of Salem, but eventually went back to sea, and his work was completed by the eminent Dr Bowdich. He fell ill, and returned to Salem in 1801 when his friend Crowninshield recommended Thomas Jefferson to make him a collector of Boston port, which did not work, out but he went on to become collector of Gloucester. He retained the position until his death in 1805.

The Derby family continued on course with the India trade. But things were not rosy for too long. As the American shipping prosperity increased, resentment at Britain increased, and the British started what they called impression. By 1811, the British Royal Navy had impressed (which was the Royal Navy's practice of removing seamen from American merchant vessels) at least 6,000 mariners who claimed to be citizens of the United Stares. In addition to impressments, Americans were dismayed by British agitation of the native population on the western frontier. Congress declared war on June 18, 1812.

As the Salem vessels and their sailors were being kidnapped by the British at high seas, and the trade embargo was brought about by President Jefferson, the Salem merchants had a choice of either braving it out or sitting still (as they said -- swallow the anchor) at home. But as the days of glory vanished, what they chose to do is a story for another day.

References

Essex Institute Historical collections (Vol 98)- Elias Hasket Derby - Richard H McKey
The Diary of William Bentley - William Bentley
The United States and India 1776-1996 - MV Kamath
Salem's Part in the Naval War with France - James Duncan Phillips
"That Every Mariner May Possess the History of the World": A cabinet for the East India Marine Society of Salem - James M Lindgren
Merchant Venturers of old Salem - Robert Peabody
The maritime history of Massachusetts - Samuel Eliot Morison

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Edward S. Morse
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 6/25/20


Edward Sylvester Morse
Portrait of Morse published in the Popular Science Monthly
Born: June 18, 1838, Portland, Maine, United States
Died: December 20, 1925 (aged 87), Salem, Massachusetts, United States
Nationality: American
Occupation: professor, zoologist, orientalist

Edward Sylvester Morse (June 18, 1838 – December 20, 1925) was an American zoologist and orientalist.

Early life

Morse was born in Portland, Maine as the son of a Congregationalist deacon who held strict Calvinist beliefs. His mother, who did not share her husband's religious beliefs, encouraged her son's interest in the sciences. An unruly student, Morse was expelled from every school he attended in his youth — the Portland village school, the academy at Conway, New Hampshire, in 1851, and Bridgton Academy in 1854 (for carving on desks). He also attended Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine. At Gould Academy, Morse came under the influence of Dr. Nathaniel True who encouraged Morse to pursue his interest in the study of nature.

He preferred to explore the Atlantic coast in search of shells and snails, or go to the field to study the fauna and flora. However, despite his lack of formal education, the collections formed during adolescence soon earned him the visit of eminent scientists from Boston, Washington and even the United Kingdom. He was noted for his work with land snails, and before the age of twelve when he had discovered two new species: Helix Milium and H. astericus.[1]

As a young man, he worked as a mechanical draftsman at the Portland Locomotive Company and a wood engraver attached to a Boston company. Morse was recommended by Philip Pearsall Carpenter to Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University for his intellectual qualities and talent at drawing, and served as his assistant in charge of conservation, documentation and drawing collections of mollusks and brachiopods until 1861.

During the American Civil War, Morse attempted to enlist in the 25th Maine Infantry, but was turned down due to a chronic tonsil infection. On June 18, 1863, Morse married Ellen (“Nellie”) Elizabeth Owen in Portland. The couple had two children, Edith Owen Morse and John Gould Morse (named after Morse's lifelong friend Major John Mead Gould).

Career

Morse rapidly became successful in the field of zoology, specializing in malacology or the study of mollusks. In March 1863, along with three other students of Agassiz, Morse co-founded the scientific journal The American Naturalist, and he became one of its editors. The journal included a large number of his drawings. In 1864, he published his first work devoted to mollusks under the title Observations On The Terrestrial Pulmonifera of Maine, Including a Catalogue of All the Species of Terrestrial Mollusca and Fluvial Known to Inhabit the State. In 1870 he published The Brachiopods, a Division of the Annelida wherein he reclassified brachiopods as worms rather than mollusks. The work attracted the attention of Charles Darwin. From 1871 to 1874, Morse was appointed to the chair of comparative anatomy and zoology at Bowdoin College. In 1874, he became a lecturer at Harvard University. In 1876, Morse was named a fellow of the National Academy of Science.

Japan

In June 1877 Morse first visited Japan in search of coastal brachiopods. His visit turned into a three-year stay when he was offered a post as the first professor of Zoology at the Tokyo Imperial University. He went on to recommend several fellow Americans as o-yatoi gaikokujin (foreign advisors) to support the modernization of Japan in the Meiji Era. To collect specimens, he established a marine biological laboratory at Enoshima in Kanagawa Prefecture.

While looking out of a window on a train between Yokohama and Tokyo, Morse discovered the Ōmori shell mound, the excavation of which opened the study in archaeology and anthropology in Japan and shed much light on the material culture of prehistoric Japan. He returned to Japan in 1881 to present a report of his findings to Tokyo Imperial University.

While in Japan, he authored a book Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings illustrated with his own line drawings. He also made a collection of over 5,000 pieces of Japanese pottery. He devised the term "cord-marked" for the sherds of Stone Age pottery, decorated by impressing cords into the wet clay. The Japanese translation, "Jōmon," now gives its name to the whole Jōmon period as well as Jōmon pottery.

Morse had much interest in Japanese ceramics.[2] He returned on a third visit to Japan in 1882, during which he collected clay samples as well as finished ceramics. He brought back to Boston a collection amassed by government minister and amateur art collector Ōkuma Shigenobu, who donated it to Morse in recognition of his services to Japan. These now form part of the "Morse Collection" of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, whose catalog was written by Ernest Fenollosa. His collection of daily artifacts of the Japanese people is kept at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The remainder of the collection was inherited by his granddaughter, Catharine Robb Whyte via her mother Edith Morse Robb and is housed at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Massachusetts


1930 photograph of Edward S. Morse

After leaving Japan, Morse traveled to Southeast Asia and Europe. In 1884 (at age 46), he was elected a vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and became president of that association in 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889. During this period, he returned to Europe, and Japan in quest of pottery.

Morse became Keeper of Pottery at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1890. He was also a director of the Peabody Academy of Science (now part of and succeeded by the Peabody Essex Museum) in Salem[3] from 1880 to 1914. In 1898, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (3rd class) by the Japanese government. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1898.[4] He became chairman of the Boston Museum in 1914, and chairman of the Peabody Museum in 1915. He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasures (2nd class) by the Japanese government in 1922.[5]

Morse was a friend of astronomer Percival Lowell, who inspired interest in the planet Mars. Morse would occasionally journey to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, during optimal viewing times to observe the planet. In 1906, Morse published Mars and Its Mystery in defense of Lowell’s controversial speculations regarding the possibility of life on Mars.

He donated over 10,000 books from his personal collection to the Tokyo Imperial University. On learning that the library of the Tokyo Imperial University was reduced to ashes by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, in his will he ordered that his entire remaining collection of books be donated to Tokyo Imperial University.

Morse died at his home in Salem, Massachusetts in 1925 of cerebral hemorrhage and was buried at the Harmony Grove Cemetery.

Morse’s Law

In 1872, Morse noticed than mammals and reptiles with reduced fingers lose them beginning from the sides: thumb the first and little finger the second.[6] Later researchers revealed that this is a general pattern in tetrapods (except Theropoda and Urodela): digits are reduced in the order I → V → II → III → IV, the reverse order of their appearance in embryogenesis. This trend is known as Morse’s Law.[7]

Published works

• 2018. From Morse to Whyte: A Dynastic Bequest of Japanese Treasures. Catalogue published by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB. Canada
• 1875. First Book of Zoölogy New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1, 3, and 5 Bond Street.
• 1886. First Book of Zoölogy Second Edition, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1, 3, and 5 Bond Street
• 1886. Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings. New York: Harper. OCLC 3050569; reprint of 1885 edition; (Full View)
• 1888. Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings. Boston: Ticknor. OCLC 20970574
• 1901. Catalogue of the Morse collection of Japanese pottery. Cambridge, Printed at the Riverside Press.
• 1902. Glimpses of China and Chinese Homes. Boston: Little, Brown. OCLC 1116550; (Full View)
• 1917. Japan Day by Day, 1877, 1878-79, 1882-83. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. OCLC 412843
o 1917. Japan Day by Day, Vol. I.; (Full View)
o 1917. Japan Day by Day, Vol. II.; (Full View)

See also

• American Association of Museums
• Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings
• Takamine Hideo
• Hiram M. Hiller, Jr.

References

1. Japanese History Online
2. Maine Historical Society
3. Grimes, John R., "Curiosity, Cabinets, and Knowledge" Archived 2016-06-24 at the Wayback Machine, pem.org, p. 4. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
4. American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
5. The Courier Volume 26, No. 2 (2002)
6. Morse E. S. (1872). "On the Tarsus and Carpus of Birds". Annals of The Lyceum of Natural History of New York. 10: 141–158. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1874.tb00030.x. ...when the number of fingers or toes is reduced in Mammalia and Reptilia, they are always taken away from the sides of the member, the thumb first disappearing and then the little finger.
7. Young R. L., Bever G. S., Wang Z., Wagner G. P. (2011). "Identity of the avian wing digits: Problems resolved and unsolved". Developmental Dynamics. 240 (5): 1042–1053. doi:10.1002/dvdy.22595. PMID 21412936.
• Benfey, Christopher (2003). The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan, New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50327-6; OCLC 50511058
• Gould, John M. "A Brief Biography of Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925)." at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 2009) (Full View)
• Murphy, Declan. "Edward S. Morse 1838-1925," Japanese History Online. Yamasa Institute (Hittori Foundation). (Full View)
• Rosenstone, Robert A. (1988). Mirror in the Shrine: American Encounters with Meiji Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-57641-4; OCLC 17108604
• Wayman, Dorothy Godfrey. (1942) Edward Sylvester Morse: A Biography. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. OCLC 757515

External links

• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: "Japanese Ceramics from the Collection of Edward Sylvester Morse."
• Japanese History Online
• Edward S. Morse — Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
• Works by Edward Sylvester Morse at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Edward S. Morse at Internet Archive
• Whyte Museum