Abstract
It might be said that vitalism has two histories. As a metaphysical admonishment– to treat “life” as a special class of phenomena –its place in the historical record is already assured. But as a way to explain bodily processes, its history seems more complicated and uncertain. Perhaps this stems from classificatory problems: which theories should be described as vitalistic, and in what ways these use vitalistic notions is unclear. In this chapter, I will argue for a history of vitalism as a series of conceptual tools that were used as researchers in early- to mid-nineteenth century Britain attempted to explain the mind in physiological terms. Phrenology (George Combe), reflex action (Marshall Hall) and cerebral reflex function (Thomas Laycock) all provided a model for how the mind operated, yet all three in some way failed to persuade their scientific colleagues. From their efforts, however, a satisfactory account emerged that explained the mind as a series of abstract and teleological processes: a vitalistic account of the mind.
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- 1.
Canguilhem (1994, 108).
- 2.
Driesch (1914, 185–239).
- 3.
- 4.
Benton (1974, 18).
- 5.
Wolfe (2011).
- 6.
Canguilhem (1994, 288).
- 7.
- 8.
This is not to say that the behavioural effects of the mind were left unexamined. Cf. Hatfield (1995).
- 9.
Cf. Figlio (1975).
- 10.
- 11.
Cf. Desmond (1989).
- 12.
- 13.
Introspection, according to Combe, did not belong in “The True Philosophy of Medicine.” Cf. Combe (1826).
- 14.
As Shapin (1979) points out, there were many areas of technical debate, including the convolutions of the cerebral cortex, the cerebral fibres and the cerebellum.
- 15.
An account of Hamilton’s life, politics and philosophy can be found in Veitch (1869).
- 16.
Republished in the Phrenological Journal and Miscellany. Hamilton (1828–1829a, 3).
- 17.
This rather fruitless disagreement continued throughout the correspondence published.
- 18.
Combe (1828–1829a, 13) and Hamilton (1828–1829b, 19).
- 19.
Scott and Christison (1828–1829, 34).
- 20.
Combe (1828–1829a, 12).
- 21.
Hamilton (1828–1829c, 38).
- 22.
Spurzheim (1828–1829a, 41).
- 23.
Hamilton (1828–1829d, 42).
- 24.
Spurzheim (1828–1829b, 47).
- 25.
Hamilton (1828–1829e, 54).
- 26.
Hamilton (1828–1829e, 55–6).
- 27.
- 28.
Combe fervently denied that phrenology implied atheism: Combe (1828–1829c). Previously, Hamilton had excluded such theological objections from his more scientific argument. Hamilton (1828–1829a), 2. For an analysis of The Constitution of Man and its aftermath, cf. Van Wyhe (2004). On Robert Grant, radical morphology and its possible connections with phrenology, cf. Desmond (1989).
- 29.
Combe (1828–1829b, 26).
- 30.
Combe (1828–1829b, 30).
- 31.
Hamilton (1828–1829f, 58).
- 32.
Combe (1828–1829d, 63–4).
- 33.
Bentley (1998, 100–01).
- 34.
Combe (1826, 35).
- 35.
Morrell and Thackray (1981, 276–81).
- 36.
- 37.
Leys compares Hall’s notion of reflex action with W.P. Alison’s “spinal soul” (Leys 1990).
- 38.
Clarke and Jacyna (1987, 114–15).
- 39.
Clarke and Jacyna (1987, 115–16).
- 40.
“We need not, however, be concerned with the details of this somewhat sordid controversy. Again with hindsight, it appears to have been characterized by personal enmities and rivalries, vindictiveness, pettiness, jealousy, and political undertones” (Clarke and Jacyna 1987, 119).
- 41.
Anon (1832, 190).
- 42.
Anon (1832, 190).
- 43.
Anon (1832, 191).
- 44.
Anon (1832, 191).
- 45.
Leys seems to equivocate on this point, in one instance calling reflex action “mechanical” (Leys 1990, 240) and “vitalistic” at another (255). This, I believe, stems partly from Hall’s changing views on what he was trying to describe.
- 46.
Anon (1836–1837, 660).
- 47.
- 48.
Hall and Broughton (1835, 676–80).
- 49.
- 50.
Hall (1836a, 636).
- 51.
Hall (1836a, 639).
- 52.
Hall’s familiarity with Grainger, Robert Grant and the British Medical Association has led Desmond to place him within early nineteenth-century political radicalism. Desmond (1989, 130–2, 139–40). More convincing, however, is Diana Manuel’s claim that Hall involved himself in politics only when it affected his career prospects. Manuel (1996, 20–1, 138–42).
- 53.
Grainger (1837, vi).
- 54.
Hall (1836b, 20).
- 55.
Grainger refused to use lenses for fear of deception. Grainger (1837, 34–5).
- 56.
Grainger (1837, 34).
- 57.
Carpenter (1838, 500).
- 58.
Carpenter (1838, 487).
- 59.
Carpenter (1839, 137).
- 60.
Carpenter (1838, 540).
- 61.
On Laycock’s election to the Edinburgh Chair, cf. Barfoot (1995). Barfoot notes that Laycock’s neurophysiological work has only been recognised by historians since the 1960s (3).
- 62.
Smith (1971).
- 63.
Jacyna (1981, 109–132).
- 64.
Smith (1971, 258–9).
- 65.
Anon (1841, 107).
- 66.
Anon (1844, 57).
- 67.
Laycock (1845a, 298).
- 68.
On the language used to describe mental processes during the nineteenth-century, cf. Smith (1992).
- 69.
Laycock (1845b, 347).
- 70.
Laycock (1845a, 300).
- 71.
Laycock (1845a, 302).
- 72.
Laycock (1845a, 306).
- 73.
Vindex (1846a, 198).
- 74.
Vindex (1846a, 198).
- 75.
Laycock (1846, 424).
- 76.
Laycock (1846, 425).
- 77.
Laycock (1846, 425).
- 78.
Vindex (1846b, 510).
- 79.
- 80.
Carpenter (1855, 649).
- 81.
Winter (1998, 287–90).
- 82.
Carpenter (1850, 746).
- 83.
Laycock (1860, vol. 2, 465–80).
- 84.
Smith (1971, 91).
- 85.
There is a similarity here with James Hutton’s woeful exposition of his theory of the earth. Cf. Playfair (1962, vi–xi).
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Acknowledgments
My thanks to John Forrester, Nick Hopwood, Jim Secord, Charles Wolfe and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on this work.
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Dyde, S. (2013). Life and the Mind in Nineteenth-Century Britain. In: Normandin, S., Wolfe, C. (eds) Vitalism and the Scientific Image in Post-Enlightenment Life Science, 1800-2010. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2445-7_5
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