A Prophet and a Science Are Born

Hugh M. Ayer*
Upon this scene of conflict and confusion there appeared
in 1842 a man whose ideas and teachings in the field of medicine and philosophy were strange and provocative of suspicion
even in that period. His contribution to the confusion was to
combine elements of phrenology, mesmerism, homeopathy, and
eclecticism, and a host of his own ideas, and emerge with a
system of moral philosophy and medical science which anticipated parts of modern psychology, psychiatry, and spiritualism, and which contained many points now conceded by medical scientists. The man was Joseph Rodes Buchanan, son of
an early Kentucky doctor, and himself a graduate of the Louisville Medical Institute.
Of Scots-Irish descent, Joseph Rodes Buchanan WELSborn
at Frankfort, Kentucky, December 11,1814, the only surviving
child of Joseph and Nancy Rodes Garth Buch8nan.l Although
Joseph Buchanan died when his son was only fifteen years old,
there are numerous indications that the influence of the father
was a major factor in shaping the later life of his son. For
that reason it seems advisable to give a brief resume of the life
and ideas of Joseph Buchanan.
Samuel Buchanan, the first of the family to come to
America, arrived early in the eighteenth century. Andrew
Buchanan, one of Samuels five sons, married Joanna Hay, and
after serving as a captain in the French and Indian War
moved his family to Virginia, where Joseph Buchanan, the
father of Joseph Rodes Buchanan, was born on August 24,
1785.%

In 1795, Joseph Buchanan moved from Virginia to Tennessee. His first fourteen months of formal education were
* Hu h M. A er ia a member of the history faculty at crrlver Military Acatfem Cufver Indiana This article ia a chapter of his mashs
thesis at Inaana U&eraity, 1960, written under the direction of R
Carlyle Buley.
1 Mrs. Henys: B.8 Hoyry to the author, LOniWille, Kentucky, March
14 1949. Tradition h y it that the Buchanan n q e originall was Anseian and that the farmly descended from the :Lard of Anmyan, upon
whom the name of Buchanan was a conferred title.
%JoannaHay was a daughter of Patrick Hay and is said to have
been a direct dectcendant of the Earl of Lindsay. Mrs. Henry B. Howry
to the author, Louisville, Kentucky March 14, 1949. Lewis Coll$s,
of Kentuclcy (2 vole., Louisviile, 1924), 11, 218; The B w g r a p h d
g$zedia of Kentucley (Cincinnati, 1878), 88.
* Collin!, History o Kentudcy, 11,218. Whether his parents accompanied him is not revea ed.

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Indiana Magazine of History

obtained in a small school near Nashville, where he is said to

have mastered the Latin language in nine months and to have
distinguished himself by original composition. He wa8 so
fond of originality in all his essays, that he would not even
condescend to write on any subject on which he had ever read
anything. 4
In 1804, at the age of nineteen, Joseph Buchanan migrated
to Lexington, Kentucky, and entered Transylvania University.
At that time he was delicate and diffident and is said to have
passed for a ~impleton.~But this illusion was quickly dispelled when he detected and demonstrated an error in his
mathematics textbook. The result of this episode was a controversy with one of his professors, followed by the publication
of a brief mathematical work in which Buchanan demonstrated
the sufficiency of gravity and pointed out some defects in the
speculations of Sir Isaac Newton.
Terminating his studies at the university in 1805, he began the study of medicine under Dr. Samuel Brown in Lexington, and by 1807 was practicing in Fort Gibson, Mississippi.
While there he wrote a volume on fevers and took the manuscript to Philadelphia for publication ; but, although Dr. Benjamin Rush is said to have spoken highly of the work, Buchanan failed to find a publisher who was willing to bear the
expense.6
Finding himself without funds, Buchanan occupied himself for twenty-seven days by walking from Philadelphia to
Lexington, where he resumed his medical studies. And in
1809, having acquired the A.B. degree, he was appointed to the
chair of the Institutes of Medicine in the Transylvania Medical
Department. The department was poorly organized, however,
and apparently no classes were offered that year. The following year Buchanan resigned.
Buchanans one year on the Transylvania faculty was not
4 Lewis Collins, Historical Sketches o
Kentucky (Maysville, Kentucky, 1847), 559, quoting from an unrevea ed source.
6 Emmet F. Horine, Early Medicine in Kentucky and the M@aissippi
Valley: A: Tribute to Daniel Drake, M.D., J o u W of the Ifastory of
Meduine (New York, 1946- ), I11 (1948), 266; The Bzbgraphtcal Enoycropedia of Kentucky, 88.
6 Merle E. Curti, Joseph Buchanan, DictioncMy of A?mt%xm Bwgm p h y (20 vols., New York, 1943), 111,215.
7 Horine, Early Medicine in Kentucky and the Mississippi ValleE
of MediGins 111 266; Collins, Historiccrl Skstc 8
Jouof ths His
of Kentucky, 569; Z
r
t
.Peterl The HiStory o t@ Medical D q e V t
of Transylvantu Unavwaty (Fllson Club Pub ication No. 20, Lolllsvrlle,
1905), 13-14.

A Prophet and a Science Are Born

381

wasted, however, for the lectures which he had prepared during this period were published, in 1812, as The PhGosophy of
Human Nature. This was his mosb important work and was
one of the earliest systematic and consistent presentations of
materialism to be published in America. Based mainly on the
writings of Charles Darwin, David H u e , and David Hartley
-whose teachings Buchanan f irst encountered while working
with Dr. Samuel Brown-the book falls in two general divisions. The first chapter was devoted to refuting the idea that
the mind existed as an independent entity, and in the remaining chapters he presented experimental evidence to describe
the operations and laws of human nature. Although he ultimately accepted the agnostic position, Buchanan attempted to
show that a materialistic explanation of mind is more in accord
with reason and fact than a spiritual explanation. This emphasis on matter rather than on mind, plus his attempt to
construct a materialistic monism, has caused some to refer to
Buchanan as the earliest native physiological psychologist.*
Joseph Buchanan refused to believe that there was in man
a spiritual mind possessed of an original activity, able to feed
and think within itself or to commence thought, sentiment, and
motion. He accepted the theory that matter alone is capable
of displaying all the phenomena of animal life and concluded
that the human system is thus a machine entirely material,
composed of a great variety of elementary particles. To
Buchanan the mind was simply an organic state of matter, a
peculiar combination of materia1 elements, capable of displaying the attributes of intellect, and in no manner dependent
upon any immaterial or spiritual element.@
These arguments were in direct oppmition to the later
teachings of his son, who placed much stress upon the importance of spiritual influence. But father and son were in agreement that the brain or sensory organ is the seat of intellectual
life and is intimately related and dependent upon the whole
vital
Joseph Buchanan again preceded his son in forming his
8 Niels H. Some, Liberal Ken.tu.cN,1780-1828 (Columbia University
Studies in American Culture, No. 3, New York, 1939) 84-88; Curtl,
Joseph Budanan, DzctioMly of Ameman Biogmph~?fII, 216.
@JosephBuchanan The Philoso hy of Human Natu7-6 Richmond,
Kentucky, 1812), 8-9, 18-13,34,37. $he writer is indebted to r. Emmet
F. Horine of Louisville, Kentucky, for the w e of this rare and valuable

book.

10

Ibid,89.

Indiana Magazine of History

382

philosophy of the interrelations between men and between man

and his environment. As early as 1812 he had formulated the
theory, which was to be the fundamental basis of the teachings
of his son in later years, that physical agents cannot possibly
co-exist
without exerting their energies on each other.
Thus, every substance on earth, vital or inanimate was affected by atmospheric elements, water, caloric, electricity, and
all the rest. The human body.
becomes therefore dependent on them alike for its preservation and destruction, its
life and death.ll
In reference to phrenology the elder Buchanan expressed
doubt as to its validity, but at the same time used its theories
as an argument for materialism. According to the observations of many ingenious men, the external form and internal
texture of the brain, are very important circumstances to the
intellect it embraces. If that intellect were purely spiritual
and intrinsically active, it is very improbable that these trivial
circumstances in the mere instrument of its operations could
make an important difference in its powers : but if mentality
be only an attribute of the living brain, it is then to be expected, that a different proportion of parts in that organ, or a
slight variation in its intrinsic structure, would produce the
greatest difference of intellectual powers which occurs among
men. The fact then, as stated above; that the various degrees
of intelligent power observable among men, and other animals
also, may be traced to varieties in the formation and texture of
their nervous systems; is no inconsiderable argument for M&
terialism.12
Joseph Buchanan also denied the doctrine of a nervous
fluid or subtle matter secreted in the brain, and diffused
through the whole system of the body as one which merely
complicated the situation. Granted there were such a fluid,
what, he asked, was there to stimulate itP* He thought it
much safer and simpler to accept what was to him the obvious
explanation-that the nervous system was an entirely material
one, stimulated by material things and acting upon material
objects.
These ide-11
embraced in Buchanans major workcoming from the press in 1812,could not have come to light at

...

..

Zbid., 39.
Zbid., 11.
I* Z b X , 66.
11

12

A Prophet and a Science Are Born

383

a more crucial time. It was a period of violent controversy

between religious liberalism and infidelity. The campaign
against anything smacking of vice or heresy was instigated
and conducted mainly by John Campbell and the Presbyterians. It reached into all walks of life and was ever in
search of objects to attack.
In the eyes of the religionists The Philosophy of Human
Nature was an outstanding example of infidelity. They could
not swallow Buchanans materialism nor his denial of the influence of the spiritual element in life. The fact that Buchanan also insisted on complete separation of church and
state merely added to the ire of the Presbyterians-who maintained that a true republican government, to be successful,
must be in the hands of Christian citizens and Christian leaders-and he became the center of attack.l*
The hardy philosopher rallied to the occasion, however,
and under the pseudonyms Civis, A Native Kentuckian,
and others, became the editorialist who most ably and insistently presented the views of the liberals. Thereafter he continued to play a leading role in the controversy and his agitations were a major factor in eventually wresting from the
Presbyterians their control of Transylvania University.16
Buchanans personal views in regard to religion as such
seem to be an open question. Both his political and his religious enemies accused him of atheism, but he has left no definite assertion that such was his status. On the contrary, his
references to God were reverential, and he often spoke of himself as a Christian.16
It was in their ideas on education that Joseph Buchanan
and his son were most nearly alike. After resigning from the
Transylvania faculty in 1810, Joseph Buchanan went East to
study the Pestalozzian system of education, and soon thereafter he returned to Kentucky to establish a school based on
its principles.
In establishing his Pestalozzian school near Lexington,
Buchanan was particularly interested in preparing boys to be
men of science and business. He wanted to avoid the teaching
of the dead languages as much aq possible, and he planned to
Some, Liberal Kentuclcy, 81, 111. Later Jose h Rod- Buchanan
and state.
16 Ibid., 139,83.
16 Ibid., 83.
14

a h became a strong advocate of separation of

chur2

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Indiana Magazine of History

exclude all religion from his teaching, whether Christian, deist,

or atheist, as well as all politics. His system was to begin the
students with simple material which they could easily master
and advance from there to successively harder material ; nothing should be passed until mastered. He wished to cultivate
the memory and powers of recollection, on the principles of
analogy and association. Following the rule that the powers
and habits of human beings were most effectively strengthened
and confirmed by vigorous and systematic exercise, he employed the methods of observation and experimentation, and
rewarded the students who answered first and best.lT
The suspicious Presbyterians frowned upon this system of
education. They branded Buchanan as a professed Infidel.
[who] was about to establish a school on Neifs [sic] system,
where youth are to stay from eight to twenty-one years, and
thus be initiated into all the illusions of infidelity from their
earliest infancy.18 As a result of these attacks by religious
parties, the school failed after two years, but Joseph Buchanans sanguine predictions as to his new method of education
were fully realized, in the education of his own
Having met with opposition and defeat in the field of
education, Buchanan next turned his attention to journalism,
and in 1813 formed a partnership with Robert Johnson to
publish the Kentucky Palladium at Frankfort. This venture
continued until 1816, and it was during this period-December
11, 1814-that Joseph Rodes Buchanan was born.
In 1816 the Buchanan-Johnson partnership was dissolved,
probably because of bankruptcy, and Buchanan became editor
of the Light House a t Harrodsburg. The outcome of this venture is not known, but it must have been similar ta the previous one, for in 1819 the Buchanan family was in Cincinnati,
where the father established the Literary Cadet and Cheap
City Advertiser. This soon merged with the Westem Spy to
form the Western Spy and Literary Cadet, with Buchanan as
editor. This in turn broke up in 1821, and the Buchanans
apparently moved to Louisville soon thereafter.O

..

Zbid., 95-100.

1s bid., 80, quoting from an article in A C T e c t V i m .by John F.

Schemerhorn and Samuel J. Mdls, the Presbytensn Investigators who

came west to study the religious situation.

19 Collins, Sketches of Kentucky, 560.
20 Sonne, Liberal Kentuclcy, 84-85, givea the best and most complete
summary of Joseph Buchanans activities as an editor and journalist.

A Prophet and a Science Are Bomt

386

The versatile Buchanan now turned his attention to inventive science, and, though he succeeded in making no lasting
contributions to the mechanical age, created some interest and
excitement among the local citizens. As early as 1805 he had
invented an instrument which produced music from glasses of
different chemical composition, but the gadget was never put
into operation. In 1821 he constructed a spiral boiler which
embraced improvements in the way of lightness, economy, and
safety. The generation of steam in small tubes, incapable of
explosion, was the fundamental idea of this boiler, and it: was
Buchanans hope that the principle might be successfully applied to aerial navigation. In 1824-1825 he applied his engine
to a wagon with sufficient success to astonish a throng of
spectators in Louisville. The engine was also tested on a
small boat on the Ohio River and in 1824 it was applied to a
cotton factory at Nicholasville, but apparently without much
success.21
In 1826, Buchanan once more turned to his journalistic
interests when, in collaboration with W. W. Worsley, he established the Louisville FOCUS,a newspaper with literary and
scientific leanings ;and it was while engaged in this enterprise
that he died, a victim of the yellow fever epidemic of 1829.
Those who have studied the life and works of Joseph Buchanan speak of him only in the most glowing terms. One who
was intimately acquainted with him remembered his slender
form, massive head, and thoughtful, intellectual face, and
characterized him as a mechanical, medical, and political
philosopher.22 Simple in manner and taste, amiable in private life.
original and ingenious-ardent and enthusiastic,
yet subjecting everything to the searching analysis of critical
reason, he might have attained the highest rank in any pursuit
upon which his energies had been concentrated ;but cultivating
his intellect to the neglect of other powers, he scorned the
pursuit of wealth ; abstracted himself from society, lived in
wasted his powers in
continual pecuniary embarrassment
desultory labors, lived and died comparatively indifferent to
fame.23

..

.. .

21Collins, Hisof Kentuck 11, 174, 397; Curti, Joseph Buchanan, Dictionary of American iopaphy, 111, 215; Mrs. Henry B.
Howry to the author, Louisville, Kentucky, March 14, 1949.
ZZPeter, Transylvania University, 14, quoting from the inaugural
address of Lewis Rogem at the Kentucky State Medical Society, 1873.
2s Collins, Sketches of Kentuclcy, 660.

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Indiana Magazine of History

Joseph Buchanan was an outstanding example of versatility in an age of versatile men. He was a doctor, editor,
philosopher, educator, lawyer, scientist, and historian ; and at
various times he made important contributions to each field.
He was essentially an intellectual pioneer working in an environment which encouraged versatility rather than specialization and profundity, [and] he contributed substantially to
the development of culturein the Ohio River Valley. It was
only his inability to concentrate his efforts on a single task
that saved him from fame. His significance consists in having most thoroughly thought out a philosophy to supplant the
recognized forms of dogmatic theology, and of having then
proceeded to live by that philosophy. In his major work Buchanan not only attacked many fundamental theological concepts, but provided a theory of human nature and of morality,
which he felt to be a satisfactory basis upon which to build
human character.2*
Such was the diversified nature of the father of Joseph
Rodes Buchanan. That the son of such a man would face both
problems and opportunities unique in a pioneer setting goes
without question. When young Buchanan was brn,his fathers most important works had already been accomplished;
he was known as a doctor, teacher, author, and editor, and aa
an advocate of liberalism he had been a leader of the ultimate victors in one of the Wests most violent controversies.
Through his revolutionary ideas on education and philosophy
he had won both loyal supporters and bitter enemies. Controversy followed him to the grave, and he left behind him a son
capable of continuing the struggle.
Of the early life of Joseph Rodes Buchanan very little has
been recorded. The family moved about too much for him to
have established strong ties in any one place; from Frankfort
to Harrodsburg, thence to Cincinnati, and finally to Louisville,
within less than a decade, was the trail of a restless father
seeking his fortune.
Books and education seem to have occupied a major portion of young Buchanans early years, and of that phase we
have more information, with the influence and guidance of his
father being everywhere evident. Even in childhood he was
noted for his uncommon maturity of mind, and at the age of
24 Sonne, Liberal Kentuclcy, 86-86 82-83; Curti, Joaeph Buchanm,
Dietiommy of Anzsrican Biogmphyt IIi, 216.

A Prophet and a Science Are Born

387

seven he began the study of geometry, astronomy, history, and

French.2s Four years later he stimulated his interest in sociology by reading the work of Robert Dale Owen on that subject. And from Buchanans own pen there is the testimony
that during his youth he had access to daily packages of
newspapers which he read in a desultory manner.26
Joseph Buchanans ambition was to make a lawyer of his
son and when the boy was only thirteen personally conducted
him through the study of Blackstones Commentaries. Having
studied law in 1847,and having later lectured to a private law
class, Buchanan was, by pioneer standards, a well-qualified
But young Buchanan had been too
teacher of jurispr~dence.~~
long and too closely associated with the all absorbing editorial
activities of his father, and his first love was for the printers
ink and the clatter of the press.
For five years following the death of his father, Buchanan sustained himself by labor as a printer and teacher, at
the same time vigorously continuing his studies. But in 1834,
poor health having forced him to give up this work, he turned
his attention to another of his fathers former pursuits and
took up the study of medicine at Transylvania.es
At Transylvania University he studied under professors
Charles Caldwell and John Esten Cooke, and it may have been
there that he first received two impressions which were to become almost an obsession for the rest of his life. As has been
noted, Caldwell was the first to introduce the doctrines of
phrenology to the West, and it seems likely that Caldwell, an
ardent advocate of the system, may have been the first to
stimulate in Buchanan an interest in the study of the brain.
25BWgraphical Encyclopedia of Kentucky, 652. Only John Stuart
Mills, who began the study of Greek at the a of three, seem to have
bettered this record. D. C. Somervell, English %ought in the Nineteenth
Centurg (New York, 1936), 93. In Buchanans own words, before he was
twelve years old, he had mastered the.outlines of grammar, eography
history, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, natural philosopay, m e n d
hilosoph and political economy, and prepared to commence the study of
paw. &ucation, Bmhnans J.ourna2 of Man (6 vole., Cincinnati and
Boston, 1849-1856), I, 193.
26 Harvey W. Felter, H+to?y of. the Eclectb Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1845-1902 (Cmcinnati, 1902), 98; Joseph R. Buchanan,
Nationalization of the Land as First Presented, The A r m (41 v o l ~ ,
Boston, 1889-1909), I11 (1890-1891), 406.
27 Collins, History of Kentucky, 11, 218.
38 Biographical Encyclopedia of Kentucky, 662; Joeeph R. Buchanan,
Manual of P s y c h m t l y : The Dawn of a New CtviIzzatiOn (Boston, 1886),
77,8243.

Indiana Magazine of History

388

From the methods of Cooke, on the other hand, he probably

first developed his antipathy toward the practices of members
of the regular medical profession, which he so vociferously
attacked in later years. He later described Cooke as an
honest and earnest man but as one who used the horrible
system of salivating by mercurials the majority of the sick,
and spoke with disgust of thq time when Cooke had given to
one man altogether a pound and a half [of calomel] before he
At that time the medical department at Transylvania was
the best and most prosperous one west of the Allegheny Mountains. As early as 1799, five hundreds dollars worth of books
and apparatus had been bought,3oand the amounts spent had
steadily increased through the years. In their suitableness
to their several purposes, her [Transylvanias] buildings are
not surpassed by those of any similar institution in the United
States; of: her faculty, as a body their competency has never
been called in question, but has been spoken of in terms of high
commendation; her library . is one of the best selected in
the country
and the chemical apparatus and anatomical
museum
are amply sufficient.
In making these provisions , near thirty-five thousand dollars have been expended.51
But the Transylvania Medical Department was facing a
crisis. In 1833 a state charter had authorized the establishment of a medical school at Louisville and certain elements had
begun a campaign to have the Transylvania Medical Department removed to that location. Advocates of this plan pointed
out the greater advantages of Louisvilles geographic location
and compared it with the relatively isolated situation of Lexington. Its opponents, such as Caldwell, in the passage quoted
above, expounded the excellent standing and reputation of the
department at Lexington and thought that the numerous
scenes of seduction and dissipation, and the general distracting
character of . . [huisville] were eminently injurious to the

...

.. .
. .

..

...

Zbid, 77-78.

Horine, Early Medicine in Kentucky and the Mississippi Valley

J o u d of the gistmy of. Msdicins, 111,266. Will!F. N o m 9 Mu&
cal Educatm an the Unrted States B e f m the Cavd War (Phlladelphlg
1944), 289, sets the figure at $6,000.
81 A Centennial Hiatof tha UnivsrSity of LoyisviUe (American
Guide Series, Louisville, 1939), 26, uoting Dr. Charles Caldwell in
f i a a y l v a n h ~ou7Yul.lof Medicine and
Asso&te ~ b e sVII
, (lw),
80

a ff.

&

A Prophet and a Science Are Born

389

youth who resorted to it, for their education.* The two

schools did not combine, but the controversy so disrupted the
Transylvania department that it never regained its former
prominence; and when the new Louisville Medical Institute
began operations in 1837 both Caldwell, who had so bitterly
opposed the plan, and Cooke were on the faculty of the Louisville school.
Just how long Buchanan continued his studies at Transylvania, or what his attitude toward the controversy was, is
not recorded, and he was next heard of as a student at the
Louisville Medical Institute. Speculation points to the prob
ability that he changed schools in order to continue studying
under Caldwell. On the other hand, the fact that a new medical school had been established in his home town m a y have had
something to do with his leaving Transylvania.
The Louisville Medical Institute, well staffed with men
prominent in their profession, seems b have been a BUCC~SS
from the beginning. In 1839 its new building, consisting of
three lecture rooms, four dissecting rooms, apartments for the
faculty, and various other facilities, was completed. By the
end of 1838 its library contained approximately twelve hundred volumes, and the following summer Dr. J. B. Flint was
sent to Europe to purchase more.a3
The requirements for graduation were typical of similar
institutions of the period. The only entrance requirements
were the ability to read and write, while fees were relatively
small-five dollars for matriculation, fifteen dollars for each
course of lectures, and ten dollars for an optional dissecting
ticket.a4 Two years of apprenticeship and two sessions of lectures of four months each comprised the practical experience
and formal classroom requirements. The student, who had to
be twenty years old and of good character, was then subjected
to both public and private oral examinations, which were conducted by the faculty and two practicing physicians. Finally,
the candidate was required to present a thesis in English,
French, or Latin, on some subject relating to medicine.
In this setting Joseph Rodes Buchanan completed his
formal education and received the M.D. degree from the Louisville Medical Institute in 1841. The same year he married
Ibid., 26-27.
Zbid, 26,48.
84 IM, 47.
a*

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Indiana Magazine of History

Anne Rowan, daughter of Judge John Rowan,86 thus early

connecting himself with one of Kentuckys most prominent
fmilies; and one year later occurred the publication of his
Sketches of Buchanans Discoveries in Neurobgg, which was
his first important publication and which, containing the basic
ideas of all his later teaching and writing, was the result of six
years intensive work,
It is impossible to say just when Buchanan first became
interested in phrenology. He undoubtedly had heard of it
through his father, and perhaps through his own reading,
which was extensive; and any interest which he may have displayed relative to the subject probably was further stimulated
at Transylvania by Caldwell. At any rate, by 1835,Buchanan
had devoted enough attention to the subject to have gained
some recognition ;and during that year he traveled to Natchez,
Mississippi-and perhaps other places in the South-where he
engaged in the study and diffusion of phrenological science.
The following year, having become convinced of the substantial truth of the Gallian system of Phrenology, he devoted
himself exclusively to the phrenological study of man.se
As for his reasons for taking up phrenology, there is Buchanans own testimony: My life has been devoted to the
study of man, his destiny and his happiness. Uncontrolled in
education, I learned t o brook no mental restraint, and thrown
upon my own resources in boyhood, difficulties but strengthened the passion for philosophical knowledge.
Anthropology had no systematic development, and its
elementary sciences were in confusion. Mental philosophy was
too limited in its scope, and had too little of the practical character. In studying medicine it seemed that I had wandered
through a wilderness without compass or cardinal points.
Phrenology promised much and I examined it cautionsly
[sic.] It struck me as an unsatisfactory system of mental
philosophy, but one worthy of investigation as a natural sci~

~~

85 H. A. Kelly and W.3 L. Burrage, Dictionary of A d a n Medical

Bwgraphks (New York, 1928 , 163. John Rowan was perhaps the outstandin lawyer of Kentucky uring the first half of the nineteenth century. firom 1804 to 1806 he was secretary of state for Kentucky, after
which he served one term in the United States House of Representatives.
In the early 1820s he reentered the political field, servd two terms in the
Kentucky state senate, and from 1825 to 1831 was a member of the
United States Senate.
86 Buchanan Manual ofePsychmnet7y, 51. Joseph R. Buchanan, Letter VI-Dr. Buchanan to Miss Bremer, Bucfranans Journal of Man, I11
(1851), 33.

(3

A Prophet and a Science Are Born

391

ence, and intensely interesting. I compared the heads of my

acquaintance with phrenological drawings, and found many
striking coincidences-thus was I satisfied of its substantial
truth.
My interest increased with extent of my observations
until I abandoned practical medicine for the exclusive study of
Phrenology in the great volume of Nature. It was my object
to detect the defects of the system of Gall and Spur~heim.~~
But he was not satisfied merely to correct and expand the
Gallian system of phrenology. Fundamentally, Buchanan was
a philosopher seeking answers to all the questions which had
troubled man from the dawn of time. He was searching for a
science of man, in the broadest sense of the phrase--d
science which would include not only the study of mans mind
but one which would comprehend the relationship between
mind and body, between man and his fellow man, and between
man and his environment-a science which would define and
explain the connection between man and the universe, between
man and God.
According to Buchanan, up to that date there had been
no true science of man, only four or five partial ones. Metaphysics was one such partial science ;phrenology was another,
and the two differed in that the latter looked at human nature as it is, instead of looking for a theoretical substratum.
Metaphysics had proved itself inadequate, and phrenology had
failed to devise a true system of mental science because its
discoveries were based only on an inadequate cranioscopy, incompetent of revealing the true nature of the brain. Physiology and anatomy also had failed because they revealed nothing of the power of the brain and therefore could not be philosophical. Natural history, social history, and animal magnetism had brought to light many wonderful facts, but without
giving any satisfactory explanation for the nature of man.**
Thus Buchanan adopted phrenology merely as a stepping
stone toward something infinitely more ambitious-a science
which, if perfected would end all the age-old controversies
relative to the cause, purpose, and ultimate fate of man. He
was groping for something akin to what modern science calls
87Joeeph R. Buchanan, Outlinss o Lectures ion the Neurologiacl
System of Anthr!pokgy,.aa D i a m m d Dmunwtrated and Taught in
1841 and 18.42 (Cmannati, 1864), 31.
88 Z M ,54.

Indiana Magazine of History

392

psychology and psychiatry ;but eventually Buchanans scheme

went much further than either of these have dared to go.
Such a science Buchanan first called anthropology. But
this term he deemed inadequate; it implied only a science of
man, whereas his science was to include not only man but
every living thing. A more inclusive term was necessary. He
decided on neurology, which he defined as the science of
nervous matter-including man and all the animal kingdom.s8
Buchanans main criticism of the Gallian system was that
it was neither complete nor symmetrical. To the philosopher
. . . it suggests the idea of an incomplete system arrested in
the midst of its progress. It seemed deficient in analysis,
and overladen with arbitrary incongruous details. And it
failed the test of practicality, a basic claim of phrenology,
because it gave no organ of the brain for many of the actions
of man. He thought that the phrenological system must refer
to a
every decided or distinct tendency of human nature
definite cerebral source, and that for each tendency there
must be an opposite tendency-and an organ for it. Upon
these arguments he based his conclusion that the Gallian system had two fundamental shortcomings: It was one-sided and
unbalanced, and, in consequence of its incompleteness, it was
inconsistent with itself.40
Buchanan regarded the phrenological system as a protest
against the old metaphysicists, and declared either we must
go back to the old Metaphysical ground, and deny that our
passions and faculties are connected with a definite portion of
the brain
. ; or we must adopt the Phrenological doctrine
fully and unequivocally and carry it out to ib legitimate results. This is what the Gallian system has failed to d ~ . ~ ~
All these deficiencies Buchanan set out to correct ; and with
this work he evidently occupied most of his time as a student
a t the Louisville Medical Institute.
The earlier phrenologists had relied upon three methods
of investigation-vivisection,
pathology, and cranioscopy.
Buchanan rejected all three. Vivisection-operating on living
animals-he dismissed as equally cruel and fruitless; pathology was out because there was an insufficient knowledge of

...

..

~~

80

Joseph R. Buchanan, What is Neurology, B u c k n s Journal

of Man, I, 5.

4OBuchanan, System of Anthmpolgy, 4-6.

41

ZM,
7.

A Propkt and a Science Are Born

393

cerebral physiology to guide us, and, though he considered

cranioscopy the most simple and most successful method used
up to that time, even it could not perfect nor positively demonstrate the science [of phrenology] . Ita drawback was that
irregular thickness of the skull sometimes led to wrong conclusions. In general, Buchanan wrote, the outline of the
cranium indicated the true outline of character; but over activity or under activity of any portion of the brain might cause
variations and the character will depart from the outline of
the cranium. Whenever the organs become inactive through
lack of exercise, they shrink in size, the bone thickens by
growing inward, and the skull becomes opaque. For these
reasons bumps usually did not indicate brain development,
which,therefore, must be inferred from the general contour of
the cranium.**
In order to avoid these difficulties Buchanan early d e
doped a new method of investigation, which he called the
sensitive mode. In using this method he watched the sensations which various mental activities had on his head. He
noted that a scholarly lecture gave him a marked sensation
in the upper portion of his forehead and concluded that this
was the region of greatest intelligence. In the same manner
he located the organs of irritability, anxiety, and many others.
He also used the intuitive method, which relied upon the
powers of clairvoyance to determine mental functions and localities by direct perception, and believed that a clairvoyant
of a well disciplined philosophical mind, free from the errors
of imagination, is the true telescope and microscope of Phrenological ~cience.~
Relying on these modes of investigation, Buchanan discovered many errors in the Gallian system. For example, he
found cowardly men who had large bumps where Gall and
Spunheim had located combativeness, and proved, to his own
satisfaction, that the height of the head above the earn did
not prove a correct criterian of moral character.u
By 1839 he had, by his own admission, acquired possession of numerous, sound and comprehensive principles, from
which he soon formed a system of philosophy; and he had
discovered certain mathematical laws to be the basis of an&+

Indknu Magazine of History

394

...

pology. These principles being

based on anatomy and
pathognomy were styled the PATHOGNOMIC SYSTEM."^^
This system Buchanan regarded as being near the true
anthropology, but at the same time he realized that by the
methods he was pursuing a lifetime would scarcely be sufficient to re-organize the science, and he determined to find
some shorter road to the arcana of Cerebral Physiology.46 It
occurred to him that if some external agent could be found
which would stimulate the different portions of the brain 80
as to manifest, on the instant, and in a striking manner, their
peculiar functions, then both the speed and accuracy of his
experiments would be greatly impr~ved.~ Experimenting
first with magnetism and then with galvanism he dismissed
both as impractical for his purpose. He then tried a more
ambitious plan, believing that the nervous fluid, or nervaura,
was closely analogous to galvanism, and was continually radiated by the human constitution, I applied this influence by
touch to the head of a highly impressible and cultivated lady
with the successful result of exciting every point that I
touched. It was while lecturing in Little Rock, Arkansas, in
the spring of 1841, that this wonderful discovery was made;
and Buchanan was now satisfied that he had found the key to
the true anthr~pology.~~
Buchanans explanation for this phenomenon was that in
the nervous system of every living thing there was a nervaurk
fluid or impulse, which is radiated and conducted freely from
the human hand.4g This nervaura, flowing from the fingers
of the operator, in turn would be strong enough to stimulate
the organs of another person with which the fingers of the
operator made contact, provided the organs of the subject
were sufficiently sensitive, or impressible, to react to the
stimulus. From this explanation he adopted the term impressibility to describe the capacity of an individual to respond to the nervauric impulses flowing from another person.

...

45

46

I W ,33.
Joaepp R. Buchanan, Sketehss

ro&gy ( L o r u d e , 1842), 9.

of

la),

Buchcsnans Diem&

in N e

47 Robert D. Owen Neurolo

: An Account of S m E x p ~ h u m kin
Cerebral Physiology ( l h d ~ n ,
3.
48 Buehanan, f3ySte7n Of Anthropology, 88.
4s Joseph R. Buchanan, Neurology in New York, Buohancnrs J o t w
nal of Man, I, 1-2.

A Prophet and a Scieme Are Barn

896

The discoverer of this amazing power believed that it was

comparable to the discovery of Columbus, and that it had
been overlooked through the ages only because of its very
simplicity. The revelation of the powers of impressibility
changed neurology from a mere anatomical description of
nervous cords and masses, to a comprehensive science embracing all the functions of mind and body.50 He doubkl not that
it opened up a whole new world for exploration and later wrote
that had men been open-minded enough to accept it the year
1841 would have been the most significant epoch in historythe year in which mankind added psychic to physical science.51
Nor was he slow to put this new power to use. By 1842
he was almost overcome by the results of his experiments, and
marveled that results of such magnitude had been so speedily
and so correctly attained by one whom neither years nor
official honors have placed in [an] authoritative a position.
Triumphantly announcing that within a single month he had
been able to learn more of the brains physiology than previously had been acquired by all the physiologists and pathologists who had worked on the subject, he boasted that: It is
in my power to excite, in a few moments, any portion of the
brain, either large or small; to put that portion into full and
vigorous action as an efficient portion of the character of the
person upon whom I operate, and then, at will, suspend its action, and excite the action of its antagonist organ, or of any
other, or group of organs that I choose to bring into play.
Thus I make my subjects alternately laugh and weep,
reason profoundly of moral truths, and then, without any
reason, draw the fist to strike; express the deepest humility, or
self-sufficiency and levity; sit for hours with the greatest patience, or leap up with passionate restlessness; express the
finest moral sentimenta, or assume the manners and feelings
of the miser and thief; indulge in eating, and drink strong
liquor, or assume a moral dignity, despise sensuality and speak
of food with loathing; feel the most exalted moral and religious sentiments, or indulge in levity with an inclination to be
v~igar.9952
Buchanan, What 1s Neurology, ibid., 6.
Jose h R. Buchanan Thtwa utb Sarcognom A Scientific Ezposition of
Mysterbus &tion orSouZ, Brain a?u?Body
, (Borrton,
1884), 1-2.
62 Bochanm, Dismmee &I NwoZogt(, 4-6,6,10-11,
60

61

tb

..

396

Indiana Magazim of History

Buchanans dream had been realized; he had found the

key to the secrets of mind and body. With access to these
secrets he devoted himself to the task of evolving and organizing a system of moral philosophy and pseudo-medical science
which caused an even more violent reaction among medical
scientists than had homeopathy, eclecticism, and all the other
cults of the period.