Wells, Samuel Robert (sold)
Samuel Robert Wells (1820 - April 13, 1875) was an American phrenologist and publisher active in the middle part of the 19th century. Wells was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Russell Wells of Farmington, Connecticut. Wells initially studied to be a physician in Boston. There he was impressed by several Boston lectures by phrenology evangelists Lorenzo Niles Fowler (1811 - 1896) and Orson Squire Fowler (1809 - 1887). He was particularly inspired by a phrenological chart laid out by Charlotte Fowler, then but a teenager. Wells became an eager disciple to the Fowler Brothers and joined their New York firm in 1843, at which point the name was changed to Fowler and Wells. A year later, in October of 1844, Charlotte and Samuel married. When Lorenzo Fowler moved to England in 1855, much of the firm's ownership passed to Wells. Along with Charlotte, Wells published the American Phrenological Journal from about 1839. When Wells himself died in April of 1875, Charlotte became the sole owner. She incorporated as Fowler and Wells Company in 1884 and continued to promote phrenological pseudoscience until her own death in 1901.
Quack science wins again!
Know Thyself! Lectures on Phrenology by Dr. J. P. M'Lean.
sold
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This is an uncommon c. 1865 promotional broadside advertising a lecture by the itinerant mesmerist and phrenologist J. P. M'Lean (MacLean). The broadside focuses on the 'Symbolical Head' offering the classic phrenological brain map, divided into modules representing faculties, which contain images of the postulated functions. Below the 'Symbolical Head' a framed area with red type advertises lectures by Dr. J. P. M'Lean, an associate of the Aberdeen Phrenological Society. Surrounding the advertisement are 56 illustrations of differently shaped heads, many of which are drawn from previous illustrations present in phrenological books published by Fowler and Wells. Lectures were on such subjects as 'How to Read Character Scientifically' and would be followed by 'Public Examinations,' presumably conducted by M'Lean. (more details)