James Cowles Prichard MD FRS (February 11, 1786 – December 23, 1848), English physician and ethnologist, was born at Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 Events 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. Year 1786 ( MDCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city Year 1848 ( MDCCCXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health Ethnology (from the Greek ἔθνος, ethnos meaning "habit custom convention" is the branch of Anthropology that compares and Ross-on-Wye ( Welsh: Rhosan ar Wy) is a small Market town with a population of 10089 (according to the 2001 census in southeastern Herefordshire Constitution Herefordshire was reconstituted both as a new Non-metropolitan district (effective 19th July 1996 and as a new County comprising the area of the
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Life and education
His parents were Quakers: his mother Welsh, and his father of an English family who had emigrated to Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern Within a few years of his birth in Ross, Prichard's parents moved to Bristol, where his father now worked in the Quaker ironworks of Harford, Partridge and Cowles. Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London Upon his father's retirement in 1800 he returned to Ross. As a child Prichard was educated mainly at home by tutors and his father, in a range of subjects, including modern languages and general literature. [1]
Rejecting his father's wish that he should join the ironworks, Prichard decided upon a medical career. Here he faced the difficulty that as a Quaker he could not become a member of the Royal College of Physicians. The Royal College of Physicians of London was the first medical institution in England to receive a Royal Charter Therefore he started on apprenticeships that lead to the ranks of apothcaries and surgeons. The first step was to study under the Quaker obstretition Dr Thomas Pole of Bristol. Apprenticeships followed to other Quaker physicians, and to St Thomas' Hospital in London. St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS Hospital in Lambeth, London, England. Eventually, in 1805, he took the plunge: he entered medical school at Edinburgh University, where his religious affiliation was no bar. The University of Edinburgh (Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann founded in 1582 is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Also, Scottish universities were in esteem, having contributed greatly to the Enlightenment of the previous century. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century
He took his M.D. at Edinburgh, his doctoral thesis of 1808 being his first attempt at the great question of his life: the origin of human varieties and races. Doctor of Medicine ( MD or MD, from the Latin Medicinæ Doctor meaning "Teacher of Medicine" is a doctoral The University of Edinburgh (Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann founded in 1582 is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. [2] Later, he read for a year at Trinity College, Cambridge, after which came a significant personal event: he left the Society of Friends to join the established Church of England. Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican He next moved to St John's College, Oxford, afterwards entering as a gentleman commoner at Trinity College, Oxford, but taking no degree in either university. __FORCETOC__ St John's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight, or Trinity College for short is one of the [3]
Work
In 1810 Prichard settled at Bristol as a physician, eventually attaining an established position at the Bristol Infirmary in 1816. Year 1810 ( MDCCCX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The Bristol Royal Infirmary, also known as the BRI, is a large Teaching hospital situated in the centre of Bristol, England
In 1813 he published his Researches into the Physical History of Man, in 2 vols, on essentially the same themes as his dissertation in 1808. The book grew until the 3rd ed of 1836-47 occupied five volumes. The central conclusion of the work is the primitive unity of the human species, acted upon by causes which have since divided it into permanent varieties or races. The work is dedicated to Blumenbach, whose five races of man are adopted. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach ( May 11, 1752 – January 22, 1840) was a German doctor and Physiologist, The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of categorizing Humans into Populations or groups on the basis of various sets But where Prichard excelled Blumenbach and all his other predecessors was in his grasp of the principle that people should be studied by combining all available characters.
The three British men, all medically qualified and publishing between 1813 and 1819, Lawrence, Wells and Prichard, addressed issues relevant to human evolution. William Charles Wells MD FRS FRSEd (1757&ndash1817 was a Scottish-American physician and printer All tackled the question of variation and race in humans; all agreed that these differences were heritable, but only Wells approached the idea of natural selection as a cause. Natural selection is the process by which favorable Heritable traits become more common in successive Generations of a Population of For this reason he is generally held to be the most significant proto-evolutionist of that time. However, it is interesting and noteworthy that Prichard pin-points Africa (indirectly) as the place of human origin, in this summary passage:
- "On the whole there are many reasons which lead us to the conclusion that the primitive stock of men were probably Negroes, and I know of no argument to be set on the other side. " [4]
In this he is a true antecedent of Charles Darwin, whose Descent of Man made the claim for our African heritage explicit (see Race (classification of human beings), Race and genetics, Historical definitions of race for further discussions). Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex is a book on Evolutionary theory by English naturalist Charles Darwin, first The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of categorizing Humans into Populations or groups on the basis of various sets Notions of race based on Human genetic variation have replaced historical approaches such as Craniology with the advent of Human genetics in The historical definition of race was an immutable and distinct type or Species, sharing distinct racial characteristics such as constitution temperament Unfortunately, this striking and essentially correct opinion was omitted in later editions, for reasons which are unclear. As a consequence of this and other changes, Prichard's book was at its best (so far as evolution goes) in its shorter first edition. [5]
In 1843 Prichard published his Natural History of Man, in which he reiterated his belief in the specific unity of man, pointing out that the same inward and mental nature is to be recognized in all the races. Year 1843 ( MDCCCXLIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common [6] Prichard was an early member of the Aboriginal Protection Society, which influenced the 1869 Aboriginal Protection Act. The Aboriginal Protection Act, enacted in 1869 by the Colony of Victoria Australia gave extensive powers over the lives of Aboriginal people to the government's
Prichard was more influential in ethnology and anthropology than is realized today. Ethnology (from the Greek ἔθνος, ethnos meaning "habit custom convention" is the branch of Anthropology that compares and Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of One investigation begun in this work requires special mention, the bringing into view of the fact that the Celtic nations are allied by language with the Slavonian, German and Pelasgian (Greek and Latin), thus forming a fourth European branch of the Asiatic stock (which would now be called Indo-European or Aryan). Celtic nations are areas of modern northwest Europe which identify themselves with the Celtic cultures specifically speakers of Celtic languages. Aryan is an English word derived from the Sanskrit " Ārya " meaning "noble" or "honorable" His special treatise containing Celtic compared with Sanskrit words appeared in 1831 under the title Eastern Origin of the Celtic nations. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical It is remarkable that the essay by Adolphe Pictet, De l'Affinité des langues celtiques avec le sanscrit, which was crowned by the French Academy and made its author's reputation, should have been published in 1837 in evident ignorance of the earlier and in some respects stricter investigations of Prichard. Adolphe Pictet ( September 11, 1799 in Geneva – December 20, 1875) was a Swiss linguist. L'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language.
In medicine, he specialised in what we now call psychiatry. Psychiatry is a medical specialty which exists to study, prevent, and treat Mental disorders in Humans Psychiatric In 1822 he published Treatise on diseases of the nervous aystem (pt. I), and in 1835 a Treatise on insanity and other disorders affecting the mind, in which he advanced the theory of the existence of a distinct mental disease, moral insanity. Mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as The concept of " moral insanity " as a medical disorder was first described by the English physician J In 1842, following up this suggestion, he published On the different forms of insanity in relation to jurisprudence designed for the use of persons concerned in legal questions regarding unsoundness of mind. Year 1842 ( MDCCCXLII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common
In 1845 he was made a Commissioner in Lunacy, and removed to London. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. He died there three years later of rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is an Autoimmune inflammatory Disease which may develop two to three weeks after a Group A streptococcal infection (such as At the time of his death he was president of the Ethnological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society. The Ethnological Society of London was founded in 1843 by a breakaway faction of the Aborigines' Protection Society (APS The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as The Royal Society, is a Learned society for science that was founded in 1660 [7]
Among his less important works were:
- A review of the doctrine of a vital principle (1829)
- On the treatment of hemiplegia (1831)
- On the extinction of some varieties of the human race (1839)
- Analysis of Egyptian mythology (1819).
Source
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
References and further reading
- ^ Stocking, George W. Jr 1973. From chronology to ethnology: James Cowles Prichard and British Anthropology 1800–1850. Introduction to the reprint of Researches into the physical history of man, 1st ed 1813. Chicago 1973.
- ^ Prichard J. C. 1808. De generis humani varietate. Abernethy & Walker, Edinbugh.
- ^ Stocking, op. cit.
- ^ Prichard J. C. 1913. Researches into the physical history of mankind. Arch, London. p238-9
- ^ Stocking, op. cit. plxv
- ^ Prichard J. C. 1843. The natural history of man, &c. Baillière, London.
- ^ Prichard was elected FRS in 1826 or 1827: Royal Society records give both dates.
- Augstein, Hannah Franziska. James Cowles Prichard's Anthropology: remaking the science of Man in early nineteenth-century Britain. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1999. ISBN 90-420-0414-2; ISBN 90-420-0404-5 (pbk)
- See Memoir by Dr Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866) in the Journal of the Ethnological Society (Feb. For the British historian his nephew with the same name see Thomas Hodgkin. 1849); Memoir read before the Bath and Bristol branch of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association (March 1849) by Dr JA Symonds (Journ. John Addington Symonds ( October 5 1840 - April 19, 1893) was an English poet and literary critic Eth. Soc. , (1850); Prichard and Symonds in Special relation to mental science, by Dr Hack Tuke (1891). Daniel Hack Tuke ( 19 April 1827 - 5 March 1895) was physician and expert on Mental illness from England.
- Symonds, John Addington 1871. On the life, writings and character of the late James Cowles Prichard. In Miscellanies. . of Symonds, edited by his son, Macmillan, London.
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