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12 - Holmes’s “Medicated Novels”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2023

Stanley Finger
Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis
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Summary

Holmes also presented his thoughts about phrenology and its purveyors in what he called his three “medicated novels,” which also began as serials in the Atlantic Monthly before coming out as books. The first was Elsie Venner, published as a book in 1861. The Guardian Angel followed in 1867 and A Mortal Antipathy in 1885. In these three works, he asks pertinent questions, such as whether people with mental disabilities are morally responsible and are accountable for their crimes. He is bothered by how the insane rarely received proper attention from physicians or compassion and understanding from the public. Another common theme is how mental traits can be transmitted through multiple generations. These were the same issues that the founders of phrenology raised, and he is in agreement with them. Yet he also states that phrenology “has failed to demonstrate its system of special correspondences.” That is, its system of bumps is worthless or, as put by the brilliant Lurida Vincent, “nonsense.” This chapter concludes with what a leading phrenologist wrote about Holmes after he died in 1894. He felt Holmes was a gifted writer, yet, and as might be expected, one very much mistaken about phrenology being a pseudoscience.

Type
Chapter
Information
Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
Literature, Humor, and Faddish Phrenology
, pp. 245 - 256
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Holmes’s “Medicated Novels”
  • Stanley Finger, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
  • Online publication: 17 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009301251.013
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  • Holmes’s “Medicated Novels”
  • Stanley Finger, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
  • Online publication: 17 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009301251.013
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Holmes’s “Medicated Novels”
  • Stanley Finger, Washington University, St Louis
  • Book: Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers
  • Online publication: 17 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009301251.013
Available formats
×