Born in Steuben Country, New York in 1809, Orson Fowler attended Amherst College in Massachusetts. While attending school there, he developed a keen interest in phrenology which he shared with his best friend, Henry Ward Beecher. While Beecher went into ministry work after their graduation in 1834, Fowler had other ideas. He and his brother, Lorenzo Fowler opened a phrenology office in New York City and launched a series of public lectures on phrenology, physiology, psychology, and social reform. Orson Fowler also became a popular writer and editor of the American Phrenological Journal and placed his own stamp on American phrenology by launching one of the largest mail-order firms in New York City. At the height of the phrenology craze, Fowler's New York offices attracted as many visitors as the nearby museum run by P.T. Barnum. Along with phrenology, the Fowlers also promoted a new "scientific" system of shorthand called phonography (they called it scientific since it was based on a specific set of rules). Not that the Fowler family believed in limiting themselves in any way. Orson's wife Lydia and sister, Charlotte, were both active suffragettes and the Fowler offices in New York became a gathering place where people could discuss anything from abolishing slavery (pre-Civil War) to the crusade against alcohol (did I forget to mention that they were also temperance movement supporters?).
Although the American Phrenological Journal that Fowler edited folded up by 1842, his company did brisk business with a range of other products. Along with books and pamphlets (mostly written by Orson Fowler), the company also sold phrenological charts, measuring tapes, craniometers, and the classic china Phrenology Heads which are still collectors' items today. The Fowler brothers also took their show across the country as part of a regular lecture circuit although they often faced attacks by skeptics denouncing phrenology as "quackery". While both Fowlers defended the science behind their work, that claim became harder to defend as mainstream medical researchers withdrew support. Still, the Fowler brothers carried on their crusade and insisted that phrenology had just as much right to be labelled a science as mathematics, astronomy, or natural history. Orson Fowler also stressed the theological importance of phrenology, which revealed "the hand-writing of God" since its principles, like all scientific truths as far as he was concerned, were "of divine origin". Lorenzo Fowler even argued that phrenologists were completing the work that Jesus Christ started in reforming human behaviour.
As for the Orson Fowler book in my collection, it seems fairly typical of the phrenological literature that he sold through his company. The book's introduction begins with: "Reproduction is Nature's paramount work; because to all else what foundation is to house- its sine qua non. It has its SCIENCE, or natural laws, prescribed modus operandi and, and instrumentalities. GENDER IS ITS MASTER WORKMAN, and Nature's "male and female" arrangement, with its governing law, her chose "ways and means" or originating all life: which growth completes." Covering nine sections in all, the book includes sections such as "Gender and Sexuality", "Love", "Sexual Selection", "Married Life", "Generation" (the polite Victorian euphemism for sexual intercourse), "Maternity", and "Sexual Restoration". Despite these being taboo topics during the Victorian era in which Fowler was writing, his tenuous claim to medical expertise enabled him to present his phrenological advice in the form of a marriage manual for concerned adults trying to deal with different aspects of human sexuality. While Orson Fowler proudly inserted the word "science" into his book as much as he could (usually in capital letters), there was very little, if any, empirical testing of the elaborate claims that he made in his book. He certainly didn't believe in referencing his "facts" and, despite abundant illustrations, there doesn't seem to be any citations (aside from his own works). The book also contains surprising little phrenology and mostly deals with Victorian ideals about the proper age for teaching children about sexual matters and the need for a "scientific" approach to sex and love. The book seems to say more about Fowler's personal biases than any attempt at scientific objectivity. As well, his insistence that producing children was the ultimate purpose for any sexual act marked him very much as a man of his time.
Whenever critics accused him of being more interested in making money than actually promoting phrenology, Orson Fowler simply defended himself by saying that he worked so hard because "I loved the science!". Still, the decline had begun setting in after 1860 and Lorenzo Fowler, sensing that the market was drying up, moved to Great Britain in 1863 to continue his phrenology crusade there. Although Charlotte Fowler took over running the company and a new generation of Fowlers came on board to help with the mail-order business, phrenology's day was definitely past. By the time Orson Fowler died in 1887, phrenology was just one of many different "sciences" being promoted by travelling hucksters giving lectures across the country. As the phrenology market dried up, the ex-phrenologists drifted on to more profitable ventures, including spiritualist research and more evolutionary explanations for human behaviourism.
Beginning in the 1870s, Social Darwinist theories based (loosely) on Darwin's theory of evolution grew in popularity and social reformers shifted away from phrenology-based social reform towards improving human behaviour through "good breeding". As phrenology societies faded, eugenics societies formed on both sides of the Atlantic with credible scientists using their research to boost the idea of improving society through genetics (especially Charles Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton). But that's another story.
While phrenologists tried every marketing strategy that they could, including the developing of mechanical phrenology devices (which I once tried myself at an American Psychological Association convention), American phrenology never survived Orson Fowler's death. Despite phrenology fading in the United States, the movement staggered on in parts of Europe despite most scientists denouncing its validity. Several early 20th scientists, such as Bernard Hollander in the United Kingdom and Paul Bouts in Belgium, tried repackaging phrenology to make it more acceptable but their efforts are largely forgotten today.
Although phrenology has long since been relegated to obscurity, the legacy that Gall, Spurzheim, and Fowler left behind still lingers. Various pseudoscientific schemes for classifying people still enjoy some popularity, whether through classifying people by blood-type, graphology (handwriting), or astrology, although none of them seem to have ever enjoyed the scientific respectability that phrenology could claim (at first).
Unfortunately, while pseudoscientific movements can be easily dismissed, more scientifically validated methods of personality classification using psychometric testing are prone to misuse as well (and often are). Various media psychologists selling unscientific advice to the public through self-help books, radio, and television appearances often rely on the same selling strategies that worked for Orson Fowler, however briefly. Failing to acknowledge the very real scientific limits of psychology will almost certainly catch up to them in time however. Whether the current pundits can learn from Orson Fowler's example remains to be seen.






