Fowler, Orson Squire (1809-1887)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Orson Squire Fowler was born on 11 October 1809 in Cohocton, New York and died 18 August 1887. The brother-in-law of Lydia Folger Fowler, and a member of the phrenologist Fowler family, he was a doctor, vegetarian, and amateur architect who popularized the "octagon house." As Vice-President of the American Vegetarian Society, he promoted a plant-based diet, opposed the slaughter of animals, and defended animal rights. He edited and published The American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany from 1838 to 1842 and he was a partner in Fowlers & Wells publishers (1846-1854), publishing many veg*n books during this period. In addition to dietary reform, he advocated for equal rights for women, for children's rights, and the end of child labor. Fowler's veg*nism belongs to the school of thought that argues that meat is a “heating” food (like spices), which stimulates “animal propensities” such as depraved sexuality. He argues that diet reflects the character of a species, arguing that, therefore, eating animals results in ferocity in humans. He associates carnism with violence and destructiveness  and explains carnivorism and vegetarianism through the lexicon of phrenology.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Amativeness: Or Evils and Remedies of Excessive and Perverted Sexuality : including warning and advice to the married and single: being a supplement to "Love and parentage." New York: Fowlers and Wells, 1848.
https://archive.org/details/101662777.nlm.nih.gov

 

Maternity: or, The Bearing and Nursing of Children, Including Female Education and Beauty. 1848; New York: Fowlers & Wells, 1854.
https://archive.org/details/maternityorbeari00fowl
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175035213902&view=1up&seq=7&skin=2021

 

Phrenological Chart; Presenting a Synopsis of the Science of Phrenology. Baltimore: J.W. Woods, 1836.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t7sn1cp85&view=1up&seq=8

 

Phrenology versus Intemperance. A Lecture on Temperance ... Philadelphia: Fowler, 1841.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175035185191&view=1up&seq=3

 

Physiology, Animal and Mental: Applied to the Preservation and Restoration of Health of Body, and Power of Mind. 1842; New York, Fowler and Wells, 1847.
https://archive.org/details/physiologyanima00fowl

 

Last updated on June 24th, 2024

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