Packham Ellen
School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, 50/52 College Bounds, Aberdeen AB24 3DS, UK.
Notes Rec R Soc Lond. 2021 Mar 20;75(1):73-89. doi: 10.1098/rsnr.2019.0025. Epub 2019 Oct 23.
In this paper, I examine the controversial career of William Gregory (1803-1858). As a chemistry professor and chemical author, Gregory made many attempts to redefine the bounds of chemical science to incorporate mesmerism, phrenology and animal magnetism. I use a series of letters between Gregory and the prominent phrenologist George Combe to highlight the fact that the definition of 'established science' and its disciplinary boundaries were matters that occupied the thoughts and affected the careers of both men. Gregory maintained his reputation as a chemist while simultaneously being ridiculed for his public promotion of phrenology, mesmerism and animal magnetism. Where previous scholarship has tended to separate Gregory's chemical work from his support for disputed phenomena, this paper aims to prove that, for Gregory and his contemporaries, work on mesmerism, animal magnetism and phrenology was methodologically inseparable from chemical work. Gregory argued that all facts and theories should be judged and debated using the same criteria for credibility, accuracy, scepticism and rigour. He and others pushed to include contested phenomena within the boundaries of science to ensure that the facts, controversies and theories relating to them could be subjected to the same rigorous investigation and legitimate debates as were expected of chemical facts and theories.
在本文中，我考察了威廉·格雷戈里（1803 - 1858）颇具争议的职业生涯。作为一名化学教授兼化学著作作者，格雷戈里多次尝试重新界定化学科学的范畴，将催眠术、颅相学和动物磁力学纳入其中。我利用格雷戈里与著名颅相学家乔治·库姆之间的一系列信件，来凸显这样一个事实：“既定科学”的定义及其学科界限是占据这两人思想并影响其职业生涯的问题。格雷戈里在保持其化学家声誉的同时，却因公开宣扬颅相学、催眠术和动物磁力学而遭人嘲笑。以往的学术研究往往将格雷戈里的化学工作与他对有争议现象的支持分离开来，而本文旨在证明，对格雷戈里及其同时代的人来说，关于催眠术、动物磁力学和颅相学的研究在方法上与化学工作是不可分割的。格雷戈里认为，所有事实和理论都应以相同的可信度、准确性、怀疑态度和严谨性标准来评判和辩论。他和其他人努力将有争议的现象纳入科学范畴，以确保与这些现象相关的事实、争议和理论能够像化学事实和理论一样，接受同样严格的调查和合理的辩论。
