John Chapman (publisher)
Encyclopedia
John Chapman was a publisher who had medical training and was based at 142 Strand, London
.
His entry in the Concise Dictionary of National Biography, reads: "Chapman, John (1822-1894) physician, author, publisher; apprencticed at Worksop
and was in business in Adelaide
; studied medicine in Paris
and at St George's Hospital
, London
; publisher and bookseller in London
; editor and proprietor of Westminster Review
, 1851; graduated in medicine at St Andrew's University 1857, and practised as physician; wrote medical and other works."
In 1846 he published the first English translation of David Strauss
' Life of Jesus, translated by Mary Ann Evans, later better known by her pen name of George Eliot
. Seven years later he published her translation of Feuerbach
's The Essence of Christianity
.
He acquired the philosophical radical journal the Westminster Review
in 1851, and provided a platform for emerging ideas of evolution
. His assistant Mary Anne Evans
brought together authors including Francis William Newman
, W. R. Greg, Harriet Martineau
and the young journalist Herbert Spencer
, and later John Stuart Mill
, William Carpenter
, Robert Chambers, George Holyoake
and Thomas Huxley
.
Herbert Spencer
"despaired of getting his sociological writings published until Chapman took him on. (It was he, not Darwin, who coined the phrase "the survival of the fittest".) Thomas Huxley
, later famous as the most ardent supporter of Darwinism
, calling himself Darwin's bulldog and cheerfully going into battle with bishops over On the Origin of Species while Darwin lay low at his home in Kent
, was plucked from poverty and obscurity by Chapman. His first paid employment was as scientific reviewer on the Westminster Review, the radical quarterly periodical that Chapman bought in 1851 and turned into the best journal of the century."
Chapman subsequently became a qualified specialist in sickness and psychological medicine, and in 1865 Charles Darwin
invited Dr. Chapman to Downe and gave him a long list of the symptoms he had suffered from for 25 years. Chapman prescribed a spinal freezing treatment.
In 19th century Britain
there was high-class patronage of Hydropathy. Charles Darwin
was a user of it and his old friend Dr. James Manby Gully
(1808-83) had a thriving hydropathic institution in Malvern
. Similarly, he was connected to John Chapman, a homeopath in London and a friend of Thomas Huxley
. According to Emma Darwin's diary, John Chapman visited Darwin on 20 May 1865. Chapman was proprietor and editor of the Westminster Review
, to which Huxley had been a regular contributor." For his woes, Chapman had Darwin using bags of ice applied to the spine.
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
.
His entry in the Concise Dictionary of National Biography, reads: "Chapman, John (1822-1894) physician, author, publisher; apprencticed at Worksop
Worksop
Worksop is the largest town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest. It is about east-south-east of the City of Sheffield and its population is estimated to be 39,800...
and was in business in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
; studied medicine in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and at St George's Hospital
St George's Hospital
Founded in 1733, St George’s Hospital is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals. It shares its main hospital site in Tooting, England with the St George's, University of London which trains NHS staff and carries out advanced medical research....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; publisher and bookseller in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; editor and proprietor of Westminster Review
Westminster Review
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828....
, 1851; graduated in medicine at St Andrew's University 1857, and practised as physician; wrote medical and other works."
In 1846 he published the first English translation of David Strauss
David Strauss
David Friedrich Strauss was a German theologian and writer. He scandalized Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus," whose divine nature he denied...
' Life of Jesus, translated by Mary Ann Evans, later better known by her pen name of George Eliot
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
. Seven years later he published her translation of Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist. He was the fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, brother of mathematician Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach and uncle of painter Anselm Feuerbach...
's The Essence of Christianity
The Essence of Christianity
The Essence of Christianity is a book written by Ludwig Feuerbach and first published in 1841. It explains Feuerbach's philosophy and critique of religion. Feuerbach's theory of alienation would later be used by Karl Marx.- Influence :...
.
He acquired the philosophical radical journal the Westminster Review
Westminster Review
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828....
in 1851, and provided a platform for emerging ideas of evolution
Evolutionism
Evolutionism refers to the biological concept of evolution, specifically to a widely held 19th century belief that organisms are intrinsically bound to increase in complexity. The belief was extended to include cultural evolution and social evolution...
. His assistant Mary Anne Evans
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
brought together authors including Francis William Newman
Francis William Newman
Francis William Newman , the younger brother of Cardinal Newman, was an English scholar and miscellaneous writer.-Life:...
, W. R. Greg, Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau was an English social theorist and Whig writer, often cited as the first female sociologist....
and the young journalist Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
, and later John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
, William Carpenter
William Carpenter
William Carpenter may refer to:*William Carpenter , water colours of India*William Carpenter , Australian politician*William Carpenter, writer, American author...
, Robert Chambers, George Holyoake
George Holyoake
George Jacob Holyoake , English secularist and co-operator, was born in Birmingham, England. He coined the term "secularism" in 1851 and the term "jingoism" in 1878.-Owenism:...
and Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
.
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
"despaired of getting his sociological writings published until Chapman took him on. (It was he, not Darwin, who coined the phrase "the survival of the fittest".) Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
, later famous as the most ardent supporter of Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
, calling himself Darwin's bulldog and cheerfully going into battle with bishops over On the Origin of Species while Darwin lay low at his home in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, was plucked from poverty and obscurity by Chapman. His first paid employment was as scientific reviewer on the Westminster Review, the radical quarterly periodical that Chapman bought in 1851 and turned into the best journal of the century."
Chapman subsequently became a qualified specialist in sickness and psychological medicine, and in 1865 Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
invited Dr. Chapman to Downe and gave him a long list of the symptoms he had suffered from for 25 years. Chapman prescribed a spinal freezing treatment.
In 19th century Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
there was high-class patronage of Hydropathy. Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
was a user of it and his old friend Dr. James Manby Gully
James Manby Gully
Dr James Manby Gully , was a Victorian medical doctor, well known for practising hydrotherapy, or the "water cure". Along with his partner James Wilson, he founded a very successful "hydropathy" clinic in Malvern, Worcestershire, which had many notable Victorians, including such figures as Charles...
(1808-83) had a thriving hydropathic institution in Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
. Similarly, he was connected to John Chapman, a homeopath in London and a friend of Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
. According to Emma Darwin's diary, John Chapman visited Darwin on 20 May 1865. Chapman was proprietor and editor of the Westminster Review
Westminster Review
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828....
, to which Huxley had been a regular contributor." For his woes, Chapman had Darwin using bags of ice applied to the spine.
Works
- Diarrhœa and cholera: their nature, origin, and treatment through the agency of the nervous system, John Chapman, 1866
- The medical institutions of the United Kingdom: a history exemplifying the evils of over-legislation, John Chapman, 1870
- Neuralgia and kindred diseases of the nervous system: their nature, causes, and treatment: also, a series of cases, preceded by an analytical exposition of them, exemplifying the principles and practice of neuro-dynamic medicine, John Chapman, 1873
- Cholera curable: a demonstration of the causes, non-contagiousness, and successful treatment of the disease, John Chapman, 1885
- George Eliot & John Chapman: with Chapman's Diaries, Gordon S. Haight, 1940