BEARD
67
BEARDSLFA*
the basis of psychology, and his outlines
appeared in various papers in the "Popu-
lar Science Monthly." This reconstruc-
tion applies especially to the phenomena
of living human beings, and to the sources
of error in our reasoning, and the mis-
apprehensions that come from those
errors. He maintained that it was a
most important defect in the Baconian
philosophy that these sources of error
were not formulated. This he attempted
to do, maintaining that human testi-
mony as such is, in matters of science,
of no worth; that neither honesty nor
quantity of non-experts in the special
matter in hand can establish any scientific
fact. He affirmed, therefore, that in
science the rejection of average human
testimony is the beginning of all wisdom.
In his work on "American Nervousness,"
he treated of the causes of nervous dis-
orders, and of nervousness in general, and
of their greater prevalence in America,
demonstrating that the great cause of
nervous diseases is civilization, other
accredited causes being secondary and
stationary, and that the cause of the
great prevalence of nervous diseases in
America is dryness of the air and extremes
of heat and cold. Mr. Herbert Spencer,
in his visit to America in 1S82, made a
speech substantially repeating many of
the thoughts and some of the language of
Dr. Beard's writings on this latter sub-
ject. In his work on " Neurasthenia," he
brought the professional attention to a
large number of symptoms of nervous
and functional diseases, which he con-
tended were of immense importance
scientifically and practically. In his
treatise on sea-sickness, Dr. Beard
brought into prominence these two facts:
That sea-sickness was a functional disease
of the nervous system, induced mechan-
ically by concussion, and that it could be
in many, and perhaps in the majority, of
cases entirely prevented. The plan of
treatment suggested by his work has now
been successfully carried out on every sea
and for the longest voyages. When the
inventor Edison thought he had discover-
ed a new force, the " Etheric Force," Dr.
Beard spent much time in experimenting
both with Mr. Edison and independently,
reaching the conclusion that the phe-
nomena represented an unnoticed phase of
induced electricity. Beard's writings were
essentially philosophical in character.
He accepted the principle of evolution.
All of his writings on the nervous system
were based upon the development theory.
He contended that it was impossible to
obtain sound and philosophical ideas
of the nervous system in health and
disease, except on the basis of that
theory. He, therefore, carried the evo-
lution theory into the study of insanity
and all functional diseases of the nervous
system and of trance and allied states,
and aimed at a radical reconstruction of
insanity on that basis. He was the first
who clearly and prominently demon-
strated that the facts of the phenomena of
delusions belong to psychology instead
of to physics or physiology, and should,
therefore, be brought into science exclu-
sively by psychologists. It was in this
field that Dr. Beard was laboring when
the summons came on January 23, 1S83.
He married, in 1S66, Elizabeth Ann Alden, of Westville, Connecticut.
Among other appointments he was lecturer on nervous diseases in the University of New York; physician of nervous disorders to the Demilt Dispen- sary; fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine; member of the New York County Medical Society, of the New York Society of Neurology; and founder and editor of the "Archives of Electrology and Neurology" which came out for two years. A full list of his writings can be seen in the "Surgeon-general's, Catalogue' ' Washington, District of Columbia.
Tr. Med. Soc. of the State of N. York, 1883.
Jour. Nerv. and Ment. Dis., N. V., 1883, u. s..
vol. viii (with portrait).
Med. V .v ,. Phila . L88 :, vol. lxii.
Med. Record, N. Y., 1N83, vol. xxiii.
Med. Leg. Jour., N. Y., 1883-4, vol. i.
Beardsley, Hezekiah (1748-1790).
The first to describe congenital hyper- trophic stenosis of the pylorus in infants, Hezekiah Beardsley deserves a short
