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William Edward Cox
Edward William Cox known as Serjeant Cox (1809–1879) was an English lawyer and legal writer, who was also a successful publisher. He has been described as "the greatest entrepreneur of 'class' journalism". Early life Cox was born in Taunton, the son of William Cox, a manufacturer and Harriet, daughter of William Upcott of Exeter. He became a solicitor in Taunton, and in 1836 established a local newspaper there, the ''Somerset County Gazette''. He was called to the bar in 1843, joined the Western Circuit, and sold the title. Legal career Cox moved to London to pursue his career as a barrister. His periodicals, reports and textbooks led to him being raised to the dignity of serjeant at law in 1868 – rather than his modest practice as a lawyer. He held various significant legal appointments – Recorder of Helston and Falmouth 1857–1868 which he resigned when gaining the more important appointment as Recorder of Portsmouth. In 1870 he became Deputy Assistant Judge of the Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parapsychology
Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near-death experiences, synchronicity, apparitional experiences, etc. Criticized as being a pseudoscience, the majority of mainstream scientists reject it. Parapsychology has also been criticised by mainstream critics for many of its practitioners claiming that their studies are plausible in spite of there being no convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research. Parapsychology research rarely appears in mainstream scientific journals; instead, most papers about parapsychology are published in a small number of niche journals. Terminology The term ''parapsychology'' was coined in 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir as the German . It was adopted by J. B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Crockford
John Crockford was an English book publisher in the Mid-19th Century. Biography He was born in Taunton about 1823. By his early twenties he was a printer and publisher in London. He had a long association with Edward William Cox with whom he founded The Critic, The Field and The Clerical Directory. He died on 13 January 1865 and was buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as .... His grave (no.13659) no longer has a headstone or any marker. His obituary in The Era newspaper noted “He possessed great activity, much intelligence, a kindly nature; and will be sorely missed”Death of Mr John Crockford The Era (London, England), Sunday, January 15, 1865; Issue 1373 References People from Taunton Publishers (people) fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Harris (writer)
George Harris (1809–1890) was an English barrister and judge, known as a biographer and legal writer. Early life Born at Rugby on 6 May 1809, he was the eldest son of George Harris (d. 16 January 1856), a solicitor of that town, by his wife Christabella, only daughter of Rear-admiral William Chambers (d. 28 September 1829). On 6 May 1820 he entered Rugby School. He found the school rough, and left to join HMS ''Spartiate'', the flagship of Admiral Sir George Eyre, as a midshipman; but falling ill before it sailed, he gave up the idea of entering the Royal Navy. After a bad time at a private school at Totnes in Devon he was articled to his father in 1825. In 1832 he was admitted as attorney, and in January 1834 became a partner in his father's firm. On 22 June 1838, however, he left Rugby and moved to London. After little more than a year in London, during which he wrote for the ''British and Foreign Review'' and other journals, and entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Harris took ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirit Hypothesis
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) became most known as a social religious movement according to which the laws of nature and of God include "the continuity of consciousness after the transition of death" and "the possibility of communication between those living on Earth and those who have made the transition". The afterlife, or the " spirit world", is seen by spiritualists not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to a third belief: that spirits are capable of providing useful insight regarding moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediumship
Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spirit conduit (channeling), channelling, including table-turning, séance tables, trance, and ouija. Belief in psychic ability is widespread despite the absence of objective evidence for its existence. Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship. An experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society led to the conclusion that the test subjects demonstrated no mediumistic ability. Mediumship gained popularity during the nineteenth century, when ouija boards were used as a source of entertainment. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by Magic (illusion), stage magicians—and the practice began to lose credibilit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Energy (esotericism)
Proponents and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine refer to a variety of claimed experiences and phenomena as being due to "energy" or "force" that defy measurement and thus are distinguished from the scientific form of energy. Claims related to energy therapies are most often anecdotal, rather than being based on repeatable empirical evidence. There is no scientific evidence for the existence of such energy, and physics educators criticize the use of the term "energy" to describe the ideas as potentially confusing. History Concepts such as "life force", "'' qi''" and "''élan vital''" existed from antiquity. In the 18th century, Franz Mesmer ignited debate with his theory of animal magnetism. Attention to vitalism grew in the 18th and 19th centuries. Interest continued into the 20th century, largely fuelled by adherents of the New Age movement. As biologists studied embryology and developmental biology, particularly before the d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Crookes
Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing the Crookes tube which was made in 1875. This was a foundational discovery that eventually changed the whole of chemistry and physics. He is credited with discovering the element thallium, announced in 1861, with the help of spectroscopy. He was also the first to describe the spectrum of terrestrial helium, in 1865. Crookes was the inventor of the Crookes radiometer but did not discern the true explanation of the phenomenon he detected. Crookes also invented a 100% ultraviolet blocking sunglass lens. For a time, he was interested in spiritualism and became president of the Society for Psychical Research. Biography Crookes' life was one of unbroken scientific activity that extended over sixty-seven years. He was considered remarkable for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) became most known as a social religious movement according to which the laws of nature and of God include "the continuity of consciousness after the transition of death" and "the possibility of communication between those living on Earth and those who have made the transition". The afterlife, or the " spirit world", is seen by spiritualists not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to a third belief: that spirits are capable of providing useful insight regarding moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phrenology
Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. California: Skeptics Society.Hines, T. (2002). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. New York: Prometheus Books. p. 200 It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. It was said that the brain was composed of different muscles, so those that were used more often were bigger, resulting in the different skull shapes. This led to the reasoning behind why everyone had bumps on the skull in different locations. The brain "muscles" not being used as frequently remained small and were therefore not present on the exterior of the skull. Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology generalized beyond empirical knowledge in a way that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.Fernald LD (2008)''Psychology: Six perspectives'' (pp.12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Hockenbury & Hockenbury. Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2010. Ψ (''psi''), the first letter of the Greek word ''psyche'' from which the term psychology is derived (see below), is commonly associated with the science. A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists. Some psyc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchids
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera. (See ''External links'' below). The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, because verified data on the members of such enormous families are continually in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species is nearly equal to the number of bony fishes, more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family encompasses about 6–11% of all species of seed plants. The largest genera are ''Bulbophyllum'' (2,000 species), ''Epidendrum'' (1,500 species), ''Dendrobium'' (1,400 species) and ''Pleurothallis'' (1,000 species). It also includes ''Vanilla'' (the genus of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
