David Meredith Reese (1800–1861) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

. Reese worked as a physician at the

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

until 1849. He was a skeptical of the many "isms" of his day. He had heavily criticized

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

in his book ''Humbugs of New York'' (1838). He was highly critical of

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. C ...

. Reese's book was published several years before ''

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ''Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'' is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay (author), Charles Mackay, first published in 1841 under the title ''Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delu ...

'' (1841) and has been described as early debunking work.Loxton, Daniel. (2013)
''Why Is There a Skeptical Movement?''

The Skeptics Society The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit, member-supported organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. The Skeptics Society was co-founded by Michael Sh ...

. Retrieved 18 April 2016. In 1835, Reese published ''Letters to the Hon. William Jay
A Reply to his 'Inquiry Into The American Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Movements
', in which he supports the efforts of the American Colonization Society.

Publications

* ''Letters to the Hon. William Jay
A Reply to his 'Inquiry Into The American Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Movements

(1835)
* ''Phrenology Known by Its Fruits'' (1836)
''Humbugs of New-York: Being a Remonstrance Against Popular Delusion, Whether in Science, Philosophy, or Religion''
(1838)
''Medical Lexicon of Modern Terminology''
(1848)
''Elements of Zoology, Or, Natural History of Animals''
(1849)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, David Meredith 1800 births 1861 deaths 19th-century American physicians American skeptics American critics of alternative medicine Critics of parapsychology