Lydia Folger Fowler (May 5, 1823
/ref> – January 26, 1879) was a pioneering 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 ...

, professor of medicine, and activist. She was the second American woman to earn a medical degree (after

Elizabeth Blackwell Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 182131 May 1910) was a British physician, notable as the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United Ki ...

) and one of the first American

women in medicine The presence of women in medicine, particularly in the practicing fields of surgery and as physicians, has been traced to the earliest of history. Women have historically had lower participation levels in medical fields compared to men with occu ...

and a prominent woman in science. She married a

phrenologist 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 ...

and her daughter, Jessie Allen Fowler, continued their ideas.

Family life

Lydia Folger was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 1823, to Gideon and Eunice Macy Folger, a historic Massachusetts family descended from

Peter Foulger Peter Folger or Foulger (died 1690) was a poet and an interpreter of the American Indian language for the first settlers of Nantucket. He was instrumental in the colonization of Nantucket Island in the Massachusetts colony. He was the maternal ...

(1618–1690). Lydia was the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Peter Foulger and Mary Morrill Foulger.Alice Dixon
"A Lesser-Known Daughter of Nantucket: Lydia"
''Historic Nantucket'', Winter 1993/1994 (Vol. 41, No. 4; incorrectly labeled Vol. 43, No. 4), p. 60-62. Through them she was the first cousin four times removed of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

."Wheaton graduate becomes doctor"
''Wheaton College'' (last visited August 23, 2012). Other notable family members included her extended cousins

Lucretia Coffin Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin (surname), Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an Quakers in North America, American Quaker, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had for ...

and

Maria Mitchell Maria Mitchell (Help:IPA/English, /məˈraɪə/; August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) that was later kno ...

and her paternal aunt Phebe Folger Coleman. Lydia was also a member of the Starbuck whaling family of Nantucket through her paternal grandmother Elizabeth Starbuck Folger (April 13, 1738 - 1821). Her mother was notably a member of the Macy family of Nantucket whose descendants would later found Macy's department stores. Folger married Lorenzo Niles Fowler, a phrenologist, on September 19, 1844. Lydia Folger Fowler also gave herself the nickname of "Mrs. L. N. Fowler" to incorporate the initials of her husband into her name. She met Lorenzo at the house of her paternal uncle, Walter Folger, Jr., an "eccentric and famous astronomer-navigator in Nantucket". Lorenzo and his brother,

Orson Squire Fowler Orson Squire Fowler (October 11, 1809 – August 18, 1887) was an American phrenologist and lecturer. He also popularized the octagon house in the middle of the nineteenth century. Early life The son of Horace and Martha (Howe) Fowler, he w ...

, were well-known phrenologists; the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted in his obituary that "Prof. Fowler examined the heads of many distinguished men, among them

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...

Baron Rothschild Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertfordshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first Jewish mem ...

Li Hung Chang Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; 15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901) was a Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important ...

, and

Sir Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

.""Noted Phrenologist Dead: Lorenzo N. Fowler Succumbs to a Paralyzing Stroke"
(obituary), ''

'', September 4, 1896. Lydia and Lorenzo Fowler had three daughters. Two daughters, Amelia (b. 1846) and Lydia (b. 1850), died young. The third daughter, Jessie Allen Fowler was also a phrenologist. Lydia Fowler was the honorary secretary of the

British Women's Temperance Association The White Ribbon Association (WRA), previously known as the British Women's Temperance Association (BWTA), is an organization that seeks to educate the public about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, as well as gambling. Founding of British Wom ...

, and Jessie succeeded her mother in that position. In 1896, Jessie accompanied her father when he returned to America and she became the editor of the Fowler's '' Phrenological Journal''. Jessie inherited the company of Fowler and Wells after her father and aunt died in 1896 and 1901. She continued to write and died in 1932.

Education

Folger attended the Wheaton Female Seminary in Massachusetts when she was 16 years old, and began teaching there in 1842 at the age of 20. Lydia Folger and Lorenzo Fowler would attend conferences and lecture tours together. Lydia Folger would generally address female audiences. This time also marked the beginning of her writing career, as she published her first two books in 1847: Familiar Lessons on Physiology and Familiar Lessons on Phrenology. Lydia Folger Fowler's wrote her two-volume work as a way to teach other women how to teach phrenology to children. Lydia gave many presentations where she would direct teachers and parents on how to teach their children to know themselves, as she believed children could work towards self-improvement with guidance. After establishing a lecturing and writing career, she began medical school and earned an M.D. from Central Medical College in Syracuse, New York in 1850, one of eight women entering the first coed medical school in the country. Fellow students included Myra King Merrick and Sarah Adamson Dolley. At the time, the eclectic medical school was the only school to offer admission to women.

Eclectic medicine Eclectic medicine was a branch of American medicine that made use of botanical remedies along with other substances and physical therapy practices, popular in the latter half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The term was coined by ...

became popular with those seeking to avoid the harsher methods of then-current professional medicine, such as

bloodletting Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily flu ...

.Ruth Clifford Engs, ''Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Health Reform'', p.71, "The Fowlers" in "Inherited Realities, Phrenology, and Eugenic Undercurrents". Greenwood (2001). She became an appointed professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children at Central Medical College. Central Medical College then dissolved in 1852. Lydia Folger Fowler graduated as only the second woman in America to earn a medical degree, following

in 1849. Fowler was, in fact, the first American-born woman to earn a medical degree, and also the first woman to appear before a male medical society.Elizabeth Silverthorne and Geneva Fulgham, ''Women Pioneers in Texas Medicine'', "Introduction", p.xxii.

Career and professional involvement

Grave of Lydia Fowler in Highgate Cemetery

She then went on to practice medicine in New York from 1852 to 1860, and later joined the faculty of Rochester Eclectic Medical College, becoming the first woman professor in a professional American medical school. During her time practicing, she conducted many gynecological exams and held her own surgery practice geared towards homeopathic practices. In 1862, Fowler taught midwifery at the

New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College The New York Hydropathic and Physiological School founded by Russell Thacher Trall on October 1, 1853 at 15 Laight Street, in New York City was a hydropathic and medical school known for its advocacy of natural therapies and vegetarianism. Histo ...

. Lydia practiced medicine with the outlook that science could improve female roles as children's caretakers. She used the knowledge gained through her medical education to help others overcome the obstacles women faced when working in the medical field. Folger was active in women's rights organizations, and participated in the

Seneca Falls Convention The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".Wellman, 2004, p. 189 Held in the Wesleyan Chapel of the tow ...

and presided over the Women's Grand Temperance Demonstration in Metropolitan Hall. Elizabeth Cady Stanton later dedicated '' The History of Woman Suffrage'' (1881) to Folger. Fowler also frequently lectured to audiences, primarily women, on matters of hygiene and health. The '' New York Tribune'' in 1855 described one of Fowler's lectures, to a

P.T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

-sponsored program on motherhood: : She was dressed in a very broadly striped silk, which was anything but a bloomer. Her hair was done up in a French twist with curls in front. Her face is pleasant, she has sunny blue eyes and a sweet mouth. She waved an elegantly embroidered handkerchief as she read her lecture. Quite a number of the little exhibited

abies Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related t ...

were present and contributed their full share to the festivities, at times almost drowning her voice, which is scarcely strong enough for a lecturer."Wheaton graduate becomes doctor", quoting the '' New York Tribune'', June 8, 1955. The Fowlers moved to London in 1863, and Fowler became active in the

, as well as continuing her work practicing medicine and teaching women about health, education, and parenting. Fowler became ill in late 1878 and died on January 26, 1879. Fowler is buried on the eastern 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 ...

in London (Plot 23071).

Publications

Young adult audience

* ''Familiar Lessons on Physiology'' (1847, Fowler and Wells) * ''Familiar Lessons on Phrenology'' (1847, Fowler and Wells) * ''Familiar Lessons on Astronomy'' (1848)

Treatises and lectures on health

* ''The Pet of the Household and How to Save It: Twelve Lectures on Physiology'' (1865) (a childrearing manual comprising a dozen of Fowler's lectures on childcare) * ''Woman, Her Destiny and Maternal Relations; Or, Hints to the Single and Married'' (1864) (a feminist treatise) * ''How to talk – the Tongue and the Language of Nature'' (1864) * ''How to Preserve the Skin and Increase Personal Beauty'' (1864) * ''How, When, and Where to Sleep'' (186?) * ''The Brain and Nervous System: How to Secure their Healthy Action'' (186?) * ''The Eye and Ear, and How to Preserve Them'' (186?) * ''How to Secure a Healthy Spine and Vigorous Muscles'' (1864).

Fiction and poetry

* '' Nora: The Lost and Redeemed'' (1863 temperance novel) * ''Heart-Melodies'' (1870 book of poetry)