William Frédéric Edwards (1777–1842) was a French physiologist, of Jamaican background, who was also a pioneer anthropologist. He has been called "the father of ethnology in France".George W. Stocking, Jr. (editor), ''Bones, Bodies, Behavior: essays on biological anthropology'' (1990), pp. 20–22 Google Books He is remembered largely for his principle of the permanency of physical "types." He was also a leader in the new science of "linguistique" and proposed a new branch of comparative philology based on pronunciation.
Life
He was born in
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...
. Educated also in
Bruges
Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country.
The area of the whole city amoun ...
, he worked first in the city library there. He went to Paris in 1808 as a medical student. There he studied under
François Magendie
__NOTOC__
François Magendie (6 October 1783 – 7 October 1855) was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a ''Magendie sign'', a downward ...
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1829. He belonged to or contributed to a number of French learned societies; in 1832 he was elected to the
Académie des sciences morales et politiques
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
Edwards began independent research in 1815–6, working on
manganese oxide Manganese oxide is any of a variety of manganese oxides and hydroxides.Wells A.F. (1984) ''Structural inorganic chemistry'' 5th edition Oxford Science Publications, . These include
* Manganese(II) oxide, MnO
* Manganese(II,III) oxide, Mn3O4
* Man ...
compounds with Pierre Chevillot. At the same time he began investigations on
asphyxia
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...
in animals.
Edwards was a
vitalist
Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...
who studied the effect of physical forces on processes in living organisms. His work led to the book ''De l'influence des agens physiques sur la vie'' (1824) (English translation by
Thomas Hodgkin
Thomas Hodgkin Royal Medical Society, RMS (17 August 1798 – 5 April 1866) was a British physician, considered one of the most prominent pathology, pathologists of his time and a pioneer in preventive medicine. He is now best known for the firs ...
). Edwards was following a direction in
Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), CNRS (
Collège de France
The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...
.
Racial theories
Edwards was influenced by
Amédée Thierry
Amédée Simon Dominique Thierry (2 August 1797, Blois, Loir-et-Cher27 March 1873, Paris), French journalist and historian, was the younger brother of Augustin.
Biography
Amédée Thierry began life as a journalist (after an essay, like his b ...
, to whom he addressed his 1829 essay ''Des caractères physiologiques des races humaines considérés dans leurs rapports avec l'histoire''. Thierry had studied the backgrounds of the
Gauls
The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...
and
Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty
The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
of the
Late Antique
Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...
period in France. Edwards took up a theory of "permanence of types", influenced also by
René Primevère Lesson
René (''Born again (Christianity), born again'' or ''reborn'' in French language, French) is a common given name, first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus.
René is th ...
. As related by Edwards, he had been convinced of such a permanence since the early 1820s, when on a visit to London he was discussing the works of
James Cowles Prichard
James Cowles Prichard (11 February 1786 – 23 December 1848) was a British physician and ethnologist with broad interests in physical anthropology and psychiatry. His influential ''Researches into the Physical History of Mankind'' touched upon ...
with Hodgkin and
Robert Knox Robert Knox or Rob Knox may refer to:
*Robert Knox (surgeon) (1791–1862), Scottish surgeon, anatomist and zoologist
* Robert Knox (bishop) (1808–1893), Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore and Archbishop of Armagh
*Robert Knox (sailor) (1641–17 ...
. Knox convinced him, with the help of an Ancient Egyptian tomb exhibited by
Giovanni Battista Belzoni
Giovanni Battista Belzoni (; 5 November 1778 – 3 December 1823), sometimes known as The Great Belzoni, was a prolific Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities. He is known for his removal to England of the seven-tonn ...
, that Egyptian and other ethnic "types" persisted from antiquity.
As Edwards made clear, his notion of "type" was flexible; and racial types became fundamental to 19th century debate on ethnology. He followed on from the studies of
Johann Kaspar Lavater
Johann Kaspar (or Caspar) Lavater (; 15 November 1741 – 2 January 1801) was a Switzerland, Swiss poet, writer, philosopher, physiognomist and theologian.
Early life
Lavater was born in Zürich, and was educated at the ''Gymnasium (school), Gy ...
and
Franz Joseph Gall
Franz Joseph Gall or Franz Josef Gall (; 9 March 175822 August 1828) was a German neuroanatomist, physiology, physiologist, and pioneer in the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain.
Claimed as the founder of the pseudoscienc ...
in
physiognomy
Physiognomy () or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without referenc ...
, and pioneered the concept of race as determined by the shape of the face and head. He supplemented his physiological work with a study of the
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages ( ) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yve ...
.
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, , ), was a French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...
took his ideas on race from Edwards, who in fact established the concept of ''ethnologie'' (
ethnology
Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology).
Sci ...
) in France. Another personal contact among writers was
Jules Michelet
Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and writer. He is best known for his multivolume work ''Histoire de France'' (History of France). Michelet was influenced by Giambattista Vico; he admired Vico's emphas ...
: Edwards became his physician, and Michelet took ideas about "persistence of races" from Edwards and Thierry. This theorising applied very much to Europeans and particularly French people, and Edwards believed his own observations confirmed it. Edwards has been called the first
anthropologist
An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...
to discuss race. One of his concerns was justification of
French nationalism
French nationalism () usually manifests as civic nationalism, civic or cultural nationalism, promoting the cultural unity of France.
History
French nationalism emerged during the Hundred Years' War, which consisted of a series of intermitte ...
.
Edwards came to theorise broadly about human diversity, influenced by
polygenism
Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that humans are of different origins (polygenesis). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views find little merit ...
, and argued in favour of fixed types and characters attached to populations. He undermined the environmentalist monogenism of Prichard, in which climate had affected human populations after a single creation: he made a point of discounting the influence of climate on animal physiology in general. A remark he made about cross-bred animal populations, to the effect that one type comes to predominate, was quoted by
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
in ''
The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication
''The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication'' is a book by Charles Darwin that was first published in January 1868.
A large proportion of the book contains detailed information on the domestication of animals and plants but it al ...
''.
Société Ethnologique de Paris and its influence
Edwards followed up his work correlating physiological characteristics with races, and other interests, by the foundation in 1839 of the Société Ethnologique de Paris, with a broader programme including also languages and traditions; its goal was to define human groups and identify their origins. The foundation of the Ethnological Society of New York and
Ethnological Society of London
The Ethnological Society of London (ESL) was a learned society founded in 1843 as an offshoot of the Aborigines' Protection Society (APS). The meaning of ethnology as a discipline was not then fixed: approaches and attitudes to it changed over its ...
followed within a few years. When
Paul Broca
Pierre Paul Broca (, also , , ; 28 June 1824 – 9 July 1880) was a French physician, anatomist and anthropologist. He is best known for his research on Broca's area, a region of the frontal lobe that is named after him. Broca's area is involve ...
founded the
Société d'Anthropologie de Paris
The Society of Anthropology of Paris () is a French learned society for anthropology founded by Paul Broca in 1859. Broca served as the Secrétaire-général of SAP, and in that capacity responded to a letter from James Hunt welcoming the news tha ...
* Stewart, Ian B. "William Frédéric Edwards and the study of human races in France, from the Restoration to the July Monarchy." ''History of Science'' 58.3 (2020): 275–300.