John Bulwer

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John Bulwer (baptised May 16, 1606-buried October 16, 1656[1]) was an English Physician and early Baconian natural philosopher[2] who wrote five works exploring the Body and human communication, particularly by Gesture.[3]. He was the first the first person in England to propose educating deaf people[4], the plans for an Academy he outlines in Philocophus.


[edit] His Life and Works

John Bulwer was the only surviving son of an Apothecary named Thomas Bulwer and Marie Evans of St. Albans. On her death in 1638 John inherited some property in St Albans from which he derived a small income[5]. During the English Civil War he stopped working as a physician and concentrated on his study and writing. All his written works were created between 1640 and until around 1653. In total Bulwer published five works, all of which were either early examples or the first of their kind[6][7][8][9][10].

The complete titles of his five surviving pulications are-
Chirologia: or the naturall language of the hand. Composed of the speaking motions, and discoursing gestures thereof. Whereunto is added Chironomia: or, the art of manuall rhetoricke. Consisting of the naturall expressions, digested by art in the hand, as the chiefest instrument of eloquence. London: Thomas Harper. 1644.

Although issued as a single unit Chirologia and Chironomia have different pagination. Bulwer always referred to them as separate works.

Philocophus: or, the deafe and dumbe mans friend. Exhibiting the philosophicall verity of that subtile art, which may inable one with an observant eie, to heare what any man speaks by the moving of his lips. Upon the same ground, with the advantage of an historical exemplification, apparently proving, that a man borne deafe and dumbe, may be taught to heare the sound of words with his eie, & thence learne to speake with his tongue. ; By J. B. sirnamed the Chirosopher London: Humphrey Moseley 1648[11]

Pathomyotomia, or a Dissection of the significant Muscles of the Affections of the Mind. Being an Essay to a new Method of observing the most important movings of the Muscles of the Head, as they are the neerest and Immediate Organs of the Voluntarie or Impetuous motions of the Mind. With the Proposall of a new Nomenclature of the Muscles.London: Humphrey Moseley. 1649

Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transform’d, or the Artificial Changeling. Historically presented, in the mad and cruel Gallantry, foolish Bravery, ridiculous Beauty, filthy Fineness, and loathesome Loveliness of most Nations, fashioning & altering their Bodies from the Mould intended by Nature. With a Vindication of the Regular Beauty and Honesty of Nature, and an Appendix of the Pedigree of the English Gallant. London: J. Hardesty. 1650

Anthropometamorphosis was reprinted three times. First in 1650, the second edition of 1653 was much enlarged and illustrated with woodcuts. A third edition "printed for the use and benefit of Thomas Gibbs, gent" was a reissue of the second edition retitled "A view of the People of the whole World".

In addition there are two surviving unpublished manuscripts held at the British Library-

'Philocophus, or the Dumbe mans academie wherein is taught a new and admired art instructing them who are borne Deafe and Dumbe to heare the sound of words with theire eie and thence learne to speake with theire Tongue:' illustrated with engraved plates shewing the different portions of the hands.. Held under Sloane 1788 at the British Library. This manuscript shows that Bulwer was the first person in England to acquire and translate Juan Pablo Bonet's Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos because the manuscript contains images cut and pasted directly from Bonet's book as well as commentary on the methods described therein[12]. This manuscript is usually referred to as the Dumbe mans academie to differentiate it clearly from the published work also entitled Philocophus.

The other manuscript held is entitled

Vultispex criticus, seu physiognomia medici. A manuscript about Physiognomy.

There are also a selection of works that are now lost including one study on speech disorders and another on hearing disorders[13][14].

Notes and references

  1. ^ Richards, G. ‘Bulwer, John (bap. 1606, d. 1656)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edition
  2. ^ Wollock, J (1996). John Bulwer and his Italian sources. In Mirko Tavoni (Ed.), Italia ed Europa nella linguisticadel Rinascimento ,Atti del convegno internazionale, 20–24 March 1991, Ferrara, p.419
  3. ^ Wollock, J. (2002). John Bulwer (1606–1656) and the significance of gesture in 17th-century theories of language and cognition. Gesture. 2 (2),
  4. ^ Dekesel, K. (1992) John Bulwer: The founding father of BSL research, Signpost, Winter 1992 & Spring 1993 P11-14 & p36- 46
  5. ^ Wollock, J (1996). John Bulwer and his Italian sources. In Mirko Tavoni (Ed.), Italia ed Europa nella linguisticadel Rinascimento ,Atti del convegno internazionale, 20–24 March 1991, Ferrara, p.420
  6. ^ Geen, R & Tassinary L G (2002). The mechanization of emotional expression in John Bulwer's Pathomyotomia (1649), in The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 115, No. 2, (Summer, 2002), pp. 275-299
  7. ^ Greenblatt, S (1995). Towards a universal language of motion: Reflections on a 17th century muscle man. In: Susan Leigh Foster Choreographing History. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. p25-30
  8. ^ Norman, H J (1953). 'John Bulwer and his Anthropometamorphosis'. In Science, Medicine and History: essays on the evolution of scientific thought and medical practice written in honour of Charles Singer, 2, ed. E.A. Underwood, (1953), 82-99.
  9. ^ Wollock, J (1996). John Bulwer’s (1606–1656) place in the history of the deaf. Historiographia Linguistica, 23, 1/2, p1–46.
  10. ^ Dekesel, K (1992). John Bulwer: The founding father of BSL research, Signpost, (Winter 1992 & Spring 1993) P11-14 & p36- 46
  11. ^ Reprinted by the British Deaf History Society ISBN 1-902427-24-6
  12. ^ Wollock, Jeffrey (1996) John Bulwer’s (1606–1656) place in the history of the deaf. Historiographia Linguistica, 23, 1/2, 1–46.
  13. ^ Geen, R & Tassinary L G (2002). The mechanization of emotional expression in John Bulwer's Pathomyotomia (1649), in The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 115, No. 2, (Summer, 2002), pp. 275-299
  14. ^ Wollock, J (1996). John Bulwer and his Italian sources. In Mirko Tavoni (Ed.), Italia ed Europa nella linguisticadel Rinascimento ,Atti del convegno internazionale, 20–24 March 1991, Ferrara, p. 417–433