John Cowan (physician)

John Cowan was an American physician and phrenologist who wrote on sexual health, women's rights, and the evils of tobacco.

John Cowan signature
Woman with Cowan's The Science of a New Life photographed by William Goldman c. 1892.[1]

His 1869 manual for married couples, The Science of a New Life, was endorsed by the suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.[2] It was issued in many editions, with parts of the original text expurgated to suit prevailing morality, such as his advice about contraception. It was re-issued with the new title of What All Married People Should Know in 1903.[3] In his 1870 book, Self-help in the Attainment of Perfection of Character and Success in Life, he described himself as a "practical phrenologist".[4]

Selected publications

References
  1. Johnson, Robert Flynn. (2018) Working Girls: An American Brothel, circa 1892. The Secret Photographs of William Goldman. New York: Glitterati Editions. pp. 36 & 41. ISBN 9781943876587
  2. Hayden, Wendy (February 14, 2013). Evolutionary Rhetoric: Sex, Science, and Free Love in Nineteenth-Century Feminism. SIU Press. ISBN 9780809331024 – via Google Books.
  3. Hoolihan, Christopher (December 10, 2001). An Annotated Catalogue of the Edward C. Atwater Collection of American Popular Medicine and Health Reform. University Rochester Press. ISBN 9781580462846 – via Google Books.
  4. "Self-help in the attainment of perfection of character and success in life". New York, Cowan & company. December 10, 1870 – via Internet Archive.
  5. "Herald of Health". M.L. Holbrook. December 10, 1869 – via Google Books.


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