A Critique of the Book Prophetess of Health

“Phrenological Allusions”

On page 149 of Prophetess of Health, Ellen White is said to have taken her two sons to Dr. Jackson for head readings. The Whites took the boys for physical examinations of which the cursory phrenological examination was apparently a part. On this point see our comments on Chapter Four on pages 55-57. CBPH 69.14

Page 149 says that Ellen White changed her attitude toward phrenology after her visits to Dansville. Earlier, she is alleged to have denounced it, but after visiting Dansville, she began using phrenological terms. The facts are that she manifested the same attitude all along toward phrenology. CBPH 70.1

In her 1862 testimony published in Testimonies for the Church 1:290-302, she denounced phrenology as a tool used by the devil (Testimonies for the Church 1:290) but said it was “good in its place” (Testimonies for the Church 1:296). Two decades later she still was saying the same thing: CBPH 70.2

The sciences which treat of the human mind are very much exalted. They are good in their place; but they are seized upon by Satan as his powerful agents to deceive and destroy souls. His arts are accepted as from heaven, and he thus receives the worship which suits him well. The world, which is supposed to be benefited so much by phrenology and animal magnetism, never was so corrupt as now. Through these sciences, virtue is destroyed, and the foundations of Spiritualism are laid.—The Signs of the Times, November 6, 1884, p. 10 (Selected Messages 2:352). CBPH 70.3

There is no necessary contradiction between her condemnation of phrenology and her later occasional use of terminology which is interpreted to be phrenological allusions. She condemned phrenology in a certain context, and then used its language in certain other, different contexts. As noted in our review of Chapter Three, the use of phrenological nouns and adjectives should not seem unusual in view of the fact that phrenological terminology was in common usage and had colored the language of the time. In fact, however mistaken some of phrenology’s anatomical deductions may have been, it was an attempt to study the mind objectively. Today, both in medicine and in psychology, many of its fundamental concepts are commonplace and accepted. (See John D. Davies, Phrenology Fad and Science. A Nineteenth Century American Crusade, Yale University Press, 1971, p. x. quoted on pp. 46 and 47 of this critique.) CBPH 70.4

Prophetess of Health on page 149 makes the following statement: CBPH 70.5

In the years following her contacts with Dansville, however, phrenological allusions began appearing frequently in her writings. During her husband’s extended illness, for instance, she complained that his “large and active” bumps of “cautiousness, conscientiousness and benevolence,” all assets in time of health, were in sickness “painfully excitable, and a hindrance to his recovery.” CBPH 70.6

The word “bumps” has been interjected in the heart of an Ellen G. White statement. The use of the term “bumps” makes Ellen White’s statement seem more closely related to phrenology than it actually was. Ellen White did not use the word. There is nothing in the context that indicates that she meant bumps, phrenological or otherwise. Is it only through phrenology that a person might be said to possess certain traits or characteristics? The source of the statement from which Prophetess of Health quotes, The Review and Herald, February 27, 1866, is one not easy to check unless the reader is in possession of the reprints of the Ellen G. White Review articles. Prophetess of Health clearly intends that the reader shall gain a picture of Ellen White using the word “bumps” or some synonym meaning bumps. She does not. Here is the full paragraph from which the words are drawn. It appears in the heart of the 1866 article on “Our Late Experience:” CBPH 70.7

All who are acquainted with my husband know that his cautiousness, conscientiousness, and benevolence, have been large and active, and ruling traits in his character, and have been special blessings in qualifying him for his business career in connection with the work and advancement of the cause of present truth. But in the debilitated and excitable state of his nervous system during his illness, these special developments, which had been a blessing to him in health, were painfully excitable, and a hindrance to his recovery. The Review and Herald, February 27, 1866, 27:98. CBPH 70.8

In the article as a whole she recounts the visit to Dansville for the recovery of her husband’s health, and their return to Battle Creek via Rochester. Near the close she reports, “My husband is improving. He is not troubled as much with nervousness, anxiety and fears.” Are these words also phrenology oriented? CBPH 70.9

True, Ellen White may not have understood all the mechanics of brain function and its relationship to personality, but everyone knows that one need not be an expert in this field to recognize that different people exhibit varying degrees of cautiousness, conscientiousness, benevolence, etc., and that in illness these traits can become accentuated to the point of imbalance, whereas the same characteristics in a healthy, well-balanced individual would serve him well. CBPH 70.10

Simply because we who live today speak of a person’s being “acquisitive,” or “combative,” or “spiritual”—all terms formerly used by phrenologists—does not at all mean that we are advocates of phrenology. By the same token Mrs. White’s use of words also used by phrenologists, does not mean she believed in phrenology. CBPH 70.11

Prophetess of Health on page 149 in the context of a phrenological atmosphere, declares: “Mrs. White herself was reported to be a woman of singularly well-balanced mental organization, notable for her traits of benevolence, spirituality, conscientiousness, and ideality.” The statement is drawn from an 1878 work, American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-Made Men of the State of Michigan, Third Congressional District, p. 108. CBPH 70.12

Only a stretch of the imagination would link this with phrenology, unless it be that phrenological charts assigned to certain portions of the brain contain characteristics which carried similar labels. CBPH 70.13

On pages 149-150 Mrs. White’s statements on prenatal influences are said to be a part of “folklore.” They may have sounded like folklore until relatively recent years, but studies in this field since 1954 have strongly substantiated what Ellen White wrote on prenatal influence. See Medical Science and the Spirit of Prophecy, pp. 40-43. CBPH 70.14