Background
George Beard was born on May 8, 1839, at Montville, Connecticut, the son of the Rev. Spencer F. Beard, a Congregational minister, and of Lucy A. Leonard.
George Beard was born on May 8, 1839, at Montville, Connecticut, the son of the Rev. Spencer F. Beard, a Congregational minister, and of Lucy A. Leonard.
George Beard prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachussets, and graduated from Yale College in 1862, and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York in 1866.
While still a medical student George served as acting assistant surgeon in the West Gulf squadron of the United States Navy. His initial essay in medical literature, to which he soon became a ceaseless contributor, was a paper on "Electricity as a Tonic" (1866). In that year he associated himself with Dr. A. D. Rockwell of New York, with whom, as with a kindred spirit, he conducted researches in electro-therapeutics for a series of years, the results of which were embodied in articles on the Medical Use of Electricity and later, in 1871, in The Medical and Surgical Uses of Electricity. This latter work was translated into German, had a wide vogue in Europe, and at once gave Beard an international reputation as an investigator. He introduced and popularized the terms "central galvanization" and "general faradization" and gained for them universal acceptance.
To the public he early became known by his Our Home Physician (1869), Eating and Drinking (1871), and Stimulants and Narcotics (1871). His literary output, which was continuous and enormous, included: The Legal Responsibility in Old Age, based on Researches into the Relations of Old Age to Work (1874); The Longevity of Brain Workers (1876); Hay Fever (1876); The Scientific Basis of Delusions (1877); Nervous Exhaustion (1880); Sea-Sickness (1880); American Nervousness (1881); Trance and Muscle Reading (1882); Psychology of the Salem Witchcraft Excitement of 1692 (1882); Medical Education and the Medical Profession in Europe and America (1883); How to Use the Bromides (1881); Current Delusions Relating to Hypnotism (1882).
In 1868 Beard became a lecturer on nervous diseases in New York University and later physician to the Demilt Dispensary in the department of electro-therapeutics and nervous diseases. He was several times a delegate to foreign scientific associations, and in 1881 a delegate to the International Medical Congress in London.
In neurology Beard was an American pioneer and made a notable contribution to the study of "neurasthenia, " being the first to show clearly and positively that Americans possess a peculiar nervous organization. He maintained that the cause of the greater prevalence of nervous diseases in the United States is dryness of the air and extremes of heat and cold. To him science likewise owes the conception of seasickness as a functional neurosis induced mechanically by concussion, and he, too, introduced to the profession and to the public the treatment of seasickness by bromides.
In psychiatry he was an early champion of reforms, many of which, through his initiative and zeal, became incorporated in subsequent practise, and he was one of the originators of the "National Association for the Protection of the Insane and the Prevention of Insanity. " He took strong ground, on the unpopular side, in his published opinions on the trial of Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, declaring him insane and irresponsible. Undaunted by the clamor of the people and of many respectable members of his own profession for the death penalty, he prepared a petition to prevent what he regarded as the judicial hanging of a man whose innocence was implicit in his mental disease.
Beared’s passion for investigation and analysis persisted till the day of his death when, in almost his last words, he said to bystanders at his bed, "Tell the doctors it is impossible for me to record the thoughts of a dying man. It would be interesting to do so, but I cannot. My time has come. I hope others will carry on my work. "
George Beard popularized the term neurasthenia associating it with the stresses of urbanization and the increasingly competitive business environment. Beard founded the Archives of Electrology and Neurology (1874 - 1875). George Beard's major works: Our Home Physician (1869); Eating and Drinking (1871); and Stimulants and Narcotics (1871); The Legal Responsibility in Old Age, based on Researches into the Relations of Old Age to Work (1874); The Longevity of Brain Workers (1876); Hay Fever (1876); The Scientific Basis of Delusions (1877); Nervous Exhaustion (1880); Sea-Sickness (1880); American Nervousness (1881); Trance and Muscle Reading (1882); Psychology of the Salem Witchcraft Excitement of 1692 (1882); Medical Education and the Medical Profession in Europe and America (1883); How to Use the Bromides (1881); Current Delusions Relating to Hypnotism (1882).
(Excerpt from Experiments With Living Human Beings The e...)
(Excerpt from A Practical Treatise on the Medical and Surg...)
(Excerpt from A Practical Treatise on Nervous Exhaustion (...)
(Excerpt from Atmospheric Electricity and Ozone: Their Rel...)
George Beard was a critic of claims of the paranormal and spiritualism which he thought was one of history's greatest delusions. He published articles on anomalistic psychology such as The Psychology of Spiritism (1879) exposing the fraud of mediumship and describing its psychological basis.
George Beard was a founder of the National Association for the Protection of the Insane and the Prevention of Insanity.
Quotes from others about the person
Dr. A. D. Rockwell, in offering resolutions on Beard's death at a meeting of the Medical Society of the County of New York, on March 26, 1883, said of his associate: "As an investigator he was original and conscientious. As a friend he was generous and steadfast. Exposed by his restless activity to many peculiar attacks, he ever manifested the utmost charity and good humor. Of his worst enemies, he seldom spoke a harsh, and never a vindictive, word. "
George Beard married December 25, 1866, Elizabeth Ann Alden, of Westville, Connecticut.
