FOWLER, Richard.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

An attempt to solve some of the difficulties of the Berkleyan controversy, by well-ascertained physiological and psychological facts; First edition, presentation copies, inscribed by the author to George Matcham with his "kind regards". In each pamphlet Fowler contends with Berkeley's arguments against matter, striving to explain their obscurities through the use of accessible biological and medical examples. Fowler (1765-1863) was the leading physician at the Salisbury Infirmary. His close family friend, Florence Nightingale, teased him for his devotion to his work on sensory impairment: "Nobody has any value now for Dr Fowler unless deprived of one sense at least. My star would be much more on the ascendant with him than it is if I were deaf or dumb or blind or all three" (letter to Julia Ward Howe, 1846). It is likely that Fowler met the antiquarian George Matcham (1789-1877) locally. One year after the publication of these pamphlets Fowler founded the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum; Matcham also lived in Wiltshire and had published a history of the county in 1834. His father was the explorer George Matcham (1753-1833), brother-in-law of Nelson, and in 1861 Matcham the younger published a collection entitled Notes on the Character of Lord Nelson.

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