author
Robert Means Lawrence
1847–1935
A Boston physician who turned a scholar’s curiosity toward folklore, medicine, and everyday beliefs, writing books that explored everything from old remedies to the strange history of lucky charms. His work blends medical learning with a lively interest in the stories people tell to explain the world.
2 Audiobooks
Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery
by Robert Means Lawrence
The Magic of the Horse-shoe, with other folk-lore notes
by Robert Means Lawrence
About the author
Born in Boston on May 14, 1847, Robert Means Lawrence studied at Harvard, earning his A.B. in 1869 and his M.D. in 1873. After further study in Europe, he practiced medicine in Boston and served at the Boston Dispensary, building a career as a respected physician while also developing a wide range of historical and literary interests.
Alongside his medical work, he became known as an author with a gift for making unusual subjects inviting to general readers. His books include The Magic of the Horse-Shoe, Primitive Psychotherapy and Quackery, The Curative Influence of the Imagination, and Old-Time Wall Papers, showing his fascination with folklore, superstition, popular healing, and the overlooked details of everyday life.
Lawrence died in 1935, but his writing still feels distinctive for the way it connects science, history, and human belief. He had a habit of taking topics that might seem odd or obscure at first glance and turning them into engaging windows onto the culture of earlier times.