Buchanan's Journal of Man, March 1887

A bold manifesto opens the work, proposing that the dawning science of the brain and the rise of anthropology will spark a literary revolution. The author contends that once we grasp how the mind functions, every domain—philosophy, art, medicine, education, even government—will be reshaped by this new understanding. Past volumes, he warns, will soon belong to a “mouldering mass” cherished only by antiquarians, while fresh, nature‑born voices will define the future of American letters.

The book then weaves through a lively assortment of contemporary curiosities: spirit writing experiments, mind‑reading amusements, craniology’s link to crime, and the burgeoning American Psychical Society. Essays on topics such as African pygmies, Buddhism in America, and the “spiritual test of death” reveal the era’s fascination with the border between science and the supernatural. Together, these pieces paint a vivid portrait of a culture on the brink of redefining what it means to be human.