Talk:John Bulwer

This is just a start.
Most of the article is drawn from an essay I wrote for a university course. These are some of the other references to be included-

1993Conrad, R & Weiskrantz, B C, (1984) Deafness in the 17th Century: Into Empiricism, in Sign Language Studies 45, Winter 1984, p291-399, Linstock press, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

Corbett, M. & Lightbown R. W. (1979). Philocophus. In: Corbett, M. & Lightbown R. W The Comely Frontpiece: The Emblematic Title-Page in England 1550-1660. London: Routledge & Keegan Paul. p210-219.

Davis, L. J. (1997). Universalizing Marginality: How Europe became deaf in the 18th century. In: Lennard J Davis The Disability Studies Reader. New York: Routledge. p110-128.

Dekesel, K. (1992) John Bulwer: The founding father of BSL research, Signpost, Winter 1992 & Spring 1993 P11-14 & p36- 46

Greenblatt, S. (1995). Towards a universal language of motion: Reflections on a 17th century muscle man.. In: Susan Leigh Foster Choreographing History. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. p25-30.

Richards, G. (1992). Mental Machinery: The origins and consequences of psychological ideas. Pt 1 1600-1850. London: Athlone. p18, 70-75, 90.

Richards, G. ‘Bulwer, John (bap. 1606, d. 1656)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edition, Jan 2008 accessed 07/01/2008 Alchemist Jack (talk) 15:28, 29 August 2009 (UTC) There is a lack of biographical information. In addition, Bulwer has either been largely ignored or dismissed out of hand bt others working in similar fields. It may be that others, (John Wallis John Wilkins William Holder), around the time of the establishment of the Royal Society, who wanted to be the first to clain that they had taught a deaf person to speak had delibrately obscured Bulwers contribution. He had died in 1656.--Alchemist Jack (talk) 16:29, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Published works
More in-depth explanation of the contents of the books is required.--Alchemist Jack (talk) 16:26, 3 September 2009 (UTC) Like this about the Gostwicke brothers? The two sons of Sir Edward Gostwicke were both deaf. They were given a copy of Chirologia by a “worthy friend” who later introduced the brothers to Bulwer himself (Bulwer 1648 unnumbered introduction). This meeting was to lead to Bulwer to “cast about which way as a motist to be serviceable unto you.” (Bulwer 1648 unnumbered introduction), A motist is One who understands motion. He see that he cannot improve their Sign Language but because he beleives in "a common wealth of senses" he thinks that lip-reading is possible. He has also evidently been experimenting with "Oral and dental audition" (bone conduction)For the majority of people living rurally in farming communities where interactions are likely to have been between people with pre-existing personal relationships deafness would have not been the socially disabling impairment it was to become in later urbanised societies. Bulwer recognised that deaf people’s principal experience was that of isolation caused by their lack of access to the spoken word especially in urban area, like London (1648 p102 &108). He was fully aware of the negative legal and social consequences of deafness (1648 p102-109, p175-177).--Alchemist Jack (talk) 21:20, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Civil War
This had a big effect on his life. He was a Royalist. To what extent did this affect his work at the time and on posterity?--Alchemist Jack (talk) 15:43, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Dates
Many dates are unknown and can only be inferred, such as, his marriage, when he adopted Chirothea, when he attained his degree. I shall endeavour to pin them down. --Alchemist Jack (talk) 15:28, 29 August 2009 (UTC)--Alchemist Jack (talk) 15:33, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Legacy and historical importance
Many Firsts (deaf education, work on Gesture, writings on Speech and hearing disorders, classification of the facial muscles) but almost completely unknown outside specialist circles.--Alchemist Jack (talk) 15:36, 29 August 2009 (UTC) But there is Very, Very, very little biographical information and the books are not "user-friendly".--Alchemist Jack (talk) 23:51, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Possible external links
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1998662 John Bulwer (fl. 1654) The “Chirosopher.” Pioneer in the Treatment of the Deaf and Dumb and in Psychology by H. J. Norman 1943

http://www.bdhs.org.uk/ British Deaf History Society re-publishers of Philocophus --Alchemist Jack (talk) 20:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=104106302 Article about Anthropometamorphosis but you can only read the first 3 pages for free.--Alchemist Jack (talk) 11:46, 4 September 2009 (UTC)