John William Draper was born into a clergyman’s family in Lancashire, England. He began his education in his native land, at Woodhouse Grove Comprehensive School and University College, London. After his father’s death, he moved to Virginia, USA, with his wife. In the States, Draper used his sister Catherine’s money to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and pursue a teaching career. A few years later he went to New York City, where he founded the New York University School of Medicine and worked there until he died in 1882.
In the West, Draper’s books “History of the American Civil War” and “History of the Conflict between Religion and Science” were very popular. In Russia, it was “History of the Intellectual Development of Europe”, first published in 1862, that brought the scientist fame.
In the second half of the 19th-century evolutionism penetrated all sciences. The theory, which originated in geology and biology, was applied to astronomy, chemistry, pedagogy, and history. In studying the history of science and the stages of social development, John Draper also used the evolutionary ideas of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. In “History of the Intellectual Development of Europe” he argued that the historical development of a people and the life of an individual are governed by the same natural laws. Draper divided history into special “ages” — the age of research, the age of faith, and the age of reason — which recurred in the lives of all peoples without exception.
Alexander Ulyanov’s interests were similar to John Draper’s — both were passionate about Darwinism, chemistry, and anatomy. That is why Alexander purchased his book.
