Browse Items (32 total)

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While Holmes' views on homeopathy are well attested, this letter to Dr. John Collins Warren (1778-1856) indicates he had at least some early interest in the concurrent phrenological movement. Holmes here invites Warren to attend his lecture on the…

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An illustration of the thirty-five phrenological faculties, as seen in Samuel Roberts Wells' How to read character : a new illustrated hand-book of phrenology and physiognomy, for students and examiners : with a descriptive chart. This particular…

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The most enduring icon of phrenology, the symbolical head is a model showing the thirty-five phrenological faculties. They were used both as teaching tools and as advertising.

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During the course of his extensive travels through Europe and America, J. G. Spurzheim maintained a vigorous correspondence with his wife, Honorine, describing the people he met, the hospitals, prisons, and schools he visited, and the spread of…

At the time this letter was written, Nahum Capen (1804-1886) was the corresponding secretary of the Boston Phrenological Society which he had helped to establish after the death of J. G. Spurzheim. He was also a member of Marsh, Capen and Lyon, a…

This mid-19th century broadside advertises a course of phrenological public lectures and head readings tied to an array of subjects such as somnambulism and biology.

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A controversial figure even in his own lifetime, Viennese physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) may properly be considered the father of phrenology, although Gall himself never used that term, and phrenology as we think of it was far removed from…

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Dr. T. Timson, a Fellow of the British Phrenological Society, had a flourishing practice in Leicester in the 1930s. This is his fee schedule for head readings.

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Dr. T. Timson, a Fellow of the British Phrenological Society, had a flourishing practice in Leicester in the 1930s. This is an advertisement for his clinic, which incorporated phrenology, massage, chiropractic, and osteopathy.

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Designed for students and a testament to the enduring interest in phrenology, this manual attempts to reconcile phrenology with anatomy and "to demonstrate the possibility of the accurate localisation of the phrenological organs in the brain, upon…

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At this meeting of the British Phrenological Society, the phrenological characteristics of different types of teachers were discussed.

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Phrenological study and speculation was still current in the 1920s. This manuscript volume of an unpublished work is peppered with photographs and engravings of celebrities and notables, from traditional phrenological studies of Napoleon and Abraham…

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The British Phrenological Society collection includes a number of head measurements and readings from the early years of the 20th century. The recording phrenologist was probably James Webb of Layton, in Essex.

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The Brighton and Hove Phrenological Association sponsored a varied course of lectures including "Phrenology and the Language of Handwriting", "The Brain and Nervous System", "How Phrenology Assists Intellectual, Moral, and Social Progress", and…

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This short guide to phrenology by Lorenzo Niles Fowler and his daughter, defines the various faculties and concludes with an essay describing the procedure for finding certain organs on the surface of the skull. "Let us take, then, for our starting…

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Marked or numbered with the thirty-five faculties identified by J. G. Spurzheim, these 19th century symbolical heads remain the most enduring icon of the phrenological movement. Many heads of this type were produced and marketed by the Fowler and…

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The variety of subjects allied to phrenology under the Fowler brothers is illustrated by this volume of their popular periodical. In addition to biographical sketches of prominent individuals, cranial analyses, and news of the progress of the…

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The Fowler brothers used The Illustrated Self-Instructor as both a popular handbook to phrenology and an advertising tool—the opening pages of each volume were used to record character assessments, such as this one for G. A. Hook, given by O.…

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Lorenzo Niles Fowler compiled this notebook of phrenological readings of individuals encountered during his travels through upstate New York, western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky in 1834 and 1835. There are a number of examinations of…

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This extended joke at the expense of phrenology passed through several editions in the mid-19th century and was published under the pseudonym of Eden Warwick. George Jabet maintains that the nose, besides being an ornament to the face, or a…

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While a professor of anatomy and physiology at Columbian College in Washington, D.C., Thomas Sewall published these two lectures to students—one of the earliest attacks on phrenological doctrine—based on his study of the brain's…

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In 1850, after some years of dormancy, the Boston Phrenological Society's collection of casts and skulls was sold to Dr. John Collins Warren and later added to the specimens of the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School. This is Dr.…

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Formed after the death of Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, the Boston Phrenological Society assembled a large collection of skulls, masks, and casts of famous and infamous heads to illustrate the various phrenological faculties.

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This unsigned obituary is one of several articles devoted to J. G. Spurzheim printed in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal at this time. Note the prominent medical figures, including Drs. John Collins Warren, James Jackson, Walter Channing, and…

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This ticket is inserted at the flyleaf of a copy of the third American edition of Spurzheim’s treatise, Phrenology, or the Doctrine of the Mental Phenomena (Boston: Marsh, Capen and Lyon, 1834) and was issued for his popular course of lectures…

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Like the Alvan Fisher oil portrait, this silhouette of J. G. Spurzheim appears to have been produced during his final years on his tour through the United States. The object in his hand is, of course, a skull.

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Published while Spurzheim was touring in America, the Outlines of Phrenology was phenomenally popular, passing through four separate editions by 1834. The Outlines gives a brief overview of the theory behind phrenology, discusses the basic…

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Produced just after his sudden death, this portrait of Spurzheim holding a symbolical head is said to be one of the best productions from the studio of Boston painter Alvan Fisher. Dr. J. Mason Warren, the son of John Collins Warren, purchased the…

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This English translation of Franz Joseph Gall’s Sur les Fonctions du Cerveau was one of the Boston Phrenological Society’s first publication projects. In this passage, Gall describes how he isolated the faculties of attachment and…

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This English satiric print illustrates some of the absurdities associated with phrenology, as the traits and marked skulls of dogs, birds, and horses are treated on a par with humans. The phrenologist "Doctor S." may be intended to represent Johann…

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Even in the first years of its popularity during the early nineteenth century, phrenology was a source of amusement to many and became a target for a number of satiric artists of the day, such as George Cruikshank, the "Phiz" illustrator of Charles…
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