Phrenology cast of head of Captain Varal, 1831

Phrenology cast of head of Captain Varal, 1831

Boston Phrenological Society

Phrenology

Head

Casts

Plaster phrenology cast of head of Captain Varal, a soldier in Napoleon's Imperial Guard. Cast shows head from hair to top of neck. Area where base would have originally been is broken.

Unknown

1831

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Warren Anatomical Museum (WAM 03415.002)

object

1 cast

Castings (object genre)

WAM 03415.002

This phrenological cast was likely created in 1831 and acquired by Dr. Johann Spurzheim (1776 – 1832). Dr. Spurzheim, a leader in the study of phrenology, brought his knowledge and cast collection to America in 1832. After his death, the newly formed Boston Phrenological Society possessed his collection of skulls and casts. Dr. John Collins Warren purchased the collection in 1847 after the Society’s dissolution. In 1849, Dr. Warren took physical custody of the collection and temporarily transferred it to the Warren Museum of Natural History on Chestnut Street, before moving the collection to its intended permanent location in the new medical school building on North Grove Street. The phrenological collection was left in the basement of the old Medical School building on North Grove Street when the Medical College moved to a different building on Boylston Street in 1880. In 1911, the North Grove Street building was being demolished and the collection was almost destroyed. Dr. R. H. Fitz intervened and the collection was moved to the Administrative Building of the Harvard Medical School.

Phrenology cast