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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseIvory phrenological head, with areas marked off and labelled
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ivory phrenological head, with areas marked off and labelled
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ivory phrenological head, with areas marked off and labelled
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ivory phrenological head, with areas marked off and labelled, on circular pedestal
The skull of this ivory head has been marked off into sections and used for phrenological consultations. Phrenologists believed that the shape and size of various areas of the brain (and therefore the overlying skull) determined personality. Phrenological heads were used as reference guides for people carrying out consultations. Although phrenology became popular with large numbers of people in the 1800s, it soon became controversial within medical circles and was eventually dismissed as quackery.
Details
- Category:
- Psychology, Psychiatry & Anthropometry
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A157056
- Materials:
- ivory
- type:
- phrenological head
- credit:
- Glendining
