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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Wooden snuff box, top illustrated with 3 views of a phrenological skull of the type invented by Dr. Gall, possibly French
The lid of this snuff box shows three views of a phrenological skull. Supporters of phrenology believed that the shape and size of various areas of the brain (and therefore the overlying skull) determined personality. Each number on the skull relates to a character trait. For example, number 24 denotes love; number 19, vanity. There is a key to all the traits on the base of the box.
This system was invented by Franz Joseph Gall (1758 –1828), a German physician who founded phrenology. There were a number of different systems of phrenology as disagreements arose over how many brain ‘organs’ there were.
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Details
- Category:
- Smoking
- Object Number:
- A642707
- Materials:
- tortoiseshell and wood
- type:
- snuff box
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- container - receptacle
- snuff container
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Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
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