Poster advertising lectures on phrenology, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, 1851
- Made:
- 1851 in Trowbridge
- maker:
- J Diplock

Lectures on phrenology, physiology, etc. April 3-10 1851. On yellow paper, 58x23cm. In frame, 64x28.5x2cm.
Lectures by Mr Droffnore on the subject of phrenology were given free of charge at the Mechanics Institute in Towbridge, Wiltshire, England. Mechanics Institutes were set up to give education to the working classes, especially in technical subjects. Lectures and exhibitions often came with the tagline ‘Know thyself’. Phrenology, which involved ‘reading’ the lumps and bumps of someone’s skull and thus the underlying brain, was believed to give an indication of a person’s character, fitting with the ‘Know thyself’ tag line. Phrenology was hugely popular in the 1800s with over two hundred phrenologists active in Britain in the first half of the century. But it quickly became a source of controversy as far as the medical profession were concerned. The British phrenological society was disbanded in 1967.
On display
Science Museum: Making the Modern World Gallery
If you are visiting to see this object, please contact us in advance to make sure that it will be on display.
Details
- Category:
- Art
- Object Number:
- 1993-294/1
- type:
- poster
- taxonomy:
-
- visual and verbal communication
- credit:
- Grosvenor Prints
Cite this page
Rights
We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.
Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Download
Download catalogue entry as json
View manifest in IIIF viewer
Add to Animal Crossing Art Generator
Download manifest IIIF
Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.