Antique 1857 phrenological head and chart

Phrenological head and chart by M. Nutting; c. 1857. Note: as we do with all old documents, this 155 years old chart has been fully retouched and colours restored to the original. However, it seems that the document has been cut in half somewhere and then put back together in not a perfect manner, making that some word in the middle are incomplete (for instance you can read HED instead of HEAD towards the bottom). As we don't own the real original document, it impossible to restore this bit. However, this is no doubt the best restored copy you will find of this particular document. Phrenology (from Greek: φρήν, phrēn, "mind"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is a pseudoscience primarily focused on measurements of the human skull, based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localised, specific functions or modules. The distinguishing feature of phrenology is the idea that the sizes of brain areas were meaningful and could be inferred by examining the skull of an individual. Following the materialist notions of mental functions originating in the brain, phrenologists believed that human conduct could best be understood in neurological rather than philosophical or religious terms. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796, the discipline was very popular in the 19th century, especially from about 1810 until 1840. The principal British centre for phrenology was Edinburgh, where the Edinburgh Phrenological Society was established in 1820. In 1843, François Magendie referred to phrenology as "a pseudo-science of the present day." Phrenological thinking was, however, influential in 19th-century psychiatry and modern neuroscience. Gall's assumption that character, thoughts, and emotions are located in the brain is considered an important historical advance towards neuropsychology.