Phrenological chart; with design of head containing symbols of the phrenological faculties, and diagrams of heads showing criminal and moral propensities. Wood engraving, c. 1850, after F. Bridges and O.S. Fowler.

London (32, Fleet Street) ; Liverpool (Caxton Buildings, South John Street, and 51, South Castle Street) : George Philip and son, [c. 1850]

1 print : wood engraving

Chart of mental geometry and synopsis and classification of the faculties. By Frederick Bridges, of the Musæum and school of mental geometry and physiology, 16, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. Author of 'Phrenology made practical' and 'Criminals, crimes, and their governing laws' ... Lettering continues at great length. There is firstly Bridges' analysis and classification of the faculties, which is essentially Spurzheim's system with a reordering of the general classes. For instance, the faculties come under such headings as 'Social group', 'Moral ruling group', 'Religious group' and 'Progressive group' (this latter containing imitation, humorousness, ideality and sublimity; Bridges comments, "this group prompts to progress, refinement and human elevation") Secondly, a series of heads are shown and analysed: Gall, Cardinal Wiseman (whose features are heavily criticised), Spurzheim, and "the ideal head of Christ". The "Moral type" is represented by a frontal and profile view of Eustache, the slave who betrayed his own people to save his colonial protectors and became a celebrity in France. The "Murderer's type" is represented by William Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner. In the bottom right-hand corner, there is a comparison of the skull of Spurzheim with a black monkey, and an illustration of a mathematical instrument invented by Bridges and named the "Phreno-physiometer"

The design seems to originate with one of the Fowlers (probably Orson Squire Fowler), a family of popular phrenologists operating in the United States in the last half of the nineteenth century

Wellcome Collection 28445i