This is an important and early head associated with the eminent French phsyician and phrenologist François-Joseph-Victor Broussais (1772-1838) It is plaster, attractively lettered and numbered by hand in red, blue and black.Approx 13" in height. On one side of the neck it reads (see images): "Broussais Comte Voinant" and on the other "Gall/Spurzheim/Harlandier". There is some wear to parts of the plaster and stable thin hairline but overall it is in remarkably good condition for so early a plaster head. Broussais was an interesting and controversial figure in French medicine during the ealry decades of the 19th century. The EB notes that his "advocacy of bleeding, leech treatments, and fasting dominated Parisian medical practice early in the 19th century" but according to Wiki "his peculiar doctrines on the relation between life and stimulus, and on the physiological interdependence and sympathies of the various organs. ...drew down upon its author the hatred of the whole medical faculty of Paris; but by degrees his doctrines triumphed, and in 1831 he was appointed professor of general pathology in the academy of medicine." He ended his careers with an influential series of lectures on phrenology that were published in 1836. See Wiki link below or, even better, Google his name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François-Joseph-Victor_Broussais Paypal accepted but payment by cash, check or money order preferred. Shipping costs will vary with your requirements |