The Hermetica

SHELF IV · A History of Ideas

The Reading Hand

Palmistry charts and phrenology heads — the pseudoscience wall, hung honestly as the history of ideas: what people once believed a hand or a skull could tell.

The Chiromantic Hand — from an English chiromancy manual, Manuscript hand, unknown, 1648

1648

The Chiromantic Hand

A careful anatomy of a belief, drawn like a botanist’s leaf.

Three Hands in Chiromancy — from an English chiromancy manual, Manuscript hand, unknown, 1648

1648

Three Hands in Chiromancy

A horoscope cast on skin — the hand tied to the heavens.

The Planetary Mounts of the Hand — from a chiromantic treatise, Engraver unknown, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Planetary Mounts of the Hand

How people once organised the hand into meaning.

The Symbolical Head — from the Fowlers' phrenological charts, O. S. & L. N. Fowler, c. 1859

c. 1859

The Symbolical Head

A science that persuaded a century, and then fell.

Spurzheim's Phrenological Head — from Spurzheim’s Phrenology, J. G. Spurzheim, c. 1825

c. 1825

Spurzheim's Phrenological Head

How earnestly a false system can be built.

Gall's Cranioscopy — from the plates of F. J. Gall, Franz Joseph Gall, c. 1800

c. 1800

Gall's Cranioscopy

The anatomy sound, the phrenology unsound — both preserved.

Three Phrenological Heads — from a phrenological handbook, Engraver unknown, 19th century

19th century

Three Phrenological Heads

A discredited science, drawn with perfect confidence.

Lavater's Physiognomy — from the Essays on Physiognomy, Johann Caspar Lavater, c. 1789

c. 1789

Lavater's Physiognomy

How a whole age looked at faces.

The Man and the Beast — from De humana physiognomonia, Giambattista della Porta, after Charles Le Brun, 1586

1586

The Man and the Beast

The face read as a scale between human and animal.