James De Ville
James S. De Ville (often Deville ) (* March 12, 1777 in Hammersmith, † May 6, 1846 in London ) was an English phrenologist.
Life
James De Ville's family had roots in Switzerland; his grandfather had immigrated from Bern and married in England. From the age of eight years, James De Ville was brought up because of economic difficulties of a maternal uncle and attended no school. Around the age of 13 he hired himself out in the Edinburgh Castle Tavern in London's road The beach. Soon after, he was taken from a neighboring sculptor, Mr. Harris, in service. Harris died, 1796. A year later, married De Ville Jane Smith, who ran a small shop. He continues verfertigte plaster casts, etc., as he had learned it at Harris. His marriage to Jane Smith five children.
1803 De Ville made his own business in Soho. He was soon able to move to Leicester Square and employ gradually eight employees. From the plaster foundry, he moved on to the metal casting and verfertigte now mainly lanterns. In 1814 he moved back to The beach. From 1816 he produced lamps for lighthouses. Finally De Ville was a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers and the Society of Arts. About Bryan Donkin, who also belonged to the Institute of Civil Engineers, he came into contact with phrenology. Donkin had heard the lectures of Franz Joseph Gall in Vienna and one of the students of Johann Gaspar Spurzheim. He instructed De Ville in 1817 with plaster casts in the service of science. Soon summed De Ville one that goes beyond craftsmanship interest in phrenology and began a collection phrenologischer sample pieces to create.
From 1821 verfertigte De Ville also casts of living subjects. Instructions he received from C. A. Tulk. In 1824 he brought out a standardized plaster bust with an accompanying book about the phrenological regions. Already in 1823 he had co-founded with John Elliotson ( 1791-1868 ) and the Donkin London Phrenological Society and visited in Paris Spurzheim and invited to give lectures to London. These lectures were held in 1825 and subsequently De Ville also began his own teaching, which, however, due to his lack of education often earned him ridicule.
In 1826 he examined the heads of prisoners who were to be shipped to New South Wales, and said the dangers of crossing correctly predicted: On the boat, a riot broke out. In the same year he examined the elephant Chunee, who had been shot in his cage, and made a huge plaster cast. To examine His offer also the other animals in the menagerie in Exeter Change, in order to possibly predict other danger - Chunee no longer had to leave control - was rejected by the owner.
Among the persons who examined De Ville, were John Elliotson, Hermann von Pueckler, Harriet Martineau, Charles Bray, George Eliot, William Blake, Richard Dale Owen, Richard Carlile, Marian Evans, Jules Sébastien César Dumont d' Urville -, the Duke of Wellington and Prince Albert.
In the 1820s to 1840s, he was considered the best-known phrenologist and maker of corresponding plaster casts in London. Spurzheim and Gall admired his collection, which included about 5,450 pieces at his death, alike, and De Ville sold his plaster models worldwide. Many copies have been preserved in the Edinburgh School of Anatomy.
In 1840 he became a member of the Phrenological Association; In 1842, he retired under the impression the cleavage of phrenologists in England after the speech by William Collins Engledue ( 1814-1859 ), was equated in phrenology with materialism back.