Looking good for Friday night...

Why do some faces set my pulse racing and not others? If this has ever crossed your mind, you are not alone. In the past, many have tried to use science to decode the elusive quality of beauty and many are still trying; see David Perrett's latest book In your Face: the new science of human attraction as an example. This relatively small but important part of our bodies certainly holds a deep fascination whether you are a scientist or simply looking for love. But is beauty just in the eye of the beholder?

This Friday evening 6-10pm 7th October a free event at the National Portrait Gallery, London, (see 'Glamour Factory' for full details) will feature images and curios from the Library. It will take place in Room 16 and is called 'What is Beauty?' as part of the Image is Everthing section. Here the concepts of beauty and physiognomy will be related to film stars of today, will your favourite be there? The night is inspired by classic Hollywood portait photography and features talks, music and activities.

Aided by the judicious use of a kohl pencil I will also be road-testing an eighteenth-century forehead reader to discover if it holds any surprises for a modern-day audience. It will be an informal session ending around 20.45hrs

Are there really rules of beauty all good-looking people conform to? Join the debate and take advantage of other talks by experts such as Semir Zeki (Professor of Neuroaesthetics, UCL) and Dr David Gems (Institute of Healthy Aging, UCL). You can even be photographed like a celebrity too. If you feel like putting on the style, black and white is the theme of this glamourous evening.

Images:
Plate engraving illustrating a personification of 'Beauty' by Isaac Fuller and Pierce Tempest, 1709 from Wellcome Images (image number L0035394)

Natural beauty, digital illustration by Marina Caruso from Wellcome Images (image number B0007013)

Looking at Sir James Young Simpson

As today is the 200th anniversay of the birth of Sir James Young Simpson, we did think of marking the day by highlighting the works in our collections written by him, which reflect not just his pioneering work in the use of anaesthetics, but also the range of his other interests.

However, whilst considering Simpson's striking features - his wild hair, his shaggy sideburns - we realised the Library also holds a number of interesting visual portrayals of the man.

Take this one for instance: a photograph of a younger Simpson by the early Scottish photographer, James G Tunny:





Although undated, other contemporary images of Simpson would seems to date this photograph to the late 1840s, around the time Simpson had started to investigate the properties of chloroform.

The length of time it would have taken to have captured this image of Simpson, is contrasted by an earlier visual depiction in our holdings. This comes from the notebook of an 1830s Edinburgh medical student, Thomas Graham, who in between note-taking during lectures assayed some rough sketches of his lecturers. So, in profile, here we have James Young Simpson, teacher of pathology (alongside Dr James Home and possibly James Hamilton Junior).



One last illustration of Simpson also depicts his career as a teacher: from 1862, by which time Simpson had been garlanded by accolades, here we have him invigilating an exam, a figure - albeit for comic effect - now grown in size as well as prestige.

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Also shown are the stressed students: "ye unfortunate undergraduates are in ye agonies of composition" runs the text, which reminds us that 7th June may be the anniversary of Simpson's birth, but it's also a time of year when students - not just medical ones - are still suffering the torments visualized here.

Images:
- Sir James Young Simpson. Wood engraving by R. Taylor, 1870, after J. Moffat. (Wellcome Library no. 8772i)
- Sir James Young Simpson. Photograph by J.G. Tunny. (Wellcome Library no. 13565i)
- Illustrations of three men from the notebook of Thomas Graham, 1836-1838 (MS.8415)
- Sir James Young Simpson. Pen drawing by [E.A.G. S.], 1862. (Wellcome Library no. 8773i)

Sir James Young Simpson is also the subject of a new exhibition at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Surgeons' Hall Museums.

May item of the month: English manual of practical chiromancy or palmistry, 1648

Ever wished you had the ability to accurately judge a person’s character from their appearance? Perhaps you want to know when your baby will be born? Or what message your new beard is giving to strangers? Well, you’re in luck. The Wellcome Library Archives and Manuscripts department have just the thing for you!

MS.8727 is a newly catalogued manual of practical chiromancy or palmistry, dating from 1648. The manuscript also includes sections on physiognomy and metoscopy, or the reading of lines on the forehead.

Using this manual, we learn that long, white fingernails are found on sickly, feverish people, whilst those with short, crooked nails are proud people who “delight in superfluity.” People with white or grey hair are slippery with “evill manners.” Narrow eyebrows of pale gold which consist only of short hairs demonstrate that a person is “one of good nature, apt to everything, fearful, but given to revenge.”

Even a person’s facial hair can be used to judge their personality. The man in the picture above, with his handsome beard, is apparently “melancholique. Also ingenious, sincere, cordiall, constant, resolute and valiant.” The manual suggests he would make a good soldier. However, if you are unable to grow such an impressive beard, remember that a lack of facial hair will lead people to believe you have “an evill nature."



Expectant parents are given very specific advice on how to calculate exactly when a baby will be born by reading their own palms. For example: “if that line ends in the plaine of Mars it is borne in March or October upon a Tuesday; if the crosses or lines go towards Mercury and end there, they are borne in May or August Wednesday.”

Palmistry can also be used to amaze your friends by correctly guessing a stranger’s birth date: “if that line end toward the hill of Luna and it have a crosse, sure he or she was borne on 10th June on Monday.”

If you are interested in finding out more about the subject of face reading, the Wellcome Library Insights session on Fascinating Faces is next being held on Thursday 16 June at 3 O'Clock. More information about this and other events can be found on the Wellcome Collection website.

London Faces: new 'Insight'

This Saturday, 2nd October, the library will feature a new Insight talk - London Faces - to coincide with Story of London events. Learn how Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and James Gillray made their own contributions to the fascinating history of physiognomy (the 'science' of face reading). See bitingly satirical pictures, original nineteenth century material and even tea towels as we revisit three key inhabitants of England's capital from a very different perspective.

Held in the Wellcome Library at 2.30pm-3.30pm. Please see details as number are limited: Wellcome Collection

Behind the smile

One of the more arresting photographs in the library's collections shows a man undergoing electrical stimulation of his facial muscles to help understand the nature of expressions. Charles Darwin used the original photographs, made by Dr. Guillaume Duchenne, in his Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 1872. While most may associate Duchenne with these images, he also gave his name to the condition still known today as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

Duchenne's father was a French privateer decorated by Napoleon with the Legion of Honour. The young Guillaume grew up next to the sea in Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the Nord Pas-de-Calais, before studying medicine in Paris, completing his studies in 1831.

Not readily accepted by the medical establishment because of his provincial accent and coarse manners, Duchenne nevertheless went on to run a very successful practice and pioneer the use of electricity in a medical context. He was even called 'De Boulogne' to distinguish him from a fashionable society physician named Dr Duchesne. Duchenne was an inventive Doctor as his legacy proves - he also developed a 'harpoon' needle design that allowed him to perform muscle biopsies without anaesthesia.

Those of you who can remember applying electricity to dead frogs' legs in Biology at school may like to join me in thanking Duchenne for helping children to enjoy the fantasy of 'reanimating' dead tissue.

Wellcome Library Insights: April - May 2010

Our popular Insight sessions offer visitors to the Wellcome Library an opportunity to explore the variety of our holdings. These free sessions are thematic in style, last around an hour and offer a chance to learn about our collections from a member of Library staff.

The Spring 2010 series of Insights begins this Thursday afternoon (8th April) at 3pm, exploring how Native American cultures have been recorded, celebrated and misrepresented, using examples from the Library’s American collections. You can pick up your free ticket for this event from the Wellcome Collection Information Desk from 13.30 on the day. Tickets are issued on a first-come, first-served basis: for more details, see the Wellcome Collection website.

Our upcoming Insights sessions for April and May are:

Caricatures and Cartoons - 22nd April, 3-4pm

Anatomies of London – 29th April, 6-7pm

Fascinating Faces – 6th May, 3-4pm

The Occult - 13th May, 6-7pm

Madness - 20th May, 3-4pm

For more details on attending the sessions, please follow the links above to the appropriate pages on the Wellcome Collection website.

In your face?

This week's free Insight talk 'Fascinating Faces' is proving popular and topical. It is fully booked and has generated interest from the media. Ever at the cutting edge, the subject of face reading features on the cover of the New Scientist (14 February 2009). Another opportunity to hear the story of its rise, fall and rise again is planned for the future so get ready to book early.