Documents laid before the Right Honourable Lord Glenelg, relative to the convicts sent to New South Wales / by Sir George S. Mackenzie.

  • Mackenzie, George Steuart, 1780-1848.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Documents laid before the Right Honourable Lord Glenelg, relative to the convicts sent to New South Wales / by Sir George S. Mackenzie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    XV. From Dr Disney Alexander, late one of the Physi- cians to the Wakefield Dispensary and the Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Lecturer on Phrenology, Author of an Essay on the best Means of preserving Health, of a Treatise on the Croup, and of Lectures on the Internal Evidences of Christianity. Lufset Cottage, Wakefield, March 20. 1830. I hereby certify, that I consider it as proved be- yond all reasonable contradiction, that “ the natural dis- positions are indicated by the form and size of the brain, to such an extent as to render it quite possible, during life, to distinguish men of desperate and dangerous tendencies from those of good dispositionsand that Phrenology might be beneficially applied in discriminating the natural disposi- tions of convicts, before their being chosen for transporta- tion. DISNEY ALEXANDER, M. D. XVI. From George Martell, Esq. Member of the College of Surgeons, London, Surgeon to the Jail of Portsmouth, and Senior Surgeon to the Dispensary, &c. &c. To the Right Hon. Lord Gi.enelg, Secretary for the Colonies, Ac. &e. Ac. My Lord, Portsmouth, March 24. 1836. Having had frequent opportunities of seeing the examination of individuals phrenologically, I am of opinion that their dispositions may be fully known by ex- ternal configuration, size, &c.; and that such examinations would greatly facilitate the classification of prisoners. I remain, your Lordship’s most obedient servant, GEORGE MARTELL. B
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