No. 1006.019 and 1006.020

Study of two objects from the Hyrtl Skull Collection of the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

In 1874, the museum acquired more than a hundred skulls from the Viennese anatomist Josef Hyrtl (1810-1894). Hyrtl worked to counter the racist claims of phrenologists who argued that certain features of cranial anatomy among Caucasians were evidence of intellectual and moral superiority. Hyrtl attempted to show the wide variation of cranial anatomy among the European population.

Many of the skulls in the collection bear inscriptions with biographical information such as name, age, occupation, place of origin, and cause of death.