Venus (artist unknown, c. 1840)
This is the original drawing for Plate XVIII of Sir Alexander Morison's 1840 book The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases. The accompanying text reads:
E.I. aged 64, a female possessing some property, of a turbulent disposition, and giving considerable annoyance to the neighbourhood in which she lived, affirmed, that she was in a peculiar manner the daughter of the God of heaven; and that she was Venus in the first place of the sign Libra – that she was well acquainted with the formation of the world, and the counsels of the Almighty, but she conceived herself under the influence of evil machinery. She was easily excited by contradiction. She became excessively fat, and died of apoplexy. She is represented in her favourite dress.
With thanks to Iain Milne, Head of Library and Information Services, John Dallas, Rare Books Librarian, and staff at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh.
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