Spurzheim was born near
Trier, Germany, on 31 December 1776 and studied
medicine at the
University of Vienna. He became acquainted with Gall in 1800 and was soon hired by him as an assistant. Gall intended to have Spurzheim as his successor and added his name as a co-author to books and publications. In 1812, however, Gall and Spurzheim had a falling out, and Spurzheim started a separate career, lecturing and writing extensively on what he termed 'The
Physiognomical System of Drs Gall and Spurzheim'. He greatly popularised phrenology, and travelled extensively throughout Europe, achieving considerable success in England and France. In 1816 he travelled to Edinburgh to refute an article by
Dr John Gordon who had famously debunked Spurzheim, Gall and phrenology in general in an article in the
Edinburgh Review in 1815. He died of
typhoid in
Boston in 1832, cutting short his first and only
American tour. After the public autopsy of Spurzheim, his
brain,
skull, and
heart were removed, preserved in jars of alcohol as
relics, and put on display to the public. Adoring Bostonians staged an elaborate public
funeral and erected a monument in
Mount Auburn Cemetery in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Spurzheim made many alterations to Gall's phrenological system, including an increase in the number of "organs", as well as its organization into a
hierarchical system. Spurzheim also used images and busts to illustrate the craniographic approach of phrenology. == Publications ==