Accession No
6638
Brief Description
"Thomson's trigonometer", anthropometric head-type calculator, designed by Arthur Thomson, made by Aston and Mander Ltd., English, early 20th century
Origin
England; London
Maker
Aston and Mander Ltd. [maker] Thomson, Arthur [designer]
Class
physiology; anthropology
Earliest Date
1913
Latest Date
1933
Inscription Date
Material
wood (mahogany, pine); metal (nickel, silver other?, brass)
Dimensions
Box: 227mm (width) x 220mm (depth) x 48mm (height) Trigonometer: 207mm (width) x 182mm (depth) x 14mm(height)
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Tesseract, Box 151, Hastings on Hudson, New York, 10706, U.S.A. on or before 18/11/2015. Catalogue 101, Winter 2015-2016, item number 43.
Inscription
ASTON & MANDER LTD. MAKERS. LONDON.
PROFESSOR A.THOMSON's. TRIGONOMETER
Description Notes
"Thomson's trigonometer", anthropometric head-type calculator, designed by Arthur Thomson, made by Aston & Mander, English, early 20th century.
Brass plated mounted trigonometer and original box. The main plate is engraved with a "Basi-nasal length" scale divided every millimeter from 30 - 140. Scale inclined at 27o, and is the origin of eight radiating lines labelled A through H. An assembly rotates on the plate, with sliding calibrated (50-130mm) setting for "Basi-Alveolar Length" and with protractor quadrant against which a (45-100mm) "Naso-Alveolar Length" arm rotates with opposing pointer. The box bears Thomson's name and the label "Trigonometer".
Tool invented by Arthur Thomson, whose name is inscribed at the bottom - Professor of Anatomy at the University of Oxford during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Possibly used by Thomson himself: comes with paper label reading "Anth. Lab., Dept of Human Anatomy, Oxford".
Good condition, complete.
References
Events
Description
Arthur Thomson was Professor of Human Anatomy at Oxford University from 1905 to 1933. He developed this mechanical calculator as part of his work studying the supposed relationship between skull shape and racial ancestry in humans.
The user could measure various angles between key features of a skull and input them into the device. Its pointer would then indicate which "class" the skull fell into, from A to H. Thomson's work linking facial angles to racial characteristics was soon discredited and his triogonometer never caught on as a research tool.
[Display label from 2019]
15/02/2022
Created by: Morgan Bell on 15/02/2022
Description
This trigonometer was made in the early 20th century for Arthur Thomson, professor of Human Anatomy at Oxford University. This mathematical device was used to calculate the angles of human noses. In 1923 Thomson and L. H. Dudley Buxton published a study that presented Thomson's Nose Rule, which states that people originating in cold, dry climates have longer and thinner noses than those in warm humid climates, and that the length and thinness of the nose cavity enables colder air to be heated up and moistened before reaching the head and brain by the greater amount of blood vessels and membrane.
07/07/2017
Created by: Rosanna Evans on 07/07/2017
FM:47219
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