cousin of Lady Byron; a cultivated and much-travelled phrenologist; married the daughter of a German aristocrat and lived mostly in Austria and Bavaria; friend of EPPS (who claimed that Noel had been destined for the Church but had a conscience and could not bear the hypocrisy); friend of the geologist Carl Bernhard von Cotta, on whom Noel wrote the obituary in Nature, 25 Sept 1879; author of Einige worte über Phrenologie (Dresden, & Leipzig, 1839), Die Begrundung und das Wesen der Phrenologie (Dresden, 1852), and Grundzüge der Phrenologie (Leipzig, 1841, 1847, 1856); M PHREN ASSN. (Mayne Life of Lady Byron [1929]: 375.)
Works as Listed by Roger Cooter (1989)
846.1
— 846.1 "Measurements and Remarks on the Heads of Suicides," PHREN J, 13 (1840): 297-303; and 14 (1841): 155-6.
846.2
— 846.2 "Account of the Progress of Phrenology in Germany, in a letter to G. Combe," PHREN J, 14 (1841): 65-72.
846.3
— 846.3 "Reliques and Anecdotes of Dr. Gall [together with] Additional Anecdotes communicated by Mr. Gustav von Struve, editor of the German Phrenological Journal," PHREN J, 17 (1844): 153-8. (A translation of two letters by GALL contained in a book possessed by the archaeologist, Dr. Bottiger. The book consisted of a pamphlet by Von Selpert; Gall's Lectures on the Functions of the Brain [Berlin, 1805]; and Bottiger's notes on a course of Gall's lectures that he had attended. The letters, both of 1 June 1805, were from GALL to Oberhofprediger [the head court preacher], and to Geheim-Roth Loder.)
846.4
— 846.4 "Some Particulars Respecting Gall," ZOIST, 2 (1845): 455-65. (Noel's letter to PHREN J [above] with an additional letter to ZOIST with confirmation from Metternich that GALL admitted he was a materialist.)
846.5
— 846.5 "Materialism in Germany--to editor," ZOIST, 3 (1845): 152-5. (Materialism and necessity, boldly advocated.)
846.6
— 846.6 "On the Organ of Conscientiousness," ZOIST, 3 (1845): 281-304.
846.7
— 846.7 "On the Physics of the Nervous System. By Dr. Jacoby of Konigsberg. Translated from the German and presented to the Zoist for publication by Mr. R. R. Noel," ZOIST, 5 (1848): 351-63.
846.8
— 846.8 "On the Psychological Theories of Modern German Physiologists," ZOIST, 8 (1850/1): 283-94, 353-63. (Psychology now seen as out of the hands of speculators.)
846.9
— 846.9 The Physical Basis of Mental Life. A Popular Essay. London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1873. Pp. 74+ 5 plates. (Originally delivered as a lecture to Leicester Lit & Phil Soc.)
846.10
— 846.10 Notes Biographical and Phrenological Illustrating a Collection of Casts [of skulls]. London: printed for private circulation by F. Chifferiel & Co, 1883. Pp. 84. (Life dates and professions mostly of Germans from whom Noel and his colleague, Papatschy, had taken casts.)
Editorial Information
Identifier
846.
Type
Person
Source
Roger Cooter, Phrenology in the British Isles (1989)
PDF page
255
Printed page
250
Database ID
2404
Original Transcription
846. NOEL, Robert Ralph, cousin of Lady Byron; a cultivated and
much-travelled phrenologist; married the daughter of a German aristocrat and lived mostly in Austria and Bavaria; friend of EPPS (who
claimed that Noel had been destined for the Church but had a conscience and could not bear the hypocrisy); friend of the geologist Carl
Bernhard von Cotta, on whom Noel wrote the obituary in Nature,
25 Sept 1879; author of Einige worte über Phrenologie (Dresden,
& Leipzig, 1839), Die Begrundung und das Wesen der Phrenologie (Dresden, 1852), and Grundzüge der Phrenologie (Leipzig, 1841, 1847, 1856);
M PHREN ASSN. (Mayne Life of Lady Byron [1929]: 375.)