Autograph Letter 'To the Editor', entitled 'Phrenology', and signed 'Apollonius'.

Two pages, quarto. On a discoloured piece of brittle, thin wove paper, with some fraying, several closed tears and a little loss (affecting three words). A long, able and closely-written defence of the discipline. '[...] | X appears decidedly opposed to an alarmed at the science, and feels himself awfully degraded with the comparisons drawn by Phrenologists between the human species and the lower animals - that they should exist, breathe, and partake of, in a limited degree, corresponding qualities with the human race. [...] Neither do I believe that the cleverest Phrenologist will ever be able to tell the propensities or certain peculiarites of character to a single shade, as obstacles exist in Phrenologies as in other ologies'. Discusses of the 'structure of the human brain'. Concludes 'Was it not the will of the Deity that we should educate and improve our civilization and morality, he would not have endowed us with those qualities of reflection and research.' The celebrated coroner Thomas Wakley (1795-1862) had connections with Wiveliscombe, but given the nature of the piece it is unlikely to be his.