Phrenology

Phrenology (from Greek: φρην, phr?n, "mind"; and λογος, logos, "study") is a theory which claims to be able to determine character, personality traits, and criminality on the basis of the shape of the head (reading "bumps"). Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, and very popular in the 19th century, it is now discredited as a pseudoscience. Phrenology has however received credit as a protoscience for having contributed to medical science the ideas that the brain is the organ of the mind and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions.

External links

• The Phrenology Pages, a Belgian site advocating phrenology.
• History of Phrenology on the Web by John Van Wyhe, PhD. The most extensive source of phrenological texts available on the web.
• Phrenology. The History of Cerebral Localization. Article by Renato M.E. Sabbatini, PhD in Brain & Mind online article.
• Examples of phrenological tools can be seen in The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.