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.

History

Phrenology is a very ancient object of study. Aristotle of ancient Greece attempted to locate faculties of personality within the head.

Related Topics:
Aristotle - Ancient Greece

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The study of the face, physiognomy, has been particularly studied by the 18th century Swiss author Johann Kaspar Lavater.

Related Topics:
Physiognomy - 18th century - Swiss - Johann Kaspar Lavater

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The German physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) is considered the founding father of phrenology. Gall was one of the first to consider the brain as the home of all mental activities.

Related Topics:
German - Franz Joseph Gall - 1758 - 1828

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In the introduction to his main work The Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in General, and of the Brain in Particular, Gall makes the following statement in regard to the principles on which he based his doctrine:

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• That moral and intellectual faculties are innate
• That their exercise or manifestation depends on organisation
• That the brain is the organ of all the propensities, sentiments and faculties
• That the brain is composed of many particular organs as there are propensities, sentiments and faculties which differ essentially from each other.
• That the form of the head or cranium represents the form of the brain, and thus reflects the relative development of the brain organs.

These statements can be considered as the basic laws on which phrenology was built. Through careful observation and extensive experimental measurements, Gall believed he had linked aspects of character, called faculties, to precise locations in the brain. The most important collaborator of Gall was Johann Spurzheim (1776-1832), who successfully disseminated phrenology in the United Kingdom and the United States. Spurzheim also coined the term phrenology.

Related Topics:
Brain - Johann Spurzheim - 1776 - 1832 - United Kingdom - United States

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Other significant authors on the subject include the Scottish brothers George Combe (1788-1858) and Andrew Combe (1797-1847). George Combe was the author of some of the most popular works on phrenology and the hygiene of the mind, like The Constitution of Man or Elements of Phrenology.

Related Topics:
Scottish - George Combe - 1788 - 1858 - Andrew Combe - 1797 - 1847

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The American brothers Lorenzo Niles Fowler (1811-1896) and Orson Squire Fowler (1809-1887) were the leading phrenologists of their time. Orson, together with his associates Samuel Wells and Nelson Sizer ran the phrenological firm and publishing house Fowlers & Wells in New York City. Lorenzo spend much of his life in England where he set up the famous phrenological publishing house of L.N Fowler & Co; he acquired fame with his phrenology head, a china head on which the phrenological faculties were indicated. This item has become the symbol of phrenology.

Related Topics:
Lorenzo Niles Fowler - 1811 - 1896 - Orson Squire Fowler - 1809 - 1887 - Samuel Wells - Nelson Sizer - New York City - China

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In the 19th century, phrenology gained a rapidly growing interest. In the Victorian period, it was taken quite seriously, and many people consulted a phrenologist to get advice in matters like hiring personnel or finding a marriage partner.

Related Topics:
19th century - Victorian period

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With the theory of phrenology being rejected by official academia however, the phrenological parlours remained popular for some time, but they were to be considered closer to astrology, chiromancy, and the like. Eventually phrenology descended to the level of fairground attractions.

Related Topics:
Astrology - Chiromancy

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In the early 20th century however, phrenology benefited of a new interest, particularly in the viewpoint of evolutionism on one hand and of criminology and anthropology (as studied by Cesare Lombroso) on the other hand. The most important British phrenologist of this century was the famous London psychiatrist Bernard Hollander (1864-1934). His main works, The Mental Function of the Brain (1901) and Scientific Phrenology (1902) are an appraisal of the teachings of Gall. Hollander also introduced a quantitative approach to the phrenological diagnosis, defining a methodology for measuring the skull and comparing the measurements with statistical averages.

Related Topics:
20th century - Evolutionism - Criminology - Anthropology - Cesare Lombroso - London - Bernard Hollander - 1864 - 1934 - 1901 - 1902

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Phrenology was also very popular in the United States, where even automatic devices for phrenological analysis were devised. One such Automatic Electric Phrenometer is on display in the Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint Paul.

Related Topics:
Minnesota - Saint Paul

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In Belgium, Paul Bouts (1900-1999) started working on phrenology from a pedagogical background, using the phrenological analysis to define an individual pedagogy. Combining phrenology with typology and graphology, he coined a global approach called Psychognomy.

Related Topics:
Paul Bouts - 1900 - 1999 - Pedagogy - Typology - Graphology - Psychognomy

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Prof. Bouts became the main promoter of the renewed 20th-century interest in phrenology and psychognomy in Belgium. He was also active in Brazil, and in Canada, where he founded institutes for caracterology. His works Psychognomie and Les Grandioses Destinées individuelle et humaine dans la lumière de la Caractérologie et de l'Evolution cérébro-cranienne are considered standard works in the field. Besides his works in the field of caracterology, he wrote some works about what he believed constituted healthy lifestyles (Modern Hygiene for Intellectuals, providing advice about physical exercise and healthful foods) and a number of spiritual-philosophical essays (Bouts was a Catholic priest).

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Paul Bouts died on March 7, 1999. Since his death, Bouts's work has been continued by the Dutch foundation PPP (Per Pulchritudinem in Pulchritudine) operated by Anette Müller, a pupil of Bouts.

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Phrenology, however, came under attack again because of the ongoing development of psychoanalysis, the introspective and subjective methods of which were in opposition with the "objective method" the phrenologists claimed to use. Furthermore, fascist ideologies like Nazism misused some elements of craniometry in the framework of their infamous racist doctrines. A popular American hip-hop group called The Roots politicized these racial undertones in their album entitled Phrenology.

Related Topics:
Psychoanalysis - Fascist - Nazism - Craniometry - Racist - American - Hip-hop - The Roots

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Advocates of phrenology argue that the first attacks against it came about because of Napolean -- he was furious that the scientific community were taking the works of a German seriously. They argue that whereas the science has been misused, it's opponents often unfairly classify it as a pseudoscience and mock it without ever studying it themselves, giving rise to an unfair reputation, with few people ever looking at the science neutrally. Additionally, most of the basic premises of phrenology have been confirmed through medical science, with the exception of judging character based upon the shape of their skull. The brain has been shown to be composed of different separate centers, and neural centers can become enlarged with use. (The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 17, 1997.)

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