Phrenology (from Greek: φρήν, phrēn, "mind"; and λόγος,
logos, "knowledge") is a theory which claims to be able to determine character, personality
traits and criminality on the basis of the shape of the head (i.e., by reading "bumps" and "fissures"). Developed by German
physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, the discipline was very popular in the 19th
century. In 1843, François Magendie referred to phrenology as "a pseudo-science of
the present day"[1] Phrenology thinking was, however,
influential in 19th century psychiatry and modern neuroscience.[2] Phrenology is based on the concept that the brain is the
organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions (see in particular, Brodmann's areas) or modules (see
modularity of mind).[3] In other words, phrenologists believed that the mind has a set of different mental faculties, with each particular faculty represented in a different portion (or organ)
of the brain. These areas were said to be proportional to a given individual's propensities and the importance of a given mental
faculty, as well as the overall conformation of the cranial bone to reflect differences among individuals.
Phrenology, which focuses on personality and character, should be distinguished from craniometry, which is the study of skull size, weight and shape, and physiognomy, the study of facial features. However, these disciplines have claimed the ability to predict
personality traits or intelligence (in fields such as anthropology/ethnology), and were sometimes posed to "scientifically" justify
racism.
A 19th century phrenology chart. The inscription on the neck reads, "
Know yourself."
History
A definition of phrenology with chart from Webster's Academic Dictionary, circa 1895
The attempt to locate faculties of personality within the head can be compared to the attempt of philosopher Aristotle of ancient
Greece to localize anger in the liver. However, the first attempts to scientifically measure skull shape and its alleged
relation to character were performed by the German physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828), who is considered the founding father of phrenology. Gall was one of
the first to consider the brain to be the source of all mental activity.
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 his doctrinal principles, which comprise the intellectual
foundation of phrenology:
- That moral and intellectual faculties are innate
- That their exercise or manifestation depends on organization
- That the brain is the organ of all the propensities, sentiments and faculties
- That the brain is composed of as 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.
Through careful observation and extensive experimentation, Gall believed he had linked aspects of character, called
faculties, to precise organs in the brain. Gall's most important collaborator was
Johann Spurzheim (1776-1832), who successfully disseminated phrenology in the
United Kingdom and the United States. He
popularized the term phrenology.
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 mental hygiene, e.g., The Constitution of Man and
Elements of Phrenology.
The American brothers Lorenzo Niles Fowler (1811-1896) and Orson Squire Fowler (1809-1887) were leading phrenologists of their time. Orson, together with
associates Samuel Wells and Nelson Sizer, ran the phrenological
firm and publishing house Fowlers & Wells in New York City. Lorenzo spent much
of his life in England where he set up the famous phrenological publishing house, L.N Fowler & Co., where he gained
considerable fame with his phrenology head (a china head showing the phrenological
faculties), which has become a symbol of the discipline.
1848 edition of American Phrenological Journal published by Fowlers & Wells, New York City.
In the Victorian age, phrenology was often taken quite seriously. Many prominent public
figures such as the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher (a college classmate and initial partner of Orson Fowler) actively promoted
phrenology as a source of psychological insight and personal growth. British Prime Minister Lloyd George was known to have a keen interest in the subject, once contriving a meeting with
C.P. Snow after noticing that the author had "an interestingly shaped head." Thousands of
people consulted phrenologists to get advice in various matters, such as hiring personnel or finding suitable marriage partners.
However, phrenology was rejected by mainstream academia, and was excluded from the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The popularity of
phrenology fluctuated throughout the 19th century, with some researchers comparing the field to astrology, chiromancy, or merely a fairground attraction, while others
wrote serious scientific articles on the subject.
Phrenology was also very popular in the United States, where automatic devices for phrenological analysis were devised. One
such Automatic Electric Phrenometer is displayed in the Collection of Questionable Medical Devices in the Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint
Paul.
In the early 20th century, phrenology benefitted from revived interest, partly fueled by the studies of evolutionism, criminology and anthropology (as pursued by Cesare Lombroso). The most prominent
British phrenologist of the 20th 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 Gall's teachings. Hollander introduced a quantitative
approach to the phrenological diagnosis, defining a methodology for measuring the skull, and comparing the measurements with
statistical averages.
Phrenology was practiced by some scientists promoting racist ideologies, including
Nazism. They used (often self-contradictory) phrenological claims, among other "biological
evidence", as a "scientific" basis for Aryan racial superiority.
In Belgium, Paul Bouts (1900-1999) began studying 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 known as psychognomy.
Prof. Bouts, a Roman Catholic priest, became the main promoter of renewed 20th
century interest in phrenology and psychognomy in Belgium. He was also active in Brazil and
Canada, where he founded institutes for characterology. 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. In the latter work, which examines the subject of paleoanthropology, Bouts developed a teleological and
orthogenetical view on a perfecting evolution, from the paleo-encephalical skull shapes of prehistoric man, which he considered
still prevalent in criminals and savages, towards a higher form of mankind. Bouts died on
March 7, 1999, after which his work has been continued by the
Dutch foundation PPP (Per Pulchritudinem in Pulchritudine), operated by Anette Müller, one of Bouts' students.
Empirical refutation induced most scientists to abandon phrenology as a science by the early 20th century. For example,
various cases were observed of clearly aggressive persons displaying a well-developed "benevolent
organ", findings that contradicted the logic of the discipline. With advances in the studies of psychology and psychiatry, many scientists became skeptical of the claim
that human character can be determined by simple, external measures.
On Monday, October 1, 2007 the State of Michigan began to impose a tax on phrenology services.
Methodology
Phrenology was a complex process that involved feeling the bumps in the skull to determine an individual's psychological
attributes. Franz Joseph Gall first believed that the brain was made up of 27
individual 'organs' that created one's personality, with the first 19 of these 'organs' believed to exist in other animal species. Phrenologists would run
their fingertips and palms over the skulls of their patients to feel for enlargements or indentations. The phrenologist would
usually take measurements of the overall head size using a caliper. With this information, the
phrenologist would assess the character and temperament of the patient and address each of the 27 "brain organs". This type of
analysis was used to predict the kinds of relationships and behaviors to which the patient was prone. In its heyday during the
1820s-1840s, phrenology was often used to predict a child's future life, to assess prospective
marriage partners and to provide background checks for job applicants.
Gall's list of the "brain organs" was lengthy and specific, as he believed that each bump or indentation in a patient's skull
corresponded to his "brain map". An enlarged bump meant that the patient utilized that particular "organ" extensively. The 27 areas were highly varied in function, from sense of color, to the likelihood
of religiosity, to the potential to commit murder. Each of the 27 "brain organs" was found in a
specific area of the skull. As the phrenologist felt the skull, he could refer to a numbered diagram showing where each
functional area was believed to be located.
The 27 "brain organs" were:
- The instinct of reproduction (located in the cerebellum).
- The love of one's offspring.
- Affection and friendship.
- The instinct of self-defense and courage; the tendency
to get into fights.
- The carnivorous instinct; the tendency to murder.
- Guile; acuteness; cleverness.
- The feeling of property; the instinct of stocking up on food (in animals); covetousness; the tendency to steal.
- Pride; arrogance; haughtiness; love of authority; loftiness.
- Vanity; ambition; love of glory (a quality "beneficent for the individual and for
society").
- Circumspection; forethought.
- The memory of things; the memory of facts; educability; perfectibility.
- The sense of places; of space proportions.
- The memory of people; the sense of people.
- The memory of words.
- The sense of language; of speech.
- The sense of colors.
- The sense of sounds; the gift of music.
- The sense of connectedness between numbers.
- The sense of mechanics, of construction; the talent for architecture.
- Comparative sagacity.
- The sense of metaphysics.
- The sense of satire; the sense of witticism.
- The poetical talent.
- Kindness; benevolence; gentleness; compassion; sensitivity; moral sense.
- The faculty to imitate; the mimic.
- The organ of religion.
- The firmness of purpose; constancy; perseverance; obstinacy.
Phrenology as a pseudoscience
Phrenology has long been dismissed as a pseudoscience, in the wake of neurological
advances. During the discipline's heyday, phrenologists including Gall committed many
errors in the name of science. In the book, The Beginner's
Guide to Scientific Method by Stephen S. Carey, it is explained that pseudoscience can be defined as "fallacious applications
of the scientific method" by today's standards. Phrenologists inferred dubious
inferences between bumps in people's skulls and their personalities, claiming that the bumps were the determinant of personality. Some of the more valid assumptions of
phrenology (e.g., that mental processes can be localized in the brain) remain in modern neuroimaging techniques and modularity of mind theory. Through
advancements in modern medicine and neuroscience, the
scientific community has generally concluded that feeling conformations of the outer skull is not an accurate predictor of
behavior.
Popular culture
- Charlotte Brontë, as well as her two famous Bronte sisters, display the belief in
phrenology in their works.
- The television personality Stephen Colbert, played by the
comedian of the same name, claims to be a proponent of phrenology. In the February 8,
2007 episode of The Colbert Report, Colbert waved off "speculation" about a
presidential bid, claiming that he must first sit down with his family, and his phrenologist. "I know these lumps are trying to
tell me something." He said, adding, "Phrenology is the study of lumps on your head. It'd be another good campaign slogan."
[1]
- Popular Indian-English writer Amitav Ghosh's first novel The Circle of Reason
(1986) has one of the main characters, Balaram practice phrenology obsessively.
- The QI Book, The Book of General Ignorance, has a "phrenology bust"
pictured on the dust jacket.
- On the popular television sitcom The Simpsons, the character Mr. Burns practiced phrenology in the episode "Mother Simpson",
prompting his assistant Smithers to inform him that it was "dismissed as quackery 160
years ago."
- Terry Pratchett, in his Discworld series
of books, describes the practice of Retro-phrenology as the practice of
altering someone's character by giving them bumps on the head. You can go into a shop in Ankh-Morpork and order an artistic temperament with a tendency to introspection. What you actually get is
hit on the head with a large hammer, but it keeps the money in circulation and gives people something to do. This was first
described in Mr Midshipman Easy, where a vacuum pump was used to enlarge organs.
- The comedy-musical play Heid (pronounced 'Heed', a Scottish inflection of the word 'Head') by Forbes Masson alluded to the phrenology work of George Combe, citing
the pseudoscience's influence on a young Charles Darwin as an inspiration for
writers.
- The hip-hop group The Roots released an album in
2002 called Phrenology, using the term to discuss race.
- The film Pi depicts the main character, Max, outlining a portion of his skull
according to a phrenology chart and proceeding to drill into that section to destroy a part of his brain that contained important
information of a mathematical sequence that he thought nobody should know.
- The film Men at Work contains a joke about a phrenology bust.
- In the episode "Duh Bomb" in the TV show Kenan & Kel, a woman practices
phrenology on Kel's head.
- The Online store "Inner Coma Clothing Co.[2]." Refers to the section of the site that sells hats as its "Phrenology" section.
- The cover art of the Bob Schneider album Lonelyland depicts a phrenology chart.
- In the computer game American McGee's Alice, a phrenology chart
appears on the wall of the initial room in the level Skool Daze. A portion on the back of the neck is labeled "fear" (in place of
"sublimity" on the original chart).
Related disciplines
See also
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Readings in Phrenology, selections from texts by Johan Gaspar Spurzheim and George
Combe.
- Phrenology Heads for
Illustration, Large and small head.
- History of Phrenology on the
Web by John van Wyhe, PhD. The most extensive source of phrenological texts available on the web.
- The Phrenology Pages, a Belgian site advocating
phrenology.
- Phrenology. The
History of Cerebral Localization. Article by Renato M.E. Sabbatini, PhD in
Brain & Mind online article.
- Phrenology Today! Russian portal, advocating
phrenology. Articles on so-called modern phrenology.
- Examples of phrenological tools can be seen in The
Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S..
- Joseph
Vimont: Traité de phrénologie humaine et comparée. (Paris, 1832-1835). Selected pages scanned from the original work.
Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine.
- Phrenology: History of a Classic
Pseudoscience - by Steven Novella MD
- Historical Deadwood
Newspaper accounts of C. R. Broadbent well known speaker on Phrenology and Physiology visit Deadwood SD 1878
- The Skeptic's Dictionary by Robert Todd
Carroll
- Who Named It? Franz Joseph
Gall Biography of Franz Joseph Gall and his creation: Phrenology.
- Phrenology by George Burgess (1829-1905) George Burgess, Phrenologist in Bristol, England 1861-1901.
- Corrective Phrenology
- Chart of the Phrenological Organs of the Brain
References
- Debby Applegate, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher. Doubleday, 2006.
- Picture of Fowler Phrenology Head: Fowler Phrenology Head
- Stephen S. Carey, "The Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method." Thomson, 2004.
Notes
- ^ Magendie, F (1843) An Elementary Treatise on Human Physiology. 5th
Ed. Tr. John Revere. New York: Harper, p 150. (note the hyphen).
- ^ Simpson, D. (2005) Phrenology and the
neurosciences: contributions of F. J. Gall and J. G. Spurzheim ANZ Journal of Surgery. Oxford. Vol.75.6; p.475
- ^ Fodor, JA. (1983) The Modularity of Mind. MIT Press. See also,
Modularity of mind p.14, 23, 131
- ^ Edward Hungerford. "Poe and Phrenology", American Literature
1(1930): 209-31.
- ^ Erik Grayson. "Weird Science, Weirder Unity: Phrenology and Physiognomy in
Edgar Allan Poe" Mode 1 (2005): 56-77. Also online.
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